Week of October 8th, 2012
Hello Awbrey Park Staff,
We have a short week ahead of us again with much to accomplish. Friday is a Furlough Day for Classified, Certified and Administrative staff. I will be in classrooms at times this week and working with staff on goals.
I will also be meeting with individuals to talk through our leadership plan. I strongly encourage you to give input in person or by email if you have ideas on the plan. I see it as a flexible document designed to help us make progress on important instructional initiatives in our building. An example of this is the tech coordinator position. If you are interested in the coordinator position, then tell me how you would lead in that position and what you see as the most important activities. I am open to changing it, but desire strong leadership in that area.
Joel’s Schedule for the Week –
- October 8 (M) 2:00-3:30, Title 1 Principal & Coordinator Meeting, 4:00-8:00, Equity Committee Retreat
- October 9 (T) 3:00-4:00 PBIS Meeting in Rm. 13, 6:00-9:00, EEF Gala Event at LCC with Melissa, Pam, and Taylor, our student Council President
- October 10 (W) 8:00-1:40 Observations, goal meetings, and teaching throughout the day, School-wide Data Meeting, 3:00-4:00
- October 11 (H) 8:30-3:00, Jog A Thon Day, Joel to meeting downtown at 4:00 PM.
- October 12 (F) Furlough Day for Administrators- Not working or answering email.
iPad Challenge – Thank you to all the teachers who came to the workshop on Friday to learn about their new iPads. I was impressed with everyone’s enthusiasm. Also, thank you again to Barb, Christa, and Jamie for all the hard work that brought these iPads to our building. I will be attempting to use my iPad for the remainder of the month to do most computing activities. I think I am going to join Pinterest and use it on my iPad too! I encourage you to discover your iPad yourself and take the challenge. Your iPad has the latest version of Pages on it. This makes all iPads compatible with the newer versions of Pages, a previous challenge for some employees in the building. Consider doing your newsletter, website, or other teacher activity from your iPad. And by all means, have fun with it (including for personal enjoyment too). Try out new free apps and share which apps you find useful with your colleagues. This is the best way to learn. One thing I have found about technology is that growth and learning happens when we are social about our technology learning
Huge Visible Thinking Resource: As you may have figured out, visible thinking teaching practices are not new. Harvard School of Education has a small organization called Project Zero. They have built extensive website that explains visible thinking routines and lay out specific steps to transform your classroom at kinder- 12th grade levels.
SPLASH! Program 2012-13 – SPLASH storm water education curriculum is for each grade level from kindergarten through 8th grade. “Salmon and the Ecosystem” continues the curriculum in grades 5-12 with an emphasis on salmon and its role in our area’s ecosystem, economy and culture. Attached is an SPLASH-flyer2012. It includes contact information for new or replacement materials. All materials are free to teachers in Eugene and participating schools will receive a grant of $1,000. Let Melinda or I know if you are interested in the program and we will get you registered.
Oregon Spellers – Attached is a Speller Brochure and information on Oregon Spellers. This is a spelling bee type competition that may appeal to gifted readers and gifted children in general.
Staver Dance Sport Field Trip – A local ballroom dance studio, StaverDanceSport, is offering schools a free field trip on weekdays, from 9:30-11:30 or 1:20-2:30. The trip includes a lesson in Waltz, Cha Cha and Tango and is intended to give the students a chance to really experience Ballroom Dancing in a professional studio. Visit their website or call at (541) 746-6268 for more information or to set up a field trip.
Thank You, Teachers! – And if you’d like a more inspiring of video, Friday was UNESCO World Teachers’ Day, which YouTube used as an opportunity to feature the stories of teachers worldwide who open doors. One of the features was highlighting videos of celebrities talking about their most inspiring teachers. Thank you again for your valuable work in the world.
Have an inspirational week!
Joel