June 11, 2020
NUTS-n-BOLTS
1. Please take a few minutes to answer these questions on the Health Center survey. Your input and feedback helps the HC improve services for our students. Thank you!
ttps://docs.google.
2. Tonight a notification will be sent out to incoming 6th grade students. A welcome from me and a virtual tour of the building. Just wanted to keep you in the loop. :D
3. Wednesday, June 17th at 12:00 will be our final staff meeting for both certs and classified. Wear some Garrison Swag and bring your favorite memory.
4. Golfing! Wednesday at 4:00! See Charlie for details. Apparently, Charlie and Chad H.are defending their title. Nobody must have played last year, then right? Charlie and Chad also BEGGED Carina and I to be on their team so that we could help them win. Bring in the big guns, I guess! LOL
5. I do want to give CARINA a HUGE SHOUT OUT! She has been using her spreadsheet, data, and tech skills to hand place students in classes; really making sure the right students are being placed in the right classes with the right people. She sat in on every sped transition meeting, worked with Nate, Nate, Rob and Libby to design sped classes to meet the varying degrees, has dug into the the data to to help clarify WHY we are placing students in classes; we are able to thoroughly explain AND show parents who may question related to a placement. Her care, thought and organization will pay hugely for these students. THANK YOU!!!!!
6. One last plug for the 8th grade slideshow. If you have not had the opportunity to go in and make comments, the 8th graders would greatly appreciate it.
7. THANK YOU, BRENT and MARK for working tirelessly and relentlessly on the cafeteria floor. Scraping on your hands and knees, waxing it, day in and day out! Your work is appreciated!
8. If you need boxes to discard District materials, please ask Mark and Brent. They will deliver boxes to your classroom along with red dots. Also, if you are moving classrooms within the building, Mark and Brent will deliver boxes with GREEN DOTS. Those moving classrooms, this will happen on June 22nd so please be prepared.
SOMETHING to PONDER
Being in discussions about what the school could/would look like in the fall whether it is online, a hybrid model or full inclusion makes me think, of course, about the students. Which students did well online? Which students did not and why? The phone calls and emails from families of students who we THINK would have no problems due to the family support really, really struggled. This article caught my attention. It is more to think about, take in and reflect upon. Our biases of who is succeeding, not succeeding and the 'whys' are truly biases. It just makes me think how important relationships are so we truly know our kids. Also, for me not to 'assume' they, the students, should be doing well just because of their family.
Something to ponder... :D Here is a summary of the article "Confronting Inequity/The Trauma We Don't See"
How Over achievement Can Mask Childhood Trauma
(Originally titled “The Trauma We Don’t See”)
In this Educational Leadership article, educator/activist Deena Simmons remembers that when she was in third grade, she was so terrified by gunshots exploding close to the windows of her family’s one-bedroom apartment that she threw up every night. Through a lot of hard work in school, Simmons graduated with honors and has excelled professionally, “but underneath it all,” she says, “I am still on my healing journey, still putting myself back together. Through self-work and support, I have learned that my trauma manifests in my overachievement – and the resulting lack of sleep – because overworking is something I can control.”
With many children, toxic stress produces anxiety, depression, health problems, acting out, dropping out, drug abuse, and more. The fact that some do well despite horrific conditions is puzzling, and Simmons wonders how many students are repressing trauma and need more support. “Too often,” she says, “the trauma of high achievers, especially those of color, goes unrecognized because their achievements are sometimes mistaken for resilience. While some of us may be excelling thanks to having a caring adult and other supports in our lives, the scars of our past remain, and we are still in need of care, love, and healing.”
Educators need to connect with all students, she concludes, and not assume that the shining stars are invulnerable. And of course schools need to be run in ways that don’t add to trauma.
“The Trauma We Don’t See” by Dena Simmons in Educational Leadership May 2020 (Vol. 77, #8, pp. 88-89)
Little Humor
