Joel’s Journal 1/13/2014
Hi Everyone,
It’s our first five day week in quite some time and it’s actually our only five day week with students until the week of Feb. 10th, if you can believe that.
• Schedule of Events for the Week
January 13 (M)
Easy CBM Reading and Math Benchmarking Begins
9:15, Fire Drill
10:15-11:15, Joel assisting Easy CBM
12:00-12:20, Joel in Goals Meeting with teacher.
2:00-3:30, Joel and Sara J. to Elementary Report Card Training
6:30-8:00, Joel to Awbrey Park PTO Meeting
January 14 (T)
8:00-3:00 Corvallis Intermediate Teachers (16) visit Awbrey Park (Grades 3-5). Classroom observations in the morning and joint lunch with the Awbrey Park/Corvallis 3rd-5th grade teachers. Room 13 (Jamie, Crista, Cathy, and Lindsay to work with Corvallis teachers in the afternoon. Please select iT3 in Aesop for a PM sub.
7:45-8:05, Joel meets with a teacher for mid term goals. (Office)
10:00-10:30, Joel in a meeting (Office)
3:30-5:30, Christina and Pam to Caring For Kids Meeting at Adams.
3:00- 4:05, Staff Meeting (Room 13)
Agenda:
3:00-3:15, Reid Shepard to share about Math on the New Report Card
3:15-4:05, Robert Young from Oregon Writing Project on selecting Mentor Texts
4:00-6:00, Joel goes to District Equity Meeting
January 15 (W)
7:45-8:15, Joel available to meet for mid term goals meeting. (Office)
9:00-10:00, Meeting about SEED Grant with Peggy Marconi (Office)
10:15-11:15, Joel assists with Easy CBM (Justice, 1st Grade)
11:15-11:45, Joel in Pre-observation meeting (Office)
3:00-4:00, CLIC Leadership Meeting (Room 13)
Topics will include, Title Math Day, other parent involvement and blended grade classrooms.
January 16 (H)
7:45-8:15, Joel available to meet for mid term goals meeting. (Office) Or other times….
8:30-9:30, Joel doing formal observation (Classroom)
10:15-11:15, Joel assisting Easy CBM (Justice)
11:30-4:00, iT3 Teachers & Joel to iT3 Elementary School PD Summit (Ed Center)
January 17 (F)
11:30, Joel in post observation meeting
3:30, Joel leaves to a meeting in South Eugene
Some items of note for the week:
• Schools Showcase Volunteers, Sat. Jan. 25th, 10:00-12:00 – The School Showcase will be held again this year Saturday Jan. 25th at the Ed Center, 10:00-12:00 (with an informational presentation about the school choice process 9-10). This event is for interested families to learn about all 4J schools in one place at the same time. This year’s event is shorter, just 2 hours, compared with last year’s 2.5 hours and 4 hours the first year. Let me know if any of you are willing to help me promote Awbrey Park and tell interested families why they should come to our school! Last year they provided breakfast, including a vegetarian option, for staff helping at the event!
• Free Tickets to World Junior Championships – Here’s a great opportunity you might pass along to your students and families. If students run a mile and complete the form, they will receive 1 free youth ticket and 1 free adult ticket to the World Junior Championships at Hayward Filed later this summer. It’s that easy!
• 2014 Annual Community MLK March, Standing United! January 20th, 9:30 AM – The Eugene/Springfield NAACP invites everyone in the community to take part in the 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day march on Jan. 20th at 9:30 AM, starting at the Science Factory parking lot. The theme of STANDING UNITED! is meant to reinforce the idea we are indivisible when we stand together for Justice and Equality. I will be marching. Please join me. See the flyer for details.
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day Dos and Don’ts – Here’s a good article from the latest issue of Teaching Tolerance on the dos and don’ts of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Don’t limit Dr. King’s legacy to one day. Share his story with your students all year long. This article will help you get started.
• What’s the difference between project-, problem-based learning? – There are many different approaches of learning – everything from case-based learning to zombie-based learning, according to John Larmer, editor-in-chief at the Buck Institute for Education. In this blog post, Larmer explores different teaching strategies and differentiates between two PBLs — project-based learning and problem-based learning, which he describes as two sides of the same coin to engage and teach students.
• 5 Powerful Questions Teachers Can Ask Students – In this short Edutopia article, Rebecca Alber remembers that during her first year of teaching, she was criticized by an instructional coach for asking her class a question, waiting a few seconds, and then answering it herself. “So that day,” she says, “I learned about wait/think time. And also, over the years, I learned to ask better and better questions.” Here are some of her favorites:
• What do you think?
• Why do you think that?
• How do you know this?
• Can you tell me more?
• What questions do you still have?
• A video to take time and watch! – Sara Cramer recently shared this video with the School Board and had appreciative responses from them. If you have time, this video, the latest spoken word video from Suli Breaks titled “I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate,” is well worth watching
Have a fabulous week, everyone!
Joel