REALM Focus
Staff News for the Week of May 13, 2019
Upcoming Events
May
12 - Happy Mothers Day!!!
13 - STAAR Math
14 - STAAR Reading
15 - STAAR Science
16 - STAAR Social Studies
18 - Character March at BISD Stadium; Gen 1 Eighth Grade Family Celebration
20 - REALM 6th and 7th grade Awards Celebration in The Pit back-to-back sessions from 2:00-3:40)
22 - BISD Technology collecting all student laptops for summer maintenance and storage
27 - eSports Regional Qualifier at eSports Arena in Arlington (across from Globe Life Park)
28 - Staff Work Day (Please complete all items on year-end check-out list and get all necessary signatures before leaving)
29-30 - REALM Retreat with team from Microsoft and BISD Instructional Technology to earn MInecraft Education certification that we all will use next year!
31 - eSports Finals at Dream Hack Dallas (held at the Dallas Convention Center)
Save these dates - - 29-30 - - In order for our campus to become the first public school to be certified in Minecraft Education, we are revising our original campus retreat plans. This two day retreat will ensure all of our staff have taken care of earned off for 2019-20 AND are certified in Minecraft Education with enough time to dive in, try things, build, experiment, and integrate across content areas prior to our one-day follow-up during our PD days in August. (I apologize for communicating the information this way, but I believe the honor of being The First coupled with providing everyone the time to process the training rather than cramming it all in during the week before students arrive will prove most beneficial in the long run.)
Shout outs!
- Everyone for a terrific Staff Appreciation Week - - I'm so grateful for the many ways you invest your time, energy, and heart into helping our students learn and grow!
- Stacy Hughes for the difference she makes with her current students AND for being honored for the impact she made in the life of a former student that presented Stacy with a Golden Bell at the Employee Banquet on Tuesday.
- Eversole, Ramos, and Coggins for graciously hosting the different groups of visitors on campus last Wednesday.
- Dr. Bender Jutzi for inviting the visitors on Wednesday to share with our students the growing array of opportunities available to them in the area of eSports.
- Katelyn Tyler for inviting the reporter and photographer from Burleson Now to feature REALM in the August issue!
- Mikala Hill and Tim Brestowski for their work to bring our school colors and mascot together to help us establish our new campus branding!
- Each of you that see Twitter as the helpful learning tool that George Couros described ("The smartest person in the room is the room") by learning from others and sharing our story @REALM_BISD and #REALRocks
Maintaining Focus
"Run through first base!" Because I was a coach "in a former life" and am now a father of three athletes that are passionate about different sports, it warms my "Daddy-heart" to see them have fun, do well, and learn from their sports of choice. I also can't help but share the lessons I have seen them learn (or the lessons they continue to teach me) as I watch them and cheer them on.
There are so many valuable lessons that I see my own children learning through their participation in sports. They are learning the value of hard work, perseverance, and contributing to a team. Although my son is now old enough to wear real metal spikes to play baseball, I still remember the drills during T-ball and Coach-pitch days when we would encourage the players to run all the way through first base. In those early days of learning the game, you never knew if a player might drop the ball and you'd be safe at first!
Running through first base is one of those lessons that serves as powerful reminder for us all. Had Leon Lett learned that lesson, he might have scored a touchdown in the Cowboy's first Super Bowl victory over the Buffalo Bills. How many other stories have you witnessed when someone eased up, only to be passed, edged out of a win, or thrown out by the smallest of margins because they failed to run through the base/finish line/end zone?
I realize that we only have two more weeks of school left. That several of those days will be focused upon either state testing or final exams. However, because time is a precious and fleeting commodity, we cannot afford to waste it. Once it is gone, it's gone. The only thing it leaves behind are the evidence of the investments made in each passing moment. During these last two weeks - How will we steward our time and invest it so that we can see the two-fold harvest of every good day at school? - - 1) Students leave with a smile on their face 2) Having learned something they did not already know when they walked through the door. One without the other means we missed "the sweet spot" that day because either the day was not challenging enough OR it was too challenging.
Let's be sure to run through first base and finish the year strong! #REALMRocks
REALM
Email: jcalvin@bisdmail.net
Website: http://realm.burlesonisd.net/
Location: 517 SW Johnson Ave, Burleson, TX, USA
Phone: 817-245-0875
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BISDLevelsUp/
Twitter: @REALM_BISD