Thursday Thriller March 14, 2024

 Thursday Thriller

March 14, 2024

Shout Outs 

THANK YOU to our AMAZING SUPPORT STAFF!!! You truly support our students and staff!!! You are all very much APPRECIATED!!!

Nate Carrara, Heather, Nathan, Meg, Matt and Mr. White(subbing in sel) for stepping in and helping our most impacted students!!! Nate is subbing the rest of this week in the Behavior room. Next week, Caleb Lopez will be the long term sub.  Nate will be working side by side him as he turns the Behavior program over to him,.  Nate will continue to support and mentor Caleb as needed for the remainder of the school year. 

All the teachers who went on the field trips this week!!! Kids had a great time, got to experience Whitman college art and science and see WA HI and Seatech!! Field trips are exhausting and those of you that went did it 3 times this week!!! Staff who did not go on the field trips we appreciated your help and flexibility!!!

Nuts-n-Bolts

1.    FYI...Here is the timeline for the Preliminary Project Schedule for Garrison!! Whoop! Whoop!!

2.    End-of-Quarter Activity Day will be MARCH 29th in the afternoon.

3.    May 13th is the Student Success Showcase- 3.5 hours of Building Directed time is what admin have left.  1.0 hours are for planning. If there is an activity that students are involved in and can showcase what they have learned, this will involve more families.  We will also be inviting the incoming 6th grade families.  2.5 hours for the event. 

4.  MARCH 27th -STAFF MEETING  8:00-8:30 or 3:45-4:15.  Nicole and Kim will talk about the master schedule

5.  SST Meetings are on Wednesdays in the morning-6th first Wednesdays, 7th 2nd Wed and 8th 3rd Wednesday. It is your professional responsibility to remember when your grade level meets because reminders are not always sent out.   This time is covered through the 7.5 hours of Staff Meeting times that principals get.  We do have sign in sheets.  Let us know if you have questions.

6.  MARCH 21st is 9th grade registration.  This will take place 9:00-11:00. Steve has the system down!! WA HI Admin and Counselors come to Garrison and register students in small groups which worked out great last year!!

7.  MARCH 22nd-Half -day, Yaneth and Reggie along with ASB will be running the assemblies, Nicole will send out the schedule and activities.  12:55 staff meets in the library to hear the 2nd part to Gangs 101

8.    Data Meetings- Many of you have signed up!!! THANKS! Nicole and I are looking forward to nerding out on data. :D The goal is to check in and look at data, get your insights and see how you are progressing on your student growth goals and if you need support.  

9. Level System -Nicole and I have re-created a level system for discipline. This is what we put together. NEW LEVEL SYSTEM  Please take a look and then give us your feedback on this form.  FEEDBACK on NEW LEVEL SYSTEM

SOMETHING to PONDER

Truth be Told:

I am REPEATING last week's Something to Ponder.

A) I haven't gotten into classrooms

B) Setting the purpose for each lesson is SO IMPORTANT

Challenge this week- Following up on the heels of Erin Jones-engaging students in their learning and Hattie's research on teacher clarity, I'm challenging each of you to post instead of the learning target but the why and the how of your lesson.  You may find yourself with a little treat. :D An example might be:

Explain to students  "Today, we are going to learn about finding the percent of a number. Why this is important is because it will help you compare prices and save money with discounts and coupons! I'll know if you learned  this by answering the question and showing your work on how you or your family saved money by figuring out the percent off of a new iPhone 15." (Clearly...you will write a better explanation LOL)

 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.

WISE WORDS

Reggie and Ruben were trying to get a student who had left the building to come back. Ruben says, "Reggie, would you like a drink of Gatorade? I'm pretty thirsty my self." Reggie replied, "Sure, Ruben. Sounds good. Student X would like to come back for a Gatorade?"

Student X, "No! I need a whiskey!"

This week you get to choose who said the WISE WORDS-Reggie and Ruben or Student X