RNNE Team and Family Launcher
Goal-oriented and intentional. Intervention.Authentic Team.
The Fierce Urgency of Now.
Good evening team -
As we embark on another week of instruction and impact for our Rocketeers, I'm sharing with you an excerpt of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune's "Last Will and Testament" as it highlighted our same vision of love, hope and a relentless spirit to drastically change the life trajectory for our Rocketeers.
When I read it, I literally was moved to tears at how poignant and relevant her words are in our present-day society. As educators, we all reach points in the year where we feel burned out and disillusioned - for me, her words sparked a new sense of purpose and reignited my passion for our work.
I encourage you to print this and post it in a place where you can return to over the course of the next 11 weeks in order to keep our eyes focused on the end goal and finish line for our Rocketeers. The full version of her "Last Will and Testament" can be found here.
Sometimes as I sit communing in my study I feel that death is not far off. I am aware that it will overtake me before the greatest of my dreams – full equality for the Negro in our time – is realized. Yet, I face that reality without fear or regrets. I am resigned to death as all humans must be at the proper time. Death neither alarms nor frightens one who has had a long career of fruitful toil. The knowledge that my work has been helpful to many fills me with joy and great satisfaction.
Since my retirement from an active role in educational work and from the affairs of the National Council of Negro Women, I have been living quietly and working at my desk at my home here in Florida. The years have directed a change of pace for me. I am now 78 years old and my activities are no longer so strenuous as they once were. I feel that I must conserve my strength to finish the work at hand.
Already I have begun working on my autobiography which will record my life-journey in detail, together with the innumerable side trips which have carried me abroad, into every corner of our country, into homes both lowly and luxurious, and even into the White House to confer with Presidents. I have also deeded my home and its contents to the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation, organized in March, 1953, for research, interracial activity and the sponsorship of wider educational opportunities.
Sometimes I ask myself if I have any other legacy to leave. Truly, my worldly possessions are few. Yet, my experiences have been rich. From them, I have distilled principles and policies in which I believe firmly, for they represent the meaning of my life's work. They are the products of much sweat and sorrow.
Perhaps in them there is something of value. So, as my life draws to a close, I will pass them on to Negroes everywhere in the hope that an old woman's philosophy may give them inspiration. Here, then is my legacy.
I LEAVE YOU LOVE. Love builds. It is positive and helpful. It is more beneficial than hate. Injuries quickly forgotten quickly pass away. Personally and racially, our enemies must be forgiven. Our aim must be to create a world of fellowship and justice where no man's skin, color or religion, is held against him. "Love thy neighbor" is a precept which could transform the world if it were universally practiced. It connotes brotherhood and, to me, brotherhood of man is the noblest concept in all human relations. Loving your neighbor means being interracial, interreligious and international.
I LEAVE YOU FINALLY A RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. The world around us really belongs to youth for youth will take over its future management. Our children must never lose their zeal for building a better world. They must not be discouraged from aspiring toward greatness, for they are to be the leaders of tomorrow. Nor must they forget that the masses of our people are still underprivileged, ill-housed, impoverished and victimized by discrimination. We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.
If I have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living and serving. As I face tomorrow, I am content, for I think I have spent my life well. I pray now that my philosophy may be helpful to those who share my vision of a world of Peace, Progress, Brotherhood, and Love.
Academic Focus Areas
In order to make greater traction on focus areas and implementation of them, the focus area for this week is bite-sized so that teachers are able to implement more easily as well as feel themselves progress with it within one week.
For each content area/grade level, focus on stamping the key understanding for students this week in class discussions, turn and talks, after a cold call or taking hands.
KEY FOCUS AREA:
After a Rocketeer responds to a question, follow up with one of the questions below:
- What did you do to get your answer?
- How do you know (repeat student's answer)?
Push students to respond to these questions using a complete sentence.
*You should be listening for Rocketeers articulating how they used the key points to arrive at their answers and that they correctly arrived at the answer using the correct key points. Use your exemplar responses from your lesson plans here to help guide students who reveal a misconception/misunderstanding in their answers.
There is often great discussion coming out classrooms (shout out to all of you for your planning in this area!), but now we need to increase the rigor and thinking load of our Rocketeers by having them articulate the process they took to arrive at their answers (using the key points you've taught them) so that this knowledge is stamped for the class in a more consistent way.
School leaders will be observing for this follow up and increase in the thinking load for Rocketeers in your classrooms this week.
In this past week's lesson plan review, the Instructional Leadership Team has noticed progress in:
- There was an increase in the amount of exemplar responses that had tagged key points in your lesson plans submitted last week!
- 50% of lesson plans reflected tagged key points in exemplars last week and this past week 62% of lesson plans reflected tagged key points.
Our push for this week in lesson plans is:
- Tagging Key Points: This week, let's work to hone in on tagging key points to each of our exemplars so that we are able to make our follow up to student misconceptions, class discussions, turn and talks, etc. more purposeful for Rocketeers.
- Our goal for this coming week is to have at least 75% of our lesson plans submitted with tagged key points for each exemplar response.
Fierce Urgency of Now: Data Shout Outs!
Check out the awesome work output from two 4th grade Rocketeers in their RACE response! These are a direct result of the 3rd/4th Humanities Team (Mrs. Salls, Ms. Bing, Ms. Linehan, Mr. Frazier and Mr. Summitt) teaching an additional block of Humanities each day, administering daily exit tickets, analyzing the daily exit tickets and making an immediate change in their instruction, informed by the data, for the following day!
Culture Focus Area: Work the Clock
Progress:
- Bathroom/Hallway Traffic - There has been a decrease in the amount of Rocketeers in the hallway during teaching time! This means that your hard work in planning engaging lessons, investing your students and being cognizant of the amount of time students are out of the classroom is paying off! Keep up the awesome work and progress in this area, team!
- Make sure that anytime a Rocketeer exits your classroom, they have the appropriate pass with them (HALL or BATHROOM).
Push:
We have lost a lot of instructional time with our Rocketeers. We only have 11 solid weeks of instruction left with them before school year comes to a close. We have to operate with a fierce of urgency of now:
- Tight HALLS: Having tight hallway transitions. Stay focused on holding tight lines that are following HALLS with no gaps.
- Work the Clock - create a sense of urgency and momentum in your classrooms by incorporating/refreshing your execution with the "Work the Clock" technique that we rolled out last semester. Use this cheat sheet as you are planning to tighten in this area this week.
Work the Clock
Work the Clock chapter from "Teach Like a Champion 2.0"
Online Timer (can be displayed from your computer or tablet)
If you need a small timer, we have ordered a few, so grab one from the counter in the copy room.
School Leaders will be observing for evidence of urgency and "Work the Clock" this week in classrooms.
Student-Facing Urgency Focus:
Positively acknowledge your Rocketeers for showing urgency this week by:
- giving them an urgency sticker
- rewarding them with an urgency Habits of Excellence LiveSchool point
- rewarding them with a core value rocket
- creating an "urgency" competition in your classroom - examples: transitions, clean up from centers, reading stamina, etc.
Operations Updates from April
Focus of the week for Lunch/Recess Transitions: Mrs. Welch would like to see a formal hand-off from from Teachers to Support Staff when transitioning students from classrooms to recess and lunch. Our Rocketship expectation is for Teachers to walk their class to the Recess station and before leaving, handing off their class to the Support Staff with a greeting, similar to greeting students when they enter class first thing in the morning.
One suggestion would be: "Rocketeers, you are now going to recess/lunch with Ms._________(say Recess teacher name), let's greet Ms.___________, I want to hear a good report about how recess/lunch went today!
(This is only an example)
Weekly Events
Monday:
Whole School Launch - 8:00am
Tuesday:
Fitness Class| 4:30pm
Wednesday:
Fitness Class| 4:30pm
Thursday:
Jaclyn O'Brien + Schools Team + Humanities Team + Achievement Team - RNNE School Walkthrough
MNPS District Walkthrough
Thursday PD - 2:30pm
Friday:
Jaclyn O'Brien + Schools Team + Humanities Team + Achievement Team - RNNE School Walkthrough
Landing
Thomas at RUA for Teacher Interview Day
Shout out to Black History Program Committee + RNNE Staff Members!
It was hands down the best Black History Program that I've attended. It was evident in every moment of the program - from the roles that staff members played throughout the night - that the program was built and succeeded on love, joy and passion.
Thank you to all of the staff members who played a role in making the event successful - both in the weeks coming up to the event to the night of the event!
It was truly a phenomenal experience and left a beautiful imprint on our school community!