Principal's Corner
Volume IV - September 25, 2016
Teacher of the month - Last week to vote for September
Teachers, please announce this to your students, and post the link in your classroom.
What do the students think? (Highlights from this week's Teacher of the Month responses)
- Mrs. Lanier is always there for anybody if you need somebody to talk to! She will not judge you at all, but she will do her best to help you with anything you need! I love being in her first period class, she makes health team relations so fun!
- In my mind, Mr. Tucker makes history fun. I don't know about his other classes, but I'm currently in his AP US History class. I absolutely hate history if isn't taught in a way that appeals to me, and because of that I feared taking AP. In his class however, I always find myself interested in the material and the way he draws examples or explains how events happen makes me pay attention because it's exciting. Mr. Tucker also manages to get straight to the point when it comes to material, not covering anything we won't need to know. This eases my mind and gives me a little confidence that I have a good chance at taking the AP test later.
- In homeroom, Mr. Salzman talked to us like no one has talked to us, and treated his homeroom class like they were actual people, and told us stuff that he knew would be helpful later on in life.
- Tommy Bost is literally the best human of all time.
SHOUT OUTS!!!
- A big shout out is deserved by Sonya Miller and James Michael Miller for giving up their time to prepare lesson plans, take up fees, and ensure the students had everything they needed while we searched for a new business teacher.
- To Mr. Shreckengost, Mrs. Roberts, and the Wildcat Regiment of Richlands High School, who traveled to Ashley High School in Wilmington , NC to compete in the Screaming Eagle Invitational. The band took the 1st place sweep in it's division.
- To Mrs. Wible, who is doing a great job getting our data room going! Stop by her hut to check it out.
- To our newest RHS Wildcat teacher, Mr. Doug Cummings. Welcome to THE LANDS!
- To Mr. Tucker and Mr. Fields who noticed a traffic issue in the afternoons. They took it upon themselves to direct traffic to alleviate this issue.
Notes from the RHS Administrative Team
- All pre-conferences, PDPs, and self-assessments should be completed (green check) in NCEES. If you have not had a conference with an administrator at this point, please send us an email.
- Federal Cards go out Monday. Mr. Staley will buy Krispy Kreme for the first three homerooms that are 100% turned in and 100% accurate.
- Please help us spread the word about Senior information night (Monday, 6:30, RHS Auditorium) and the Onslow County College Fair (Wednesday, 6:00, Northside HS)
- Please remember to speak with an administrator and sign out in the front office if you need to leave campus.
- Teacher attendance was great this week! VERY few subs needed. Thank you!
- Lesson Plans are looking good on OneNote. Be sure you have this week's plans uploaded by Monday morning.
PLC Spotlight
As we begin to refine PLCs on our campus, I will share some PLC fundamentals. This week's information is taken from DuFour's work with the PLC model.
About PLCs
Professional learning community (PLC)
An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.
What Are Professional Learning Communities?
It has been interesting to observe the growing popularity of the term professional learning community. In fact, the term has become so commonplace and has been used so ambiguously to describe virtually any loose coupling of individuals who share a common interest in education that it is in danger of losing all meaning. This lack of precision is an obstacle to implementing PLC processes because, as Mike Schmoker observes, “clarity precedes competence” (2004a, p. 85). Thus, we begin with an attempt to clarify our meaning of the term. To those familiar with our past work, this step may seem redundant, but we are convinced that redundancy can be a powerful tool in effective communication, and we prefer redundancy to ambiguity.
We have seen many instances in which educators assume that a PLC is a program. For example, one faculty told us that each year they implemented a new program in their school. In the previous year it had been PLC, the year prior to that it had been “understanding by design,” and the current year it was “differentiated instruction.” They had converted the names of the various programs into verbs, and the joke on the faculty was that they had been “UBDed, PLCed, and DIed.” The PLC process is not a program. It cannot be purchased, nor can it be implemented by anyone other than the staff itself. Most importantly, it is ongoing—a continuous, never-ending process of conducting schooling that has a profound impact on the structure and culture of the school and the assumptions and practices of the professionals within it.
We have seen other instances in which educators assume that a PLC is a meeting—an occasional event when they meet with colleagues to complete a task. It is not uncommon for us to hear, “My PLC meets Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.” This perception of a PLC is wrong on two counts. First, the PLC is the larger organization and not the individual teams that comprise it. While collaborative teams are an essential part of the PLC process, the sum is greater than the individual parts. Much of the work of a PLC cannot be done by a team but instead requires a schoolwide or districtwide effort. So we believe it is helpful to think of the school or district as the PLC and the various collaborative teams as the building blocks of the PLC. Second, once again, the PLC process has a pervasive and ongoing impact on the structure and culture of the school. If educators meet with peers on a regular basis only to return to business as usual, they are not functioning as a PLC. So the PLC process is much more than a meeting.
So, what is a PLC?
We argue that it is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.
Notes from the coach - Mary Wible
Looking for ways to increase student engagement?
Take a few minutes to check out Larry Ferlazzo's, Ways to Cultivate Whole-Class Engagement, found at http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2014/04/response_ways_to_cultivate_whole-class_engagement.html
Here is an excerpt below:
“Incorporating TAPN into your question protocols will increase the percentage of students who actively engage with your questions.
· Time: "You have one minute 45 seconds." (Takeaway: Racing the countdown clock energizes students.)
· Amount: "You are going to read the next paragraph looking for the main point." (Takeaway: The workload should be challenging, but not overwhelming.)
· Public: "When you are finished, be prepared to share with a partner or with the entire class." (Takeaway: Knowing their work will likely be made public raises the stakes and increases students' level of concern.)
· Novelty: "As you read, you are going to highlight any words or phrases that support . . . " (Takeaway: Small variations in the academic routine arouse students' interest.)”
AVID Strategy of the week
Post four pieces of paper in the four corners of the classroom.
Write a controversial topic on the board (for example: Schools should eliminate report cards).
Have students move to the corner that best matches their position (Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Strongly Disagree, Somewhat Disagree). If social cliques are a problem, have students write their choice on a card first in order to ensure honest reactions.
Each corner will have 2 minutes to discuss and solidify their reasoning/logic.
Each group selects a spokesperson to express the group's position. He/she has 30 seconds to express thoughts concisely and persuade their classmates. Other groups must listen intently. After the first corner presents, invite those who have been persuaded to move to the appropriate corner.
Direct each group to present their group's position in turn. Allow students to move to the appropriate corners if they have changed their minds.
MTSS Tidbit: Critical Components, Part 2
Communication and Collaboration
Ongoing communication and collaboration are essential for successful implementation of MTSS. Many innovations fail due to a lack of consensus, lack of feedback to implementers to support continuous improvement, and not involving stakeholders in planning. In addition to including stakeholders in planning and providing continuous feedback, it is also important to build the infrastructure to communicate and work with families and other community partners. These practices increase the likelihood that innovative practices will be implemented and sustained.