Moorhead Faculty Weekly News
February 3, 2020
20 Tips for a Positive New Year
MTV Highlight of the Week
Teachers and Staff,
If you would like to highlight one of your outstanding students or a colleague please write up a brief summary and email it to Mr. Kelly. We would like to highlight a student and/or teacher once a week on MTV.
You can highlight in school, extracurricular, or non school related achievements. Include positive character traits about the student or a good deed done. Get creative! Let's celebrate our best!
Want to Advertise your club or organization?
BIG QUESTION 2019-2020
How are we tracking individual student data in order to ensure that we move students from failing to approaches, approaches to meets, or meets to masters?
If you have a child attending a school on a transfer, make sure you fill out the transfer paperwork in the next month or so.
I wanted to make sure you are aware, the deadline for submitting transfers this year is May 1st.
Please make sure to talk to all the employees on your campus that have a transfer this year and see if they have submitted a transfer for next. If NOT they need do it before May 1st.
Any employees moving campus’ over the summer but don’t know where as of now will still be able to submit a transfer application when they know where they will be and it will be a priority.
I will send out additional reminders as it gets closer.
50 dollar stipend for EDC volunteers!
I have learned that volunteers for the EDC competition (22 Feb at York Jr High) will receive a $50 stipend! This is great news, as the amount was originally $0...
If you are able to volunteer, please let me know as soon as you can. I have to let the coordinators know who all will be there for Moorhead.
Thanks a bunch in advance--
Stewart
Feb. 17 - NO SCHOOl!
All Staff have President's Day off!
Referrals for students with BIPs
Just a quick reminder about writing referrals on students with accommodations/BIPs. Please remember it is the law that you implement accommodations and BIPS.
If you write a referral for a student with wither of the previous, please make sure you are including language in the accommodations/BIP. This is your documentation that you are following what is required.
An example:
"Attempted phone calls last week and yesterday (Thursday 1/23). Sent email to mom today. Will sent another email with details. Christopher continues to disrupt class and will not complete any work. I have followed the steps of his behavior plan (offered reduced work, hall cool off, break, ignored minor disruptions, verbal reminders, explain expectations, etc). He makes noises that bothers other students. They cannot complete their work due to his noises and talking out. He is repeatedly saying 'autism' 'what is autism' which is offensive to another student in the class. Chris states that he is talking about another student . I have asked him to stop saying that in the class. Today he was throwing pencils into the ceiling, slamming a book on the table, and pushing chairs over. We were testing today and yesterday and he has disrupted the learning environment. I offered for him to take the test in the library; he refused. I offered a lower level test and said he could do just part of the test. He threw his papers in the floor. He states that he does know why he is in 'this class'. I will attempt another phone call this afternoon. "
Failure to document your actions from the accommodations/BIP, may result in a low level consequence (no out of placement) because the law was not followed.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
What's up this week?
Monday
ILT 4:15pm in PLC room
AP/Counselor Meeting 7:30am
Tuesday
CCHS Counselors on campus for scheduling - 8th ELA
Wednesday
Tri County meeting with APs and Counselors 7:30am
Thursday
Stop the Bleed training for students 4:15 - 4:45
Friday
Science Bowl
CCHS Counselors on campus during lunches
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Melissa Obrien-Yu 2/1
Rachael Pawlik 2/6
A Word From Mr. Garcia
Thank you all for a great week. We have a great school because we have good students, awesome teachers and an amazing support staff!
Have a nice weekend!
Robert
Chili Cook off is March 6
REMINDERS
Don't forget to submit attendance each period. Second must be in by 10:30am.
Our legal department is reminding us all to use the full date of 2020 for the year on all documentation.
Food Truck Schedule
2/12
2/26
February Super Staff!
Looking Long Term
February 6 - Garcia and Counselors visit Grangerland
February 11 - Parent Schedule Information Night 6pm (7th grade) and 7:15pm (8th grade)
February 12 - Baby Shower for Mrs. Howell
February 13 - Teacher Appreciation Meal from Admin.
February 14 - Sweets and Treats (Teacher Appreciation from PTO)
February 14- Valentine's Day Dance during school day
February 17 - No School
February 18 - Spring Picture Day
February 19 - Faculty Meeting 7:30am or 4:15pm
February 20 - Girls in Engineering Competition
February 22 - Saturday School!
February 24 - Lockdown Drill
February 25 - TELPAS Test (Listening and Speaking)
February 26 - UIL Meet
February 27 - Choir Concert 6pm
March 6 - Student vs. Staff Basketball game / Early release (hosted by The Dazzlers)
March 6 - MOORHEAD CHILI COOK OFF
March 6 - End of 3rd 9 Weeks
March 18 - Faculty Meeting - 7:30am or 4:15pm
March 21 - Saturday School
March 28 - Saturday School
April 7 - STAAR 7 Writing / STAAR 8 Math
April 8 - STAAR 8 Reading
April 9 - Student vs. Staff Soccer game (hosted by PTO)
April 10 - Good Friday Holiday (No School)
May 5 - Algebra 1 EOC
May 7- STAAR 8 Science / 7 Science Benchmark
May 8 - STAAR 8 History/ 7 History Benchmark
May 12 - STAAR 7 Math / STAAR 8 Math (retest)
May 13 - STAAR 7 Reading / STAAR 8 Reading (retest)
May 15 - Choir End of Year Field Trip
May 15 - End of Year Dance 6pm - 9pm (hosted by school)
May 21 - 7th Grade Awards Ceremony 9:15am - 10:00am
May 21 - Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night
May 22 - 8th Grade Awards ceremony 9:15am - 10:15am and 8th Grade Field Day 11 -3pm
May 25 - No School - Memorial Day
May 26 - 1st, 2nd, 3rd period Finals
May 27 - 5th, 6th, 7th period Finals
May 28 - 4th Period Final / Early release
May 28 - THE CROSSING - 7pm @ CCHS
May 29 - Work Day
EDC VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Dear colleagues--
It's once again time for the district EDC (Engineering & Design Competition)!
Some of you have volunteered to help us before--we need help with track judging, team wrangling, team lineups, and possible other slots.
In the past, the district has offered a monetary stipend for volunteers...sadly, we have no money to supplement you this year, but Mr. Garcia has agreed to provide 5 JEANS PASSES and a special lunch for anyone who comes to work at the tournament.
Those who have worked before can tell you that we see the best of what our kids have to offer--both in competition and in team spirit--and it means a lot for your students to see you there.
If you are interested, please email me as soon as possible--I have to get your names on the spreadsheet so that you are registered.
Thanks a bunch--
Sherry Stewart
Project Lit
Please join us on Feb. 11 in the Library from 4:15-5:15 as we discuss the novel, The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden. If you or your students would like to borrow a copy, please see any of the 8th grade ELA teachers. The audio version is also available on https://mackinvia.com/.
Houston Museum of Natural Science
A rep from the Houston Museum of Natural Science came by and dropped of brochures and coupons. I left them in the breakroom in case any of you are interested.
You can also EARN 6 GT HOURS. I left information regarding this on the table as well.
Notes for Next Year
1. Announcements (MTV) will be recorded the day before and will play at 8:40am daily.
2.
New Computers!
Please remind your staff of this:
The most important thing is to make sure that the teachers/administrators verify they have no files saved on the computer(Desktop, C:, etc), once we take the old computer anything stored on it can not be restored, saved, recovered etc. It will be gone for good.
All teachers are getting new computers. Office staff and admin will get reimaged teacher computers if you are still running Windows 7.
Please be aware of the following that will need to happen in order to make this a smooth transition:
All teachers and administrators will need to verify all the files they want preserved are located on their U: drive.
Anything that is saved on their existing PC (desktop, C:, etc) will be gone and not able to be recovered.
Monitors are not being replaced.
Spring Sports Schedules
Employee Retention Stipend
A one-time $675 retention stipend was approved by the Board of Trustees in August as part of the 2019-2020 budget. To qualify for the one-time retention stipend, anemployee must have been employed on or before September 17, 2019. In addition, the employee must still be employed as of January 21, 2020 with the expectation of continued employment through May 29, 2020.Eligible employees will be paid a $675 Retention Stipend on February 14, 2020. This amount is not TRS eligible. Social Security, Medicare, Federal Income Tax, and other mandated deductions will be withheld.
The 4 PLC Questions
What do we want our students to learn?
How will we know if our students are learning?
How will we respond when students do not learn?
How will we enrich and extend the learning for students who are proficient?
Team Lead / Instructional Leadership Team Meeting Notes
NOTES 8/19
-
Distinctions, comparison schools, and quadrants were discussed.
Dr. Tamika Taylor praised MJH teachers for the excellent job they are doing. She also gave her recommendations on the PLC process. Our homework is to:
- Set student goals and track them all year - "I can" statements are a great way to use kid friendly language - my challenge is for this to be a campus wide expectation!
- Teacher led PD as on ongoing cycle - based on instructional needs, admin walkthroughs, and data. This is going to be such an amazing asset to the 5 day PLC structure!
Discussed quadrants. Our lowest performers are ELL and SPED.
When planning think about what we want students to learn and how to reteach if needed.
Discussed what instruction should look like when moving students from meets to masters. Approaches to meets, etc.
Notes 8/26
- Discussed the importance of Bell to Bell instruction.
- Discussed Open House - Sept. 23rd (8th Grade) Sept. 24th (7th Grade)
- Discussed Federal Accountability (Reading/Math) Achieving "meets" levels
- Discussed "I can" trackers by team. Discussed Student tracking vs. Teacher tracking
- Discussed - Teacher Led PD - Look at data before hand - Have teacher who was most successful demonstrate the lesson prior to teaching the lesson.
Notes 9/6
Mrs. Fuller and Dr. Taylor talked STAAR structure. We will focus on student growth. We looked at data from May 2019 and we looked at individual student data. We now know where our students are now and we can start interventions early instead of waiting. We know that we need to focus on and target specific students (sub groups) to move up to the meets level. We looked at examples of "I Can" charts and student tracking. Math teams shared what their student trackers. The district math coaches were very impressed by what they developed.
No Meeting 9/9
Notes 9/16
- PSAT 8 and ELA 7 Benchmark are on Oct. 17 in the morning.
- Discussed the bond. Prop A (new schools) Prop B (Turf).
- Employees can provide factual information by phone, email, newsletter, or Professional social media account.
- As a private citizen, on your own off duty time, you can give your opinion or advocate for or against the bond on Personal social media, Personal email, your yard, etc.
- We will have sack lunches that day and a guest speaker in the afternoon. (Pep Rally Schedule)
- Professional Dress for Open House - Pick a jeans day later in the week.
- ROAR team needs a science and history representative
- Oct. 26 (Sat.) Please talk to your team lead if you would like to volunteer to hand out factual information on the bond to the CCHS community.
- Discussed courses eligible for UIL waiver. (All Pre AP courses and Alg. 1)
- Pantherpalooza (Formerly known as Community Night) is coming up on Nov. 9th. - Teams will each sponsor different games. Mohr will create a sign up for team leads.
- Nov. 20 - 50 of our students have been selected to take the NAEP test, a 90 minute reading and math exam.
Notes 9/23
Team leads discussed:
Discussion Questions for Team Meeting during staff development week.
- Curriculum alignment – What is the differentiation between level and Pre AP?
9/30 No Meeting
Notes 10/7
We discussed
- Grading policy for your PLC/Team.
- Re-test policy
- Curriculum alignment – Differentiation between level and Pre AP
- Kagan Day 1 vs. Day 4 in January
- Morning Late Bus Pass
- Upcoming events
10/14
No Meeting
Notes 10/21
Debbie McNeely discussed ways to differentiate between Pre AP and level in ELA.
Notes 10/28
Richard Woodruff and Amy Rogers discussed ways to differentiate between Pre AP and level in History.
Agenda 11/4
No Meeting
Notes 11/11
Discussed Schedule Change process
Discussed and planned Friendsgiving and tailgate party
Discussed NAEP test
Received input on Finals ScheduleDiscussed Team Christmas Parties
Homework:
TLs emailed BM data and assessment dates
Bray and Lucario will looking into No Place for Hate
Jan. 8 - Student presentation with APs and Principal
Notes 12/3
Moorhead has Assessment Calendar on Outlook
Finals Schedule discussed and finalized
Schedule Change Procedure discussed and finalized
Holiday Reminders (remain neutral)
12/10 Project Lit - reminder
Discussed retirement party on 12/11
Discussed dance on 12/12 (Pep Rally Schedule)
Discussed TELPAS
1. We must move kids. We had 14% growth. Target is 36%
2. Students are expected to Script response on speaking
3. How are we accommodating? How are we incorporating listening and speaking into lessons? A way to practice - Flipgrid
4. Change testing set up.
a) Separate boys and girls
b) no more than 15 kids per room
c) test over 2 days Day 1 Listening and Speaking Day 2 Reading
d) Turn off Bells
Notes 1/21
1. Ben Franklin not available. Checking to see if "Fredrick Douglas" is able to present.
2. No staff will work on Feb. 17. Teachers will do TELPAS rating or team planning on own time. Professional staff will also do a Kagan book study. Teachers should be prepared to share with their appraiser what structures they plan to use and how they will implement Kagan structures this semester.
3. Fire drill this week.
4. ISS Binders
5. Course selection Night is Feb. 11. 8th grade 6pm and 7th grade at 7:15pm. Team leads should be present.
6. Power Saturdays anyone can work.
7. Questions from Dr. Taylor.
Notes 1/27
Moorhead Schedule Change Procedures
Teacher Initiated:
Step 1: Talk to all teachers that would be affected. Everyone must approve.
Step 2: Call and inform the parents
Step 3: Get approval from asst. principal or principal.
Step 4: Email changes to counselor
Parent Initiated:
Step 1: Parent/Teacher conference or phone call
Step 2: If both feel a change is needed, teacher will check with other teachers that will be affected. All teachers must approve.
Step 3: Get approval from asst. principal or principal
Step 4: Email changes to counselor
Student Initiated:
Step 1: Get schedule change form from grade level office.
Step 2: Fill out and get signatures needed (teachers, parent, APs)
Step 3: Turn in form to counselor
Moorhead Jr. High Decision Making
Decisions Made With Teacher Discretion
1. Classroom set up
2. Classroom rules and Procedures
3. Lesson Planning and Activities
4. Dates and Times to Meet with Teams
5. Classroom Management
6. Techniques including Rewards and Consequences
Decisions made with Teacher and Administration Collaboration
1. Campus and District Calendar
2. Curriculum Purchases
3. Classroom Maintenance
4. Scheduling
5. Student Placements
6. Personnel (Hiring Panels)
7. Materials and Major Purchases
8. Discipline
9. PLC Agenda Items
Decisions made with Administrator Discretion
1. Budget
2. Effect Campus as a whole
3. School Policies
4. Personnel Management