February 10, 2020
A Communication Tool for the Seven Hills Staff
February is for Filling Emotional Bank Accounts!
We all know how a regular bank account works. We make deposits, save up money, and when we need that money later we make a withdrawal. An Emotional Bank Account is an account of trust instead of money. It is an account based on how safe you feel with another person.
One of the six strategies Covey recommends for filling EBAs is "attending to the little things." Don't you find that the little things become the BIG things when they do not receive our attention? Doing the little things is how we honor and show respect for others: small kindnesses, a smile, a little extra effort, a hug, doing something you didn't have to. These are the things that build trust.
Throughout the month of February, we are going to work as a staff to fill Emotional Bank Accounts through a Kindness Campaign and Fabulous February activities. Not to mention, the Staff EBA Action Team AND the Kindness Club have a few additional things up their sleeves! Which makes me wonder....What ideas do you have for filling EBAs in your classrooms?
This Week's Kindness Campaign:
- Intervention Team is providing Cupid Crunch to staff in the lounge on Monday.
- Take your class to the kindness board and read the message posted. Take a picture of your students. Send them to their parents. Tween them and use the hashtag.
- Be kind to yourself by sharpening the saw this week: drink lots of water and eat a healthy snack every day; engage in physical activity at least 3 days.
Fabulous February:
(Note if you don't participate in the theme of the day it is professional dress)
- Monday: Seven Hills Go Red Day! Wear red with Jeans today...because we forgot last Friday!
- Tuesday: "Hats Off to My Awesome Staff" - wear your 7 Hills Hat with jeans today
- Wednesday: Warm Up Wednesday
- Thursday: "We Love Melissa Day" wear jeans with your Melissa shirts
- Friday: Wear jeans with red, pink or purple for Valentine's Day!
SEL Focus for February...Building Relationships:
This article has been catching a good bit of attention on social media recently, and connects nicely to the work we have been doing this year on building trust and having a high trust classroom. We will discuss the SEL focus of building positive and appropriate relationships in our next meeting together, but I thought you might find this article interesting and affirming to the work we have already been doing this year!
Symposium...Exciting News!
- Site Visit Host
- Break Out Session Presenters: Kim Blackburn & Tanya Ledger; Amy Feind, Jen Morales & Nicole Wallis with Student Lighthouse Leaders; Laura Sammons & Mackenzie Davidson
- Student Greeters and Registration Help at Dallas Symposium
- Student voice on panel
- Student speech
Your ILT and LHT leaders will be or have already updated you about changes to our Open House and Leadership Expo event which is the night before our Symposium site visit! This will be a dress rehearsal for Symposium!
Lighting the Way...Leaving a Legacy!
Leader in Me Online
45 staff members have signed up...EEK...and not all classroom teachers have signed up to date! This is the last reminder before individual teachers start receiving notifications to join! Thank you in advance for taking care of this! You will need this to make your Habit Huddle fresh and fun! :)
Hello,
As part of the exciting Leader in Me process, we have been granted access to Leader in Me Online. It includes so many great resources you can use! By setting up your account, you will also receive Leader in Me Weekly. These practical, tactical classroom implementation idea emails will come directly into your inbox each week. Let’s get started!
To set up your account:
1. Go to https://www.leaderinme.com/users/sign-up?code=SHES2
2. Enter this Registration code in the box provided: SHES2
3. Fill out the form and click Sign Up
4. You will be granted access to the Leader in Me Online
Registration code not working?
Find your school in the drop down list, fill out the form, and request access. A School Administrator at your school will be sent a notification where they can grant you access to the Leader in Me online.
If you are having difficulty with this process feel free to reach out to support@leaderinme.com for assistance.
Friday Night Lights...Winning the TEA Improvement Game!
- Resources for state testing preparation such as Fast Focus
- Comp Ed tutor - I have been looking for a math comp ed tutor to support students in grades 3-5 during the school day.
- Tutorials beyond the school day - Tuesday Tutorials and Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights was a successful tutorial program last year, and we WILL be offering it again this year. Based on our new designation with the state, we are going to have to open it up to more students, which means we are going to need more staff support. Friday Night Lights will run for 10 sessions, beginning Friday, February 21st. Staff can sign up for all sessions or only a few. Sign up sheets will go out this week, and we will discuss the details in the Thursday meeting. We will also meet with 3-5 teachers this week to talk about specific students being invited.
Results matter. Seven Hills does have a designation with the state this year that we simply cannot ignore. We have been afforded CompEd funds to support efforts to change these results. We need your help! ALL staff can sign up to support this effort...professional and paraprofessional! $25 an hour! This is a win-win...support our Stars and earn a little cash in your pocket! More details to come this week, but I wanted EVERYONE to have time to think about how they could help be a part of changing the results at Seven Hills!
"Getting Better" with Literacy Instruction:
- Feedback Cycle with Campus Administrator: Each ELA teacher will be assigned a campus administrator as a partner to engage in a feedback cycle. The teacher will determine an area of focus, and the administrator will observe in the classroom to provide the teacher with evidence from the lesson observed. The goal would be for the teacher and administrator to engage in at least ONE session before Jonathan and Jepi visit in February. Focus areas you might consider are components of the lesson delivery, conferring, how you are using the tools you have (tool for moving readers up, progressions), strategy group lesson delivery and organization. The focus is on instruction not environment The partnerships are linked here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VqNuHl4rF2Dxbw-cPDvw-E6HyW5du8FqK9I6sC36Zcs/edit?usp=sharing
- Grade Level Teams Engage in Instructional Rounds With a Partner Grade Level: Each K-2 will be partnered with a 3-5 grade level team to conduct feedback walks during your PLCs on February 11. We will use the tool used during Learning Teams in December to gather evidence, and we will debrief during vertical teams on February 13. The look for tool that we used is linked here so that there are no surprises, and this might also help you with thinking about a focus area: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wpbVwL9Pbfcu_dJmthFz9I--AI_USO_PLNZN8-ciMlY/edit?usp=sharing
Lockdown With Law Enforcement Tuesday at 9:00:
Please make sure you have sent the communication to parents. A letter will be sent via campus email one more time on Monday afternoon.
At 9:00 am we will come over the intercom and say, "Locks, Lights, Out of Sight." Remember, this is how we enter into a lockdown drill. Lock the interior door. Turn off ALL lights: TVs, chrome books, monitors, christmas lights, etc. Move away from sight. If you are not sure how to move away from sight in your room, please contact Tanya or me before Tuesday morning. We have had questions about covering windows. There are differing opinions on this. If you have the window covering...USE IT. If you do not, do not stress over it.
We must take this seriously, but please also reassure students that this is practice. DO NOT open the door for anyone. All personnel assisting will have a master key to open doors. Wait for instructions announced on the PA system before returning to regular schedule. We will send communication via email to debrief the drill.
From Tanya:
Safety and Security- we will have a hold drill and lockout drill this week. Please make sure you and your students are prepared and know what to do in each drill.
Benchmarks-we will have a 5th grade Reading benchmark this week.. Please note the following upcoming benchmarks this month.Be aware that schedules may change on these days and support staff will be involved in administering.
5th grade Math-February 18th
4th grade Writing=February 19th
4th grade Reading-March 2nd
4th grade Math-March 5th
3rd grade Math-March 6th
3rd grade Reading-March 19th
From the CIT:
Assessments this Week:
K-2:
None
3rd Grade:
February 13-14 3Science.3.Earth and Space 2
4th Grade:
February 10-12 4Math.3.Modules 7-9
Upcoming Assessments:
3rd Grade:
February 17-21 3.ELA.3.CBA Jump! (due in Edugence by Feb. 26)
4th Grade:
February 19 Writing Benchmark
due in Edugence by Feb 25.
5th Grade:
February 18 Math Benchmark
From the Librarian:
This week is Week A for the library schedule!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12YyxQLcg83SMeiLeayduQZrVVEmCL-ruWW08I4UywlE/edit?usp=sharing
Please have someone from each grade level team email a list of DBQ topics to me. I want the library collection to have what you need for these and other topics. I hope to place the orders for our grant materials before spring break. If I don’t know what you need, I can’t add it to the order. ;-)
Our OSOB book choice is The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo. I need some volunteers for the OSOB committee, 1 person from each grade level would be ideal. Email me with the name of the person who will represent your grade level by this Friday, please.
From the Intervention Team:
Monday, February 10th- TELPAS Writing Window Opens! You may start collecting student writing samples for TELPAS! See the TELPAS manual for all the requirements.
Our first round of TELPAS Calibration will take place this Wednesday, February 12. If you signed up to Calibrate on Wednesday, Mrs. Bryan has sent you a calendar invite for a reminder. Calibration will take place in Mrs. Bryan and Ms. Goosey’s Room from 3:00-5:00. Remember your computer and earphones. No cell phones please. We will provide a copy of the PLDs and scratch paper. Good Luck!
For students who are taking STAAR Online:
Please schedule with Mario and Rupa a day and time for them to help your students practice with STAAR Online- providing students the opportunity to practice using the tools, navigating through the test, and answering STAAR test questions. The more practice the more comfortable our students will be the day of the test. Please E-mail Mario and Rupa to schedule a day for students to start practicing for STAAR Online.
Remember to enter your progress monitoring data points in E-Star this week. If you need assistance with your Tier 2 goals or plans, please reach out to Rachel.
Habit Huddle Connection:
Amy Feind sent this graphic to everyone last week. Your ILT and LHT representatives either have or will be reviewing the ideas presented here with you. The ideas are based on discussions we have been having about refreshing and recharging our Habit Huddle time for the spring semester. This time should be one of the most meaningful times of the day for you and your students. It sets the tone for the day, allows you an opportunity you to check in with your students, fosters relationships, builds trusts, provides an opportunity to explicitly teach the 7 Habits, and is a prime time to empower students to take the lead and teach! It is also naturally a time that can become routine and boring if we are not intentional. What will your teams and what will you do to refresh and recharge your Habit Huddle?
Habit 6 Connection:
This is provided by me as a connection to help staff connect the habits to their personal and professional lives. The connections provided here can be used in the classroom as well.
The essence of synergy is to value and respect differences, to build on strengths and to compensate for weaknesses. The author says that many of us haven’t actually experienced synergy in our family lives or in other interactions. We’ve been shaped into defensive and protective communications or into believing that life or other people can’t be trusted. Therefore, we have a tendency to not open up to this highly effective principle which “requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure”.
Synergy and Communication:
Below are 3 different levels of communication and the level of trust that is associated to each:
- Defensive communication is of the lowest level and comes out of low-trust situations. It’s characterised by defensiveness, protectiveness and legalistic language which prepares for the eventuality that things may go wrong, that people may become resentful. Such communication isn’t effective and produces only Win/Lose or Lose/Lose outcomes.
- Respectful communication is characterised by honesty, authenticity and respect which produces a low form of Win/Win, a compromise where 1+1 = 1½.
- Synergistic communication means that 1+1 may equal 8, 16 or even 1’600. The situation produced is better than any originally proposed.
Covey says that even if there are circumstances in which synergy is not achievable and “No Deal” isn’t viable, the spirit of sincere trying will usually result in a more effective compromise.
The essence of synergy: valuing the differences:
Mental, emotional and psychological differences between us mean that we see the world not as it is, but as we are. Recognising our own perceptual limitations and appreciating the rich resources available through the interaction with other human beings takes humility and reverence.
Application suggestions:
- Make a list of people who irritate you. Do they represent different views that could lead to synergy if you had greater intrinsic security and valued the difference?
- The next time you have a disagreement or confrontation with someone, attempt to understand the concerns underlying that person’s position. Address those concerns in a creative and mutually beneficial way.
Reminders and Announcements:
- SLO checks are due February 15 in Edugence. Don't wait until the last minute! Many of you already have the data needed to update this progress check.
- Valentine Parties: IMPORTANT...per FERPA rules, you cannot sent home class lists for Valentine Parties. Students simply need to label their Valentines "To a Friend"
Save the Date:
Monday, February 10:
- ILT at 3:15
- Lockdown Drill with Law Enforcement at 9 am
- Grade Level PLCs - Walk Throughs - your ILT member will have the grade level and the walk through forms for you to use; Add evidence and reflection to slide deck
- NISD Ultimate Book Challenge
Wednesday, February 12:
- Kim off campus at Principal PLC
- Accountability Teams Meeting, 3:15 - 3:45
Thursday, February 13:
- Kim off campus at Principal PLC
- Vertical Teams Meeting, 3:30 - 4:30 (review walk-throughs, Writing Buddies,
- Kick off Kids Heart Challenge in PE
Friday, February 14:
- Sharpen the Saw Clubs Round 2
- Valentine Parties, 2:00 - 2:45
- SLO Review due in Edugence
Happy Birthday to You: