Thursday Thriller
February 27, 2020

This photo is Cyndy Knight, the Executive Director of WW Valley Disability Network. The www.wwvdn.org is an amazing network of people who have and are a plethora of knowledge and resources for parents of students with disabilities.  I learned in one short evening how desperately parents of students with special needs just want to be included and what can we do to facilitate this.  How do we teach our 'gen' ed students to include and not be afraid of our students with special needs (I know I am over generalizing.  However, we do have some work at bridging to do.).  It was a great evening!  More to come.

Wow! Have our 6th graders improved from this fall!  Did you know that Roger has students play the University of Michigan Fight Song and has done so for the past 30 years?  Caleb, how do you feel about that?😉 

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1.  Next Wednesday during collaboration we are going to look at the results from the grading survey, talk about what we see in the data, read an article and take some next steps on the 'ah's' we collectively find in the data.  This is NOT a process so we all walk away from grading the same.   This is about consistency, how we interpret grades and what we want our students to know and learn about grades.
Here is an article from Educational Leadership that caused Guiding Coalition members to think about current grading practices in their own classes.

2.  Please look over the email from Roger on which students will be out of the building traveling to University of Idaho for the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival for tomorrow.

3.  Sherry emailed certificated staff on Tuesday regarding 2nd quarter grades.  Please make sure you have current entries in your grade book.  This is also a great time to review your grading policy again and document it.  By doing so, when parents have concerns you can let them know the dates you went over your grading policy.

4.  As stated on GNN, 10 x $5 gift cards to Dutch Bros.  The goal is to find 10 students who stand out as having school spirit, are nice to others, showing integrity, etc.  Email me names.  I will announce winners Tuesday or Wed. morning.

5.  Beginning next week, Jose is going to run a Math Lab in the morning from 7:45-8:15.  I will announce it on GNN.  Please encourage students who need assistance in math to take advantage of this opportunity.

6.  Please post either outside your classroom or inside where students know when you are available for 'office hours.'  We do need to be accessible for students to come in, ask questions, make up work, etc.

7.  Don't forget to order your Garrison gear.

SOMETHING to PONDER
Although this podcast is mostly and predominately for teachers, I have found some extremely useful information because I consider GMS staff my classroom! :D  We have all had those moments when we ask a question and we get crickets. There are a lot of reasons why we get crickets.  In this podcast which is roughly 15 mins, Jennifer Gonzalaez, YES, Cult of Pedagogy gives us reasons and strategies to avoid the crickets. 

Thursday Thriller
February 20, 2020

Love watching Nate and Stacey down on students' level working with them through their math.

CONGRATULATIONS to Michelle Paine!  She was chosen as 'Teacher of the Month' by her peers.  The Davis Team at Academy Mortgage will be here at Garrison tomorrow at 9:00 to award Michelle a certificate and a check for $150.00 for classroom supplies!

NUTS-n-BOLTS
1.  Your input is both needed and appreciated on the Grading Survey.  The information is from the survey is NOT tell you how to grade.  This is so we, GMS, can come to some basic agreements and beliefs around grading and homework.

2.  The focus on being prepared for class should still be going strong.  As I have walked through classes, it is great to see the expectations posted for students to see and follow.  Some of you have 2-3 expectations listed with a transition into an entry task that is easily checked as the teacher is walking around. Carina and I met with students in Lance's academic support class.  Students mentioned how they like their teachers WHOOP!! WHOOP!! and when their teachers are prepared to teach.  Carina and I are hoping to talk with more classes about strengths and stretches of Garrison.

3.  As students have expectations to begin class, what are their expectations for ending class?  Remember having students cluster around the door is NOT productive.  We agreed that this dismissal procedure created more chaos in the hallways.

4.  Please remember when you leave your classroom to lock the door.  Safety and security in case we need to go into a lock down and keeps items in classroom secured.

5.   If you have feedback positive or not regarding conferences, please shoot me an email.  I asked a few people and they said they were good but attendance was down. Let me know.

6.  Armida sent out information on how to order some Garrison 'swag.'  We are working with a small business in Milton-Freewater.  This lady does good work and you don't have to wait 3+ months for your gear!

7.   FYI our reader board died so we are in the process of getting a new one.

8.  Terri will be out of the building enjoying her new granddaughter. :)  Gary will be in her spot and we will be making adjustments with supervision during lunch.  Terri will rejoin us in early March.

SOMETHING to PONDER
Flywheel Effect

One of my favorite books written by Jim Collins is Good to Great.  His hedgehog theory and making sure you have the right people, on the right bus heading in the right direction are key to moving from good to great. Now, take these two theories coupled with the flywheel effect what do you get? Not a miracle but rather focused, deliberate, consistent steps repeated to get the results; "After pushing on the flywheel in a consistent direction over an extended period of time, they'd inevitably hit a point of breakthrough."

We are gaining momentum.  Sure we may have taken one step forward and two steps back in may situations BUT we are gaining momentum moving forward.  Reflect on your Wednesday work from where you are at now to where you were last year?  How about your PLC team?  Your team may be different from this year to what it was last year, but compare the conversations.  Little by little we will have the pieces on our flywheel in place so that each turn keeps moving all of us and our students forward.

Thursday Thriller
February 6, 2020

6th grade science was super fun!  It was so cute to hear them squeal, "I see something!  It's moving! Come look!"

NATIONAL SCHOOL COUNSELING WEEK

A HUGE shout out to both STEVE and ANGIE!  THANK YOU for working with our students, staff and parents, coordinating events, supervising both lunches which is not the case at every school and a plethora of things that are done 'behind-the-scenes.' You are appreciated and valued!

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1.   If you have not seen this TREK nomination form, please take a few minutes to look over.  This would be a great experience for any of our 7th grade girls. If you have questions, please let me know.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/130S_6WiKk3gJdwuSZmHqAL7oj0qxouaSi0JofGJ9D54/edit?usp=sharing

Here is the nomination form:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iDWnneqFpp8gr6PefRtLKNnrWIatr9Iu3ogBgrOer8E/edit?usp=sharing

2.  With conferences approaching next week, please reach out to those parents of students who are on your radar for either missing assignments, classroom exclusions or behavior.

3.  While still early in the new semester and because we have not had the conversation as an entire staff, please note missing assignments, missing tests in your grade book as missing vs an 'F.'  Grade books should reflect accurate levels.  See Carina or me if you have questions.

4.   Thank you again to Amy K for presenting yesterday.  The presentation was thought provoking which ignited some great discussions.  Good things to think about when we look through a lens of equity and access for all.

5.   AVID nominations due Friday. If you have questions or are not sure about a student, talk with Conor, Carina, Steve or myself.

Something to Ponder
Communication is key in anything we do.  With conferences next week, how we communicate, try to communicate and work with families is paramount moving forward from now until June.  In addition, when we think of communication how do we communicate with our school colleagues?  This section from chapter 2 of Culturize is titled "Leaders Value Communication."  We are all leaders!  I would bet money we ALL VALUE clear, direct, kind and personal communication. How does this reading help you to reflect on your communication with students, parents and colleagues?