BURCHFIELD'S BULLETIN
OCTOBER 10-13, 2017 (SCHOOL DAYS 34-37)
- We shaved off nearly a minute from our last fire drill. That is fantastic! We still have another minute to shave so help us by ensuring your whole class is out of the building as quickly and quietly as possible. Thanks
- Thanks, Jessica, for your leadership with the S.M.A.R.T. Night coming up. I haven't heard all the details but what I have heard assures me that it will be fun and meaningful for students and parents alike. I appreciate the leadership of all Goal Teams to make this night a success.
- Love, Love, Love the new artwork that has been going up in the halls. Remember that all displays should have grade level TEKS listed and ARTS TEKS and inspiration if you integrated.
- Our Leadership Team is dependable and willing to go the extra mile. Thanks
- Dave and I will be making up missed Goal setting meetings. We apologize for missing a few last week but as things arise we will reschedule. Thanks for your patience.
- Thanks to Dave, Connie, and Lindsay for providing MAP training on Friday. I appreciate your patience while working through all of the technical difficulties. Great job, Team.
- I know everyone is working to make sure their reading data is updated regularly and correctly. Remember that all reading level data sheets need to be shared with me. In that way, I will see your updates each month when you input your data. It is my goal to stay abreast of our progress so your timely updates are extremely important. Thanks. One more note on the reading levels - BOY % of students OnLevel will be determined by 2 measures. As we discussed Friday, at the beginning of the year, students must be OnLevel on BAS and MAP for Kinder-3rd & MAP and STAAR for 4th - 5th to be considered OnLevel.
Calendar Updates
This Week:
Monday - Columbus Day Student/Teacher Earned Off Day
Tuesday - 4th Grade to Bass Hall; District Units of Study meeting in library after school
Wednesday - 2nd and 5th to BHS for FWSO; Clubs and Tutoring Planning
Thursday - Burleson Opportunity Fund Breakfast; “Character Matters” in cafeteria for drama club; Deadline for Character Essay Contest 3rd-5th; District Units of Study meeting in library after school
Friday - End of 1st Quarter Grading period for Kinder/1st Grade
Saturday: Burleson Founders’ Day
Upcoming Calendar:
October 17: Big Kahuna Product Delivery date
October 19: Class and Yearbook pictures
October 20: Jeans Day (with donation to Sr. Celebration)
October 23-27: Red Ribbon Week (see details below)
October 23: BISD School Board meeting
October 30: S.M.A.R.T Family Night
October 31: Jeans Day (with donation to Sr. Celebration)
October 31: Halloween
November 2: Character Luncheon
November 3: End of 2nd 6 Weeks Grading Period
Red Ribbon Week Dress up:
Monday October 23: Give Drugs the Boot (Western Day)
Tuesday October 24: Lai Off Drugs (Hawaiian Day)
Wednesday October 25: Drugs Make Us See Red (Favorite Red Shirt and Jeans)
Thursday October 26: Team Up Against Drugs (Favorite Jersey or Team Shirt)
Friday October 27: Show Good Character (Favorite Character)
Dave's
The question is; “How do you see the forest through the weeds?” Weeds have a way of appearing out of nowhere. Weeds must be eradicated at their source. Weeds are temporary, but only if you take action. As we continue the tour through the 2017-2018 school year, the weeds will continue to grow making it a little more difficult to see what’s ahead. However, if we take a few moments everyday to “take care” of the weeds, they can never take over your yard. The result is a beautiful yard with a clear path to the forest. Take from that analogy what you will.
The following information comes from our Special Education department to help clarify some common misconception of your role as a teacher with Special Needs students. Please be sure you are in compliance. A video was sent to you as well.
TOPICS
Data Collection
Accommodations - general education teachers should use a data accommodation sheet that reflects individual student accommodations from their IEP. Campus principals can establish a frequency greater than twice a week, but data should be taken a minimum of two times per week on accommodations that lend themselves to this such as shortened assignments. Preferential Seating close to the door can be addressed once with a seating chart.
Data collection on accommodations is the responsibility of all general education and special education staff and not just collaborative teachers. Students have accommodations who are served in a variety of educational settings. It should have always been happening and should not be viewed as a new or additional burden on general education staff.
Burleson ISD has had a request to provide accommodation data on one or more sped or 504 students each year for the past several years. If it exists and can be provided great, but very often is cannot be provided by the general education teacher and then a scramble begins to prove that they were indeed being provided.
The same is true of MDRs for discipline. Parents frequently challenge the implementation of the IEP and without data to support the accommodations, the discipline is in jeopardy of being sustained.
Accommodation collection should be simple and not time consuming.
For the purposes of a documentation form, a system that reflects 1) it was provided and successful, 2) provided and unsuccessful or that the student 3) refused the accommodation. This information will also be useful in determining appropriate recommendations for future ARD committees.
eSped provides a form for this that is prefilled but some campuses have created their own. Either is fine as long as they can be provided at the end of grading periods.
Another area of consideration is to remember that accommodations are only supposed to level the playing field for a student. Numerous students appear to be over accommodated as IEPs are reviewed. This also leads to additional data collection being required on the part of the general education teachers. Really work to address “required” support from “he might need it” from “good teaching”strategies.
Keeping notebooks for students with two samples of accommodated work in them per week has also been brought up. I know April Chiarelli shared this with principals on July 25th as a six week strategy that she used, but that is a campus principal decision on how you want to ensure that accommodations are actually being provided. There is NOT a requirement for each student to have a notebook. I cannot locate the original source of this miscommunication but it is not required unless you as the principal have put that into place at your campus as a requirement.
This is best practice for 504 also but we have not rolled out a system of collecting that data yet. Please know that it is subject to request and should be located in an area that is accessible should it be requested.
Goals/Objectives : the data collection sheets from eSped are required. Data should be taken on each goal or objective at least two times per week. Typically, the special education teacher will take the data.
In the collaborative classrooms, the general education and special education teachers are co-implementers on the goals. This means they should both be aware of the goals and planning to address those in their lesson planning. However, if the special education teacher has taken data, the general education teacher does not have to continue to do so once the special education teacher is no longer in the setting unless a very unusual response is received by the student such as the very first time a student does independently. That obviously would be noted.
Self-contained classrooms, it is find for the paraprofessionals to be trained to assist in taking data also.
Progress Reporting and Grades
Entering grades into Skyward is typically the responsibility of the general education teacher.
Progress reporting in eSped is typically the responsibility of the special education teacher.
While either teacher is qualified and can enter grades or report progress in a collaborative setting, to equally share responsibility these duties are typically divided between the two staff members. Some teams work together on this and that is fine but it is not required.
Modified Grading
Grading rubrics should only be utilized for students who are on an alternate assessment (STAAR ALT 2) or have modified content indicated their IEP. The majority of the time these students will not be receiving their grades in a collaborative classroom.
Progress Reporting when the goal is not in the current scope and sequence
The primary issue here is the poor development of a skill specific goal. Goals should be written to address the disabilities impact on learning and supporting skill development rather than isolated specific skills such as multiplication of fractions or the primary causes of the Civil War. These type goals lend themselves to about 3 weeks out of 36 instructional weeks where direct instruction in those areas are provided.
First, these goals should be addressed in an annual ARD and written within the guidelines of the Standards Based IEP Training that has been provided. If this is an issue and the annual ARD falls after Winter Break, I recommend amending the IEP now to rewrite the goal(s).
However, until that happen, teacher can report that the content in the goals was not addressed in the six week scope and sequence as long as it really was not reflected in the district documents.
Goals for students served in Collaborative Teaching
Numerous goals has also been a concern. In a collaborative setting, the typical number of goals that would be needed to support the student should be no more than three with one to two being the recommendation. If goals are written to target the impact of the disability rather than deficit skills, the number is greatly reduced.This also reduces the burden of data collection and reporting. Now, that doesn’t mean the skills are not targeted but those come through the normal PLC process when data is reviewed and you discuss what you are going to do when the student either knows it or doesn’t know it.
End of Clarification - remember to use the link above if you have additional questions.
Thank you again!
ESSENTIAL 55 UPDATE
- Cough, sneeze or burp into your bent elbow to avoid spreading germs.
- No smacking of lips or rolling of eyes when a teacher or other responsible adult asks you to do something.
- Always say "thank you" when your teacher gives you something. If you do not say it within three seconds after receiving the item, she/he may take it back. There is no excuse for not showing respect.
- Do not insult someone who gives you something by making negative comments about the gift or by insinuating that it wasn't appreciated.
JUST 3 QUESTIONS TO PONDER
WHAT DIFFERENCE DID I MAKE LAST WEEK IN STUDENT ACHEIVEMENT?
CAN MY TEAM DEPEND ON ME TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT THIS WEEK? HOW?
LESLIE'S LIBRARY LOG
SNOW SPEAKS ON SPED
GOALS, COMMITMENTS, EXECUTION
Get your WIGs out so you won't forget them!
Here at the Academy of the Arts at Bransom, we are not short on goals. So many have completed their personal and student goals in Strive. Many teams have already created SMART goals for their class of students. Students have even been setting goals for themselves with the guidance of their teachers. Our campus has adopted goals to work on this year in the 2017-2018 Campus Improvement Plan (CIP.) Our district has written goals to work on this year in the 2017-2018 District Improvement Plan (DIP.)
We are not strangers to goal setting - SMART or otherwise.
Here's where the W.I.G.s come in.
WIGs are our Wildly Important Goals. It is time to start narrowing and focusing in on the absolute top priority goal(s) and start committing to the changes you will make to reach your goals. It is SO easy to write a goal or two, document them in Strive, meet with Dave or myself to get the goals approved, and then go back to teaching. It is NOT SO easy to get the job done!
Your leadership team is working on a plan. In the next couple of weeks we will be sharing the plan for executing the plan to get the job done. So in the mean time, nail down what you really need to accomplish professional and what you need your students to accomplish as a whole. Then in your journal start brainstorming what you can do better or differently to make it happen. Remember this is about what YOU and your team can do differently.
Arts with the Brain in Mind
To me this means we can't expect miracles over night or even in a year but over time we should see the benefits start appearing. Keep up the good work!
Take just a few minutes at your PLC on Wednesday to summarize the first chapter. If your team is a four-woman team, alphabetically by first name, assign yourself to summarize a section of Chapter 1 for your team.
Art as a Brain Developer
What Makes a Major Discipline
Disarming Aversion to the Arts
A Postscript and Foreshadowing
If you are on a five-woman team, start with the Preface. It's actually very interesting, too.
DUTIES AND BIRTHDAYS
DUTIES
Gym: Cech & Johnson
Da Vinci Hall: Pronger
Escher Hall: Burross
BIRTHDAYS
Oct. 11 - Jacie Garavito
Oct. 15 - Morgan McDonald
The Academy of the Arts, Where the Teachers Make the Difference
Website: http://bransom.burlesonisd.net/
Location: 820 S Hurst Rd, Burleson, TX, United States
Phone: 817-245-3600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BransomBobcats/
Twitter: @BransomBobcats