The Senator's Weekly
Henry B. Gonzalez Personalized Learning Academy
Vol. 5 Issue No.2 - Aug. 23-27, 2021
Principal's Message
Senators,
The students at HBGPLA demonstrated great excitement coming back to school. All of you did a phenomenal job not only welcoming students to an inviting and decorated classroom but also delivering clear instructions to establish strong procedures.
We thought that using masks, desks' dividers and seating charts were part of our past, but based on CDC and District guidelines we must gear up and do the best for the whole school community.
This week, I noticed teachers opening car doors and welcoming students to the classroom with HBG greetings protocols. Also, I observed staff resilience and flexibility as we ALL adapted having 100% of our projected students on campus. In addition, the work that our office staff, TA's custodians, and the cafeteria were crucial for a successful first week of school. THANK YOU!
With a collaborative and transformative thinking mindset we will LEAD our Senators through the second week of school and use data to drive our personalized instruction. By adopting "The Gonzales Way", every classroom will be ready for success.
I am proud of the FORCE that we all bring when working together. Keep advocating for students and striving for EXCELLENCE no matter the circumstances. We accept and adapt to any challenges... and together we will ACCELERATE LEARNING!
Have a restful weekend and remember that Here at Gonzalez… WE BUILD SCHOLARS!
Rey
Calendar of Events
Distributive Leadership (DL) Playbook and Vision Visit
A MESSAGE FROM OUR ED, DR. SHELTON
All that is going on in the world is no match for the superhero leaders I serve. I am extremely proud of the Spruce and Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary Cluster. The leaders I serve break barriers, build bridges, and make no excuses for the work that has to be done to accelerate learning for our kids. We had a strong start to the school year. Exemplars, success criteria, teaching, and student engagement were strong on day 1. We are already miles ahead of where we started last school year. I observed strong evidence of campus playbooks and their vision in action through the classroom environments, rigorous goals, and high expectations for teachers and students. I saw first and second-year teachers already wearing capes. They were killing it with instruction in classrooms, and it is only week 1. The opportunities for our students are endless because of your leadership.
There is a quote that states, "The earlier you start working on something, the earlier you will get results." I look forward to continuing the work that we started to create an epic finish. Thank you for having the courage to wear the capes and perform like superheroes this past week. Let's make week 2 even stronger.
Practice like we've never won!
Perform like we've never lost!
AP's Niche
Dear Senators,
Congratulations on a great first week! I could not be any prouder of our staff. The first week of school requires all of us to work together in unison, and that is exactly what we did!
First, our teachers. You all have been troopers. You have set expectations, established procedures, worked on building your classroom culture, planned and delivered lessons, comforted your students, and taken every measure to keeping them safe. Your students are blessed to have you as their leader. Next week, we will continue visiting classrooms looking for the use of exemplars, success criteria, MRS strategies, and morning circles. Remember to have your schedules and agendas posted, continue collaborating with your team, be intentional. May your practices show how much you care for your students.
Next, our parents. Thank you for trusting us with your children. We appreciate your patience, and how you have cooperated during arrival and dismissal. Let's continue to follow the guidelines to keep our students safe.
Our cafeteria staff has been working hard to keep our breakfast and lunch lines moving. We have made a few changes to accommodate our students, and they have been such great team players. Thank you ladies for everything you do!
Many thanks are in place for Martha and Mr. Nuno, our custodians. They have been moving around to help teachers, ADMIN team, and keeping our campus clean and safe. You are our "lightsabers".
Finally, our wonderful Teacher Assistants and PTA. You all are truly appreciated. This has been a hectic week, and the support you have provided everyone has been outstanding. We are so lucky to have you!
Have a great weekend!
Ms. Ross
Arrival & Dismissal Duty Assignments
The Golden Wreath - Hall of Greatness
Happy Birthday Ms. Young!
Around school you will find...
Morning Circle
PL Hang Out
We Made It Through The First Week!
Thank you for putting on your game face everyday and making the first week of school a great beginning! It was great to see students engaged in their learning as we walked the hallways and visited classrooms. With the Gonzalez Way in mind, ensure that your classroom expectations are very clear for all students. Remember to have students to engage in reading the Learning Objectives & DOLs. Do they know why the learning is important and how they will use it in the real world? Do the students understand what they are learning? Here are a few tips that might help:
- Focus on the way you ask and answer questions.
- Build questions into handouts.
- Begin your learning session with a few key questions.
- Use surveys to collect data from students.
- Try not to cover so much in one session.
- Discuss the student's approach to learning with him/her. (Feedback4learning)
Have a Blessed Week! "Learning is our new Hope!"
HBGPLA Coach's Corner
Week 1 and done!
I hope this week has been as exciting and rewarding as you all had imagined. We know that this week was filled with routines, procedures, expectations and reiterating those ad nauseum. Next week we will continue to refine the classroom systems and set goals for students to complete tasks a little more efficiently than last week.
Don't forget to build your classroom culture. This can be achieved via various different components. Having a welcoming and lively classroom, greeting students at the threshold, morning circle time, and SEL components. Remember that students won't care how much you know until they know how much you care about them. Below you will find various links to give you ideas and tips on building classroom culture.
Thank you for working so diligently to turn in your lesson plans these past two weeks. We hope this method of lesson plan submission has been less stressful and leaves more time for exemplars and internalization of the lessons. After today, we will be caught up and are two weeks ahead in our planning. Moving forward, lesson plans will be due Thursdays @ 4pm.
We are at the beginning of the race, but little by little you will see the impact of your effort and light the flame of curiosity and learning for our scholars!
Safety
UPCOMING DATES
Tuesday, 8/24 - BOY Safety MeetingWednesday, 8/25 - Evacuation Drill
Thursday, 8/26 - Fire Drill
Logistics
- Seating charts will be picked up at 8:30 am, Monday, the 23rd and will be used to seat students in the cafeteria according to their assigned number (for departmentalized teachers, the number for each student should be the same across ALL classrooms)
- Emergency Rosters, Evacuation Maps and Drill Key Rings will be completed and distributed by Monday, August 23rd.
- Please practice and talk to your kiddos around the procedures and why we are practicing these drills.
- The evacuation drill will be first since there is not fire alarm for that drill, so students will have the opportunity to practice leaving the building in an orderly fashion toward the soccer field.
- The following day (weather permitting) we will have a fire drill where students will again walk toward the soccer field to their designated areas.
Testing
Sept. 1 : Testing Training (During Planning)
Sept. 7-Oct.1 : TX-KEA (Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment) BOY
Sept. 7-Sept. 17 : CIRCLE, part 1
Sept. 7-Sept. 17 : NWEA MAP Growth: Reading, Math, & (5th) Science BOY
FYI
- Beginning the second week of September, we will be administering the TX-KEA, CIRCLE and MAP assessments.
- Due to the MIZ grant HBG received, ALL K-5 students will be administered MAP BOY test unless otherwise specified in their IEP.
- Below you find links to video tutorials to set up MAP Testing so that your rosters can be uploaded and complete no later than Sept. 3rd.
SEL - The Guiding Light
We made it!!!
We conquered week 1! There are still some tears, but our Senators will learn that school is a safe, warm, welcoming place. I hope everyone is using the district's Explicit Skills SEL Curriculum that was created by our Social and Emotional Learning Department. It offers excellent, quick SEL lessons that we can all use in the classrooms. These lessons will help build a strong sense of community and set students up for success socially, emotionally, and academically. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Remember to take care of YOU!
Mrs. Derlena Young, Counselor
(972) 502-3309
The HBGPLA Library of Wisdom
It was a wonderful week to see all those faces (eyes) in our library. It is a place that students will use to learn and grow as thinkers. We are still working on the components of the library and how to utilize them, but students will have opportunities to learn. In the library, will be implementing Library Stations for all our students so that students continue with a growth mindset. As an extension of the classroom, teachers and parents, I encourage you to ask the students what they learned in the library. Also, students have an opportunity to join a few organizations within the school community. If a student is interested in being a leader for the school, Student Council (3rd - 5th) is right for them. If a student from grades (3rd - 5th) loves mental math or Math in general and would like to be part of the Math Team, please contact me. Here's to a GREAT NEW SCHOOL YEAR!! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at yzavala@dallasisd.org or 972-502-3314.
HBG is on Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook
SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL BY JOINING OUR THREE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS -
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
Support your colleagues, student clubs, and OUR ACADEMY! HBGPLA is the place to BE!
You can follow us by searching hbg_senators on Instagram and @HBGonzalezPLA on Twitter and @HBGonzalezPL on Facebook.
Make sure you use the hashtags below to share the great things that happen on our campus.
We hope you join and follow our campus social media communication.
#hbg_senators
#buildingscholars
#HBGPLAmagic
Our Promise
Mission
At Henry B. Gonzalez Personalized Learning Academy, our mission is to cultivate innovative scholars through individualized pathways that promote the academic and emotional needs of diverse learners. By partnering with the community, we empower our students toward global excellence.
Vision
Henry B. Gonzalez PL Academy will empower future world changers in a personalized learning environment through collaboration, transformative thinking, and leadership.
HBG Key Actions
Student achievement on state assessments in all subjects in Domain 1 will increase from 57 to 59 by June 2021.
Student achievement on the third-grade state assessment in reading at the Meets performance level or above shall increase from 54 to 56 by June 2021.
Student achievement on the third-grade state assessment in mathematics at the Meets performance level or above shall increase from 38 to 40 by June 2021.
The percent of graduates who are college, career, or military ready (CCMR) from Domain 1 will increase from 29 to 31 by June 2021.
Increase 10% parent involvement and keep 100% of students engaged in extra-curricular activities by Spring 2021.
Student Outcome Goals
Student achievement on state assessments in all subjects in Domain 1 will increase from 46 to 58 by June 2024.
Student achievement on the third-grade state assessment in reading at the Meets performance level or above shall increase from 40.0% to 56.0% by June 2024.
Student achievement on the third-grade state assessment in mathematics at the Meets performance level or above shall increase from 42.3% to 56.0% by June 2024.
The percent of graduates who are college, career, or military ready (CCMR) from Domain 1 will increase from 42.0% to 54.0% by June 2024.
Middle-grade (grades 6-8) student achievement on state assessments in all subjects in Domain 1 will increase from 40 to 50 by June 2024.
August
Staff Resources
Schoology
Powerschool
Google Drive
Contact Information
Email: hbgonzalezes@dallasisd.org
Website: www.dallasisd.org/gonzalez
Location: 6610 Lake June Road, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 972-502-3300
Twitter: @PrincipalRey