I Had A Vision

Teachers,

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

I Had A Vision —

I have been thinking about Interventions quite a bit and thinking of where it is going has become more and more clear. I am seeing the interventions changing over time and as more students fill their gaps teachers will be remediating their Tier 1 content while aides fill in gaps. Over the next few years, I am hoping it will look like this throughout the year. At the beginning of the year we assess student needs in literacy and start our intervention groups. After a month or two, the intervention groups will get smaller and end up being a couple groups that can be managed by the Aides. If there are only now or two groups the other aides can help with remediation of Tier 1 concepts. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? As soon as the interventions taught reach where the grade level should be in their Tier 1 lessons, it becomes Tier 1 and the aides can help with differentiation. That is the dream. That is the vision. I want to Intervene aides out of their intervention jobs and have them help remediate Tier 1. There will always be 10-15% that will need an intervention, but that is a better issue than 50%+ in interventions. You are all amazing. Thank you for all you are doing with the interventions.

Quote I’m pondering —

I think that the most proud moments I’ve had in my career are after failures, when you kind of learn that the sun also rises and the world keeps spinning when you fail and when you succeed. -- Christen Press 

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Sept. 30 - Service Dog Training Wed. Oct. 2 - Walk to School Day Wed. Oct. 2 - Parent Learning Walk 9:30 am Wed. Oct. 2 - TAT Second Grade 8:00 am Fri. Oct. 4 - PTA Jog-a-Thon Fri. Oct. 4 - Reflections Starts	Mon. Oct. 7 - Pie With The Principal 9:30 am Tue. Oct. 8 - Jog-a-Thon Money Due Tue. Oct. 8 - PTA Meeting 12:00 pm Wed. Oct. 2 - TAT Second Grade 8:00 am
	Oct. 17-18 - Fall Break  Oct. 28 - Nov. 1 - Red Ribbon Week

Favorite Article This Week —

Reading Aloud to Kids and Why Lessons Need Purposes

Interesting article that Timothy Shanahan wrote. Everything we do with students should be

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Third Grade. Thank you for all you have done with interventions. I appreciate how well you work together as a team. Talking every day, keeping in touch with students, and helping each other. Thank you for all you do to help some of your students that need a little extra. Taking into account some of the baggage they come with and giving them a little extra support. Thank you for building relationships with the students. Thank you for all you do for kids. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work.

Excitement in the Air

Teachers,

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

Excitement in the Air —

I don’t know about you but I am excited to see how well our students do next week on the DIBELS test. With the work that has been done in Power 50 and the lessons, Jennifer has been teaching us about learning intentions and making sure students understand what they are learning and why. With these new things we are doing, I hope to see improvement. There is a new part of the test for students to be tested on in the younger grades, but we should still see improvement in our students. I know many of you have expressed that you have seen improvement as you have been progress monitoring your students. I am excited to see what our next steps will be when we see where our students are now. Thank you for all you do.

Quote I’m pondering —

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

What’s Happening This Week —

Mon., Jan 14 - 8:15am HAL Testing for first grade

Mon., Jan 14 - DIBELS for K-3

Mon., Jan 14 - District Grade Level Training K-1 (optional)

Tues., Jan 15 - DIBELS for 4-5 in morning

Tues., Jan 15 - District Grade Level Training 2-3 (optional)

Wed., Jan 16 - District Grade Level Training 4-5 (optional)

Thur., Jan 17 - 1:00pm LRI Band for 5th grade

Thur., Jan 17 - 2:30pm Community Council Meeting

Mon., Jan 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (No School)

Favorite Article and Video This Week —

This Teacher's Innovative Way Of Teaching 'Vowels' and 'Consonants' is Winning the Internet

A reminder that there is always a different way to teach something if the way we have been teaching does not work for some students.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you second and third-grade teachers. You have really put your work in with the students and with teaching two grades. There have been some special times that have given you the opportunity to learn and grow with4 your students. Thank you for all the time you commit to helping your students. Thank you for finding alternatives to help those in need. We appreciate all your work and time you put in. You are important for those students in your classes. They need you and you show that you care. Thank you for all you do and thank you for all you have done. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work.

Teachers,

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

How Long Until I Am Finished Teaching?  —

This is a hard time of year. We are starting into testing for the older grades and the students are getting antsy because of the warm weather. Do not give up on the students. Do not let them get to you. They need everything we can give them. In my first year of teaching I learned that we stop teaching students once the end of year test is given and start doing activities to make it until the end of the year. They did not tell me this specifically, but through conversations, I learned this. So my first year went in that way. End of year testing, then activities. It was when I sat down with my principal a couple years later that we started to discuss the end of the year. So when is the last day we stop teaching students? Are there days we should not teach students and just put on a movie or take up a day by just having an activity or game day? We should be teaching every day when the students. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, there should be learning going on. We can’t give up the precious time we have with our students. We give tests all year long. We have the expectation that they will take the tests and that they will see the results so we all know what we need to work on next. The end of the year should be the same. Give the data to the students when we have it and show them what they need to work on. We have so much to get through. Use the time we have throughout the year until the last day we can teach and provide learning activities for students. I understand the last week of school is tough. Provide learning activities that students can learn from. Putting them on a computer at letting them go is not learning. Accountability should be held for each activity.

Quote I’m pondering —

When You allow the environment to control your psychology, you are not going to win.” – Tony Robbins

What I am ReWatching —

Simon Sinek - Start With Why

I taught a little this week in one of the classrooms and the one thing I could have done a lot better was to start with the why. Why do students need this? And it needs to be a great answer, not something they do not really believe they need.

Favorite Article This Week —

Research shows detrimental effects of laptop use in classrooms

How do we use our laptops in the classroom? This is an interesting article about things we need to be careful of. Tech is great, but not the end-all-be-all.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you, Jana, for all you do. Every Club day, Jana waits at the end of the hall to make sure her students are with her and ready to go before she takes them out to the Library. Every club day she stands at the corner and reminds students to walk and helps them if they need help. Every day Jana walks around the Big Toy on the playground during lunch to make sure all students are safe. Everyday Jana takes care of the library and makes sure everything is running as smoothly as it can. Thank you, Jana, for all you do for our students. Thank you, Jana, for all you do for the school. Thank you for all you do Thank you.

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

Instructional Focus

Teachers,

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

Instructional Focus  —

One of the questions we asked at the training was about what our Instructional focus was at Dixie Sun. At our training this last week we learned from Patti Montgomery that this is an important part of our school is to have an Instructional Focus and to remind teachers of it often. What is the focus of our improvement in our school this year that has to do with Instruction. 

As Kim, Alma, and I looked at our needs in the school, and after having discussions with Jennifer, Sara, Patti, and Annette, we came up with three that we think need tightening up on. They are Engagement, Lesson Planning, and Explicit Instruction. At the training on Monday only ½ knew these. That is our fault. We should have been discussing this more with you. These are the three we will be talking about asking about as we come to PLC’s. We will be asking how your planning is and are you making sure you have the Explicit Instruction spelled out in your plans. As we come into your classrooms and see the great things happening, we will be looking at students to see their engagement levels in the activities they are doing. We should be able to ask your students what they are learning and they should know the objective and why they are working on this activity. We understand that there will be 10-20% of your class that might not know because they are learning to learn, but as engagement, and explicit instruction increases, most students should know why they are working on each activity and where they are headed.

I think one of the teachers put it well in a PLC this week, they said that “we are doing most parts of explicit instruction, lesson planning, and we are getting better at engagement, we just needed to be reminded which parts we were missing so we can improve.” I agree. We just need to be reminded of the parts and make sure we have them all included in our classrooms. You are amazing teachers. One of our goals for the rest of the year is to remind you of our objectives (Instructional Focus) to make sure you know what we are concentrating on. It is not subject based, it is Instructional based. We appreciate all you do.

Quote I’m pondering —

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

What I’m Watching —

Teach Teachers How To Create Magic

Don’t get stuck on the music part of the video and listen to the overall message he is saying. Create magic in your classroom. 

Favorite Article This Week —

Why Student Data Should Be Students’ Data

What should we do with all this data we are collecting on students?

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Julie, Jaime, Elena, Diana, and Teryn for helping in our training on Monday. As we talked with the teams throughout the school the one comment was made throughout was that they got to see teachers that used these strategies and skills in their classrooms. They also mentioned there needed to be more time. I appreciate that you were willing to take the time, from short notice, and share one amazing thing you do in your classroom. We have so many strategies and skills that are being used in our building that we can learn from. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being the amazing teachers you are. Thank you for all you do. Thank you.

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