Week of December 10th
Hello staff,
Here is a quick thought for the week which I like.
Here are the events of the week:
Dec. 10 (M)
8:45-10:00- Teacher Observation
2:30-5:00- Joel to Elementary Principals Meeting
Dec. 11 (T)
12:15-1:30- Teacher Observation
3:00- 4:00- PBIS Meeting
Dec. 12 (W)
9:15- Fire Drill
2:45- 3:45- Math Leadership Meeting Jamie’s Room
Dec. 13 (H)
10:00-1:00 Sara Cramer to visit Awbrey Park to shadow a student for 60-90 minutes with Joel
Dec. 14 (F)
8:00-4:00, Joel to required OIS (Oregon Intervention Systems) certification training (Ed Center)
3:00-4:00 IIPM Data Consultation
4:00-5:00 Joel to Admin meeting PLC
Receiving the big red book– I will be giving each teacher a copy of the ” big red book.”This is the large Jon Saphier book called, The Skillful Teacher. I have had two teachers approach me about getting paper copies. My plan is to buy all paper copies unless you prefer an electronic version. Please let me know if you would like it in another format. As we progress into 2013 I will be promoting discussions school-wide about some “big rocks” to practice such as summarizing, giving effective feedback to students, and visual thinking. This book will be a great resource to try new strategies from and to get a better picture of what Jon Saphier’s comprehensive work is all about.
iPads, iPads, iPods!– Some of you may know about the district’s exciting iT3 project. The idea is that we will be receiving 90 iPad minis for 4th Grade and 90 iPad mini’s for 5th grade in January. In addition, both our learning center teacher, and our CLCB will also be receiving training and iPads in their classrooms, though I do not know the exact amount they will receive at this time. Professional development will be coming very soon for these teachers. Our iPad 2 fleet will be moving to Madison Middle School in January to increase the amount of students with personal devices there. Many of the 6th grade learned on these tablets last year. In addition, Tami Brittenham will be receiving 10 iPods and PD as part of an EEF Grant for increasing iPod use in 3rd grade. The TLT team will be working on plans to increase access to technology in all grades over the year. Several discussions need to occur on how to teach typing skills, how to use existing software we have licenses for in the building, how to assist primary grades with technology access, and more.
Instructional Strategies Resource– Last Wednesday, Christina shared effectiveness of summarizing as a tool in the classroom. The following website called Focus on Effectiveness outlines each skill studied of in the Robert Marzano meta-analysis. There is a section on summarizing and there are practical examples of primary, intermediate, middle level, and high school practices. This site is created by the Northwest Regional Lab in Portland. Another layer they add to the site is the integration of technology in conjunction with these powerful techniques. I highly recommend this site as a resource for new ideas on improving instruction in your classroom.
IXL Purchasing – We are purchasing the IXL Math Software for 1st through 5th grade very soon. Melinda and I are in contact with the retailer to finalize a price. Ixl works on the iOS and OSX platform. This makes it useful for all the devices we currently have deployed in our building.
Teaching about the Holidays – There are many approaches to celebrating the holidays at this time of year. Some approaches are inclusive of our students and sometimes the impact on our students is not so inclusive, even if our intention was to share different traditions. This is an article titled, Avoiding the Holiday ‘Balance Traps’ , from Tolerance.org which explains the pitfalls some teachers face when balancing holidays in their curriculum.
Books to Match Diverse Young Readers – Related to the above item, here’s a nice resource Carmen shared recently that I wanted to pass along. On this site, you can click on quality titles that feature main characters who are black, Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native and read the beginning of each book. In response to concerns by the Southern Poverty Law Center and others, the architects of the Common Core are now developing a more diverse supplemental list.
Fire Drill, Wednesday at 9:15 – Our December fire drill will be this Wednesday at 9:15, weather permitting. If it’s raining, we’ll try for a dry day next week.
Have an great week, everyone!
Joel