Roadrunner Report
Week of March 20, 2017
Please click on the image for the entire newsletter
2017 ReLoad Non-negotiables
Non-Negotiables
Communication with parents
- Focused on working together to improve student achievement
- Clear, consistent and often
- Professional and goal driven
School Day
PLC meeting attendance and participation EVERY WEEK.
ReLoad Instructional Framework or one approved by Rice and post by door
Demonstrate evidence of daily planning and differentiation in instruction to be reviewed in planbook.com. This now a requirement to every teacher.
Bell to Bell teaching
Hall duty each day during each transition or assigned travel group.
Keep your students out of the halls
Kindness to ALL students - No yelling
- Move throughout your classroom interacting with all students
Positivity is mandatory- Do not come and steal our Joy from Southwest
Challenge all students through rigor and higher order thinking skills
Teach key vocabulary
Incorporate available technology into lesson to enhance student learning
Display exemplary student work that includes Teacher commentary
Adjust instruction and reassess based on student performance data
I will adjust add to or remove items as needed for student growth outcomes.
Special Thanks
Congratulations!
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Instructional Reflection
STAR Testing
Star testing will be as follows:
Don't forget to use the script
- Grade: 6th grade ELA, Tuesday March 21st at 8:30 am
- Grades: 7th and 8th ELA, Wednesday March 22 at 8:30 am
6th and 7th will switch elective times on Wednesday.
- Grade: 6th grade 7th Math, Thursday March 23rd at 8:30 am
7th and 8th will switch electives times on Thursday.
- Grades: 8th Math, Friday March 24 at 8:30 am
Make-ups will be on Monday the 27th and Friday the 31st at 8:30 am in you ELA or MATH block class. Please make sure ANY student that was absent makes up this test!!
Reminders:
Listen for the START Testing Announcement
Please post TESTING signs
Use the Test Administration script that is attached to your email.
Lesson Plans
Why plan?
A lesson plan is the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Before you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives for the class meeting. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. Proper classroom planning will keep teachers organized and on track while teaching, thus allowing them to teach more, help students reach objectives more easily and manage less. The better prepared the teacher is, the more likely she/he will be able to handle whatever unexpectedly happens in the lesson. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components:
- Objectives for student learning
- Teaching/learning activities
- Strategies to check student understanding
Lesson planning:
- - provides a coherent framework for smooth efficient teaching.
- - helps the teacher to be more organized.
- - gives a sense of direction in relation to the syllabus.
- - helps the teacher to be more confident when delivering the lesson.
- - provides a useful basis for future planning.
- - helps the teacher to plan lessons which cater for different students.
- - Is a proof that the teacher has taken a considerable amount of effort in his/her teaching.
Decisions involved in planning lessons:
Planning is imagining the lesson before it happens. This involves prediction, anticipation, sequencing, organizing and simplifying. When teachers plan a lesson, they have to make different types of decisions which are related to the following items:
- - the aims to be achieved;
- - the content to be taught;
- - the group to be taught: their background, previous knowledge, age, interests, etc.
- - the lessons in the book to be included or skipped;
- - the tasks to be presented;
- - the resources needed, etc.
How do you get your students attention when teaching?
Best Practice Advice
Practice #1: Use of Formative Assessment
Using formative assessment practices meets all those criteria. Many people think of it as another test given to students—in the same way an interim or summative test is given—and that it is separate from classroom instruction. In the way NWEA uses the term, formative assessment is a planned process wherein both students and teachers continually gather evidence of learning and use it to change and adapt what happens in the classroom minute-to-minute and day-by-day. Used during instruction, this process permits educators and students to collect critical information about student and classroom progress and to uncover opportunities for review, to provide feedback and to suggest adjustments to the teacher’s approach to instruction and the student’s approach to learning.
There are many, many resources on formative assessment, Formative assessment works. In a world where it is often hard to pin down when research is really research, formative assessment works.
Practice #2: Promote Student Engagement
When students are engaged, they learn more. Makes sense, the research supports this statement, and it is within your sphere of control to influence. I don’t need to spend a lot of time on this suggestion— I was struck by a blog recently where a teacher asked her middle school students what would engage them more. Their answers:
- + Working with their peers
- + Working with technology
- + Connecting the real world to the work we do/project-based learning
- + Clearly love what you do
- + Get me out of my seat!
- + Bring in visuals
- + Student choice
- + Understand your clients — the kids
- + Mix it up!
- + Be human
We’ll address the remaining three best practices for improving teacher and student learning in my next post. In the interim, share your classroom strategies in the comment section below.
NEWELA "NEWs"
Your students can still join March Reading Clubs
Reading Clubs can be adapted to fit your schedule. (Perfect for Spring Break reading!) When students sign up, they receive 9 article assignments with annotation instructions encouraging close reading, and they can complete them at any pace.
Get your answers in PLC and more!
Failure Is Not An Option At Southwest
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ELA Teachers - Help is on the way!
Southwest Team Challenge
- Click here to see how teams are paired with Encores
- Teachers help your teammates
- Your team can let the students know that their individual names will be listed along with their TEAM NAME on the HALL OF ROADRUNNER FAME outside of the cafe.
- You can decide on a small team reward for the group like extra computer time or homework pass for the kids
- This challenge is for you!
- There must be at least 70% participation from the students on the team. Meaning one reader cannot carry the team. We will run the list by teacher and the look at participation.
- Then it's simple - The team with the most words read wins.
RoadRunner Word Millionaire
Any student that logs an AR reading words per minute of 30,000 words or more will have their name added in our random name selector. And again for every time, 30,000 words are documented through our AR system this week. I will use 3/13/17 - 3/17/17. This will give as many students the chance to get in on the drawing as possible.
So how are words noted in the system?
The AR system keeps count for you based on test taken.
AR word count is the only word counter we are presently using. Please make sure students understand that their average in the system must remain 85% or better to qualify.
$10 gift cards
Last weeks gift card winners~
Jahasia Brutus - 92, 671 Words Read Last Week
Christell Cano Pelayo - 59,937 Words Read Last Week
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News on Roadrunner Sports
Thomas Stevens (baseball) - Kendal Hunt ( Girls Track)
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Intramurals This Week
Monday: 7th grade championship Falls vs Bingham
Tuesday March 21 and Wednesday March 22
Hart, Fisher, Adams, Crowder, Presswood, Champion, Huffstetler
Thursday 23rd and Monday 27th
Harvey, Herms, Coley, Maker, Deaton, Cobb
Athletic Duty Schedule
- Wednesday March 22nd Crump, Sidaros, Lathan
- Monday March 27th Watts, Harkey, Thomas
- Monday April 3rd Fender, Huffstetler, Presswood
- Thursday April 6th Xiong, Barber, Rojas
- Tuesday April 25th Fender, Cobb, Thomas
Duty Schedule for Soccer
- Wednesday March 22nd Fender, MCCarter
- Monday March 27th Falls, Rhodes
- Monday April 3rd Cherry, Ashleman
- Thursday April 6th Deaton, Lathan Rominick Alinzuas
- Tuesday April 35th Deaton, McCarter Alinzuas
Track Duty Schedule at SOUTH POINT HIGH SCHOOL
- Gate Fender
- Crowd Maurice Thomas
- Crowd Foote
- Crowd Romnick Alinzuas
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Summer 2017
Save the DATE(s)
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Southwest News
- Star Testing - This week
Monday -
- Lesson plans due in Planbook.com
- Update your Gradebook
Tuesday -
Wednesday -
Thursday -
- Baseball and Soccer - Stanley @ Southwest
Friday -
- All Grades should be caught up in Gradebook today!
Upcoming Events -
Cumulative Benchmarks Grades 3-8: March 27 - April 7
End of 3rd 9-weeks March 28th
Science Grade 8 Cumulative Benchmark: April 24-28
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Don't forget to schedule your Free Store Appointment each month @ Classroom Central . You never know what treats and surprise await you.
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New School-wide Policy
I have created an attendance chart in my office to manage this severe issue that is significantly affecting our student growth.
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Referrals
Does your student need assistance?
Use the links:
Counselor Intervention Request
Staff please don't forget to use the links above for student recommendations and Interventions. Students are missing out on valuable services provided by our school as a result.
Field Trip Deadline
Field Trip Deadline
- May 5, 2017
- No School will be allowed to travel after this date. This even includes Saturday and Sundays
Morning News Announcements
Technology and Computer Issues?
Please use the google form provided by Mrs. Ray in a email last week or click this link.
She will take care of you as soon as possible or refer your issues to our TSS (Technology Support Services) department.
Copiers, Laminator and Riso
Southwest Middle School
Email: lrrice@gaston.k12.nc.us
Website: http://www.gaston.k12.nc.us/Domain/49
Location: 1 Roadrunner Drive, Gastonia, NC, United States
Phone: (704)866-6290
Twitter: @MsPrincipalBoss