B & T Tiger Update
September 21, 2020
Quote(s) we're contemplating this week:
Sara K. Ahmed - Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension
"What if we let students investigate the things they are curious about and interested in, and then we follow behind them and attach standards to what they're doing?"
Jethro Jones - Author of SchoolX - Quote from an interview on the Reimagine Schools Podcast: SchoolX With Jethro Jones
Resources, not curriculum
We've heard that a few of you may be wrapping up your first units, and getting ready to start on your second unit. It's truly exciting to see the work that is being accomplished with our reading and writing instruction with the Units of Study, and I'm excited to see that we are doing a great job with our pacing of the instruction of our units. Don't forget to take some time to think about the celebrations and reflections of learning that come at the end of the unit. With all that's happening, it would be easy to overlook this important step right now!
But I'm also slightly worried about the sustainability of this pace. Since we have the Teacher's college videos already created, and our TDS Team is doing a great job of putting together math videos for us to use, it helps us to keep moving through the work. That said, I think we also need to spend a little time thinking about what that may mean in the long run. I worry that if we do all our units at this same pace, and immediately start the next unit, we will most likely finish with all the units before we even make it to spring break.
Remember, the Units of Study are not meant to be our curriculum, rather they are a resource to meet the needs of our students.
Teachers college recommends options for responsive mini-units between your core instructional units. As a PLC, in the coming few weeks, it would be valuable to spend a little bit of your time (maybe just set a 15-minute timer) to talk about how your team might create some mini-units to place in between your typical units. It would also be valuable this year more than ever before to make a point of digging into your grade-level standards, and understanding the progression of standards from one grade level to the next. Within your PLC, identifying key standards that you know your students have struggled with in the past, or you are seeing your students struggle with right now, may help to identify topics to cover in a mini-unit. Below I'm going to share a couple of resources with you - first will be the TC Adapted Units of Study for Virtual and Blended Learning, and the second will be a link to the State of Indiana Academic Standards.
You may find that some of the If... Then... lessons would make sense for your students, or for those of you in 3rd and 4th, you might consider utilizing some of the Up The Ladder resources to support your students.
In my early years as a teacher, one of the biggest things that I did to really grow as a teacher, and support my learners, was to spend time with my team digging into those academic standards, deciding what they truly meant, and then creating learning experiences that supported that. Sometimes that meant using the resources that our district provided, sometimes it meant creating our own.
A few ideas of what planning for the future might include:
- Creating a sketch or guideline on a calendar of where you hope to be with each unit throughout the year, so you can have a sense of when and where you are using their recorded resources.
- Looking at the standards, or maybe each of you should do some of the on demand writing assessments from the units of study to help your team plan together in PLC what the learners need to grow as writers and readers. This will help to determine what units you may need to create to meet the needs of their learner
- Thinking about some What If scenarios for units:
- What if we built a partnership unit where students learn how to read and write in partnerships and you explore having virtual students meet with in-person students during the day in book clubs and creating partner stories
- What if you did an author study unit?
- What if you created a unit around the Global Read aloud that occurs in October?
- What if you did a unit on a social theme- thinking through what books do we want more of? What books are out there? What books could I write? Mrs. Ondrejack is looking to improve her selection in the library, what kind of unit could we create to support this inquiry?
Please remember that Allie, Trice, and Brian are all available to meet with you during your PLC time or some other time of your choice so that we can talk through ideas that you may have.
Upcoming Schedule
*** Remember to dress comfortably. Jeans are fine, but please remember to stay professional
Monday, September 21st:
- Safety Week Day 1 (RED) - Look for a video from Brian
- 2:00 - Fire Drill (RED)
Tuesday, September 22nd:
- Safety Week Day 2 (RED)
- 9:35 - Bus Evacuation Drill - You do not have to be outside
Wednesday, September 23rd:
- Safety Week Day 3 (RED)
- 8:00 - PLC Lead Team Meeting
- 1:30 - Admin/Counselor Meeting - Brian, Trice, Jenn
- Lockdown Drill (RED) - Right after announcements
Thursday, September 24th:
- Safety Week Day 1 (BLUE)
- 9:35 - Bus Evacuation Drill - You do not have to be outside
- 10:00 - Elementary Principal Meeting - Brian
Friday, September 25th:
- 8:30 - Optional Community Circle (Blacktop or Gym)
- Safety Week Day 2 (BLUE)
- Lockdown Drill (BLUE) - Right after announcements
Monday, September 28th:
- Safety Week Day 4 (RED)
- Tornado Drill - Complete on your own time with your class
Tuesday, September 29th:
- Safety Week Day 5 (RED)
Wednesday, September 30th:
- Safety Week Day 3 (BLUE)
- 8:30 - Lead Team Meeting: Brian, Trice, Allie
- 1:30 - Admin/Counselor Meeting: Brian, Trice, Jenn
Thursday, October 1st:
- Safety Week Day 4 (BLUE)
- Tornado Drill - Complete on your own time with your class
Friday, October 2nd:
- 8:30 - Optional Community Circle (Blacktop or Gym)
- Safety Week Day 5 (BLUE)
An Update about SEL Lessons - From Jenn
SEL Updates:
Please include a little blurb in your newsletters about starting Second Step curriculum and the link to my Canvas page where they can find all the home links. You may want to summarize what you will be doing for the first month or so. https://hse.instructure.com/courses/102486/pages/second-step-home-links.
I will post an announcement on Canvas as well.
Here is a picture of my Canvas course for this year. The old one has the FES tiger logo and it says 2019.
I am still getting parent emails about not being able to find my zoom links. This may help!
They are accessing the old course. If they don't have this course, please let me know so I can add the student manually!
I am having pretty good participation in the SEL Enrichment lessons. We have focused on Kindness and will be moving to Growth Mindset next week. Keep encouraging attendance from your students!
Indiana Department of Education - Digital Learning - Teaching and Learning
- Student-Centered Learning
- Curriculum Framework
- Equitable Access
- Assessment and Evaluation
- Technical Support
- Professionalism
Use the button below to access!
School Safety Update
The new additions are due by October 30th.
Shout out to you... Thank you FES crew!
This year, please share the good news and good deed of you and your team members. Please email me your celebrations, so that I may share them here each update!
- Hey Team - I know that we're all worried about whether or not we're doing enough. Know that you are going above and beyond to meet the needs of your students. I've gotten so many positive comments from parents and admin about the work we're doing here. Kudos to all of you for all you do!
PGP Form Below
Fishers Elementary School
Website: https://fes.hseschools.org/
Location: 11442 Lantern Road, Fishers, IN, USA
Phone: (317) 594-4160
Twitter: @FESTigersHSE