Maude Saunders Newsletter
Week of October 21, 2019
At Maude Saunders, we are...
One School
One Team
with One Mission:
EXCELLENCE A+
Goals:
- Have a positive mindset each day toward students, parents, & staff.
- Build team efficacy through collaboration.
- Create a school culture reflecting excellence in ourselves and our students.
- Build cognitive capacity in our students through high expectations.
Mission & Vision:
To be a place where all students succeed and achieve to their maximum potential with a curriculum that is a dynamic response to each student's needs.
Vision:
Maude Saunders Elementary School will create and sustain a school climate that encourages student success.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
House of Grit
Mrs. Cameron
Word Problems
Thought for the Week
Differentiated Accountability: We are proudly educating 545 future leaders.
INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS - Domains 2 & 3
Professional Development Updates
ELL Training - Bea Pauls
MSE PD Room
Monday, October 21, 2019 (Schedule was sent out to teachers attending this training.)
YMHFA Training (Youth Mental Health First Aid) - Lara Edwards & Pam Stuckey
MSE PD Room
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Top 10 Achievement Boosters For Students ©2016 Eric Jensen
2. Fearless Feedback
WHAT THIS MEANS: Formative feedback is ideal, daily quality feedback is better and summative is still good, but the least valuable of the three. Why? Ideal feedback answers 3 major learning questions: 1) What is my big goal, 2) What is my progress being made toward that goal and, 3) How do I get there next? Feedback is always rated in the top 10 for contributions to student achievement. Feedback has sky-high effect sizes (0.81 - .90, Hattie, 2007) so let’s flesh out the best way to do this.
HOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN: First, the ideal ratio for positive to negatives is 3-1 (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005). Kids need to get plenty of error corrections as they learn, but also affirmations. When kids play a video game, both the visuals and sound effects are designed to give more positives than negatives. When you call on students, always affirm something, even if it’s just their effort (“Thanks for jumping in. We will need more details, so I’ll come back to you in a minute when you are ready with a few”). The second option is to use feedback that includes the “mission” (the big long-term goal), the “milestone” (where rogress is at right now) and “move” (how to move to the next stage, step or milestone). This is critical in moving students forward (Petty, 2009). The third rule for quality feedback is to focus on identifying which traits are in play. Say to a student whether you liked or need more of a specific attitude, effort or choice of strategy used. “I love how you tried several strategies to come up with the right one. That shows me grit and it may help you get into that college you told me about.” The fourth option for feedback is to allow the task results to inform the students. For example, if they are brainstorming with fellow students, one suggestion students make may be met with many positive and curious questions and a different suggestion may meet with silence. Here the feedback is about the product and process, not the person (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). In this case, the process of brainstorming itself informs students on the quality of their contributions, albeit in an informal way.
From the desk of our own Krisy Spence
Now is a good time to reflect on the first quarter of the year. As report cards are sent home, difficult conversations with parents often must occur. Be prepared to share what we are doing to help their child be successful, but also what they can do at home. Avoid general suggestions like “he needs to read more” or “study his math facts”. Instead, suggest specific, “small bite” goals that can be accomplished in a short time, such as “Jimmy will learn his 3’s multiplication facts by November 1st.” When accomplished, celebrate with the child and the parent with a phone call, and set the next goal. Parents WANT to help their children, and we need to be specific in helping them do so!
Important Information
- HOUSES UNITED DAY: What a SUCCESS! Thank you for the POSITIVITY, TEAMWORK, and ENERGY. This day could not have happened without each or you working together to make it happen.
- Review Proposed Standards: In a Just Read, Florida! presentation yesterday, they boiled the most significant proposed changes in the new standards to the items listed below. Please review the standards and submit feedback through this link: https://www.floridastandardsreview.org/
- Skyward: Anyone that has submitted TDE into Skyward must upload an attachment (agenda, email requesting you attend, etc.). If you did not do this, please go back and upload your attachment. NOTE: You do NOT have to submit TDE into Skyward for trainings we have on our campus. This was just clarified at my Principals' Meeting. So for our Data Chats, you do NOT have to upload an attachment.
- Comp Time: Please do NOT enter comp time for Faculty Meetings. Loveta will enter Faculty Meeting Comp Time into Skyward for all that attend. If you leave early, make sure you write the time you leave by your name. Also, please remember that comp time must be pre-approved. For parent meetings, please upload an attachment to indicate the time-frame in which the conference was held.
- Lesson Plans: Please make sure your lesson plans are on your desk and accessible each day. I may need to refer to them when doing a walk-through.
- FOCUS: Please keep your grades updated and make sure your grades are standards-based and you have the correct number of grades per the SPP.
- Parent Communication: How are the positive phone calls home progressing?
- Safety: Please keep all classroom doors locked.
- Attendance: Attendance should be completed by 8:30 a.m.
- Transportation Notes: Please make sure these are sent to the front office no later than 8:30 a.m. Also, make sure transportation notes are picked up from your box before dismissal.
- Principals' Meeting: I will be out on Thursday, 10/24/19. If you need me, email or text me.
Calendar Additions:
NOTE: Please let Mrs. Bonnie know if you have events that need to be added to the master calendar. Ms. Bonnie will begin this week entering what we have on the master calendar so far.