Week 16

Happy National Cake Day

November 27 - Beta Induction

December 3 - PBS Team meeting
December 4 - Honor Choir Christmas Program @ 6:30 (Westwood Baptist Church)
December 5 - PLC Meetings

December 10 - Staff Christmas Party - 5-7 - Elk's Lodge
December 12 - PLC Meetings
December 12 - New Teacher MMD meeting in the Missouri Room
December 14 - PBS Day
December 14 - 4th Honor Choir to Nursing Home - 12:00-1:45

December 19 - Christmas Parties - *Special schedule for Specials
December 20 - No School Christmas Break - January 2

Welcome Back!

Now a quick stretch to Christmas break and we are half way done with the school year. As we draw to the end of the semester, keep reminding your students of the expectations and reteach the behaviors we are looking for. 

If you have students with missing assignments, give them a Saturday school to complete the work. 

Stay in contact with parents.

December 3-9 is the annual Hour of Code event. It is a fun event that can get kids interested in computer coding. Check it out here. There are instructions, lesson plans, videos, and coding activities. 

We have all heard of growth mindset and the role it plays in education. Growth mindset requires us to shift our thinking from "I can't do this" to "I'm not able to do this, yet". The power of "yet" means that while I can't do this now, I will be able to do this with enough determination and grit. However, a key ingredient in this struggle from "yet" to success is feedback.

Feedback is very important to the teaching process. Without good descriptive feedback, we aren't able to make the necessary changes to get better at what we are doing. Think about the feedback you give students.

Here is an example.

Have you ever heard the term "soft skills"? Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. Examples are:
Strong Work Ethic...
Positive Attitude...
Good Communication Skills...
Time Management Abilities...
Problem-Solving Skills...
Acting as a Team Player...
Self-Confidence...
Ability to Accept and Learn From Criticism...

There are actually a lot of things that qualify as "soft skills". One of those things that we want to see develop in students is persistence or resilience when faced with a difficult challenge. Are you teaching resiliency? Are you developing grit in your students? Do you give them activities where they have to struggle? Here is a video by Robert Kaplinsky about students struggling and how to make that struggle productive.




Launch

We are planning to do a launch for our kids on Fridays. This will be a quick announcement over the intercom around 2:20-2:25 to send everyone off into their weekend. I'm not sure when we will start, but I wanted you to know what was going on if you heard random announcements at the end of the day.



I appreciate you guys! Thanks for all you do.