Vista Weekly
November 16, 2015
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I hope your week goes by quickly and smoothly and you are all geared up for a well deserved week off. Have a great week!
Office Staff Location Schedule
Cadre Meeting Cancelled
Special Education Collaboration
In these quick 20 minute check-ins, you will cover various things including, but not limited to:
- lesson plans and needs of support from SpEd dept. (i.e. - help with certain lessons, small groupings, etc.)
- student accommodations
- strategies
- upcoming IEPs/goals, etc.
MS teachers, please sign-up HERE for your weekly check-In by the end of this week.
Coming Up This Week...
Saturday, 11/14
- Happy Birthday Mrs. Vera!!!
Monday, 11/16
- 11:00 - Mrs. Contreras Out
- 11:45 - ILT Meeting - 3-8 Campus
- 1:45 - YPI Check-In - 3-8 Campus
Tuesday, 11/17
- Tentative -- End of Trimester Awards (stay tuned for details)
- 9:00-12:00 - McCarthy, Madere Out - Aspiring Admin. Mtg.
- 12:00-4:00 - Pope Out - TEF Rating Session
- 3:15 - 6th Grade Behavior Check-In
- 4:00-6:00 - Spanish Parenting Classes
Wednesday, 11/18
- 8:00-11:00 - Buczek Out - Workshop at Synergy
- 8:30 - RSG Olympian Visit
- 11:30 - Student of Month Assembly - TK-2 Campus
- 12:30 Dismissal - Parent/Teacher Conferences
- 1:30 - P.E. Meeting/Polar Training
- 2:00 - Fennema Out
Thursday, 11/19
- Buczek Out - Director's Meeting
- 12:30 Dismissal - Parent/Teacher Conferences
- 6:30 - Youtube Kids Party
Friday, 11/20
- Jundef Out
- Le Out
- 1st Grade Fundraiser
- 12:30 Dismissal - Parent/Teacher Conferences
Buczek's Tentative Schedule
Word of the Week
influences
(verb) to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.
Trait of the Month - Integrity
Here is a link to the google doc:
Supervision Schedule
Thank you so much for your active presence on the yard. We have really noticed a difference with regards to both timeliness and vigilance!
Just a reminder that it is really important to be "seen looking" during yard duty. Students should see that you are monitoring them as a preventative presence - so please....
- Be super VISIBLE (walk around, stay standing, avoid being hidden by students coming to speak to you)
- Be super VIGILANT (really look around, walk over to groups of students that are huddled in the far corners of the yard, walk past the bathrooms several times, and please no cell phone use during supervision).
Instructional Focus
If you have not had a chance to look over this section in the previous weeks, please do so this time. There is very valuable information here and we'd love to see if/how you implement these strategies in your classroom as we conduct informal observations.
3.2A Lesson Cycle and 3.2B Cognitive Engagement
(TEF Domain 3)
Some Things to Consider....
First and foremost - The struggle to hold students' attention is super real (and based in science)! Our goal is to maximize student attention by planning lessons that keep the science of engagement in mind and support students in sustaining their attention through a mix of purposefully planned engagement strategies!
Johnstone and Percival (1976) found that an adult's attention span is between 15 and 20 minutes. In addition, they note that the first instance of “downtime” occurs 3 to 5 minutes into the lecture, followed by another at the 10- to 18-minute mark. The length of quality attention time becomes shorter as lectures progress. (Please note that these findings refer strictly to lectures without visuals or stop/start times, and that the attention spans of elementary and middle-school students are even shorter than those of adults.)
Margaret Searle, author of Causes and Cures in the Classroom, Getting to the Root of Academic and Behavior Problems, offers teachers this advice:
When it comes to passive learning, you can use your students' age as a guide: don't lecture for more minutes than years your student has been alive without stopping to involve them in active reflection or processing activities. Lessons that follow a mixed pattern - listen, talk to your partner, listen, draw an example, listen, read, rotate to a different place in the room--followed by summary are more likely to hold anyone's attention longer than the "listen for what seems like forever and then do independent work" model.
Check out the attached resources for additional help with your planning! (I personally love the planning question handout as it helps a teacher think through the different aspects of engagement with thought provoking questions!).
The Highly Engaged Classroom: A copy of the actual text.
Upcoming Dates:
11/23-11/27 - Thanksgiving Break
12/1 - MS All Class Schedule
Links to Important Forms
This one is super important for helping us keeping track of which students have detention on which days. Please submit every time you assign detention.
May be completed online or by paper (see the pink referral forms in your hardcopy VIP binders) but please be sure to submit either one when a student is referred to the office.
To request help from our Tech Guru Mr. Jesus Villareal!
To request help from our Maintenance Guru Mr. Bernard!
To request the convening of a Student Success Team to support a student with sustained difficulties in the area of behavior, academics, attendance, and/or physical/mental health despite documented targeted interventions such as tutoring, parent contact, etc.
504 Referral - coming soon! (Speak directly to Mrs. Pope or Mrs. Fennema in the meantime)