Thursday Thriller

 Thursday Thriller

February 22, 2024 The date Jack Joseph Hallowell was born.💙

Photos from the Field

You can't take yourself too seriously.  This is a video to make yourself feel better about who you are!

Stephanie P, you may have to purchase either Get Well or Sympathy cards for Reggie and Christy.

Just wait for it is all I can say. :D

Wardrobe Malfunction

If anyone needs a slip, it's hanging in my office.😅

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.  WIDA Testing begins on Monday the 26th.  Please review Sara's email from Feb 20th for details.

2.  Erin Jones is visits GMS on Monday. We will be on assembly schedule.  Students will report to 7th period, please take attendance, students leave backpacks with phones in backs and wait to be called to the gym.  The assembly will last 40-45 mins.

Here is the schedule.  The only change is we will add 6th grade girls basketball players to the 7th and 8th grade bball players.  All groups will meet in room 165.  

Lists of students for each group will be sent out by Monday morning. 

3.  The WWOnline teacher has been hired. Rob Ahrens, Pioneer Admin, Chris Gardea, Nicole and I are meeting next week to iron out the details and land on a starting date.  The purpose of the MS WWOnline teacher is to accommodate students who are needing half days.  The goal is to have students be 'shared' between Garrison and WWOnline.  Instead of completing course work at home through WWOnline, students will be housed in room 117.  Students will be strategically placed throughout the different periods in room 117 to meet virtually with their teacher and work on assignments.   This is NOT a program that you SUGGEST to students.  Students are PLACED in this program for various reason.  Two examples would be-  1. Students want a half day.  We will give students half of day in person and half of their day through WWOnline.  2. Students who are behavior in a class with multiple exclusions and there isn't room in the schedule to move them to another teacher or class  3. Students who need 8th grade math instead of Algebra but have a scheduling conflict with a core class or needed elective.  We are thankful for this opportunity and shout out to Wade and Chris for making this happen!

4. I will be speaking on GNN about the incident that happened Tuesday in regards to what the school district and law enforcement will do to aggressors, bystanders and those that record and share videos.  In addition, I will speak about illegal substances.  If you bring them and you are caught with them, police will come and you will be arrested.  Students need to know that we are taking a stance and they are safe!  We need them to share with a trusted adult if they see something or hear something.  The video of the assault went viral.  Of course the comments on WW Scanner with Kevin about the incident were "fire the principal, she's a joke. The school never stops bullying..."  One of our 6th graders made this comment.  YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE in our students' lives. :D

5.  Conferences are right around the corner.  The counselors and admin are going to set up meetings with families on Thursday.  If there is a student that your team feels needs a group conference (teachers, counselor, admin), please add their name to this list.  Stephanie will work to get these scheduled.

***A parent should not first learn about their child's concerns during a group conference.

Something to Ponder

Yesterday, co-teaching teams (Sydney, Agnes, Katelyn, Nate F, Robin, Colin (Robin's student teacher), Nancy, Jami P, Nate C and Nancy participated in an PD workshop with KC Knudson on Inclusionary Practices. How do we engage all learners? There are many layers to this question. However, yesterday the focus was on how do we, educators, design learning that engages all learners? Engagement is:

Sense of Purpose-

    I know what I am doing and why I am doing it.

Sense of Place-

    I am a part of a community that supports me and vice versa.

Sense of Possibility -    

    I believe that I have the ability (or a way to get it) and agency to make it happen.

Sense of Progress-

    I know if I am moving forward toward my goal.

Linear progression isn't necessary for all individuals. Maybe for some, feeling a sense of purpose or belonging to a community requires knowing they're making progress toward their goals. Consider a personal scenario. Whether it's trivia nights on Thursdays, your book club, or your Pitch group, can you affirmatively respond to the following four statements? What about your workplace, your PLC team? Can you answer yes to all four there? If not, what's lacking? How can we cultivate inclusivity in our school and classrooms, ensuring both students and staff feel a sense of purpose, belonging, potential, and advancement?

Setting the Purpose

85-Teacher clarity will accelerate learning. Click on 85 to view the extent of the change. Are you sharing and reviewing learning objectives? Are you clearly stating, "Today's focus is..." and specifying how I will assess your understanding? Be transparent. This doesn't need to be lengthy; just clarify why and how I can confirm students have grasped it.

64-Success criteria - Provide a clear response or feedback to the query, "How will I know they learned it?"

Establishing the purpose of your lesson and informing students upfront about how their learning will be evaluated will produce results. We must be transparent and explicit. Most of us appreciate knowing the agenda, the purpose of having a speaker, and how it relates to us. If adults expect this, why shouldn't students? Hope you find a gold nugget and valuable insight in today's Something to Ponder.

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Wise Words

Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they're doing it because they care about the team. 

                                                                                -Patrick Lencioni

Thursday Thriller February 15, 2024

 Thursday Thriller

February 15, 2024

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.    8:15 Staff picture in the gym.   The schedule for group pictures is in the Garrison Gazette.

2.    I have had counselors change up student schedules per parent meetings, discipline being the driver to separate students and modifying a student's day. Remember, if you are suggesting a schedule change for a student we are happy to work with you after these have been accomplished. If it's a phone call to a parent that you are hesitant about, Nicole D and Kim will make the call with you.  

Thursday Thriller January 11th:

 Second semester:  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.  

3. Grace will be sending all students a quick survey to take during Advisory tomorrow.

4.    If you didn't know, it's a three day weekend. :D  Just ask Gonzalo 😃

Something to Ponder

Going back to some basics that are supported by research.

Learning happens when these lesson components are dialed in. The first component is Classroom Culture and Learning Routines.

Your routines, the culture of your classroom and the relationships you have with students truly matters. **Relationships can come through the learning.  This was in last week's Something to Ponder. Tom Schimmer asserts that building relationships with students comes THROUGH their LEARNING, not before. 7:24 to 17:32 

The blue numbers. .82, .77 and .66 are the effect size. Remember- .40 equals a year's worth of growth for a year's worth of input. 

Something to think about. Would your classroom culture and learning routines yield an ROI of .4 or higher?  Hope you find a gold nugget in the links I shared and the chart below

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Complaining is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but does not get you anywhere.

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Fall to Winter Data

FALL MATH

DEFINITELY MOVING in the RIGHT DIRECTION!! WHOOP! WHOOP!!

WINTER MATH

Math Projected Proficiency

READING FALL

WINTER READING

Projected Reading

Thursday Thriller February 9, 2024

 Thursday Thriller

February 8, 2024

Steve and Nicole M. for being an INCREDIBLE COUNSELING TEAM!!! You are appreciated for the work you do with students, staff and families.  Most often your work is behind the scenes and goes unnoticed. Just know that you are both appreciated AND the BEST counseling team in the DISTRICT!!!

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.  Bowling tomorrow morning!  We will call students down at 9:30 and load the bus at 9:45.  Students will return at 12:00 and head back to class before lunch.

2.    Tuesday there was an arrest made for brining marijuana to school. Today, marijuana was found on another student but no arrest was made. However, the student will have a court date and is suspended.  We know there is more marijuana floating around.  Up hoodie sleeves, in places we don't search, etc.  stay vigilant. :D  I guess there was a group text among certain students that said, "Don't bring anything tomorrow." That means a couple of things.  1) Attendance will be low tomorrow and/or 2) Students probably won't ask to go to the bathroom much. LOL.  We stay the course, remain consistent and be visible. Keep fighting the good fight!!!

2.    Students are under the impression that if they 'slap' each other while fighting it is not as serious as when fists are used.  We consider slaps and fists the same when we are talking about fighting. FYI if you are having casual conversations in class spread the word. 😆

3.    Best of luck to Caleb this Saturday.  He is taking orchestra students to the Solo and Ensemble Festival in Pasco!

4.    The NAEP test will be on Tuesday, February 13th in room 203.  Nate F is graciously allowing us to use his room.  There will be a group in the morning and a different group in the afternoon.  Parents and students have been notified.  NAEP brings in their own people to administer the assessment. 

5. Please don't forget to vote.  No stamps are needed for ballots. Just drop them off.

6. ELA and MATH teachers~ don't forget to schedule your two remaining IAB.  The tentative SBA schedule won't begin until May 20th.  If you want to schedule one IAB (Interim Assessment Block) before Spring Break and one after that's okay.

7.  Friday, Feb. 16th we will have an all staff picture!  Probably around 8:15.  We would gather in the gym and smile pretty! The time may change.  This is the day that club, group and winter sports pictures will be taken.

8. Have you completed the EES survey? Please make sure you have taken the survey.  We do look at the feedback.

9.  One our Garrison Collective Commitments is teaching bell to bell. It is often heard, "Our class periods are so short! We don't have enough time!"  I have observed students waiting at the door in various classrooms and even out the door before the bell rings.  That means students would have had to pack up their bags in order to get to the door.  Therefore, maybe 3-5 minutes have been lost, times 4-5 days a week; that is upwards to 16-20 mins lost.

Reasons we do not have students stand by the door are 1)This is where stuff happens that teachers don't know about because they are at the back of the clump and don't hear or see what is happening.  Today-students standing at the door, smack talking, bell rings, students are now in the hall and one slaps another hard. 2) When students are clumped at the door, believe it or not they head into the hallway dysregulated which created chaos in the hallways. These are the TWO main reasons our staff created created the Collective Commitments, GC made a video and made posters for the classrooms.  The third important reason was so we collectively used every minute of every class period.

DO NOT HAVE STUDENTS STAND IN A GROUP AT THE DOOR WAITING FOR THE BELL TO RING. This is a hard DO NOT!  Thank you

Something to Ponder

We know relationships with students is key! We've been taught to ask, "How was your weekend?"  "How was your game last night?"  "Heard your mom was.  How is she doing?" This helps us to understand a little bit more about our students and to let them know we genuinely care. But what happens with the relationship when the grades fall, students may not have agency for choice or voice, we don't help them because 'We talked about that yesterday.  Use your notes. You know how to do this.  Ask your partner." 

 Tom Schimmer asserts that building relationships with students comes THROUGH their LEARNING, not before. 7:24 to 17:32 was mind blowing and a 'duh' moment for me.  I have reflected and replayed these few minutes several times learning something new each time.  I hope you find a gold nugget like I did!

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Winning happens when five players on the court play with one heart.

    -Kwame Alexander

Talent wins games, but teammates and intelligence win championships

-Michael Jordan

Thursday Thriller Feb 1 2024

 Thursday Thriller

February 1, 2024

Photos from the Field

Organizing cow families and pedigrees! Gotta love genetics in 8th grade!

Aiden and Juan sharing their slide deck on their favorite things.

Was it camo or decade day? It was DAMO day!!! 😅

Our wrestlers did AMAZING tonight!!!!

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.  Friday: Take attendance, go over activity day, bowling and what non-finishers of iReady will be doing-(see Nicole's email from Tuesday).

                        ASSEMBLY: We will draw 6 names and those 6 students will have the opportunity to pie one of the volunteering staff members in the face with a pie(whip cream).  We will then draw a few more for prizes.  Directions will be given for activity day and bowling. 

                        Activity Day:  Please see the assigned stations.  REMEMBER IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP with SET UP WE WOULD LOVE YOUR HELP!  TOMORROW MORNING 8:15.

                       Bowling:  I think it is a blessing in disguise to have two bowling trips.  Students will get more time to bowl with a smaller group. Bowling is paid for.  If students want to bring money for snacks at the bowling alley(we are going to the one on Ash St) they can.  As Nicole mentioned in her email, students will leave their backpacks in first period-they don't even need to bring a backpack Friday-they can bring a small bag if they need to.  Lunches for these students will be 

                    Incentives:  Students in the iReady rooms will get a Dilly Bar I believe. Students in activity day will receive their incentives during Activity Day, Bowlers will get a dilly bar.

This is why we are taking so many students bowling! :D iReady coupled with core instruction IS moving the dial for students!

 2.  We are excited for the addition to WWOnline teaching staff to offset the number of middle school students who would like to do school online.  This is a temporary position for the remainder of the school year.  This person will be shared between Garrison and Pioneer and housed at Carnegie-the new Opportunity, WWOnline and Home Link space.  We are seeing an increase in the number of students who only want half days due to anxiety, stress, etc.  Pioneer and Garrison brought this issue to Wade and Chris with the proposal/criteria below.  They offered to support the MSs with hiring this position.  

Here are the requirements for students who want to enroll with this particular WWOnline program:

1.  Student must attend half their day in person at Garrison

2. Student must either have an existing counselor or sign up for Hazel Health or Health Center (we know HC is full but we have a couple of options)

3. Student must agree to do check ins once a week with guidance counselor

4.  Students will be housed and monitored here for their online part of the day

This won't happen for a couple of weeks but we are thrilled to have this option for students and families!

3. Tomorrow afternoon, Feb. 2- we will meet in the library-all staff-to hear Shelby from ESD 123.  She has a two part series on gang education for school staff.

4. EES Survey for Staff-last year we took the EES survey all together in the library.  We had that plan but with Jeff Utect (school cancellation) and Shelby's presentation we are having a hard time finding time all together. I think it was good idea for staff to be in the room together to ask questions of each other, we had a high percentage of staff taking the survey which led to better feedback and once you walked out of the library you were done!  The goal is to be done by Feb. 7th. 

 

A couple of options you choose.  30 mins of BD time in your PLC group.  I'm open to suggestions if you have better ones. :D  We could all come to the library next Wednesday after PLC or one of the options.  Will you let me know?  Thanks

                        Tomorrow afternoon

                        Wednesday in your PLC group

                        Common Planning

Something to Ponder

Reflecting on engagement.  What does it mean to me personally engaged?  When do I know I am engaged?  How can we look at designing or planning lessons that engage students? We know if students are not engaged are your planning is for naught. Something to think about and reflect upon. Hope you find a gold nugget in this short video and the reflective questions.

Video

• How does the video clip connect to the concept of engagement for you?

• How do we design learning that engages all learners?

This chart isn't linear. When you are engaged in PD, meeting or even personally; dinner with friends, book club, card games can you answer yes to the 4 P's?

Practice creates confidence. Confidence empowers you!

-                                                             -Simone Biles, four-time Olympic gold medalist, gymnastics