Week 1.4

Growing Excellence (+10 for ALL) 

As we begin week 1.4, there are some awesome examples of learning taking place all over the district.  I see lots of examples of students working hard and being actively engaged.  Remember that we learn more by doing, and when kids are doing more each day, they are learning more each day.

Scott Eppler (right) has integrated technology into his Collaborative Learning activities. In his world geography class his students follow along in his focus lesson on the E-R-A activity to prepare them for the 1st 6 weeks formative assessment. As they are following along, they are collaborating in groups of 3 as they work together to complete their personal copy of the E-R-A on Chromebooks.

The keys to collaborative learning are clear expectations for behavior and successfully completing the task.  Collaboration accelerates learning when students are required to create their own products to demonstrate mastery, and when they are challenged to learn from their peers to complete the task.  Collaborative learning also gives the teacher opportunities to gather informal data on individual students and the class as a whole.

Looking for a good DOK Question?  
CLICK HERE

 College AND Career 
Students in grades 5-9 can earn a scholarship right now.  Go to http://matchthepromise.org/, and learn all about it.   Parents can start saving for their child’s college, and if awarded, the scholarship will contribute matching funds to the student's account.  To qualify, the family income must be below $100,000.  Another prerequisite to the scholarship is that the parent must enroll in the Texas Tuition Promise Fund.  

 Google Me This 
Sharing Google Docs can be tricky.  Once you click the share button, here are some reminders on what sharing documents actually entails.  If you need help with this, ask Google (help button), ask your peers, ask your MITS or ask me.

 Upcoming Dates 

• Fri., 9/11 - End of 3 Weeks Grading Period
• Week of 9/14 - Communicate to parents if students are failing at 3 weeks.
• Fri., 9/11 - Formative Assessment Answer Keys emailed to Principal
• CLICK HERE for Formative Assessment Guidelines
• Mon, 9/28 - Begin formative assessments
• Fri, 10/2 - Deadline to enter FAs in DMAC
• Fri, 10/2 - End of 1st 6 weeks
• Wed, 10/7 - Early Release Day: Mandatory 504 Training for all staff at THS Auditorium

 What I'm Learning

• Homework Battles - When Parent Help Negatively affect Student via +MindShift 
• Interesting Graphic on Assessment for Learning
• The Surprising Science of Praise

Here is a great graphic by @SylviaDuckworth that illustrates how far we can go with technology.