STOIC

Teachers,

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

STOIC —

The training Kim and I went to the last couple days was an amazing reminder how important classroom management is to student learning. It provides a safe, civil, and productive school. The trainer, Trish, gave us amazing ideas that we will talk about in small doses and then do a full training on it the beginning of next year. We know that you do many of the things she talked to us about. The great things we learned were clarifications of ideas and information we have been using for years. We just need to tighten up on a few things. This includes  The first idea I want to share with you is stoic. It is an acronym for Structure, Teach, Observe, Interact, and Correct.

The first two are what we what we talked about the most.Teaching students how to behave responsibly in the classroom. So here are a few questions I want you to think about and if you say no to any of these questions, reteach your class. It is a great time of year to reteach the procedures and get them in the right way to learn. 

• Have you created lessons on expectations and explicitly taught them for classroom activities and transitions?
• Have you created lessons on expectations and explicitly taught them for classroom routines and policies?
• Have you provided teaching and reteaching as needed?

The part she stressed is creating lessons. Are they explicitly taught and expectations explained and practiced. The other part is Structure. Organizing the classroom for success. The thought I want to leave with you is the story Trish told about most high schools that have a rule about not wearing hoodies on their heads during school. But in the school store they sell hoodies. The lesson here is that if we are giving students the tools to break the rules, we are part of the problem. So the structure needs to be looked at and changed. One area we are addressing is playing tag during lunch recess. We take away tag and don’t put something in its place that provides the running and playing students need, they start getting in trouble play fighting, or playing tag again. So we need to change the structure. We are looking into adding some organized games during lunch recess to give students options to play and run. We hope to have these in place in the coming weeks. That is one area we needed a change. Look in your classroom and look for areas, times, or procedures where the most misbehaving happens. How can the structure be changed to avoid these behaviors? We are doing the same thing in the in all areas in the school. I will write about Structure and the rest of the STOIC framework in other 5 Points.

Quote I’m pondering —

“We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are.” —Anaïs Nin

What I’m Watching —

The Fastest Way to De-Fog Your Windshield

I love science. This is a good refresher course on the water cycle and condensation. I watched this a couple days ago and I am going to try this over the next couple days.

Favorite Article This Week —

Op-ed: Escaping the provocative self

I found this interesting and yet very informative. I need to look at situations this way. Especially when my kids are not happy with me.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Kirby for all you do. The care you put into this building and grounds to make it beautiful and safe makes you so important to our school. Thank you for helping everyone at lunch to open milk, open tacos and frozen juice. To clean up after all the students each day. Keeping our floors clean and shiny. Keeping your eye on all the little things that keep us safe. I appreciate your humor and putting up with all the crazy things we all do. We appreciate your helpers Jack and Nick as they take care of us at night. We appreciate their help and support as we do evening activities. We appreciate all you do, Kirby. We also appreciate Jack and Nick. Thank you for all you do to make our school a better place to be. 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.

Finding the Why

Teachers,

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

Finding the Why —

During the tech class we watched a Ted Talk by Simon Sinek about starting with Why to inspire others. So why do you teach? I know that you love teaching, I know that you love students and want to make their lives better. I know that you would do almost anything to help our students. So the question is how are we marketing our information to students so they are sold on our product. Our product is knowledge and problem-solving. Do we start with the why with students so they know why it is important for them to know the information we are giving to them? If you were the student, would you be sold on the information you are teaching? How do we get them hooked so they run into and not out of class each day? What is it that will make them want the information? It was a great thought provoking video for me.

Quote I’m pondering —

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." —Thomas S. Monson

What I’m watching —

The Power of Yet

Thinking about what Alma is teaching us this year with the Growth Mindset, I thought of this fun little video.

Favorite Article This Week —

Differentiation Is Just Too Difficult: Myth-Busting

I read through this and thought about how hard I thought differentiation would be when I started looking at implementing it. This article has some great ideas to think about. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you second grade. Thank you for your work with Mindset implementation. Hearing some of the stories you tell about how it is being used in your classes is great for the students. I also want to thank you for handing out the first few Principal 200 club. It is also great that you have started looking at how you can start CSIP. Thank you second grade for all your hard work. We appreciate what you do. Thank you.

PS —

The thank you point is getting harder to show just one team because all the amazing work that is going on in our school. Just know that we see what is happening at school. Thank you

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

Technology

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

Technology —
Technology in the classroom is an amazing tool to help in our teaching. It opens up the world to our students which can be amazing. As we use more technology in our classrooms it means more opportunity for teachers and students. It also means more management to see that students are doing what they are supposed to. Procedures need to be thought out. Students need to be trained. But what we can do with the Chrome books and Google Drive in the classroom is incredible. Using our Chrome books gives us opportunity to share devices and still track what each student is doing because their history and bookmarks follow the student, not the device. iPads will still be used in Kinder and First Grade to offer them apps that will help them learn but still gives us the ability to lock them into an app.

Wifi has been spotty lately and should get better soon. Have an alternative plan if it shuts down. have the students shut their Chrome books and read for a minute or work on something else. If you get them trained to do something like this you will know when there is a problem and if it is one student or the wifi. Have a wifi checker and when it is back up get them started again. Management. Plan for everything possible.

We will be having a optional tech trainings every couple weeks starting in October. We decided to wait until October to give you another month to settle in. The trainings will be short and will be about tech you use or will use everyday in your classrooms.

Quote from Calvin and Hobbes I’m pondering —
Calvin: They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.
Hobbes: Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
Calvin: We need more special effects and dance numbers.

What I’m watching —
The Power of Yet
When a student does not get a concept the first time, they get frustrated. We get frustrated. The power of yet is a mindset that they might not get it now, but they will. So the answer to a student that says, “I don’t understand this” is, “You don’t understand it yet, but you will”. Yet give students hope. It gives everyone hope.

Favorite App This Week —
Explain Everything $4.99
I don’t like paid apps, especially expensive ones, but this app is amazing. It is a whiteboard app that you can draw on, record video or take pictures on, and even record what you are doing on a web browser. So what you say? We have used it for tracking students for spelling, recorded students reading during one minute timings (adding notations during the reading), and had students cut out words for a word sort on the app. There are some amazing things to do. It is worth the price for me. If you don’t like the price, Doceri is a free app that is similar but not as powerful. There is a Chrome Book app (there is a cost here also) that is great for touch screen devices.

A Big Thank You —
Thank you Lisa Wright and her team. Scheduling the individual help for our LLI students is a nightmare. Lisa worked through the DRA scores and found the students that need the most help. Her team is amazing on how they work with each small group. With all the schedules they needed to work around and with as many students they needed to work with, it was a huge undertaking. Thank you Lisa and your team for all you do at our school for the students. Thank you.

I appreciate everything you do for the students. Have a wonderful weekend.