Hawk Herald
News and Notes for Teachers- Dec 3
Dear Staff
Heading into another full week of learning. Our canned food drive starts Monday the 3rd. The advisory lesson will explain the themes. See the link below. Also, the inclement weather policy is linked below.
Thanks for your active participation at our last Academic Seminar. Now that you have chosen some WICOR strategies you find interesting, I look forward to seeing how you use them this week. Thanks for your consistent engaging lessons and commitment to students. Our kids need that.
Have a great week!
Mary
You can also find the newsletter on the staff site: Staff Site
The Elves and the Shoemaker
7:00-8:30
PLCs Wednesday
Science and SS observations
AttenDance
Let Jenae know if you can chaperone.
Student Talk
Mid-term grades
Window opens Wednesday the 5th and closes Sunday the 9th.
Meetings and Events
Monday-3 Check your:Advisory Calendar
- HEA rep meeting
- ELD meeting 12:45
Tuesday-4 Mary out at meetings
- District Climate and Culture work session (Krista out)
- Team Meeting
Wednesday-5
- PLCs
- Attendance 10:10
Thursday-6
- Secondary Leadership Collaboration all day
- Team Meeting
- Play 7:00pm
Friday-7
- SST
- Play 7:00
AVID: 10 Ways for Teachers to Support Planner Usage
WICOR Book: Organization p 105
➊ Explicitly tell students, “Write this in your planner,” and wait for all
students to do it.
Rather than saying, “Your homework tonight is...,” say, “Get out your planner and write your homework...”
It’s helpful to write this into your lesson plans as a way to help you remember to explicitly say this.
➋ Build routines wherein students use their planner.
Start each week by having students write in the schedule for your class for the week. Or start each class
period by having students write the objective or essential question of the lesson in their planner.
➌ Model planner usage by having a weekly planner on the wall.
Students will benefit greatly by being able to see exactly what you expect them to write down in their
planner for your class, especially at first while you are helping them build the habit. Often companies that
sell school planners have laminated wall calendars available for teachers.
➍ “Backwards map” major assignments together as a class.
Anytime your students have a major project or major test coming up, have them write down the due date in
their planner. Then help them through the process of brainstorming the components of the project, the time
they need to complete these components, and their goal of when they should have each component done.
➎ Use the planner as a hall pass for trips to the restroom, nurses, office, etc.
This is a great schoolwide initiative to get all students to use their planner. Students are not allowed to
leave the classroom without their planner. This also provides teachers an easy way to track how many times
students are leaving their class and other classes.
➏ Have periodic “planner checks” and give students a grade for their
planner usage.
Many teachers use planners for quickwrites and bell‐ringer activities. This can then be collected for a grade in
your class. Another variation on this is having students do their “exit tickets” for your class in their planner and
showing it to you on the way out.
➐ Support struggling students by having their parents or another adult view
the planner.
Having parents or another adult sign the student’s planner is a great way to create home accountability for
assignments. The planner can be a great tool for communicating with parents to make sure that they are
aware of assignments and upcoming deadlines.
➑ Start the year with a planner “scavenger hunt.”
If your school has a standard schoolwide planner, there are probably many resources included in it that
students never know about, such as motivational quotes, the Periodic Table, maps, and lists of U.S. presidents.
Take a few minutes with your class to show them all the things that are available to them in their planner. This
activity can also be revisited periodically throughout the year.
➒ Design a planner that works for your school’s unique needs.
Many AVID site teams have designed a planner that comes already filled in with school holidays, football
games, and other major school events. It can also be designed to correspond to the schedule of your school.
This also allows schools to create planners with holes that fit in binders, or any other shape or size that is
desired.
➓ Find fun ways to incorporate the planner into your class.
Have the class write down everyone’s birthday in their planners. Add obscure holidays such as “National Share
a Smile Day” (March 1). Count down the days until the end of school.
Essential 5 Indicator 3 Level 1 A
10 Ways for Teachers to Support Planner Usage
Solomon, B., Bugno, T., Kelly, M., Risi, R., Serret-Lopez, C., & Sundly, J. (2011). The Student Success Path. San Diego,
South Meadows Middle School
Email: mendezm@hsd.k12.or.us
Website: http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/southmeadows
Location: 4690 Southeast Davis Road, Hillsboro, OR, United States
Phone: 503-844-1220
Facebook: facebook.com/SouthMeadowsMiddleSchool