Marsit's Minute
January 11th, 2015
Spirit Week Hoopcoming!
I know that first week back after the break felt long, but I hope you enjoyed your classroom and getting back to working with students. I was able to visit some classrooms last week and I am very impressed with the consistency I saw with rules and expectations. We also helped all of our students explore some STEM type activities as the math department all participated in "A Day of Code". We had almost 1800 students participate and found some great code writers in the process.
This week we will also have a little fun with students for spirit week to celebrate all of our winter sports. The dress up days are easy, so I encourage you to participate. We will have an assembly on Friday to recognize the great things happening with our sports teams. Our Soccer team is currently 8th, boys basketball is 15th, and girls basketball is 22nd in the state! Our JV girls basketball team is currently undefeated!
By this time we have all been introduced to Blackboard and I encourage you to try and use it with your classes this semester. We will be using it for professional development and with our PLC teams. I placed a few discussion items for your team in Blackboard to look at before Wednesday. I am trying to really integrate technology this semester, so hang on with me as we all learn together.
This week we will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday to share some of our results from first semester. I encourage you to take a look at your own mark distribution and see what you can take from it moving into next semester. We begin each faculty meeting at 7:30am, please do your best to be on time. I know our meetings are early, but we only have them once or twice a month and I believe sharing celebrations and results, will make us a stronger school.
Mindy
Faculty Meeting
Faculty meeting will begin at 7:30, please arrive on time. We will have some celebrations and see just how good we did first semester. I can't wait to share the results with you!
Tuesday, Jan 12, 2016, 07:30 AM
Lecture Hall Copper Canyon
Rigor-Relevance-Relationships
How do you know if students understand a concept once you are done modeling it?
Remember that each student needs to demonstrate the skill to be assured they understand it. Ask yourself how do you know students are able to preform the task you are asking. Checks for understanding play a vital role in instruction. If we never check, teaching is little more then telling kids what we know, which as we know, does not always result in learning.
Frequently we use discussion or a question as a way to check their understanding. Make sure you listen to your kids and proctor the question, and be careful not to give them the answer. This is where you will be able to gauge your rigor level, see what kids can come up with on their own and then pose some higher level questions when and if they are ready!
Campus Life
Biggest Loser Competition
22 individuals are competing for the title! Erin Conners is holding fitness sessions in the library at 4:00pm, this is open to anyone, not just the determined 22. We had some great results just within the first 5 days, all together we have lost 34.4 lbs. Mr. Stinnett is currently the leader with a 2.9% loss, he is also going to be a tough competitor as I believe he, or someone working for him, has been leaving chocolate on my desk! Come on Copper lets get fit in 2016! Who will be the ultimate LOSER?
Spirit Days
Monday - Red, White, and Blue
Tuesday - Superhero Day
Wednesday - Work Out Day
Thursday - Jersey Day (if anyone needs a Green Bay Jersey, let me know)
Friday - Copper Canyon gear
Hats
baseball hats are never allowed to be worn during the day at school. The more we are consistent with this expectations the less we will have to remind students. I took a little data on campus one day, I observed 12 kids with hates on. If we all work together to remind students they are not permitted we will all have to remind them less. I am going to pick another random day this week and collect data again, I know we can do better!
Passes
We will share a best practice at the faculty meeting on Tuesday that you might find useful. I did hear several teachers this past week tell kids they could not use the restroom during instruction times! Keep putting value on your class time and students will too.