Spruce Scoop
Joy. Hope. Resilience.
August 26, 2019
Principal Taylor's Message
Greetings Timberwolves,
Greetings Timberwolves,
Week #1 is in our rearview and I want to say thank you to everyone for being purposeful and joyful in all the actions taken this week. Scholars were welcomed to an environment where adults care and show them every day. My hats off to each of you and once again, solidified we are all where we need to be, being of service and leaders in the educating our next generation. I truly appreciate everyone's patience and communicating the same message to our scholars.
Week #2 is in front of us and we are off to a solid start!! Continue to work the plan, hallways culture, be present, vocal/positive narration, and consistent. The minute we start to break down in our consistency is the minute our culture starts to erode and that is the opposite of our Vision and Mission. It was awesome to see teachers and staff out in hallways and engaging and moving scholars along. Also, we were diligent with those that did not see the urgency.
No one let a student walk by without addressing them directly in a caring and urgent manner.
It is only week two and I want to remind everyone that our scholars are with a teacher for 90 minutes and then transition for six minutes and then are in another class for 90 minutes (etc..). Please put yourself in their position or that of your own child/family member, and consistently design lessons that allow for them to apply what is being learned through:
- purposeful academic discourse with one another,
- engaging with text with an analytical lens,
- creating an anticipatory and engaged culture with scholars via purposeful response strategies
- aligned lessons and scaffold appropriately independent practice time
Thank you for taking a moment to be reflective about how we design our time. Scholars will rise!!
Be Elite in our 20 Square Feet! If not YOU, WHO? If not NOW, WHEN?
Kindest Regard,
F. Taylor
Proudest Principal in DISD
Monthly Fire Drills
BEFORE THE DRILL:
· Review the e-mailed evacuation map for your floor;
· Review the e-mailed color-coded buddy system and find your buddy teacher/staff member; and
· Print a copy of the attendance rosters.
DURING THE DRILL:
· Use the proper stairway/exit,
· Exit the building quickly and orderly with students,
· Take attendance and ensure that all students are present once outside,
· Communicate to your buddy and person in charge of your stairwell if a student is missing, and
· Wait for the bell to ring before re-entering the building.
AFTER THE DRILL:
· Use the proper stairway/re-entry point,
· Enter the building quickly and orderly with class,
· Report DIRECTLY back to class with students,
· Take attendance and ensure that all your students returned to class, and
· Reset class and resume teaching and learning.
Accountability: Connection Posts - (aka Duty Posts) - (AM, Transitions, Lunch, PM)
I would like us to think of Duty Post as Connection Post and this is why..... READ THOROUGHLY- Duty is a time to:
- Build rapport which facilitate healthy, caring professional relationships - 5 hello's before 1st/5th period :-).
- Assess scholars behavior, notice changes that may need to be addressed - if you have a relationship with student, follow up. If not let an administrator or counselor know, but please let them know.
- Scholars know that adult presence is consistent and supportive. Safety is always communicated and modeled.
- Teamwork is a non negotiable. We need each other and when you are in your Connection Post spot (aka Duty), you show you value your colleagues time and partnership because you are both their to help scholars and each other.
Duty is an obligation, which it most certainly is and Connection Post truly addresses the purposes of why we do what we do; to connect with scholars to support the best day ever!
Informal Classroom Observations 9/19 - 9/26 and Official Spot Observations 9/3
Thank you for starting the year off strong! As I have visited classrooms, students are diving into the content. Official Spots will begin the week of September 2nd (After Labor Day). Leaders will be in classrooms this week providing kudos, follow ups with questions for clarity or upgrade actions.
Observation Feedback Conferences:
Teachers are to bring either their laptops to capture notes and action steps or if you are pen to paper individual, identify a composition type book, where conference notes are kept. These notes are to be brought to every conference.
Leaders will come to meetings with their resources and conference notes as well.
Preparedness is essential for ALL.
There will be a standardized form that will be used by all leaders to capture the conference feedback and next steps, incorporating the Paul Bambrick-Santoyo Feedback Model of See It. Name It. Do It and the TEI Rubric.
Southeast Network Visits
Southeast Network visits will start this upcoming week. Our first one is Tuesday 8/27. The purpose of the visits are to provide feedback and support to leadership on the campus as we support teachers and staff.
We have Culture, Instruction, and Operation goals we are striving to meet. As campus wide leaders one of the ways we grow is with feedback and development from SE Network Leadership. We are charged with leading the work of the campus with clarity, consistency, respect, compassion, and accountability. If you are ever involved in a visit it will be communicated to you in advance by the Administrator or ILT.
Visits by SE Network focus more so on leadership moves and practices to ensure we, as campus wide leaders, seize every opportunity to develop our craft for the benefit of all staff and scholars.
Hall Pass Procedure
#ONEBANDONESOUND
**Just food for thought, write down somewhere for yourself those times depending on the block day. Also, just be reminded the processes are put in place to support teaching and learning and to cement that culture for our scholars.
Super Spruce Sprucing!
- Share information about yourself with scholars, via the teacher / staff cork boards. Take a moment to set it up, by Friday, Sept. 30th. Picture, University/College, Tutoring Times, schedule, and a favorite quote, or what you are reading information. This is another way to connect, share your life experiences. If you need a cork board email Mr. Varney, if you have not done so already.
- We have some bulletin boards that look SUPER SPRUCE GREAT! So exemplars are around if you need inspiration. If your club/organization was assigned a bulletin board last year please ensure it has either a welcome back, informational, aspiration message communicated to scholars. Bulletin boards represent us as a campus and should be created with excellence and purpose in mind. See Ms. Solis or Ms. Reed for questions about bulletin board paper.
Scheduling Overview Per Mrs. Lewis
If you have a chance, please tell a counselor, “Thank you!” They have faced some big challenges that typically don’t happen right before the school year starts, and they have taken it in stride. They have worked constantly for weeks with no air in their offices and no complaints. Can we improve for next year, yes! Just like with anything, and we are making plans to that end—starting with me! But the counselors have worked non-stop for weeks.
Items that are in the lineup:
Scheduling Big Buckets:
- Finishing Reconnect registrations (ETA of completion-8/23/19)
- SPED Inclusion, moving kids into the appropriate sections (Starting-8/23/19; ETA of completion AM-8/26/19)
- Reading II and Reading III/Eng III with Ms. Gurley (Filling the reading II sections and putting kids who have not passed EI or EII that should be juniors into Reading III or with Ms. Gurley for Eng III.)
- FLS/TC schedules
- Ensuring Drill Team students are in the class/moving boys out of all girls’ choir
- Leveling classes
- Individual student requests via the QR code
An important note:
- Accurate, daily attendance for every period is crucial to the process of leveling.
- Something you may not know is when you don’t submit attendance, the system will default in favor of the student. This means if you don’t submit, the system will consider the student present.
- How this affects leveling: If a teacher doesn’t submit attendance just once, a kid gets counted as being present. Therefore, they will NOT fall off of our system. We don’t know where our holes are, because PowerSchool is still showing our numbers to be over 1900 students. Our Enrollment count has not gotten close to this number.
- We are currently working to devise a strategy to see what students are actually here and which are not, so we know where we can move kids around. This will take some time, please be patient—and submit that attendance.
If there is an additional item that wasn’t addressed in the above list, please, reply directly to Mrs. Lewis with your concern.
Week of 8/26 Highlights
8/30 - Friday: Pleasant Grove Super Bowl @ 7:30pm
- Staff meetings (Tuesdays or Wednesdays, once a month)
- Sporting Events
- Fine & Performing Events
- Campus Wide Events
- Testing Days & Campus Testing Meetings
Staff meetings are subject to change. The goals is to communicate monthly staff meetings via the calendar and to have one a month.
It is important that we recognize ALL the Excellence in Teaching occuring in all of areas of our academic programs. The highlights are on a weekly rotation throughout the year. Each content/department will be highlighted on a weekly basis.
Spruce High School Math Department
The Spruce Math team is kicking off the 2019-2020 school year by focusing on a few department-wide initiatives. So far, so good!
Teachers are collecting cell-phones to improve attention and foster community in the classroom. Many math teachers are implementing open-ended tasks (#BigRocks) to allow for new kinds of student engagement. Mr. Roche used a YouCubed activity in his Advanced Quantitative Reasoning class (see below). This "low-floor, high-ceiling" activity communicates to students that math is creative and is all about finding patterns.
All math teams are focusing on distributing leadership in PLCs. In Alg I, Ms. Rudd facilitates and teachers take turns sharing out lesson plans and getting feedback. In Geometry, Mr. Hastings has set-up a rotational model. Each geometry teacher leads PLC for two consecutive weeks. Upper-level math teams are starting the year by discussing multiple approaches to solving a single type of problem. Getting input from the fabulous inclusion teachers is also a push for the team, this Fall. Differentiation is key!
Lastly, math teachers are grappling with the use of technology: When is a calculator a valuable asset and when is it a crutch? How can we best use this resource to support all students and not enable them. Haven't figured this out... yet!
A huge shout-out to the entire math team for starting strong and thinking deeply about instruction!
How Many Patterns Can You Find?
Catch a Timberwolf Staff member being ELITE in their 20 Square Feet, Joyful, Hopeful, Resilient, SEL Champion, or simply did or said something that was the spotlight of your day/week!
Thank you for taking a moment to highlight your fellow staff member! You made someone's day!!
Sergeant Wright, Colonel Smith, Sergeant Major Watts welcome all freshmen with positive greetings!
Spotlight on Ms. Chavez
Yesterday morning the early college building did not have internet. I needed to find students but wasn’t able to access their schedules without internet. I went to the front office and Ms. Chavez stopped what she was doing without a moment's hesitation to help. She was incredibly busy and her phone was ringing off the hook. She was very kind and cheerful and happy to help me. She helped my morning run much more smoothly. Thank you Ms. Chavez!
Spotlight on Mr. Bradshaw
I would like a spotlight on Mr. Bradshaw. Not only is he stepping up in the science department but, man what a sight when he was teaching the difference between distance and displacement. He took out the class for a walk (out of the hot classroom) to have an experience to learn from. The students were in a uniform line as Mr. Bradshaw led them with his awesome serpentine walking cane. As a student i would have totally been into this lab. A teacher, with a cool Gandalf cane, leading me on a lab, as well as guiding me into the unknown world of physics. A pastor leading the flock to a world of knowledge. Too awesome not to share. YES the lord of the rings is awesome. Hate on it. Science is holding it down.
S/O to Baine i know all yal do the lab but the walking cane was the best.
Spotlight on Ms. Baine
Ms. Baine is in love with her subject (Physics) and her love for the subject inspires her students as well! As a second year teacher, I look up to her about how your love for a subject can inspire students!
Spotlight on Ms. Chavez
I don’t know how I would have made it over the last 8 months if it had not been for Ms. Chavez. She has helped me tremendously. Her willingness to walk me through, teach me, guide me, and at the same time have a very humbling spirit. Thank you Chavez for everything!
Spotlight on Mr. Felts
I'd like to nominate Mr. Felts, who is taking everything in stride, a champ at communicating with students and, most impressive of all, survived his very first week teaching! Our team appreciates him very much.
Spotlight on Mr. Varney
Thank you for believing in me before I believed in myself for the role(s) I was hired for.
WAIP information that is specific to an individual, team, grade, content, will be emailed directly.
Mckay the Monitor
Adjunt Professor
Check For Understanding
English III
English I
English IV
Cheer Team Prepping for Pleasant Grove Super Bowl on Friday 8/30
1st Day Huddle ~ Spruce 1st Years ~ All Smiles
Ms. Thornton, Mr. Felts, Ms. Reed, Mr. Hawkins, and Ms. Lalani
ATPB Staff Treats ~ First Day of School
SEL Agreements Development
SEL Example
Spruce Mid Week Taylor Sunshine!
Visual Arts PLC - Mize, Cooper, and McDaniels
Staff Parking in Rear
MANDATORY CLOCK IN
- Monitors & Parking Attendant: 7:30 am
- Administrators: 7:50 am
- Clerks: 8:00 am
- Teacher Assistants: Ranger 7:30, 8:00, or 8:15
- Teachers: 8:15 am
8:20 AM Duty Begins
Please be at duty post ready to go a couple minutes early so that doors are opened at 8:20am. Teamwork makes the Dream Work!!
H. Grady Spruce High School
Located in the heart of the Pleasant Grove region of Dallas, Texas, H. Grady Spruce High School serves a diverse population of students and their families. Our neighborhood maintains a strong tradition of community, hard work, and pride. Families have made Pleasant Grove their home for generations, and many of our students can claim a legacy of Spruce alumnae that go back to the founding of the school.
H. Grady Spruce High School was built in 1963, replacing Rylie High School. The school is named for Henry Grady Spruce, a native of Omen, Texas, who earned degrees from Southern Methodist University and the University of Chicago. He devoted much of his 35-year YMCA career to youth, including 25 years as director of the Dallas YMCA's Camp Crockett near Granbury.
Email: frataylor@dallasisd.org
Website: https://www.dallasisd.org/spruce
Location: 9733 Old Seagoville Road, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 972-892-5500