Madison Middle School

By gaston_e 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2019/09/01/september-1-2019/

Dear Staff,

It was great seeing everyone last week and getting back into our routines. Read on for some information for the week ahead and other news.

• T.A.s – If you’d like to participate in selecting TAs, please meet in the library at 10am on Tuesday. We will have the applications and availability of students ready at that time.

• Tuesday’s Work – Here are some things that can or should get done and finalized on Tuesday:
  • PBIS Behavior Tour Planning
    • PE = gym
    • Social Studies = cafeteria
    • Math = buses
    • Language Arts = hallways
    • Science = outside areas
    • Electives = office
  • iPad Cart Storage and Teaching plan
  • iPad app requests (send a ticket to 4j desktop)
  • Talent Ed Self Evaluation
  • Safe Schools modules

• Student Technology Agreement – With the 1:1 iPad Roll Out, students and parents will be required to sign a Technology Agreement. We will hand them out and Fee and Schedule Night and again in Focus classes during the first week of school. I will provide you with a tracking sheet for your Focus class. If you could please keep the agreements until Friday, September 13, then put them in my box. Students are expected to return the form by Friday the 13th in order to take their iPads with them to class. We’ll talk at the staff meeting about what happens with kids who don’t return it.

• Meeting Schedule – We are closer to finalizing the meeting schedule for the year. Here’s what we have:
  • Staff Meetings = 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 7:45-8:30 starting September 18
  • TLC = 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 7:30-8:30 starting September 10
  • Climate = 2nd and 4th Wednesday from 3:45-4:45 starting September 11 (2nd Wednesday = PBIS, 4th Wednesday = ISLA)
  • Justice League = 2nd and 4th Thursday from 7:45-8:30 starting September 12

• W.O.W. – Just a reminder that our Tier 1 protocol for ISLA includes using W.O.W. strategies to help kids feel connected and seen and help make classroom expectations more predictable. We know it’s not possible to greet every kid at the door every period every day, but making a conscious effort to make sure students are seen and recognized daily goes a long way toward increasing on-task behavior and decreasing misbehavior.
  
  • W = Welcome every student at the door. Greet students by name and provide positive, non-contingent attention to help build the positive bank
  • O = Own your classroom routines and procedures. Create and explicitly teach the routines and procedures kids need to know to function successfully in your room. Provide feedback so kids know when they are meeting your expectations.
  • W = Wrap up with intention. End with an activity that signals to students the class has ended and provides them an opportunity to have voice, reflect on their learning, or engage with one another. Here is the video we didn’t get to show with an example of wrapping up with intention. 

• ISLA  – Here are the slides from Friday’s ISLA training. The Climate team will be working to create Madison forms and systems to begin implementing the program. Please let Peter or Erin know if you have any questions about ISLA. 

• Enrollment – As Peter shared on Friday, our enrollment is about 30 kids over our projections. We hope extra staffing is coming, but final decisions won’t be made until after school starts.  

• Read 180 Staffing – We learned on Friday morning that we were getting another .2 to fund a Read180 class. Many thanks to Heather for taking that on! 

• Master Schedule – With the addition of staffing for Read 180, we had to revise the master schedule yet again. Rechelle is working hard to get the schedule rebuilt in Synergy. Our goal is to have everyone fully scheduled by 10am on Tuesday. We know it’s challenging to have class lists (and for some, classes) up in the air and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we get scheduling finalized.

• Friday Early Release PD – Karen Perez da Silva, 4j’s Equity Administrator, will join us to help launch our grade level teams and PLCs. We will meet in the library at 2:45.

• New Field Trip Protocol:
  • All this information is in the “Field Trip” tab of the blog
  • All field trips are now required to be vetted through the online field trip process. The only exceptions are Walking Field Trips (within 10 blocks of the school) and non-overnight team events within their conferences. 
    • A district generated field trip permission form is required for all trips, including Walking Field Trips, outside 10 blocks of the school, and must be kept on file for one year.
    • Deadlines for submission and approvals have drastically changed. They are as follows:
    1. Day – requests are due 30 days in advance of the trip, all trip requirements must be met 5 days prior to departure
    2. In State Overnight – requests are due 45 days in advance of the trip, all trip requirements must be met 10 days prior to departure
    3. Out of State, High Risk, Or Outdoor School – requests are due 90 days in advance of the trip, all trip requirements must be met 15 days prior to departure
    • Please inform staff to pay special attention to what the district considers “high risk”.  Failure to get your trip submitted on time because a staff member did not do their due diligence will result in a denial.
    • Staff must be signed into their district generated google account to access the field trip materials or to submit a request. If they are unaware that they have a google account they can access it using the same credentials as their 4j email.
    • Upon completion, a copy of the trip submission will be sent to the sponsoring staff member, they can forward the information to secretaries as needed.
    • The sponsoring staff member must have a meeting with the building administrator prior to submitting a request. Administrators will also receive a copy of the trip submission and will be required to acknowledge support of all details in order for the information to move forward for approval or denial.
    • The Field Trip Reference Guide is located HERE the link to the google form is on the bottom of the guide.
    • No custom or site specific trip forms will be accepted. All district form are included within the reference guide that is provided. If there is a need for additional forms or if a unique situations arises staff should contacthr_fieldtrips@4j.lane.edu or Melissia Olin at 541-790-7669 for assistance. 

• Staff Meeting Notetaker – Below is a rotating schedule for people to take notes at staff meetings. With a number of part-time staff and with a goal of clear communication, we want to capture what is discussed at staff meetings. Meeting minutes will be in the Staff Meeting Folder in the drive.
  • September 18 = Kimberly Block
  • October 2 = Amy Brooks
  • October 16 = Geoff Davis
  • November 6 = M.E. Dunlap
  • November 20 = Jason Erickson
  • December 4 = Anne Glassow
  • December 18 = Matt Goodban
  • January 8 = Christina Hinton
  • January 22 = Kellen Hobie
  • February 5 = Jessica Johnson
  • February 19 = Heather Kliever
  • March 4 = Allison Machado
  • March 18 = Mike Stead
  • April 1 = Tyler Stubbard
  • April 15 = Anne Tomlanovich
  • May 6 = Ken Walker
  • May 20 = Tim Wilcox
  • June 3 = Jan Youngman 

• Questions to Ask Instead of “What Did You Do This Summer?” – Most of us probably had a summer we enjoy telling others about. For some of our students, summer may not have been full of fun adventures and relaxation. Here are some other ideas and questions to replace some of our usual questions about kids’ summers.
  • Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How Was Your Summer?” Anymore – Teacher Paula Borque shares how she shifted from asking kids about their summers (but still listening if kids want to talk about it) to asking questions and giving writing prompts that ask more about what students need to be successful in her classroom. There’s a really great poem in this post as well.
  • 40 Weird Questions to Ask Students (my personal favorite: What song would you want played every time you walk into a room?)
  • 12 Questions to Ask Students on the First Day of School
  • 3 Question Activities to Connect Students

• Library Book Sale – The Friends of  the Eugene Public Library are hold a book sale meant for K-8 teachers and students. There will be hundreds of books, CDs, and DVDs, along with a large collection of teacher resource materials. Most items are $1. The sale is in the downtown library on September 9th from noon to 6pm.
  

• Northwest Community Credit Union Mini Grants – The goal of the NWCU Mini Grant Program is to help educators create learning experiences for kids that might not otherwise be funded by school budgets. Educators submit their funding needs/wishes (up to $1,500) to NWCU through a competitive submission process. Submissions are being accepted now through October 10, 2019 with winners awarded in December. Grants can be for supplies, (e.g., calculators, dissection specimens, art materials, basic school supplies, etc.), materials (e.g., books for classroom libraries or to support curriculum, funding for field trips, etc.), technology (e.g., iPads, Boogie Board e-writers, headphones, etc.), and more. Follow the link above to submit your grant.

• Student Mental Health Days – Oregon students can now take up to 5 mental health days per year. This article from Edutopia details how some states are working to tackle students’ mental health needs. As the article states, “Since 1999, the suicide rate has increased nationally by 30 percent, and is particularly high for girls, children living in rural areas, and students during the school year, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.” The goal of laws like these are to help reduce the stigma around mental health needs and to demonstrate that mental well-being is just as important as physical well-being. 

• Who is Erin anyway? I didn’t really get a chance to tell you all a little about me, so if you’re interested, I’ll share a little nugget about myself each week. The thing that probably most defines my childhood is Disneyland. I grew up in Southern California and spent a lot of time there. My dad was a character in the parks in his late teens and early twenties and my mom carried banners in the parades. Later, my brother got a job driving floats in the parades and I joined him there when I turned 16. I drove floats and danced in the parades for about 8 years. It was the best! As a bonus, I met my husband there, too.
  
  Bonus: Can you guess where I am in this photo?
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Zimbra calendar for future events, but here’s what’s happening in the next two weeks:

               September 2 (M)
              Labor Day – No School

              September 3 (T)
             Building PD
             Fee and Schedule Night
               – 4-5:30pm, 6th grade
               – 5:30-7pm, 7th & 8th grade

              September 4 (W)
             Classes begin for 6th graders
             2pm – New 7th and 8th graders

              September 5 (H)
             All students begin classes

              September 6 (F)
             2:45, Building based PD (Launching Grade Level Teams and PLCs with Karen Perez da Silva)

                 September 9 (M)
                  iPad Roll Out Day 1 – Getting and putting away devices

                 September 10 (T)
                  7:45 TLC Meeting
                 iPad Roll Out Day 2 – Getting and putting away devices

                 September 11 (W)
                  iPad Roll Out Day 3 – iPads in Focus only: Get iPads before Focus, log into StudentVue
                 3:45 Climate Team Meeting

                 September 12 (H)
                  7:45 Justice League Meeting
                 iPad Roll Out Day 4 – iPads in Focus only: Get iPads before Focus, log into StudentVue

                 September 13 (F)
                   iPad Roll Out Day 5 – iPads go to all classes, Behavior Expectations Lessons
                 2:45 – Early Release PD: Behavior Framework