Staff Newsletter
because it helps to know what's going on
February 28, 2020
Taking a Closer Look at Hattie's "10 Mindframes for Visable Learning"
The key message of the book is that teachers and leaders need to be continually aware of the impact they are having on their students and from the evidence of this impact, they need to make decisions about changing approaches.
KEY IDEAS IN HATTIES BOOK VISIBLE LEARNING
TEACHERS MINDFRAMES: It is critical that teachers see themselves as evaluators of their effects on students and develop a mind frame in which they see it as their primary role to evaluate their effect on learning. Hattie argues that teacher’s beliefs and commitment s are the greatest influence on student achievement.
Mindframe #2:
Student assessments are not important feedback just for learners. They are even more useful for teachers themselves, because they provide indications about the lessons they gave. (Hattie & Zierer, 2018)
The second mindframe, or behavior, is “I see assessment as informing my impact and next steps.” Some critical factors to consider:
See student achievements as what they are: feedback about you and for you.
Consider the learning process in close connection with the teaching process.
Interpret the mistakes your learners make with your teaching in mind.
Include a phase at the end of the lesson in which you make learning visible.
Integrate methods for this purpose into your lesson plan, taking into account both the current learning levels of the students and the level of challenge of the tasks you plan to assign.
Take notes on what you want to include later on in an assignment while you are planning the instructional sequence.
Discuss the level of challenge you defined for the lesson with a colleague or in your PLC. Consider student achievements and check whether the level was appropriate.
Use assignments to clarify the following questions: Which of my goals did I achieve in the lesson? What material did I successfully get across to the learners? Which methods turned out to be useful for fostering learning? Which media were useful for fostering learning?
Double-check to make sure your students have learned the material, even if you believe they have; Knowing it is is better than believing it is.
An example of Teacher Clarity
Coming Soon.....Riley Days
Our school participates in Kids Caring & Sharing for Riley Hospital, a special project of the Indiana Association of School Principals. On March 16-20 we will be holding our annual “Riley Days.” Each student is invited to participate! We are asking students to consider a $5.00 donation in exchange for participating in “dress up days” and participation in our Riley Volleyball.
Students may bring their donation anytime during the week of March 16th. Students will receive a small token of appreciation from Riley Hospital for their generosity.
On Friday, March 20th, students will show off the volleyball skills they have been learning in PE class by competing against other classes in their grade level. Winning classes will take on the teachers in a final match.
Third Grade will compete from 8:00-9:15 and Fourth Grade from 9:30-10:45. Parents are welcome to attend.
MARCH BOOK MADNESS
Shout outs!!
"Thank you, Renee for all your help in math class! You are the best with students who need a brain reset!"~Charity R.
"Shout out to Megan Hopper for getting everything ready and leading Girls on the Run!"~Danielle A.
MTSS
In an effort to provide consistency for our current students and interventionists AND with the upcoming testing "season," we are trying something different for the remainder of our data teams. Please complete a Progress Update form ONLY if you feel an RTI student should be considered for a different placement or graduation from RTI. Progress Update forms can be found here.( Reading Progress Update Form Math Progress Update Form ) Forms can be placed in my mailbox at any time for the rest of the year! As always, if you are concerned about a student not currently receiving RTI services, please place a red flag form in Tina's mailbox. Please let me know if you have any questions about this change.
Finally, a gentle reminder to have your math and reading assessment scores updated on the Class of spreadsheets.
Mathias Pfister
March Birthdays
Susan Vrabel- March 1
Erin Stutler- March 4
Brandon Doub- March 8
Mark Callighan- March 20
Jennifer Wilson- March 26
Tina Noe- March 28
Kris Adolf- March 30
Reminders
- Please begin adding a message in your parent newsletters to make sure students are charging their Chromebooks in the evening. It will be especially critical that we are all charged and ready to go during IREAD3 and ILEARN season.
- Add your read-aloud titles to this google doc.
- Think about the great things going on around you and send a shout out to Tina to add to the newsletter.
Upcoming Dates
Mar. 3: PLC
Mar. 5: eLearning Day
Mar. 6: End of Quarter 3
Mar. 8: Daylight Savings Time/spring forward
Mar. 10: PLC
Mar. 12: Faculty Mtg.
Mar. 13: Report cards posted
Mar. 16: Riley Days begin
Mar. 17: PLC
Mar. 19: Men in Action Read Day
Mar. 20: Riley Volleyball
Mar. 23-27 Spring Break
Mar. 31-April 2 IREAD3
Data Team Meetings
Data Team Meeting Dates 2019-20
Wednesday, March 5th- Canceled
Wednesday, May 6th
CIC Meetings
Building Level Meetings
Faculty Meetings and/or Grade level/Dept. Mtgs:
Feb. 27 (Gr. level/dept.)
Mar. 12 (Faculty)
Apr. 9 (Faculty)
Apr. 23 (Gr. level/dept.)
May 7 (Faculty)