Marcus Matters
February 15, 2016
Professional Learning: Innovation
1. Tweets-I knew nothing about these. I had someone come meet with me to help me develop @shaffermang and what it meant to #. I will tell you that it took me forever to understand #. My first one was recognizing one group in our school, and I was written so many times on why I did not say anything about other groups. It made me almost give up tweets forever. I then started just focusing on the kids, and tweets @shaffermang went crazy. I certainly helped by falling on the ice and being named Prairie Gary. I now have 1955 followers, and I think it has a positive impact on this school.
2. Marcus Matters-I wanted to be better at communicating with the staff at Marcus. I think my first one had so many grammatical mistakes in it, that several well-meaning staff members helped me correct it. I started sending my newsletter to them prior to emailing it out to the rest of the school. Rebecca Clark then took over and used it to address Professional Learning. Then I stumbled across Smore.com, and I liked the format so that I could once again talk about the positives about this school as well as areas we could all grow. Is it perfect? I don't think so, but my goal is to continue to grow and publish even better newsletters in the years to come.
3. For this year, I wanted to develop a program that would put a positive light on our students. I spoke with our counselors and they developed the Ambassador Program. I can't take credit for the development of this program, but I do believe that I helped spark the discussion. Lindsay Biggs, Gina Karbs, Kim Sartor, and Kelly Young were the innovators; our new students as well as guest to this school are going to reap the rewards of this great program.
Marcus High School Ambassadors
This is one innovation that will make a difference for our school. Your innovation can possibly do the same thing. Maybe because we discuss it, it can make a difference in someone else's classroom as well.
AED Training
ASL takes signing to an elementary!
Writing on our desks? Engaged in Physics!
Observing in the Sun!
Teen Leadership takes it to the ropes!
Art Target
Marcus High School
Email: shaffermang@lisd.net
Website: mhs.lisd.net
Location: 5707 Morriss Road, Flower Mound, TX, United States
Phone: (469) 948-7001
Twitter: @shaffermang