RMS Bulletin
April 13- April 17th
About RMS
Email: ymcnulty8711@pcssd.org
Website: https://rms.pcssd.org/
Location: Joe T. Robinson Middle School, Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone: (501)8682410
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JTRobMid
Twitter: @JoeT_RMS
Principal's Message
Happy Easter Sunday, RMS Team!
We literally have 20 more instructional days (May 8th- last student assignment date) before we close out our school year. Indeed, this has not been the traditional year, but as a school community we have managed to continue providing a positive learning experience for our students during this tough time. Just as student connections are important, so are collegial connections. Please feel free to join the RMS Team for Mocha Monday from 8:30am-9:00am. There is no agenda, just you and your warm drink and opportunity to check in with our team. Link for meeting: https://meet.google.com/aru-srha-kew?hs=122.
In order to finish out the year in a Senator Strong way, we must keep our students engaged. Student engagement can be maintained when students feel connected and have a sense of belonging within that community. So, as your skills in digital learning grows, continue to maintain some face to face connections with students through the use of digital tools such as Google Hangouts, Flipgrid, Recorded Videos, and other platforms.
This week, I am providing you with two tips to utilize as you support students to maintain or increase engagement. For more, please check out the website link:
https://www.wbtsystems.com/learning-hub/blogs/9-ways-to-increase-online-student-engagement
Deliver bite-sized, spaced learning.
Make course content easy to digest and retain by delivering it in bite-sized chunks. Jeff Hurt refers to the science that backs up the chunking principle: “Neuroscience has proven that our attention span is 10 minutes. After that, our attention starts to wane. Chunking content into ten minute segments and then allowing learners 10 minutes to digest is the best way to learn.”
Give students the opportunity to recall and review information, therefore committing it to their long-term memory, by spacing out content. Keep their brains engaged by delivering content in different formats: videos, voice over slides, audio, text, and panel discussions.
Get students to take action on what they’ve learned.
Help students cross the knowing-doing gap by having them immediately apply what they’ve learned. Each lesson should consist of a piece of information and a student action. These actions could include:
Participating in an online forum.
Providing examples or scenarios.
Solving a problem.
Writing a short essay or opinion piece.
Having a conversation (online or offline) with a fellow student.
Reviewing what they’ve learned in notes or journaling.
Answering instructor questions.
Ask good questions, for example, open-ended questions that require a higher level of reflection and thinking. Ask students to refer back to the content in their answers—another opportunity to revisit the material.
Put the information in context for students. Discuss how they can apply what they’ve learned by sharing case studies. The sooner students act on the new information they’ve digested, the more likely it will stick in their long-term memory.
Keeping You In The Loop…
- Leadership Team Meeting (Monday, April 13, 2020)
2:45pm-3:45pm
Agenda Topics
Master Scheduling
Awards Ceremony
Team Generated Additional Topics
RMS Admin Check In
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
2:00pm-3:00pm
Agenda Topics
Staff Supports
End of Year Evals
Have a great week, Team. Please know that you can contact administration via phone calls, text, or scheduling a google hangout meeting to chat about celebrations, concerns, or thoughts! We look forward to everyone's participation during Spirit Week. While we had our own RMS Spirit Plan, we thought that it is important to join in on the District-wide Spirit Week. Be sure to follow the instructions so pictures can be shared via district social media. Graphic for District Spirit Week is shared above.