Launch
News and Notes for East Middle Faculty and Staff
What a First Week! What a wonderful, exciting, exhilarating week! East Middle is ready to LAUNCH! This I believe!!
Mindfulness Minute
http://www.mindfulteachers.org/p/free-resources-and-lesson-plans.html
So, what can we do to bolster inquiry, engagement, creativity in students who already have mastered standards? How about a mindfulness unit? Students who do not need remediation can learn awareness and mindful practice - an important foundation for leadership.
EMS Athletics - it's a full week! Sign up to attend if you haven't chosen your game coverage!
Tues 8/23 - Girls volleyball vs. East Oldham @ East 5:00 & 7:00
Football vs. East Oldham @ Daniel Field 6:00 & 7:30
Thurs 8/25 - Girls volleyball vs. North Oldham @ East 5:00 & 7:00
Spanish Update
Ms. Pardys will remain the Spanish teacher at West through the first semester. We look forward to her joining our team second semester through the end of the school year. She will partner with teachers to create exposure to language and culture that is more immersion than a separate class. It's a few months away, but be thinking about what this looks like for your content and teams.
Class Visit Shoutouts
Mr. Korfhage and Ms. Schoultz
LOVED seeing (and hearing- ha) students having a blast with social studies vocabulary word of the day. Students would shout "PeeWee Herman Style" when Ms. S or Mr. K used the word in context.
Mr. Hypes
Students were glued to the mini lesson Mr. Hypes used to model drawing perspective in their sketchbooks. Rigorous instruction from day one. Way to go, Mr. Hypes!!
Ms. McElroy and Mr. Shepherd
These teachers used the extended Friday schedule to guide students through a paper airplane design lab where they tested and revised designs based on flight distance. The largest count I saw was 30 hallway tiles - NICE! Future aviators??
Core Friday Reflection
When we gather this Tuesday, have some reflection with you around our first Core Friday. We will discuss what worked and what needs to evolve (quickly).
Have you thought about your ONE thing?
- What are you yearning to grow in your practice?
- What will you see in student learning as a result of your growth?
- How can I help you gather evidence of your growth through walkthrough feedback?
Kid Talk
John Hattie tells us students who are assessment capable are able to verbalize the learning target for a lesson, can describe where they are in relationship to the success criteria, and can use that information to choose/use strategies to master the target.
As I visit classrooms, part of my feedback to teachers will be how well East Middle Students can do this.
Exciting resource!
Adam Watson is working on creating Moby Max accounts for our students. Do not load classes on your own - the district will load students for us. For now, explore Moby Max and think how we can use this resource for skills practice and as a tool for RTI.
Bells
I have heard mixed messages regarding turning the bells on. Respond to this email and give me your reason (briefly) for leaving them off, turning them on, or some other idea for class transition. For now, they remain off until I hear from you.