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!
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.
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