Lovett Notes
A Newsletter for Lovett Staff
Coming up this week!
Thursday October 17
8:30 am kinder field trip to Oil Ranch
9:00 am Magnet Tour
Houston Federation of Teachers (They are providing Pizza)
3:15 pm SDMC Meeting; Data Room
Friday October 18
12:00 pm Early Dismissal
No extended day
Week 8-Staying Sharp
We are wrapping up the first quarter and the school year is in full swing. If you are a runner, you know an effective start is key to finishing the race strong. Without an effective start, you risk having to make up so much ground in the middle or end of your race that you risk exhaustion, injury, and not finishing your race the way that you intended. Learning for kids can be the same. You MUST have an effective start or you risk exhausting your learners playing catch up with trying to implement things mid-way or push them so hard to finish the year strong and before you know it, they learning they should have done during the year is not at the quality that it should have been.
As a campus, we have procedures for what we implement when and we discuss best practice ALL the time. Discussing the best practice is one thing, but implementing the best practice is quite a different story. Sometimes, as educators we get in our own way by staying in our comfort zone and doing what is comfortable for us, rather what is best practice for students. To stay sharp, I am challenging each of you to not get in your own way. You will only have this one shot with the students that you have this year. Make it count and help them all finish the race strong.
Staying Strong-Keeping Your PLCs true to the Work
Collaboration is key in how we do what we do at Lovett. There is individual accountability for all of us, including me, our work starts with ongoing collaboration. While we use the term PLC(Professional Learning Community), it serves us all well to be reminded of why we meet in PLCs and what our work should focus on. Below at the questions you should constantly focus on when meeting in PLC. The PLC is not for grade level business, field trip planning, general reminder, etc. The PLC is to focus on student learning and addressing the questions:
1. What do we want students to know and be able to do?
2. How will we know they are learning?
3. How will we respond when they are not learning?
4. How will we respond if they already know it?
If your PLC is focused on something else, then it's not as focused as it needs to be on learning. I know time is an issue, but regardless of how much time you have in PLC use it wisely and stay focused on the work on student learning.