Middle School Planning
2nd Semester
NEW YEAR....NEW SEMSTER
At the semester switch is a perfect time to change and modify procedures and expectations. Looking to enhance the Middle School program here are some small things to begin with. Please look at the following areas and address each one of them.
Let me know if you need any assistance or questions.
Token System
Implement your Token Economy
Who?
Donaldson, Davis and Bell
When?
Introduce to students by February 16th
Implement on February 16th
Action!
- Add more detail to plan
Finalize your system and how you are going to use it.
Fun Friday
Develop Clear Procedures for Participation
Who?
- Donaldson, Davis and Bell
When?
Develop and share with me by February 16th
Share with students by February 16th
Action!
Create and document
Example: Completed 80% of work, 0 office referrals, use of appropriate language, etc.
Bell keep running data on every student
Create a poster including the dates and activities of Fun Friday
Create Google Doc and share with Hobbs, I haven't seen this document yet, please resend.
Expectations and Procedures
Fine Tune Expectations
Who?
- Donaldson, Davis, Bell and Bissonette
When?
Share and demonstrate expectations with students by January 15th
Set up a Bi-Weekly time to meet with Tracey to review procedures, discuss student behavior, get ideas to implement
Create a Google Doc to share with me by Monday, January 15th I haven't seen this document yet, please resend.
Action!
Review current expectations and procedures in all areas
Clarify new expectations and procedures in all areas
Write out expectations and procedures in all areas
Bathroom Breaks
Implement New Procedure
Who?
- Davis, Donaldson, Bell
When?
- Begin January 16th - has this begun yet?
Why?
- Due to students not following directions and loss of focus/time, students will go to the bathroom 1 at a time
Action!
- No more need to group bathroom breaks
- Boys can use the bathroom in the back of the building (behind Dean's room)
- Girls can use the girls bathroom in the front of the school
- Develop a bathroom sign out sheet to keep track of who was in the bathroom at specific times of the day
Classroom Structure
Revisit Classroom Make-up
Who?
Donaldson, Davis, Bell and Allen
When?
- Implement in class January 23rd (2nd semester)
Why?
Let’s revisit our classes and how we structure them….let’s look at ability and behavior more than actual grade...we are an alternative school, we have flexibility.
We need to think outside the box in how we do things and less traditional.
Group students by behavior and ability, work with students in small groups on their content level within the classroom
Less distractions/behavior issues
More learning
Smaller group instruction
Action!
Ex: Class 1 - Cameron, Tyler, Xaria, Hannah, Chris, Davion, Luke
Group students based on grade within the classroom
Group 1:Tyler, Xaria, Cameron
Group 2: Hannah, Chris, Davion, Luke
While teacher is working in a small group setting with group 1 on grade level content, group 2 is working independently. Then the teacher will switch groups.
This will provide smaller group instruction with grade level curriculum and the ability to split classrooms up that works best with class dynamics.
Student Contracts
- Donaldson, Davis, Bell and Allen
Why?
- Provide individual goal setting for each student
- Improve student academics and behavior
Action!
- Develop individual contracts with every student in MS
- Each contract should have goal: Behavior (1-2), Academic (1-2), Social/Emotional (1, if needed)
- 3-5 goals for each student
- Collaborate together to complete each contract based on students
Classroom Environment
Who?
- Donaldson, Davis and Bell
Why?
- The Importance of a Positive Classroom. Classroom environment is one of the most important factors affecting student learning. ... Such an environment provides relevant content, clear learning goals and feedback, opportunities to build social skills, and strategies to help students succeed (Weimer, 2009).
Action!
- Student Bulletin board (Hobbs will be working on making sure you both have a bulletin board in classroom)
- Learning targets and outcomes posted on the board each day (white board)
- Student work displayed
- Student of the week
Examples of boards and classroom environment below.
Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help enhance your classroom environment.
Positive Phone Calls/Notes Home
ALL
Why?
- Spread positivity about students to parents
- So often we call when there child is doing something wrong, let's send home a note that is positive
- Build relationships
When?
- During the 3rd quarter
Action!
- Every student in the MS program needs to receive 1 positive phone call and 1 positive note home
- Amanda...create and keep updated when a student receives a positive note and phone call, what it was about and who delivered the great news.
Follow Ups
Refection SMORES
Classroom Management Essential Techniques
- Use this attached 3-2-1 Form for each SMORE above. Make a copy and complete. Share with me once you complete this. Complete before next Thursday, September 14th. We will discuss these areas at our next PLC.
- Also, let's really think about our students...we discussed one in particular today and how bad the behaviors are. If I recall correctly, each day a different student has had one of those days. This is the first we've discussed this child like this, the other days it has been another student. I say this because, we need to hold them all to a high expectation, but continue to work with them and do what's best for each child. Let's not base them on their worst day, but if this behavior continues to be a consistent pattern then the question is...What are we doing to change that child behavior?
- Thank you and keep up the hard work. You are doing a good job, we will keep working with each other to ensure that we are getting were we need to be....GROWTH MINDSET
October 16th Token System
Token Economy: See Token Economy Google Doc
Will start this the Week Davis starts
September 6th
Thank you for the dialogue today about the middle school program. This is really helping me understand what support you need in the classroom as we are looking to establish a great program.
I wanted to follow up with some of the items we talked about that need some action steps.
Begin the FBA process for Hanna G (contact Tracy Bisonette about her)
Contact parents about behaviors and log it, if a kid is not following the classroom rules/procedures
Document behavior in ED handbook for minor incident
Create written classroom procedures and routines then post them
20 Must Teach Routines for Middle School
15 More Must Teach Routines for Middle School
AManda's role: Behavior Support Assistant - help manage students behavior during class, bus, transitions, electives, etc. Pull students out of class that are disruptive and work with them in a separate setting
Engaging lesson full of rigor
Set expectations and be consistent
7th & 8th Grade students need to be split throughout the day.
Here are a few other areas that I thought of after the meeting
Develop a reward system (daily reward system that is tangible)
Need to discuss a possible longer break time, this will give the students another incentive, but can also be a loss of privilege
August 28th After talking to you today about how your day went, I wanted to share with you a few resources. I'm not sure what your currently working on, but I wanted to share. As you both know, it is very important to implement classroom expectations and procedures for everything that you do throughout the day and modeling that expectation (from walking down the hall, to loading the bus, to what to do when you finish your classwork). Middle school students need consistency and lots of structure...today was a very unstructured day due to the 1st day of the year, but once they are on that daily routine it and structured system, it will get better. Continue to work together and plan, and I will be there to support you in whatever you need. Here are a few resources you can use. 20 Must Teach Routines for Middle School 15 More Must Teach Routines for Middle School Teaching Rules and Procedures Video Let me know what I can help you with as we begin this journey this school year.