Joel’s Journal for May 19th, 2014
Schedule of Events for the Week
May 19 (M)
K-2 EasyCBM Spring Benchmark
7:45-10:00, Joel in the building.
10:00-12:00, Joel at OSEA Bargaining
12:00-2:30, Joel to Title I Principal and Coordinator Meeting (Ed Center)
3:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting
May 20 (T)
Last day to submit PO’s, ans Student Body Funds for Receipts.
5 :00 PM Deadline to submit the new staffing information to HR.
10:15-12:00, 5th Grade to Madison
11:00-11:30, Joel and Sarah G in Parent Meeting
May 21 (W)
9:00- 9:20, Joel running a school tour.
3:00-4:00, Scheduling Meeting- Intervention Schedule, SMART Schedule, Lunch Schedule
Mucho Gusto Fundraiser in the evening
May 22 (H)
8:30- 12:30, 4th and 5th Grade to Track Meet
3:00-5:00, 4J Retirement Celebration (Ed Center)
3:00-3:30, End of the year conference with Lindsay.
4:00-5:30, Joel to the Instructional Policy Council in Instruction Dept.
Mucho Gusto Fundraiser in the evening
May 23 (F)
1:00-1:30, Assembly: Awbrey Park Choir and North Eugene Choir sings for students!
Hi All,
This week is our last five day week for a while (there’s only one more this year!), so we can all look forward to a refreshing and well deserved three-day Memorial Day Weekend.
Here are some items of note for the week:
• Back to Fundamentals (from Brianna Stiller) – Here is an email reminder from Brianna Stiller that was shared with principals, which I thought was worth passing along:
Back to Basics
This time of year, I have often send some nagging emails, reminding us all to breathe deeply and remember what works. It’s like in golf: When you are playing badly, they remind you to start by checking your grip, stance, ball position, and alignment, because 90% of the problems start with errors in one of those fundamentals.
We all know there is no huge mystery about how to manage behavior effectively. Most of us are well aware. What we don’t always do is check fundamentals when student behavior is going south. So, if you or any of your fellow staff are struggling with end of year “Lame Duck” syndrome, check the following fundamentals:
1. When is the last time I retaught my expectations? If it was more than two weeks ago, do it again.
2. How often do I talk to kids, or use physical prompts, right after they do something right, as opposed to how often do I look at or talk to them right after they do something wrong? The ratio should be 4 or 5 to 1. In well managed classrooms, where the rate of AET is over 85%, the ratio is often about 2:1. In poorly managed classrooms, where rate of AET is less than 75%, it is often as low as 1:10. I know this not only because of the research, but I observe in 2-10 classrooms per week and I always take this data. Rarely is the ideal of 4:1 actually reached!
3. Active Engagement; Opportunities to Respond: How much of the total class time is the teacher talking; versus how much of the total class time are the students talking (talking about the content, of course!!!!!). The percentage of time the teacher is talking should be less than 50% across activities. For some types of instruction it should be more, and some less, but kids learn most when there are very high rates of active responding.
Whenever I have taught kids and had less than perfect behavior, I have never had to look beyond these three variables to figure out what was wrong.
End of Speech!!!! Carry on! You can each decide whether to send this to your entire staff — if you think it is a good reminder, do so. If you think they will say “Oh no, not her again” I won’t be offended if you don’t.
Brianna
•District Admin Updates – Seth Pfaefflin has been hired as the newest Education Support Services administrator. Seth began his career as a special education teacher at Thurston Middle School, later coming to 4J as the head teacher and co-founder of the Path Finder program. Seth and I worked together when I was a Summer School head teacher for Path Finder over a few summers. He has served as an autism consultant and currently as a secondary consultant. He will be a great addition to the ESS admin team.
• OCEP Summer Workshops! – Kim Finch emailed principals this unique opportunity for teachers who want to create elementary marine science units designed for grades 3-5 this summer. These units will align to the Next Generation Science Standards. Teachers will need to pay their own registration(90.00), but you will receive lodging and meals, and optional credit through PSU. If you complete the teaching units and implement them next year, you will also receive an additional stipend. See the attached flyer for details.
• Give the Kid a Pencil – What should you do when a student shows up for class unprepared—again? This teacher’s approach may surprise you. I found this a nice post from Teaching Tolerance about the type of classroom environment teachers can choose to set for students.
• Eliminating Disparities in School Discipline – Here is an article that Tasha Katsuda sent out about eliminating discipline between different racial groups. It is a great article. It spurred me to think deeper about our practices at Awbrey Park. I believe our staff does a good job of recognizing how to collaborate on prevention of creating these disparities. It would be interesting to see if the SWIS data matches that.
Only 19 more days until summer (and five days until a nice three-day weekend)!
Joel