November 6, 2017
A Communication Tool for the Seven Hills Staff
New Grading Period...Time for a WIG update:
The 3rd grading period is 6 weeks with a week break at Thanksgiving. There is a little more time, and you can encourage students to work on lead measures over the break! We should be giving out our 7 Hills Reads book before the break as well. This will help promote reading over the break too. It is time to update WIGs and set new WIGs. Here are a few reminders:
- Don't forget to move mastered WIGs to the celebrations section of the Leadership Notebook.
- It is time to choose student work that reflects growth and WIG achievement for the grading period. Please reference the Celebration Boards expectations when planning how this work will be displayed.
- If a student did not meet their WIG, carefully consider the lead measure with student influence. Check scoreboards. Did the student actually complete the Lead Measure? If so, then maybe it needs to be changed. If not, maybe there should be a discussion about responsibility.
- If a student met their WIG, what is the next step for the student to move them forward? Is it possible that the WIG stays the same, but the lead measure changes to move the thinking to a more independent level? This may be true for the summary, critical thinking, etc. WIGs.
- Remember, ALL WIGs should be written in the "From X to Y by When" format.
- Students must have one Lead Measure that THEY influence. This needs to be an action with the greatest leverage for moving them forward. It needs to be focused and have specificity. Reading every day is an expectation, not a Lead Measure.
Several grade levels have continued to share great ideas and thinking in the Wildly Important Synergy document. Thank you for your feedback. Our time together is limited, and this is an effective way to share and problem solve. There are great ideas in this document for EVERYONE to use...especially when thinking about how to use lessons learned from WIG setting the second grading period and how to help students select work for celebration boards.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GWGjsMl0cnNGCoYDGEKGfr6rFK-DkeCHel82OfTxiXg/edit
Lead Time:
Lead Time is proving to be critical to WIG success.
Don't forget that Lead Time is a perfect time to get Lexia minutes and Think Through Math minutes in.
With these activities and Lead Measures, students should all be able to put first things first for individual achievement during this time!
We have defined our campus and grade level Wildly Important Goals, and all students should have WIGs. We have 2 weeks to be working on lead measures before the end of the grading period. Remember that as a campus we agreed to provide time for students to work on lead measures during lead time 3-4 times per week. Each classroom should be monitoring progress on their classroom lead time scoreboard. I wanted to provide a gentle reminder about what we all agreed to with respect to lead time. You can find our document linked here: https://docs.google.com/a/nisdtx.org/document/d/1SaXs7qwXrHrFB8qkJwJtLcPa3ty4xBytQov-NfgkwGs/edit?usp=sharing
4Dx Book Study:
One more week to complete this assignment. Please post by Friday, November 10.
Staff Meeting Prep Work:
Staff - we will use this information soon! Please make sure you have carefully considered these questions.
Bring the reflections you completed in our last meeting. The reflections were written on a piece of white folded paper. If you lost this paper or were not in attendance at the last meeting, the questions that you need to reflect on before coming to the meeting are:
What would our school look like and feel like if everyone were inspired by the same core set of beliefs (think about our campus beliefs)? What if everyone was on the same path to those beliefs and the Wildly Important?
What if everyone on your team had a common purpose?
What matters to you most about our school?
What do you want MOST for your students?
What do you want most for your team?
Could you make decisions and solve problems based on what matters most to you?
What will it take to make what you want MOST a REALITY?
Habit Focus for the Week: Habit 2...Begin With The End in Mind
Wonder
Precepts for the Week:
- Monday: Be kind and carry on. - Unkown
- Tuesday: Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they are there. - Unknown
- Wednesday: When life gives you lemons, make orange juice. Be unique! -J.J
- Thursday: If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. -Milton Berle
- Friday: Today, fill your cup of life with sunshine and laughter. - Dodinsky
Campus and District Announcements and Updates:
New changes to STAAR! ALL students are now allowed to use both a dictionary and thesaurus on both the reading and writing STAAR tests!!! WooHoo! In order to make sure we have enough supplies for testing days, ALL teachers please complete the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYFemNFDEpERL4pWW9I9S5zBLW87Vt53GvzKFSfcSzpo0XAw/viewform
Classroom teachers (LHT member or other designated team member) please remember to let specials team (Art, Music, PE and Counselor, Library) know when you will be gone on a field trip! That way they can plan accordingly to ensure they have delivered the instruction they need to to your kiddos. Thanks so much for your help with this!
From the Lighthouse Team...Leadership Jobs Primary- https://docs.google.com/a/nisdtx.org/drawings/d/1nXdn7yiz3twtz9Z-WfsVB0Mk-QGO-c2g--D4leDXQCQ/edit?usp=sharing 2nd-4th Grading period job reflection
https://docs.google.com/a/nisdtx.org/drawings/d/1Vvmm3ea_lT5UnWnXccapQg5_xKHs-1Hri22tT4tFn34/edit?usp=sharing 5th and 6th Grading Period job reflection
Thanksgiving Lunch Invitations Will Go Home This Week:
Save the Date:
Habit Focus: Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind
- TLIM Coaching Day at Seven Hills - staff wear black polo no jeans; students encouraged to wear red "Oh the Places, I'll Lead" shirt
- Leader Rally; 7:40 - 8:00 am
- SST A
- All Star Leader awards need to be completed and parents contacted for assemblies on Thursday
- No ILT Meeting due to Coaching Day
- Lag Measure Attendance Scoreboards begin
- TLIM Coaching Day at 7 Hills - staff wear navy World Changer shirt no jeans
- Holiday lunch RSVPs due - please share with parents
- Grade Level PLCs
November 8:
- Planning with Math Coaches
- Staff wear jeans with a shirt of their choice for fundraiser award (shirt of your choice because we wore Wednesday shirt on Monday)
- Dr. Thornell visits 7 Hills
November 9:
- Leadership Assemblies (8:00 K- 2, 8:30 - 3-5; 5th grade and specials switch conference periods)
- Scoreboards need to be updated for 2nd grading period
- Campus Professional Learning, GT Update; 3:30
- Kim out at DLT
November 10:
- Veteran's Day Program 8:00 am (staff wear red, white, and blue with jeans; students encouraged to wear red, white and blue as well, follow Sharpen the Saw Club schedule)
Celebration Boards due date is not accurate on purple calendar. Please have celebration boards reflecting 2nd grading period celebrations updated by the morning of November 14.
Happy Birthday to You:
Melissa Simpson 11/6
Lecia Green 11/8
Barbara Reyes 11/12