Staff Newsletter
because it helps to know what's going on
October 4, 2019
Tracking the Speaker: One part of SLANT
If I asked you to track, would you know what I meant? Would your students?
In the previous three years, we focused on teaching tracking as part of SLANT — an acronym used to gather students’ attention and focus them on someone or something. Tracking the speaker is a critical element of SLANT, mostly because it tells students where to look and it it makes compliance visible (we can see if students are engaged). We often tell our kids to “pay attention” or behave without telling them exactly what that means. One major benefit of SLANT is to give kids a crystal clear picture of your expectations and how they should show you they are on task. Tracking is the last letter in SLANT and arguably is the most important.
What is Tracking, and Why is It Important?
Tracking the speaker means watching the speaker with your eyes, following the speaker as they move around the room. It’s a really simple, yet important concept. Eye contact on the speaker is a great way to make sure students are listening and on task. Since teachers are frequently moving around the classroom and calling on students, tracking means looking at whoever the speaker is, wherever in the room they are. Keep in mind that students are speakers too! When a teacher calls on a student to give a response, students should also be tracking the student-speaker.
Using the term track and teaching it explicitly has huge benefits in the long run. It sets the expectation for paying attention to whoever is speaking and gives you a common term to quickly get stragglers on task. Telling your whole class to “Track Sara” will get them all tracking the speaker, wherever in the room Sara is.
How to Teach Students to Track the Speaker
First, teach students what tracking the speaker means and why it’s important. Tracking the speaker means watching the speaker with their eyes and explaining that “Tracking is important because it lets the speaker know you’re with them and value what they have to say.”
Second, model how to track. If you’re team teaching, co-teaching or have an assistant, you can use them to teach tracking easily. Have them model tracking you as you move around the room. If you don’t have an adult you can pull in for demonstration purposes, you can have a kid model it for you.
Third, give your students time to practice. Here are a few suggestions:
- Have your whole class focus on tracking you as you talk, moving around the room. (This probably shouldn’t be while you’re introducing something else they should be paying attention to, just saying.)
- You could turn it into a fun game where you move around the room quickly and have them follow you.
- Give students a chance to be the speaker. Give them something easy to talk about and call on them in different parts of the room. Have the rest of your class track the person speaking.
- You can also set the expectation that students wait for 100%, meaning everyone in the class is tracking before they start speaking. The speaker should never keep speaking when they don’t have all eyes on them.
Follow Up
Once you’ve taught it explicitly, make sure you heavily reinforce tracking in the beginning. The more you wait for all students to track, the more ingrained it will become for kids. Here are a few tips for reinforcing tracking:
- If most of your class is tracking while you practice, but you have some stragglers, shout out someone who is doing it well around them. This will help them see examples and point out implicitly that their peers are doing it.
- If you have a few kids who just don’t get it, you may have to find time in your day to review it with them in a small group. Bring them in, explain they aren’t in trouble and practice. They’ll probably love the extra attention. Once they’re back in class, make sure you shout them out when they are tracking after practicing.
Tracking the speaker is an element of SLANT, which we use across our school and have since the beginning. SLANT stands for:
- Sit up
- Listen
- Ask and answer questions
- Nod for comprehension
- Track the speaker
There are many variations of SLANT out there, but all have the same underlying principle: you should set expectations for how kids act during direct instruction instead of praying they will figure it out on their own.
October 14th Reminder
Congratulations to the future Mrs. Grundlock. We enjoyed celebrating your upcoming big day!
Shout outs!!
Thank you to the Sunshine Club for the beautiful Marigolds in our workrooms!! ~Tina
"I want to say "Thank you" to the anonymous person that has sent me sweet gifts this week. It has warmed my heart!" ~ Charity R.
"A shout out to Rebecca Dodd for building model math and reading lessons to help us prepare for our first e-Learning day." ~Becky F.
"Thank you to Michelle Barber, Stephanie Brewer, and Jayme Rector for covering my groups when I wasn't able to this week! " ~Renee B.
"Thank you to Kelly and Sarah for assisting me with all of my secretarial needs with ReadUP! Also, thank you to Renee for transitioning me into the ReadUP Coordinator position! Her guidance is so much appreciated!!!" ~Michelle B.
Have a shout out for one or more of your teammates??? Send it my way and I would be happy to share it in a future newsletter.
DCEF
Click here for more information.
MTSS
Any changes to groups or tiers are in the process of being updated on our Reading Lab and Math Lab tabs as well.
News and Info from the IDOE
The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is joining a national initiative providing holiday greeting cards to US military troops around the world. Please read this letter from Dr. McCormick, encouraging Indiana schools to support this great program.
IDOE has created The Science of Happiness course, designed for educators to promote their own social-emotional wellness. Participants will earn 45 professional growth plan points after successfully completing the course. Please promote The Science of Happiness with educators in your district by sharing this short promotional video.
Find details about the technical requirements of the course for administrators and technology directors here. Enrollment information will be coming soon!
Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Wellness September Newsletter Now Available
SEBW Monthly covers information on SEL, Project AWARE, school social work, school nurses, chronic absenteeism, and more. To access the newsletter, click here.
Literacy Newsletter
The October #INspirEDlit Newsletter features a phonics overview, literacy framework information, and dyslexia awareness. Learn more here.
Math Newsletter
Check out the Department of Education's Math Newsletter.
Check out this resource to find "I can" statements and more!
October Birthdays
Karen Swartz-Oct. 2
Ronnie Leadmon-Oct. 17
Megan Hopper-Oct. 18
Stacey Trimble-Oct. 25
Sarah Finlay-Oct. 27
Jordan Amor-Oct. 30
Reminders
- Let Tina know if you are willing and able to lead a small group tour on Oct. 8th. Hoping to get both certified and classified tour leaders.
- If you'd like to join the REC Team, reach out to Brandon.
- Think about the great things going on around you and send a shout out to Tina to add to the newsletter.
Data Team Meetings
Data Team Meeting Dates 2019-20
Wednesday, August 28th (organizational and placement mtg)
Monday, October 2nd
Wednesday, November 19th
Wednesday, January 22nd
Wednesday, March 5th
Wednesday, May 6th
CIC Meetings
Minutes from our meeting can be found here.
CIC Meeting Dates 2019-20
Friday, Sept. 6th
Friday, Nov. 1st
Friday, Jan. 24th
Friday, April 10th
Building Level Meetings
Faculty Meetings and/or Grade level/Dept. Mtgs:
Sept. 12 (Faculty)
Sept. 26 (Gr. level/dept.)
Oct. 24 (Faculty)
Nov. 7 (Faculty)
Nov. 21(Gr. level/dept.)
Dec. 5 (Faculty)
Jan. 16 (Faculty)
Jan. 30 (Gr. level/dept.)
Feb. 13 (Faculty)
Feb. 27 (Gr. level/dept.)
Mar. 12 (Faculty)
Apr. 9 (Faculty)
Apr. 23 (Gr. level/dept.)
May 7 (Faculty)
Upcoming Dates
Oct. 7: Parent/Teacher Conference Week begins, ReadUp, STEM club
Oct. 8: Town Hall Mtg. @ South
Oct. 9: Picture retakes, ReadUp, Choir Club, School Board Mtg.
Oct. 10: Parent conferences late night.
Oct. 11: Intruder drill
Oct. 14-18 Fall Break
Oct. 21: Grades due by 3pm
Oct. 21: Parent eLearning Informational Session
Oct. 22: PLC's
Oct. 24: Fire prevention during specials
Oct. 24: Faculty Mtg.
Oct. 25: Report Cards posted
Oct. 25: Early voting w/South staff
Oct. 26-27: Weekend Practice with eLearning assignment
Oct. 28: Healthy Choices Week-more info coming soon
Oct. 29: PLC's
Nov. 1: CIC Mtg.
Nov. 3: Daylight Savings Time ends
Nov. 7: ELearning Day
Nov. 8: Literacy Bingo Night
Nov. 11: Bring a Veteran to School Event
Nov. 11: School Board Mtg.
Nov. 12: PLC
Nov. 19: Data Team Mtg.
Nov. 19: Third grade field trip
Nov. 21: Gr. Level/Dept. Mtg.
Nov. 27-29: Thanksgiving break
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