Thursday Thriller

 Thursday Thriller

September 2, 2021

First one of the year!! Whoop!! Whoop!!!

GREAT way to start our school year!  LOVED hearing from each of you, your adventures and what you had in common with your Lego person. 😆

I will say that working side-by-side with Carina is a joy! Smart, funny and make me a better person and leader. Proud of her work. :D

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1.    Please take a few minutes to organize your orange, emergency bucket.  If you need items, please put them on this spreadsheet.   

2.    We will work through the breakfast routines.  Students come in at 8:35, eat and go to class.  I'm suspecting there will be some tardies.  Again, let's see how this system goes.  Suggestions and feedback are welcome.  We will adjust as needed.  *Certificated staff members are in their classrooms at this time.

3.    Yajara and Stephanie have been doing an AMAZING job!  Armida has been doing her job AND training them.  Miss Ashley is working from home a few hours a day.  Our office staff is GREAT!!

4.   PLEASE look over the website at the Quarantine Learning Plan-specific plan if we have to quarantine a class, several classes and school.  While we think/hope this will be rare at the middle school level, this is something you need to review with students in the first days of school. "If our class has to quarantine we will zoom."

Wade has updated the website which explains this further and in more detail.  The biggest thing is to explain the process of Zooming and let your students know that we will Zoom if a class period has to be quarantined.  If an individual student has to quarantine, work will be provided via Google Classroom OR packets parents pick up.  

**Vaccinated staff and students do not have to quarantine. 

5. Here is the link to my nuts-n-bolts power point from yesterday.

6.  Jami and Kara sent out an email regarding library space, student chrome books, laminating and the Garrison Google Classroom.  Please read carefully.  Lots of great information.

7.   Here are the slides from Monday.  They contain COVID information, We All Belong, 6th Grade Orientation Slides (which will be the slides we use on the first day of school by period to explain school wide expectations.)

8.  When you want to email the entire staff,  instead  of TO:  Garrison All Staff.  Do BCC Garrison All Staff.  That way when someone replies it doesn't go to the entire staff.  The email will only go to the person who sent it. :D

Something to Ponder

I found a couple of reads that are specific to content and one article that is relevant to us all.  Take a look.  Hope you find a gold nugget. :D

1. Whiteboards.  The old fashioned dry eras kind.  And...yes, they still work. -Middle and High School age students in Social Studies

2. Strategies to Get Equitable Student Participation in Math Classes

            In this article in Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12, Marcy Wood (University of Arizona/Tucson) and six colleagues say that in math classes, it’s common that some students see themselves (and are seen by others) as less intelligent in that subject. Students might say:

-    I’m not good at math.

-    I can’t do this.

-    Ask Daniel what this means. I copied it from him.

Teachers find these students frustrating (and disruptive), may label them struggling, slow, and low-achieving, and give them less-challenging tasks so they won’t be overwhelmed. Another approach is putting students in groups in hopes that less-confident students will get more air time.

But these strategies are not effective, say the authors, because they don’t get at the root cause of unequal participation. “In particular,” they say, “we need to address perceptions of intelligence that mean some students are seen as more entitled to participate than others.” Those students are seen as “smart” at mathematics – and it’s not necessarily because of what they do in math class: “Students may judge one another’s intelligence on the basis of physical attractiveness, popularity, reading ability, social skills, race, gender expression, or first language.”

            These perceptions are part of a self-perpetuating cycle that leads some students to over participate and others to under participate. When “smarter” students’ contributions are recognized by the teacher and by peers, their confidence gets a boost and they contribute more frequently. They may also call out answers, interrupt, and tell other students what to do. Watching these behaviors, lower-achieving students often hold back and contribute less and less. “As a result,” say Wood and colleagues, “high-status students spiral up in status and participate more as low-status students spiral down and participate less.”

            The authors believe this dynamic can be turned around. First, they say, teachers need to embrace the belief that “all students can solve complex mathematical problems, and that each student brings important mathematical strengths to the table.” Second, students (working in groups) need to be presented with complex and challenging tasks with multiple entry points and paths to solutions; the problems must challenge students to use a diverse set of abilities, and individual students shouldn’t be able to solve them without help from their teammates. Third, teachers need to consistently implement the following “teaching moves”:

            • Level the participation playing field. By calling on students equitably, shutting down over participation by some students, and encouraging equal contributions within groups, teachers can change the classroom dynamic and shift students’ invidious perceptions of their peers. “These moves,” say the authors, “bring more-diverse ideas into the open, providing a more-complex and enriching mathematical problem space.”

            • Expand what counts as mathematical competence. There’s a common misconception that students who are quick to solve standard algorithms and equations are mathematically smart, and that often leads to them dominating group interactions. By assigning complex problems and making sure different approaches to solving problems are heard, teachers can change the way students think about math ability – and encourage the participation of students who never thought of themselves as good at the subject.

            • Make “yet” the norm. When students say they can’t solve a problem, the teacher quickly adds, Yet. “This additional word,” say the authors, “prevents students from using claims about current incompetence as an excuse for nonparticipation. In fact, the word yet quietly reinforces a classroom expectation that all students (regardless of status) will become more capable over time.” Students may begin prompting each other when a classmate sounds negative while solving a problem.

            • Give students responsibility for managing work. Wood et al. believe teachers need to have students do many of the tasks that teachers have traditionally shouldered: managing materials, keeping track of the time remaining, reminding teammates to stay on task, ensuring equitable participation, relaying questions to the teacher, making sure the group’s ideas are recorded, and checking off completed work. By delegating these tasks and training students to carry them out (being careful not to let overparticipators dominate), teachers build students’ self-reliance and free themselves up to focus on students’ math learning and progress.

            • Don’t hover. The authors suggest that teachers move around the classroom and observe unobtrusively, not standing so close to a group that students ask for help, but close enough to hear discussions and intervene if students are really off track.

            • Highlight good thinking. “Once teachers have noticed students’ mathematical strengths,” say the authors, “they can use this information to raise student status.” The best way to do this is publicly recognizing a specific academic contribution from a student who is not regarded as a math whiz. Standing across the group from the student with the idea, the teacher might say, “I think Andrea has an idea that might help you. Andrea, can you explain what you wrote on your paper?”

            • Take only group questions. Students should understand that when groups are working on problems, the teacher will only answer questions that the group can’t answer through its own deliberations. If called over to a group by a student, the teacher should ask a different student, “What is your group’s question?” If that student doesn’t know the question, the teacher says, “It sounds like you need to talk as a group first. If you still have a question after that, call me back,” and walks away. Students learn they need to rely on each other and involve the teacher only if they are truly stuck.

            • Establish the norm that a group isn’t finished until everyone understands. Before presenting their problem solution, one student goes around and makes sure that every student grasps the solution. When the teacher is called over to hear a group’s solution, the teacher calls on a student who typically under participates, and stops over participators from butting in: “Pat, I asked Terry to respond, and I would like to hear from him.” If the student called on is explaining the solution well, the teacher should interrupt and call on another student to continue. If a student can’t answer the teacher’s questions, the teacher walks away, conveying that students need to quiz each other and make sure everyone really understands.

“8 Teaching Moves Supporting Equitable Participation” by Marcy Wood, James Sheldon, Mathew Felton-Koestler, Joy Oslund, Amy Noelle Parks, Sandra Crespo, and Helen Featherstone in Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12, August 2021 (Vol. 114, #8, pp. 646-651); Wood can be reached at mbwood@email.arizona.edu.

 3. Putting a Positive Spin on Wearing Masks.

QUOTE

"This above all: to thine own self be true.” – William Shakespeare

Little Humor

CALENDAR of EVENTS

Tuesday, September 7th     First day of School WHOOP!! WHOOP!!!!
                                             Teaching expectations day one. Feel free to repeat throughout the week

Wednesday, September 8th    2:45  Collaboration in the library all staff

Friday, September 10th         GC Meeting at 7:30AM in Agnes' Room