Thursday Thriller

 Thursday Thriller
March 25, 2021

Never thought we would be SO EXCITED to have equipment in PE for students! :D  Kids were having a good time playing some hoops.  I got a few in. SWOOSH!  LOL

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.  The 2021-2022 school year will be a 7 period day.   Carina and I will plan accordingly. :D

2.    In regards to all students returning to in-person learning, based on Wade's email, preliminary planning will begin.  We want to be prepared if and when we transition to the Blue Stage.  I will keep you updated as information comes my way. 

3.  End of the quarter is next Friday.  Please encourage students to use the Garrison Helpline M-W from 6:00-7:00PM and Friday's 3:00-4:00PM (No Spanish on this one day).

4.  Attached are the updated policies and procedures for Gender-Inclusive Schools. Families of our transgender students have been appreciative of our work towards inclusivity.  There are still many, many more questions in regards to locker rooms, sports, etc. I am continuing to work with Chris Gardea, Julie Perron and Amy Ruff to have plans in place so we will be ready if and when we cross this bridge.  Summary points:

•         Two identified unisex bathrooms that lock from the inside.  One occupant at a time.  Staff may still use these identified bathrooms
•         We can not force transgender students to use the identified bathrooms.  They may use the bathroom they identify with
•         It will take longer for a student to use the unisex bathroom based on location of their classroom in accordance to the location of the bathroom.  IF it becomes and issue, please let the appropriate counselor know to help problem solve

5.  This is a follow up to Brent's email.  This summer there will be a comprehensive summer program for all WWPS students.  It is called SUMMER SOL.   Session one is June 21-July 16 and session two is July 19-Aug 13th.  There is an academic piece for two hours of the day and students who are strongly invited (we are looking to identify those students 1-2 years behind in either ELA, Math or both ) :D can attend either session.  They will choose first or second session.   For the fun activities, students can attend both sessions.   Not saying that the academic time won't be fun. Students have the opportunity to attend 10:30-5:30 (not identified for academic support) or 8:30-5:30 (identified for academic support).  More to come.  Just wanted to give you some quick updates.  This is a DRAFT of preschool-High School programming.  Students do NOT have to attend all day.  This is optional as well as an opportunity for families who work needing child care.  This is a comprehensive, structured environment.  PRETTY COOL!!!

6. Certificated staff, your $125.00 budget needs to spent by April 15th.  If you need to know your balance, please email Armida.

7.  The first Wednesday after Spring Break, April 14th, will be a BUILDING DAY,

8.  PLEAES PLEASE PLEASE take the EES/CEE survey Wade sent out.  Out of 70 staff members  25 of you have completed the survey.  THANK YOU!

Something to Ponder

Our Grading for Equity book group is finishing up next week.  There will be a group of participants along side the GC team to look at next steps.  SMALL steps for change so that our grading practices are equitable and really define/measure/represent what each student knows and understands.  I still have some copies of the book if anyone would like to read it.  

This is chapter 4 titled Traditional Grading Hides Information, Invites Biases, and Provides Misleading Information.  I know I am breaking copyright rules. :0.  It's about 20 pages but maybe in the next two weeks you will have some time to read and reflect.  We don't all have to be 100% in agreement but we do have to 100% aligned in the collective changes. 

I would love to know your thoughts and wonderings.

Hope you find a gold nugget. 

QUOTE

"One loses many laughs by not laughing at oneself."

-- Mary Engelbreit

Little Humor

I stumbled upon this funny blog "Awkward Family Photos."  Definitely some good laughs.  If anyone is going on vacation during spring break, maybe you could share your photos. :D

Thursday Thriller

 Thursday Thriller
March 18, 2021

SPIRIT DAY TOMORROW!!!  Wear your favorite college colors and SWAG!

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.  Thank you to the Social Studies teachers for taking class time to complete the EES survey with students.  Parents have receive their link and staff will be sent their link on Monday the 22nd. 

2.  Staff Meeting Monday the 22nd at 3:00.  Brent Cummings is going to discuss the summer program for pre-school through 12th grade.  IT IS AMAZING!! The FREE opportunities offered to students through the YMCA, Parks and Rec. plus a plethora of other choices like sports, field trips, art, etc.  It is going to be good!  Zoom Link  The link is also on your calendar if you accepted the invite from last week. 

3.  ELPA testing begins on Monday in the library.  We have approximately 26 6th graders, 20 7th graders and 14 8th graders testing.  The goal is to complete testing Monday through Wed of next week with make ups on Thursday and Friday.

4.  Resources for you regarding Tuesday's Asian-owned spas in Atlanta.  Very tragic and sad.  While these resources are specific to anti-Asian discrimination, definitely some resources to take a look at.  The speak up pocket guide is good.  The 'Kindness Heals' has some elementary components like coloring the face mask that might not be age appropriate However, the prompts on the writing reflection piece might be worth talking to students about. 

School wide the library has launched the Diversify our Narrative book challenge.  Are you participating?  I think the more we can educate ourselves on the resources out there the more we learn about ourselves which we can then help our students. 

5.  Jamie Dally is a temporary para in the RISE program.  She will be with us through June.  Welcome, Jamie! :D  Margaret began at Lincoln this past Monday.

Something to Ponder

A topic of conversation with many of you has been around motivation.  How do we motivate students?  Unfortunately, the mojo fairy isn't coming to sprinkle the magic dust so what other strategies can we try? 

Dave Stuart, Jr. simply puts it:  Thus for both us and for our students, the idea is straightforward: habituate what we can, then motivate what we can’t. And throughout it all, simplicity wins the day.

Start with the routine of entering and exiting class.  What routines can you start (never too late to start) that will eventually become habitual? Standing at the door greeting students, handing students their entry task as I have seen some of you do daily.  Having something ready for students to engage in right when they enter the classroom.  Little things that many of you are doing right now!  Ask each other what routines/habits have been helpful once implement.  This will cut down on what you have to motivate. :D

Habituate what you Can, Motivate What You Can't 

Instead of a Little Humor let's have a BIG SMILE

Be a Mr. Jensen

Thursday Thriller

 Thursday Thriller

March 11, 2021

Just a few of our AMAZING Support Staff!!! Thank you for all the work you do for students and staff!

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.  Hope your conferences went well and you were able to have some great conversations with families.

2.   Spirit Day on Friday, March 19th will be COLLEGE DAY.  Please promote this day with students.  Great opportunity to talk about college, trade school, 2-year and 4-year universities and colleges. I wonder which hallway of teachers will have the most spirit?  Will it be the upstairs, SEL, paras, art, shop and music crew?  Or possibly the 7th grade hallway and PE group?  Or the 8th grade hallway?  Or better yet the office staff, custodians, cooks and Gear Up?!  Hmmmmm...who will show the most spirit?  Can't wait to see!

3.  Monday, March 15th the Fairgrounds will be holding another shot clinic from 8-5.  We will have our parking lot signs up.  It has actually gone really well.  Parents have been great during drop off and pick up.

4. Testing going on in the library the next couple of weeks.  COGAT- 6th graders who were not tested last spring.  Steve communicated via email the details.  ELPA testing will begin the week of March 22nd. Communication of who will be tested and the schedule is coming.  Just wanted this on your radar.

5.   Sports for middle school on hold  We are waiting until after spring break to do any planning.  Chad H. has been great about 'poking the bear' to keep MS sports alive. It may be intramurals, maybe some clinics we don't yet.  We hope to have some sports.  We just don't know yet.

6.  Yearbook and pictures -I talked with Will.  I think we are going to try and take each student's picture, combine them by grade level and create our own paper yearbook (we will send to the printshop).  Ashley will start taking candid photos.  The goal is to not have a huge production of a picture day but to capture photos of students in a year book.  If I am missing something in regards to this, please help a friend out and don't let me step in a land mine.  Thanks

7.  You are doing a great job at keeping the blue tubs of cleaning supplies out and in the open for custodians!  THANK YOU!

8.  Updated polices around showing videos in class:  

Minor tweaks were made to our "videos in classroom" procedures to better align with current practices. Primarily, the following adjustments were made:

-Included TV ratings as well (as many videos now shown in classrooms lack Motion Picture ratings, but rather are assigned TV ratings (e.g. TV-14))

-Included language related to the showing of "clips" or "segments" of videos/movies as many times the entire movie is not shown, but rather just clips from it

-Made some other minor tweaks/modifications to better reflect current practice

Video Guidelines

Admin Approval Form

Parent Permission Form

9. I emailed this survey to 7th and 8th grade students.  I purposely did not include 6th.  They do not have the context like our 7th and 8th grade students.  I will share results when the survey closes this Friday.  Trying to get students' perspective and insight.  They are our clients and we can learn from their ideas.  Students who complete the survey will go into a drawing for a gift card. 

10.  SST teachers are going to have students complete the EES Survey this next week.  This is the annual survey sent to parents, students and staff to gain insight on areas of strengths and stretches of our school in accordance with the Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools.   Wade will be sending staff members a link to complete the survey.  

Something to Ponder

In talking with a few of you, observing students in the hallway and classrooms it is evident that students are not engaging like we had hoped upon return to in-person learning.  Re-engaging with students in person is a challenge! Students just don't know how to respond nor interact...yet.  I found this article from Grape Seed about Children in Trauma:  How You can Help.  This read does not offering academic strategies.  Rather, ideas on how to engage with students on an emotional and social level through predictability, confidence and relationships.

 While the title of the article names 'children', I still think of our middle school students as children who need our guidance, love, laughter and willingness to champion for them.

I hope you find a gold nugget in this article to reflect upon. 

Quote

March 8th was International Women's Day.  Cheers to all the women who have made a difference in your life AND to all the women on this staff!

Little Humor

Three grown daughters, their significant others, my old husband (LOL) and old me group text each day.  The slang used often makes my husband and me scratch our heads.  This video made laugh because I love Schitt's Creek and I learned something new watching Dan and Eugene. 

Youth Slang

Thursday Thriller

 Thursday Thriller
March 4, 2021

SHOUT OUT!

Not only do they take care of business in the office but  outside too!  Armida and Jen are stellar at the cross walk!  Ashley held the fort down inside!  THANK YOU to our secretaries for all of the many hats they wear!

NUS-n-BOLTS

1.  Here is a google doc for GNN announcements.   Please add your ideas, announcements and of course if you would like to do GNN. :D

2.    Conferences -please let me know if you would like me to attend at any specific time

3.    We will let students in the building at 11:40 vs 11:35 for the PM session.  This gives certificated staff the 59 mins based on the Final MOU.  30 minutes for a duty free lunch and 29 minutes of planning.  

4.    Appreciate the presence in the hallway and all of you at your stations for passing times!  GREAT JOB!!!

5.    Elementary schools are having school pictures.  Not sure I want to do school pictures just because we will turn around in the fall and have them again.  Do you have particular thoughts on this?  I don't know if Will could take student pictures and combine them into grade level for a 'yearbook'?    That is a big lift worth a conversation.  Will is the new District 21st Century Coordinator!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!  We still get Will half time here at Garrison so a huge win-win for all!

6.    Terri and Jacob have paperwork that needs to be completed with our help in order to follow the GEAR UP Grant.  If you receive a Certificated Effort Turnaround Report please complete it on time and turn it in.  Ask questions if you need help.

7.    Caleb is going to be having his 2nd period choir class in the commons.  Students have to be 9' apart vs 6 feet in order to sing.  Roger is able to have his students play their instruments.  This is great for our music program!!!  PE...we are still waiting and hoping to use equipment soon.

8.    Certificated Staff Classroom Budgets and Orders-each certificated staff has $125 that can be used or rolled over to the next school year.  If there are materials that you need that exceed your classroom budget come talk to me.  There is paperwork on your end to complete but we can usually find a way to help you.

9.    Nate, Nate and Adam will be checking their caseload of students and their grades each Friday.  They will be reaching out to you if a student has a D or F.  If a student is in your class and receiving an F you must contact the case manager and problem solve with them.  Here is the Google Doc of caseloads.    This is sensitive information and confidentiality is a must. 

10.  The 3 week time period is up on March 11th (March 10th since there is no school on the 11th).  Families will make the choice to come back to in-person or hopefully, WWONLINE.  When you have a substitute please remember that students still need access to your class that in quarantine.  However that may look is up to you.   Here is the Google doc of students who are  quarantining and Zooming for 3 weeks.  In addition, we have set up some para time for students who are in quarantine to check in with. 

11. There are a ton of Google Docs and information coming from me.  Beth had a great suggestion to try and find a way to keep the information in one spot.  Any suggestions?  A google classroom that I set up for staff?  I already have it.  I just don't use it. :(

12.    Bulletin Boards -Thursday the 11th NJHS students are going to work on decorating bulletin boards in the hallways.  Paras will be doing the same (NJHS students will be in the library, 6 plus feet apart, not sharing materials and under my supervision...scary right?!  LOL).  IF you want to claim a bulletin board by your classroom, please staple a note to it indicating that you will be taking care of decorating it with student work or whatever your ideas may be. 

13.   Rachelle has accepted a para position at the pre-school.  We wish her well!!  Congratulations!!!  Next week Michelle will have a para sub in Rachelle's place.  The position will be posted to hire. 

14.  Maria Garcia, Sharpstein Principal, is co-chairing the new Blue Zones Project.  Here is some information:  https://info.bluezonesproject.com/home  if you are interested and would like to join this committee or want more information, please reach out to Maria.  mgarcia@wwps.org 

SOMETHING to PONDER

Back on January 6th we looked at some of our school data.  Attendance, F grades, students of poverty failing, and/or passing.  Not to necessarily solve the problem but to begin dialogue around equality, inequality, who is failing and why?  What does an F mean?  These were a few of the questions that came out of our Jam board and discussions.  In addition, in our Grading for Equity book group we have wrestled with some of these same questions.  What does grading for equity truly mean?  What does it mean for my practice and beliefs?  

Here is an article from Educational Leadership around inequality.  Believe me nobody wants to ever believe that they treat others differently, unequally or have biases that negatively influence how class is taught, students are graded or even how we look at improvement.  It's okay!  We ALL HAVE BIASES.  Uncovering them is that first step.  Talking about it with your colleagues is another step in the right direction.  To ignore or do nothing is malpractice.

Would love to know your thoughts after reading this article.  Hope you find a gold nugget. 

Is Your Approach to Continuous Improvement Colorblind?

Little Humor

This is from one of a 6th grade student Kenroy Brown:

His mom April teaches at Berney.

I asked Kenroy after his first couple days of school and he said "The teachers are EVEN better in person!!!"

I can say that a lot of students feel this same way.  GREAT JOB!!!!!