Friday Focus
Dec. 7, 2018
Excellent Teaching and Learning at Every Moment of Every day for Everyone
Principal's message
Greetings Team!
It's been great to be back the last couple days! I appreciate all the hard work you are putting in each and every day. We have 2 more weeks to make an impact on our students, so let's take advantage of each moment we have with them.
Remember we will have guests on our campus on Wednesday, Dec. 12th. I am looking forward to showing them how much progress we have made towards designing differentiated learning experiences for our students, and to get feedback from them that will help move us forward.
Thanks for being amazing!
Always True Blue,
S. Conklin
To Do list:
1 - Sign and submit your SLO if you haven't done so. Also complete your 1st checkpoint prior to leaving for Christmas Break.
2- Upload your 3rd 6 weeks evidence of differentiation on our google site. Upload by Dec. 11th.
3- Really be looking for students that are exemplifying our Bulldog code for a Principal's Best recognition. We would like to get 10 more up before the break!
4- ELA teachers- send at least 2 students names to Amanda that read a great deal and have a favorite book that they could recommend as a "Kid Pick" book to post on our Book Peaks board.
Quote for the Week
"There are two ways to face the future. One way is with apprehension: The other is with anticipation."
~ Jim Rohn
Excerpt from "Making a Difference" Carol Ann Tomlinson explains how differentiated instruction works and why we need it now.
So what are the key things a teacher needs to think about when developing a differentiated lesson plan?
This gets us further into the core principles of differentiated instruction. One of these is what we call “respectful tasks.” This means that everybody’s work needs to be equally engaging, equally appealing, and equally important. It’s very easy to fall into the pattern of giving some kids no-brainer tasks and giving other kids the teacher’s pet tasks. What you really want is every student to be focused on the essential knowledge, understanding, and skill. And for every student to have to think to do their work.
Another important principle is that of flexible grouping. This means you don’t arbitrarily divide students or automatically group them with kids of the same skill level. You need to systematically move kids among similar readiness groups, varied readiness groups, mixed learning-profile groups, interest groups, mixed interest groups, and student-choice groups. In a sense, the teacher is continually auditioning kids in different settings—and the students get to see how they can contribute in a variety of contexts.
Another key to a good differentiated lesson is “teaching up.” We do much better if we start with what we consider to be high-end curriculum and expectations—and then differentiate to provide scaffolding, to lift the kids up. The usual tendency is to start with what we perceive to be grade-level material and then dumb it down for some and raise it up for others. But we don’t usually raise it up very much from that starting point, and dumbing down just sets lower expectations for some kids.
Congratulations to Kindergarten for being our attendance challenge winners! You can wear jeans one day the week we return from Christmas Break
Congrats to our Holiday Door Decoration contest Winners!
Most KidCentric
Most Original
Most Holiday Spirit
Congratulations to the following teachers for being nominated for Exemplar of the Year! We'll celebrate them more at our Dec. 13th Staff Meeting!
Mrs. Hornsby
Mr. Mordecai
Mrs. Helm
Mrs. Polk
Ms. Horan
Mrs. Davis
Beck Brilliance Hashtag Award
Campus/District Goals
Campus Goal:
Mastery performance for each grade-level cohort as measured by STAAR will increase by 15%-20% in grades 3-5; K-2 mastery performance will be measured by the EOy goal in DRA2 for ELA . Mastery performance for campus developed EOY math inventory will be at 50% in grades K-2.
Problem of Practice:
Student achievement will improve when learning experiences are routinely differentiated to meet each student's unique needs.
Superintendent's Priority Goals:
1. PK-12 Grade Literacy: NISD will place increase emphasis on literacy across all grade levels and content areas to help ensure that all students are reading on or above grade level.
2. Masters Level Performance: NISD will develop specific target goals for each STAAR/SOC assessment that places an emphasis on students reaching the "Masters" level distinction.
3. College, Career, and Life Readiness: NISD will ensure that every student is progressing toward achieving CCR status, experiencing personalized learning opportunities, and developing social-emotional skills in order to attain their definition of personal success.
4. PBMAS Emphasis: NISD will increase academic success of students within Performance Based Monitoring Analysis System subgroups.
Upload your pictures for yearbook!
Important Dates
- Dec. 8 - Choir performance at TC Tree lighting
- Dec. 12 - Beck Host Principal Learning Team (7:45-12:30)
- Dec. 13 - Staff Mtg. (3:30-4:45)
- Dec. 14 - Lexia Data Training (More info to come)
- Dec. 19 - Holiday Parties for Gr. K,1,3
- Dec. 20 - Holiday Parties for Gr. 2,4,5
- Dec. 20 - Early Release, 11:40
- Jan. 7 - Staff Development 8:00-3:30
- Jan. 8 - Students Return