Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Tribune
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18-22, 2019
Conrad & Jefferson ES Cluster Principals Journey to Washington, DC
Sandra Barrios, Jack Lowe Principal
Terrell Bell Leadership Award Recipient
National Blue Ribbon Award-Closing the Achievement Gap- JACK LOWE
Principal Barrios Invited As a Guest Speaker
Domingo Garcia and Commissioner Elba Garcia has invited Principal Sandra Barrios as the guest speaker of the Dallas Chorizo & Menudo Community Breakfast hosted by the LULAC Chapter 102. Be sure to click on the button below to see Ms. Barrios leadership in action on CBS local news.
ROBERT MCLAURIN, CURRENT NORTHLAKE EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL
CURRENT WALNUT HILL PRINCIPAL, PHILLIP POTTER
NATIONAL BLUE RIBBON AWARD-HIGH ACHIEVING SCHOOL-WALNUT HILL
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP/NORTHWEST GOALS & CORE VALUES
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Illustrious Leaders,
Continue expressing to your staff that they have an increased 'sense of urgency' in all their classrooms. As a result of the recent common assessment data and in preparation for the upcoming ACP testing, their careful planning with intentionality will allow your teachers sufficient time to get on track and ensure scholar success. However, they will need to maximize every minute of all the days prior to ACPs. We need to ensure as a cluster that every student is meeting their goals based on the campus trackers. If students are not meeting their goals, what are you doing to ensure that they are? What is that data point? This will be the first data point that will count toward your accountability in your evaluation and teacher's TEI.
The ILC's and I will be visiting your campuses during the two weeks after Thanksgiving break. We will be looking for the implementation of Aggressive Monitoring and ACP Mapping. The ACP mapping will require your immediate attention and action with your teachers. Utilizing the ACP blueprints as well as data from the past two common assessments, your teachers can prioritize each TEKS associated with the ACP. No doubt this will assist your teachers in maximizing their instruction. It is critical that we are able to intervene early enough to get us on track.
I know that most of you calendared out your spot observations to ensure you had frequent spot observations at regular intervals throughout the semester for all teachers. Keep up with your mapping of spots to stay the course. Please take some time to map out the remainder of your spot observations for the semester to ensure that you and your AP's are able to provide effective feedback for our teachers. We don't want to be caught at the last hour trying to fit in some spots. That is not a best practice for you and it is not good for the teachers! Careful planning will ensure we get them all in and they accomplish what they are intended to do: which is to improve instruction to ensure ALL our Scholars are successful.
Thank you for your continued perseverance and focus on increasing student achievement! Thank you for the thoughtful planning in response to the most recent common assessment data. I noticed several campuses invested a lot of time planning specific action steps as soon as the common assessment #2 data was in for individual teachers, while some of you had cookie-cutter responses that were not specific to what actions would move the instruction on your campuses.
Some of the data was validating the work we see in the classrooms, in spots and your PLCs in action. Yet, some were surprising. Take some time to talk as a leadership team, if you have not already done so, to address the discrepancies and intervene early with any struggling teachers. We have 12 full days to get things back on track. I appreciate your thinking through immediate changes to be made to ensure our scholars get the most out of the semester and the year!
Monitor classrooms closely and hold teachers accountable for teaching until the last day before our return from Thanksgiving break! :) Think WIN-WIN- Habit # 4- Win/Win. "Win/Win is a belief in the third alternative. It's not your way or my way; it's a BETTER way, a HIGHER way".
As always...."WE ARE IN IT TO WIN IT...GO FOR THE GOLD!!
Here is to a productive week of teaching, learning, growing and leading!
Ms. Torres
Emmett Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Executive Director
DALLAS ISD INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT RESOURCES
PRINCIPALS OF LEARNING FOCUS
WEEKLY UPDATES
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Highland Meadows Campus visit w/ED & ILC
Jack Lowe Campus visit w/ED & ILC
State of Schools-CA #2 w/ED -Joe May @ McShan-1:00 p.m.
State of Schools-CA #2 w/ED-McShan @ McShan-1:50 p.m.
State of Schools-CA #2 w/ED-Highland Meadows @ McShan-2:30 p.m.
State of Schools-CA #2 w/ED-Saldviar @ McShan-3:15 p.m.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19
- Jill Stone Instructional Rounds-All Cluster & APs-9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
K-2 BAS Training Part III @ Joe May-4:00-6:00 p.m.
- Saldivar Campus visit w/ED & ILC
- McShan Campus visit w/ED & ILC
- Principal & AP Cluster Tracker PD -Burnet @ 2:00 p.m.
- K.B. Polk Campus visit w/ED & ILCs
- Joe May Campus visit w/ED & ILCs
- Deputy Chief & ED Meeting-8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
- Deputy Chief & Elementary ED Meeting-1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
- ED/ILC Planning-3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
UNITED WAY DISTRICT CHALLENGE
The Dallas Independent School District needs your support ensuring the success of the 2019-2020 United Way Employee Giving Campaign. Each year, United Way generously funds district initiatives from pre-school preparation to college readiness and provides a variety of assistance to our students and families outside of the school setting. Maintaining this important source of support requires your help! That’s why we are asking that all Dallas ISD employees donate to the 2019 – 2020 campaign goal of $190,000.
A strong push for our cluster to show up with donations prior to November 5. It is our intention to have at-least $50K raised by then.
- There are three ways to give: Oracle, Give 360 or Cash/Check. Attached are instructions on how to give through Oracle and Give360. (SEE THE LINK BELOW!)
The suggested giving levels for administrators are listed below.
Suggested Giving Levels for Leaders:
Executive Level: $750.00
Mid-Level Management: $300.00
Administrative Level: $25-$100
The School Leadership goal for 2019 – 2020 including org numbers 862+865+923 is $6,000.
IF OUR CLUSTER IS THE WINNING CLUSTER FOR UNITED WAY DONATIONS, THERE WILL BE A PRIZE FOR THE CLUSTER AND THE PRINCIPAL WITH THE HIGHEST DONATIONS GIVEN. MAY THE BEST CAMPUS WIN!
INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO RESOURCES
THE LEADER IN ME
Thinking Maps ~ November ~ The Tree map
Off the Tree Map and Onto the Paper
CONRAD & JEFFERSON ES CLUSTER'S SHINING STARS
CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS
Cigarroa Kids Spending Hard Earned Cowboy Cash
Cigarroa Community Outreach for Families in Need After the Tornado
Science Learning Stations at Joe May
Burnet ES Cashed The Check for Mindfulness to Support Social Emotional Learning
Thank You "Leader in Me" for Thinking of Us
Burnet ES
Foster 2nd Graders Reading and Writing
Assistant Principal Teaching Trust Training
Walnut Hill ES Settles into Their New Home
Burnet 2nd Graders Reading , Writing, Speaking and Listening
K.B. Polk Celebrates Wins While Learning Takes Place Throughout the Building
Kids Safety 1st & Uniform Donations at Foster
THE CORE 4
Dallas ISD is 20,000 staff members strong, and each one is vital to the work being accomplished in the district. Through the district’s commitment to exemplary customer service, each member is focused on serving 157,000 students and their families by delivering professional, high-quality service in everything we do.
At the heart of great customer service for each district employee are the four tenets of customer service--the Core 4: focused, fast, flexible, and friendly. These principles, also, are key to forging a positive culture within the organization as they are applied, internally, colleague to colleague, as well as to students, families, taxpayers, and the entire community.
It is a strong commitment that goes beyond the conversation about what exemplary customer service looks like becoming the norm for the way we operate in the district every day.
FUTURE IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
CLUSTER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DATES
K-2 BAS Training III
4th Six Weeks at a Glance
2020 LEADER IN ME SYMPOSIUM
BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT SYSTEM (K-2)
SWAG NIGHTS (K-5) & Specials Teachers
SWAG SPECIALIST TEAM LEADS
COMMON ASSESSMENT TIMELINE
Reading ILC Corner
For years, the field of reading education has been engaged in thinking about best practices. Explicit instruction in vocabulary, rereading and using digital textbooks to motivate children's reading are among some of these updated best practices. Those in the reading community are urged to consider best practices, and how we may promote their uses, with high fidelity in classroom instruction.
Use the Button below to read the full article.
Math ILC Corner
Grade 3-5 Math Focus
Properties of Multiplication to Generate Strategies
Expiration Rules in Division
Science ILC Corner
FALL 2019 TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Oracle Finance Systems and Payroll classes are also available. ATS is now offering a new Open Lab for iExpense. The attached schedule of classes is on our website at: https://www.dallasisd.org/ATS.
See the WAIP 7/18/2019 for more information
IMPORTANT LINKS & INFORMATION TO READ
100% Scholar Participation in Clubs or Extracurricular Activities in Pre-K-5th Grades
NOVEMBER
25-29-Thanksgiving Holiday!
JANUARY, 2020
9-Network Day
FEBRUARY
21-State of the District Address @ Omni Hotel-@10:00
27-Network Day
MARCH
28-United 2 Learn-Community day
APRIL
16-Network Day
JUNE
4-Network Day
10-Principal Luncheon
Marshall Memo #811
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo on small teaching moves with outsize impact
(Originally titled “What You Practice Is What You Value”)
In this Educational Leadership article, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (Uncommon Schools) says that for novice teachers, being coached on seemingly minor points – for example, standing still and facing the class when asking students to stop talking and come back together at the end of a turn-and-talk – can be transformational. But for this kind of coaching to work, a school needs a culture that includes a shared language of effective pedagogy and a norm of frequent, low-stakes feedback and practice. “In effective cultures,” says Bambrick-Santoyo, “people use words everyone can understand to describe actions that committed members consistently put into practice.”
Over a period of years, he and his colleagues have compiled a list of teaching behaviors that are granular, observable, and high-leverage. These are skills each of which can be learned within a week, produce immediate improvements in classroom dynamics and student learning, and accelerate what is often a painfully slow learning curve for novice educators. “Rather than wait for years of trial-and-error experience to perfect their craft,” says Bambrick-Santoyo, “new teachers can actually grow quickly, step by step.” Picking up the pace is a moral imperative, he believes; students can’t afford to wait for incremental improvement in teaching, especially in high-need schools with a large proportion of rookie teachers.
Below are some of the action steps in Bambrick-Santoyo’s “Get Better Faster” playbook. They parallel the kinds of small, easy-to-learn-and-practice skills that musicians and athletes learn with their coaches as they rapidly improve performance:
- Use “strong voice.” Square up, stand still, and use a formal tone of voice when getting students’ attention and delivering instructions.
- “Radar” the room. Scan “hot spots” where students are often off-task, and crane your neck so it looks like you are seeing all parts of the classroom.
- Have students write first, talk second. Begin each class with an independent writing task (a Do Now), and before starting a discussion, have students respond individually in writing to a prompt.
- Aggressively monitor independent student work. Walk around to every part of the classroom and look for patterns of student responses, not just compliance.
- Engage all students. Have students turn and talk when pair interaction will maximize involvement and learning.
- Check for whole-group understanding. Poll the room and tailor instruction to focus on patterns of error.
- Narrate the positive. Put into words what students are doing well to encourage those actions and redirect less-productive behaviors; reinforce students’ intellectual progress by praising effort, not just results.
“What You Practice Is What You Value” by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo in Educational Leadership, November 2019 (Vol. 77, #3, pp. 44-49), https://bit.ly/2NCYJ28; the author can be reached at pbambrick@uncommonschools.org
EMMETT J. CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
- Jack Lowe Elementary: Principal, Sandra Barrios
- Jill Stone : Principals, Rosalinda Pratt & Selena Deboskie
- Highland Meadows: Principal, JoAnna Bahena
- David G. Burnet Elementary: Principal, Sonia Loskot
- Leonides Cigarroa Elementary : Principal, Douglas Burak
- Stephen C. Foster Elementary: Principal, Irma De La Guardia
- Joe May Elementary: Principal, Rosseven Nava
- K.B. Polk Elementary: Principal, Kourtnei Billups
- Julian T. Saldivar: Principal, Edgar Jaramillo
- Walnut Hill Elementary: Principal, Phillip Potter
- McShan Elementary: Principal, Joseph Medaris