Week 25

Happy National Shower with a Friend Day and Happy World Nutella Day!


February 6 - PLC Meetings
February 8 - Mid Quarter Grades

February 14 - Valentine's Day - Parties @1:15
February 15 - Collaboration Day

February 18 - President's Day - No School
February 19 - 6th Grade Staff Meeting
February 20 - PLC Meetings
February 20 - 5th Grade Staff Meeting
February 21 - 4th Grade Staff Meeting

February 25 - 5th Grade to the Tinnin Center @ 9:15
February 25 - 4th Grade to the Tinnin Center @ 12:30
February 27 - NAEP Testing (4th Grade)
February 27 - PLC Meetings
March 1 - PBS Day

I would like to clarify something that I have stated at our PLC meetings. I believe that kids should have the opportunity to make corrections to tests. We don't always learn content the first time through. Also, it's important for kids to learn that just because they have taken the test, the learning isn't over. We don't want kids to do a "brain dump" and move on. 

With that being said, I don't think having kids take and retake a test over and over on USATest Prep until they are satisfied (or out of time) is a benefit to their learning. One of the the strategies that goes along with Assessment Capable Learners is Feedback. I'm not saying that you have to reteach the entire unit, but kids need feedback on what they are missing to further their learning. "But, I don't have time to spend on corrections and reteaching." Our building vision statement says: We envision a school that is safe, energetic, and friendly; where staff, parents and members of the community work collectively to ensure academic and personal success of each and every student.  We put our students first, and demonstrate positive attitudes, creative thinking, a commitment to learning, compassion for others, and pride in everything we do. The phrase, "a commitment to learning" to me means that we will do whatever we can to ensure students learn the material that we have deemed "essential". The best way to do that is through feedback. Here is a blog post from a middle level math teacher that chronicles her struggle with allowing students to do corrections. It's a quick read and a good reminder that you are not alone in your struggles.

We spend a lot of time trying to standardize our processes here at school. We pace our instruction together. We assess together. And we want our grading practices to be aligned. However, your instruction is a place where you get to let your creativity run. I read a recent blog post about being a creative teacher. According to David Guerin in his post, creativity is the number one "soft skill" that employers look for when hiring. With all of the push to stay together, know that you can exercise creativity in your instruction.

PBS Information

• Weekly focus for Feb. 11-14th Cafeteria/Playground expectations. Please re-teach these lessons
• Class Dojo can be used for mule kick points!!!  
• When addressing expectations with students, remember to be specific and discuss what the expectations are and what they should look and sound like.
• “Good Kids” need to be rewarded too.  We have received feedback from parents and students that the students that normally follow the rules are not getting rewarded.  Kids notice!!  If a student that has been in trouble is able to go to a room due to having 70+ kicks but your student that is never in trouble only has 20 kicks, we need to reflect on how you’re handing out kicks and make an effort to reward those kids. 

Along the lines of PBS, we are half a year through implementation and I have some observations about our program.

Strengths

• Most of the feedback I have received has been fairly positive. My survey I sent out a few weeks back had several comments about the benefits of PBS.
• We are slowly becoming better at giving positive reinforcement to kids.
• The common language and matrix has been beneficial (and should continue to get better).

Weaknesses

• The level of implementation varies greatly from teacher to teacher. For example, we have whole grade levels who are rocking hallway behaviors, but we also have teachers who don't correct behaviors. This sends a very mixed message to our kids.
• We don't give specific feedback on what behaviors kids need to change. For example, I frequently hear teachers telling their kids to "follow hallway expectations". Be specific. If your kids can't keep their mouth shut in the hall, tell them.
• Your "good kids" should have a boat load of kicks, but we are forgetting their behavior because we are so focused on changing the behavior of the "bad kids". Sometimes, giving a kick to a good kid is just as good of a reinforcement to the bad kids as it is to catch them being good. (Sorry, not sure that makes sense)

Here is a great article from Jennifer Gonzalez. It talks about the words that we choose when correcting and teaching kids. It's our words and behaviors that are going to change the behaviors of our students. They aren't going to change because we have hung up some posters and are giving out some tickets. Today, Angie Jackson made rounds and basically the played role of the "warden". Many people commented on how much they liked this because of the impact it had on student behavior. The problem is that the adult behaviors aren't changing. We have a lot of teachers who sit behind the desk and don't get out and around the classroom. We have teachers who frequently leave their classrooms unattended for whatever reason. We have teachers who when another teacher gets on to their kids they look at them and say, "I told you you would get in trouble". Really!? If you want better behavior from your students, start with yourself. You can't depend on Warden Jackson to take care of your problems.

By the way, if you are looking for someone to give a staff kick to, I would say that Angie Jackson earned a few today. Just saying.