Friday Focus - September 27, 2019

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Students working together in teams to review concepts using Quizziz.
*Students in ELA turning/talking with partners about the dominant traits of the characters in their books.
*Students working together in partners to provide each other with feedback on their project using the rubric to check through that each other had all components prior to finalizing it to turn it in.
*Students teaching each other in small groups after reading their "jigsaw" parts of an article. Students who read the same part of the article discussed it and decided what was most important to teach the rest before returning to their mixed groups to teach their team and learn from them.

Events Next Week:
Monday - 6th graders get to take iPads home
Tuesday - after school staff flu shot clinic
Wednesday -MS/HS Faculty meeting at 3:15 in IMC (agenda topic-your "tough nugget" students)


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*When writing up student behavior incidents in Educlimber, when you get to the response part and you know it is a major/significant incident that needs to be dealt with my administration, you should be clicking "No, leave open for review" under the response and then select Referral as the Type. If you do not select something for Type it won't be complete and let you hit submit. Here's what that looks like:

*I missed out on the first fire drill, but heard many classes got out quickly, calmly and even handled the long wait well.  If this one caught you off guard, then it was a great reminder to make sure you've got your class lists/emergency attendance forms ready in your go bag so you're ready to grab it and take attendance once you get to your spot. Please stay with your class

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:
*A Reminder for those Tough Moments with Students
*See the Small - great reminder. What small wins are happening around you that you might not be noticing, because you're not looking for them?

Friday Focus - September 20, 2019

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Students moving around the room in random small groups to review different key parts of their learning, talking in their groups and adding notes to chart paper. As groups moved around to each chart they could review previous notes and add to them.
*Class math Jeapordy for review with fun. Students worked together in groups to solve the different problems while playing Jeapordy.
*Playing cards used as a quick strategy for partners/groupings.
*A SAS teacher emailed to parents to introduce herself and her role in working their child, then followed up with a screenshot of each student's grades at the end of the week. She received positive replies from almost every parent for her involvement! What a way to be a champion for kids!
*Students taking a vocabulary pretest with one column to write their best guess answers, then got to find the correct answers in their books and write the correct answer in the next column. This allowed them to have a first self-assessment of what they already know and what they will be learning.
*I see so many of you out in the hallways greeting kids, having informal conversations and even reminding students to return to their locker to get something (book, ipad etc). Your hallway presence matters for students. Thank you!
*Staff teamwork in bathroom patrol to curb some of those sneaky bathroom activities. When kids see we are checking, it sends the message to stop.  Thank you for your help!

Events Next Week:
Monday - EP Training at 3:15 in IMC on SLO/PPG/Surveys
Tuesday - High School field trip for Wild Life Management and Ecology
Wednesday - I will be out of the building leading a workshop for new principals
Thursday - Juniors/Seniors college visit to UW Oshkosh

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
* I heard feedback that picture day was disruptive. In all my years I never figured out how to make picture day not be disruptive at one point in the day, so please let me know if you have any ideas for next year.  If students ask, Picture Retake Day is October 23rd.
*If you didn't already show Linda/Laura your guest teacher binder, please do and pick up your treat!
*Please remember to have students use the last 5 minutes of the day to:

• Check email - office, athletic, coach/advisor, and principal messages will be shared through email. 
• Check Schoology for assignments, teacher messages, class updates
• What do you have for homework tonight?  Some students will have a required planner.
• Do you need to review for an assessment tomorrow?
• What do you need to bring home?
• If time allows, check PowerSchool grades

*HS staff-mark your calendars for:
October 17th PreACT for 9-11th grades
November 12th for PreACT results workshop for 9-11th grades
(Seniors can come to school for an open lab for resumes/college apps/scholarships on both days)
I will have more details to come and will have a parent letter out for that.

Tech Tip of the Week: We have BrainPOP!

BrainPOP provides animated movies, engaging learning games, and great vocabulary activities on a variety of topics. Once you've created an account through Dodgeland (see linked directions below), you can exploring BrainPOP Jr. (grades K-3), BrainPOP (grades 4-12, BrainPOP Espanol and Francais. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jVXwbtQ5D391cHto8ZCOR_raAJdxuw8c/view?usp=sharing

Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:
What Teachers Should Be Thinking About on Friday
What Teachers Should Be Thinking About on Monday

Friday Focus - September 13, 2019

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Staff being flexible and calm to support when a student was in crisis. The rest of the class hardly even knew there was an incident, because of how staff handled it.
*Several classrooms with students starting the class period with bellwork/silent reading. This set the tone for the rest of the class period of focus on learning!
*Student dialogue in partners about the different ways they solved problems.
*Students coming up with examples and non-examples of when to use the scientific method to solidify their understanding of that process vs research.
*Students writing letters to their future selves of all that they want to accomplish by the end of the school year.
*In one study hall, not only did students follow the expectation of reading the first 10 minutes, but most have been reading the entire time, because they didn't want to stop!

Events Next Week:
Monday - Picture Day - ALL students get their pictures taken for school records, including seniors.  The PA system will be used to call students by grade levels and alphabet (i.e. 8th grade A-L).  Thank you in advance for your flexibility on this.
-Marcia will be gone 8-1 at WIAA meeting on Monday
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday attire (making sure that you're also within the student dress code!)
Middle School faculty meeting 3:15
Thursday - Ag/FFA students are running the petting zoo for the elementary

Tech Tip of the Week:
What do new teachers need to now about...this is a great read for ALL teachers. Great response, "Model HOW to use it, don't assume they know how to use it!" Read all the questions and responses here and maybe catch a live chat on Twitter next Thursday of #Ditchbook

Nuts & Bolts Notes:
We made it through a full week of school! Each 5 day week has 50 passing periods...that gives us 240 minutes a day to positively reinforce our relationships with students--to notice a new haircut, a book choice, give fist bump/high fives, build relationships in casual conversation, and connect with kids. It also gives us opportunities to smile and say hello to a colleague who could maybe really benefit from the moment of kindness. Every moment with our students and with each other counts.  Thank you for all that you do for students and for each other!

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:
*Maintaining First Day of School Excitement

Friday Focus - September 6, 2019

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Students collaborating and problem solving with the ozobots.
*Students performing skits for the do's and don'ts of lab safety with follow-up discussion.
*Class chalk talk on the word courage with a follow-up class discussion that went deeper.
*Students working together in teams for breakoutEDU.
*Video/research shared with students about how we are becoming addicted to phones, it is changing our brains... and that's why we don't have phones in school. I even heard from a parent that her child thought it was a good idea now that she knew this!
*Quizziz fun to find out more about the teacher. Students love learning those interesting facts about you to know you're a real person!
*Students working together in teams to go through the textbook and find the most interesting vocabulary/terms to complete A-Z list (they only got points if they were the only ones with that word). Great way to preview vocab and content to come this year.
*Students sharing individual input/responses on post-its to different questions around the room, along with small group discussion about things like: What do you need to be successful this year? What is a great classmate like? My favorite teachers are the ones who...
*Relationship building activities like sharing for colors of M&Ms pulled, dice games for get to know you, matching up by cards drawn, students sharing their own presentations about themselves or to introduce their partner to the class, etc.


Events Next Week:
Monday - optional staff Facilities study listening session at 3:30 in IMC
Tuesday -IEB starts at high school (the spreadsheet will be shared out with you by Monday morning)
-  optional staff Facilities study listening session at 3:30 in IMC
Wednesday - High School faculty meeting 3:15 (agenda includes preACT info for 9-11th graders and check in on IEB)
 -Middle school-iReady testing can begin on Wednesday (I'll have a separate email for that)
Friday -Middle school fundraiser kick-off assembly during ASPIRE
-Bloodborne pathogens training due date

Tech Tip of the Week:
Many tech tools are now available to checkout from the IMC: Superdrives, Kajeets, and keyboard bins. These items are check out to you and not the department when you return to IMC. There are google calendars for Macbook cart checkout and TV cart checkout.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Please share your class syllabi with me via email or sharing in google drive.
*Pleas have your guest teacher binder/emergency plans put together by Friday, September 20th. This should include:

1. Time schedule for your classes
2. Lesson plan copy
3. Seating charts for each period
4. Class list for each period
5. Any special instructions needed regarding student "need to knows" and to complete tasks/assignments

*Do you enjoy dancing or just having fun? The dance team is looking for faculty to join in the Homecoming assembly performance. Please let me know if you're interested and I can share the details with you. This should be fun for students to get to see some of their teachers surprise them on that day! :)

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:

*Leading with Empathy