Announcements May 30

More Great Results on STAAR

EOC results came back this week, and we are very excited to see the high school's results.  Every single tested area saw great improvements from 2013.  Congratulations to THS staff for their success on STAAR-EOC.  Check out Dr. Hartt's weekly memo to see the great results.  

Summer Comp Days for Core Teachers

Over the summer, core teachers in grades K-12, MITS, and any teachers, who are required by their principal to attend, will participate in the following summer comp days.

• Before August 5 - Curriculum Development Process: These directions will come out on the blog in the next post.  The process will have step by step directions for you to follow.
• August 5 - Lead4Ward training will be at the community center from 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Fine Arts Walk

Outstanding Art from our
Fine Arts Walk

The Fine Arts Walk was a huge success last night.  We had outstanding art from our digital media students, art students and our print shop students.  There were superb performances from our band students, choir students, drill team members and theatre students.  Thank you to following directors and teachers for your hard work:

• Band Directors:  David Applegate, Allyson Machado, Kirk Wells
• Choir and Theatre:  Claudia Sullivan, Pam Galloway and Rebecca Gillis
• Art, Digital Media and Print Shop:  Amanda Hancock, Tanya Moore and Melody Ojeda

The great thing about the Fine Arts Walk is all of the work that was displayed for our community.  Our parents were able to see not only the excellent work that their children were doing, but they witnessed the fantastic work that all children in Tatum ISD are able to do in many unique programs. 

College Career Readiness

Yesterday, Dr. Hartt and I attended a Business and Education Symposium hosted by Longview Economic Development Corporation at LeTourneau University.  The topic was House Bill 5 and how it is affecting public school, higher ed and business.  Here are some great take-aways that apply to everyone in our district.

"Mother Earth"

• Businesses are looking for qualified applicants that possess the 4 C's:  Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Communication.
• Businesses want to partner more with schools to help us produce a labor workforce that matches the specific technical needs of our local business community.
• Currently, 50% of our area's graduates are enrolling in college, so it is critical to have viable career pathways available for the other 50% who currently are not going to college.
• Dual credit partnerships are becoming more prevalent and more creative to match the needs of today's student.

Our local business community is extremely interested in and supportive of the work that public school teachers are doing.  They are looking to support us in teaching kids about the new career opportunities that are coming available each day.  They are also looking to hire learners, not workers.  They want employees who possess strong interpersonal skills and solid personal values.  These "soft skills" are some of the most important factors that will make or break every student in the work place. 

Cristi Whiddon has some great exemplars of tech integration.  Check them out!

Art Gallery in the Cafeteria

8th grade Reading students used Animoto to create book trailers for novels read in class. Once their projects were complete, they submitted them via Dropbox.  Here is a link to an example of one created by Sha Matter.

http://animoto.com/play/tdgo2rg6Q0Qc8PrF0C5A0w

8th grade social studies students created Fakebook pages to introduce the important people involved in the American Revolution.  Once created they uploaded to Coach Burrow's online wiki which is located on our Middle School homepage, go to Weblinks and Blogs then Coach Burrow's Online Locker.  This particular example belongs to Kelli Sandidge and is what George Washington's "Fakebook" page might look like if he were alive today.  Students then shared with the class.
http://www.classtools.net/FB/1192-4FWEY5

7th grade ELA students created a video project titled "It's My Life" using photopeach.  They used the events from their video to create personal narratives.  Along with this project they used the website, readwritethink.org, to design a cd with songs that relate to each event on their timeline.  This particular project belongs to Madison Peerenboom.

http://photopeach.com/album/sfoooe?invitecode=c8943bc8df