EAGLE MOUNTAIN NEWS & NOTES #25
FEBRUARY 25, 2015
EAGLE MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY
Email: bmclain@ems-isd.net
Twitter: @bmacEME
REAL QUICK
Did you enjoy your unexpected Snow Days? I hope you did. We are only a week & a half away from Spring Break – Hang in there!
IMPORTANT INFO FOR THIS WEEK!
· Our Eagle Mountain 25 Skill of the week is Rule #20 – Be positive & enjoy life!
· Our new lunch monitor, Ariel Brady, is scheduled to begin today. Please welcome her to EME if you see her.
· If you haven’t turned in your revised School Supply list with suggestions for next year, please get those to us by today so we can get those turned in.
· Doug Sevier will present at our faculty meeting on Wednesday, March 18th instead of today so that you can leave after your kids due to the weather.
· Please see Kelli if you need a Thinking Maps Binder.
· We are close to getting a STAAR tutor to help with tutoring groups.
· On Friday, K & 1 teachers will have LINK training with Dr. Debbie Rhea in our new PLC room beginning at 8:15. We will have Early Dismissal at 11:40, & then we will have STAAR Security Training in the afternoon along with some structured PLC time.
· Please include information about next week’s Science Night in your parent newsletters & make sure your parents know Friday is an Early Release Day.
· If you have March calendar items please have those to me by Friday.
· Our sincere thanks to you for keeping the Club momentum going. The kids absolutely LOVE their clubs & I thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping that interest & that spark alive!
· Our prayers & thoughts are with Pam in the loss of her grandmother.
· Here’s a quick article that had some valid points:
Collegiality 101
· “The level of collaboration demanded by modern teaching is unprecedented,” says Kentucky high-school teacher Paul Barnwell in this Education Week article. “[I]f we don’t deliberately forge personal connections and strengthen relationships within our school buildings, then we are handicapping our efforts to reach, mentor, and educate all our students.” Here are his suggestions for overcoming the tendency to hunker down:
· • Give without strings attached. For example, one of Barnwell’s colleagues was fighting a nasty cold and asked him to cover her fifth-period class a couple of times, and he did so without expecting a quid pro quo. “In our personal and professional lives, dealing with people who always expect something in return isn’t a way to build sustainable or authentic relationships,” he says.
· • Talk, don’t e-mail. “The more time you spend in front of a screen, the less time you have to say hello, ask questions, and build relationships,” says Barnwell. “The more e-mail you send, the more messages you must check and reply to.” He makes a point of walking down the hall and making personal contact, or at least picking up the phone.
· • Follow your colleagues on social media. This can spark personal and professional conversations, says Barnwell. He’s set up a Twitter list in his school that allows people to take the pulse of opinions and ideas throughout the building.
· • Make interdisciplinary connections. Barnwell recently reached out to the functional mental disabilities teachers in his school to get their students involved in his digital media elective. “My interactions with the FMD teachers and students have been some of my favorite, most meaningful interactions at my school,” he says.
· • Laugh. “Yes, our work is important and incredibly difficult,” sighs Barnwell. “I know the feeling of having a furrowed brow and tension building up in my neck and shoulders after a particularly trying day.” Smiling, cracking a joke, sharing joy are vital to making the job sustainable.
· • Be humble. “I’m in the midst of my 11th year teaching,” says Barnwell, “and one of my current classes is the most difficult I’ve ever had in terms of student engagement, promoting positive behavior, and attendance issues.” It makes all the difference if he can reach out to colleagues who don’t have an aura of knowing it all.
· • Expand your circles. Barnwell confesses that it’s easy for him to limit his professional conversations to his English III colleagues. He pushes himself to reach out to counselors, librarians, classroom aides, and others.
· “Keep an Open Door, and Other Ways to Build In-School Relationships” by Paul Barnwell, Education Week, February 18, 2015 (Vol. 34, #21, p. 8-9), www.edweek.org; the author can be reached at paul.barnwell@jefferson.kyschools.us.
REMINDER OF TECH DO'S THIS NINE WEEKS
YOU ARE EXPECTED TO DO THESE:
1st WEEK – KEEP TWEETING AND BLOGGING
2nd WEEK – RESEARCH APPS AND SUBMIT APPS FOR APPROVAL
3rd WEEK – USE QR CODES IN A LESSON
4th WEEK - FLIP ONE LESSON THIS WEEK
5th WEEK – REPORT ON HOW iPADS ARE BEING USED IN YOUR CLASS
6th WEEK – TWEET AN AUTHOR ABOUT A BOOK THE CLASS HAS READ
7th WEEK – VIDEO A STUDENT LED LESSON AND POST TO YOUTUBE
8th WEEK – POST A STUDENT LED TWEET
9th WEEK – MAKE-UP UP ONE WEEK YOU MISSED
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Wednesday – EME 25/Skill 20: Be positive & enjoy life
Thursday – Progress Reports go home, Dr. J’s Fund-raiser at 2PM
Friday – LINK Training for K & 1 teachers, Early Release Day – 11:40, PD for teachers – we will have STAAR Security Training & Grade level PLCS will meet.
IF YOU HAVEN'T CHECKED OUT THE PARENTS NEWSLETTER, CLICK ON IT BELOW
NOTEABLE QUOTABLE:
SHOUT OUTS
· Let’s hear it for Angela Cathey & Becky Hogue for their help with traffic duty in the cold mornings & we also appreciate Tammy Ledbetter’s help in the cafeteria. You give of yourselves so willingly & EME is enriched by your service & dedication!
· A shout out to our fifth grade team for hanging tough as they deal with a few difficult parent issues…THANK YOU for keeping kids first & doing what is best for kids! Ya’ll are awesome!
· Thanks to our Campus Improvement Committee who met last week to begin working on Personal Education Plans: Bethany Miller, Shanna Harlin, Chase Pettit, Emily Bennett, Lisa Dunn, Danielle Adama, Leslie Hooe, & Drew for their significant contributions!