Bronco Chronicles
Volume 8, Week 10/11-10/14/16
Principal's Message
Goooooood Morning #BroncoStrong faulty and staff. The eighth week of school has been exciting. It is starting to cool off a bit, which is awesome. The kids really seem invigorated on the blacktop with the onset of the cooler weather! Let's stay vigilant at our duty stations and make sure the kids are safe. More importantly, take time to talk with them and build rapport outside the classroom walls.
We are going to be busy throughout the next couple weeks. We have an assembly scheduled for our TEAM Time this coming week and the following week. On October 19th we will have a presentation presented by a group called Character Under Construction. The title of the presentation is Abraham Lincoln......Perseverance & Honesty.
We will return to our normal TEAM Time agenda on November 2nd, and you will simply pick up where you left off when working through the lessons for the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. I will put the next lesson in your box by next Tuesday even though you won't need it right away. As always, thanks so much for your dedication to our kids, the school and our community. Now, let's make this the BEST Friday of the week!
REMINDERS
1. Start entering work orders through Eduphoria. If you have a tech issue, you will still use helpdesk@breckenridgeisd.org
2. Please make sure you have your classes clean up the floor before leaving each period. Our custodians are working hard to have time to sanitize desks each day during the flu season.
3. Please enter your BDAY in our BJH Google sheet if you haven't done so.
4. Say Hi to at least 3-5 kids every morning before we start our school day.
5. As students enter your room, please shake their hands or give them a fist bump. :-)
Upcoming Events
1. VB travels to the Hawley Tournament on 10/15.
2. VB takes on Early at Early beginning at 5pm on 10/17.
3. Candle Sales Fundraiser begins 10/17 and runs until 11/4.
4. CC competes in the District meet in Eastland on October 19th.....wish them luck!
5. Character Under Construction Assembly in the auditorium on 10/19 during TEAM Time. I will email teachers with more information.
6. Picture retakes on 10/19 in room 5.
7. Our final JH Pep Rally will be held on 10/20.
8. FB takes on Boyd at home beginning at 5pm on 10/20.
9. Red Ribbon Week will be 10/24-10/28.
10. Harlem Wizzards assembly on 10/26 in the "new" gym during TEAM Time.
11. Meeting the Needs of our LEP Kids Training (date to be determined): ALL teachers who teach our ESL kids will need to attend a required training with Mrs. Etzel. Two sessions will be offered.....one before school and one after school. Please make sure you attend one or the other. If you are required to attend, you will receive an invite from Mrs. Etzel.
Why Should I use Plickers?
Plickers is a FREE app that can be used on any IOS or Android operating system developed by Nolan Amy. Students will receive a card that has a number on it and the answer choices A, B, C, and D. Teachers can print these free at plickers.com as many times as they need. The teacher will use her smart phone or tablet to scan the class cards and begin to immediately see student responses pop up on the screen. The student simply has to hold the answer choice they choose at the top of their card. This wonderfully simple activity can be used for pre-assessments, checks for understanding, polls or class surveys, tickets out the door, TCAP review, etc. Plickers is a great way to infuse technology into your classroom to make a teacher's life easier.
Teach with Live View
Immidiate Feedback
Due
Dates
Ahead
Jar
of
Awesome
Instructional Strategies
1-3-6
- Give students an article to read or real world problem to solve.
- Have students write their responses to the article or solution to the problem.
- Have students move into groups of three where they share their ideas with the group. Have each group cluster their ideas together and write a list of them on chart paper.
- Join groups of three together to make groups of six. Again, have the students share their ideas in groups of six.
- Have the group of six write a list of their ideas and bring them together and clarify the list from the groups of three.
- Ask each group of six to share their list with the whole group
Wagon Wheel
- Based on the articles or real life problems you want the students to discuss, create 4 questions about the topic to explore.
- Depending on the number of students, place an equal amount of chairs in the center of the wheel back-to-back and the same amount of chairs on the outside of the wheel facing the chairs in the center. (see graphic)
- Before students get into the wheel, have them read the article or the real-life scenario.
- Have students fill in the seats in the wheel. Provide them with a note taking form to write their ideas as well as their partners.
- The students on the outside of the wheel will be moving one seat to the right at each rotation; students on the inside will remain in their seats.
- Explain that they will be discussing the questions with each partner for about 10 minutes.
- Have students begin the discussion with their first partner. Have participants in the outside rotate every 10 minutes.
- Once the students in the outside wheel return to their first partner, stop the rotation and bring them back to the whole group. Ask them to write to summarize their discussions from the wagon wheel.
- Have a whole group discussion about the topic and the questions explored during the wagon wheel.
Collaboration - One of the 4 Cs
- Model what you expect- Model good listening, paraphrasing, compromise and asking questions.
- Teach them to be active listeners- Show them what good listeners look like and set expectations from the beginning.
- Establish group norms- Having students develop the norms adds buy-in and accountability.
- Teach them how to ask good questions- Brainstorm a list of questions and decide as a group what makes a question a good one.
- Start small- This type of work takes time, patience and practice.
Breckenridge Junior High School
Email: michelene.etzel@breckenridgeisd.org
Website: principaletzel.blogspot.com
Location: 502 W Lindsey St
Phone: 254-212-4311
Facebook: www.facebook.com/breckjh
Twitter: @mich_rob10