Mustang Message
February 15, 2016
A Principal's Perspective
Through recent staff development meetings, we have been challenged to pose questions in our lessons that are Google proof. In our educational careers, we have all been presented with questioning strategies, differentiated questions, quintile questions, etc. But how do we actually put this in our daily instructional practice? I think we start by thinking about our students that are in our classrooms. How do we help "Digital Natives" or the "Google Generation" in our classrooms move beyond information gathering to evaluating and reflecting on the information? This questioning angle gives us the opportunity to ask questions that challenge our students to move beyond knowledge based questions to explaining, providing evidence, reflecting, creating a response through posing convergent, evaluative and divergent questions. I know we can Google proof our instruction!
Want to learn more? Below is a great, timely article on Google in the classroom. Another good article on planning with Google in mind is at this link: http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/10-ways-teacher-planning-adjust-google-generation/ In addition, I added two video clips by Alan November that our CSISD Administrative Team reviewed and discussed. Lively conversations and questions!
Be Legendary - See the possibilities!
Donna
Morning Duties of the Week
Morning Assembly (7:30): Lake
Gym (7:20): Rhine
Cafeteria (7:20): Bartosh
Bus (7:20 - Buses/ Cafeteria after all buses arrive): Brown
Parent Drop Off Traffic: Littlefield
Parent Drop Off: McMurray & Parr
Counselor Schedule: Kinder/PPCD/PreK/Lifeskills
Librarian: PC
Week at a Glance
Monday: Staff Development/Student Holiday; Progress Monitoring Forms & Grades due to SPED
Tuesday: 4th Graders - Lunch with the Principal @ 12:25
Wednesday: 4th Grade STAAR Practice Writing; Open Tech Support with Parr 3:15-4:00 in Room 405
Thursday: Class Picture Day; REACH 3:15-4:15
Friday: PTO Staff Luncheon - Soup, Salad & Sweets in Science Lab; Math Meetings K, 1st & 2nd
News & Notes
Staff Development, 2-15-16, Agenda
8:00-8:15 Valentine Fun - All Staff
8:15-9:15 Required Suicide Prevention Training - All Staff
9:15-9:30 Break & Move to Session
9:30-11:30
-K, 1st, 2nd-4th ELA Teachers - Running Records Training - Room 411
-2nd-4th Math, Murphy, Keiper - Book Study Chapters 4 & 5, Reasoning Minds Discussion, Questioning in Mathematics, STAAR Boot Camp Plans & Resources
-CAMP - Mustang Awards, Fine Arts Show Planning, Planning Field Day
-SPED Resource Teachers - Working with Kathy Switzer on Read Well, Aimsweb & schedules
-Life Skills Team & SPED Paras - Work on IEP plans and instructional support
-Paraprofessionals - Meeting in GP Office - Training on Time Clock Plus; After meeting - Classroom support tasks
11:30-1:00 Lunch On Your Own (TELPAS training for identified teachers - Please order lunch - see Kathryn Ballard's e-mail)
1:00-3:30
-Instructional Team Lesson Planning in content areas
--SPED Resource Teachers - Working with Kathy Switzer on Read Well, Aimsweb & schedules
3:00-4:30 TELPAS training for identified teachers (Lunch training or afternoon training - not both)
*Our day custodian, Maria, will be moving to Edinburg, TX. Tomorrow is her last day with us! We will say goodbye to Maria in Morning Assembly and share a cake with the staff to celebrate her work here at GP. The cake will be in the office workroom. Maria Tejeda, our evening custodian and parent, will be our new day custodian. We will welcome Maria T. at Morning Assembly on Monday.
Mustang Yee Haws!
I also explained to curious PreK students the magic of an intercom system and how it works! Curious minds wanted to know how a voice comes into their room for all to hear! See picture below.
Finally, how rewarding to see the success of a student as he writes his name along with a sentence! The power of a teacher is truly significant when sharing in the success of a student!
What a great week!