MoB (Matters of Business)
Edgewood's Weekly Staff Update for the week of 2/4-2/8
We are committed to the journey of developing EACH child to be an inspired learner and a caring, contributing citizen.
Learning Notes
I'm currently reading The Guide for White Teachers Who Teach Black Boys. I came across the following passage, which I find timely in our preparation for mid-year invitational conferences.
This passage is from a teacher of color, describing her interactions with parents.
"[In my conversations with parents] I would let them know at every opportunity...the great qualities I saw in their children. Usually, when teachers are talking to parents, they focus on something that needs support or improvement: the student did something wrong...Parents I visited were delighted by conversations that highlighted their children as amazing and helped them find the qualities n their children that were malleable, that were yearning to be recognized, and were wonderful. I could see how parents metabolized the praise as extensions of their own goodness and worth, even if they were experiencing hardship or battling serious problems of their own."
Most of us have a few hard truth conversations that we need to have at conferences 2/13. As we prepare for those conversations, take time to plan the start of the conversation in which you might focus on student strengths (both academic and social). Parents are much more likely to hear what we're saying if they believe that we know and like their child. If you want to practice conversations with me beforehand, I'm more than happy to do so.
TCB (Taking Care of Business)
- If you haven't already, please complete this survey about inclusion. This will help drive the work of our inclusion task force, both at Edgewood and district-wide.
- Your slots for parent-teacher conferences should be nearly full. After you've scheduled conferences with more pressing concerns, I encourage you to open up remaining slots to any other parents who would like to talk about their child's progress with you. Please let me know if you have questions or would like me to join you for a conference.
- Here is the Forward Schedule.
Staff Shout Outs to...
- To Holly, who spent her days off arranging and rearranging subs for our data days.
- To Sue, who made learning goals clear to kids by giving them the formative assessment/quiz in reading before they started the bend; they knew exactly what they'd be expected to do at the end.
- To Rachael, Jenny, Mireille, Lori, Sue, Carrie, Jodi, Sue, Jennifer, and Jenna for having updated running records and data so that we could make targeted, specific plans.
- To Nicki, Rachael, and Diane, who spent hours working on a plan for a student.
- To our amazing SLAIT team who braved the snow on Monday to present to our school board on our work around building the foundation for self-directed learning this year. They got rave reviews for their clarity and conviction. Want to see the presentation? Check it out here. (Read the notes so the slides make sense).
- To Bryan, for managing and completing all of the Access Testing. Whew!
Upcoming Dates
2/6: Staff Meeting--Performance Tasks
2/8: SLAIT Meeting, 7:40 am
2/8: Buddy Bonding
2/8: Family Fun Night, 6-8:30
2/8: PPG/SLO Adjustments due to Meg (if you'd like to change your goal after reviewing data)
Next Week:
2/12: Brainstorming, 4th Grade, 7:40am
2/13: Open Time--Conference Prep
2/13: Early Release--Parent/Teacher Conferences, 2-8pm
2/14: Complete a mid-year update of your PPG and SLO with a colleague (the mid-year reflection is part of the form you turn in in May). If you need to make an adjustment, it must be submitted to Meg by 2/8.
2/15: Mid-winter break (no school)
Other Upcoming Dates
2/18: Professional Learning (Have a performance task that you've tried with you)
4/18: Grandparents Day (Schedule TBD)