Waterford Weekly
November 16, 2015
DATES TO REMEMBER
November 16: Cluster 7:05-8:05 a.m.; Happy Day Club; PTO 6:00 p.m.
November 17: Running Club; Child Study 3-4 p.m.
November 18: Chess Club.
November 19: District TLT 8-10 a.m.; Running Club; TLT 3:10-4:20 p.m.
November 20: Attendance Meeting 9-9:45; Skills Navigator Training 8-11 in Board Room; Katrina Out - Personal Day
STI Assessments 11/23-24
November 23: Cluster 7:05-8:05 a.m.; Happy Day Club; IASP - Katrina Out; School Board Meeting 6:00 p.m.
November 24: IASP Conference - Katrina Out.
November 25-27: Thanksgiving Break.
Thought of the Week
Seven Habits of Highly Affective Teachers
1. Find Joy in Others' Successes - Climbing the mountain ourselves and resting at the top while others struggle below isn't the goal; getting everyone to the top is!
2. Cultivate Perspective and Reframe - Perspective is often the difference between empowering optimism and defeatist isolation. A change in perspective can also help us deal with daily challenges.
3. Ditch the Easy Caricature - It is easy to categorize. However, if we see people as fully developed thinkers, they become more to us than quick categorization reveals. They have value. As a result, we are less likely to dismiss their ideas as not worth considering or to assume nefarious intent on their part.
4. Explore the Ethics of Teaching - Candor is hard, but when offered constructively and in a culture where it is safe to hold different opinions from those of our colleagues, its invigorating. When we open up our practices to the scrutiny of respected colleagues and analyze the merits of our decisions, we may find our strategies lacking, but wrestling with practice like this breathes new life into our work. And we may find our practices validated by others, which creates camaraderie.
5. Embrace Humility - to accept a new idea, we have to first admit that what we're doing is less effective than we thought. This can be tough because, for many of us, the way we teach defines much of who we are as individuals. If someone critiques our teaching, it feels like they're critiquing us. In humility, however, we grow comfortable with the idea that we may be wrong. One of the signs of an intellectual is the willingness to revise one's thinking. As modern educators, we are intellectuals, and hence open to revision.
6. Value Intellect - A well-nurtured intellect ignites us, deepening our passion for the field. Let's build intellect.
7. Maintain Passion and Playfulness - Having fun with your subject and students will give students permission to engage, even invest, in their learning, and it will elevate your spirits. There's so much stress involved in teaching today's students; moments of true passion and playfulness bring back much-needed humanity.
All of these habits together create a feeling of emotional wellness, but they are habits, not incidents. Like muscles that atrophy in disuse, these habits have to be used frequently to achieve emotional health benefits. Fortunately, as we practice these seven habits, we discover and eighth habit, perhaps the most important: Self-Renew.
Sited from Educational Leadership, October 2015, The Seven Habits of Highly Affective Teachers.
KUDOS
Kudos to Cory Witmer, father of Elijah Witmer, for starting up and leading a Lego Robotics Club.
Kudos to June and Moshe for all of their efforts in getting the HA testing up and running.
Kudos to Eliana for making phone calls to all of the parents of students who need to have their ISTEP tests re-scored.
Kudos to all of the staff members who go above and beyond what is expected to help meet the needs of our students who struggle with their behavior...eating lunch with them as a reward for good behavior, mentoring them during their breaks during the day, etc.
Kudos to Tonda for always being willing to step in and help whenever and wherever it is needed.
Thoughts & Prayers
Abby and Alia
TLT Update
We are once again working on inter-rater reliability specifically focusing on evidence from the area of student work, assessment, and questioning. We will then finish up our work before Thanksgiving Break working on the TELL Survey and areas of refinement and reinforcement for our building and each of us individually.
GCS News & Notes
TELL Survey – All schools will be participating in the TELL survey this spring. We do not have details regarding the window. However, the same company that has administered the survey in the past will be conducting the survey this year. Thus, there should be very little (if any) change to the process/procedures.
About Us
Email: koverton@goshenschools.org
Website: http://waterford.goshenschools.org/
Location: 65560 S.R. 15 Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: 574-533-6811
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waterford.elementary
Twitter: @WaterfordElem