Team Talk
The Road to Distinctions Week of November 16-20, 2015
The Making of A Model Classroom
Creating vision, alignment, and classroom focus is connected to three major tenets:
Excellence in curriculum, instruction, and assessment
1. The curriculum will reflect research-affirmed best practices and strategic use of technology.
2. Assessment will be an ongoing practice containing both formative and summative components for students and teachers.
3. Assessment will be used to ensure quality learning and to inform teachers and teams regarding curricular and instructional decision making.
Equity and Access for ALL Students
4. Students will fulfill the expectations that they will be actively engaged and give their best efforts, intellectually and ethically.
5. Attention will be made to the whole student's emotional and well-being and guide students in accepting increasing responsibility for their learning decisions and actions .
6. Every teacher will address gaps in achievement expectations for student populations
Educating as a Professional Learning Community
7. We will commit to building to contributing to high-performing teams.
8. We will commit to collective inquiry and reflection on the results of student achievement in order to improve student learning.
9. We will commit to a high level of mutual support and TRUST between all members of the learning community.
The above tenets are excerpts from:
"The Five Disciplines of PLC Leaders"
Where are you personally and professionally with theses tenets?
"I Am Roosevelt, The Power of One"
Do your actions embody our core beliefs, values, and vision?
Values
1. Sense of Urgency
2. Commitment
3. Development of the craft of teaching
Vision
Franklin D. Roosevelt will improve the quality of instruction for all scholars by committing to developing, supporting, and monitoring systems that will transform our community to embody a culture that leads our scholars to college and post- secondary success.
Spot Observation Look Fors
There are only 7 instructional "A" days and 7 instructional "B" days remaining until the first semester ACP exams will be given.
Time is not our friend.
- Good First Instruction
- LO/DOL alignment matching the TEKS
- Student engagement
- Interactive word walls (how will you bring academic vocabulary to the forefront?)
- Anchor charts
It is suggested that you continue to review the rubric not just for the spot observation indicators, but domain 2.4 checking for academic understanding and 2.6 for activating higher order thinking skills.
Overwhelmed? What About Trust?
To help you with this overwhelmed feeling try these two high impact techniques:
1. Plan to complete two high impact tasks for the day and make a mental plan to get them done. If you only complete one of them will you feel a sense of accomplishment.
2. Lean on your PLC team members . They can and will be your rock. When the team has built trust in one another you can depend on each other when the need arises.
That is a sign of high performing teams. In times of adversity, high performing teams come together to assist and persevere to complete a task or fulfill a need. Continue to trust in one another.
Kudos
Kudos to Ms. Dill and Ms. Dougherty. The Franklin D. Roosevelt High School Robotics team took first place! The competition was part of the district's robotics competition this weekend. Way to go Mustangs! The Power of First Place!
Who will you nominate? We are still waiting.
Nominate someone who you have observed going above and beyond the call of duty. Just send the administrative team an email with a description of their actions and align it to a core belief or key action.
Kudos
Safety
The Campus Emergency Operations Committee would like to thank you for an effective Lockdown Drill. The three scholars charged with the task to enter the building were not able to gain access.
As a result of the rich dialogue during last Monday's professional development raised more concerns from staff members. The committee held a follow-up meeting to begin discussing the concerns. In light of recent events abroad, we will continue to collaborate on the issue of safety.
Remember not only safety, but student discipline is everyone's responsibility.
Student Engagement Walk
On Friday November 13, 2015, our Executive Director, Principals from the Roosevelt Feeder Pattern, participated in our student engagement walk protocol. They were very impressed with what they saw going on in the classrooms and the process used. Several Principals left with copies of our PLC structure and the student work protocol process.
Each principal recorded scholar responses from questions asked of them. I will have Ms. Easter share the responses with the entire staff via a google doc.
The process was not evaluative in nature, but just a metric of how well we are implementing our systems. Questions from the TEI student experience survey were used to leverage classroom student engagement practices.
Pathway To Impact
This week during PLC's, follow week two of the structure (Student Work Protocol). Remember to have an agenda and minutes upon completion. This is only to be done the first PLC of the week. The second PLC is used for collaborative planning.
Remember, the expectation is that all PLC's are conducted in the PLC room. This is a nonnegotiable.
Once you have completed the session, complete the PLC form that has the minutes and turn them in along with the sign-in sheet and agenda with the question that was addressed during the session.
All administrators and CIC are clear on the expectations. If you have any questions or are unclear about the process, don't hesitate to ask.
Lets continue to blaze a pathway that will have a profound impact for our scholars.
Key Action 1
Improve the quality of Instruction and increase student achievement through effective and purposeful lesson planning. (Linked to district key action# 2. Implement the TEI system, tying teacher evaluations to student achievement results).
Key Action 2
Key Action 3
Biology Goal
Algebra I Goal
Algebra I re-tester Goal
English Re-testers Goal
English I Goal
English II Goal
Happening Now
11-16 A-Day
- Spot Observations (PSP class visitations
- PLC's
11-17 B-Day
- Spot Observations (PSP class visitations
- PLC's
11-18 A-Day
- Spot Observations
- PLC'
11-19 B-Day
- Spot Observations
- PLC's
11-20 A-Day
- Spot Observations
- No PLC's
11-21 Saturday School 9-12
Coming up
11-23 B-Day
- Spot Observations
- PLC'S
11-24 A-Day
- Spot Observations
- PLC's
11-25-27
- Thanksgiving Break
- Directive to get some well deserved rest and enjoy family and friends! This is a non-negotiable! :)
On The Horizon
12-7
EOC Re-test (Eng. I/II, Biology, Algebra I, U.S. History)