AD Connect
4-30-18
Mindfulness and Wiring Your Brain: "Neurons that fire together wire together." ~Donald Hebb
I heard this quote while listening to one of my favorite new podcasts, How to Be Awesome at Your Job. In Episode 292: Enhancing Work and Life Through Mindfulness, mindfulness and meditation expert Oren Jay Sofer shared research on neuroplasticity or the rewiring of one’s brain. According to Sofer, “Our minds are designed to learn, and whatever we do with them, they will learn.” If we spend our time thinking about things that are stressful, things that cause aggravation, or make us rushed, we are actively shaping and training our mind to feel stress, aggravation, and rushed. This time of year can bring added stress which can quickly take our thinking to a negative, unproductive place. Noticing when you are feeling this way is the first step in taking your thinking to a more positive and productive place. As we enter these potentially busy and stressful weeks of the school, I encourage all of us, me included, to take our thinking to a positive, clear, and focused place. We will all be more happier and more productive it we do.
AIP reminders and SSI round one
Now that we have results from the first found of SSI, it is now time to move forward with developing AIPs for students that didn’t meet standard. Here is an email from Stacey Singleton about next steps:
April 30 – Receive SSI-I results
Conduct ARDs for Special Education students who did not meet standard
By May 7 – Notify parents of results, Form 1 (met standard) Form 2 (did not meet standard)
Implement intervention plan for accelerated instruction for students who did not meet passing standard (campus based, no AIP needed)
May 14/15 – Administer round 2 of STAAR
Forms, timelines, and additional information may be found on the SSI google site. If you have questions or other needs please let me know.
Providing planning time for testing
Retention Criteria
Last Day-June 11th
ESL Role
District Goals
ACE Update
This week, all Handley staff members found a home with the exception of two paras looking for a "like position" not yet available. This process was amazingly smooth entirely because of you and the effort you made in selecting candidates for your campus. I am so impressed with the team effort everyone demonstrated. In addition. so many of you followed the example Wendy Williams set by celebrating with a welcome package and tweeting about the new addition to your team. I am so grateful to work with such awesome leaders!
This week we held the ACE parent meeting at Lyles, and it went very well. The new Lyles principal, Michael Bland was able to join us, and the parents were quite excited about the opportunity for their children. The Handley parent meeting is this Tuesday night.
Planning is underway with our curriculum department to ensure a quality plan for the additional hour of instruction, and we are working with outside agencies and inside personnel to create a professional development plan. In addition, we have elected to survey parents at both campuses to help us decide what the enrichment time after school should look like.
Important Dates
May 1 - Handley Parent Meeting
May 4 - Extended Choice of School Closes
May 7 - Parent Interest Survey for Enrichment
Upcoming Dates
April 30-Teacher of the Year Luncheon
April 30-May 4-Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4-PTA Spring Luncheon
May 9-National School Nurse Day
May 14-16-STAAR Testing (3/4 Math and Reading, 5 Science, 5 Math and Reading SSI 2)
May 17-Team GISD
May 21-Cool Clix Luncheon
June 21-Title I capital outlay and personnel requests due (4/13 WAIP)