The Gator Tales
The weekly staff newsletter for Glenwood Elementary School
Week of March 19
March 20- Spring Pictures
March 20- Tornado Drill
March 21- Sweets and Treats- PK,K and 5th
Glenwood News!
Taking Tina's position will be Kathleen Lee, our general assistant.
Our new general assistant will be Tammy Hogan.
We wish Tina the best and look forward to our new office staff!!
Important upcoming dates and events
March 20- Spring Pictures
March 20- Tornado Drill
March 21- Sweets and Treats- PK,K and 5th
March 27 and 28- Donuts with Moms
March 29- End 3rd Grading Period
March 28- GRIT workshop with 2nd grade during Collaboration
March 30- Staff Day- Grades Due
April 2-6 Spring Break
April 10- First Grade Gifted Testing
April 10- Tech Tuesday 3 pm
April 11- 4th grade military appreciation concert 7 pm
April 13- Citizen of the Month
April 18- Sweets and Treats 1st, PE and Office Staff
April 19- PIRATE DAY
April 20- Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast
April 20- 5TH grade graduation pictures
April 24- Tech Tuesday 3 pm
April 24- Kindergarten Registration 9 am
April 25- Report Cards issued
April 26- Begin Book Fair
Grateful Gators!
BIG thanks to Mrs. Habib for coordinating the music program for our students!!! It was a special treat for sure! DF
To Alexa Ambrose writing her gifted referrals and for having poise and grace when I forget to include her in last week's KUDOS.For John McFarland and Jen Malit for the amazing goody basket. The cards are awesome and I will enjoy my love/hate relationship with the chocolate. Barb Kimpan
I would like to thank everyone for their texts, phone calls and genuine concern following my mother's recent stroke. I work with awesome people at Glenwood. You rock!! Marcia Hill
To Nancy Munson and Mindy Tomchik for organizing an awesome Pirate Day activity for 5th grade!
Kudos to Kassie Gmiter, Kelli Medina, Jessica Palmer, and Mrs. Haywood for stopping what they were doing to console a student who had his teeth knocked out, and also for taking the time to sweep the floors to try and locate the missing teeth! Kudos to Nancy Munson, for planning our wonderful measurement station Pirate Day!! Not only did she plan the event, but she gathered all the supplies we needed, and created all the google docs. 5th grade enjoyed the day immensely and we have her to thank! She is awesome! Mindy Tomchik
Thank you Anne Kittrell for happily stepping in to sub when a sub didn’t show up! My kids said you were so cheerful! Jennifer Malit
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Mary Salisbury 3-19
Vickie Storm 3-20
Amy Doss 3-24
Lisa Praileau 3-26
Maniel Arnaldo 3-26
Kenya Jones 3-29
Stephanie Marshall 3-29
Pfeifer, Tara 3-30
Spring 2018 SOL Schedule
May 15 - 4th grade reading part 1
May 16 - 4th grade reading part 2
May 17 - 3rd grade reading part 1
May 18 - 3rd grade reading part 2
May 21 - 5th grade reading part 1
May 22 - 5th grade reading part 2
May 23 - 5th grade math part 1
May 24 - 5th grade math part 2
May 28 - Memorial Day - No School
May 29 - 4th grade math part 1
May 30 - 4th grade math part 2
May 31 - 3rd grade math part 1
June 1 - 3rd grade math part 2
June 5 - 5th grade science
June 6 - 5th grade Virginia studies
HOW TO BURN YOURSELF OUT AS A TEACHER
Stop being fascinated with art and science of teaching. Teaching is a wonderful mix of curiosity, content, and process- ideas and data; love and numbers; soft and hard. Once you’ve lost your fascination here –with what works, how it works, why it works, and what else might be possible, you turn into something less – a teacher just trying to survive each day. And, that inspires no one, and won’t tantalize the inner you, which leads to deeper mediocrity, and so on in a kind of downward spiral, until you’re that teacher in staff meetings just waiting to be told what to do while you count down the days to summer.
Lose your creativity – Your creativity is your spark. It’s both a cause and an effect; a cause of exceptional learning design, and the effect of your own professional engagement with compelling content, and students you believe you can reach. As with #1 above, once you stop treating your classroom as playful and human and fun, so will your students.
Think “workflow” isn’t important – How do you assign work? Collect it? What do you do – exactly – the moment it is collected? Is it physical or digital? How do you separate grading and learning feedback? How do you collect data? How are your units and lessons designed to incorporate data? The workflow of the modern teacher is everything.
Forget that you’re a professional – Teaching is a deeply human process. It’s also one of the most humbling “jobs” you can do. In the end, you’re educated, trained, certified, and dedicated. You’re a professional. And it’s easy to forget this in the face of so much pressure and accountability and paperwork and CYA and well…you already know.
Try to grade everything – Don’t. Distinguish between practice and “measurements,” learning feedback and points so that both students and parents understand.
Refuse to set boundaries – Between school and home. Between this class and that. Between this year and last year. Between healthy skepticism and negativity. In fact, get good at unplugging altogether – and that doesn’t mean simply put down your phone or tablet. It means to mentally unplug. Let go. Do something selfish every now and then. Be lazy. Flirt with life. It’s okay to set boundaries; you’re no good to anyone worn out, deflated, uninspired, and running on lethal levels of Diet Coke.
Take it personally – It’s natural to take something as important as teaching personally. After all, it’s probably why you chose teaching to begin with. But it’s also a recipe to wear yourself out. Trust yourself. Remind yourself that you’re a professional. You work exceptionally hard to better understand your craft, and how to design powerful learning experiences for your students. There will be times when you won't be on. You’ll mess up. Something won’t work. You’ll feel lost. Worrying will just drain you and paralyze your ability to think like the professional you are. There is absolutely no ego in teaching, no matter how selfless and noble the profession seems. You’re acting as a content expert to lead students to life-changing knowledge and understanding. There’s real hubris – and hope – in that. But you can’t take it personally. I mean, you can, and at times this will pull you through, but it’s a dangerous game. There is a thin line between believing in your work and taking it personally.
~ Terry Heick – teachthought.com THANKS ROFO ES