Golden Eagle Update

Believe it or not, this time of year we are beginning to look at next year. It will be in a few short weeks that we and other schools will begin to post job opportunities for the 2020-2021 school year. I don’t say it often enough, but I absolutely love working all of you at PCMS. PCMS is a special place and we have come a long way during these last few years. I am so proud to be part of it. There are no shortage of things we continue to work on; however, I want to thank you all for your willingness to embrace the “best at getting better” mentality as you model it and expect it from your students as well.

This week I will meet with all of you regarding your mid-year progress on the SLGGs that you chose. If you haven’t yet signed up, please do so HERE. At this time we will discuss student progress and your ideas for a change in course if your data causes you to believe that a change is appropriate. Although these goals are related to SLGGs, I also want to talk with each of you during this time about your hopes regarding next year and the future in general. Part of my role is making sure that people are in roles where they feel excited and that allow them to meet their personal WHYs. I want to make sure that I am helpful to any of you who are interested in making any changes to your career paths or assignments. In order to do this, I need to know now so you are in the best position for options as they begin opening in a couple of weeks. For example, it is already time for elementary transfer interviews. If anyone is interested in moving to an elementary position, these interviews are scheduled for March 3rd.

Please refer to the upcoming events on the calendar page. Additionally, here are a few things to keep on your radar.

• If you are interested in reading the book, “Not Light but Fire” as part of a staff book club, please let me know this week so I can order. The sub-text is “How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom”.
• Andrea Wilson sent out a notification that the Education Foundation has put out the opportunity for Classroom Grants which are due on March 16th. Please refer to this e-mail to enter. We have had a lot of success with these in the past. Please consider submitting an application. INFORMATION APPLICATION
• In the upcoming weeks, we will participate in the Youth Resilience Survey. We have not determined a date or time but more information will follow. Please talk to your fellow ICCL member if you have an opinion.
• Because our classrooms have glass boards that are extra low, it becomes relatively easy for a corner of a desk to bump into them. We have also learned that these boards are mounted on slats rather than flush against the wall so when a piece of furniture bumps into them, if it hits correctly, it can shatter the board. The district is going to come and look at options for these boards to potentially be remounted but until they do, please pull tables and desks away from the glass boards if at all possible. Hopefully a solution will come our way soon. Walt will likely update everyone on this in the future as well.

Thank you for a great SIW full of learning and sharing last week followed by great discussions on Thursday morning. Throughout this year, we will continue to advance the use of small groups in classrooms by learning, asking questions of and connecting with your colleagues, and sharing experiences as they are tried. Remember, it is about having a bias toward action and starting small rather than being perfect right away. In terms of advancing learning and understanding around equity, please continue to review the documents shared during our mornings. With so little time, we were unable to wrap up these conversations or share out last week so we will plan to do this next month. Below are some reminders for this week and other information you may be interested in.

• Please refer to the “professional readings” section to give your input on the recent boundary recommendations. Survey is open until Feb 19.
• We are beginning to accept donations for the Sparrow Rummage Sale. Feel free to bring your unwanted items to school beginning this week.
• On March 14th, there will be a presentation about the new inclusion of Tribal History in Oregon schools. It is at the East Side Bend Library Location.
• On Wednesday afternoon, we will be hosting a wrestling meet. We are still looking for some volunteers. Please sign up HERE if you can help. You can be paid a bit ($30) for this time as well.
• We just got word that we now will likely have openings for a couple more track coaches this year. Please contact Jane Ward, Brooke Walton, or me if you are interested. The openings are posted now.
• If you are able to help at lunch on Friday, your help would be greatly appreciated! Ryan will be in Missouri and I will be celebrating my grandfather’s 100th birthday in Minnesota. Heather W. will be in the office to support if something comes up.
• Monday is the first meeting of our Equity book study. We will meet at 5:30 in the board room at the Ed Center if you’re interested.
• Finally, please let me know if you are interested in being part of our PCMS equity work team as part of the Better Together and ESD partnership.

Happy second semester everyone! We have come a long way this first semester and it is so important to recognize the great work you and your students have done for 1/2 a year! If you haven’t already, please make time in classes to recognize student hard work and review expectations so our 2nd semester continues to be awesome! I was able to see a great example of this in Sara and Megan’s community not long ago. Please connect with them if you’d like ideas.

This week during SIW we will be doing several things. We will hear from staff members regarding small group instruction, new tech tools like Newsela and Canvas, Synergy information, and instruction for students in a modified diploma trajectory. Please bring your iPads and something to write on/with.

In our family letter this week, I am launching a book club that has it’s first book on the topic of race. The book is one that has recently been part of many book discussions throughout our community. It is by Ijeoma Oluo and is titled So You Want to Talk About Race. I will share the dates of our meeting at SIW and if you are interested in joining the group, I’d love to see you there. My hope is that this book will be followed by Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi. This book is more around the topic of stereotype threat.

Finally, Friday is an assembly that will showcase Robotics, KIDS Center, Val-o-grams, and our upcoming Garage Sale for Sparrow. This means that there WILL NOT BE Switched Advisories this Friday. Thanks for reviewing expectations with your students prior to coming down.

ELA teachers: Please send me your book lists for your course including those used in lit groups.

This week is a week to wrap up and celebrate! We have completed an entire semester! It is sometimes difficult to take the time to recognize what we are doing really well in school yet part of self-care and longevity is taking time to validate the complex work we do each day. Students need this too! This week, please take time to praise, encourage, celebrate, and recognize not only your own successes but that of your colleagues and the students around you. We’ve come a long way!

A few odds and ends:

• Today we have a FIRE DRILL at 2:15. Please exit all to the front. This means that you will need to stand in the bus loop and squish together once outside. Please hold your green folder at the front of your line and stand near it. We are always looking for teachers to clear the drill.
• ELA teachers– I am recently learning a lot about our BLP processes regarding literature adoption within classrooms. Please send me an e-mail with a list of the titles you use in your classroom for small groups or whole-group reads. I will have more information regarding this in the future.
• Energy Management– Please take a moment to support our sustainability coordinator by taking this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T2CSFFR
• Taking It Up Part II– In the upcoming weeks, we have an opportunity to have a team of people from our school work to advance our work on equity. This is offered through the ESD and includes training days and working in an ongoing team fashion. If you are interested in being on our Equity Team as we move forward, please e-mail me.
• Black History Month– Please explore the link in the calendar and feel free to adapt information shared on this site in the For Teachers tab to your classroom.
• Upcoming Book Club– I will be finalizing a book choice for our book club on race and equity this week. Stay tuned for more information.

Thank you for a great first semester! I look forward to continuing to get better together!

Last week was an awesome week filled with celebrations and seeing our students in action! Heather and Sara were recognized at the school board meeting on Tuesday night, 8th grade students made their pitches for the Electric Vehicle challenge, and we raised over $1000 for our Sparrow due to sales at the dance on Friday night. This is a busy week with an event on Thursday evening that you may be interested in attending. All 7th grade students are showcasing their National Geographic projects at 6:00 pm in classrooms. Please come and support these students if you are able.

On Wednesday, we will be reviewing the Excellence and Equity information put together by Better Together. The summary is in the “Professional Readings” section if you are interested in reviewing prior to SIW. We will also be using our Thursday AM time this week and next to review EBISS. I will send out the EBISS document tomorrow so you have time to review prior as well. Thanks for your input and attention to our staff wellness activities on Wednesdays. Please continue to connect with each other so we can meet our collective goals in the next three months.

If you were gone on Friday, please take time with your 6th period students to go over the slides for the Earthquake Drill. Click here for the slides.

Inspire, Learn, Care! -L

Happy Happy New Year! I was so excited to see everyone again on Monday and this week has been full of reminders as to why this school is so special. I know that the students were excited (although some reluctant) to be back here too and I look forward to the next 10 weeks together with students. This time can be some of the best and most continuous learning time during the year with a sweet week of relaxing at the end!

Thank you for your engagement and connection yesterday and this morning. We have many things to celebrate here and some things to work on. This year we specifically are advancing in the areas of EQUITY through interruptions and making connections with students and DIFFERENTIATION through using assessment and creating small group opportunities. That said, as our care coaches reminded us before break, you cannot our into others when you are not filled up yourself. As we move forward, I encourage you all to push toward the intentions that you set on Wednesday and share them with others. Post your sheet somewhere where you can see it and are easily reminded and check in with others who have shared their goals with you. We can all help each other as we continue to get better! Here is the Intention Sheet and the slideshow if you want to refer back at any time.

This morning was a first step toward increasing our work with interrupting hurtful language and inequities at PCMS. As you try out some of the language or phrases, share successes with other staff and help each other as you tackle these conversations. As Jay Smooth said, perfection is a barrier to being the best that we can be. Our connection with our imperfections is what makes us strong, not the absence of them.

Finally, this is a great time to re-address expectations to set the stage for success during these months. February can be a challenging time for both staff and students and your intention and time spent around re-direction now will only support you as we move forward.

Click on the calendar link above and explore the professional readings. I will update these each time. Thanks for being the best at getting better. There truly is nowhere I would rather be!

I’m excited to be back with all of you after the recent break! As we make our way into our next couple of weeks, I encourage you to think back and reflect on your WHY from the beginning of the year (we also have a newly printed pic of the WHYs from the fall on our photo wall). Does this continue to sustain you? What might you need to continue to feel energized for another 23 weeks with students? I too am taking time to reflect.

For me, I continue to believe strongly in my WHY. I believe that education is the fastest way to peace in our world and I believe that it is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE CAN SPEND OUR TIME DOING. Our current students will lead our world and I believe it is a major responsibility to ensure that what goes into their minds and hearts are things and feelings that I want them to pass on to others. My WHY in this work is fulfilling; however, I recognize that every move I make has a direct impact on all of you as well as students and families. I want to do right by you just as much. I ask that when you come to our SLGG review and feedback meeting you let me know what has been going well and what you think can be better. Please refer to the e-mail that I sent prior in order to be ready to answer about six specific questions. Honesty and reflection are really important to me. I cannot promise that I will always agree or make your dreams come true, but I will always listen and reflect. Please sign up HERE if you have not already.

There are a lot of things going really well here and sometimes we don’t recognize those things enough. Yesterday’s SIW is an example of that. Thank you for your thoughtful participation in our SIW and EBISS discussions on Wednesday and Thursday. Whenever anyone attends a training, you can expect that they will share with the staff what they have learned. I know it can be hard to get up and present in front of your peers, but your learning is really valuable. We will continue our EBISS discussion during next SIW so if you took notes for your group or have ideas, please e-mail me. The EBISS document is also linked on the calendar. I attached a Ted Talk and a reading to the professional readings portion of the weekly. These are both in reference to our brief discussion about race in education and I hope you find them interesting. I’d love to hear your thoughts after reading. Additionally, here are the links for the Culture of Care exit ticket (after which they will share the slides) and the Executive Functioning presentations.

We will be welcoming our Sparrow to PCMS on Monday, December 16th! Please plan on an assembly schedule that day. Prior to this, as Liza and Julia shared at SIW, we will be hosting a PCMS gives back night with a variety of ways that families can share the love during the holiday season. It would be a great night to come if you are able. Thanks to all of you for being awesome and showing love, care, and learning each day!

During the beginning of this week, Deb and I spent time working on our school budget. Budget expenditures during the year basically consist of three areas: (1) supplies, (2) trainings, and (3) subs. In order to maximize our budgets, please keep in mind how impactful the small stuff can be. Things like printshop vs. school clicks may seem like not a big deal but it is not unusual for a school to wash away $5,000 on clicks that could have otherwise been used for 25 days of subs! When we return from our break, Deb will give you your remaining supply budget for your department. In order to spend these funds appropriately, it is important that you and your team have discussions around your department priorities and long-term wishes. I would love to hear your ideas once you have identified your goals.

As I make decisions regarding professional development for our building, I am focusing on a few goals over the next few years. These include advancing and strengthening field study & community partnerships, advancing literacy (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), developing differentiation skills including the use of small groups, and pushing forward the work of equity. These topics will continue to be areas of focus and will direct my investments in trainings. Recently, I stated that one goal is to have all staff members trained in conversations around racial inequities in our schools as part of Taking It Up. I feel so lucky to experience this training with seven other staff members this week. They will be sharing information to all of you regarding their take-aways during our SIW on December 4th.

In terms of literacy training, I am looking into partnering with a trainer from Columbia that would support our school during the next year or so. This work may include some lesson design, intervention design, and disciplinary (content) literacy work in areas other than ELA. In the area of field studies and community partnerships, we have started some conversations around 8th grade intercessions as part of a career exploration option. I have made some connections with a few teachers who have small group work going in their classrooms and are willing to have others observe and I also have found a few books in the area of literacy and small groups that individual teachers may want to use as part of a book study. If you are interested in any of these tools or supports, please let me know. Remember, you can count on Ryan and I to give you permission, provide tools and supports, and stay the course toward our focus areas.

After break, I will be asking to meet with everyone for a short amount of time to check in and go over SLGGs. As a reminder, these are due before you leave for break! Please look for an e-mail with sign-up times to debrief these goals. During this time I will also be checking in with you about how you feel I have done in the first 12 weeks of the year. I am interested in feedback around the areas that I wanted to focus on (communication and behavior) and ideas to improve.

Finally, the end of this week marks our first long break. During your time off, spend some time reflecting on the reading that I attached this week. Your personal strength and balance directly impacts students, families, and our school each day- not to mention you! Your health and well-being is critically important! As we arrive at this very needed and deserved break, take time to recommit to a practice that helps you remember your “WHY” and can continue to propel you into the winter months. Who knows- your new commitment might place you at the starting line of the I Like Pie run with fellow eagles on Thanksgiving Day😉 I hope you all have a restful week and as you spend time with family and friends to give thanks, please know that I am giving thanks for all of you. I can not tell you enough how special our school is and it gives me so much joy to share with anyone around that that is because of the people who work at Pacific Crest. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Happy Thanksgiving!

GENERAL INFO:

It feels like November!

I say this not just because our temperatures are starting to dip, but around this time, it is not uncommon for our energy as educators to dip too. We have been through one quarter and have set our sights high this year. We launched our year with a commitment to becoming better and re-committing to our school mission and vision around ideals of connected learning, student and staff growth, and strong relationships. All of these things take time, reflection, reinvention, and the willingness to fail forward as we “go for it” with students and as professionals each day. It also would be silly to discount the energy that these ideals take to sustain anytime but for many, it may feel like that time now. I hear you.

I don’t say it often enough but it is apparent to anyone and everyone that this place is special. It is special because of YOU. It is special because the work that you commit to each day INSPIRES 713 kids, 1400 parents, and our community partners. It is special because you model your commitment to personal LEARNING and you inspire each other along the way. It is special because our students, families, and colleagues know that you CARE when they see you giving a smile, lending an ear, or connecting beyond content. There is not a group of people anywhere I’d rather work with to create meaningful experiences for students. You inspire me each day.

As I said during our staff meeting today, you can depend on me for permission to try new things, support and tools as you learn along the way, and a commitment to sustaining our ideals even when the waters get rough. The things that we continue to press on at PCMS are those that we have been discussing over the years or are areas you have told me that we need to work on. Again, as I provide tools, trainings, understanding, and discussion points, I have no expectation for you other than a commitment to becoming better together. We don’t do this challenging work because it is easy. We do it because it is right. I am with you on this journey and give you my commitment to getting better each day. Please help me along my way by giving me your feedback. It doesn’t mean I will always agree but I promise you I will listen to understand and grow.

ACTION ITEMS:

• Tomorrow please take attendance during advisory using the goldeneagletime.net site and clicking on your group on the first page. Please let me know what difficulties occur. We will need to sign up for next week’s advisories next week after they are changed to your preference. If you do not want to offer a “help” session (there should be one per each main content area however), but would instead like to share an interest of yours with students, please change your course title in Golden Eagle time list so students will know what they are signing up for. All changes should be made by the end of the day on Tuesday.

• Additionally please enjoy a wonderful lunch from our PCCO tomorrow. This will be in the Cornice.

• Take time for you as much as you can. As the weather turns, our health can too so make yourself a priority! It will pay off at school for both you and your students.

• Enjoy your three-day weekend and thank a veteran for his or her service if you can!
  

BIG NEWS:

Our very own Lori just got married last week! If you see her, send congratulations her way!

little news:

A message from Transportation: We are available for local field trips between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm. This means students load at 9:00 am and are off-loaded at your school by 2:00 pm. Wednesdays are not recommended. We still have very few drivers available so if you are looking for trips outside this period of time, please request a charter in the transportation drop down or check in about the possibility of available bus drivers.

Holidays are quickly approaching and trips need to be entered in for after the holidays much earlier. Trips for the first week of December must be entered into school dude by November 17. Trips for the first week back from winter break in January must be entered into school dude by December 15^th. Trips entered in late will not have a bus scheduled.

The school district is putting on a large event for all sophomores again this year. Therefore, our buses and drivers will be busy on March 2^nd. No other trips will be available this day.

GENERAL INFO:

As I begin to use this tool, I am learning and open to suggestions. Please send them my way.

In terms of organization, you will notice that I have two pages: this general page and another with the calendar. On this page, I will delineate between ACTION ITEMS and BIG NEWS. Please use this calendar when you are hoping to access Advisory lessons, committee notes, or other tools that may be hyperlinked in ongoing calendar items. Next week I will begin to add a section that includes professional learning resources (i.e. videos, articles, etc) that may pertain to our work this year. I will also add a section with documents. As we move forward, one hesitancy I have is the use of our Google shared drive PCMS 2019-2020 and this tool getting into competition with one another. For now we will just go with both but if you feel certain tools belong in one and not another, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for turning up the Golden Eagle spirit this week! It was awesome to see how many students were into the spirit days and because of this, we had fewer students absent than any other week this year. It really pays to have school a place where kids are excited to be present each day! We also began our EBISS work this week. Your ideas and commitment to follow-through on the tasks that you volunteered for are critical to helping these students “bloom” this year. HERE is a link to the video that we saw highlighting the power of our thinking as we make adult changes to support students.

We recently got an update from Printshop regarding how our use of Printshop stacks up against other places. The good news is that we are doing well and I think we can still do a lot better. Our use of printer clicks (those in the hallways) is really high in comparison to other places. Impressions from the printers cost more than double that of Printshop. Please send as much as you can to Printshop and if you need to print, always choose to print a single copy from a printer and then copy on the convenience copier in the staff room. We get Printshop money back based on how our use stacks up against others. Let’s capitalize on those $$ in better ways than last minute clicks!

ACTION ITEMS:

The Culture of Care support team is likely going to start being present at our school from time to time These individuals are here to support our current visions and help us to move forward our PCMS initiatives to benefit students. It is not an “added thing” for our school but rather a way for us to capitalize on ideas from several schools to which they have access. Please take 12 minutes to lend your voice to this survey which will give us a more complete view of how our stakeholders (you!) view our current culture and practices.

We have an upcoming training available to us in the district. Taking It Up is a two-day training on equity and dismantling racism in our institutions. Over the next two years, ALL of our PCMS staff will be trained. This training will be on November 14 and 15th at the fairgrounds. We have 7 slots for staff and would like to fill this as soon as possible. I have had 2 people so far ask to be included. I will begin coming to people this week to ask that you attend unless others connect with me directly to fill the open slots.

Finally, this is a reminder to begin picking away at those Safe Schools Trainings if you haven’t already. They are due the end of December!

BIG NEWS:

Please help me welcome a familiar face officially to our staff: Kristen Weist! Kristen was an OSU intern in counseling last year and made tremendous connections with our students and families. She will pick up where Connie left off and begin to support Leadership in 6th grade as well as start working with students and small groups on specific needs. Please stop by and welcome Kristen to our family!