K-2 Wing Newsletter
March 16-20
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Weekly Glows
A big thank you to all of the teams for submitting your common assessment data on time!
Ms. Youngblood for getting her scholars out of their seats to practice their spelling words in a fun and engaging way.
Areas to Strengthen
As we approach Spring Break, it is even more important to keep our scholars engaged. This week, student engagement was not at our best. Teachers were observed continuing to teach without all scholars' attention. Remember to have 100% participation during lessons. Do not continue teaching when your scholars are not listening. If they are often "zoned out", you are doing all of the talking and all of the work. The goal is to have the scholars do the majority of the work while you facilitate the lessons. Plan highly engaging and motivating lesson in which scholars want to participate. Circulating around the classroom also helps redirect scholar's behavior to ensure their participation. Too many teachers were observed teaching from behind and/or sitting at their desks. Teachers should circulate around the classroom and go to the scholars to assist them.
Another area in which we seem to be getting more relaxed with is classroom supervision. Your scholars are to be supervised at all times. Running across the hall to your teammates' class to ask a question or to have a conversation is not appropriate as you are leaving your class unattended. We had an incident on campus this week, in which scholars began fighting resulting in injuries, while the teacher stepped out of the classroom. Please supervise your scholars.
Thank you in advance for addressing these areas to keep our scholars learning in a safe environment.
Improving Your Practice
TOP Skill of the Month: Right is Right
For the month of March, I will be looking for the TOP skill of Right is Right. The definition is:
"When questioning students, I only accept correct answers provided by a student, and I coach students to get to 100% correctness if they are not there."
Right is Right means that teachers do not accept anything other than the correct answer from his/her scholars and do not move on until the correct answer is provided. There are several ways this can look in the classroom.
1- The teacher provides the correct answer to the scholar. The scholar repeats the correct answer.
2- A classroom peer provides the correct answer to the scholar. The scholar repeats the correct answer.
3- The teacher provides cues/questions to the scholar until the scholar gives the correct answer.
4- A classroom peer provides cues/questions to the scholar until the scholar gives the correct answer.
When I come to your classrooms this month, I will be looking for each of you to use this strategy. You can find more information about Right is Right in On Course.
Important Dates to Remember
March 16- Professional Development Day for all staff; No school for scholars
March 20: Submit Family Math Night game directions and necessary materials to Dean Blair for copies
April 1- K-2 Family Math Night
April 3- Good Friday; No School
April 6-10: Spring Break
Atlanta Heights Charter School
Email: 84.dblair@nhaschools.com
Website: www.nhaschools.com
Location: 3712 Martin Luther King Jr, Atlanta, GA, United States
Phone: (404) 472-3003