THE SWAG’s (staff week-at-a-glance)
THE PLACE to know what is going on!
Open House Thank You!
Big thanks to everyone for your effort and outreach with families on Thursday Night last week!
It looks like the District is moving towards some kind of Back to School Night every year being required, so please FEEL FREE to add your creative suggestions and feedback around both purpose, format and timing as we look to make this the best use of time for busy families nd busy teachers!
I have added a tab for your ideas and feedback on our agenda doc HERE.
Monday Morning Meetings/Staff Crew Plan
The following meetings are now on the Outlook Calendar:
- This Monday, 10/3, we will have our second Logistics Meeting from 8:00-8:30.
- We will have another on 10/17
- No meeting on 10/10
We have decided to wait on launching our Staff Crew rotation until our work day on Friday, 10/21. After that we will create a rotation between Logistics meetings and Staff Crew. Stay tuned for details.
Gradebook Nudge!
We are entering week #5 of a 12 week trimester. 12 weeks includes our 1st short week! So, realistically this is more like an 11 week trimester! SO… Midterm progress reports need to be emailed out to families on Friday October 14th (or over the weekend following).
Midterm progress reports are pulled out of Synergy and should include any academic standards, andy Habit of Work/Scholarship standards, and any associated tasks/assessments that are in Synergy.
How Much Should Be In The Synergy Gradebook By Now? That’s a tough question! The easy answer is…. enough for a student (and caregiver as needed) to know where they stand on current progress towards learning targets! However here is a link to a 1.5 page “cliff notes” about gradebook expectations.
We definitely want midterm progress reports to be a “heads up” for any students who are behind (and their caregivers), but I encourage/invite you to email out a progress report ANY TIME between now and then… it takes just a few moments to do! If you have students who are falling behind, it does NOT hurt to communicate EARLY!
Clubs?
coming shortly!
Worktime guidelines!
As you are working with your students to build strong classroom routines and working towards “self managed classrooms” that are focused, engaged (and joyful too), consistent school wide use of the same language and expectations around what we call our “Work Time Guidelines” will be helpful for both you and students.
These guidelines are used during the time you have released students to work on a task, generally after your mini-lesson. When we tell students what kind of expectations we have for their work time, we are more able to avoid “misunderstandings”!!
These guidelines can be reviewed frequently, pasted into slides that you might use during lessons, and posted on posters for you walls.
Classroom Observation Survey
Harju and I are committed to providing as much supportive observation/coaching as we can this year and we need to get started ASAP! We will be hitting some classrooms this week for sure! We are also back to “pre-pandemic” observation requirements meaning that Harju and I need to get started ASAP, and here is what you should expect:
- Contract Certified Staff ON EVALUATION Yr – 6 mini-observations (plus self eval)
- Contract Certified Staff OFF EVALUATION Yr – 3 mini-observations
- All Probationary 1, 2, 3 (1st 3 years with BLPS) Certified Staff will have 4 mini-observations and 2 formal observations
We’d love to hear from you about your asks/preferences when it comes to observations and coaching. Please complete this short survey.
Equity Team & Sunshine Committee
We haven’t had many takers on these two teams… which is totally understandable given the number of extra things going on early in the year!!
Here is who has signed up thus far:
Equity Team: Kat, Maya, Delaney, Addy, & _____(classroom teacher or two?!)
Sunshine Committee: Lauren, _____, & ______
Here is a reminder of what these teams are:
1. Equity Team. Auditing our practices across both schools to look for opportunities for more inclusivity and equity. Will include opportunities for professional learning, and for bringing findings back to staff at SIW and/or Staff Crew. Could eventually include student leaders.
2. Sunshine Committee. Bringing the Joy! Includes celebrating staff birthdays, designing new Realms gear (for staff and for sale), Certified/Teacher Appreciation Weeks, and organizing staff happy hours.
Both teams will begin by meeting twice per month, Tuesday after school, 3:30-4:00 (alternating weeks). I’m hoping for 4-5 folks to sign up for each team.
If the timing is what is holding you back from signing up, but you would like to, please let me (Zach) know!! I’m hoping to get these teams meeting soon, but want to get a few more members first 🙂
Bus Evacuation Training
We have been asked to have teachers show this twelve-minute (!) video in our advisory classes before October 14th. Students who ride the bus will receive additional training form their driver in the near future (if they haven’t already).
Honestly… what I watched of the video is hilarious, and I think the students will agree. Cringe-y 90’s aesthetic ABOUND. Might I suggest pairing this with a 90’s Music Kahoot and a check-in discussion about what is similar and different between youth culture from the 90’s and today?
Thanks for taking the time to schedule this into your grade-level Crew plans.
October 21st PD Day
October 21st is a non-contact work day for RMS and RHS. In comprehensive middle schools it is a comp day for conferences and in high schools it is a student contact day.
Our conferences will be happening Wed & Thursday Nov 9-10 but we will be able to provide the needed comp time on Thursday the 10th. On Wednesday we will be in conferences in the afternoon and until 8:00pm and then a few in the morning on Thursday. You can see two versions of draft schedules here…. but stay tuned, these are in progress
We will be diving into some EL Education related planning and PD connected to our School Design Plan goals… agenda coming soon!
MS ONLY – Change of Bells?!
I’ve heard from a couple of teachers that they are still adjusting to the difference in when bells are ringing…
This year we have bells that ring at the start and end of class. Previously, we only had a bell 5 minutes before the end of class.
Now that we’re a few weeks in, is there anything you’d like to adjust? Provide your feedback on this short form. It is easy to make this change if need be!
HS ONLY – Crew Connections
As I walked around to Crews on Thursday, I saw that several Crews were actively working on designing gifts or experiences for their assigned Middle School Crew! That’s awesome!!
Some Crew Teachers have proposed that they will be more successful after Intensives, which I totally understand and support. If you are hoping to have something purchased, please do let me know!
If you are hoping to spend some time with your Middle School Crew, it will most likely need to happen during High School Lunch (MS Crew).
Unsure what you’ve asked for? The requests I have received are summarized on this spreadsheet.
HS ONLY – Reality Check, 10/27
Thursday, October 27th, we will be holding our “Reality Check” Simulation, which is a great budget simulation put on by Northwest Credit Union. The event will be for all 11th graders, Periods 2 and 3. Please plan to have all Juniors out of your 2nd and 3rd period classes that day.