Thursday Thriller
January 11, 2024
Photos from the Field
Little current events in Amy's class. Ryan Newton found an article about Hercules the 3" venomous spider in Australia! 😲 That thing needs to stay DOWN UNDER!!!
Nate F, Michelle P and Katelyn are taking grade level promise standards, scaffolding and engaging students in reading, writing and math AT GRADE LEVEL!!! Go Team!!!
Brody and Gio matched up!
Our secretaries are great! They have decorated up the office. 💓
Nuts-n-Bolts
1. Thank you to staff who have sent sub plans when they are going to be gone. Very helpful! Please share plans with both Nicole and Kim. Absences: If you are taking a personal, incentive or longevity day those MUST be submitted in a timely manner PRIOR to your leave not after. This was the email from Mindy Meyer.
Here are a few updates on leave requests - please read carefully.
The Leave Request Form has been updated to a fillable pdf form. The form is located on the Human Resources webpage under Forms. Please discard earlier versions of this and any other leave forms.
The process is still the same. Personal, Incentive, or Longevity Leaves are approved at the building/department level. Staff requesting to use any of these leaves should notify their principal/supervisor in advance to ensure coverage is available.
Bereavement, Emergency, or any Other Leaves are approved by Human Resources. Staff requesting to use any of these leaves should submit the form to their principal/supervisor.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Mindy
Dr. Mindy Meyer | Director of Human Resources
364 S Park Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362
509.526.6713 | mmeyer@wwps.org
2. iReady Trackers: 8 lessons, most of you added the 8th column. You really have to look at the lessons to determine if a student is on track. This student has 8 lessons passed. When you break it down, 7 of these lessons are for Qrt 1 and only 1 is for quarter 2. Technically this student has 7 more lessons to complete to hit the 8 lessons for Quarter 2. Hope this makes sense. It's imperative that during this time, you are looking at your Advisory students and checking in with them especially if they are behind. As a whole, you have embraced this system as an Advisory teacher and it has been greatly appreciated.
A Different Way of Arranging Students' Desks
3. Math Diagnostic testing begins next week!! Students will test in their math classes. In the lunchroom is a poster with our school wide data from the fall. 
We will put up a similar graph with our Winter data. The PAC kids were quite shocked when they looked at the data. Hearing and seeing that 50% of our students are 2 or more grade levels below in math and 47% in reading. YES, I did explain that students were tested on standards that had not yet been taught. PAC kids noted that the data is skewed for those that didn't try or monolingual students. Absolutely correct on both accounts. Very insightful crew of students we have. :D
We will put up a similar graph with our Winter data. The PAC kids were quite shocked when they looked at the data. Hearing and seeing that 50% of our students are 2 or more grade levels below in math and 47% in reading. YES, I did explain that students were tested on standards that had not yet been taught. PAC kids noted that the data is skewed for those that didn't try or monolingual students. Absolutely correct on both accounts. Very insightful crew of students we have. :D4. Accountable for Learning (Refusal to Work) is for students in class who are choosing not to work. They come in at lunch. Please fill out this document Accountable for Learning. If YOU want to keep students in during lunch to finish work, re take a test, etc. DO NOT fill out this form. Students will need a pass and you will need to look at the A for L document to make sure a student is not marked as SKIPPED.
5. Second semester begins with new electives on Monday, January 29th. We will try and pre populate iReady trackers for elective teachers. If you have a combination of students in a class period that need to be broken up, we will try to make this happen. Here are the conditions. :D
A. What other class period of yours (not another teacher) would a student best fit in?
B. You have had conversations throughout the semester about behavior, academics, etc. with both student and parent.
C. You make the call to the parent or Parent Square WITH A RESPONSE that the parent understand why the change needs to be made.
D. You talk with the student.
E. Contact counselors with A-D completed no later than Friday, Jan. 19th
**Steve and Nicole are pretty good miracle workers! They will try their best to make the schedule changes but there are no guarantees.
6. Garrison Clinic
A. Students MUST have a clinic pass from you and check out on the Chromebook to come to the clinic. Kim will work with secretaries to make a clinic pass for each classroom teacher.
B. Please, please please when a student asks to the clinic can you ask them a few questions: "Are you going to barf? Do you hurt super bad? Do you think you have a temperature? Would a drink of water help?"
If we could ask a couple of questions before sending students, that be helpful. I know what you are thinking. However, if a student gets to the clinic and the student is not running a temp, doesn't have to barf, is not bleeding chances are he/she will be sent back to class. The nurse documents all visits to the clinic and calls home.
Students are finding their way to the clinic just before lunch. Then a miracle happens and they feel better when the lunch bell rings. Amy Wells will consult with Nicole D and Kim on these situations. If a student is miraculously cured and has done this before, we will have the student "rest" during lunch in room 117.
The clinic has upwards to 40-50 students a day that aren't feeling well. We also have 3 diabetics that must come in, be monitored and document their blood sugar levels. Plus, we have 13 different times when meds need to be dispensed. All within 5.5 hours by themselves. If we can help out with a little less traffic to the clinic, that would be great. Use your professional judgement. I'm not saying deny access...maybe ask a couple of more questions. Thanks! **We will be interviewing for an HRA soon. Amy Wells is a registered nurse that oversees Garrison and two other schools. She is filling in for now until Sara Huxoll's HRA position is filled.
Something to Ponder
I hadn't really thought about an L shape before. The advantages the author writes about definitely make sense! Have any of you ever arranged desks in a L shape? Maybe something to try. Hope you find a gold nugget in the summary or the entire article.
7. A Different Way of Arranging Students’ Desks -Summary
In this Edutopia article, veteran Oregon high-school teacher Jay Schauer (now a mentor
to other educators) says teachers should put as much thought into configuring students’ desks
as they do to planning lessons and assessments and nurturing relationships. If students’ desks
are in rows facing the front, all students have a direct view for whole-class presentations, but
this arrangement is not conducive to group work. If desks are in groups, collaboration is easy
but some students have their backs to the board.
A few years ago, Schauer stumbled on a way of arranging student desks that he
believes solves these problems. Groups of four desks are arranged in the shape of a L, with two
students on each side (here’s a diagram and the article linked below has a photograph). This
way, all students can see the front of the room and can also converse with their group mates.
Two additional advantages: the teacher can more readily monitor students’ work, and can stand
in the interior angle of one of the L-shaped groups and have direct eye contact with all four
students.
Schauer used this arrangement from that point on, having students shift to rows for tests
and into square-shaped groups for labs, projects, or games. He’s experimented with ways of
assigning students to different positions in each L-group, shuffling the composition of groups
by having students in a designated position shift to a different group, doing jigsaw activities by
regrouping students by position, and calling all students from a particular position together for
a briefing and then having them return to their groups to share the information.
“A Desk Layout Alternative to Rows and Circles” by Jay Schauer in Edutopia, January 2, 2024
Quote
Rule #38 The first step in achieving positive results is planning to achieve positive results. The second step is actually working the plan. The Playbook by Kwame Alexander
You have to expect things from yourself before you can do them.
-Michael Jordan, six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls, five-time MVP.
