Thursday Thriller
January 30, 2020

Mr. Condie singing AND playing!  He teaches 5th graders at the end of his day.  God bless you!!! :D

Worked with the math department today!  Carina and I think afternoon went well.  I guess we should review the exit tickets first. 😭 Looking forward to meeting with each department as we look ahead to the remainder of the school year and next year.

NUTS-N-BOLTS

1.   Activity Day tomorrow!  I am excited as well as nervous.  Please keep notes for feedback.  If we do this again, we definitely want to repeat our successes and change the stretches

2.  A shout out to Conor and Gary for opening up the breezeway doors everyday between each class period!

3.   New semester which means some new students.  Please take time to go over grading expectations, homework, re-takes, etc so that parents and students are hearing your expectations once again.

4.  Planner checks have gone well.  Students are doing a decent job of filling out their planners!  Make sure your learning target is posted.  I know some of you do this on a slide via doc camera either way a target for what students are to learn is a must.  Checking to see if they learned that target is part of that learning.  Students should know each class period what they are learning, how they will show they learned it and know if they got it or not (feedback).  This process should be consistent throughout the building.  Thank you.

Something to Ponder
Working with students this past couple of weeks with challenging behaviors has caused me to stop, reflect and take an inventory of my actions and behaviors.  Jimmy Casas' book Culturize is one that 'tells it like it is.'  I found these three pages and they hit home.  Am I getting what I model?

Thursday Thriller
January 23, 2020

That Mr. Arias in the background helping out Caroline. 

 Mr. Longmire changing it up with some small groups!

 Science in the hallway!  I tried to ask questions about distance.  Sue patiently informed me it was about speed and time.  😆 I tried! LOL

Avari was so proud of her art work!  

NUTS-n-BOLTS
1.  You may have noticed our new lunch detention system.  Gary and/or Alex have and will continue to come around prior to lunch, gather up the lunch detention students and and escort them to room 115 where they eat and sit for 30 minutes.   Carina and I are taking on the lunch detention so that students in ISS are only with Terri.  The goal is to make lunch detention so uncomfortable and boring they won't want to come back.  As I am typing this, I am reminded of the movie 'Breakfast Club.'  I am trying not to laugh at some of the thing students are doing because all they get to do is sit and stare at the wall.

2.  Appreciate the activity day feedback.  Have received some good suggestions.  Please sign up for bball and/or soccer.  You don't have to know the sport or have played it to sign up.

3.  As your team works through the CFA cycle document and the data for Promise Standards please remember this is not a 'gotcha.'  If your team has questions or wants to talk about either document, Carina and I are here to help.  Please ask.

4.  iReady data is one data point in the realm of the assessments your team is giving.  While it is one data point, it is a data point that should be examined.  Have you compared fall to winter data?  Where have your students increased and/or decreased? The GC team attended an iReady training yesterday evening in which we dug deeper into the data. Carina and I will be working with Core ELA and Math on strengths and stretches.

5. The last two days we have had a couple incidents with students fighting.  In debriefing and reflecting with Carina, it's not all bad.  Its' hard sometimes to remember there is so much good and so many good behaviors.  I'm not saying the students involved are 'bad' it's their behavior that is clouding my vision right now.  Keep being vigilant in the hallways, greeting students as they come into your classroom, and building those relationships.  THANK YOU!!!

6.  We will be handing out new schedules tomorrow.  I'm not sure exactly at what time but we will communicate with you first.

7.  Yesterday, we had a situation where a student passed out in class.  Paramedics did come to the school but the student went home with his parents.  I bring this up because what is your classroom procedure if a students faints or needs assistance?  Better yet what are the systems in place if you faint or need assistance?  We will be coming up with a unified approach in case something does happen. 

8.   In thinking about the end of the day when all students exit the building through the two front doors, could there be multiple exits students could access at 3:30?  The reason I am asking is because at the end of the day, it is a huge cluster in the front of the building and makes both entering and exiting near impossible.  I'm planting a seed so we can possibly have a conversation about this at a later date.

SOMETHING to PONDER
As we begin a new semester, I think of starting over, clean slate, fresh, re-boot.  Those are of some of descriptors that come to mind.  Reflecting on a new semester might cause us to pause and think, "New semester I am going to do really with "x, y and/or z."  "This semester I'm going to make an additional effort to connect with so and so."   I bet if you were asked what your biggest struggle was/is you might say, "I have some students who just don't care and I can't get them to do anything; student motivation."

This is a podcast by Jennifer Gonazalez from "Cult of Pedagogy."  She is a former middle school teacher.  You can listen or read the transcript.  There are five questions to ask yourself, and this is not limited to just classroom teachers.  WE, as a school -admin, paras, counselors, cooks, teachers, etc., need to ask ourselves these five questions.  My answers, as I reflect, wow!  I have work to do! I'm thinking of some interactions with students this week.  I missed the mark and I need to do better. 

Here are the five questions.  Again, my hope is this causes you to reflect on your role as a staff member here, how we can grow and share with one other that positive mindset that so many of you have!

1.  How is your relationship with student students, really?
2. How much choice do your students actually have?
3. Are you relying heavily on carrots and sticks ...or Jolly Ranchers?
4. Do your words contribute to a a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?
5. What are you doing to make your content relevant to students' lives?

Thursday Thriller
January 16, 2020

Regardless of the weather, students like to be outside.  They LOVED the snow!!

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1.  Please make sure if you are a SS teacher that you have shown the video Agnes sent and are having conversations around MLK, Jr. day.

2.   Tomorrow, because students eat lunch in the classroom, your lunch will be 12:30-1:00.  We'll start in the library at 1:00.

3.  Coffee with the Principal is tomorrow from 9:00 - 10:00.  We had a poor turnout last Friday so crossing my fingers for tomorrow.

4.   If you are on FOCUSED for evaluation, it is time for your 30 minute formal observation. :D  I'll be reaching out and scheduling pre/post and the observation.  Carina will be doing the same with her people.

5.  Please double check the schedule Ashley sent out in regards to the yearbook club pictures.  We will be using the intercom on Tuesday to call clubs down for pictures.

6.  Couple of notes from yesterday's lock down drill:

• Several of the classrooms in 8th grade hall left the lights on and kids were visible
• Rm 142 – lights on
• Rm 202 and 205 – door unlock.

Here is the poster of guidelines we need to adhere to when running our drills:

7.  Conference Schedule for February:

Tuesday, February 11th 4:00-7:30 Arena

Thursday, February 13th 8:15-11:30 arena, 12:30-3:45  classrooms

8.  Master Schedule -the Guiding Coalition are the voices/reps for the master schedule.  PLEASE talk with them about ideas, things to think about, etc.  Tonight we met and came up with a list of 4 priorities based on your feedback from the survey.  Here is the list:

Carina and I will be meeting for 1/2 days with departments.  So far we have math on Jan. 30th and science on Feb 20th.  Part of this time together will be looking at the projected number of sections and who might teach what.  Having open conversations with the people in the 'trenches' is important. 

9.  ISS/SSR/Lunch Detention-changes are coming.  We are going to clamp down on some heavy hitters and change how SSR is working.  Terri is a WONDERFUL mentor to a group of girls.  We are going to try and work a system where they earn some lunch time with her as an incentive program vs them always wanting to be in the SSR with her. :)  We have heard you loud, clear and rightfully so :D

SOMETHING to PONDER

How have you used feedback and assessment this week? How did students respond? One way we give feedback and assess students is by circulating the room when students are doing independent work. When you circulate what are you looking for? What do you do with the information you have gathered? Here is one idea called Dot Round:

Thursday Thriller
January 9, 2020

6th grade science in Mr. Hulett's Class

Charlie being super productive in our collaboration yesterday😆

 Another way to teach about DNA!  Go Mrs. Schulz!

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1.  Exit ticket data from yesterday:
AHAs:

•      Celebrating Diversity -how can we do this better?
•      Celebrating in general needs to be better
•      Students feel good overall
•      Parents want to collaborate with school
•     Students feel supported

Reflection on Practice

•    Celebrating in class -how can I make this work?
•    Continued communication with families 

There are always variables that accompany any examination of data.  Overall, our trend is an upward trajectory!  Appreciate your thoughtful work yesterday.

2.  CORE teams -ELA, Math and Science will be receiving emails from Carina and me.  The purpose is to set up time to look at data, teaching strategies, grading practices and next year's master schedule.  At this time, we are prioritizing the CORE teams and will make every effort to meet with remaining content teams prior to spring break. 

3.  Friday, January 17th is early dismissal.  Para educators have mandatory equity training at the District Office.  Teaching staff will meet in the library.  This is a principal directed 1/2 day.  The goal of the work is as follows:

     1.  PLC teams take the data from the latest CFA

     2.  Student data is recorded in some form (spread sheet, paper pencil document, etc)

     3.  The intervention plan for those that did not get it

    4. The reteaching plan

    5. Results from the re-teach

This is the CFA cycle. :D  Our goal has been to complete 4 of these cycles a year.  

These documents will then be submitted, turned in to Carina and me.  For those on Comprehensive this falls within Domains 1 and 4. Those on Focus this falls into Domain 4. 

Here is a document you could use not mandatory.  

4.  We have had the opportunity to have some emergency subs observe in our building.  We always need subs.  In order for emergency subs to be able to sub they have to observe.  Some of us are reluctant to have subs observe our classes because we have tricky behaviors. However, these would be GOOD for the emergency sub to see.  They would get to see first hand how to handle the behaviors from you, the expert!  I'll be setting up the observation schedules and emailing you ahead of time to let you know.

5. As my email said today, the large, blue fire doors between the cafeteria and 8th grade hallway will be closed during lunches until further notice.   On this same note, Gary is checking bathrooms every 25 mins or so.  Hopefully this will cut down on the vandalism.

6. After the semester, Carina and I will be scheduling FOCUS staff members' observations.  In addition, we would like to schedule time to have a mid year conference with the FOCUS people we observe.  This would be a 15-20 min conference.  We would check in on your goal, your reflections, your own CBA data.  Carina and I can be available before, after school, during your planning.  Please schedule with Armida and/or Sherry.

Below is who you will meet with:
KIM               CARINA
Jose                 Heather
Nate C            Charlie
Brian C           Beth
Caleb             Conor
Jami               Amy K
Roger             Lance
Chad H          Stacy M
Stacy J          Kim R
Stacey K       Amy S
Diane           Marie
Stephanie     Sean
Steve           Mike Braddock
Angie          Amber
Sue           
Shannon

7.  January is School Board Appreciation Month.  Each school is assigned a Board member.  Our member is Derek Sarley.  He will be here tomorrow for Coffee with the Principal.  I may tour him around.  I would like him to come back and visit on Jan. 22 or 23rd, attend TSA, Latino Club, ASB meeting and tour the school.

SOMETHING to PONDER
Remember these posters? Circling back to them and focusing on 3d Using Assessment in Instruction.  How do you know students got it?  AND do students know HOW they will demonstrate their understanding?  Remember 'clear is kind.'  Do you say, "Today's target/goal is..."I can.....You will demonstrate your understanding of this target by....."  Feedback on how students did has a .75 effect size. This builds both student and teacher efficacy.

Quick video from kindergarten, 11th and 12th grade on feedback. 

I am cutting and pasting from the book IMPACT by John Hattie, Douglas Fischer and Nancy Frey.