As I listened to your your feedback shared in both the spring listening sessions and my individual meetings with staff, there is an overwhelming desire for consistent communication and having plans in advance so that you are prepared to lead your classes. I plan to use the DHouse Memo, a blog site, as a digital tool to hopefully alleviate many of the frustrations that have been shared regarding trying to find the most current information. I ask that you all "subscribe by email" to this blog (directions below) so that you get each new post sent to your inbox. During the school year I will post a weekly memo on Friday mornings --the "Friday Focus" to help you plan ahead for the following week. I may add in other reflections and resources as well.
As you scroll down on the right side of the blog, you will find:
*The staff calendar: This is the DHS/DMS Staff calendar.
*Subscribe via email: Please subscribe by adding your email address here so that each of my posts go straight to your inbox. You will get an initial email asking if you're sure you want to confirm. This should come right away, so if you don't see it, check your junk folder.
*Search previous memos: Nothing to find now, but down the road, you may want to use this feature to search for something you remember being in a weekly memo at some point, but don't remember when.
*My Goodreads yearly reading challenge and "bookshelf": I am a lifelong learner and reader. If we are to encourage our students to read, then we need to be readers too. Research has found that one of the habits of a lifelong reader is that they have others in their network/friends to get book recommendations from (this is from Donalyn Miller's book Reading in the Wild). Goodreads is one of my favorite places to connect with other readers and get book suggestions, so I share it with you on this memo site as well. (This is also why you'll find 'What I'm currently reading' in my email signature. With each email, you may find a book title catch your eye. What if every snapchat our students saw, they also got a book recommendation?! ;)
*Blog Archive: This will show up as there are more posts. You will be able to click by month, then by date to find previous posts.
*Great Things I Noticed this Week: I will share some oft he great work I notice as I am in classrooms and interacting with students/families. My hope is this will help you all become aware of the awesome work through our building, as well as gain new strategies to add to your teacher toolbox.
*Upcoming events: I know you have the google calendar, but I will still highlight what's to come in the following week.
*"Nuts & Bolts" Notes: These will be details of things you need to know, so you need to read them in order to know them!
*Tech Tip of the Week: This tip will come from our tech department each week.
*Blogs, Tweets and Quotes: This is just an extra fun section of inspiration and ideas to share with you. You don't have to read them like you do the "Nuts & Bolts" but I do spend time each week curating what I'd like to share with you. If you find something to be shared in this section, please let me know!
