RNNE: Team and Family Launcher
Goal-oriented and intentional.Intervention.Authentic Team.
Opening Message Guest Author - Ms. Hickey
Our very own, Ms. Hickey, was featured as a guest author in our network's School Leader Launcher that comes out on Thursday of each week. Below, I have shared her message to all school leaders - Principals and Assistant Principals - in our network about our work here at RNNE and the motivators that keep her anchored towards a brighter and better educational trajectory for our Rocketeers.
Her message is one that provided me with inspiration and motivation that I needed to hear as we prepare to end the first semester of our academic year with students. In some ways that is astounding to acknowledge that we are preparing to close out one semester of teaching, learning and growth while in other ways it, for sure, heightens my sense of urgency for wanting to maximize the steadily dwindling days of instruction that we have with our Rocketeers in this academic year.
Thank you, Caity, for words that spoke to my soul while so beautifully naming what makes RNNE a beautiful place to be each day.
Without further ado...
Hi Team,
This opportunity to share a message with all of you comes at one of my favorite times of year. The colder days and earlier sunsets in Nashville mean more time indoors, which, for me, leads to more time to reflect. This fall I’ve found myself reflecting deeply on gratitude. While I feel we have so many things to be grateful for in our second year at RNNE, two rise to the top.
Trust
Each day, we open our doors nearly 500 students. I am grateful for the trust our students’ families have placed in us, and I view it as a privilege that must continually be earned by providing their students with an extraordinary education. I am equally grateful for the trust we earn with students. There is no greater motivation than seeing our Rocketeers grow to believe that they are truly destined for greatness.
Community
Our collective work towards educational equity is incredibly challenging, yet on my toughest days I can still find deep gratitude for our community. I feel immensely grateful to be part of a team that is filled with the most dedicated, reflective educators I have ever met. I recognize how rare this is to work alongside teachers and leaders that are willing to sit down next to each other to share feedback, push for excellence, and always bring the focus back to students. It is this solidarity, along with support from my community of loved ones outside of RNNE, that allows me to be part of this work for the long haul.
With gratitude,
Caity
Academic Focus Areas
As a follow up to your PD yesterday, your instruction will be observed for progress towards and continued coaching around:
- Building number sense through engaging activities and targeted feedback for all students (teacher, peer, and self-critique of work).
Humanities:
As a follow up to your PD yesterday, your instruction will be observed for progress towards and continued coaching around:
Sticky Key Points
- Key Points Anchor Chart posted with "what" and "how" key points that is visually appealing and easy to read to and by Rocketeers
- A chant that goes along with your key points - lyrics introduced and shared with Rocketeers and posted in the classroom
Coaches will be using this form to collective growth and observation data.
Goal: 100% of teachers have a each of these components visible during their class instruction (RC Narrative K-4th or GR Informational - Frazier, Bing, Hickey and Thomas)
Culture Focus Area
Our hallways have become increasingly loose in regards to behavior which mostly comes in the form of a lot of talking and noise. This week, we need to reset hallway expectations for our students and reinforce it consistently through the use of Core Value Rockets and LiveSchool Green Points.
- Use the stopping points in the hallways for your lines so that they are not traveling for long lengths of time without stopping to regroup and reset.
- Do not yell or talk loudly to redirect a student in the halllway; use nonverbals and whispering to redirect.
- Use Core Value Rocket Scouts to hand out Core Value Rockets to Rocketeers showing awesome line behavior.
Definitely observe Coach Elmore’s lines throughout the day. He has done a really great job of ensuring that his lines do not move until they are at a zone 0, he consistently positively narrates and he has an appointed “Student Scout” to pass out core value rockets while they are transitioning.
Restroom Usage in the Afternoons:
There is a significant increase in the amount of students asking to use the restroom in the afternoons. Moving forward, do not allow students to use the restroom during the "I do" or"We Do" portion of your lesson unless it is an emergency; otherwise, if they still need to go even outside of your class restroom breaks, allow them to go during independent work time. Students often use restroom as an excuse to escape the lesson because they are either not engaged or they are not confident in their ability to do the work. This creates a chaotic hallway environment and atmosphere for the entire afternoon. Most concerning, we have seen an increase in behavioral issues between and among students during restroom breaks.
For all 2nd floor students: Students will not be allowed to go to the restroom after 3:30pm. Through observation, we have consistently found that students are using this time away from class for reasons other than use of the restroom.
The Leadership Team will continue to collect data on peak bathroom usage times throughout the week to help problem-solve around ways to decrease the amount of students losing learning time due to constant use of the bathroom to escape learning and to, inevitably, play in the restrooms. This data will be shared out to grade levels during CPT/1:1s throughout the week.
Positive Tone and Positive Framing:
Ensure that the tone that we use with students is positive/neutral and not of a disrespectful or demeaning tone. We are all here to respect and unconditionally love students - even they have made a mistake. That is our role as educators. To shape and develop them. We are always here to “break down the behavior and build up the child.” Our Rocketeers create a narrative for school based on the way that they are treated by their peers and the adults in the building. Our focus needs be on ensuring that the narrative our students create about their school experience is reflective of love, support, care and respect at all times.
Teacher Evaluations - Humanities and Math Teachers - Announcement from the RSED Network Team
Important Update on Teacher Performance Evaluations (Math/Science and Humanities Teachers)
Over the summer at PD, we shared an overview of the updated teacher performance evaluation for 2015-16 with all teachers.
(1) A full 1-5 rating scale with data cut-offs for all student achievement and parent metrics is now available. (In the summer we provided the metrics and level 4 rating but not the full 1-5 scale). Rating scale may be found in this powerpoint.
(2) A complete Teaching Performance Rubric that details what a 1-5 rating looks like, in alignment with our updated instructional model is available. The categories are the same as in previous years and what was shared in the summer but there is now a full rubric. You may view the full rubric here.
As a reminder, the teacher mid-year evaluation process will kick off in late January.
Progress Reports UPDATE
Rhandy should have the final data pull ready by EoD Monday, so I will update you by then to give you the green light to begin printing. We will have the corresponding letters in your boxes by EoD Monday.
Launch + Landing Expectations
Entrance into the Gym:
Make sure that you are entering the gym at a zone 0 with your classes and maintaining a zone 0 with them after they are seated. It is hard for the teachers to maintain a zone 0 while waiting for all classes to be seated if one or two classes are talking.
Watch Ms. Davis and Ms. Barr when they enter the gym - they are both either giving out LiveSchool points or Core Value Rockets to their Rocketeers immediately upon sitting to maintain zone 0 and correct seating in the gym.
During Launch and Landing:
Teachers should always remain with their class lines only and be constantly walking up and down their class line to check for behavior compliance, reinforce positive behavior with LiveSchool Points and Core Value Rockets and controlling the overall behavior management of their class.
Teachers should use the least invasive behavior management strategies to redirect behavior. Do not talk over the Launch leader; use non-verbals/whisper prompts from students.
If a teacher's line is unsupervised at any point during Launch or Landing, there will be follow up from myself and/or your Coach.
Exit from the gym:
The exit from Launch and Landing should be a zone 0. For Launch, this is incredibly important to teachers because this will help to cement the behavior tone for that cohort with you. Rocketeers do know that they should be a zone 0, so once they see that they are not held to the expectation, they start to try and get away with other misbehavior.
Students outside of the Classroom
If a student has a reached a point where they need to be away from the class, utilize a buddy classroom to send them to another teacher or call for a School Leader.
MAP
2. Be ready to support your students on the days leading up to and the day of their tests. Test anxiety impacts a lot of students, so let's be sure to be extra patient and understanding during the next two weeks as test stress increases.
3. To ease the concern of breaking down and explaining MAP to our parents/families, I am going to create a document to be sent home next week with families explaining MAP, the RIT score (and what it means) as well as the impact of 1.7 years of growth and meeting that target for our students. We currently have over 100 students who are 4+ STEP levels behind (approximately 2 years), so it is important that parents/families understand the impact of their child meeting a 1.7 years of growth goal on their future in reading/math.
4. Mr. Frazier chose the front design for our shirt and Mrs. Rogers has worked to have the Goal t-shirts printed and made by early next week! Here is the t-shirt design. As long as Rocketeers meet at least one of their Winter MAP goals, they will be earn the t-shirt.
December School Walkthrough
December School Walkthrough
We have our third school walkthrough on Monday, December 14th. In the past, our walkthroughs have only included myself and my manager. However, this walkthrough will include more people from the network from various teams.
Overall Key Focus Areas:
Positive Ratio/Positive Narration/Positive Framing when redirecting student misbehavior
Targeted Teaching Time - circulating constantly to gather data and using break it down strategies to help get students back on track when errors are surfaced
A healthy balance between teacher and student voice ratio; providing a variety of different ways for students to respond to questions in class
Hallway/Line Culture:
Zone 0 lines
Teachers utilizing stopping points in the hallway
Teachers positively narrating consistently
Humanities Specific:
Guided Reading
Centers aligned to the needs of students based on STEP, NWEA and/or most recent unit assessment data
Sticky Key Points Anchor Charts
Sticky Key Points Chants
Whole Group Instruction - RA Narrative and RC Narrative aligned to unit assessments
Next week, you will see the School Leadership Team (CT, APs, April) in your learning space to conduct an internal walkthrough. We will be observing for and providing feedback to you on our current focus areas as well as focus areas from prior weeks throughout the semester to prepare for our December school walkthrough.
Upcoming Events
December 8th-December 17th: Winter MAP Testing
December 14th: Winter Celebration *your content coach will provide more information about ways to structure this night for parents/families to see growth and work showcased in classrooms. Dinner will be served at 5:15pm and I will provide an overview of MAP following dinner.
December 14th: December School Walkthrough
December 14th-15th: Several members of our national team will be on campus.
December 17th: Nashville Regional Holiday Party + Secret Santa Reveal| 3-5:30pm | Location: Shaka will update with more information.
Parent Partnership Hours
Continue to work with your grade level manager to complete 100% of your home visits. Use this tracker to update Home Visits that have been completed so that your percentage remains up-to-date. I have noticed an increase in home visit completion throughout the school in the past few weeks! This is one of the best ways to create an authentic connection and relationship with families. Don't hesitate to conduct home visits throughout the year for your Rocketeers as well.
Operations Updates
- Being on time for drop off and lunch pick up - recently, there has been an increase in cohorts being either dropped off late and picked up late from lunch. Be sure that you are on time for both drop off to lunch so that students have their full lunch period to eat and picking up on time because late cohort pick-ups create congestion and back-up in the cafeteria in trying to ensure that the tight transition turnaround takes place.
- On Monday, our K, 2nd and 4th grade students will participate in Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure screenings.
The Blood pressure & BMI screening will be in Room 107. Below are the times for each class. I scheduled 30 min but they may take less than 30 minutes. Teachers should bring them to room 107 and have them sit on the green squares until the screeners call their name.
Kinder:
Cal Poly 8:30-9:00
WSU 9:05- 9:35
Trevecca 9:40- 10:05
Austin Peay 10:15-10:45
2nd:
Temple 10:50- 11:20
Lane 11:20- 11:50
Memphis 12:45-1:15
Drexel 1:20-1:50
4th:
TSU- 2:00-2:30
Michigan 2:35- 1:05
If there are any questions/concerns about the schedule, please reach out to me.