November 7, 2016

By Allan  

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Hi Everyone,

There was a great turnout for the PTO Spaghetti Feed/BINGO Night! The PTO raised $1,358 before expenses, which were only about $280. Families had a great time and the PTO had a successful fundraiser, so it was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came to the event and/or helped out!

Twenty-one items of note for this week:

• LEL (Learning About Learning) Science Lesson Visit, Nov. 16th – As I shared in earlier announcements, for this year’s round of LEL visits to schools, the district is focusing on science. Howard will have our LEL visit not this week, but next week on Wednesday, November 16th (so make sure you’re not staring on lesson #1 of your science kit that day!). As I also shared earlier, classroom teachers will need to rearrange your usual schedule to fit the times LEL groups will be visiting classrooms. Linked here is the LEL Classroom Visitation Schedule. These 30 minute blocks can fall during the beginning, middle, or end of your science lesson. Let me know if I accidentally scheduled over anyone’s recess or specialist times. Also let me know if any of your are planning to use the STEAM Room for your science lesson so I can change the location on the schedule. I know it’s awkward for classes to change schedules, but I was able to get our LEL visit changed to one of our non-Title 1 days, so it’s at least a little bit less disruptive than it originally would have been on a Friday.

For those unfamiliar with the LEL process, linked here is a short post from Edutopia, which has a nice overview of what the process looks like. And if you’re wondering, why the focus on science for LEL this year, part of the reasoning is to help guide the direction of the next science professional development day in January. That’s in addition to the usual purpose of the LEL Instructional Rounds process, which is NOT to provide feedback to the individual teachers being observed, but is rather focused on LEL members’ own instructional practices and building teams of leaders who are able to learn from one another around the craft of leading instruction.

• Student Care Team Referrals – The November Student Care Team meeting is a week from Wednesday, which means that referrals to the team are due this Friday. Please let me know soon if you have any student and/or family situations you’d like to bring to the team. It’s best if you can get a release form signed (PDF or DOC), but we can also bring “hypothetical” student situations if you cannot get a release form signed. Let me know if you have questions about the team or any potential referrals.

• Safety Week Feedback – Please let me know if you have any suggestions regarding how to make our safety drills (fire, earthquake, lockdown/lockout) work better. If I don’t hear from anyone this week, I’ll move forward with printing up evacuation maps for individual classrooms based on what we did last week.

On a related note, for the lockdown/lockout drill, the reason the system went back into lockdown two times following the first all-clear is that I deactivated the lockdown in the wrong sequence, unlocking the doors first and then clearing it in the AMX System. And for when we went from the lockdown to a lockout, I’d forgotten to hit all clear on the AMX panel to give classrooms control of your projectors again. Sorry about that.

• Allan Available for Conferences – If teachers have any tricky conferences and would like me to attend, just let me know and I’ll put it on my calendar.

• Conferences and Specialists – Downtown is making expectations for specialists during conferences consistent across the district. I’ve sent a separate email to specialists (Title, SPED, ELD, Music, PE, etc.) with the nitty gritty of what came from downtown, but the expectation is that all specialists need to be working during conferences in some capacity and are to be available to families if they would like to meet. 

• Meaningful Parent-Teacher Conferences – “For some parents, teacher conferences are more like speed dating than substance,” says Sarah McKibben in this article in Education Update. Attendance at these conferences declines steadily as students move through the grades, from 89 percent in primary grades to 57 percent in high school according to one study, and many parents don’t believe they’re worth the trip. See the above linked article for some ideas how to improve conferences. Her last suggestion is “Listen,” which is something I learned from my mentor teacher back when I was a student teacher, who started every conference by saying “How do things look on your end?” which I copied and always thought was a good way for families to share whatever was on their mind, instead of me launching into my spiel and make them wait to share.

• Wacky Wednesday – Favorite Sport/Team Day – This Wednesday is the November Wacky Wednesday and this time it’s Favorite Sports/Team Day, so plan your outfit accordingly.

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• PRIDE Assembly, Thursday – Our first PRIDE assembly of the year is this Thursday. Classroom teachers should pick 2-3 students who demonstrate the characteristic of perseverance (“never giving up”). There will be a quick explanation of what perseverance is and then the awards, then ending with a talk about the next assembly for Respect. The grade 3-5 Assembly will be 8:10-8:35 and a K-2 Assembly will be 8:45-9:10. See the linked Assembly Map and Directions and please remember invite families to see their students get their awards. Parent invitations and PRIDE Awards are located in the filing cabinet by Bianca’s desk. And be sure to get your completed PRIDE Awards to me by Tuesday so I can add my signature. 

• New Building Updates – Here are the items of note regarding our new building:

• Mushroom Stools Coming Monday – The Neorok stools (mushroom stools) have shipped and are scheduled to arrive Monday afternoon. These stools will be for classroom small group tables and for commons area group tables. The installers will be delivering them after school.

• Elevator & Fake Injuries – We’re getting more and more kids who “twisted their ankle” in order to ride the elevator. Please be judicious in deciding who is a faker and who genuinely needs to use the elevator. 

• Hallway Blinds Blocked – Please remember to keep the areas under where the blinds come down clear. This past Friday I walked through the building after the Spaghetti Feed/BINGO Night and noticed quite a few lunch tubs, easels, chairs, or items hanging over the edge of the rolling storage carts that the blinds came down on top of. This causes the blinds to not retract evenly and causes them to get jammed and damaged.

• Howard Website Staff Photos – I’ve updated the Staff Directory on the Howard website and got rid of a lot of our generic roadrunner photos. Let me know if any of you with older picture would like your old one replaced with a new one.

• Holiday Resources – Our DHS contact for the Student Care Team shared the following holiday resources you can feel free to share with families. I’ll plan to email these out to families in a future newsletter and also post on social media. One is Holiday Meals Flyer (English and Spanish) that lists available food boxes, meal sites, holiday gift programs, and holiday celebrations. Another is the 11th Annual Holiday Meal event (English and Spanish) at Lane County Youth Services on MLK Blvd. December 7th for a free meal, raffle, and food boxes. The last is a a flyer for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which can help with bills for households that heat with electricity, natural gas, oil, propane, wood pellets or wood.

• Zimbra Search Tip – A rather inconsequential item, but I’ve shared this with a few people lately. I recently discovered if your’e searching for a specific email in Zimbra, you can search by who sent the email by typing from:personsname (i.e. from:allan) and you can also search for emails who they were sent to by by typing to:personsname (i.e. to:allan). You can also narrow that search by adding in keywords (i.e. from:allan talented due).

• Facilities Use by Staff – Downtown asked principals to share the following. All 4J schools are public property and are subject to public scrutiny. As public employees, no person may use district property for personal financial gain, or for use that is inconsistent with the district’s public purpose, or in a manner that will discredit the district, or offer it free to the community, ie. (such as offering music lessons or exercise classes, holding community meetings, and more).

The district has established board policies to address staff and outside groups wanting to use 4J facilities (Policy 1, Policy 2, Policy 3). In order to establish fairness to all groups, including 4J staff, detailed procedures and a consistent fee schedule are in place. If employees wish to use 4J facilities and/or equipment for private instruction or for non-school community group meetings, or any other reason, they will need to:

• Submit a facilities request using the online form 
• Get approval from the superintendent or his designee (that’s the facilities management rental office and the school principal; you are requesting this approval when you submit your online request) and if the use for personal or private purposes is approved,
Complete a facility use contract (this is generated from your online request) and pay the appropriate fee to reimburse the district for use of the facility.

Your school may have a different process for staff to reserve space for school meetings and other functions. That process is not appropriate for requesting community use of school space or personal use by staff. Please contact the facilities management rental office (Tammi May x7406) if you have any questions.

• Unpaid Leaves – Downtown asked principals to also share the following. “An employee may not take an unpaid day off without the advanced written approval of his or her supervisor and Human Resources director or designee.” Requests must be submitted no less than 48 hours before a known absence. If the unpaid day is related to an illness the request must be sent within three work days upon return to work. To request an unpaid day an employee should follow the below procedure:

• Send an email to their administrator/supervisor and 4J_leaves@4j.lane.edu requesting the unpaid day and including the reason for the request.
• The administrator/supervisor should email both the employee and the 4J_leaves@4j.lane.edu email if they support the request or are denying the request.
• If the administrator/supervisor has supported the request then it will be reviewed by the Human Resources Director.
• If approved, the Human Resource Director will email both the employee and supervisor their approval.

ALL leaves 6 consecutive days or longer must be requested by submitting a leave of absence request form.

• Free After-School Reading and Math Intervention Program – Center on Teaching and Learning’s Reading Clinic at the University of Oregon has openings for our after-school, reading and math tutoring program for K-2 students to receive free after-school reading and/or math intervention services. I have linked here a flyer and registration packet to distribute to teachers and parents. Clinic Services at a Glance:

· 50 minute sessions 2 times per week for reading and/or math (doubled if attends both)
· Sessions are Monday-Thursday between the hours of 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm
· Receive instruction in research-based intervention programs
· One-to-one or small group instruction
· Services delivered by graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Oregon
· Takes place on campus, in the HEDCO Education Building
· Currently we do not offer transportation
· There is no cost

Space is limited, so if more students apply than they have the capacity to serve, those students will be placed on a waiting list.

Franz Bakery Grant – I just learned that Franz Bakery offers grants for “Families and Youth Development” and “Hunger Reduction.” Visit their website for details. 

Teacher reflects on educational videos – In this SMARTBrief blog post, math teacher Robert Ahdoot writes from the perspective of an educational video. He notes that video in the classroom may be best served as a “pedagogical side dish, not your entree.”

• The “Angry” Label – This white teacher didn’t think twice about referring to a black male student as “angry” on his report card—until she met with his mother. Read about their conversation in this Teaching Tolerance article and how she came to realize how damaging this label could be.

• Perversions of “Data-Driven Instruction” – and How to Do It Right – In this Educational Leadership article, Susan Neuman reports what her team of researchers saw in 4th- and 7th-grade literacy classrooms in nine New York City public schools, and her suggestions for implementing data-driven instruction in a more humane and effective manner, including not trying to “motivate” students with data, not teaching to the test, being data-informed, not data-driven, and broadening the definition of data.

• How perceptions shape girls’ math performance – Teachers’ perceptions about boys’ and girls’ math skills may affect girls’ confidence in math, according to a study published in AERA Open. Researchers found that teachers as early as kindergarten perceive boys as having higher math abilities than girls. See this EdWeek article for details.

• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

November 6 (SU)
Daylight Savings Time – Fall Back

November 7 (M)
12:45, Allan Doing Formal Observation
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee Meeting (Ed Center)
6:00-7:00, Visión 20/20 de 4J: Reunión Comunitaria (Ed Center)

November 8 (T)
Election Day
9:00, October Book Winners (Conference Room)
11:00, Allan touring EEF Board Member
12:30, Allan Doing Formal Observation
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa’s Room, B203)

November 9 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Favorite Sport/Team Day

November 10 (H)
8:10-8:35, PRIDE Assembly, 3-5 (Gym)
8:45-9;10, PRIDE Assembly, K-2 (Gym)
11:45-12:15, 1st Grade Music Assembly (Gym)
12:20-12:50, KG Music Assembly (Gym)

November 11 (F)
No School – Veterans Day

November 14 (M)
8:20-1:45, Zimmerman & Vaughan Salmon Field Trip
3:00, Allan to Dentist Appointment

November 15 (T)
9:30-11:45, Torres & Kreider/Shadwick to Hult Center
12:00-12:30, Allan covering a classroom
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
5:30-6:30, BEST Family & Rotary Night (Cafeteria)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)

November 16 (W)
No Title 1 Wednesday
8:00-4:00, LEL Visit to Howard
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae’s Room, A101)
2:30-3:30, Care Team Meeting (Conference Room)

November 17 (H)
9:00-11:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, B204)
6:00-7:00, 4J Vision 20/20 – Community Meeting (Chavez)

November 18 (F)
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
10:30, American Red Cross Safety Presentation in Kreider/Shadwick

November 19 (SA)
9:00-3:00, PTO Holiday Bazaar (Gym & Cafeteria)

I hope you all enjoyed your extra hour of sleep this Sunday. Also, please enjoy the photos and video from Halloween last week, complete with Howard’s very new own meme. We’ll see if it goes viral. :)

Allan

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Meme version courtesy of Ashley.

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Another meme courtesy of former Howard teacher Sarah Singleton.

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