Next Steps

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Next Steps —

We are coming to the end of testing for the 3-5 grades. We have started looking at a few things we are going to do next year and how we will make it better than this year. We have set up the schedule with Jennifer and Sara for our Literacy training next year (It should be on your google calendar under DSES Staff Information). We are also working on the Tech endorsement at our school on Tuesday’s (As soon as I get the schedule it will be on the DSES Staff Information calendar) with elective classes starting this summer. Annette will visit us at the beginning of the year to get us started off on the right foot. 3-5 will be trying out a schedule that will move students around and  hopefully help every student be successful while adding in a little more science and social studies. Fifth Grade will be trying the schedule out in the final weeks of this year. It sounds like we will be doing a lot of learning next year. We will be starting a Dad’s program, called Watch Dogs, next year to see if we can get some dad’s into the school. All Grade Levels have been working on refining their GVC’s and Learning Targets to keep the rigor in the learning expectations and to help guide our teaching. We will do our best to help support and build on the successes we have had this year. One of the thing I have learned this year, and the list is long, is that the Dixie Sun teaches and staff are always willing to learn and grow. You are amazing. With the plans we have talked about and that you have had a hand in, through the surveys, we will bring you much of what you have asked for to help you grow professionally. We don’t want to overburden you, but bring you the training that you will use and implement as you teach next year. Please let us know how you are doing with the trainings. We want to make sure we can support you.

Quote I’m pondering —

“One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, in this single, solitary, monumental moment in your life– is to decide, without apology, to commit to the journey, and not to the outcome."— Joyce DiDonato

What I’m Still watching —

Decorah Eagles

The eggs have hatched. The babies are grey and not the eye candy you would think. But they are cute and it is so interesting watching them over time. Each bird has their own personality. Amazing wildlife up close. Another few weeks and they will be flying. 

Favorite Book This Week —

Teach Like A Pirate

Arrr. This book is about engagement, teacher passion, and unleashing your creativity as a teacher. Great read. Great ideas. Borrow my copy if you want.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Shelly. The Color Run was a success. Thank you for planning it all out and making sure everything was organized so it would run smoothly. It was well thought out and the students had a blast. AS I walked around the track during lunch one student walking with me told me over and over that it was he greatest night of her life. She could not say enough good about it. She never wanted it to end. Thank you for all you do for the school. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you.

I also wanted to thank everyone that helped with the color run. We use most of the color and it was fantastic. Thank you for your dedication to the students. thank you for all you do throughout the year to give our students the best opportunities to come together as a community and as a school. Thank you.

And one more Thank you for our Administrative Assistants. You deserved all that you got this week. Every letter, every gift, every bonus meal, every thank you. You deserve it all. Thank you Anita and Inez. You two are amazing. Thank you for all you do.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.

Building Student Understanding

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Building Student Understanding —

I have learned so much from Bob Sonju in the last couple weeks. Bob mentioned that bas loved working with all the grade levels as you worked on your GVC's. I don't think we can ever be reminded of the PLC questions enough. 

• What do we expect our students to learn?
• How will we know they are learning?
• How will we respond when they don't learn it?
• How will we respond if they already know it?

Using these questions we set our GVC and Learning targets. Once we have the what we want them to learn we set up our program and find our tools that help us teach so we can move to the next question. To find out if they learned what we wanted them to learn and to see if we taught it well we assess the students. From that data we look at who did not get it, who did get it, and what we going to do next. The hardest part of the assessment is looking at our teaching practices as a team and finding out if there is something else we can change or tweak to improve our lessons. When we answer these questions we find our next steps and get to work. The work Bob did with us is the first step in this process. This is the first step in know what we want our students to understand. And that is our calling as teachers. To help every student, no matter their circumstance, no matter their behavior, no matter their attitude, is to give them the opportunity to learn and understand.

Quote I’m pondering —

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt

What I’m watching —

Critique and Feedback - The Story of Austin's Butterfly

Irene Sent this to me and I loved the way Ron Berger helps students understand how to give critique a paper and how Austin used the feedback to improve the butterfly picture. Great lesson. Thanks Irene.

Favorite Article This Week —

State Assessment Time...

Another Lex Prin video. Need I say more? Thank you Jennifer for reminding me to look at this. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you fifth grade, Diana, Kristen, Cynthia, and Jennifer for all your hard work Thursday. You really took what Bob was teaching and dug in deep within the standards and came up with some great questions and discussions to help push yourselves. Thank you for working hard. Thank you for working together. Thank you for all you do for the students. Thank you. 

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.

What Truly Matters

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

What Truly Matters —

SAGE testing has started and we are looking through the scores and they come in and are seeing some great things and some areas we wished were better. So what do we do with these scores? What do we do with any scores w get from our testing? What truly matters in our classrooms and what we do here at Dixie Sun? Is the test the end-all, be-all? No, student learning is what truly matters. Bob told us something during the K-2 training about assessment that stuck with me. 

1. Assessments determine who is proficient. 
2. Assessments show us who needs additional support to get the skill assessed. 
3. 3. Assessments determine which teaching practices get the best results.

The last one is a tough one. But it is also the one that helps students and teachers grow. Which teaching practice got the results we wanted and how to we take that practice from one or more teachers and have it work in other classrooms? If we keep doing the same thing and we are not getting the results, we need to look at our practice and change it a little. What truly matters is what is best for the students in our classroom. How do we improve learning in our classrooms? Assessments help us find out what is needed for students and what is best practice in our classrooms. It is not used for teacher evaluation. There are too many variables in that equation. How we use the data we gather from assessments is what truly matters. What will we do with what we know to help students learn and grow.

Quote I’m pondering —

“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving." —Gloria Steinem

What I’m watching —

Wait, What? (And other big questions)

Bob Sonju shared a piece of this video with K-2 during their team meetings this week. At least read the short article. It is an amazing video if you want to watch the whole commencement speech.

Favorite Article This Week —

The Pale Blue Dot

Bob also shared an article thing K-2 that talks about how we should think about how we should think in our lives. Read it. Ponder it. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Kindergarten, First, and Second grade. Watching you work in the meeting with Bob was amazing. i can see how your work will benefit the students and how your expectations will take our students to the next level. I loved watching the collaboration, the discussion, and the exchanging of ideas that made the curriculum more understandable for you and it will be more understandable for your students. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for taking the time to learn. Thank you for all you do. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful 4 day weekend. 

PBIS Unity Video

This our last installment this year of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Video series for Dixie Sun. In this video We discuss Unity and how being united as a school helps us to be a strong school. A few things we discuss are;

• United States is united as a people even thought we don't think the same way or do the same things.
• To show unity we;
• Look for ways to help others
• Do an act of kindness every day
• Give everyone the benefit of the doubt
• Be positive
• Share what you know with others
• Music shows unity by all instruments working together to form one piece of music.
• Dancing is a motivator and when all else fails we need to dance.
• Be happy in our school, in our community, in our state, in the United States.
• No student left behind.

Twitterpated with Learning

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday.

Twitterpated with Learning—

As teachers we should always be the head learner in our classroom. It can be anything, but we should learn something and then let our students what we have learned. Take a few minutes each week and talk to your students about something you learned and see how interested they are in it. That is one of the reasons I do this 5 point Friday each week. I figure that I should be learning something often and sharing it. One way I have kept up with learning new things is on Twitter. It seems silly to spend a little time on social media to learn about education, but it is a hot place for educational topics, if you know how to look. Many of the top education specialists, professors, administrators, and teachers like you are building a personal learning network to learn and grow from professionally. If you are interested, start small and take 5 minutes a week and do a little skimming and reading. So how do you start? Start by opening a twitter account at twitter.com. In your description write that you are a teacher and a few fun things about you. You can add to it or change it later. Add a picture. Then you are ready to do a little learning. Start by tweeting something and following a few people. Use the search and search a few people and click follow. If you have friends on twitter, follow them also. Here are a few suggestions. @gandersen07 @kimheki @dixie_sun @gcouros @alicekeeler @jmattmiller @burgess_shelley @bethhouf @burgessdave

Once you are following other teachers read a few tweets here and there and reply back to them to let them know your thoughts. to do that you hit the reply button and it will automatically add their name. Then you can write a short note and send it on its way. Check back later for a reply. You can also retweet their tweet to share it with your followers. If you have none, we will get you some. If you follow me, I will follow you and so will many of the others you follow. I will get into how to get into chats with other teachers around the world from our same grade level or just with educators in general. But that is another time.

Quote I’m pondering —

"If you have an arrogance that you have nothing new to learn, do not expect your students to have any different attitude." ― George Couros

What I’m watching —

The Death Crawl

When we think we can’t go another step or do one more thing.

Favorite Article This Week —

Data confirm the reason teachers should nag parents about missed assignments: it works

Parent communication is important as we teach students. Keeping them the loop about how they are doing in class can help their student do better.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Alma and Third Grade. Third grade had the idea of doing a pep rally for testing to get the 3-5 grade students excited and ready for the test. Alma ran with it and had the younger grades make posters and shot the footage for the video. Then she put together the pep rally and  gauntlet of high fives in the hallway. What a wonderful show of support to our upper grades knowing that everyone is behind them. Thank you third grade for the idea, and thank you All for making it a reality. Thank you for supporting our students. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.