Meat & Potatoes
April 10 - April 13
Up & Coming Events
Tuesday - Orchestra Solo & Ensemble Contest
Wednesday - 5th Orchestra Club
Thursday - 6th Orchestra Club
Friday - Holiday
STAAR Standards Finalized
TEA announced changes to STAAR standards for this year, and the final performance labels, descriptors, and standards are listed below.
- Does Not Meet Grade Level. This performance category applies to students scoring below Approaches Grade Level. Students at this level have not passed since performance at this level indicates a student is unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without significant, ongoing academic intervention. Students in this category do not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills.
- Approaches Grade Level. The minimum score needed to meet Approaches Grade Level is the 2016 STAAR® Level II standard. Students at this level have met the assessment requirements for purposes of Student Success Initiative grade promotion and graduation and are considered to have met at least the minimum passing standard. A student achieving Approaches Grade Level is likely to succeed in the next grade or course with targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts.
- Meets Grade Level. The minimum score needed to achieve Meets Grade Level is the STAAR® Panel Recommended passing standard. Students at this performance level have a high likelihood of success in the next grade or course but may still need some short-term, targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Students who achieve Meets Grade Level on the STAAR® Algebra II and English III assessments are sufficiently prepared for postsecondary success.
- Masters Grade Level. Previously known as Advanced. The TEA expects students at Masters Grade Level to succeed in the next grade or course with little or no academic intervention. Students in this category demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in varied contexts, both familiar and unfamiliar. Students taking the STAAR® Algebra II and English III assessments who achieve Masters Grade Level are well prepared for postsecondary success.
Counselor's Corner
Literacy
The past few years, CSISD has hosted “Literacy Palooza,” a summer professional development series centered around Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop, vocabulary instruction and other literacy instructional methods. This year, “Literacy Palooza” will become “Learning Palooza,” which will be focused around building content-area literacy. Kids read and write in all subject areas, so how can you best support their growth in your content area and in literacy? Math, Social Studies, Science and ELA teachers--Please make plans to attend “Learning Palooza” this summer! No matter what subject area you teach, there will be something for you!
June 27th - Lester Laminack : Read Aloud Across the Curriculum (K-6)
Releah Lent : Disciplinary Literacy (6-12)
June 28th - Heidi Mills : Learning for Real, Using Inquiry (Focus on K-2)
Andrea Honisfield : Core Instructional Routines (6-12)
June 29th - Andrea Honisfield : Core Instructional Routines (K-5)
Nancy Steineke : Writing Across Content (6-12)
But that's not all! We are also working on contracting with Julie Jackson : Interactive Word Walls in Science and Social Studies AND a Math focused session as well.
Signups in Eduphoria are not ready at this point, but now you have the dates to plan ahead for summer. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
SPED
SPED sends out both annual ARD forms (present levels) and six week monitor reports. These forms are similar in nature but they are completely different. Present levels documents look at the whole student; big picture of strengths and struggles. Six weeks reports focus on specific goals.
It is the teacher's responsibility to complete each of these documents and remain in compliance. If there ever is a question, please ask any SPED teacher or the case manager.
AVID
Please send documentation of any WICOR used in your classroom.
AVID Field Trip to AMCHS is Monday, April 10th from 8:30-11:30.
Rocco's Corner
Yesterday at our district Social Emotional Learning meeting I wrote these notes from one very helpful video linked at the bottom of my "Corner". This video touched on a mistake that I have made and it gave a great three step approach to deescalate instead of escalate an angry student.
Lisa Edrington's comments were paraphrased within brackets below.
You can’t control your being angry, but you can control your reaction to it... Rational response R.R.R."
Recognize that you are angry and do not dwell on it,
Reorient yourself (assume the best about the student who angers you {Lisa, even if you are wrong and the child has a negative intent, assume the positive and it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy})
Regulate your tone, volume and posture (speak calmly in a low tone with a squared posture)
Stay calm Wildcats and please look at the video linked here, it is under four minutes.