Collegiate Academy Heartbeat
Sunday, October 6, 2019
From the Heart
Team,
Congratulations to Robin Young for being "selected" staff member of the month! Thank you Robin for all you do to serve our students to be College Ready!
A quick reminder about absences! If you are going to be out, please remember to text Matthew and me, even if you have talked with us about it previously or it is a district meeting. A quick text the evening before or the morning of reminds us to make sure there is a sub or know not to look for you that day. I'm not asking you to do anything I don't do. I put my absence in skyward, but I always text Conrad the morning of to remind him. Thanks in advance!
The week at a glance:
Monday is STOMP out bullying. Wear jeans with a blue shirt!
Pre- Conference and Observation invites have been sent out and begin this week! Those of you that shared dates, I was able to accommodate. I am looking forward to visiting with each of you about your instructional practice.
Matthew and I will be volunteering Monday afternoon at the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament. We are working to find intern/externships for our students!
We have a BBBS event on Tuesday evening.
PSAT prep on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Thank you Kristinia, Yesenia, Jessica and Robin for working with our students to achieve their BEST!
Matthew will be at AP meeting on Wednesday, but I will be here all day! :-)
Friday is FALL Festival! No PLC, just a whole lot of fun and building positive relationships with students and parents!
As we strive to improve how we serve our students, I would like feedback from you on how we can improve to meet your needs, so that you are able to serve our students. I will be sending 3 questions from last year's employee survey over the next few weeks in the Heartbeat. Please take a moment to give me genuine feedback on how we can improve or how we have improved. I want to hear your thoughts. I would ask you to be kind, but be honest! If you would not rate the question a 5, what would it take to make it a 5 for you?
I appreciate your diligence, compassion, expertise and servant's heart! You are an amazing staff. Remember the words of Winston Churchill, Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts!
Be courageous this week! We are on a journey! Take your time to enjoy the moment. All those moments will come together to achieve success. Most of your students will be successful if you create a classroom where they believe they can! Learning and achievement are a mindset. You control your classroom mindset! Again, be courageous and have a fun week!
Bobbe
The courage to love unconditionally breaks all barriers.
#PhoenixFierce
Together we will make a difference!
Matthew's Thought for the Week
I'm grateful for each of you. This is an outstanding group, and I am immeasurably grateful for who we are.
I suspect that some of you aren't sharing your struggles with some of our more difficult customers, and I hope you know that I'm glad when you do. I want to be a part of those conversations.
It's an awesome thing to think you've got the opportunity to change the trajectory of a human life, and it's almost debilitating to wade into the mess and see just how hard it is to get a kid to do what seems so obvious. Historians have said that Theodore Roosevelt had distance in his eyes, and I think of that when I want to throw in the towel. My hope is that we can all keep a little distance in our eyes when we're faced with this ever-present nonsense.
Our works matters, and anyone would do it if you could sit back at the end of the day and take the measure of what had been accomplished. You can't, and still, you endure. That means something.
Thank you for that. They would thank you too, but by the time they realize they should, they probably won't have your number.
Matthew
It's Always Interesting with Cav
While Jesse wouldn't have been successful as a counselor in 2019 (didn't know how to use a computer), it's still interesting to think that our work today began so differently just 100 years ago.
Lauren's Learnings
Lesson Plans & Differentiation:
- How often do you lesson plan?
- Do you review your lesson plans weekly or by the unit?
- Do you adjust your lesson plans based off of formative assessment?
- Do you have a place in your lesson plans for higher level questioning?
- Do you plan for small groups and differentiation?
- Why am I asking these basic questions?
I think that sometimes in education we move to ideas of grandeur to solve problems and close gaps that can be addressed by doing the basics (strong lesson plans, differentiation, etc.) with fidelity.
We need to be creative to reach all students, but that creativity should rest on the shoulders of a strong foundation of best practices. This week make sure to plan and differentiate with fidelity.
Our school is so unique – the range of differentiation that we must implement in each classroom is far broader than any other traditional high school. Our students require differentiation, so our lesson plans should mirror that need.
Upcoming Events
October 29 - Apply Phoenix Night