Ram Nation News
Week of March 2, 2020
Vision
#EXCELLENCE, Back At It Again
I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and praise your commitment to our school's mission and vision. Your actions during the past six weeks targeted student success and bridged their educational gaps. During our testing week, it was great to see how everyone came together to provide the best testing environment for our kids. Students seemed focused and worked hard. I am very proud of your work and the response we are seeing from our kids! Also, last week, it was great to see how everyone came together to support our AVID showcase and our TREC visit to highlight our work.
Remember, each one of us, as educators, are the agents of change, and we have the power to plant "seeds" around students to build life long learners who are competitors in a global society.
- As a team, we have what it takes to solve any complex problem and dig deeper to find the root of our issues and struggles.
- We are 21 days away from our first round of STAAR exams and while we know that these tests are not the only things that define us, they are a significant component of our accountability system.
Therefore, it is essential that we continue to work together efficiently as teams and put in the targeted work required to be successful.
Attendance
- 6th Grade - 97.14% an increase of 0.31%
- 7th Grade - 96.73%
- 8th Grade - 94.79%
6th grade steps up and takes the lead once again!!!
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)
High Expectations
Our students will rise to the level of expectation that we have for them! During our testing, the majority of our students had annotations on their booklets showing their learning and justifying answers. We know that annotating the text, questions, and pictures supports our students to intentionally interact with what is in front of them enhancing our students' understanding of, recall of, and reaction to the content. Let's keep our expectations high!
Mr. Halsell
Ms. Molla
Ms. Rendon
AVID Showcase and TREC Visit
Our visitors truly enjoyed and had great feedback from their experience at our school.Our students had an opportunity to display their leadership skills during the AVID World Cafe and AVID student panel. Our students shared their school and AVID experience with our visitors. Shout out to Ms. Perez, Mr. Martin, Mr. Salazar, Ms. Reeves, Ms. Rendon, Ms. Minter, Ms. Stripling, Ms. Michael, Ms. Lewis, and Mr. Johnson for allowing us to visit their classrooms, see their teaching practices, see data collection in action, and observe the classroom culture they have created. Also, kudos to Ms. Tucker for her support with the World Cafe station, the electives and math team who participated in the world cafe and PLC respectively. Also, Ms. Reeves, Ms. Wells, and Mr. Martin who participated in the teacher panel.
Special shout out to our AVID Ambassadors - Ms. Wells and Ms. Reeves for leading this group. Cheerleaders - Ms. Michael and Ms. Gray for preparing them and Ms. Tucker for coordinating them during the visit. Band - Mr. Alarcon and Mr. McCann for their leadership in preparing and supporting our students during the visit.
Saturday School
Ms. Molla, Ms. Maloy, Ms. Brown, Ms. Cato, Ms. Vasquez, Ms. Robinson, and Ms. Cagle for their commitment to closing academic gaps for some of our neediest students as they attended Saturday School. They provided small group support as they addressed low TEKS and areas of improvement. Kudos to Ms. Russell and Mr. Maymi for opening the building and making sure the building was ready for our teachers and students. Also, shout out to Ms. Eze and Ms. Brown's daughter for supporting one of our students with her hair; at the end of the session, our student looked awesome!
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.
- Our Debate team, under Mr. Johnson's leadership, did a phenomenal job!!! Our students represented well and received several awards. Jacqueline - 1st place Beginner Speaker Award; Miguel - 5th place Beginner Speaker Award; Christopher and Felicia took 7th place in Beginner Teams. We are very proud of their work!
Special Olympics
Under Ms. Martin's leadership, last Thursday, our special education students participated in various athletic events and represented our school very well. Several of our students placed 1st and 2nd place in the majority of the events. Also, we received 3rd place in teams; great accomplishment!!!
Shout out to Ms. McGee and Ms. Garcia for their dedication and support as they chaperoned and worked with our students during this event.
Destination Imagination
Signing Day
REMINDERS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK
- 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, March 2-
- A Day
- TELPAS Online Reading - 8th Grade
- We will be checking for exemplars and aggressively monitoring in action! Ensure trackers have students listed, color-coded by band, and noting whether they are in bucket or out of bucket.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, determine misconceptions, create exemplars, and analyze data for your students.
- 4:45 - 5:45 p.m - Monthly Meeting - Library
- B Day
- TELPAS Online Reading - 8th Grade
12:30 p.m. - 4: 30 p.m. DISD MS Pre-UIL Concert & Sight Reading Contest - Mr. Alarcon and Mr. McCann (A list of students attending will be e-mail by the EOD Monday, March 2, 2020)
We will be checking for exemplars and aggressively monitoring in action! Ensure trackers have students listed, color-coded by band, and noting whether they are in bucket or out of bucket.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, determine misconceptions, create exemplars, and analyze data for your students.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Let your appraiser know who will be staying for tutoring to plan for after school meals. 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.
- EOD - Fire Drill
- A Day
- TELPAS Online Reading - 7th Grade
- We will be checking for exemplars and aggressively monitoring in action! Ensure trackers have students listed, color-coded by band, and noting whether they are in bucket or out of bucket.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, determine misconceptions, create exemplars, and analyze data for your students.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Let your appraiser know who will be staying for tutoring to plan for after school meals. 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.
- 4:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. - Teacher Focus Group to discuss instructional practices (Look Forward PLC, Data Meetings, Aggressive Monitoring) - Ms. Molla and Ms. Winton at Lang MS, 1678 Chenault Street, Dallas, TX 75228
Thursday, March 5-
- B Day
- TELPAS Online Reading - 7th Grade
- 10:15 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Latino Cultural Center Field Trip - Ms. Lewis (a list of students attending will be e-mailed by Tuesday, March 3, 2020 EOD)
- We will be checking for exemplars and aggressively monitoring in action! Ensure trackers have students listed, color-coded by band, and noting whether they are in bucket or out of bucket.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, determine misconceptions, create exemplars, and analyze data for your students.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Let your appraiser know who will be staying for tutoring to plan for after school meals. 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.
- 6:00 p.m. Track Meet at Loos Field Stadium - Coach Bey/Clark/Martin/Harris
Friday, March 6-
- A Day
- CAB $1 Jean Day
- 6th Grade TELPAS Reading
- During planning, work on scanning all bubble sheets into All in Learning. If needed, complete scanning after school.
- 3:30 p.m. - Tentative - 7th Grade Pizza Party (recognition for 98%+ attendance week of 2/18)
Saturday, February 22-
- 10:00 a.m. Baseball Game Vs. Lang MS at North Dallas HS - Ms. Michael
Upcoming Events
March 9 - 10
- TELPAS 8th Grade Listening and Speaking
March 11 - 13
- TELPAS 7th Grade Listening and Speaking
March 12
- Career Day
March 24-25
- TELPAS 6th Grade Listening and Speaking
March 26
- TELPAS 6th Grade Reading
April 7
- 8th Grade STAAR Math
- 7th Grade STAAR Writing
April 8
- 8th Grade STAAR Reading
May 5
- Algebra I EOC
May 7
- 8th Grade STAAR Science
May 8
- 8th Grade STAAR Social Studies
May 12
- 6th and 7th Grade STAAR Math
- 8th Grade STAAR Math Retest
May 13
- 6th and 7th Grade STAAR Reading
- 8th Grade STAAR Reading Retest
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.
Happy Birthday -
We want to wish you the best and many blessings for the years to come.
Lindsay Molla 3/14
MacKenzie McCloud 3/20
- Erin Miller 3/22
- Karina Miranda 3/27
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