Wolcott's Weekly "What's Up"
Office of Teaching and Learning 11.3.2014
Calkins Writing
Staff continue to do an amazing job helping students grow as writers by faithfully implementing the new Calkins Units of Study. We greatly value the passion, dedication and growth of not only our students but our staff during this transitional period. Stretching beyond one's individual comfort zone and taking reasonable risks is to be commended.
To help explain all that is involved during this period of change, I will be sending a letter home to parents before conferences. It is my goal that the letter will help explain the purpose and expectations of the new program.
Math Curriculum Feedback
"B" Week Coaching
ACCESS Testing & DEB
I know this is very early notice, but...Please plan on cancelling DEB block during the week of January 12th in order for us to most effectively administer ACCESS Tests to our ELL students.
ELL Lesson Plans
#Sig72 and Passion Period
- Relationship building shouldn't be a first three day of the school year thing only! Please remind staff they have permission to set aside Significant 72 time throughout the year to continue to form those strong caring relationships with and between students. This includes setting aside time monthly to teach a Passion Period.
- Relationship building is an investment into student's growth not only social emotionally, but academically as well. Setting the content and curriculum aside in order to foster these connections will pay huge dividends!
Chris Weber RTI Coaching
As we continue to implement the District RTI plan as a way of ensuring individual student growth and accomplishing our Academic Transformation Plan, we will continue our work with RTI expert, Chris Weber. Chris will be serving as a coach to assist you and your building teams with RTI implementation.
Chris will be here several times throughout the remainder of the year to meet at individual buildings. His schedule for November is as follows:
November 12
- 8:30-11:30 @ Edgewood
- 12:30- 3:30 @Murphy
November 13
- 8:30-11:30 @ Sipley
- 12:30- 3:30 @ Goodrich
November 14
- 8:30-11:30 @ Meadowview
- 12:30- 3:30 @ Willow Creek
Don't Let PT Conferences Be the First Connection
"There’s an enormous body of research and studies on the positive impact of parent partnerships and student success not just in school but throughout life. We cannot educate our children without reaching out to their parents. When schools and families work together, children have a far better chance of not only being successful in school but being successful in life as well."
- Patricia Williams, Inclusive Schools Network
- http://www.inclusiveschools.org/videos/how-do-we-build-effective-parent-school-partnershi/
Please make sure staff have had positive interactions and communication with parents about students before meeting face-to-face at parent conferences in November. This will help to insure that all parties are working together to move student learning forward and improve student success.
Food for Thought: Nurturing Student Motivation
In this Educational Leadership column, Carol Ann Tomlinson (University of Virginia) says that when a student is unmotivated, something is amiss. “Either we can’t see what motivates the student in question,” she says, “or the student’s life is dangerously off course. In either case, ‘unmotivated’ behavior should register to educators as a call for help.” Teachers are crucial to motivation, and they should tune in to students’ unspoken questions in three concentric circles of their school lives to help build self-motivation:
- The personal sphere – Does the teacher see me? students wonder. How does the teacher see me? “Some students feel invisible in their classrooms,” says Tomlinson. “Some feel judged and found wanting.” Good teachers combat low expectations and provide all students with visible support and an appropriate amount of voice and autonomy.
- The social sphere – Do I belong here? students wonder. Am I valued? Do I have something meaningful to contribute? Good teachers help connect isolated students to peers and they model and insist on mutual respect.
- The academic sphere – Is this stuff worth my time? students ask. Can I do what’s being asked of me? Good teachers build wonder, imagination, and curiosity into lessons, link the curriculum to students’ lives, challenge students to work beyond their current level, and support all students to listen, ask, find out, reason, disagree, self-correct, and start over.
“Releasing the Will to Learn” by Carol Ann Tomlinson in Educational Leadership, September 2014 (Vol. 72, #1, p. 86-87), http://bit.ly/1rrSwEO; Tomlinson is at cat3y@virginia.edu.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS SYNOPSIS PROVIDED BY KIM MARSHALL WWW.MARSHALLMEMO.COM
Principal To Do List
- Send Greg Math Curriculum Feedback by 11/10
- Schedule Parent Teacher Conferences
- Discuss with staff or send out to staff reminders and ideas on how to run effective conferences
- Share School Report Card information with staff
- Present the School Report Card information at a regularly scheduled PTO meeting by December 1st.
On the Radar
- 11/7: School Board Tours
- 11/10: District Admin Meeting
- 11/12: Grades entered in Skyward
- 11/12: RTI Coaching w/Chris Weber (see specifics above)
- 11/13: RTI Coaching w/Chris Weber (see specifics above)
- 11/14: RTI Coaching w/Chris Weber (see specifics above)
- 11/14: Report Cards sent home
- 11/18: Principals Teaching & Learning Team Meeting
- 12/2: Principals Teaching & Learning Team Meeting
- 12/9: District Admin Meeting
- 12/12: WE 14 School Improvement Day
- 12/16: Principals Teaching & Learning Team Meeting
Greg Wolcott
Email: wolcottg@woodridge68.org
Website: www.woodridge68.org
Location: 7925 Janes Avenue, Woodridge, IL, United States
Phone: 630.967.2035
Twitter: @TeachLearn68