Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Tribune
WEEK OF OCTOBER 1-5 2018
HABIT #4-THINK WIN WIN!
VISION, MISSION & CORE VALUES
CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON FEEDER PRIORITY GOALS
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Advance teacher effectiveness and improve the quality of instruction through research-based professional learning practices
QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION
Close achievement gaps through effective data practices and alignment of core content curriculum.
CLIMATE AND CULTURE
Develop and sustain a positive and supportive climate and culture of high expectations through effective communication, inclusive practices and leadership development.
3 SCHOOL LEADERSHIP PRIORITIES
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
BALANCED LITERACY
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Illustrious Leaders,
I would like to thank the Assistant Principals for such a productive meeting on Wednesday. They are so excited to begin their action research projects on either Balanced Literacy, PLC/Data Practices, SEL, Blended Learning or the Diverse Learner. We also had a great turn out where the entire Elementary Clusters 4th grade teachers and CICs for Reading were present for our Writing PD.
This upcoming week marks the first week of the second six weeks grading period for our scholars! Now is the time to pay close attention to your teachers, reteach plans and how scholar achievement results align with the level and quality of instruction happening inside of the classrooms. Teachers should be supported through ongoing effective feedback, especially in places where the data shows room for growth with academic adjustments being made. As I have observed many classrooms the first 5 weeks, very seldom do we see teachers making instructional adjustments throughout the lesson cycle, instead of waiting until the DOL is analyzed to create the small group instruction reteach plans. Re-teaching should be occurring during your lesson cycle if your checks for understanding state that our scholars are not mastering the concept(s) introduced. If good first instruction is not occurring during the lessons being taught in the classrooms, what should you and your leadership team do to assure this is occurring in ALL your classrooms?
This week's message continues with highlighting Stephen Covey on Habit 4; THINK WIN WIN!
Habit 4 is the first of the Habits dealing with what Covey calls interdependence - working effectively with other people. In describing each habit Stephen Covey shares powerful insights and "Think Win/Win" is no exception. Stephen Covey makes the point that the habit of effective interpersonal leadership is Think Win/Win.
This is the habit of always looking for a solution that benefits you AND the other person or group. What's fascinating is that the solution is usually unexpected. "Win/Win is a belief in the Third Alternative. It's not your way or my way; it's a better way, a higher way".
Most of us will say "yeah, yeah, we know this already. Win/Win's the way to go..." It's almost as if it's the socially acceptable attitude. But in reality people are likely to act in their own best interest and when we look we find a 'Win/Lose', 'Lose/Win', or just a plain 'Win' scenario playing out.
After all, many of us are brought up to believe that winning is everything. In reality this is a habit to be learned and practiced. Take a moment to consider what WIN-WIN opportunities are you providing your campuses.
Here's to another great week of teaching and learning!
"WE ARE IN IT TO WIN IT...GO FOR THE GOLD!!
Ms. Torres
Emmett Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Executive Director
WEEKLY UPDATES
MONDAY, October 1
- ILC/ED Network review-Rm. # 583 @ 8:30 a.m.
- McShan Elementary Campus visitation w/ED and Math ILC
- Foster Elementary Campus visitation w/ED and Math ILC
- Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Elementary Cluster-Exception/Waiver support @ K. B. Polk - 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.-Mandatory attendance: (Joe May, McShan, Cigarroa, Saldivar, Polk, Jack Lowe, & Highland Meadows)
- Elementary PD Agendas sent to ED for approval by Email and Google folders
- K.B. Polk/Jill Stone Professional Development @ K. B. Polk-ALL STAFF-3:45 p.m.-5:15 p.m.-ED & Math ILC present
- Beginning of 2nd Six weeks
- Common Cents: Pennies from the Heart begins
- ISIP BOY Assessment Window Opens K-2
- Gifted & Talented Assessment Window Opens (Grades 1-5)
- Saldivar Elementary Campus visitation w/ED and Math ILC
- Leader in Me Campus tour in Grapevine-Timberline @ 1:00 p.m. (New Principals and AP's, ED & Math ILC)
- Activity Fund Training for campus Professional Designee-look @ WAIP from 9/13
- Deadline to complete Fall SLO Goal-Setting and goal -setting conference
- 5th Grade SWAG Science Collaborative Planning Session-Foster ES @3:30-5:00 p.m., Irma De La Guardia/Principal, Ashley Fortnes/CIC, Martin Osae/Science ILC-ALL 5th Grade Science Teachers in Conrad/Jefferson present
WEDNESDAY, October 3
- Jill Stone Campus visitation w/ED and ILCs
- Working Lunch w/United 2 Learn-Le Bilboquet @ 12:00 a.m.
- Highland Meadows visitation w/ED and ILCs
- Teacher of the Year Reception -Flight Museum @ 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
THURSDAY, October 4
- Northwest Network Meeting for ALL Principals @ Girls Scouts Center-9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
- Grievance Level III-@ 10:30 a.m.- Ms. Torres and Ms. Cogswell-Paschall
- K. B. Polk Campus visitation w/ED
- Joe May Campus visitation w/ED
LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY CLUSTER!
Burnet ES Superheroes Show Up to Save the Day!
TJ/Conrad Assistant Principal's Meeting @ Foster Elementary with the Executive Director
Is Your Campus Ready to Receive the 1st Six Weeks Data? (Throughout the Entire Building)
Walnut Hill ES "WIGS" Wildly Important Goals in Reading
David G. Burnet ES Teacher Leaders Facilitate PLCs
Lee McShan ES Promotes Attendance Awareness Month
United to Learn Community Partnership Meeting with Superintendent Dr. Hinojosa
Cigarroa ES Analyzes & Interprets the Climate & Culture Rubrics
Northwest Elementary Cluster -4th Grade Writing Professional Development at Saldivar ES
Kudos and Special Thanks for Our Trailblazing Principals for Hosting or Attending Conrad & Jefferson PD in support of Teachers, CICs and APs !!!!!!
Week of 9/24
Edgar Jaramillo
Irma De la Guardia
Cecilia Criner
israel River
Robert McLaurin
PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent Conference night is the perfect time for students to showcase their learning as well as for you to conduct PTA/PTO membership drives! Please use this time to connect with your families.
Thursday, October 11--Elementary Parent Conferences 4-7 PM
OCTOBER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
October Campus PD is a great time to provide follow-up training based on campus needs and priorities. Topics should include literacy, SEL, and content PLC time.
Elementary PD Day - Friday, October 19 agenda due in Google doc by October 2 by COB for review
PEIMS SNAPSHOP DATE
The PEIMS snapshot date is October 26th. You will receive a weekly report every Friday during the month of October. Please ensure that you meet 100% on PEIMS. If you foresee any problems with completing ARDs by October 26th, please let me know. Thank you
TEACHER ATTENDANCE MATTERS
Just a reminder that attendance plays an important role on our scholars being served by their classroom teacher vs. a substitute. We do not want our fill rate to dip to its lowest level as it did last year. Ensure that you stress the important of being present each and every day.
As you know, the pay rates for substitutes have an incentive and it costs the District additional money on Monday and Friday because those are the days your staff is showing the most missed days. Please ensure that you are aggressively monitoring the substitute situation when it comes to approved absences for your staff.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITH THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DALLAS ISD PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
DATA ON THE HORIZON
COMMON ASSESSMENT WINDOW
FAILURE REPORTS
EIA Regulation (our grading policy) requires failure rate intervention plans be developed if rates exceed the thresholds at each level (elementary, middle or high) for a teacher / course / or subject. Further, it requires a plan be developed by the principal at the campus level if the threshold exceeds such rates across a subject (course for secondary) or grade level.
We are now at the mid point of the six weeks. Teachers have plenty of time to decrease failure rates. Please send home missing assignments. Points may be deducted for those assignments.
Please be reminded that homework can only be utilized if it helps the students grade. Students should not have failing grades on their report cards due to homework. Please refere to EIA Regulation policy.
The teachers should ensure they are providing the following for students. ( read chart below).
Coaching Connection Corner
Teacher Fall Showcase @ Joe May ES
"Alignment, Alignment, Alignment!!!!!"
Click on this link to gain access.
The expectation is for Conrad/Jefferson teachers, CICs and administrators to attend in order to support each other during planning for quality instruction for the upcoming six weeks.
Please click on the link below to register by Monday, October 22, 2018.
STEM MATH DEPARTMENT PD
Please click on the link below to register.
Please register for classes in Cornerstone. Registration links are available below.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oouaQB-35jfozlWPM1y3upj__KejWDDeXuwEJF8imsA/edit
Literacy Letter
THE LEADER IN ME SYMPOSIUM 2019
Experience The Leader in Me Symposium
Just a reminder that the Leader in Me Symposium will be held February 7-8 in Irving, Texas at the Irving Convention Center. Please ensure that you register to attend as we are attending as a cluster. Information on the symposium will be upcoming.
Join educators at the all-new 2018-201p Leader in Me Symposium. Together, we are transforming paradigms in education by empowering students and staff to model 21st-century leadership skills in order to achieve their full potential.
The Leader in Me Symposium is the most influential and inspiring event series for educators. This year Symposium will be coming to over 20 locations to inspire thousands of educators across North America. New enhancements have been made to the featured sessions, school tours, and networking experience. In addition, participants can now attend either a full two-day or a condensed one-day version of Symposium.
At The Leader in Me Symposium, you will
- Share innovative ideas with other administrators, superintendents, directors, principals, and teachers.
- Develop new skills and principle-centered effectiveness with The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® training.
- Learn best practices from experts in a variety of featured sessions.
- Discover how Leader in Me Schools are achieving success on a local school tour (two-day Symposium only).
- Gain inspiration from thought leaders during keynote presentations.
A TRAIL OF BREADCRUMBS-WRITING & GRAMMAR WORKSHOP FEATURING GRETCHEN BERNABEI
Grammar and Writing Development
Through the Year and for STAAR
featuring Gretchen Bernabei
This workshop will model layered instruction, weaving between grammar and writing, using materials Gretchen has adapted from STAAR released tests and live student STAAR essays. Specific high-yield strategies covered include:
Grammar:
Nailing fragments and run-ons, using the sentence wringer
Wiping out usage problems (like its/it’s and there/their/they’re) once
and for all
Showing your students how to use their parts-of-speech knowledge
Keeping track of your grammar-teaching-in-context
Reading:
Kernelizing passages for comprehension and multiple choice ease
Recognizing and using pitchforking in questions
Extracting text structures from passages
Writing:
Generating quick lists and kernel essays
Choosing from five text structures for expository or persuasive essays
Using icons for developing details
Participants will receive a copy of Grammar Keepers and Text Structures from Nursery Rhymes
Who is it for?
Anyone teaching writing (pre-k through 12)
Anyone who lays the instructional foundation (grades 4-11) for STAAR writing and reading tests
November 28-29 in Richardson, TX
8:30am - 2:30pm
Richardson Civic Center
411 W. Arapaho Rd. #102
Richardson, Texas 75083
OCTOBER
1-TBSI Trainings begin
6-Network Aggressive Monitoring plan due to Mrs. Healey
8-26- PEI Checkpoint #2 (schedule will be created and sent to principals in the next few weeks)
9-Principal for A Day
9-Elementary CIC Conference
10-Round 1 Due October 10th
11-Fall Parent Conference for Elementary campuses
12-Grade Failure Intervention Plans due
12-Principal of the Year Applications due
12-Elementary Fair Day-NO SCHOOL
15-Think Tank Mtg. -w/Lead ED@
16-District Wide Elementary Principals Meeting/CILT day
19-Elementary PD
22-Fall Teacher Showcase
23-Reading & Math SWAG for Pre-K-5
23-31-Red Ribbon Week
24-District-Wide AP Meeting
26-ED/Deputy Chief Meeting
26-Leadership 'B' Meeting 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
31-TBSI Trainings end
FEBRUARY
7-8-The Leader in Me Symposium-Irving Convention Center-All Principals should register to attend
MARCH
23-Northwest Network Super Saturday-Time TBD
MARSHALL MEMO #704
Getting Young Students Thinking and Talking Like Scientists
“When teachers support students to ask, explore, read, write, and discuss science ideas, they can increase opportunities for sophisticated disciplinary talk in the primary-grade classroom,” say Tanya Wright and Amelia Wenk Gotwals (Michigan State University) in this article in The Reading Teacher. “Students’ curiosity about science can be a powerful motivator to promote talk, and students will talk most when they are excited about an idea and wonder what happens.”
But kindergarten students get an average of only 2.3 minutes of science a day – even less in high-poverty schools. The paucity of science vocabulary and conceptual instruction is directly linked to lower literacy achievement later in elementary school. Wright and Gotwals have developed the SOLID Start project to promote science talk in primary-grade classrooms in these five ways:
- Asking driving questions – A teacher might launch a curriculum unit with a question like, “Why are only some of the plants at the front of the school dying?” or “Why are there different types of clouds, and how are they connected to whether we’ll be able to play outside today?” Questions like these can link the content and activities of a unit to the central theme.
- Exploring science phenomena – The teacher can choose activities that get students investigating the driving question – for example, examining the different plants in front of the school to find clues as to why some are dying and others aren’t. Some verbal prompts:
· What is the reason that…
· What do I want to know about…
· I wonder…
· What if…
· How could…
· Why does…
The teacher might record students’ talk during explorations on an easel sheet, linking observations back to the driving question.
- Talking about read-alouds – Reading books with the class can extend the exploration well beyond what can be seen and touched in the school and introduce a wider range of science vocabulary. The teacher might make strategic selections of vocabulary words that will enrich the exploration and get students talking about how each book relates to the driving question. “Remember that you don’t have to read an entire informational text,” say Wright and Gotwals. “It is fine to read a section of the text that supports students in answering the driving question.”
- Talking about drawing and writing – Students can be prompted to sketch their observations in notebooks, watch the teacher draw diagrams and pictures, and then discuss what it all means. “As young students explain their models, pictures, and writing to peers and adults,” say Wright and Gotwals, “their work provides a meaningful context for practicing extended science talk and for teachers to both support students in sense-making and to press them for evidence-based explanations.”
- Scaffolding students’ thinking – Toward the end of each unit, the teacher pulls together the class’s explorations, read-alouds, visuals, and discussions and prompts students to arrive at the answer to the driving question. This kind of pull-it-all-together discussion may be challenging for students, and it’s helpful to have a word wall, pictures, graphics, and other displays to scaffold the discussion, along with some verbal prompts:
· Can you explain more about that…
· Why do you think…
· What made you think that…
· What did you do when…
· What do you predict will…
EMMETT J. CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
- Jack Lowe Elementary: Principal, Sandra Barrios
- Jill Stone : Principal, Rosalinda Pratt
- Highland Meadows: Principal, Julian Davis
- David G. Burnet Elementary: Principal, Sonia Loskot
- Leonides Cigarroa Elementary : Principal, Douglas Burak
- Tom W. Field Elementary: Principal, Selena Deboskie
- Stephen C. Foster Elementary: Principal, Irma De La Guardia
- Joe May Elementary: Principal, Israel Rivera
- K.B. Polk Elementary: Principal, Kourtnei Billups
- Julian T. Saldivar: Principal, Edgar Jaramillo
- Walnut Hill Elementary: Principal, Robert 'Chase' McLaurin
- McShan Elementary: Principal, Cecilia Criner
MEET OUR ILLUSTRIOUS CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON LEADERSHIP TEAM
JACK LOWE SR. ELEMENTARY
JILL STONE ELEMENTARY
HIGHLAND MEADOWS ELEMENTARY
DAVID G. BURNET ELEMENTARY
LEONIDES CIGARROA ELEMENTARY
TOM FIELD
STEPHEN C. FOSTER
JOSE 'JOE' MAY
K.B. POLK CENTER FOR THE ACADEMICALLY TALENTED & GIFTED
JULIAN T. SALDIVAR
WALNUT HILL DUAL LANGUAGE GIFTED & TALENTED
MCSHAN ELEMENTARY
INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP COACH
OUR BOARD TRUSTEES REPRESENTING OUR NETWORK
EDWIN FLORES
DISTRICT # 1, Northwest Dallas, Addison, parts of Carrollton and Farmers Branch
Walnut Hill
DUSTIN MARSHALL
District #2 North and Near East Dallas
K. B. Polk
DAN Micciche
DISTRICT #3 Northeast Dallas
Highland Meadows, Jack Lowe Sr., Lee A. McShan Jr, Jill Stone at Vickery Meadow
MIGUEL SOLIS
DISTRICT # 8 Love Field, Northwest Dallas, and Central Dallas
David G. Burnet, Leonides Gonzalez Cigarroa, Tom Field, Stephen C. Foster, Jose "Joe" May, Julian T. Saldivar