Monday Morning Message
Week of March 18, 2019
Dispositions
I've spent the past few days thinking a lot about the upside down triangle of whole-to-part thinking; dispositions, structure and skill. Reflection on our time with Dr. Loane last week keeps bringing me back to the example of a master chef and the idea that, "You don't become a master chef by just following recipes." Recipes serve an importance and likely fit in the middle/structure section of the triangle model just as the bottom point has value with knife skills and knowing to cook chicken to 165 degrees. When we think of this as an instruction/inquiry model, we want to get students to a place of, "what's next?" or "how has this changed me?" type of thinking.
Moving over to Culture, the second pillar that we spoke about on last week: How is the culture of our school empowering students to be problem solvers and confident humans? Do they understand that the work they are doing goes beyond the metaphorical knife skills and following a recipe?
Below is a link to an article titled, "Why Children's Dispositions Should Matter to All Teachers." I also copied a couple of quotes that caught my eye in the article.
- "Dispositions are frequent and voluntary habits of thinking and doing. These habits of mind are not to be confused with mindless habits, such as stopping at a red light (Katz 1993a). Lilian Katz has pondered, spoken, and written about the role of dispositions in children’s education for nearly 30 years. She defines “a disposition as a pattern of behavior exhibited frequently ... in the absence of coercion ... constituting a habit of mind under some conscious and voluntary control ... intentional and oriented to broad goals” (1993b, 16)."
- "Another important characteristic of children’s dispositions is that they are environmentally sensitive—meaning they are acquired, supported, or weakened by interactive experiences in an environment with significant adults and peers (Bertram & Pascal 2002)."
- "When a teacher relies on drill and decontextualized activities to achieve mandated learning outcomes instead of fostering skill development through meaningful integrated learning, the dispositions that children need to use their skills will likely diminish (Hatch 2002)."
Upcoming Dates
March 19 - IREAD-3 Parts I ⅈ Severe Weather Drill TBD; Staff Share Canceled
March 20 - IREAD-3 Part III; SBRC grades completed by 8:00 AM
March 22 - 4th Grade Dad's Club Breakfast @7:15; Eagle Play Dress Rehearsal for student body 9:15-10:15 (No Family Friday. 3rd grade RA time is 10:20-11:20); RtI Check-ins
March 26 - PTO @ 1:15
March 29-April 5 - Spring Break!
April 10 - Kindergarten Round-Up 12:00-6:30
April 15 - NWEA Window opens
April 22 - ILEARN Window opens
May 15 - STEM Night 6:00-7:30
Friday, March 22 RtI Check in
I had originally been advertising a Thursday – Friday related arts schedule switch for the 21st and 22nd. Scratch that! We will stick with our regular schedule for those days aside from the time changes noted below. We will not have Family Friday due to the school play.
8:10-9:10 4th grade Related Arts
*9:15-10:15 School Wide Play Performance/Dress Rehearsal
*10:20-11:20 3rd Grade Related Arts
11:50-12:50 1st Grade Related Arts
1:00-2:00 2nd Grade Related Arts
* indicates change
Teacher of the Year Voting
After nominations closed Friday and the dust settled from the busy week, 3 All-Star Teacher of the Year nominees emerged! Below are our nominees and an excerpt that was written by a colleague.
Carmen Marshall
"Carmen is a wonderful teacher. This is evident in the progress her students make academically. Her teaching goes so beyond the academic success of her students. Carmen allows her students to reach heights they never thought they could reach. She sets the bar and they are able to reach those heights because they trust her to know they can do it." "Her class has made MONUMENTAL strides over the course of the year, and it is due to her relentless, consistent planning. She holds students accountable for their learning and it shows."
Katie McLaughlin
"Even though this is Katie's first year at Eagle, she has made such an impact on our school. She quickly learned all about Eagle, her students, the classroom teachers, and their schedules. She is committed to her students and helping them be successful. Katie is able to discern the needs of the students and provide support as necessary. She is also willing to help staff and students not on her caseload. I appreciate Katie's professionalism and expertise."
Alyssa Jackson
"Alyssa truly embraces the idea of Wellness 360 and makes her space and lessons go way beyond physical education. She is always looking for opportunities to get all of our young people moving and learning about living a healthy lifestyle."
Eagle Madness Schedule - Week of March 25
Back by popular demand is our award winning March Madness style basketball tournament! Alyssa, Sean and Susan have been working on bringing students into the process this year! Who knows, we could have student referees, score keepers, and coaches. Be on the lookout for some past favorites like Mr. McKinley's 3-point shooting clinic or Miss Rowan breaking down the defense as she drives the lane.
1st Grade Games
Wright vs. Grathwohl - Monday @ 11:45-12:15
Marshall vs. Wright/Grathwohl winner – Tuesday @ 12:00-12:30
Final vs. 2nd grade winner – Thursday @ 8:10-8:40
2nd Grade Games
Schmidt vs. Spencer – Monday @12:15-12:45
Slack vs. Schmidt/Spencer winner - Tuesday @ 12:30-1:00
Final vs. 1st grade winner – Thursday @ 8:10
3rd Grade Games
Grant vs. Burke – Tuesday @1:00-1:30
Werner vs. Grant/Burke winner – Wednesday @ 9:15-9:45
Final vs. 4th grade winner – Thursday @ 10:30-11:00
4th Grade Games
Sinsko vs. Carroll – Monday @ 8:10-8:40
McKinley vs. Shubat – Monday @ 9:30-10:00
Sinsko/Carroll winner vs. McKinley/Shubat winner – Tuesday @11:00-11:30
Final vs. 3rd grade winner –Thursday @ 10:30-11:00
Staff Game – Thursday @1:45-2:15 (Students come down at 1:35. PreK-2 in bleachers, 3-4 sitting on floor around perimeter)
In order to accommodate our Eagle Madness Finals and staff game, we have some shifts to the related arts schedule for Thursday, March 28.
8:10-8:40 - 1st grade vs. 2nd grade Finals
8:40-9:20 - 4th grade related arts
9:20-10:00 - 1st grade related arts
10:00-10:25 - Kindergarten related arts (all kindy)
10:30-11:00 - 3rd grade vs. 4th grade Finals
11:05-11:45 - 3rd grade related arts
12:50-1:30 - 2nd grade related arts
1:45-2:15 - Staff BB Game
Book Room Spring Cleaning
It’s time to re-inventory the book sets we have in the “book rooms” around the building! Our teams are carefully thinking about which books will be the most engaging for book clubs and for libraries, which shows how much we value student voice and choice. With new grants being requested and funded, it will be important for us to critically take a look at the many book sets we currently have in the book room (library) and in the third and fourth grade storage area. We have closets, shelves, and baskets full of partial/full book sets in both areas that will support clubs for all grades. Some were purchased for particular classes, some were purchased by teachers no longer teaching at EE, some were purchased for the book room specifically, some were cleaned out of back room storage areas and relocated years ago, and some were purchased with our own personal dollars. Because storage is becoming tight, and it is important for us to be responsible stewards of our existing resources, we must work together to determine what we no longer are using and make some room the new resources we are finding to be more valuable.
Each team will be given a specific color of post it note (ex/ third grade = teal). Before spring break, we are asking that each team work together to really spend some time in the book room (library) and book storage (3/4 storage). If your team determines that a particular text set is one that you’ve used in the last year or two please write the title on the post it and mark it with a “+” indicating that it is one that is frequently used in our rotations. If you notice a book set your team has NEVER used please mark it with at “-“ indicating that it should be listed on our consideration for movement. **Nothing will be thrown away, distributed into classroom libraries, or given away at this time – this is just our first step into improving our resource spaces.**
Once we have the sticky notes completed I (Beth Brent) will take all the sticky notes and compile a list of book sets in three columns. One that lists books heavy in our rotation, books that are infrequently used (but used some), and books that don’t get used anymore. From there we will make plans as a team on what to do with the infrequent and unused books.
THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE SHORT GUIDED READING BOOKS IN THE ZIP LOCK BAGS in the library book room that are leveled by guided reading level and sorted by topic or level. We can tackle/rearrange those to fit needs at a later point in time if needed. Our focus now are the MANY book sets that are used for book clubs or small groups.
Beth Brent
PLC Corner/RtI Check -ins
We will have normal Thursday schedule and normal Friday schedule with the exception of the 3rd grade time shifted to 10:20-11:20.
Please be sure that RtI plans have been updated, uploaded to the Q Drive and sent home to parents before Thursday, March 28.
- 3/22 - RtI/MTSS Check in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
Kindy (Alternating Thursdays):
- 2/21 (7:50-8:45) - RtI/MTSS Check in
Future Think Tank Opportunities
- First, here is the link to the recorded Think Tank from before winter break. The sound is excellent!
- Talk with your team and sign up here!!!