AMCMS Principal's Office
What is going on in the Principal's Office?
My Challenge to You
When Richard Van As, a woodworker in South Africa, decided to make a set of mechanical fingers, it wasn't just for fun. He'd lost four of the fingers on his right hand in an unfortunate work accident. For a carpenter, a disabled hand is a big professional risk, so Richard decided on the day of the incident that he would use the tools available to him to remedy his situation. Little did he know the risk of doing what people said was impossible would lead to changing his world and the world of many others.
This is a real life example of the power of an idea. Risk-taking at its finest. Richard did not set out to change the world of these children. He was just determined to do what other people said he could not do. He used technology that was a part of science fiction just a couple of years ago. He used the internet to connect with someone on a different continent, half a world away, to collaborate on a wild idea. This is just a glimpse of the world that our students will be living in as adults.
A huge part of our jobs as educators is to encourage and support risk-taking, big ideas, and collaboration with our students. Our students will be solving problems that we have yet to imagine. How do we prepare them for these problems? By helping students to believe in themselves. You help students to believe in themselves by encouraging risk-taking, supporting big ideas, and creating collaboration opportunities during problem solving.
All of this starts with you. Believing in yourself is the first step. You can do it.
Think. Achieve. Succeed.
Jeff
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Please consider presenting at the CSISD You Matter conference. There are so many great things going on in you classroom that you should consider sharing.
Click the link above and look at all of the different areas that you can present up... or share your own ideas!
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AMCMS SPED Tip of the Week
Do you have students who immediately shut down when you present them with work? Maybe you have a student who doesn't shut down, but seems to always be off task.
Sometimes those behaviors are an indicator of something more. Sometimes those behaviors are our students' way of communicating to us: "I don't get it." or "This is overwhelming."
Here are some things you can try for these students:
- Break the assignment down into smaller pieces and present the smaller pieces one at a time
- Check in with the student to make sure they really understand what the assignment is (do one together, then have them show you how to do one).
- Embed breaks (once you get these 3 problems finished, you can take a break for a few minutes)
- Remember that students don't always ask for help when they need it in the ways that we expect them to ask.
What are some of your strategies to get kids back on track? Share below so we can all learn from each other.
Academic Tip of the Week
Try This
Provide the student with a predetermined signal if he/she begins to blurt out answers without being called on.
Wellness Tip of the Week
Take a moment to click the link below and learn what New York Times best selling author Gretchen Ruben says are the 8 splendid truths of happiness.
Technology Tip of the Week
Did you notice the email from Shannon Long that all of our students (and teachers) now have access to Office 365? Well one of the cool tools you can use is OneNote. Onenote is a great tool for capturing notes like you would in a notebook and really excels at helping you find the note you are looking for later. This two minute introduction included with OneNote 2013 (similar to the 2016 version) gives a glimpse into what using the program is like.
The two videos below are tutorials related to Office 365. Check them out!
Short Tutorial
Longer Tutorial
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Share all the great things about AMCMS -- Use #LoveMySchoolDay in your social media posts.
Tuesday April 11 -- 8pm -- Only on Twitter!
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Check out some of the great things going on at #AMCMS this past week!
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Here are some articles and blogs that I read this past week from Twitter.
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Report Card Grades Due 4pm Monday April 10
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Week at a Glance
- Mann at Principals Meeting with Dr. Ealy-- 7am - ??
- Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
- Be at your duty station-- 7:50
- Be at your duty station-- 3:50
- Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
Tuesday April 11
- #LoveMySchoolDay -- Share why you love AMCMS on social media!
- Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
- Be at your duty station-- 7:50
- Be at your duty station-- 3:50
- Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
- You Matter BootCamp Work Shop -- 4-5:30.
- #CSISDChat on Twitter -- 8pm
Wednesday April 12
- Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
- Be at your duty station-- 7:50
- Spring Pictures Day -- Social Studies Classes
- Be at your duty station-- 3:50
- Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
- Department Meetings-- Dept. Head has time a place for meeting
Thursday April 13
- It's our Friday... wear jeans.
- Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
- Be at your duty station-- 7:50
- Be at your duty station-- 3:50
- Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
- PD Design Team Meeting 4:20 - 5:30. Lecture Hall
Friday April 14
- No School!
A&M Consolidated Middle School
Email: jmann@csisd.org
Website: http://amcms.csisd.org/
Location: 105 Holik Street, College Station, TX, United States
Phone: 979-764-5575
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMCMS.Home.of.the.Cats
Twitter: @AMCMSCatPRIDE