Great Shake Out Reminder
On Thursday 10/19 at approximately 10:19am our school will take part in the Great ShakeOut. A PA announcement will signal both the start and the end of the drill. During the drill please use the time to explain students will be using the table to protect their heads and bodies from falling debris and objects. Both Lorin and I will be off campus this particular morning for the middle school cross country meet. The races are fairly short so we should not be gone too long, but I’ve asked Becky Eriksson to be the person in charge if needed. Gary Timms is also on call if necessary and both Lorin and I could be back here in a matter of minutes.
Forefront vs. Synergy
Once again, I am sorry that Forefront is not performing as promised. Because of the difficulties we are experiencing I feel like we need to adjust our course to alleviate any stress this is causing. The problem is that the best course is not very clear to me so I am open to exploring solutions that work for each of your grade levels. Here are the factors to consider;
- The Synergy Gradebook report card is still our primary form of communication for progress to students per our district policy. Report cards still must be done in Synergy Gradebook.
- Forefront will be the primary tool used for EBISS, formative assessment, and curriculum decisions so we will need to input our math data into this system at some point.
- While Synergy does have some similar capabilities in reporting, Forefronts reports should be much more accessible and visually superior.
- Synergy and Forefront do not currently communicate to each other, however a process is being developed to allow for Forefront to download then upload to Synergy. (So data must be manually entered into both systems right now.)
- Our first 100% Core Effectiveness meetings are currently scheduled to start on 11/8 (data in Forefront would be required for any analysis or conversation around math to occur)..
Forefront is currently working on inputting the Everyday Math Assessments as the publisher intended. My initial thought was this would be easier and preferable for everyone (and less work on our end) however after speaking with several of you about your concerns, it sounds as if we might be better served by creating our own assessment sheets in Forefront. For the second and third grade levels some of this work is already done, so I am curious if this path would benefit everyone. Please talk with your teams and circle back with me about what you need to make this process a little easier for you.
Smarter Balanced Testing
I know it’s really early to be thinking about testing, however I wanted to share one encouraging piece of news regarding the test;
- Several changes have been made to the test to reduce testing time. The most recent information suggests that we can expect a reduction of at least an hour of testing time for each grade level for the ELA test and a significant amount of time from the math test.
Site Council Meeting
We had our first Site Council Meeting on Thursday 10/12. The main tasks we worked on were the following;
- Calendar future meetings
- Quick explanation of our meeting format for the future and the role in School Design
- Examine data from our Communication Survey in the spring.
Evaluation/Minis/SLGGs/Lions/Tigers and Bears, Oh my!
I sent most of this information in an email earlier this week, but I am including it here for the purpose of future reference.
The list below shows the people with evaluations this year. In addition to the SLGGs, this involves a self-reflection, 4 classroom minis and 2 professional minis for the year. (1 Formal observations for temp or prob) You will get a prompt to complete a self-reflection later in the year.
For those of you without evals, you will have 2 classroom minis and 1 professional mini for the year in addition to your SLGGs.
In regards to mini-observations; if I don’t have a follow up conversation with you, then it’s not a mini and it’s just classroom time. I will be in classrooms 2 to 3 days a week, and I will always try to take notes in the hopes that we find the time to have that follow up conversation, but the schedule is not always cooperative so I don’t expect every time I am in the room will equal a mini. I am also trying to spend the majority of my time in your classrooms during math. Our follow up conversation is an opportunity for you to reflect on the learning in your room.
| Deanna |
| Scott |
| Becky E |
| Marieka |
| Becky H |
| Amber |
| Anna |
| Marina |
| Misha |
| Alicia |
Rob
Jay
Heidi
More thoughts on Math;
Please take some time to wrestle with these questions as you reflect on your math instruction;
- Am I making it clear every student in my room can do this? How do I know?
- Am I looking for the mistakes and disequilibrium as opportunities to learn and make brains grow?
- Do I confirm right answers or do I lead students to developing their own confirmation?
- How much do I encourage and support mathematical talk among students?
- How do I level the playing field for everyone (equalize social status)?
I’ve shared the following TEDtalk before, but it’s a good one to revisit over and over. It never hurts to practice your power poses.
https://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all
I am not sure if I have shared this one before or not, but it is anther talk I find extremely helpful to revisit.
https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend
Calendar
I hope you all have a wonderful, restful weekend.