Madison Middle School

Hi Madison Family,

Here are this week’s updates:

MADISON INFORMATION

• Focus Lessons and Slides:
  • Tuesday : Academic Check-in and Missing Assignments Activity
  • Wednesday : Anti-racism Work
• Peter Update: I do not love sharing news this way, but I wanted to let you know if I do not seem like my normal self.  I would tell you in a staff meeting but I would be crying too much and not be able to get any words out. Last week, my mom was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia.  I am a huge mommas boy and this hit me hard.  She was supposed to live into her 90s like her mom and she is only 71 years old. Sometimes when I sit down (especially driving), I just start crying.  She met with a new doctor yesterday and the doctor is cautiously optimistic that a bone marrow transplant could extend her life.  As you could probably guess, I signed up to be on the bone marrow donor registry last night.  Some staff already know and have asked if they can do anything, that is very nice, but we are good. We are a very blessed and privileged family and do not need anything except grace, positive thoughts and prayer.
  

DISTRICT INFORMATION                               

• SEAL: Summer Enrichment & Academic Learning Program: Our traditional summer school program is undergoing an overhaul this year. It will blend academics with enrichment, include 5 weeks of additional schooling with a longer school day. Linked here is a quick sheet on some of the features and the timeline. If you’re interested, jobs should be posted in early March.
       
• Covid Masking Update: As you may have heard, OHA has announced that the mask mandate for indoor spaces will be lifted no later than March 31 provided case counts continue to drop. Each district will determine if they will continue the mandate after March 31. Should a district choose to make masks optional, rules+ about Covid exposures and testing policies will change. Schools wouldn’t be able to use the “Test to Stay” program for kids exposed to Covid at school. We would have to contact trace every positive case and put kids out on quarantines more often as well. We don’t know yet what the district will decide. For now all the usual requirements are in place.
• Contact Tracing Update: Beginning on Tuesday, we will resume contact tracing students who test positive. However, we will ONLY be contact tracing during meals eaten indoors.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION       

• Get Ridiculous: From Ian Byrd’s blog Birdseed:I used to aim for “real world” problems when planning lessons. But this was often a pathway to the mundane. I mean, how many times did I ask students to calculate how much paint they’d need for a wall? Real world? Yes. Interesting? Not even close. Our brains are drawn to the unusual and the unexpected. Let’s take advantage of that and purposefully seek out weird outliers, oddball examples, and unexpected constraints. Let’s get ridiculous!Get ridiculous with Math:If you’re writing a fraction problem, PLEASE don’t make it about pizza! No one uses fractions when eating pizza. But if your question has to be about a pizza, then make that pizza unbelievably huge. Make it the size of a football stadium. Or have Tiny Tim eat just 2/999 of the pizza. Make the numbers weird!Get ridiculous with Language Arts:Rather than pushing kids to write 500 word stories, we’d practice very very very short stories. Or ask students to rewrite sentences or paragraphs without using a particular letter.See the full Byrdseed Article for more ideas on how to get ridiculous and grab kids’ interest. If you’re intrigued by this, you can subscribe to the Brydseed Newsletter.

Next Week at a Glance:

I hope you have a great week!

Peter and Gina

Hi Madison Staff,

We’re officially over halfway through the school year! It seems to have gone so quickly and slowly all at the same time. Info is short and sweet this week.

Here are this week’s updates:

MADISON INFORMATION (Replace Staff Meeting)

• FOCUS Slides
  • In the Focus survey, many commented that they’d like a more uniform way to check in with students on Monday. We’re including an assignment grid that you can use to document what students are working on that week. As you discuss with them what’s happening for the week, you can fill it in on a digital copy of the slide, print out your own copy and fill it out under the doc camera, or create your own grid on your board. Students may not know everything they’re working on on Monday; you can revisit the grid throughout the week to fill in important info. You’ll see a prompt to revisit the grid on Thursday.
     
    We’re starting a new art activity next week – stop motion animation. The activity will be introduced on Wednesday, then students will have a chance to use a storyboard on Thursday to do some planning for their animation, which they’ll begin to film the following week. In the survey, some teachers commented that there wasn’t enough time for the previous art activity; we’ll add a little more time for this one!
• Staffing Update:  We are very lucky that our second night custodian should be starting on Monday.  We have been without one since before the pandemic started.  His name is Jason Hilliker.  When you see him, please introduce yourself and welcome him to Madison.
• AVID Summer Institute is back! In order to revitalize our AVID program, following CDL, we are excited to be able to send a team of 6 to sunny San Diego June 26th-29th to continue building knowledge and excitement around moving toward school-wide AVID best practices. If you are interested in joining the Madison Site Team, please let Gina know right away! She needs to get names to the district coordinator. Flights, a shared hotel room, and a per diem for meals will be paid be the district. 
• Sub Plans: Canvas has been a good tool that most of us are using when we are going to be out building (both scheduled and unplanned).  We are running into a people problem with the tool.  Subs do not know the students who have behavior plans, IEPs or go by different names than in synergy.  The office will still include the synergy attendance reports with the student’s legal names but tell the sub to use the seating charts for attendance.
  • In your sub folder, please include:
    • Seating chart with preferred names and legal last names
    • Students with IEPs
    • Students with Behavior Plans
• DeadNaming: Do you know what this is? I did not 36 hours ago.  I had to google it because it is happening at our school.  The quick version of the definition is that students are using birth names and gender to be mean.  One reason this is happening more is because subs  are calling out legal names when doing attendance – hence the need for seating charts with preferred names.  We are going to start making announcements about this and there will be a Focus lesson in the coming weeks.  I am mentioning it because I want you aware and to interrupt it and if needed get admin involved.
• Tardies: I am having a hard time motivating students to get to class (especially after lunch).  Remember that you can (and I encourage you) to give minor referral for tardies for any student who has been late three or more times to your class.
• Supervision: The supervision schedule has been updated in the Zimbra calendar.  Please check it and be out in the halls supporting the students.  Also, if you are out of the building on the day you have supervision – please put supervision in your sub plans.  Think back many moons ago, your commons met and established a schedule for supervising the commons during passing periods.  Please revisit that document and update any new teachers to the plan.
• Distraction Challenge: Our students rocked round 1, I think we have been to everyone’s first periods.  In a couple of classes, it was harder for the teacher to stay focused than the students.  You know you are 🙂 Now it is time to keep elevating the distractions.  Our plan is to continue the challenge the rest of the year.  We have had some requests for certain periods and we will work to honor those requests.

DISTRICT INFORMATION                               

• Administrator Staffing News: Here are some updates from downtown.
  • Morgan Christenson, Title IX Administrator: Morgan Christensen, principal of Kennedy Middle School and Chinese Immersion, has been temporarily reassigned through Spring Break to help resolve the backlog of Title IX and Sexual Harassment investigations. This is usually Dawn Strong’s role, but she has been overseeing Covid safety. Morley Hegstrom, a retired administrator, will step in to help support Kennedy.
  • Brooke Wagner, Asst Superintendent of Instruction: Brooke Wagner has been named the new Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, replacing Dr. Jose Salgado, who left the role earlier this year. Brooke had been serving as the Temporary Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services this year and was an elementary school director the past 5 years.
  • Melissa Goff, Temporary Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services: Melissa Goff, who was most recently the former superintendent of the Greater Albany School District, will serve as the temporary assistant superintendent of administrative services. Previously, this was Superintendent Vandercar’s role before she was named Interim Superintendent and it is held as temporary during her interim appointment. 
• TAG Newsletter – Here’s some information and resources for supporting TAG students (and all students) in classrooms. February’s newletter focus is on Mental Health

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION       

• Repeat: Black History Month Resources – February is Black History Month, so I wanted to pass along this list as a starting point for resources. There are, of course, many other resources available; Rethinking Schools, the Zinn Education Project, and Facing History and Ourselves to name a few. (All credit to Allan Chinn for compiling these resources.)Info on BHM origins:
  • Awesome Video: How Black History Went From a Week to a Month
  • Article: Black History Themes
  • Article: The Man Behind Black History MonthOn Teaching:
  • How to Be an Anti-Racist White Educator
  • What Anti-Racist Teachers Do DifferentlyBlack Youth Leaders and Activists:
  • Past: Youth in the Civil Rights Movement
  • Present: Young Black Activists, Young Black Leaders and Creators Making History Today, Amanda GormanBlack History Month 2021
  For 2021, the BHM theme is The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity. There’s obviously such a wealth of resources to work with here, but these are a few books related to this theme:
  • Read-aloud: Me and Mama
  • Sony Animation: Hair Love
  • Read-aloud (there are a bunch of other great ones on this YouTube channel): We MarchLesson plans, etc.:
  • Virtual History Journeys
  • PBS Learning ResourcesKeep in mind that black history and teaching the story of historically of marginalized groups should be a year round-activity and not just a sidebar or novelty to the American history typically taught in U.S. schools. It should be viewed as a central part of the American story.

Next Week at a Glance:

I hope you have a great week!

Peter and Gina

Hi Madison Staff,

I hope everyone enjoyed their 3 day week with students.  

Here are this week’s updates:

MADISON INFORMATION          

• (This is us begging…) Please Stay Home If You’re Sick: We love you guys. We so appreciate your dedication and how much you don’t want to leave your colleagues in a lurch, but if you’re unwell, PLEASE STAY HOME! That sore throat, suddenly runny nose, blistering headache are all currently COVID symptoms. If you’re feeling unwell while on site, come by and talk with Gina or Donna. We’ll get you tested. But please stay home if you’re sick. Pretty please with a cherry on top.
• Focus Slides: Please make sure to hit Monday’s slides on Monday, this week. They introduce our school-wide ignoring disruptions challenge, and the challenge will only work if all kids know about it and know how to respond when adults come in to create silly (or not so silly) distractions.

• Major Referrals: When students receive a level 3 (major) referral, it helps to note on the referral form if the teacher has already or plans to contact the parent. The section at the bottom of the referral only requires my signature – it doesn’t require me to take action if you already have. If you’ve managed the consequences of the referral and the parent contact, please fill out that section and just leave the signature line for me.  

DISTRICT INFORMATION                               
      

• • Get Boosted to Avoid a Quarantine: Anyone 6 months past their 2nd dose who haven’t yet received a booster shot is now not considered up to date on Covid vaccines by the CDC and the district. Without your booster shot, if you are identified as a close contact exposure to covid, you will need to quarantine at home for 5 days. Please let Gina know if you’ve been within 6 ft of someone who’s tested positive for 15 minutes within a 24 hour period. She will help to determine any needed quarantine period and next steps.
    
        
• Jan. 28 EA Extravaganza: Downtown is putting together a list of professional development opportunities for EAs for the morning of January 28. Due to limited in-person capacities and to provide flexibility, many of the sessions will be asynchronous.
      
• EEF Grants Due Feb. 4 – EEF is now accepting grants for round two of the school year. See the EEF Email or EEF Website for details. Unlike in the past, staff may directly submit grants without first going through Site Council. 

Next Week at a Glance:

It’s a 4 day week with kids! Have a good one!

Hi Madison Staff,

I hope you all had a good first week back with the students!

Here are this week’s updates:

MADISON INFORMATION         

• Returning to School: This is my friendly PSA about returning to work healthy. Weekly COVID cases rose over 25% this week and are expected to continue to climb as this new variant appears to be more contagious than previous ones. Vaccination status doesn’t seem to offer protection from becoming infected, but instead reduces the likelihood of becoming seriously ill. If you don’t feel well, please stay home until you are feeling better. The CDC has put out new guidelines around isolating and quarantining, but we haven’t adopted those as a district yet, so we are continuing with the old protocols for now.

• Focus Slide: Star Wars themed slides 

DISTRICT INFORMATION                               

• PD/PLC Time Returning: January brings with it the return of some of our PD and PLC time. The time has been reduced to 1 hour per week and will be on Fridays from 1:30-2:25 to ensure teachers get their golden hour of planning as well. I’ll share more about our plan during our January 3rd meeting. There are only two Fridays in January so we’ll get a nice slow start.
     
• EasyCBM Winter Benchmarking: The easyCBM testing window for winter will be from January 4 – February 18. TLC will talk about our next steps for EasyCBM.
      
• COVID Updates:
     
  • Test to Stay: We are implementing a test to stay protocol ONLY for students who are unvaccinated and a close contact due to a COVID exposure at school. Students will still be required to quarantine if they are an unvaccinated close contact due to an exposure outside of school. 
         
  • COVID Testing for Symptomatic Individuals: We are able to offer Binax Now rapid tests for students who appear to be symptomatic while at school. We cannot offer this as “come in and see if you have COVID”, but instead as an additional layer when kids are sent to the office displaying COVID symptoms such as a fever. Robin, Kim R, and myself are the coordinators for this testing. Kim, Robin, or I will communicate with families around testing should a student be symptomatic.
      
• January No School Dates: January has quite a few no school dates…
  • Monday, January 17 – Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday
  • Friday, January 28 – Progress Reports
        
• Winter Weather: We may have a few more late starts and possibly some snow days in our future. The district announces these events by 6:30am. They communicate via text to families as well as posting on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Additionally, they post to the district website. I will also implement a phone tree to communicate late starts and snow days. I will text licensed staff members who will then communicate with the EAs with whom they work. If there’s no news, assume school is happening as planned.
  • 2 Hour Delay: This means school is postponed by 2 hours and our doors open at 9:45 instead of 7:45. Full time licensed staff would report by 9:30. Classified staff who start before 9:30, would also report by 9:30. If your start time is after 9:30, you would report at your regular start time. Please reach out if you have questions.
  • Snow Day: School is canceled and the vast majority of staff are not expected to report to work on these days.
  • Use of Leave: If you’re unable to report to work on a 2 hour delay day, you will need to use leave time. Please connect with me or Lori if you need to use leave on a 2 hour delay day.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION       

• Creative Ways to Teach Breathing to Young Learners: This article from Edutopia provides ways to “Make Breathing Visible” for kids. From belly stones to art about breath, these strategies can help students learn to use breathing as a calming and centering technique.
     
• EEA Seminar Brochure: Linked here is the EEA 2022 Professional Development Seminar Series. Along with helpful PD, licensed staff can also earn credits to bump columns on the pay scale.

Next Week at a Glance:

May your students be kind and your patience be plentiful.

Peter and Gina

Hi Madison Staff,

I hope you all were able to get some good rest and downtime in this weekend. You definitely deserve it!

Here are this week’s updates:

DISTRICT INFORMATION                               

• Calendar Changes: Last Tuesday, the school board approved the following calendar changes:
  • Dec. 6 – No school for elementary students, work day for elementary staff (This is also a grading day for middle and high school.)
  • Dec. 7 – School is in session for elementary, no school for middle/high school (work day for middle/high school staff)
  • Jan. 21 – No school for students. This is now elementary school’s grading day.
  • Jan. 28 – This was grading day. It’s now a teacher work day to prep for any transitions related to online school.
  • April 15 – The PD/Planning day for March 18 is now a teacher work day. April 15 will be a PD/Planning day for staff instead.
          
• ODE and OHA Updates: Oregon Health Authority has removed the mandate that requires mask in crowded outdoor spaces. ODE has said it will be up to local districts to determine if they will still require students, staff, and visitors to wear masks outdoors. For now we are maintaining status quo until we hear otherwise. Additionally, ODE is implementing a new “Test to Stay” protocol. This means students exposed to Covid at school (this does not apply to students exposed at home, sports, etc) have the option to agree to rapid testing and stay in school. They would test on the day we learn about their exposure and then again a few days later. If they remain negative, they can stay at school. You can learn more here. I don’t have any district level updates about these two issues, so we will continue on as usual for now.
              

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION       

• Got any great resources to share? Send them my way!

Next Week at a Glance:

8 more school days for the year!

Peter and Gina