Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Week 3.5

Celebrate Excellence

Sharing is Leadership


Several of our teachers have been attending G/T training provided by Region 7 this semester.  I wanted to spotlight Kallie Boxell and Saundra Morris  for sharing their learning from this training last week.  Check out their work.
TES Teachers are #Excellence4ALL

Check out some great examples of TES teachers going above and beyond to help their kids excel.
  •  Regi Gray has a homework group that she stays after with school  two days a week to get caught up on their math homework
  • Jackie Davis stays every Friday for an after school reading club to get her students caught up in AR
  • Tamara Fite and Putu Januwati organized a  homework center where ambassadors help students (campus wide) study and complete assignments -- they both stay and help monitor



Growing Excellence (+10 for ALL) 

Reestablishing Relationships in the New Year

As you reflect over your 1st 16 weeks of school, you will reflect on the kids that you have made progress, and more than likely you will identify students that you are failing to reach.  The pathway to a student's brain is through their heart, and relationships with students are at the very heart of learning.  To help you reestablish relationships with kids when they return in January, how can we know more about these kids and how can we can make a plan based on what we learn about our kids? Here are some guiding questions to help you make a plan to jump start your January.
  • What strengths does the student have?
  • What difficulties did he or she have last year?
  • What symptoms did the student show prior to the difficulty?
  • What kind of teacher communication helps this student move forward, and what kind of communication shuts him or her down?
  • What are the most critical areas in which you should provide consistency to help the student engage in the learning environment?
  • What does the student need from you to help him or her build positive relationships with other students in the classroom?
  • What personal, non-school-related characteristics about the student can you use to begin to build a positive relationship?
If you are struggling in building relationships with individual students, a group of kids or the class as a whole, I encourage you to reach out to your colleagues, your principal, or the best resource on your campus, your counselor.  You will be able to find at least one idea to help kids.  How important are relationships?  Check out this quote below.

"In the end it is going to be the basis of the relationship that allows the student to be vulnerable enough to engage in the learning."
Ben Johnson (2015)


 College AND Career 
Check out the projects that Trey Miller's students are doing in his digital media classes.

Congratulations to our freshmen.  Their passing rate on their report cards increased from 81% in the 1st 6 weeks to 89% in the 2nd 6 weeks.  Passing all classes in the freshman year is a strong predictor that the student will not drop out of school, and that is necessary to reach a college and career future.

 Google Me This 
Check out Cindy Haston's Smore on Technology for Assessment.

Here is a great idea to get collaborative learning happening through Google Classroom.  It includes all necessary procedures from assigning the task to turning it in.


 Upcoming Dates 

  • Monday, Dec 21 - Friday, January 1 - Christmas Break
  • Monday, Jan 4 - Staff Work Day (see your principal for more information)
  • Monday, Jan 11 - 3rd 6 Weeks Formative Assessments Given (CLICK HERE)
  • Thursday, Jan 14 - Deadline to give and enter FAs into DMAC 
  • Monday, Jan 18 - MLK Jr. Holiday
  • Tuesday, Jan 19 - Response to Assessment (CLICK HERE)



 What I'm Learning


Merry Christmas


Christmas is here and I would like to wish you the very merriest Christmas ever.  I'm very blessed for my wonderful family and for a wonderful district family as well.  As you leave for break, I hope you remember to enjoy the many gifts that have been bestowed upon you.

Christmas isn't Christmas without music, and as a musician I couldn't feel the spirit of Christmas without all of the songs of the season.  Aside from the every part of Handel's Messiah, my very favorite Christmas song of all time is 'Carol of the Bells'.  Instead of singing it for you, I'd like to share this awesome a capella version by Pentatonix.

Merry Christmas, and I look forward to seeing each of you in 2016.  Be thinking about your New Year's Resolution for your classroom.  If you could describe it in one word, what would it be?

  

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