Thursday Thriller
September 24, 2020
SHOUT OUT to ALEX! He has been all over town delivering materials to students, making home visits and even bringing donuts to students. At one home, Alex heard everyone inside the home so he knocked. Nobody answered so he got creative! Alex went, picked up some donuts, got back to the house, knocked, said he brought donuts and what do know the door opened! :D If you have items to be delivered or you are worried about a student, please email Alex. Katie Henry is working with Alex as she too is an intervention specialist. She works primarily with our SEL and RISE students. Please reach out to her if you have one of these students in your class and needing some support with making connections to home and school.
The women in the office have been rock'n it too!!!! THANK YOU, Armida, Ashley, Lynette, Sara and Alicia!!!
NUTS-n-BOLTS
1. Please add me as a 'teacher' to your Google classroom. As I mentioned, this is not to monitor you. Rather, it is to be able to see how students are progressing on assignments.
2. Friday, October 9th is a Fall Professional Day (please click on link). It is one where certificated staff members show up in order to be paid for that separate contract day. Half is principal building directed and the other half is teacher directed. Wednesday the 7th during our collaboration is when I will launch into the work for Friday (the principal directed time, of course). On Friday, my goal is to meet with PLC teams for 30-35 mins. the rest of the time principal directed time will be to focus on the work that was gone over on the 7th. Here is the schedule. If you don't like your time, negotiate with your colleagues and let me know. Chad P and Michelle, I will meet with the two of you at a separate time.
3. We will be launching our calendar invites for parents soon. This is for conferences which are right around the corner. The conference schedule is Wednesday, October 14 4:00-7:00PM (we do need to hold conferences via Zoom in your classroom not at home. This was asked and I wanted to clarify) and Thursday, October 15th from 7:30-3:00PM
4. If you have any ideas to spice up (rated G of course LOL) GNN, please let me know. I was thinking of the following:
*Quick 30 sec-1 min interview/say hello from teachers/staff members
*Character Strong challenges and plugs
*Theme weeks? 80s, Cowboy, favorite book character?
*Would you rather game
GNN is only played in 1st period so everything other day or only on A days. However you can remember.
5. If all goes well, elementary and the Learning Center will open up to our PK-2nd grade students on Oct 19th. Our SEL and RISE students will still remain half days. We are following the WW Health Department and CDC guidelines. Yes, schools in our surrounding area are opening for all students. Our Board of Directors take the information and will make the ultimate decision. This is not a Wade or District Office decision. The School Board is going to make the call. Please remember our county is different from others with different circumstances. Again, information for when you are down the wine aisle and someone stops you. :D Here is the link.
6. The process of covering certificated staff when they are absent has been working out so far. It is super helpful when you notify both Armida and me. We then reach out to staff to cover. During the synchronous time we have to take attendance. It's helpful if you upload an assignment in Google classroom that the person covering can click play and monitor students.
7. Steve, Angie, Alex and I are reaching out to students regarding their iReady Math Diagnostic assessment. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put a plug into your classes to have them get going on it.
SOMETHING to PONDER
I never really thought about teacher credibility until recently. When thinking about credibility, I had always equated it with being an expert in their content area; to be credible you had to know your stuff.
Take these two examples (I'm going to use personal ones from my own experience). Mr. West was the high school chemistry teacher. We used to call him 'Fast Eddy' because he would beat the students out to the smoking area in between classes (yes, I just dated myself!). Fast Eddy knew his content! Extremely smart. I got a D and that was by cheating just saying. I couldn't grasp chemistry. I ended up dropping the class after the first quarter. Take Mr. Oswald, he was the football coach and my geometry teacher. Math is not my forte, maybe that's why chemistry was hard. Mr. Oswald would say, "Schmdit, (my maiden name) Look at the board!' as he pointed to triangle that I was suppose to figure out the degrees and angels. I got a B out of his class which was good for me because math was always a struggle.
Go back to teacher credibility. Both Fast Eddy and Coach Oswald knew their content. The difference was I believed that I could learn, make mistakes and ask questions in Mr. Oswald's class.
Teacher credibility defined: At the basic level, teachers need to be seen as believable, convincing and capable of persuading students that they can be successful. Students know which teachers can make a difference. "The dynamic of teacher credibility is ALWAYS at play" (Fischer, Frey, & Hattie, 2016).
Students need to know that their teachers really care about them as individuals and have their best academic and social interests at heart. Students also want to know that their teachers are true to their word and are reliable.
Mr. Oswald was all those things; I knew he cared and I would learn! He took time to build a relationship and get to know me as a person which added to his credibility.
Here is an article/blog from Dave Stuart, Jr. on How to Build Strong Relationships with Students if You're Starting the Year Online: Principals and Practices
Little Humor
I love this blog. This one is about first year teaching and it resonated with me because I feel like we are all in our 'first year.' :D Hope you can laugh a little.
