EAST PAULDING MIDDLE SCHOOL
November 1, 2019
FACULTY AND STAFF NEWSLETTER
UPCOMING EVENTS
11/3 - Daylight Savings Ends - Sleep an Extra Hour
11/5 - Teacher Work Day - District PL Day - Election Day
11/7-11/8 - 8th Grade Savannah Trip
11/11 - PCHS Magnet Program Visit - During NBI
11/13 - Title II PL - SS in AM - Science in PM
11/14 - Title II PL - ELA in AM - Math in PM
11/14 - Science Focus Walk
11/15 - Scoliosis Screening - Altered Schedule
11/19 - Creighton's Baby Shower - 4:00pm
11/20 - Faculty Meeting -4:00pm (This is being moved from 11/21)
11/21 - Suicide Prevention Training with Mary Wade - Room 601 - Planning
11/21 - Dodgeball Tournament - 4:00pm
11/22 - Pay Day & Hospitality Chili Cook-Off
11/25-11/29 - Thanksgiving Break
Supporting Our Students
- Intentional Planning for our students is non-negotiable and is the beginning of student success. If we aren't working together collaboratively to effectively plan, our students are the ones who experience the greatest potential negative impact. What does intentional planning look like to you?
- Learning Targets should be used daily to highlight the learning goal. Students should be aware of their learning target, and the standard as well as your formal and informal assessments should align to the target. Make certain the Strategy is not the focus.
- Speaking of strategy... The Strategy that you choose to utilize in your classroom should directly support the learning target. A great strategy is not always effective if it does not support the intention of the learning.
- Vocabulary (fiction, non-fiction, academic) must be an intentional focus and referenced regularly by teacher. Visual Vocabulary is necessary as a scaffolding tool for our below basic, basic, and even some proficient students.
- Anchor Charts are a must with many of the skills that students are required to learn. There are opportunities in each content area to provide this extra level of visual support. Again, our below basic, basic, and even proficient students can benefit from this level of support.
- Assessments (formal and informal) must be ongoing to truly have a pulse on student progress. Here are some questions to reflect upon ...
- Should there be a time limit for when a student attains the knowledge?
- Am I providing multiple opportunities for students to show mastery?
- Once a student exhibits mastery, how do i reflect this within their grades?
- Am I assessing "a do" or am I assessing "a know".
- Communication is vital to supporting students. Although Fall Conference Week is in our rear-view mirror, it will be important that we continue to communicate with parents. They can be our greatest ally. Please don't count on IC to deliver all of the information. Often times, parents need to actually hear from us!
Literacy Questions - The Lucky 7
Using the most recent RI lexile data...
1. Who are the students scoring between 1 and 200 points below the midpoint for grade level?
2. Who are the students scoring greater than 200 points below the midpoint for grade level?
3. Who are the students identified as below basic readers?
4. Who are the students scoring 200+ points above the midpoint for grade level?
5. What supports (if any) am I providing students who fall into each category when accessing content through text?
6. Do those supports look different?
7. Which students am I growing? This question will be our most important one to answer.
Earlier this week, Kim and I took some time to dive into this specific data, and the answers to the questions above are very eye-opening. There is no doubt that you all have done a tremendous job in activating and launching our plan to support literacy, and I applaud and appreciate your efforts and the success our students have earned.
Now, its time that we step up our efforts and continue to grow as a faculty to truly use what the data is telling us to reach for new levels of success. I am excited about the possibilities, and I look forward to working alongside of you.
Teacher Use of Maker Space
If you are using the maker space to enhance learning, let us know, and you can earn points for your house as well!
Go Vote!
November 5th - Professional Learning Day
November 5th work hours are 8am-4pm.
EPMS Absence Analysis - October
After reviewing staff attendance for the month of October, the only conclusion I come to is that October was rough. October of 2018-2019 was one of our worst months last year. We accumulated 71.7 sick and personal absences. This year proved to be no different. As you can see from the image below, we surpassed that number this year with 72.5 personal and sick days.
Please make your attendance a priority during the month of November and December. While each month contains an important holiday, it also provides us additional days to take care of personal business. I understand that life happens, but our attendance as a staff is extremely important to the success of our students.
Digital Learning Days
To continue to be prepared, our district is asking teachers to plan 3 days of digital assignments in advance of any potential weather, prepared and ready to be published in the event of an unexpected school closure due to inclement weather. Most of our you probably already have these prepared and within Canvas somewhere, you will just need to pull them in to your current year's Canvas.
If you do not have these lessons prepared, please move forward with that process and have 3 days of digital lessons planned. These lessons should be housed in Canvas, but not yet published. All lessons should be complete prior to the end of October. If you need support with this or if you have questions, please let a member of our admin team know.
School Climate Star Rating Survey
Please take a moment to complete the anonymous 31-question Georgia School Personnel Survey for our school for the 2019-2020 school year. As always, your feedback is appreciated.
The Georgia Personnel Survey is modeled after the student survey and contains 31 questions. School personnel may complete the survey using their computer, smartphone, or tablet, and all school personnel are encouraged to participate in the survey.
As a reminder, all survey responses are anonymous and will be submitted directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis. I appreciate your feedback as it is vital to our continued growth and success as a school.
To access the survey, click the button below.
PBIS - Class Craft - EPMS House System
We have learned a lot since beginning PBIS at EPMS several years ago. We have had some successes, some failures, many challenges, and many opportunities. What I am most excited about is that we have an opportunity to continue to grow PBIS through our House System and Class Craft to meet the needs of our school and our students.
We will continue to "Plan, Do, Check, Act" as we reflect and refine our PBIS processes. To do that, we need your consistency.
Absence Reminders
Below are a couple of reminders regarding reporting absences and requesting time off.
Unplanned Sick Absence
1. As soon as you know that you need to be out, enter the absence into AESOP AND call Mrs. Raley. Her number is 678-614-6021.
2. If you are unable to enter the absence into AESOP, call Mrs. Raley.
3. After 6am, you are no longer able to enter an absence in AESOP, please call Mrs. Raley.
3. If a job fails to fill or if the sub cancels, there is a strong possibility that we will have to cover the absence from within that specific department or use other subs when they are on their planning.
Planned Sick Absences
1. As soon as you know that you need to be out, enter the absence into AESOP AND inform Mrs. Raley and Mrs. Suttles of the upcoming absence.
2. If a job fails to fill or if the sub cancels, there is a strong possibility that we will have to cover the absence from within that specific department or use other subs when they are on their planning.
Personal Absences
1. All personal absences must be requested 5 days in advance. The request must be made to Mr. Alverson.
2. You can speak to Mr. Alverson in person or send him an email.
3. If you request an absence via email, please include Mrs. Suttles.
4. All personal absences will be entered by Mrs. Suttles.
5. If you have already arranged for one of our regular subs to work for you, please provide that information.
6. if a job fails to fill or if the sub cancels, there is a strong possibility that we will have to cover the absence from within that specific department or use other subs when they are on their planning.
It is important to remember that absences designated as sick days cannot be used for personal events or activities. If you have questions, please let me know.
Master Calendar
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Contact Information for Tom Alverson
Email: talverson@paulding.k12.ga.us
Website: http://www.paulding.k12.ga.us/Domain/29
Phone: 678-350-8027