The Bailey Times
March 18, 2019
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Being a Dork can make learning even better!
Book Choice of the Week
In productive classrooms, teachers don't just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings.
Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using their most powerful teaching tool: language. Throughout, Peter Johnston provides examples of apparently ordinary words, phrases, and uses of language that are pivotal in the orchestration of the classroom. Grounded in a study by accomplished literacy teachers, the book demonstrates how the things we say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for what children learn and for who they become as literate people. Through language, children learn how to become strategic thinkers, not merely learning literacy strategies. In addition, Johnston examines the complex learning that teachers produce in classrooms that is hard to name and thus is not recognized by tests, by policy-makers, by the general public, and often by teachers themselves, yet is vitally important.
This book will be enlightening for any teacher who wishes to be more conscious of the many ways their language helps children acquire literacy skills and view the world, their peers, and themselves in new ways.
How Ending Behavior Rewards Helped One School Focus On Student Motivation and Character
As I start thinking about next year and talk to teachers, to parents, to students and watch the everyday happenings at BSE I feel we are ready to move forward in how we deal with classroom behaviors in our classrooms and how to change the mindset of teachers who struggle in this area either because they are scared to let go of the control they have or because it is really all they know. We have done an awesome job of responding to behavior not as punishment but as a way to learn to make better choices. Some of you have embraced this mindset 100% and it shows every day in your classroom and in your relationships with your students and their parents. Some of you have embraced it almost 100% and it has made your classroom management and your ability to handle difficult students so much better. The area that we are looking at is intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. There are many different opinions on this and I am not saying that giving extrinsic rewards is bad but it is more about the process for getting those rewards. We all know that the behavior problems in the classroom very rarely get to go to the treasure box at the end of the week if you still do that and they are always pulling their clip down the chart and many times never move back up. Next year part of our learning will be ways to help these students be a part of the classroom and not the behavior problem or difficult child. But, more on that later! Back to rewards - I have parents and teachers ask me all the time why we don't have a "reward" program like the middle school or why we don't give our students some kind of recognition, or pin or whatever to congratulate them for making straight A's or for having great attendance. My answer to this is because there are so many more variables to giving a "reward" to students. You have to look at it from a broader viewpoint and when you really break it apart what you are really rewarding are those students that are compliant, those students that have parents who study with them and hold them accountable for what they do academically, those students who do not have behavior issues that would impact whether they receive a reward or not because sometimes they can make straight A's but be a behavior problem and many teachers feel they should not be rewarded at all due to behavior, and the list will go on and on. My feelings in this area are very strong because I have been in the position I am in for a long time and have watched and listened to students who no matter what they do will never "fit" into a "reward" program. Rewards do work for some children and if done correctly can help behavior but more times than not they are not done correctly and can actually make the behavior worse. The article below discusses behavior rewards and is worth your time to read. We will start working on this and how we want to do things even better at BSE! My hope is that we will continue to look at our practices and just get better! The children we touch everyday are worth it!
Educator Survey
Y'all do a great job of completing this survey every year and I thank you! It makes our school look good and we are also contributing to making changes where needed. The email has been sent and you should have received it. If not, check your spam folder. The email is from Tennessee Education Research Alliance <tned.research.alliance@vanderbilt.edu>
Thank you in advance!
Cindy
As a reminder, the annual Tennessee Educator Survey will open next week. As part of this survey effort, every school-level educator in the state of Tennessee will be invited to report their perceptions and expertise on education issues affecting their classrooms and school buildings. All educators should receive a personalized invitation by Friday, March 8.
We estimate that the survey will take up to 20 minutes to complete. Upon completion, participants become eligible for a lottery that awards several individual classroom grants of $300 each week through the end of the survey on April 19. A separate lottery will be held after the survey window closes to award several grants of $2,000 to the schools with the highest participation rates.
Completion of this survey is voluntary, and participants may also refuse to answer any specific questions within the survey. Individual responses are confidential and will not under any circumstances be shared or released. The department will share aggregated school-level results with school leaders by the end of May and will make all results publicly available here later this summer. In order to receive its data, a school or district must achieve at least 45 percent participation.
More information about the survey, including troubleshooting information for teachers who do not receive their survey invitation by March 8, is available here. Any further questions about the survey can be directed to tned.research.alliance@vanderbilt.edu.
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Sorry the Dear Cindy column will not be in this weeks Bailey Times! If you have any ideas for the next one please let me know!
Playground Ribbon Cutting Ceremony - Friday, March 22nd Kindergarten Students will come out to the playground around 10:00.
Coffee Chats
March 19th (Tuesday) - Stem Bins with Bond and Ferrante @ 8:00 in Rm. 410 Bond's room.
If you would like to host a coffee chat please let me know!
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Take a moment and read through the articles or blogs that I have looked at this past week! Maybe one will be of interest to you!
Month at a Glance
PTA Board Meeting 9:30
March 19th
Coffee Chat - Utilizing STEM bins in the classroom - Bond Rm. 410. You can sign up in MLP!
March 18th - 22nd
Student Council Animal Shelter Collection
March 21st
Spring Pictures
PD & Popcorn
March 22nd
Ribbon Cutting for Playground
March 23rd
Bailey Station singing at the Grizzlies Game!
March 28th
**Faculty Meeting at 7:30 in the library** This is a change!
**BSE is the focus school at the Board Meeting 6:30 at the community room at CHS**Change from March 21st*****
PTA Bingo Night 6:00 Cafe
Future Chefs Competition at the high school!
Memphis In May
March 29th
Memphis In May
April 1st - 5th
Teacher Appreciation Week
April 3rd
Out - Vanderbilt with my Mother
April 4th
Kindergarten Orientation Night
April 5th
Shelly Brown - author - Visiting BSE 2:00 - 2:20
April 6th
Race for the Ville 7:00
April 9th
Barnes and Noble Book Fair 5:00 - 7:00
April 16th
Out - Vanderbilt with my Mother
April 19th
Good Friday - Holiday
April 15th - 29th
Testing Window
April 22nd
Professional Development Day for Teachers School Level (no students)
April 24th - 26th
Out - Vanderbilt with my Mother
April 29th - May 3rd
Penny Wars
April 30th
Collierville Rotary Teacher of Year Banquet @ 6:00 Memphis National
May 1st - 2nd
Out - Vanderbilt with my Mother
May 7th
Fine Arts Night 5:00 - 7:00 and PTA Mtg. at 6:00
May 9th
Out - Vanderbilt with my Mother
Retirement Reception 5:30 at CHS
May Day for Prek- 2nd
May 10th
May Day for 3rd - 5th
May 13th
Parade of Seniors 1:30
May 14th
2nd-grade Musical 9:30 and 2:40
May 15th - 16th
3rd-grade talent shows
May 16th
Faculty Meeting and Leadership Meeting starting at 7:30 Library
May 17th
5th Grade History Fair
May 20th
Chorus and Percussion End of Year Program 9:30 and 2:40
May 21st
5th-grade Luau 11:00
May 22nd
Kindergarten Program 9:30
May 23rd
Student/Faculty Basketball Game
May 24th
Last Day - Dismissal at 12:15