JWL Weekly Update
Volume 7 * Issue 23 * week of January 7, 2019
Getting back into the swing of things . . .
Are you ready? Of course you are!
If a giraffe can do it...
So can you!
SWIM! Swim to your goal.
Instruction Focus
1. Effective instruction
2. Classroom management with student engagement
We've been working so diligently to master small group instruction, and your teacher table times are looking better and better! I'm so proud of your hard work in this area.
We're not moving our focus off of small group instruction, it is still to be of crucial focus. We must also address and review our intervention time. Before we left on holiday break, each grade level fine-tuned their intervention plans to be sure students are getting focused time and targeted lessons based on their individual needs.
In both of these instructional areas, please remember to
- Be clear on your objective and communicate the expected product/demonstration of mastery with your students.
- Use visuals.
- Allow collaborative discussion between students.
- Critically write.
On Monday at staff development, be aware of how these points are supported and strategies are modeled. Then implement like-wise in your own plans and lesson delivery. Read the article below that shares 5 highly effective teaching strategies.
Classroom Management
Review expectations
Entering the Classroom
SLANT
Seat Signals (no interruptions)
No Opt Out
Attendance
Goal: 98%+ Attendance
EEK! We dropped significantly the last week before Christmas. Let's get back on track...
K: 92.97% (95.34%)
1: 93.22% (96.15%)
2: 94.26% (96.35%)
3: 93.95% (96.69% **highest semester average)
4: 94.63% **Highest average for previous week! 4th grade makes the board! (95.97%)
5: 93.75% (96.21%)
JWL: 93.77% (96.12%)
Belt status:
White:
First grade: Week of August 20
Fifth grade: Week of August 27
Third grade: Week of September 17
Second grade: Week of December 3
Fourth grade: Week of December 17
Yellow:
Fifth grade: Week of September 3
Third grade: Week of October 1
First grade: Week of November 5
Second grade: Week of December 10
Gold:
Fifth grade: Week of September 10
Third grade: Week of October 15
Orange:
Fifth grade: Week of October 8
Third grade: Week of October 22
Green:
Third grade: Week of October 29
Fifth grade: Week of November 12
Blue:
Purple:
Brown:
Red:
Black:
What's Your Mindset?
Giving feedback to students allows them to grow exponentionally!
Heads Up
Monday Staff Development
On Monday we will participate in various SD sessions to help us grown in our craft.
Please see the schedule sent by Dr. Trimble.
To clarify: on Monday afternoon directly upon return from lunch, ALL teachers will need to meet with me in the cafeteria for a brief MAP implementation overview session.
Yes, you may wear jeans, but you must look nice. I'd prefer a business casual jean look.
Thanks!
MAP is almost ready for us!
I've drafted a few schedule options; I'm meeting with our leadership team this Wednesday where we will finalize the MAP testing schedule. At that time, it will be published to the campus so you can schedule your classes as the MAP video explained.
Here is the link to the proctor manual if you need a visual reminder.
JWL Staff Climate Survey
The description says complete by Nov. 29th, but clearly we did not have the survey at that time. No worries.
Please be sure you have completed the survey by close of day Friday, January 11th. We appreciate your insight and feedback so that we may best serve our campus.
No Worksheet Wednesdays...reminder
Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites
NOT ALL WORKSHEETS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Let’s start by agreeing on some terms.
First we need to define what we mean by “worksheet.” Technically, a worksheet is anything printed on copier paper and given to students to write on. And since you can print just about anything on a piece of paper, we really can’t say that worksheets per se are good or bad. That would be like saying “books” or “movies” are good or bad. It’s a medium. A delivery system.
And there are plenty of instructionally rich things you can do with a worksheet: A graphic organizer is a wonderful tool for research, pre-writing, and note-taking. An excerpt from a primary source can be printed on a worksheet for close study and annotation. Worksheets can be used for analyzing data, as scaffolds for note-taking, as tools for reflection, or as formative assessments. They can also be used as recording tools alongside more active experiences: data sheets for labs, planning sheets for group projects, and so on.
In my experience, when people criticize worksheets, they are referring to a specific type of worksheet, what I will call a busy-sheet, the kind where students are either doing work that’s fairly low-level recall stuff–--filling in blanks with words, choosing from multiple-choice questions, labeling things–--or work that has no educational value at all, like word searches, word scrambles, or coloring stuff in cases where coloring adds no extra layer of understanding.
Sometimes the difference between a busy-sheet and a quality learning tool is obvious, and other times it’s a judgment call. After talking to lots of educators about how they use worksheets in their classrooms, I think it’s most accurate to say that every worksheet falls somewhere on a continuum: Some worksheets are clearly nothing but busy-sheets, while others, like note-taking sheets or data collection tools, directly support student learning; I’ll call these power-sheets. I think a lot of worksheets fall somewhere between the two. Because there is such a range, the only person who can really make the call is you.
Packets, to be clear, are simply a bunch of worksheets stapled together. They could contain a lot of power-sheets, but when a student refers to them as "frickin’ packets," it’s highly likely that they are mostly made up of busy-sheets.
Reflection
Reflect on how you are using worksheets in class.
- Based on the Worksheet Continuum below, where do the materials you utilize fall?
- Are they low-level? Recall information only?
- How can you increase the rigor to make work-sheets move along the continuum to power-sheets that students use as a learning tool?
- How can being intentional with designing power-sheets impact student learning?
Thus, let's really give No Worksheet Wednesday a try. Let's see your instructional creativity come to life more often.
Paper Solution Reminder
I am calling on all personnel to help guard against needless waste of paper, such as copies made yet not used.
Each faculty member will be given their allotment of paper at the beginning of the six weeks. You will need to come to Kerry and sign for your paper allotment. Each person will be responsible for keeping up with their paper. **Please note, allotment of paper is based on saving money and being better stewards of our resources; therefore, some of you may feel that the amount issued is "skimpy". Refer to message/article posted above for ideas in how to reduce amount of paper used. Also note, the clear plastic "communicators" have been requested to be purchased in January as well for classrooms that do not have them; thank you to the 5 teachers who informed me you are needing communicators for your classroom. Those will be ordered this week.
In order to keep the copier from jamming and needing to be serviced:
- (You must put paper in drawer seam side up--meaning when opening the paper from the ream, the side of the ream that has the "seam" is the side that should be facing UP when being placed in the paper drawer.)
- You cannot walk away from the machine when you job is running.
- You MUST stay to get it unjammed if it jams.
- You must delete/clear out your copy job BEFORE walking away if you decide to cancel a job.
We will try this system for the 4th six weeks. Share your feedback with your team leader.
Thanks for your assistance and support in being solutions oriented!
Breakfast in the Classroom
Due to our deciding to finalize this opportunity our last week in school, the bags have not come in yet (to my knowledge), so Tuesday (an until the kitchen lets me know they are ready), we will continue breakfast in the cafeteria and then waiting in the gym as we've done all first semester. Once we get the "go ahead" for breakfast in the classroom to begin (my goal is next Monday, January 14th), then we'll follow the linked morning duty posts.
Food for Thought From Dr. Trimble:
#OneWord
If you’re like most people, each January goes something like this: You choose a problematic behavior that has plagued you for years and vow to reverse it. In fact, you can probably think of two or three undesirable habits—make that four or five.
Thus begins the litany of imperfections to be perfected commonly known as “New Year’s Resolutions.” All of which are typically off your radar by February.
Selecting "One Word” is a process designed to move you beyond this cycle. The challenge is simple: lose the long list of changes you want to make this year and instead pick ONE WORD.
This process provides clarity by taking all your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single focus. Just one word that centers on your character and creates a vision for your future.
So, we invite you to join us and pick one word for the next twelve months. Print or draw your word on a piece of paper and place outside your door for colleagues to see so we can support you in your journey and have your teachers do the same.
My word is "Servant". My vision for 2019 is to serve others, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and our community. What word will you select?
Nichols' response:
My word is "LOVE". My prayer for 2019 is to demonstrate love to everyone in my circle of influence.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance . . . love will last forever!
Second Recess Reminder
Moving forward, second recess will only be for K, 1, and 2.
Time is always a challenge for all; there just simply isn't enough of it, especially in education. It isn't very often we are given the gift of time. We've been given a gift of about 2.5 hours per week to reallocate instructionally. This is a significant amount of time that can impact student learning and achievement.
Teachers, we've been given time to utilize for aligned, rigorous, and engaging instruction. Strive for more minutes in reading as that is both our campus and district focus.
Ways to use the time:
Third grade has already made preparations to use this time to make an additional intervention time for their students.
More ideas to come from Mrs. Reed on how to use this time to delve into reading, discussing, and writing about books!
PLCs
See coordinators' previous emails for more info and details if you have questions.
Spring Benchmarks
Spring BM Updates
Feb. 19-Spring BM/4th Writing/5th Math (Mock STAAR) (moved from end of January)
Feb. 20-Spring BM-5th reading (Mock STAAR) (moved from end of January)
March 5-Spring Benchmark-3rd/4th math (Mock STAAR) - (no change)
March 6-Spring Benchmark-3rd/4th reading/5th science (Mock STAAR) (no change)
Tutorials
Tutorials are not a suggestion. It is required to host tutorials a minimum of two times per week. Please be sure your students are
1. Attending. If you don't have a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 students coming to your tutorial time, you need to call parents and determine the barrier to non-attendance. If these initially invited students are unable to attend, then you need to reach out to others.
2. Signing in each time. The Google forms are hyperlinked below. Please be sure students are signing in each day they attend.
- Number students participating : I'm using our sign in sheet to determine this, so if you aren't having your students complete the form each session, then you need to do so ASAP.
Kinder . First . Second . Third . Fourth . Fifth
This time is to be included on the IAP to show your extended support time for these students.
Lexia usage for JWL
I will continue to monitor our usage. Remember our goal is 90% or greater each week.
Thanks for making this a priority in your station rotations.
Below is our YTD usage percentages.
**We had 67 students on Lexia over Christmas break!
Dreambox Usage
Thank you for making sure your students are accessing the program in your station rotations.
Below is the YTD data for Dreambox usage. (Sorry it's so small print.)
Golden Tickets
Grade levels, you distributed the Golden Tickets to your Tier 3 students to use as passes for their morning computer time from 7:30 - 8:10am. This time, as you will recall, is for students to utilize Lexia and Dreambox as additional support time. The Golden Ticket is like a "fast pass" for the breakfast line and a hall pass to go to the computer labs/library.
Those on duty in these areas: please be sure students are signing in with the Google Form. (see below)
K - 2: Pardoe in Lopez's computer lab
3 - 5: Harvey in Harvey's computer lab
Teachers: If you see that your students are not attending, please ask them why. Let's verify if there are valid concerns (ie, transportation issues) or if they are "skipping".
Parent Communication
Keep up the communication with families!
Remember, each user (homeroom, special interest group, etc.) is to send at minimum one message each week to parents informing them of weekly ongoings, curriculum topics of focus, and/or special projects. Please stay connected with families; they are our partners in educating their kiddos.
This Week's Ongoings:
Monday
- Staff Development
Tuesday
First day of 4th six weeks
Istation Monthly Assessment K-2 begins
- Student Success Monitoring Forms Due
- PLCs
Wednesday
- National Law Enforcement Day: Let's celebrate Officer Meyers; wear blue (jeans included).
- No worksheet Wednesday
- Campus Leadership Team Meeting (8am - 12pm)
- Tiger Academy for new teachers
Thursday
- College Day: Celebrate your college with your class. Let your class know what your college in known for. Example: SFA is known as for it's education, music, and nursing programs. It is also noted for forestry. SFA is located in Nacogdoches, Texas. We are the Lumberjacks. 'Axe 'em Jacks! Our color is purple with white and red accents.
- Report cards go home.
- SST
- PLCs
- JWL PTO Meeting @ 6pm
Friday
- SST
- ARDs
- 504
Staff Shout Outs!
Here is the web address if you can copy and paste in your browser bar:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RMNzcckPl8qcXo6nSbxIPTYHhivLcMv9dUruyDymW88/edit
Sorry for the inconvenience.