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Dragon tales 9 13-2010
- 1. Dragon Tales Week of September 13th I’ve Heard the Battle Cries Several people have brought to my attention that they are concerned about being able to complete the required DIBELS assessment by the deadline. Therefore, we will only have collaborative planning next week on Thursday. We will not have Tuesday or Wednesday planning. This will allow everyone ample time to complete the DIBELS assessments. The Journey We have embarked on a tremendous journey to impact the lives of students by providing them with a quality education. Most of you in our meet and greet interviews shared a desire to all that is needed to make sure children learn. I believed then and I continue to believe that you guys were being very honest with me. I encourage you not to loose sight of that desire. I acknowledged that their will be times along this journey that are difficult. It is during these times we need to muster up our strength to persevere and continue on until our vision of all students at Mc Donogh 26 achieving proficiency and beyond comes to fruition. We MUST change practices. We can not accept only 27% of our third graders proficient in ELA, 33% proficient in fourth, and 51% proficient in fifth. Math is equally unacceptable, 25% proficient in third grade, 44% proficient in fourth grade and 47% proficient in fifth grade. If any of us are satisfied with these results we are in the wrong profession. This is not a third grade, fourth grade, or fifth grade problem. THIS IS A SCHOOL WIDE PROBLEM. It will take all us to reach our goals. Keep the faith and continue on this journey until we “FINISH STRONG.” Mastery Objectives Hear to Stay When planning for instruction all decisions should be focused around WHAT DO I WANT STUDENTS TO KNOW AND BE ABLE TO DO BY THE END OF THIS LESSON. The learning focus is the key lever to all other decisions made about how learning will occur and what evidence there will be that students learned. Thursday’s collaborative planning will focus on lesson planning. Please bring all necessary reading materials to plan for next weeks lessons. You will also need your laptop. We will work through the lesson plan template together. Yes, I will be introducing to you a template we will use throughout the remainder of the year. Your union reps spoke to me on Friday and said it was a suggestion form the union to ask for a template. I am glad I already had one in the works to share with you guys. I quote from the Agreement between Jefferson Federation of Teachers and the Jefferson Parish School Board manual effective Oct. 7, 2009-June 30, 2012 “ Teachers shall prepare lesson plans in accordance with professional standards or on a form prescribed by the principal or approved by the principal if not prescribed which are complete and appropriate for lesson being taught.” (page 28) as always I will respect your union contract and not knowingly ask you to do something that is in direct disagreement with the contract. BUS DUTY ISSUES All walkers/car riders and childcare students will be dismissed daily at 3:45. Please do not dismiss students prior to this time. There is no supervision until 3:45. It was suggest in leadership team meeting that all teachers partner with their grade level colleague to create a team approach to dismissing your students. One person dismisses walkers etc .by escorting students to designated area while the other escorts bus students to their designated area. This could alternate according to your duty week. No one on bus duty is scheduled to supervise a particular bus of students. All persons in the hallway are to actively monitor all
- 2. students at thistime. Everyone stays on duty until notified by the office that it is okay to leave. A schedule will be coming out as to who stays after 4:20 if all busses are not here by that time. I am required to have a t least one other person with me so that if buses do not show there is someone to call home as someone monitors students. Committee Sign –Up .Thanks to all who signed up for a committee! Some great work has already taken place. Please consider joining a committee. The expectation is that everyone will serve on at least one committee. We are still in need of paras for the Hospitality committee. Any para interested please see Ms. Janet. Everyone is being given the opportunity to have a voice. If you choose not to exercise your right to be a part of the decisions that effect our day to day operation then you should keep that voice silenced and not interfere with the efforts of your colleagues. IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES: Interim window OPENS- Sept. 10 Interim window CLOSES- Sept. 15 ALL INTERIMS SHOULD BE COMPLETE BY NOON. WE WILL BEGIN CHECKING ABOUT NINE- THIRTY AND NOTIFYING PEOPLE AS NEEDED. Interims sent home- Sept. 17 INTERVAL 1- SEPT. 13-17 Records Day/ Parent Teacher conference (4:30-7:40p.m.) Sept. 20 (No word yet on how the day will be adjusted) Instructional Look Fors week of September 13 Lesson plans turned in on time- Purposeful Planning Objectives are listed in mastery objective format for each subject area being taught- Purposeful Planning Each teacher has posted outside her classroom door times for small group ELA and small group Math instruction- Focused Small Group Instruction As always observations are continuously ongoing. Shout outs: This weeks shout out goes to MRS. SCHMIDT. Mrs. Schmidt has shared with me numerous times how welcomed she has felt on this campus since day one. She feels she has been so warmly embraced by everyone on campus that it is her duty to pass that on to newcomers. She has taken Mrs. Loretta Carter, our new autistic teacher, under her wing and has passed on that welcoming spirit. Thanks Mrs. Schmidt and welcome Mrs. Carter to our staff. Please continue to make our new staff feel welcome. If you see Mrs. Schmidt or Mrs. Carter around please share a kind word of welcome. Each new day should bring us closer to the reality of achieving 20% growth in each content area.