BARBER BULLETIN
Week of January 2-6, 2017
LEADER IN ME KICKS OFF TOMORROW!!!!!
The matrix includes suggested books, lesson plans, and activities to help you teach the habits. The matrix is divided K-2 and 3-5. Below is January's planning matrix.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ceF2ssyI6eEyGqretdTXaP5Pvwi2gQhMmsBrZIcZAjY/edit
The Lighthouse Team is finalizing a student incentive, "Caught Being a Leader" Each staff member will receive a small pad that allows you to recognize students for showing one of the habits. Simply write their name and check the habit they showed and they can put their "ticket" in the parrot cage in the main office! More details to come on this as soon as the pads of paper arrive to distribute!
Read to Succeed Important Course Information!!!!
As you are aware, the registration deadline is quickly approaching. Many teachers have received registration information from Arthur Newton. However, be sure that you have finalized the registration process. Unfortunately, you will lose your seat if the registration process is not finalized by Monday, January 9th.
FROM SDE:
The purpose of this e-mail is to make sure that the winter registration process for the Read to Succeed online coursework is completed in a timely manner. The registration window will be open from December 6, 2016 until January 9, 2017. The courses are free for Richland District Two teachers, principals, assistant principals, and superintendents. However, if you withdraw from the course, you must reimburse the District $85.00.
The first step in the process is to complete this Google Document. This step only holds your seat until you complete the second step. The second step is to finalize the registration process once you have received a second email from me (Arthur Newton) containing final registration information. The course only counts as renewal credit.
Although the registration window closes on January 9, 2017, it is imperative that you immediately finalize the process so that you won't lose your seat in the class. Please remember that we must have a minimum of 20 participants to make a class and there is a maximum of 30 participants per class. You may only register for one course.
If you have any questions regarding registration confirmation, please contact Kathleen Whittle at 803-734-3738 or at Kwhittle@ed.sc.gov.
Classroom Projects to share!
If you'd like for one of the students to show you how it works, feel free to come by Mr. Swick's room and someone will gladly explain the project and or make sure it is working properly for you or your students. No need to schedule anything. Just let Mr. Swick know if you need further explanation!
Cold Weather is here!
Also, please help us by making sure the students have their coats on before going to car riders or the buses in the afternoon.
RESET
Dear Teachers, It’s Time to Reset Written by Lmseck81@gmail.com
Dear Teachers,
I wanted to remind you of a few very important things. Some things you likely already know, but may have forgotten.
You have incredible power. Power to connect, to nurture, to ignite. You are one person capable of immense, noble, life-changing things. Ignore the dooms day news surrounding your career. Yes, Finland seems like a good place to live- or Canada even. Yes, the grass may be greener in another school, with another _____ (fill in the blank). Or not. Education is a messy business. Embrace it. When you start to feel despair creeping in, when you start looking at the scope of what you do on a grand scale, stop. Bring it back to the small space where teaching is about one teacher and one student and the human connection made here. Breathe. Love. Connect, one student at a time. No matter where education is “going”, or what a new initiative brings, don’t throw away the gift of now- the place you are right this very minute and what you CAN DO right now. You can be hopeful. You can be compassionate. You can be present.
Take care of yourself. Your students need you to do this. Put on your oxygen mask first so your teaching can be a gift of yourself to your students. They need your mind, body, and soul to be nurtured. You can’t give to them what you don’t have. Go to that one hour yoga class instead of grading papers. Go for that walk or that run. Stretch. Craft. Your impact in the classroom will be felt when you are giving to yourself outside of school hours. The papers can wait. You are more important. Give yourself permission to make self-care a top priority. Give yourself permission to slow down. Don’t wait for someone else to do this. You have virtuous and honorable work to do. Work that requires you take care of your whole beautiful self.
Ask for help. When you feel like you are struggling to close the “knowing/doing” gap, get support. Share your struggle. We need more honesty and vulnerability in teaching. We need you to be mission-driven, to take what you know and DO it, in the classroom, every day. All of those “best practices” and research based interventions you learn about on professional development days- yes, they can be overwhelming. Find a little bit of something and apply it in your classroom. Take the leap. Choose risk over complacency. It will be messy. You are not guaranteed success. We need you to acknowledge how hard this is, and show others how to lean into the hard, the uncomfortable. Your school community desperately needs your integrity, your willingness to show your commitment to your students, to best practices, to cultivating a love of learning- even if it means making mistakes, or even falling flat on your face. But don’t try to go it alone. No matter your school culture, there is at least one person you can reach out to. Reach out, ask questions, co-teach, share, plan together, reflect. Let yourself be seen. My advice here is the same for your colleagues: Breathe. Love. Connect, one teacher at a time. Laugh often. Remember your work is serious and it’s not. Take delight in your students, in each other.
Most importantly, choose hope. There are amazing things happening in classrooms all over the country, things that don’t often make the news. Be a part of this movement, a part of the solution rather than the problem. Ignore the curmudgeons- maybe they just need to see hope in action. Maybe not. Regardless, do your thing. Be this person in your school communities. Focus on what you can do, right now and connect with others who are doing the same. We need these hopeful little cohorts all over the place. We need them to grow and spread like wildfire. Can you see it? You have the power to start this fire.
Use January as a reset. Refill your tank and start thinking about a sustainable way to do this into the new year. We have important work to do. The most important work- and we can do it, together.
Much Love,
Your Fellow Teacher
A LOOK AT OUR WEEK AHEAD:
Tuesday:
Kickoff The Leader in Me! Matrix available to assist teachers with teaching Habits 1 and 2
Wednesday:
No school events scheduled
Thursday:
Becca Doswell here during planning for UM, 4th and 5th to work on SC Ready Rubric
6:30pm PTO Meeting
Friday:
Extended Planning with Alice Shawen (LM, PM, and 3rd grade)
CELEBRATIONS WORTH MENTIONING FROM HOLIDAY BREAK!!!!
Here's some JOY recently worth sharing with everyone!
- Our LEGO Robotics team is going to the state competition on January 21!!
- Tim Swick and Marissa Young's proposal got accepted to present at ISTE this summer!
- Judy Ryan's daughter got married!
- Pontiac donated over 300 items to the local family shelter for the holidays!
- Loren Grimm got engaged!!!!
- Victoria Rentschler (oops) Victoria Sweeney is a married woman now!
- Lauren Barefield found out they are having a baby boy!
- Guess who else.......Jelayne King also found out they are having a baby boy!
- Grayson Barber (Katie Barber's stepson) was invited to Residency with the US Men's National Team!
- Clemson University is playing for the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! (had to mention!)
- Got anything else to share? Please add it to our JOY BOARD by staff boxes!