Friday Faculty Focus
News and Notes about #BeBCMS-
Wrapping up the Week
We had a great week getting back into learning! Next week we are back to a regular schedule with no spirit days with the exception of Tuesday 10/31. Teachers are expected to be back in professional dress.
Thank you for getting coverage organized for our staff absences. Team Leaders, please see Shelby for jeans passes. I appreciate everyone's efforts to make the absence of a teacher not a factor for our scholars.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-- you must take attendance! Every period. If you have someone you should not have, report it. If you are missing someone, report it. We need to know where EVERY child is at all times!
Also, we are going to begin to minimize classroom disruptions. Please be vigilant at checking your email when we need to get scholars. I am communicating more on foot and text message. Please see me with concerns regarding that practice.
A huge thank you to Ms. Swindell for taking care of all the Red Ribbon Week activities and coordinating them!
#BeBCMS Elite PBIS update!
The PBIS School Store is open in the mornings!
The store will be open T/W/R for ALL grades at Breakfast time.
Mr. Dinkins will be ordering new items for the store!
The next PBIS event will be right before Christmas Break. We will use Quarter 2 data (beginning with Monday Oct. 16th) and use qualifiers: No OSS / No ISS-- we will begin to have those conversations with our scholars!
We need to be all hands on deck during BREAKS and BUS RAMP. We are seeing a spike in our behavior and our discipline.
October data so far:
56 majors
153 minors
This is very high! Consider taking 5 minutes to realign your classroom practices and procedures. 50% of October referrals have happened in our classrooms!
I have had scholars ask me about being excluded for PBIS events if they have earned ISS for a class period. We will say the ISS needs to be half day to full day ISS/OSS.
#RRW
#BunnyEars
#AlwaysLearning
RTI News and Notes (RTI: READY TO IGNITE-- Elite Interventions!)
RTI meetings are continuing. Please remember: TIER ONE IS ELITE Instruction for ALL scholars! I appreciate everyone's efforts making sure scholars are getting the correct services and working to understand the processes and procedures that we have in place.
Remember: Our focus is on the learning.
TEACHERS: participating in RTI meetings is not optional. They are scheduled during your planning periods, please make sure you are attending. This is TKES standards 9 and 10.
Here is the most up-to-date RTI list. https://docs.google.com/a/bryan.k12.ga.us/document/d/1z0gCRzYHFIky-1apjSnooY0nqdOPAPPnkutAB_URbDM/edit?usp=sharing
Keep the main thing: the main thing!
Red Ribbon Week!
Red Ribbon Week -- What a great week! Thank you to ALL Staff for making this an elite experience for our scholars!
Congratulations to our winning door: Ms. Swindell!
Important Events!
Friday- #FocusFriday, Kona Ice
Monday- #CelebrateMonday, October Scholars of the Month due in the google doc!
Tuesday- #TerrificTuesday, FREE Hat Day for Halloween, Celebration for October Scholars of the Month!
Wednesday- #WinWednesday, Fall Sports Banquet, 5:00 PM
Thursday-#ThankfulThursday,
Friday- #FocusFriday, Club Day!
Upcoming:
11/1 Basketball Tryouts begin
11/7 Parent Academy Night (Title 1)- One rep from each team please! 5:30 PM
11/10 Veteran's Day Assembly; 9:30 AM - BCHS Gym
Focus on..... QUALITY instruction
CCRPI will be publically released in the upcoming week. As we begin to dive into our schoolhouse data and our trend data, we know we cannot change the numbers. The ONE thing we do have control over is our charge on the relentless pursuit of QUALITY instruction and quality instructional practices! It ALL begins in our learning environments!
What kinds of strategies can you implement into your learning environment to be an educational disruptor? That is a challenge to myself everyday. I strive to be an educational disruptor!
Our scholars have been short changed enough-- it is TIME for us to step up and create learning experiences beyond anything they could have imagined!
This week: think about how you can add some elements of PBL into your lesson designs and experiences. You don't have to be an expert at PBL or even (our favorite educational buzzword) TRAINED in PBL to sprinkle in components of PBL:
- Significant Content- STANDARDS based!
- 21st Century Competencies- What do we need to function in today's world: problem solving and critical thinking.
- In-Depth Inquiry- Ask questions, think, re-think, develop answers--
- Driving Questions-PBLs are open ended questions that students understand and find intriguing to explore
- Need to Know-Students understand the need to gain this knowledge
- Voice and Choice- (personal fav of PBLs) WHO doesn't love CHOICE? WHO doesn't learn better when it's an option?
- Critique and Revision-Students give and receive quality feedback
- Public Audience- Presentations!
I can't wait to see what you do with this! Be an educational disruptor and have a relentless pursuit and focus on your daily instructional practices!
Information from: Lead Like A Pirate, Teach Like a Pirate, Learn Like a Pirate
(3 of my top five favorite books EVER)
Nuggets and News
- The Innovation Center: Please be on time and be intentional in your learning!
I am VERY proud of the work we are doing in The Innovation Center and we are ExExExCited for Q2, Q2 have begun!There are MANY of you not enrolled.
Here is the link for sign up for Q2
Preplanning: Q3 and Q4 offerings will be out in November so you can decide which quarter will be your passion project (off)
- Supervision: PLEASE make sure you are at your supervision spots on time. The new supervision schedule is here:
- Lesson Designs: Make sure data is driving your planning and have your lesson plans uploaded in the Team Drive Folders nad on your clipboards available. AB, KW, and I look at all lesson plans as we continue TKES classroom walk thrus. We are looking for ACTIVE engagement. Lesson plans are not optional. Get them updated and get them posted and accessible.
- GYM floor is getting redone next week-- ALL scholars have to eat breakfast in homerooms. Mr. Charles will be putting trash cans in the hallways. PLEASE keep your scholars in your rooms and monitor!
- Coverage for next week: LOOKS GOOD! At this time, we will have ONE day unfilled with no sub (Friday- Davis)
- Please start reminding scholars to eat breakfast as soon as they enter the gym. We need scholars to be ON TIME to class and we need to model and remind this basic LIFE expectation!
We invite all staff members to send in a picture of a family member who has or is serving in our Armed Forces.
We will scan the photo and add it to our Veterans Day slide show. Please submit these as soon as possible. All submissions should be placed in an envelope with the student's name so that we can return it after scanning it. Submit to Mrs. Opper. Please note that we are adding these submissions to our existing slide show.
- Book Fair and Georgia Peach Books- Ms. Dyson will be meeting with each team to explain the structure. We will make posters with our contest as well! I can't wait to see who reads all the books first!
- Please take a look at this information in regards to building capacity as a Title 1 school for us as professionals. We will discuss this information at your next Team Meetings.
http://www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Federal-Programs/Partnerships/Pages/Handbook.aspx
- Compliance Checks - #CelebrateMonday with 5x5s! Lesson designs need to be standards based and match standards based instruction.
- Meetings Schedules: Monday: TEAM, Tuesday: RTI, Wednesday: Math ,Thursday: ELA , Friday: Science and Social Studies
- Sunshine Club: We would like to have 100% participation in our BCMS Sunshine Club! Dues this year will be $20.00 to Shelby and you will get one free "anytime" jeans pass. This is the only we have as a school house to show people we care about them when they go through hardships. We are a family! Please consider this donation.
- JEANS passes for November and December are available-- $15.00 for the 6 Fridays!
- "YOU are LATE to school" passes will be on sale beginning Monday. Buy packs of 4 passes for $10.00 and come to school at 8:00 AM.
#LoveTheProcess
What I'm Reading....
I love love love books but I also LOVE LOVE LOVE great articles and blogs. As I am working through George Couros' book, I came across this blog.
With CCRPI on my mind and the work we do everyday as educators in my heart, I felt like this was an incredible article for how I am feeling. I hope you find some power in it as well.
Be an educational disruptor!
http://mophysicsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2017/10/innovate-lose-grow.html?m=1
If you are crushing a new book, tell me about it!
Ms. Dyson: When is my Turtle book coming in??? :)
L
Tweet....Tweet....Tweet...
KEEP tweeting and telling our story! We are changing the narrative of what people know and think about Bryan County Middle School #OneTweetAtATime
If you participate in a Twitter Chat this week you will earn a COME IN LATE pass-- just show me evidence! Also, tag me @missliz31 and BCMS @BryanCountyMS in all your awesome tweets please!
FollowFollow @CJCain7
More
One choice you have each and everyday day through all situations you encounter is your attitude. #leadlap
Thursday November 2nd- Faculty Meeting
We will have a mandatory staff meeting on Thursday November 2nd at 7:45 AM in the Parent Resource Room. It will be brief.
Sign Up to Help Winter Athletics
Winter Athletic Season is upon us! We are ExExExCited for both Boy's and Girl's Basketball. Please use this link to sign up for volunteering for Tickets and Concessions.
Thank you!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_1OMOYKnSbHYTcz-Updx9acfZBlXreyGefYeiYjv2-0tpVg/viewform
WIN-- Whatever I Need update!
- Monday- Set goals, review personal data and school data, grade check-- USE MAP READING data to support school wide Literacy Goal
- Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday- Remediation/Enrichment: focus on Literacy- Scholars may still need some support knowing where to go. Help them and support them. Remind them this is flexible learning time! :)
- Friday- Clubs-- If you need items for your club, please put it in your Amazon Cart! PTO is going to be assisting us with some of our needed CLUB items!
WIN time is academic in nature no matter who you are teaching. You can try new teaching techniques and new strategies.
Counselor News and Notes
Ms. George is rocking the United Way Campaign this year! She has some exciting challenges planned for us!
- United Way
We will be pre-ordering Chick-Fil-A Chicken Biscuits for $3.00 with all proceeds going to United Way. Please tell your scholars and promote this delicious breakfast!
Holiday Help-Bryan County Children’s Fund (BCCF)
#RTB
Where are you?
This week, let's focus on NO BCD as we row our boats. NO BCD is a simple, yet hard to always do, concept. With the release of our CCRPI soon, the daunting task we have in front of us of growing scholars, and the energy level needed to maintain our ELITE culture and climate that it takes to rock our schoolhouse, it's easy to get wrapped up in all the reasons why you can't make it happen. But: WE can make it happen!
#KeepRowing #BeElite
Still my favorite BCMS football picture!
L