4th Week of October

TEXAS STATE FAIR WINNER
Savannah Wood placed 3rd & 5th places in her classes
for Brahmen heifers at the State Fair of Texas.
This is a prestigious show and an awesome testament of
THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE.

DOK - 3 Fold Mindset

Depth of Knowledge is not about assessment or instruction.  It's about learning.  Developing DOK 2 and 3 questions is the assessment or first step to determining the end product that all students must produce to demonstrate mastery.  Instruction is the road map that will help all kids reach mastery at DOK Level 3.

That being said.  The rigor of daily classroom instruction is a strong predictor of success on any rigorous assessment.  Students who are consistently pushed daily to work and learn independently as well as cooperatively at high levels will always be more successful at reaching mastery on DOK Level 2 or 3 questions than students who are not pushed through rigorous learning environments.

Depth of Knowledge is a 3-fold mindset.  First, we should commit to the level of mastery that we want students to reach by the end of instruction.  Second, we must set high expectations for the learning that we will put in front of students to reach that goal, and last, we will do whatever it takes to support students and hold them accountable for reaching the goal.  When we embrace this mindset, we create high expectations with high levels of support and accountability, and that is the perfect recipe for excellence.

Eduphoria Tip of the Week

TIP (Tech Integration Pic) of the Week

By Veronica Wilkerson
Students in Mrs. Crawford's class are reading eBooks in small groups. The eBooks are leveled to meet each child's individual reading level.  This is a great example of using technology as a tool to enhance instruction by personalizing the instruction that each student receives.

What unique ideas are you using to enhance instruction with technology for each child? 

Eagle Excellence

THS Band

Congratulations to the Tatum Eagle Band for being 1 of only 3 4A bands to earn straight 1's at the Region 21 Marching Contest on Saturday.  The band will advance to Area this Saturday in Longview.  Our band directors are David Applegate, Allyson Machado and Kirk Wells.  Congratulate them on a job well done.

THS Debate

The THS Debate Team just completed its first debate meet of the year, and they brought back 7th (Nathan McBride) and 10th place (Damian Lopez & Giuliano Galeazzi)  in CX at the Hallsville meet. That many not sound  like a big deal, but it is. They had two teams that went 2 and 1, and one of those (Nathan McBride) did so without his partner, which is a big deal in CX.  Nathan beat Hallsville's #1 debater, and THS has never placed in CX at a Hallsville meet before. We are so proud of our boys, and look forward to improving before district, as THS is in a tough debate district this year.

Flat Joey goes to Vietnam

Mrs. Evans' students did a Unit on Flat Stanley, and they made a Flat Joey of their own.  His picture was taken with administrators, kids, and custodians, etc... throughout our district.  The class sent Flat Joey to Mrs. Kim Permenter's 6th grade Science Class.  


Here is Mrs. Evan's story about Flat Joey.  "We have a mutual friend and Tatum Graduate, Daniel Weaver, who teaches in Vietnam.  Well, Mrs. P invited her class to my classroom.  We talked about Flat Joey, where he had been in our district, but... we wanted to mail him to Vietnam.
We mailed Flat Joey three weeks ago.  He arrived!!!  We received pictures today of Flat Joey spending the day at school with children half way across the WORLD!!!  He is going to keep Flat Joey until Christmas.  He will be traveling to many places and wants to take Flat Joey along!!!"

Tweet of the Week

@Edutopia

10/7/14, 2:58 PM How do you collect instant feedback from students? Some ideas: bit.ly/1s6wrMe. pic.twitter.com/XiZP4U0The

Blog of the Week

The Do's and Don'ts of Classroom Management: Your 25 Best Tips