https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=873
Hello Staff,
Thank you everyone for allowing visiting parents to interrupt classes briefly last week during school choice tours. Visitors all seemed impresses. One interesting thing I wanted to share is that we had at least one out-of-district parent on every tour. I’m hoping that means good news for enrollment next year!
Eight items of note for this week.
• 2012-2013 Staffing Timeline – Principals will receive staffing allocations for the 2012-2013 school year on Thursday, February 23rd. Completed staffing plans are due about two weeks later on Monday, March 12th. As a result of the tight timeline, I’m moving staff meetings around, so each school will be able to meet twice before we settle upon a final staffing plan. YG’s staff meeting will be February 29th and March 7th. Corridor’s staff meetings will be March 2nd and 9th.
• Staffing Survey Due, Friday, February 10th – If you haven’t done so already, please return your staffing survey to me by Friday, February 10th. You can reply to me via email or by returning a hardcopy to my mailbox (although I prefer email).
• Car Break-Ins – We’ve been informed that North Eugene High School has recently had a number of car break-ins during the school day and at evening events. I wanted to alert staff to this issues since our parking lot is adjacent to the high schools. Remember to always secure your vehicle. Below are some helpful tips for preventing vehicle break-ins:
• Lock your doors
• Keep it tidy
• Conceal all valuables
• Conceal valuables before, not after, you park
• Completely close windows and sunroofs
• Park for visibility• Eugene Symphony Youth Concert – The Eugene Symphony is offering elementary schools a youth concert, Music on the Move! It will be held on February 14, 2012: 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Each performance lasts 45 minutes. For further details and registration information, see the attached flyer. They say no student will be turned away for inability to pay and funding for transportation, so it sounds like it could be a freebie.
• Resources for observing Black History Month in the classroom – Black History Month, which began February 1st, dates back to 1926 when educator and historian Carter G. Woodson started a weeklong observance in February, the birth month of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event was expanded to a month in 1976 by President Gerald Ford. The theme of this year’s observance is “Black Women in American Culture and History,” and the editors of this blog offer a list of online resources for educators teaching related topics to students.
• Find Out How Teacher Perception Can Fail Students – Every day, educators make dozens of judgments and decisions about students. Who needs closer supervision? Will she be able to complete this assignment? Will he benefit from more group work? If I offer extra help after school, will they show up? Teaching Tolerance has just launched the Teacher Perception Tool. It’s intended to enable teachers and educators to reflect on the judgments that they make every day in school settings. Developed by a team of scholars led by educational pyschologist Melanie Killen, the tool takes less than 10 minutes to complete. My own editorial comment is that while it’s somewhat obvious in what it is doing, you can’t help but reflect on what shapes your perceptions as you take the quiz.
• Emerald Empire Reading Council Newsletter – Attached is a copy of the January/February issue of The Literacy Line, the newsletter of the Emerald Empire Reading Council. Much of it deals with the effectiveness of using analogy, metaphor, and simile for teaching concepts, helping students remember important information, and improving student writing.
• Eric Schaps and 4J – If you’re curious what principals are studying, one person working with district and building administrators is Eric Schaps. He is the founder and president of the Oakland, Calif.-based Developmental Studies Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving children’s academic, ethical, and social development. He has directed the center since its inception in 1980.. Attached are a couple articles he’s written. One interesting article titled “What’s Right and Wrong in Character Education Today” was especially interesting because it seems to criticize many aspects of PBS, which is of course quite well thought of in most 4J schools. I found it an interesting counterpoint to what a lot of us take for granted, but if that rubs you wrong, I’m sure he’ll win you back over with his editorial “Why the No Child Left Behind Act Is Unsalvageable”, which largely condemns NCLB. Also attached are two other articles, one entitled “Creating Caring School Communities” and the other “Missing in Action: The Non-Role of Research in Policy and Practice”. Certainly not required reading, but something you may be hearing more about in the future.
Have an great week, everyone!
Allan