Wildcat Update
February 11-15
Weekly Schedule
12 - Angie to data meeting until 9:00 a.m. - Pam please do Rise and Shine
12 - Dr. Methvin here to visit the building 2:00-3:00
13 - Angie Out All Day to Principal Meeting - Megan in Charge
14 - Valentine's Day Party @ 2:30
15 - Grade Level Team meetings - part of the time will be work time on Integrated Units and bring calendars for EOY assessment planning - Data Analysis
15 - All Pro Dad Breakfast and RIF for 1st and 2nd grades
Duties
Griesemer, Cheek, Greiner, Hampton, Pheonix
Imagination Station: Specialty Team
Stars and Wish
- A few reading/writing binders I reviewed during IC checks had the student goal sheets for the year in it - with the MOY growth numbers on the goal sheet. What an exciting way to see growth and keep the goal for the year going!
- Classroom procedures running smoothly in most rooms - to where the teacher gives very little directions before releasing students to their rotations - the expectations and procedures are well established. Great job building classroom norms and expectations for the classroom to run efficiently!!
- It has been fun to walk the halls and be in classrooms where you HEAR excitement and enthusiasm about the learning from the TEACHER! When the adults are excited about learning it definitely transfers to the students.
Wish:
- If a substitute came to your room and reviewed your group lesson plans and classroom data and anecdotal notes on yours students - would they know much about your students? It has been amazing to visit some classrooms where there is such detailed plans and data collected that I (as a visitor) was able to know a lot about each student in the classroom.
Attendance Update for January
2nd - Tappmeyer
3rd - Hamm
Building Average: 94%
Duties
Grade Level Team Meeting Notes
- Class Cheers
- Remind and Share information in newsletters
- Goal setting and monitoring
- Earn special rewards - game time
- Class Goal and earn Friday fun time
Ideas on Handling Challenging Students:
- Set Class Goal/Class Meeting and earn Friday Fun Time
- Build relationships
- Buddy Room
- Cool Down Spots
Feedback on Why Staff Satisfaction is Lower
At Leadership Team Meeting on January 20 we will discuss ways to improve on these things listed below. What are your ideas? Many things are out of our control but what can we do that is in our control to improve satisfaction? Share ideas with your team leader or email me with ideas.
I don't recall the questions related to this area, so these are only reflective thoughts and ideas. Would we as a staff participate in social interaction opportunities such as staff lunches during PD days, and maybe those that are unsatisfied do not feel connected to a "team" of teachers/grade-level or the "teams" may appear difficult to join. Again, only thoughts.
Lack of resources (not talking about technology...we need staff members), student behaviors are increasing in number and severity and we don’t have the support staff we need to deal with the extreme behaviors. Class sizes are high...we need more teachers. Put the pressure of managing these behaviors day in and day out with the pressure of getting high test scores and you can imagine why we are depleted. Lack of work time...our planning time is often being taken away with meetings. I’m finding myself working at home way too much. We feel as though we must jump through hoops and do busy work that wastes our time and doesn’t benefit kids. We know this comes from the high ups, but it is frustrating. I speak for many when I say we are getting BURNT OUT. Good teachers are going to leave if something doesn’t give.
Not really sure why unless it is that we seem to have so much on our plates to get accomplished and we have a greater need of students who need more help then we can get. Also, for students that we are worried with, the paper work is ridiculous to try to see if they would even qualify for SPED help. In upper grades it is so hard to find specific things to keep extra data on for students when they are struggling across the board. The behaviors are getting harder and harder across the whole school. Mandated Test are really above most of our students ability and it is frustrating when teachers work so hard, but do not see the growth on the test. I think as a district that ALL schools are struggling with staff satisfaction. It seems that every-time the push with data comes into play, it puts a damper on school moral. I also think that every-time we have a new adoption that teachers really don't have a say in the matter. I feel a lot of the moral is because of the top down. Not Wanda Gray's leadership. I love teaching, my peers and my leadership, but it is just so hard when you give so much of your time and not feel successful~
1. There is a significant increase in issues/problems our students are dealing with this year. These issues; behavior, mental health, medical, trauma, lack of preschool experience, etc., create a huge barrier in educating them with the staff/systems we have in place. This change occurs over time, and we accept these students and the shift of change whole heartedly. At some point we must acknowledge this requires more time and intensive intervention than we have at Gray. We have almost 500 students, and one principal, one nurse, one counselor and two paraprofessionals to support the 500 students in 20 general ed classrooms. I believe staff feel overwhelmed and would we would see a positive change if we bring experts into our building to provide the intervention we know our students need. These areas would be: -Additional administration to provide the dedication of time and trauma response that would provide real change in behavior instead of just enough time to process referrals. Administration is wonderful at doing this, yet there is only so much time. -Additional medical staff/nurses to provide care for the more medically fragile children who are mainstreamed, the increasing number of mental health issues as well as the 60 early childhood special education children who are not counted in our building "numbers". -Additional behavioral/counseling support to implement the increasing of numbers of students needing tier two and tier three interventions that do not qualify for special education. These students truly need the time and professionals to meet their needs, so they can even begin to focus on learning. -Additional certified educators with expertise in reading and math to provide intensive intervention. I believe the true lack of satisfaction we are experiencing is not for ourselves, but the pain we feel at not meeting our students emotional and academic needs. In culture where relationships are key, we are simply missing a main ingredient; people for our students to have a relationship with, let alone, a relationship with a person qualified to meet their needs.
pay
It seems there is more on our plates this year in regards to data and planning or revamping curriculum. Feeling more like a manager than a teacher and definitely do not feel valued by the superiors who are outside the school. There seems to be a focus on dictating how we WILL teach, instead of allowing us to teach in a way we know the students will be successful. There is a lot of burn out with the students and they seem to view school more as a social/home arena rather than a learning space. There is also an increase in behaviors, which takes away from the learning for the rest of the class. I see an increase of stress with the teachers as they try to figure out what they can omit in order to get in the technology time and there is an overwhelming sense of when can I look over the assessments to determine what each individual student is needing. Yes, we have roughly an hour of plan time four days a week, but grading, emails to parents, planning with your team, planning for the week, organizing, and rewriting curriculum takes more than the given time. When your superiors don't demonstrate an appreciation for your work and dedication it makes it awfully difficult to remain positive. There is definitely an imbalance with work load, expectations, and success for both students and teachers.
Not enough planning time or time to collaborate with other staff
More and more meetings, surveys, data studying, teaching to the "test", extreme behavior problems, learn and teach new technology with less and less support from administrators.