Ram Nation News
Week of October 14, 2019
Vision
#EXCELLENCE, Back At It Again
It is hard to believe that we are starting the 3rd week of the second six weeks; time is going by very fast and our students need the best of us.
Last week, we had the opportunity to meet with our parents for parent conferences to discuss our students' academic progress and discuss next steps. Also, we were able to spend time on Friday discussing differentiation and using data to support our students as well as designating supports for our students during testing. We will continue to focus on
- Creating and using exemplars to support us in knowing what it is we expect students to do as they master objectives/TEKS.
- Using Modeling or Guided Discourse as ways to present and engage students in the learning process.
- Making sure that we have 100% participation from students in our lessons.
- Engaging in our professional learning communities (PLC) focusing in lesson planning of our lessons with the end in mind.
We want to make sure our students are prepared for the next grade level and that we are closing gaps; therefore, it is critical that we reflect on our students' individual goals and support them in reaching them.
Let's strengthen our implementation of all of the above best practices to ensure great impact in the educational path of our kids.
Attendance
- 6th Grade - 96.29% - an improvement of 0.62%
- 7th Grade - 95.93% - an improvement of 0.85%
- 8th Grade - 96.91% - an improvement of 0.97%
Way to go 8th grade team taking the lead for the last two weeks!!!
Let's continue to encourage our students to be present and on time on a daily basis. I am glad to see improvement in all of the grade levels. It really makes a huge difference when our students are present learning
Thank You
- Ms. Garcia provided our students the opportunity to have a book fair in middle school; this is the second year for our students. Based on the records from Scholastic, our school had not had a book fair before last year. The money raised will help to restock our library and providing more books to our kids.
- As we continue in our road to EXCELLENCE, Back At It Again, we want to continue to provide opportunities to distribute leadership among our team. Shout out to Ms. Maloy, Ms. Minter, Ms. Vasquez, Mr. Brown, Ms. Tucker, Ms. Wells, Ms. Guerra, and Mr. Thornton for their collaboration and presenting during our PD day on Friday.
- Ms. Rendon for her leadership and support during our Cahn Fellows session in Chicago. She blended right in with all of the participants and represented our school very well.
Instructional Practices
In the examples below, we are able to see teachers providing think alouds and modeling of academic expectations, student collaboration and stations, providing students with exciting hands-on activities, encouragement and on-the-spot feedback, and relevant experiences to bring learning to life.
High Expectations
Goals
Celebrations
Word Wall and Routines
Community Events and Partnerships
Also, we had the privilege to host Ms. Ernestine Key from Educate Texas as our Principal for a Day; she had an opportunity to visit several classrooms, talk with several staff members, and visit with our students. She was very impressed about the various things observed and the implementation of ACE.
Let's continue to make sure we encourage parent participation in school events, parent workshops, and parent conferences to create partnerships to build the whole child.
Climate and Culture
Line Dancing
Homecoming Court
Cheerleaders
It is Fair Time!!!
REMINDERS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK
- Engage learners throughout your lessons and ensure we incorporate bell-to-bell instruction (see below for more details). It will support the increase in student achievement and reduce disruptions. While students are more familiar with engagement strategies such as Think Pair Share, we need to ensure that we have taught, modeled, and practiced these skills in order for effective implementation (TEI 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, and 3.3).
- During transitions, let's make sure to have 100% participation and hold each other accountable to be present in the hallway supporting students. Our goal is to narrate the positive and have at least 10 positive interactions each transition. APs, CICs, and counselors will be working with each one of you to provide individual support. (TEI 3.3 and 3R Positive Attitude/Enthusiasm).
- 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
- Submit lesson plans by Thursday at 8:00 a.m. (TEI 4.2)
DAILY EVENTS
Character Counts Week -Week of October 14, 2019 - Refer to email and flyer from our counselors for details about activities.
- A Day
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, continue the analysis of the common assessment, and analyze data profiles for your students.
- 4:45 - 6:00 p.m. - Grade Level Meeting - Grade Level Chair Room.
- Athletics will be hosting a Parent Meeting for ALL winter sports, from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. (Soccer/Basketball)
- Football Game Vs. Franklin @ LOOS 7:30 p.m.
- B Day.
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, continue the analysis of the common assessment, and analyze data profiles for your students.
- 4:50 p.m. - 5:50 p.m. Make up CILT Meeting - Room 115.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Let's make the best out of this time being very purposeful in the material covered with students and the students who must attend your sessions. We need to work on the recruitment of students for our after school program since it impacts student growth, our school performance, progress, and, ultimately, part of our stipends are tied to the attendance of our students to our tutoring/enrichment sessions. 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
- A Day
- Unity Luncheon during our 3 lunches - Ms. Brown (pay $5 to participate of taco bar).
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Meet with your grade level teams to align your Lesson Plans, continue the analysis of the common assessment, and analyze data profiles for your students.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Remember to clock out at or after 6:00 p.m. during the 2 days that you will stay after school.
Thursday, October 17-
- B Day
- 8:00 a.m. - Lesson Plans Due
- Deadline Compliance Video Deadline and Annual Policies Acknowledgement
- We will be walking classrooms checking for alignment, exemplars, and aggressively monitoring.
- Department Collaboration PLC - AP and CIC/ILT.
- 4:30 p.m. After School Program Continues. Remember to clock out at or after 6:00 p.m. during the 2 days that you will stay after school.
- North Dallas High School - Middle School Night
- 6:00/7:00 Volleyball Game at Walker Vs. Walker MS. (Pink Out)
Friday, October 18-
- Fair Day - No School for Students/Staff
Upcoming Events
October 21-
- 8th Grade PSAT Testing
Red Ribbon Week -Week of October 21, 2019 - email and flyer from our counselors is forthcoming for details about activities.
October 22 -
- Homecoming Tailgate at Rusk and Game at Loos
October 24 -
- 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. SWAG Network Collaboration at Rusk MS. All STAAR Tested subjects will need to make plans to attend including Special Education teachers who support these subjects.
October 28 - November 1-
- 2nd Common Assessment Testing Window
October 29 -
- 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. - Dallas ISD Flu Clinic available. See Passport website for dates, locations and more https://www.passageware.com/ClinicSignUp/DISD/
October 30 -
- Fall Festival - Games, music playing, photo booth and outside playing - Ms. Eddy and Student Council.
November 6-
- 8th grade field trip to Townview - We will confirm the date assigned.
November 7-
- 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Fall Preview Night - Hispanic Heritage celebration. Club, After School Programs, and Sports highlights
November 13 -
- 8th Grade Field Trip to North Dallas HS
November 22 -
- High School Fair - 8th Grade
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Happy Birthday -
We want to wish you the best and many blessings for the years to come.
- Ms. Herrera - 10/1
- Ms. Alanis - 10/2
- Ms. Vasquez - 10/8
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