Tiger Beat
Acton Weekly Update: 8/25/2017
Brook Wessel-Burke
T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Achieves More
The fifth dysfunction, inattention to results, is the ultimate dysfunction of a team and refers to the tendency of team members to care about something other than the collective goal / mission of the group. An unrelenting focus on specific objectives and clearly defined outcomes is a requirement for any team that judges itself on performance. And while it is true that many organizations in a capitalist economic environment ultimately measure their success by profit, revenue or shareholder returns, this dysfunction refers to a far broader definition of results, one that is related to outcome-based performance.
Nuts and Bolts
IPLI Survey
Please take the following teacher survey for me so that Shari, Katie B. and I can use the data while at IPLI meetings to develop ways to make our school safer and more focused. I'll be sending the survey out to parents via IC but if you could add it to your newsletters, that would be very helpful. Then for our upper grade teachers (3-5) if you have an opportunity to get students on the Chromebook and take the student survey, that would be even more exciting. Thanks for your help.
Teacher/Staff
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PD8N3CZ_IPLI4_A-E_L1_Teacher
Parent/Guardian
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6Z92FVY_IPLI4_A-E_L1_Parent
Student
Curriculum and Instruction
Exit slips are written student responses to questions teachers pose at the end of a class or lesson. These quick, informal assessments enable teachers to quickly assess students' understanding of the material.
Midterm:
Opens Friday, 8/25 at 7am
Closes Wed, 8/30 at 5pm
Grades need to be posted by 5 pm on Wednesday and I'll post the grades on Friday. DO NOT WAIT until the last minute. DOUBLE check your grades so we don't get into a difficult situation and have to ask permission to have the window reopened.
On Wednesday, as a group of elementary principals we went to New Albany to obs
erve their literacy block. IT WAS EXCELLENT! However, it will be a shift from what you are familiar with. SHIFT HAPPENS! BUT, I think you will love it. We will be training you more on guided reading and resources that will allow you to take back your instruction. The word that kept popping in my head was PROFESSIONALISM! We will TRUST you to deliver good instruction as a Below are some photos that are a SNEAK PEAK of what I saw. Notice the guided reading, word study, vocabulary development!
Team- I want to work with a team of teachers to begin planning for an instructional shift. I have a lot of ideas and I'm very excited. BUT, I don't want to do this without YOU. Your input will be key to making a new model successful. This won't happen over night.
This week's PD and PLC will be a little different. On Tuesday we will be watching another SMEKINS video.The topic of this one will be writing rubrics. Please meet at 7:45 in the LGI room. Wednesday- Instead of meeting at 7:45, I would like to cancel that time and meet with individual grade levels to analyze our DIBELS data. Not every grade level has their books in at this time. I will meet with the grade levels who are ready. If your team is not ready yet, then as soon as your books are in, we will set up a prep time to meet. PLEASE let me know if this is an issue.
Reaching All Learners
How is your calm down spot working? How about the calm down tools provided by our sped team? Recognizing triggers are KEY to managing students. EVERY BEHAVIOR IS COMMUNICATION OF NEEDS.
Please Read:
When School Meets Trauma With Understanding, Not Discipline.
Technology
Tech Team Members: Please respond to the Google Classroom assignment that I sent out yesterday. We need to know your team's Q1 goal. We will have our first meeting on September 7th in the conference room at 8:00. We will be discussing action plans for this quarter and start thinking about Q2 goals and action plans.
What's Coming Up
August:
8/25/17 Midterm ends
8/25/17 September Field Trip reservations due
8/30/17 School Picture Day- LGI
8/30/17 Midterm grades posted for parents on IC
September:
1 Instructional Coaches meeting
4 Labor Day
5 PTO Meeting
6 ENL PLC @ SC
6 School Psych Mtg
7 Tech Team Meeting
7 Principals Meeting
8 Instructional Coaches Meeting
11-15 Friendship/Anti Bullying Week
11-29 Acuity Predictive A ELA and Math Grade 3-5
12 ENL workday
14 Grade 3-8 ELA High Ability
14 Bus Evacuation Drills
15 All Pro Dads
15 Instructional Coaches meeting
18 1st Grade Kasey the Dog
19 Grade level meeting KDG
20 Grade level meeting 1st
21 Grade Level meeting 2nd
21 School Board and Ctech visit to Acton 10:00
22 Oct, Nov Field Trips Due
22 PTO Fundraiser-a-thon
26 Grade level meeting 3rd
27 Grade level meeting 4th
28 Grade level meeting 5th
29 End of first grading period