ACE Newsletter
January 12, 2019
Dear ACE Family,
You have done a phenomenal job starting this school year off with a strong Fall semester. We are seeing such intentional instruction that is laser focused on 1 thing: students developing conceptual mastery of the content! This is absolutely the key to ensure we embody our mission and provide our students with the preparation for college and career that will allow them to transcend any limiting factors they may encounter.
We are so proud of our students as they are shining bright and truly competing with students across the district and the state. In fact all of the following grades/contents outscored the district:
- Grade 5 Science
- Grade 1 English Reading
- Grade 2 Spanish Reading
- Grade 3 Spanish Reading
- Grade 4 Spanish Reading
- Grade 4 Spanish Writing
We also had 11 other grades/contents score within 10 percentage points of the district. You are closing the gap and providing your students with a superb educational experience every day!
As you enter your next six weeks it is more important than ever to monitor student learning with a magnifying glass to ensure every single student is internalizing instruction. Now is the time where some students will try to hide their deficiencies and it is up to us to create safe and nurturing environments where they take risks and aim to get better.
Do you know how many of your students are not on pace to meet their end of the year goal? Do you know them by name? Let's commit to studying all of the factors that are leading to them not reaching their full potential. Is it because they are not being engaged? Is it because their misconceptions are not being caught? Is it because they aren't motivated? Are there other extenuating circumstances impacting their learning?
It will be up to us to ensure every student reaches their goal by being 100% focused on monitoring student learning. Providing formative feedback through aggressive monitoring will be a key practice that will allow us to achieve this. There is so much power in immediate and impactful feedback as students are learning that can more than double student achievement. Each individual touch-point communicates the level of care you have for every student in your room. It is a chance to fortify relationships and give each child 1:1 attention to help them reach their goals.
We look forward to catching your aggressive monitoring in action over these next 24 days before our next common assessment! We have a special surprise for all those we catch in action:)
Best wishes for a wonderful six weeks of learning!
-ACE Core Team
Click on images below to see our ACE Network Fall Semester Data!
Instructional Spotlight: Formative Feedback (Aggressive Monitoring)
Core Idea: Feedback moves students toward improvement and mastery.
John Hattie, Professor of Education and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, believes that feedback must be timely, relevant, and action-oriented. The good news, according to Hattie, is that "students want feedback just for them, just in time, and just helping nudge forward." To that end, he encourages us to "worry more about how students are receiving your feedback . . . than increasing how much you give."
Click the link here to read more!
Check out the videos below of ACE teachers using Aggressive Monitoring in action!
Ms. Winton @ Rusk MS
Ms. Boone @ King ES
Mr. Tamarez @ Chavez ES
ACE Vimeo Video Channel!
Check out these amazing videos of our very own teachers and leaders engaging in high impact practices!
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6222452?page=1
*Use password: disdace
Lesson Plan Resources!
Please see the following link that houses great lesson plan resources available for you to use!
https://sites.google.com/dallasisd.org/schoolleadershipb/slb/es-lesson-plans
ACE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Math Team Thursday: January 23rd
We are having our next Math Team Thursday on January 23rd to explore mathematical concepts for the 4th six weeks in addition to engagement strategies and small group differentiation.
We are also excited to announce we will be rolling out our Leadership Badge System!!! We will share the steps to earning your leadership badges--you don't want to miss this:)
When: January 23rd
Who: ACE 2.0 & 3.0 Math Teacher Leaders, CICs, APs, and Principals
Time: 3:30-6:30 pm
Location: Cesar Chavez Learning Center (*NEW LOCATION)
What to bring:
- Laptop
Literacy Team Thursday: January 30th
We are having our last Literacy Team Thursday on January 30th to explore habits of discussion, engagement strategies and small groups with guided reading.
We are also excited to announce we will be rolling out our Leadership Badge System!!! We will share the steps to earning your leadership badges--you don't want to miss this:)
When: January 30th
Who: ACE 2.0 & 3.0 Literacy Teacher Leaders, CICs, APs, and Principals
Time: 3:30-6:30 pm
Location: Cesar Chavez Learning Center (*NEW LOCATION)
What to bring:
- Laptop