Falcon Flyer
Week of October 2nd
Student Retention & LMS
On Friday, Jen and I met with each grade level and the related arts team to talk with you about our school data, including our retention data. Though only 6 of the 120 students that have been retained were retained here at Liberty Middle School, we owe these students every thing that we can do to help prepare them, not only for the next grade level, but for their future. These students have very little chance of graduating without immediate and intense intervention. (Remember 35 of our students will be 16 before they leave us at the end of their 8th grade year!) In the next week or so, I will be sharing with you the specifics for each of these students. Convincing them that they have a future and that graduation is imperative is going to take the love and energy of every one of us. It is important that these students are STUDENTS and NOT DATA. If they merely remain numbers and part of our demographic description nothing will change in their futures. We must know exactly who they are and have a plan in place to encourage them.
I would love to hear any and all of your ideas on how we can best help these students!
I am so proud to work with such an amazing group of individuals who love their students and want the best for them. Thank you for ALL that you do for Liberty Middle!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Order Your Falcon Gear
Please use the link below to access the shop. You will also need this code: LIBERTYF17
AOP Business Showcase
AOP Business Showcase
Manufacturing Cohort Trip
Tardies & After School Detention
Please use this link to sign up:
Upcoming Dates
- Volleyball Game - Home
October 3rd
- Volleyball Game - Away
- District PD After School
October 5th
- Football - Away
October 6th
- FCA - Band Room - 7:30 a.m.
October 9th
- Fall Pictures
- Volleyball - Home
October 10th
- Volleyball - Home
- Innovation Academy Parent Night - 5:30 p.m.
October 11th
- Fire Drill
October 12th
- Football - Away
October 13th
- FCA - Band Room - 7:30 a.m.
October 14th
- Volleyball Tournament
TRIVIA
What are the three major areas addressed by the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate?
Words from Wendy
When teaching close reading so that students can pull textual evidence as part of Text Dependent Questions (TDQ), there are three levels that help students scaffold into it, per Doug Fisher.
1. Students needs to ask What does the text SAY? (literal)
i. Here the teacher checks that students can explain the central/main idea before
proceeding
2. How does it LOOK? (text structure)
i. Here the teacher checks that students know whether the text structure is
1. Cause and effect
2. Compare and contrast
3. Chronological
4. Problem and solution
5. Sequence
6. Classification
3. What does it MEAN? (inferential)
i. Here the teacher uses inferential questions to challenge students to examine the implicitly stated ideas, arguments or key details in the text. Notice the TDQ asking an inference question in the chart.
In “Close Reading in Elementary Schools,” Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (2012) examine the strengths of close reading, which they advocate for all grade levels: “Close reading invites students to examine the deep structures of a piece of text, or, as Alder and Van Doren (1940/1972) described it, to “x-ray the book… [for] the skeleton hidden between the covers” (p. 75). These deep structures include the way the text is organized, the precision of its vocabulary to advance concepts, and its key details, arguments, and inferential meanings. Importantly, these deep structures must also include consideration of the author’s purpose, how these ideas connect to other texts, and the ways the reader can consolidate this information to formulate opinions. The primary objective of a close reading is to afford students with the opportunity to assimilate new textual information with their existing background knowledge and prior experiences to expand their schema.”