BAMS Staff Newsletter
March 16, 2015 - Volume 2, Issue 25
It's a Great Day to Be Great!
Bessie Allen Middle School - SLO & Goals
Building SLO:
By June of 2015, 80% of students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will show growth in their opinion writing sample rubric score from the September 2014 writing benchmark based on the school developed writing rubric (adapted from the Smarter Balanced writing rubric).
Goal Update: Here are the results from our mid-year assessment
6th Grade - 61% of students showed growth; overall achievement increased 14%
7th Grade - 69% of students showed growth; overall achievement increased 12%
8th Grade - 57% of students showed growth; overall achievement increased 3%
School wide - 62% of students showed growth
Building Goals:
DPI School of Recognition
PBIS School of Merit
Routinely Take Literacy Risks
Be a CEO
Driving Question for 2014-2015:
What have we changed with our instruction to prepare our students for the Badger Exam assessment (and other higher level thinking opportunities)?
Goals for SSR and SSW
- Provide a time for every student in our building to read and write.
- Ensure this time is a positive part of our students' day.
News and Notes
- Building Maintenance and Cleaning - I have heard very little in the past 2 years about maintenance and cleaning needs in our building. Dave's team wants to know if you notice any concerns. Please contact Dave and I if there is anything we need to know.
- Leadership Survey - Thank you to those of you that had time to provide some feedback for me for my leadership survey. I am planning to use an April staff meeting to share the results with you and my plan for improvement. You still have time to complete the survey before then. Feedback is a gift!!!!
- You probably saw the email from Deb about the school psychologist hire. It's exciting to welcome Liz Flaherty to our staff. I'm hopeful you will all have a chance to meet her in the near future.
- Badger Exam - I like how we have persevered with learning and preparing for our new state exam this school year. We started the year by challenging ourselves to think about how we are preparing our students for this exam. We have reviewed sample test questions and developed common language (Oriole Way Reading/Writing) to get our students thinking deeper. This month we started to examine the assessment for ourselves and with our students. I'm very proud of our process and efforts!! We will face adversity (look it in the eyes!!) as we continue down this road. It's great that we can work through this together and that our students have you to support them.
- Badger Exam Schedule - Each grade level team will be finalizing their testing schedule. The plan is to complete testing by the end of April. I'm very confident that we can work with this timeline. Once the schedules are finalized they will be sent out to our building staff.
- Please let me know if you are interested in teaching the BAMS summer school remediation course this summer. This class is for students in our building that fail a core subject area class during the school year. I will open this opportunity up to the rest of the district if I don't hear from anyone from our building. Thank you again to Julie Skaer for teaching this course previously.
Out of the Office
- March 16th - 1:45-2:35pm - Honor's Study Hall
- March 17th - 9-11am - Admin Team Meeting - DMR
- March 25th - 8:30am - BAMS BCT Meeting - The Crib
Oriole Way - Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Safe
- Team Implementation Checklist - The Oriole Way Team reviewed the Team Implementation Checklist (TIC) at our last meeting. This form helps us to reflect on our PBIS framework and look for improvement areas. Please let us know if you wish to learn more about this document.
- One conversation worth highlighting from the review of the TIC was regarding consistency with consequences for students behaviors. It's important to hold students accountable for their actions (positive or negative). In our building, this can be anything from an adult look/comment, all the way to expulsion. Consequence options are located on Minor and Major forms. Always come to me with any questions that you have. I'm happy to share my thinking and rationale about any situation with the understanding that I will only share what is appropriate. I will not breach student confidentiality.
- Aside from a consequence, the bigger focus should be on behavior improvement and what we as adults can do to prevent the behavior in the future. This is where our process for supporting student behavior/academic concerns comes into play. Our Student Support Action Plan document has been shared with you and is also posted in the Team Room.
- NEXT Meeting - March 18th, 7am
OASYS and Teacher Effectiveness
- 2 Classroom Visits - Due by May 1st *These visits will be represented in your documentation log.
- Documentation Log - Due by May 1st
- End of Year Conferences for Year 3/New Educators - Due by May 31st
Click Here for a link to Teacher Effectiveness Info from CESA 6
Click Here for a Teacher Effectiveness Calendar for EDUCATORS/SPECIALISTS
Dates to Remember
March 17th - ATOD Survey for 8th Grade Students, 10:40-11:20am
March 19th - 8th Grade Badger Exam practice with students, SSR/SSW
March 23rd - NFDL School Board Meeting, 7pm in DMR
March 25th - 7th Grade Badger Exam practice with students, SSR/SSW
March 25th - Staff Meeting 2:50-3:30pm
March 26th - 6th Grade Badger Exam practice with students, SSR/SSW
March 26th - Oriole Leaders Meeting 10:40-11:40am
March 27th - BAMS Medal of Excellence Names to Jennifer
March 27th - End of 3rd Quarter
March 30th - 3rd Quarter Grades Due 7am
March 30th - April 3rd - Spring Break
*See Google Doc titled "2014-2015 BAMS Yearly Calendar" for a look at events for the entire year.
Staff Meeting Agenda
Staff Meeting: March 25th - 2:50-3:30pm - DMR
Agenda:
????
Next Meeting: April 10th - 12:50-1:15pm - DMR
Parent Link Messages
We use a system called Parent Link to send mass messages to families. Please let me know if you need anything communicated.
Messages sent this week:
- NONE