Thomas Jefferson Tribune
"WE ARE IN IT TO WIN IT!"
WEEK OF AUGUST 28-SEPTEMBER 1
THOMAS JEFFERSON FEEDER PRIORITY PLAN
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION
CAMPUS CLIMATE AND CULTURE
NEW MISSION, VISION & CORE VALUES
MISSION:
The TJ Feeder schools embrace high quality learning opportunities which honor the unique strengths and diverse needs of all Scholars.
VISION:
The TJ feeder schools will be the premier feeder to attract and educate all Scholars to positively impact our community and world.
CORE VALUES:
Innovation, Collaboration, Excellence and Integrity
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR..........
Leaders,
This week was packed with empowering Professional Development from the campuses; whether principal or teacher led, it was evident how powerful the messages on each campus was. Thank you principals your leadership in ensuring ALL staff had a wonderful week of learning.
Monday, our halls will be filled with eager and excited scholars whom parents entrust us to educate. In what other profession does someone get the opportunity to positively impact so many lives on a daily basis; the lives of the scholars who will be our future leaders of tomorrow?
Please be reminded that on day one all teachers are expected to teach Good First Instruction. No testing should occur other than BOY Reading Assessment/Inventory. Data points used for RTI and small group instruction should be the STAAR/EOC and Terra Nova/Supera as your starting data points.
Reminder that campus enrollment counts from August 28th to September 8th should be verified by the principal by 10:00 a.m. Please ensure that you follow the attendance plan you provided in your Google Docs campus folder so that your campus and our feeder has accurate counts each day. Take time to read the procedures for enrollment counts in this weeks WAIP!
Additionally, you and your staff's action and interactions on day one will impact the expectations and perceptions of the culture for your campuses and set the tone for the year. Ensure systems are in place to address common questions and concerns associated with the first day/week of school. Customer service is key; keep in mind 'THE CORE FOUR.'
Each of you have the knowledge, skills and power to lead your campuses to great SUCCESS. this year!
Here's to a STRONG start to the new academic year! When you start STRONG, you finish STRONG!
WE ARE ALL IN IT TO WIN IT!
Ms. Torres
Thomas Jefferson Executive Director
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE
Monday, August 28, 2017
- Happy First day of School
- Campus visit to Stephen Foster
- Campus visit to Cigarroa
- Campus visit to Salldivar
- Campus visit to Medrano MS
-
BOY Reading Assessments
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
- Drop 'NO SHOWS' by the end of the day
- Campus visit to Joe May
- Campus visit to TJ Collegiate Academy
- Campus visit to Tom Field
-
Online Enrollment Numbers due 10:00am
Drop “No Shows” (End of Day)
Internal Leveling begins
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
- Campus visit to Sudie Williams
- Campus visit to K. B. Polk
- AF TEI Recertification @ Buckner Bldg.
- Online Enrollment Numbers due 10:00am
Thursday, August 31, 2017
- Campus visit to Walnut Hill
- Campus visit to Stephen Foster
- Online Enrollment Numbers due 10:00am
Friday, September 1, 2017
- Campus visit to Cary MS-AM
- ED and AF Planning Session
- ED Office Time
- Deadline to submit Principal Nominations for DAC
- Online Enrollment Numbers due 10:00am
COMPLIANCE VIDEOS
THE LEADER IN ME
Experience The Leader in Me Symposium
Just a reminder that the Leader in Me Symposium will be held February 1-2 in Richardson, Texas. Please ensure that you register to attend as we are attending as a feeder. Information on the symposium is below.
Join educators at the all-new 2017-2018 Leader in Me Symposium. Together, we are transforming paradigms in education by empowering students and staff to model 21st-century leadership skills in order to achieve their full potential.
The Leader in Me Symposium is the most influential and inspiring event series for educators. This year Symposium will be coming to over 20 locations to inspire thousands of educators across North America. New enhancements have been made to the featured sessions, school tours, and networking experience. In addition, participants can now attend either a full two-day or a condensed one-day version of Symposium.
At The Leader in Me Symposium, you will:
- Share innovative ideas with other administrators, superintendents, directors, principals, and teachers.
- Develop new skills and principle-centered effectiveness with The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® training.
- Learn best practices from experts in a variety of featured sessions.
- Discover how Leader in Me Schools are achieving success on a local school tour (two-day Symposium only).
- Gain inspiration from thought leaders during keynote presentations.
The link to register is:
http://store.theleaderinme.org/leader-in-me-symposium-dallas-tx
DISTRICTWIDE ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS FOR PRINCIPALS
In preparation for this year’s District-wide Advisory Committee (DAC), we are seeking nominations of principals to serve on the DAC for the 2017-18 school years (members serve staggered two-year terms). The DAC operates in an advisory capacity to the Superintendent and consults on the district’s educational goals, objectives, and major initiatives. Members of the DAC will attend monthly meetings beginning in October and concluding in April (see attached for meeting calendar) and will serve alongside elected teachers, central-level staff, and business and community representatives.
To nominate yourself and/or principal peers to serve on the DAC, please complete the nomination form here by 5 PM on Friday, September 1st. Each principal can submit up to three nominees. Following submission of nominee names, we will ask all nominees for their consent to appear on the ballot and then will send a final ballot out to all principals to vote the week of September 4th.
If you have any questions about the election procedure and/or the DAC, please email Ashley Bryan at abryan@dallasisd.org.
LEARNSTORM
LearnStorm is six-week learning challenge designed to help your classes practice skills, build growth mindsets, and earn fun prizes for grades 3-12.
Sign up opens on August 15th!
Schools with at least three teachers who have classes that completed all six LearnStorm levels will be eligible to apply for the LearnStorm School Grand Prize. The School Grand Prize will include national recognition and a fun school rally.
Grand Prize applications will open after the challenge begins on September 12. Check back then for more information!
Join in to celebrate all student learning and growth. Click on the link below to sign up on August 15th. The challenge starts September 12th and ends on October 20th. I highly encourage EVERYONE to try this on their campus.
UPCOMING DATES & REMINDERS
SEPTEMBER
4-LABOR DAY! NO SCHOOL!
7-Eexecutive Director Bambrick Training
8-ED Meeting
8-CEOP email Submission is due TODAY to the Office of Emergency Management
8-Last day for Principal to verify enrollment counts by 10:00 a.m.
OCTOBER
9-29-Kids Teaching Kids 21 Day Challenge Begins
NOVEMBER
10-Drill Log for the Fall Semester is due TODAY via email submission to the Office of Emergency Management
MARCH
9-Drill log for the Spring Semester is due TODAY via email submission to the Office of Emergency Management
Thomas Jefferson Meet the Community during DISD Neighborhood Walk 2017
Walnut Hill Elementary
Jose Joe May Elementary
Francisco Medrano Middle School
Thomas Jefferson High School
David G. Burnet Elementary School
Sudie Williams Elementary School
Julian T. Saldivar
K B Polk Tag Center
Francisco Medrano Middle School
Edward H. Cary Middle School
KaBOOM! Play Everywhere Challenge- Elementary Only
Elementary and Secondary Dual Language Schedule
2017-2018 TESTING CALENDAR
MARSHALL MEMO #699
Beginning-of-the-Year Suggestions from a Veteran Teacher
In this article in Education Week Teacher, Nancy Flanagan describes the polar opposites of teachers getting ready for the school year: (a) an elementary teacher spending most of August sorting books into leveled baskets, sewing colorful curtains for the classroom door, and “going steady with the laminating machine;” (b) Flanagan’s husband, who spends days “wandering around the house trying to find his thermos.” It’s not clear who had a better year with students, says Flanagan. Here’s her advice for the final days of summer:
• Don’t work too hard on unimportant things like fancy bulletin boards. “The most important thing you can do before school starts is think about the curriculum and the kids you’re teaching,” she says.
• Plan grandly, not precisely. “Think about the things students need to know for the next decade, not the next standardized test or unit quiz,” says Flanagan. “What do you want your students to take away, forever, from your teaching? Which big ideas? What critical skills?”
• Tie your classroom to the world. “Help your students analyze issues or find role models,” says Flanagan, “because that’s your job.”
• In the opening days, keep your options open. “Don’t write detailed lesson plans for a semester,” she advises. Set the big-picture goals and map out the opening days, but keep an open mind and learn as you go.
• Walk around the building and say hello to all your colleagues. “There is nothing more effective than a school building where adults get along, respect each other, and have the same goals,” says Flanagan. “Build a few relationships. Welcome newbies. Thank the custodian for the shiny floors.”
• Make the classroom a pleasant place for you, too. “Find a way to have comfortable seating, task lighting, pictures or tchotchkes that make you smile,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be pretty and color-coordinated… a classroom should feel like home.”
• Don’t make Day One “rules” day. This is especially important for middle and high-school students, who will probably march through a succession of Teacher Rules on the first day of school. Flanagan advises taking care of systems and strategies a few days later, when students are more likely to remember them and the practice will be more meaningful.
• Instead, give students a taste of disciplinary knowledge on the first day. “Teach something, using your most engaging instructional techniques,” she advises, “perhaps a game, a round-robin, a quick-response exercise with no wrong answers...” – ideally something that involves physical movement. “Beware of empty ice-breakers or team-building exercises,” she continues. “Your goal is to have students going out the door saying, ‘I think this class is going to be fun, and I already learned something.’”
• That said, keep your expectations about the first few days modest. You’re nervous, probably having anxiety dreams, and students are keyed up as well. “Wait for your teacher buzz to kick in,” says Flanagan, “that happy moment when you see engagement, maybe even laughter, and you know you’re on the right track. It takes a while, but when it happens, it’s like the first flower in the spring garden.”
• Reach out to parents, who are nervous as well. Flanagan used to ask moms and dads to tell her about their child in a million words or less. “Very simple, and very powerful,” she says.
“Ten Non-Standard Ideas About Going Back to School” by Nancy Flanagan in Education Week Teacher, August 6, 2016, http://bit.ly/2b30btd
THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
- Thomas Jefferson High School: Principal, Sandi Massey
- Francisco Medrano Middle School : Principal, Theresa Sigurdson
- Edward Cary Middle School: Principal, Ben Dickerson
- David G. Burnet Elementary: Principal, Sonia Loskot
- Leonides Cigarroa Elementary : Principal, Douglas Burak
- Tom W. Field Elementary: Principal, Shondula Whitfield
- Stephen C. Foster Elementary: Principal, Irma De La Guardia
- Joe May Elementary: Principal, Israel Rivera
- K.B. Polk Elementary: Principal, Misty Rathermund
- Julian T. Saldivar: Principal, Chaundra Macklin
- Walnut Hill Elementary: Principal, Robert 'Chase'McLaurin
- Sudie Williams Elementary: Principal, Michael Jackson
Thomas Jefferson High School
Franscisco Medrano Middle School
EDWARD CARY MIDDLE SCHOOL
David G. Burnet Elementary
Leonides Cigarroa Elementary
Tom W. Field Elementary
Stephen C. Foster Elementary
Joe May Elementary
K. B. Polk Elementary
Julian T. Saldivar Elementary
Walnut Hill Elementary
Sudie L. Williams Elementary
Marelenise Phillips-Roberts
VACANT
Erica Rosas
Trustee Edwin Flores District 1
Trustee Marshall District 2
Trustee Miguel Solis District 8
DISD GOALS
- All students will exhibit Satisfactory or above performance on State assessments. Students below Satisfactory performance will demonstrate more than one year of academic growth
- Dallas ISD schools will be the primary choice for families in the district
- The achievement gap by race, ethnicity and social economic status will be no greater than 10 percentage points on all academic measures
- 95% of students will graduate. Of the graduates, 90% have qualifying scores for community college, college, military, or industry certification
- 95% of entering kindergarten students are school-ready on a multidimensional assessment
- All students will participate in at least one extracurricular or co-curricular activity each year.