News from the Nest
Week of October 16, 2017 Related Arts "A" Week
Vision
"Wendell Phillips 63 will establish a positive, engaging, and rigorous learning environment that allows each child to “SOAR to Excellence” as a member of the Cardinal Family."
Places to be!!!
Oct. 16- District PD Day (ELA Teachers @ Wendell Phillips, All others at your assigned locations)
Oct. 17- Students Return
Oct. 17- Lesson Plans Due in Google Drive (9:00 am)
Oct. 18- Leadership Team Mtg (7:45 am in Media Center)
Oct. 18- K-7 ELA PLC's
Oct. 19- K-7 Math PLC's
Oct. 19- Report Cards Sent Home
Oct. 20- Awards Assemblies (During Related Arts Time)
General Need to Knows
I hope everyone had a GREAT Fall Break and took some time to breathe and reflect upon the first quarter. Now is the time to maintain current practices that are working and course correct those that are not.
PBIS Procedures will be taught and practiced during the first week back. Students are expected to be SOARing in all they do- and this requires us to be consistent and vigilant in our implementation. Our students will meet the expectations we set for them...and if these are not clear, then our students will fall short. This cannot happen!! Teach, re-teach, reinforce, and repeat until students are meeting these expectations.
Please review our PBIS Behavior Violations Flow Chart and Major/Minor Behavior Violations definitions. It is important we follow these with fidelity to ensure we are truly capturing behaviors that are classroom managed vs. administratively managed. Also, please be mindful of our responses to student misbehavior, as some of our actions are indirectly fueling these negative behaviors. Once you turn a behavior violation over to an administrator, the authority for disciplinary action is out of your hands. We will use the IPS Code of Conduct to drive our decisions. The documents referenced in this paragraph can be found in our staff handbook under the PBIS section.
Instructional schedules need to be followed to the T!! I was concerned prior to break about how "off" we were. When I or others walk into classrooms, the expectation is to look at your posted schedule/agenda and see what is listed. I am seeing delays that should not be happening....this needs to be cleaned up!!
Report Cards will be distributed on Thursday, October 19th and our Awards Assembly will be held on Friday, October 20th during Related Arts times. Information will be heading to parents on Tuesday via flyer and ConnectED message.
Thank you for those that have began submitting MTSS referrals for students that have not made adequate growth quarter 1. The MTSS Google folder is here. The team is in the process of reviewing the referrals for completion and will be scheduling time to discuss the students.
Vision Aligned Thought Provokers
Positive classrooms: See below for an article that connects effective teaching with classroom management. Embedded in the article is a link to self-assess your teaching effectiveness. I highly recommend you completing the "quiz", as it may give you a little insight into how you connect the two concepts.
Engaging instruction: Take a look at the article below "5 tips for getting students engaged" and ask yourself the question- "have I seen this before?" The answer is probably yes, as the research aligns to using these strategies to increase student engagement. How we engage our students impacts your effectiveness to teach the content. Our students require us to dig deeper into our toolboxes!
RIGOROUS Instruction: As it is time to reflect on classroom management, it also a time to reflect on our instructional practices. In our reflections, are the following things happening in your classrooms?
- Lesson plans follow the gradual release model, with CLEAR alignment from I DO to YOU DO.
- Execution of lesson plans includes clear modeling of the content with think alouds (I DO), interactive opportunity for students to practice with you (WE DO), and intentional time for students to practice in a small group or individually (YOU DO)
- Checks for understanding are aligned to the content being taught and used to drive instruction during the lesson and subsequent lessons
- Pacing of the lesson is appropriate- too slow and students find other things to do; too fast and you lose them.
Your instructional practices are also have a direct correlation to your classroom management, so make your time with your students intentional and focused!!!