Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Week 5.2

Celebrate Excellence
Texas Public Schools Week has been a hit in Tatum.  Here are just a few hits from the week around the district.  Check out our Twitter feed or Facebook page for more great events.






 Growing Excellence (+10 for ALL) 
Spring is in the air and that means one thing, spring cleaning.  It's time to clean out the closets and garages and get the house spruced up.  While I know that spring cleaning takes a lot of work, I also know that it is well worth the effort.  It makes my spring so much more enjoyable.

Well let's apply that idea to your classroom.  What are your plans to clean out your classroom.  I'm not talking about cleaning your room or even cleaning out the drawers and closets.  I'm talking about your routines, procedures, and processes that help all kids learn at higher levels.  As you are getting ready for spring break, ask yourself these questions?
  1. Where is student behavior doing well, and what routines should continue?
  2. Where is students behavior lacking, and what do I need to change to address it?
  3. What activities promote higher levels of engagement, and how can I get more of these activities into my instruction?
  4. Where is engagement lacking, and what do I need to do differently to reengage my students?
  5. Where and how can I ramp up the rigor for high achievers?
  6. Where and how can I give more support to struggling students?
The answers to these questions will tell you what you need to address and what you need to clean out of your practice.  Why do you need to do this before break?  The answer is pretty simple.  When the students return from spring break, they will be fresh.  Upon their return, they will most open to new routines, motivational strategies and higher expectations.  They will also be more receptive to more challenging activities that require more movement, interaction and conversation, and they will more flexible than at any point in the year simply because they will have been out of the "school" routine for 11 days.  

Spring weather brings with it a desire to be more active which is why behavior often gets more exuberant than usual.   It is important to remember that without a specific plan to adjust to the "spring" behavior that will return after break, instruction has a strong chance of suffering.   Don't miss this "once a year" opportunity to do some spring cleaning in your classroom.  It may be just the thing that will meet your kids where they currently are and take them to where they need to be.  



 College AND Career 

Learn about Wanda Risner's Paxton Patterson Lab from this TNT video by Sha Matter.



 Google Me This 

CK-12 Free Textbook
Are you looking for another resource to help your kids learn?  Check out CK-12 which is a free site for you to find more tools to teach your content.  Thank you to Cindy Haston for finding and sharing this resource.

The Evolution of Technology in Sports by D'Torian Smith from the TNT class


 Upcoming Dates 

  • March 7 - 11 - Spring Break
  • March 13 - Daylight Savings Time (Spring Forward 1 Hour)
  • Wed, 3/16 - Early Release for STAAR test administrator training.  See principal for details.
  • March 15 - 18 - TELPAS Testing
  • Thu, 3/24 - Deadline to enter Mock tests & FAs into DMAC
  • Fri, 3/25 - Bad Weather Day / Good Friday
  • Tue, 3/29 - Fri, 4/1 - STAAR Testing 
    • Tue - 4 & 7 Writing, 5 & 8 Math, English 1
    • Wed - 5 & 8 Reading
    • Thu - English 2
    • Fri - Make-up Testing


 What I'm Learning


Turn Feedback into Detective Work by Bill Ferriter

Read this article on Design Thinking by John Spencer and check out his video below.  This is a great framework to push students to higher levels of rigor and embed STEM or STEAM in instruction.


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