Ram Nation News
Week of February 10, 2020
Vision
#EXCELLENCE, Back At It Again
As I have collaborated during the years with various principal colleagues and EDs, we share messages shared with our schools. A few years ago, I received a message from Mr. Cervantes from Gonzalez ES about the Oscars that I have adapted below.
Like many other awards shows, the Oscars highlight the best performances from a specific group of artists and recognizes their work with an Academy Award. During the show, we get involved with the actors "heartfelt speeches" and achievements. Award after award is given to individuals throughout the night; however, the most important category is awarded until the end: "Best Motion Picture." No matter how well one actor performed, but this award celebrates the whole production not only acting but the quality of script, wardrobe, music, etc...
This reminds me of our school and the work that we have as educators. There is a lot of work that takes place behind the camera to put a perfect scene, our daily lessons! It takes art, dedication, and hard work to put all of these scenes together and coordinate to make a great motion picture. Every day, as I walk through our vibrant hallways, I enjoy seeing "award-winning performances". Teachers who guide their students through the lesson cycle, use engagement strategies to increase the rigor of the lesson objective and implement aggressively monitoring to ensure content mastery. Staff members who are intentional in building inspiring relationships with students, provide great customer service, and ensure a safe learning environment for our kids. Parents who respond to our calls to team up to support the success of our students. An administrative team who works diligently to support implement various initiatives and provide tools to ensure students are making progress. This is OUR Motion Picture!!! All stakeholders working together to deliver lifetime experiences, creating a life of opportunities, and changing lives. We strive to accomplish our mission and reach our school vision every day.
We have 4 instructional days left before we take our next Common Assessment... Let's hit our end of the year goals now! We are all focused more than ever on ensuring every minute is spent on great instruction making sure our students are ready for the next grade level.
As we continue full force making an impact in the lives of our kids, let's make sure that we....
- commit to not let excuses cloud our goals and daily work.
- stay focus on the high leverage TEKS, implement action plans, and use data to drive our instruction.
- actively participate in our PLC sessions. Collaborate with our teams; we know that success in education is powered by effective teams and effective practices.
- challenge students through academic rigor. Let’s make students use reasoning beyond initial thinking. Let’s ignite in them the desire to know more and apply new learning
leverage the positive relationships we have built so that students trust teachers and teachers trust administrators
- congratulate accomplishments to help students sense their mastery of the materials and to encourage further learning.
Our golden recognition lies in student academic achievement no matter where they came from or academic/language needs. Our job is to be creative, work together, and use every resource to adapt to the needs of the script.
Attendance
- 6th Grade - 95.04%
- 7th Grade - 96.61% an increase of 2.45%
- 8th Grade - 93.60%
7th grade takes the lead!
Let's continue to encourage our students to be present and on time on a daily basis. It really makes a huge difference when our students are present learning.
As a reminder, our school attendance goal is to achieve 97.5%; therefore, grade levels will be recognized with a popcorn party or other incentive when they reach this goal on a given week.
Aggressive Monitoring (AGMO)
Texas Real Estate Council Visit
We had the privilege to host the TREC so that they may learn about public education and opportunities for involvement/partnerships. We had 16 visitors and they had an opportunity to visit several classrooms, talk with staff members, and visit with our students. They were very impressed about the various things observed and the implementation of ACE. Shout out to Ms. Wells and Ms. Reeves for the preparation of our AVID ambassadors, Mr. Alarcon and Mr. McCann for the great performance with our band, and Ms. Michael and Ms. Gray for the warm welcome with our cheerleaders.
College Going Culture
Climate and Culture
Our goal for our climate survey is to rank in the 4th and 5th quintile in all areas. This means that all of our areas of our climate survey will be green!!!
- We made great improvements as we moved at least one quintile from Fall 18 to Fall 19.
- We want to provide a welcoming and collegiate working environment for each person who comes to make a difference in our community.
- Our goal is to improve morale knowing that pressure is on and our students must be the priority.
Fam Jam at Woodrow Wilson HS
Ms. Woods and Mr. Alarcon attended this family event supporting our district's efforts to provide parents with educational sessions as well as an opportunity to learn about our various schools and programs. We were able to highlight several of our programs specially band and promote our school. Way to go!!!
Black History Month Celebration
Leading to Impact Summit
January Officer of the Month
Officer of the Month is a program to acknowledge, and reward outstanding customer service provided by Campus Officers of the Dallas ISD Police Department in the discharge of their duties. Every employee of the Dallas ISD Police Department is a leader within our community and the officer nominated must demonstrate excellence in the areas of Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence through Communication & Collaboration.
The following is an excerpt from Officer Gunn's nomination,
- "Officer Gunn is a great asset to our district and school community. He has helped to support the safety, academic, and socio-emotional progress made by our students as Officer Gunn is continuously seeking opportunities to positively interact with students and families. For example, he ensures the safety of all students by being visible in the hallways, patrolling the school grounds and de-escalates stressful situations. Also, he is very supportive during class transitions, after school, school wide initiatives, and communicating consistently with students. He serves as a role model for many of our students."
REMINDERS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK
- Aggressive Monitoring should be done at least with students' independent practice and DOL. Remember it checks for understanding where no Ram is left behind. You use your pre-planned pathway, announce your laps, and provide feedback to students in the moment using the Coding System your team has agreed on. Students should receive written and verbal feedback. If you see an error or misconception clear it up immediately using show call (TEI 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.2 and 2.3).
- We must have 100% presence in the hallway during transition times. Our students notice when there is a lack of adult presence in the hallways and will take advantage of it. (TEI 3.3 and 3R Positive Attitude/Enthusiasm).
- It is critical to be prepared with lessons and materials to avoid having issues with students. When we are not prepared, our students can tell and will find their own way of entertainment.
- As we work on documenting the progress our students are making, remember our policy regarding failure rates and the various opportunities needed to ensure our students are successful. EIA (Regulation) (TEI 2.2, 4.2, 4.5)
- Be very consistent in the effective implementation of various practices discussed during our TEI orientation and lesson alignment conversations. With regards to Alignment (learning objective), the proficient rating states: Focuses students at the beginning and throughout the lesson, by clearly stating (TEI 2.1)
- What they are learning
- Why it is important
- What mastery looks like
- How to connect it to prior knowledge and their own lives and explaining to students
- During 8:00 a.m. - 8:20 a.m., students must be engaged in meaningful activities: homework support, Grade checks, organizing binder, CNN news with reflection sheet.
- Submit lesson plans by Thursday at 8:00 a.m. (TEI 4.2)
DAILY EVENTS
Monday, February 10-
- B Day
- TELPAS Writing - Present Tense RLA teacher responsible for administering and collecting the writing samples. See Mrs. Mooty if you have questions or need support.
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, continue the analysis of the common assessment, and analyze data profiles for your students.
- ACE Opt In/Out Link will be e-mail by the end of the day.
- 4:50 p.m. - 5:50 p.m. TELPAS testing meeting - Library
- A Day.
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Weekly PLC: CA 4 testing collaboration - Mrs. Mooty
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Let's make the best out of this time being very purposeful in the material covered with students and the students who must attend your sessions. We need to work on the recruitment of students for our after school program since it impacts student growth, our school performance, progress, and, ultimately, part of our stipends are tied to the attendance of our students to our tutoring/enrichment sessions. As a reminder, students do not have the option to opt out; if you need assistance with parents, please let anyone from the leadership team know.
- Remember to clock out at or after 6:00 p.m. during the 2 days that you will stay after school.
- B Day
- TELPAS Writing - Content sample - Social Studies teacher responsible for administering and collecting the writing samples. See Mrs. Mooty if you have questions or need support.
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, continue the analysis of the common assessment, and analyze data profiles for your students.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. As a reminder, students do not have the option to opt out; if you need assistance with parents, please let anyone from the leadership team know.
- Remember to clock out at or after 6:00 p.m. during the 2 days that you will stay after school.
Thursday, February 13-
- A Day
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, continue the analysis of the common assessment, and analyze data profiles for your students.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. As a reminder, students do not have the option to opt out; if you need assistance with parents, please let anyone from the leadership team know.
- Remember to clock out at or after 6:00 p.m. during the 2 days that you will stay after school.
Friday, February 14-
- PD Day - See attached agenda
- TELPAS Calibration Core Subjects
- Summer School Teacher Applications DUE - Mr. Cordoba
- ACE Opt In/Out decisions submitted via link.
Upcoming Events
Week of February 18
- Common Assessment Window
- TELPAS Writing - Past Tense Narrative RLA
February 22
- Greiner MS Invitational Track Meet at Wilmer Hutchins Stadium - 8:00 a.m. - Coach Bey/Clark/Martin/Harris
February 25
- TELPAS Writing - Science
- 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. - Texas Real Estate Council visit
February 26
- TELPAS Writing - Math
February 27
- 9:00 - 1:00 p.m. - AVID Showcase
February 29
- Garcia MS Invitational Track Meet at Wilmer Hutchins Stadium - 8:00 a.m. - Coach Bey/Clark/Martin/Harris
March 2-3
- TELPAS Online Reading - 8th Grade
March 4-5
- TELPAS Online Reading - 7th Grade
March 6-9
- TELPAS Online Reading - 6th Grade
March 12
- Career Day
SSI - 13 days + 2 testing days (June 1-24) @ $31/hour
Readiness - 13 days (June 1-24) @ $31/Hour
Open Transfer Period (updated)
The Open Transfer application for regular schools will be available starting March 6, 2020. There will be a special open transfer window for ACE campuses that will begin on February 25, 2020. Eligible employees must apply via the open transfer application online at https://www.dallasisd.org/careers within the time frame established. Principals will have an opportunity to submit open transfer recommendations no later than April 10, 2020. Transfers are not final until an approval email notification has been sent from Human Capital Management. All notification will be completed by April 24, 2020. While I have sent a form in the Fall, I will be sending another form where you will have an opportunity to let me know of your plans for next year. However, if you know that you are planning to transfer or leaving the district, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can plan accordingly. As we are working on having a solid and effective team, transfers will not be approved after the April 10 deadline. In previous years, I have tried to be flexible and supportive allowing staff members to transfer; however, we have found ourselves in a bind trying to fill vacancies for transfers approved after the deadline. Therefore, while I want to keep as many of you as possible, I know that life happens and some of you will be transferring. Please, plan accordingly and let me know of your next steps.
- Application window is Monday, January 13 – Sunday, March 22, 2020
- All Dallas ISD educators are eligible to apply
- Projects span all grade levels (K-12) and across all subject areas
- Educators may request funding up to $2,500 for innovative teaching projects
- Application can be completed using the fillable format attached and submitted electronically
- Projects MUST be completed within the allowable time frame of September 1, 2020 – April 1, 2021.
Congratulations!!!
We want to join in congratulating proud daddy Mr. Maymi and his family in the arrival of Baby Juan Francisco. He was born on Thursday, February 6, 2020 at 6:20 a.m. with a weight of 8 Lb 13 oz and his length of 21".
Happy Birthday -
We want to wish you the best and many blessings for the years to come.
- Ms. Mooty 2/2
Athletic Events
Rusk Middle School
Email: jcordoba@dallasisd.org
Website: www.dallasisd.org/rusk
Location: 2929 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 972-925-2000
Twitter: @RuskAllTheWayUp