Thursday Thriller
September 21, 2022
Shout Outs!!
Yaz, Agnes, Steve, Nicole, Itsel (counseling intern), Michelle, Babett and Janelle helped make our Family Informational Meeting Night a success! THANK YOU!!
Nuts-n-Bolts
1. Most students have completed their iReady Diagnostic assessments in reading and math. Below are some data points to look at. Yes, these are standards that students have yet to see or master. AND this is why proficiency in these content areas must be all of us working together; proficiency matters in all content areas which will then pay huge dividends for our ELA and MATH contents.
Questions to ponder:
1. How are you reading and writing daily in your classes?
2. Have you considered a quick exit ticket on a sticky note where students have to write their answers?
READING
MATH
2. Student store opens tomorrow. We believe we caught the racketeers. It won't be the last time students try and scam others out of their coins. Regardless, MOST students have EARNED their coins and are pretty excited for tomorrow. Our goal is to learn from this first student store so each Friday it gets better and better.
3. We are looking at para schedules, which classes they support and where the highest needs are. Paras will be in classes to support students with IEPS, ML and 504s. Paras are NOT BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT SUPPORT. Paras NEED to be working in SMALL GROUPS scaffolding the grade level content.
4. Please take a look at these two slides on para support and grading for students with IEPs. I am looking at the classes where paras have been placed. We have done some shifting of students. If a para educator is in a class that does not have MLs or Students with IEPs we will most likely switch this para out to a class that has higher needs. Some classes have less than 20 students with only 1 IEP. This would be a class we take the para support and place them elsewhere.
5. Mr. Gardea, Christy Krutulis, Barb Casey, and Julie Perron will be visible and present in schools throughout the district. Twice a month the admin from Pioneer and District colleagues will be walking classrooms. The goal is to 'normalize' classroom visits. These classroom visits are NOT 'gotchas.' We are learning together! AND District level staff need to see what's going on in classrooms. We (admin and district staff) are finding pockets of excellence. Also, if there are strategies that would help us here at Garrison then let's learn about them. Teaching is ongoing. If we want our students to grow and learn, we must also be willing to roll up our sleeves and learn too.
6. REFUSAL to WORK is NOT a referral. Please fill out this spreadsheet instead. ALSO, you are all doing a GREAT job with the Referral form!!! THANK YOU!!!
7. This chart represents where our referrals are coming from throughout the building. What are your thoughts?
Something to Ponder
A majority of people do not like attending staff meetings for a multitude of reasons. The number one reason is most are boring, non-engaging and yes, an email or memo would have been a better use of time. Yet, we still have to attend.
As Nicole and I prepare for 'meetings' or staff PD, we do try to make the time engaging so that you are in the driver seat of your learning not complacent to sit and get.
When you think about your classroom, would you say your lessons are where students are participating, investing or driving? Is there any connection to the level of engagement to the chart above where most of the referrals are coming from the classroom? ****There are always outliers. Some students regardless of the environment may be disruptive. Not every lesson is on point. These are disclaimers that are valid!!
Something to ponder. Hope you have an 'AHA' moment that leads to a gold nugget. Here is the full article on Reimaging student engagement as a continuum of learning behaviors. 
Quote
Bulletin board in our school! Have you seen where it's at?
Calendar of Events
Please refer to the Garrison Gazette from here forward. :D
