Bingham Elementary
News and Notes Week of March 9
Weekly Schedule
Monday
- Blue Jay News
Tuesday
- Pledge - Willoughby
- Kindergarten Registration
- PTA Meeting - 6:30
Wednesday
- Pledge - Willoughby
- Community Outreach Breakfast
- I will out all day for meetings
Thursday
- Pledge - Willoughby
Friday
- No Students - work day. More details on Monday
Crazy Doc's rant and raves...
Thank you for your feedback this week. I always appreciate your input into how I can help to make Bingham a better place. 4 days remaining for the students, this is an exciting and scary time for these kids. They may be leaning on you more than before and it may be showing in ways that are not as nice.
Remember, we are always striving for 4:1 interactions with our students. We put in 4 positive interactions for each negative (discipline) interaction. Think of the students you are struggling with are you at the 4:1 ratio with those students? If not, look for ways to strengthen that relationship.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Quick hits:
- As you start to put your calendar together for the year, please avoid field trips on Wednesday (Wings), Thursday, and Friday.
- Please keep all tardy passes and send them home quarterly with the report card envelopes.
Positive Phone Calls
Teacher Spotlight
Great job to the 4/5 team, Coach Cook, and Mrs. Kroenke on a great parent night, despite some questionable stickers it was still a great turnout with excited kids.
Do you have a idea for a person in the spotlight? Please let me know.
On-Going Reminders
- If you send a student to the focus room please do so with one of the tickets Casey has provided, that way she knows why they are there. If they do not have a ticket they will be sent back to class.
- Please follow the nurse's stoplight schedule.
- If you send a student to the office please make sure they have a pass.
- Please make sure you are not sending large printing jobs to the basic printers, please send these to the copiers.
- Lunch counts and attendance need to be entered by 9:30, or Terri will start calling.
27 by Crystal Chodes-Squibb
Have you ever stopped to consider how privileged you are? I recently took a quiz to assess individual privilege during a training session for equity champions. When I took the quiz I knew that I’d conquered some hardships in life, but I’d also been afforded certain advantages that meant I would have a reasonably middle of the range score —or so I thought. Once I received my score, champions lined up in order from the highest score to the lowest. I assumed I would be somewhere in the middle of the group, however, as we checked scores and lined up, I found myself moving closer and closer to the end of line. When I finally settled into my position, I was second to last in the line. My score was 27.
As I stood there listening to the discussion amongst champions, I felt exposed. I thought about the questions that placed me at the end of the line, and wondered what the other champions might ascertain about my life. I left the training that day deep in thought and feeling the need to self-reflect.
27! Many people in line that day were well above my score and some educators who have taken that quiz about privilege may have scored well below. I thought about a student who had destroyed my classroom only days earlier, knocking over furniture and throwing anything he could get his hands on around the room. I thought of another student whose home life was creating a series of frustrating and heartbreaking moments at our site, including trying to run from the school and openly aggressive behavior toward myself, staff and other students. I thought about them and all of my students both past and present. I thought about a former student I watched being taken away in handcuffs or students that I’ve visited at Burrell. Where would they fall on the number line? And, how was I to take the day’s learning and inward reflection, and somehow let the feeling of being exposed reflect on my practices in the classroom?
The truth is that there is no one answer or list of surefire strategies that educators can take without first reflecting on their own experiences. In a book titled Collective Efficacy: How Educators’ Beliefs Impact Student Learning by Jenni Donohoo, readers are provided a series of protocols to help focus and deepen conversations amongst staff that will lead to greater teacher efficacy or the belief of a staff that together they can impact student achievement. “Collective efficacy,” explained Donohoo, “is high when teachers believe that the staff is capable of helping students master complex content, fostering students’ creativity, and getting students to believe they can do well in school.” As with the Equity & Diversity Champions, it has to start with personal reflection. One such protocol to aid staff in this process is the Diversity Rounds Protocol. This might be a good place to start with your school’s staff -especially if they are not quite ready for the difficult conservation of privilege.
In the book, Donohoo references a study by Hirsh and Killion (2007), which argues that, “diversity of opinions, experiences, family background, race, ethnicity, gender, age, location, sexual orientation, disabilities, lifestyle, socioeconomic status expands our capacity to fully understand reality, to appreciate differences in perspective, and to make decisions that affect student learning that are appropriate, respectful, and informed.” The purpose of the Diversity Rounds Protocol is to acknowledge and explore staff diversity as it relates to student achievement. During the protocol, participants meet in subgroups created by a facilitator and discuss the impact of this category on their lives. Subgroups then share out and regroup as time allows. The last 10 minutes of the protocol are spent debriefing by discussing feelings and insights that emerged as well as the impact on diversity, and its effect on their professional experience. The final question to explore is how this relates to meeting the needs of every student.
Donohoo states, “This protocol can serve as a starting point in helping teachers capitalize on the diversity of the staff to meet the needs of every student in the school. That’s what 27 really means to me as an educator —how can my experiences help me to better meet the needs of every learner in my classroom, everyday? It starts with continued open and reflective discussion that will eventually lead to improved teacher-student relations and ultimately student achievement.