PMS News and Notes

Another solid week of learning and making connections for all of us is coming to a conclusion.  I am energized by the level of enthusiasm and optimism that is present in this building.  We continue to evolve and improve everyday.
One area for us to grow is our diversity.  We are expecting a new 7th grade student, Maria, that does not speak English.  All of her teachers have been excited for the opportunity to work with Maria, and it'll be fun to watch her knowledge of the English language grow.  With that being said...we have a lot going on...below are my attempts to communicate.  As always, if you have questions, please call, email, or come see me.

Mid-Term
The deadline for mid-term grades is Wednesday, Oct. 1.  Please post a descriptor (ADV, PRO, DEV, BEG, NE) for each standard.  When determining that descriptor, keep in mind that we are giving an estimate of where that student's level of knowledge is at this point in time.  While we will not be giving formal Puma Pride scores at the Mid-Term mark, the comment box can be used to give information about factors that are not academic.  Anna will be hosting an after-school session on Monday in Mrs. Hendrickson's room for anyone with questions about posting mid-term grades in Infinite Campus.  I will be sending a message to parents through Campus Messenger to let them know that mid-term grades are posted.  I plan to send this message out on Thursday afternoon.

Grading for Learning
It is hard to believe that we are at the mid-term point already, and that only means that the end of the quarter is approaching quickly as well.  As we work on making decisions about what to put in Campus, etc. please keep in mind that our goal is to make communication of student progress more meaningful.  If you are unsure if something should go in Campus, put it in.  The more evidence of learning that we have documented, the better.  Simple exit tickets are great pieces of evidence that can document student learning for a standard.  A bigger sample size of evidence is a good thing.  Another piece to keep in mind that if a student is not meeting the Beginning level, a parent phone call should be made, and we need to make arrangements for that student to get in here after school to get their needs met.

Educator Effectiveness Update
The DPI has put out a module on their website called Step 4 Training that is required for all educators involved in the Educator Effectiveness system.  Last spring, we held viewing parties for the Step 3 module.  We will once again host viewing parties on the following dates: Wed. 10/1, and Thurs. 10/9. The viewing parties will begin at 4:00 and refreshments will be available.  All staff are strongly recommended to attend either one of the sessions, and staff that attend will be paid an hourly rate for their attendance.  The module must be viewed by Friday 10/10.
I have spoken with each staff member about their evaluation cycle.  If you are unsure, please let me know.  Staff that are on the Summary Year (Cycle 1) must complete the Self Review located in Teachscape.

Educator Effectiveness Plan (EEP) - SLO/PPG
The SLO/PPG must be completed and entered into Teachscape by Friday, 10/24.  Teachers that are in their Summary Year (Cycle 1) must complete their Self Review before the SLO/PPG planning meeting can take place.  Thinking and planning for the SLO should be taking place now.  If you are ready to get serious about your SLO/PPG, feel free to let me know and set up a meeting to approve the goal.  SLO's and PPG's will be entered into Teachscape.

WKCE coming soon...
This fall we will be administering the WKCE to 8th graders in Science and Social Studies.  The Science portion will be given on Oct. 28th, and the Social Studies on Oct. 29th.  The schedule and assignments can be viewed HERE.

PUMA Pride
I am looking for any interested staff members in taking a look at PUMA Pride in the Middle School. It would be great to have at least one teacher per grade level and one or two reps. from the Applied Academics. If you have interest, let me know.

Data
At this point last year, there were 28 behavior referrals...so far this year, we are at 30.

Keep up the solid work for our kids!  Also, keep a steady mantra of praising and teaching EFFORT! It makes all the difference in the world...in fact, I think it's the X Factor!

Improving Instructional Practices Vol. 4

Thanks to Mrs. Morrissey for this Ms. Niemeyer for these short, weekly tips for effective instruction.

Calling Home

Danielson’s Framework: Domain 2d: Managing Student Behaviors &

4c:  Communicating with Families

Positive phone calls home to parents create not only a great home-school connection, but also can have a positive impact on behavior in your classroom Edutopia Blogger Elena Aguilar in her post The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home  shares how these calls home impacted her Elementary and Middle School classrooms.  Want to start but don’t know where to begin? Check out these 5 tips for starting.

5 Tips for Calling Home :

1. Be specific  

Having something specific to share with parents lets them know that you really do know and care about their child.  

2. Be on the look out for good behaviors

For those students that may be challenging, be looking for things that you can call about, and do so right away!  

3. Keep Track

Keep a list of who you call to make sure you are contacting everyone at some point during the semester, quarter, or trimester.   

4. Create a plan

Create a schedule or goal for yourself, it might be 3 calls home a week or one call home per day-whatever you feel is manageable.

5. Just do it!

Sometimes those calls home get pushed to the backburner for a lot of reasons.  Don’t let that happen!  Once you start making

these positive calls home, and hearing that you made a parent’s

day, you’ll remember the time put into it is well worth it.

PMS News and Notes

My week was filled with good conversations about teaching, evidence, and learning goals.  Also, another week to get to know the kids better.  I feel more comfortable as we settle into a routine with the focus on learning and moving kids forward in their learning.  I feel that we have many solid systems in place to move kids forward, and top notch people in place to achieve our goals.  In an effort to communicate effectively and efficiently, I have included some noteworthy items below.

School Report Card Results

The school report cards have been officially released and available online.  For the 13-14 school year, Poynette Middle School's score improved from the previous year, and was rated as a school that "Exceeds Expectations".  This is a tribute to the quality staff that we have here.  I feel that as we continue our focused efforts, our school report card score will continue to climb.  There is another level above "Exceeds Expectations"...and as long as we are keeping score, we'll strive to be the best.  You should feel really good about that score.  For this report card, we received the highest score in CESA 5 among middle schools.

Educator Effectiveness
I have been around and have touched base with all or nearly all teachers about Educator Effectiveness.  Please get in Teachscape and check it out, and look to complete the Teacher Self-Review.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  You can also refer to the DPI's Teacher Evaluation Process Manual.  The manual contains all of the information about Educator Effectiveness.  Be looking for information about viewing the Step 4 module on the DPI's website very soon.

SLO's and PPG's

We will be meeting about this very soon, but I would like you to start meeting in your department to develop some ideas for what your SLO will look like.  For more information and assistance, you can access information on the following links; SLO Toolkit, SMART SLO Toolkit, Sample SLO's.

We will talk PPG after you have been through the Self Review.  Please keep in mind that our goal for completion of all these tasks is mid to late October.

Grading for Learning

This week, I have gotten the opportunity to talk with teachers about their evidence and grading for learning.  Some have come to me for advice and questions...we've had some good discussions, and I encourage you to come find me with any questions about campus evidence and grading.  At this point, we should be have a solid base of evidence for the standards that we have been focusing on for the first three weeks, and be able to communicate with students about where they are and what they need to do to improve.

GFL Parent Meetings

Dr. Hoernke, Mr. Visger, and I hosted a parent meeting this past Tuesday.  We had about 5 parents attend.  Most of them seemed skeptical coming into the meeting, but they left feeling better about the things that are going on in our schools.  Our next Grading for Learning Parent Presentation will be next Tuesday 9/30 at 6:00 pm in the HS IMC.  Throughout the presentation I have shared recent conversations with teachers about how it's about showing our kids what it takes to achieve, and how they typically rise to the level of expectations.

Thanks again for all of your hard work and dedication.  I feel very lucky to get the opportunity to be involved in work that is meaningful.  Have a great weekend!

Improving Instructional Practices Vol. 3

Thanks to Mrs. Morrissey for this Ms. Niemeyer for these short, weekly tips for effective instruction.

Hit the Mark with Digital Media Exit Cards

Are you getting bored with the same old post-it note exit slips for formative assessment? If you are, your students probably are too. Engage your students with these media tools for exit slip ideas:

The Digital Media Exit Card

Today, with the explosion of digital media, teachers have so many tools at their disposal for this kind of assessment. What would a digital media exit card look like? Here are some possibilities that utilize mobile devices:

• A six-second Vine video to capture the most critical six seconds of class
• A 16-second video to post to MixBit, YouTube's new video sharing tool
• A short post that boils down the essence of the class to 140 characters (Try Padlet  or Twiducate or Today’s Meet)
• A photo illustrating the key learning moment that can then be posted on a class Instagram account
• A question posted to a class Edmodo account inviting a continuation of the learning outside of class

The key 21st century skill in all of these approaches is synthesis, the ability to cut to the essence of an idea or concept and communicate in an effective, succinct, compelling manner.

Intrigued? Read the full article by Matt Levinson for Edutopia here.

Igniting Enthusiasm in Middle School Students

This article is from the Marshall Memo 5552 by Rick Wormeli that can be found in an Educational Leadership article.  I thought it was a solid read, and wanted to share.  Thanks.

Igniting Enthusiasm in Middle-School Students (Originally titled “Motivating Young Adolescents”)             “The era of blaming young adolescents for their lack of motivation is over,” says author/consultant Rick Wormeli in this Educational Leadership article. He starts off with twelve things that de-motivate students: Telling them how important today’s lesson will be in high school and beyond; Teachers who talk the whole class period or speak endlessly when disciplining; Complex assignments that students don’t have the skills to complete and have no clear evaluative criteria; Telling students what they’re probably feeling and thinking; Teachers who see teaching middle school as something to do until a high-school position opens up; Fs, zeroes, and other marks of failure; Spending the day working on weaknesses; Treating middle-schoolers like elementary-school kids; Belittling a student’s strong emotional response to something minor in his or her life; Classes that claim to be relevant to students’ lives but deny them access to technology; Unwavering program fidelity or blind adherence to pacing guides; Sarcasm. Teaching young adolescents, says Wormeli, is a “dance between middle schoolers’ lingering childlike curiosity and their mounting distractions: peers, sex, risk-taking, pop stars, and keeping track of body parts in time and space.” He suggests seven strategies and says, “Although any one of these motivational elements may not work every time, several in tandem likely will.”             • Realize that motivation is created with students. “Our goal should be a classroom culture that cultivates curiosity and personal investment,” says Wormeli, “one in which students feel safe to engage in the activity or topic without fear of embarrassment or rejection.”              • Understand that there’s no such thing as laziness. “If a student appears lazy, there’s always something else going on that we can’t see – or can’t control,” he says. “Humans are hard-wired to do demanding and complex things. Young adolescents are developmentally primed for learning things that are intellectually and physically advanced and for getting excited about their growing expertise and the freedoms that come with competence.” If they’re disengaged, what’s the reason? An exhausting job outside of school? Responsibilities at home? Skill deficits? Fear of looking stupid?             • Empathize and build trust. “Young adolescents intensely value teachers’ opinions of them,” says Wormeli. “[They] need to trust that teachers won’t humiliate them or let them humiliate themselves.” They must know we have their backs – specifically, what will the teacher do when a student gives a wrong answer in class?              • Remember where they are. For ideas on what’s developmentally appropriate, Wormeli suggests the Association for Middle Level Education’s list of effective practices at http://bit.ly/ZnlmeH. Wormeli mentions incorporating social interaction in lessons, switching activities every 10-15 minutes, helping students recover from bad decisions and failures, teaching each topic in more than one way, showing enthusiasm for the subject, and offering regular opportunities for students to include their own culture and develop a unique voice.             • Give descriptive feedback. Middle-school students are constantly asking themselves, Am I normal? How am I doing? Teachers must give them a clear sense of what’s expected academically and clear feedback on where they stand in relation to goals. “Motivational teachers provide many exemplars, formative feedback, and opportunities for students to self-assess,” says Wormeli. It’s also important for students to have a chance to revise and improve their work in response to feedback.             • Teach the way the mind learns. Young adolescents crave vividness, structure, and patterns, says Wormeli. Prime their brains for each lesson with goals that relate to personal experience, show them a pathway to mastery, and build in links to the arts, social studies, math, foreign languages, and literature. “The key to solid learning,” he says, “is for students to make these connections themselves, not just be told about them.”              • Tell stories. “Young adolescents are like first-time visitors to an esoteric sculpture museum who don’t understand why everyone’s so impressed with a particular piece of art,” says Wormeli. “Then a museum curator explains the story behind the artist or his technique, and the skeptic is jarred into wide-eyed appreciation and curiosity… Young adolescents are storytellers and story receivers. Narratives not only appeal to their theater of the mind, but they also provide connections among disparate parts.” “Motivating Young Adolescents” by Rick Wormeli in Educational Leadership, September 2014 (Vol. 72, #1, p. 26-31), http://bit.ly/1vSvqd9; Wormeli can be reached atrwormeli@cox.net.

 © Copyright 2014 Marshall Memo LLC

PMS News and Notes

Two weeks are in the books, and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with life at Poynette Middle School.  Harassment talks are nearing an end, STAR Testing is complete, and I/E assignments have been made.  We are well on our way to establishing normalcy and structure into our everyday routine.  For our students to thrive, we need that normalcy in place.  As each day passes, I am more and more impressed with the quality of people on our team.  Thanks to each and every one of you for your contributions.  With this strong collective effort, our students will achieve more than they could even imagine.  Below are some informational notes.

Fire Drill Recap 

We have our first fire drill in the books.  The Safety Committee meets once a month and we are lucky to have representatives from the police and fire departments work with us in our planning.  We did a great job of exiting the building in a timely fashion...below are a couple of suggestions to make things even smoother.

     -Teachers should follow the last student out to ensure the door gets shut and everyone is out of the classroom.  Prep students to ensure they know exactly where to go.

     -When the class gets to the desired location, have students line up and do a quick head count.  If your numbers match up, then go ahead and go down the list visually making sure all students on the list are present.  It can get a little crowded to effectively take a verbal roll call when the other classes are so close.

     -On drill days, share with your class the details about the drill.  We want everyone to be as prepared as possible to do things in a safe and orderly fashion.

Great Job!

Evidence of Learning in Infinite Campus

During my daily travels and conversations I have been able to talk with most of you about the evidence that we are reporting in Infinite Campus up to this point.  We probably should have at least one piece of evidence in campus at this point.  If you have any questions, please set up a time to meet with me sooner rather than later.  One important goal for instituting a Grading for Learning system is to make clear connections between student work and the standards that students should be learning about.  Please err on the side of having too much evidence in campus, rather than too little.

Behavior Update

After two weeks of school last year, there was 18 discipline referrals...this year through two weeks, we have had 10.  (I realize that different guidelines for when a referral should be entered can blur this comparison) I like to keep score though.  I shared a document last week in my hopes to get everyone on the same page about how we will document behavior incidents.  It was my intentions to have that help clear things up...if you still have questions, please let me know.  As you notice students that may have a natural tendency to be disruptive, try to think of ways to connect with these students outside of class.  It's like depositing money into the piggy bank that we may have to withdraw later when we have to help a student learn from behavior (I hope that analogy makes sense).  With behavior, it is so important to be be proactive and consistent.

Intervention/Enrichment Time

On Friday, the lists for I/E time were set.  I/E time is so important to target intervention for students that need it.  From our early conversations, I feel like our reading interventions will be targeted and effective for our students.  We will monitor progress and share goals with students so that they can move out of intervention if they meet these targets.  If you are facilitating an Enrichment group, please share the importance of improving each of our students' literacy skills.  Nonfiction reading and writing has been shown to be so important to this growth.  I appreciate the effort that each of you put into making this time structured and effective.

Classroom Visits

The favorite part of my day is getting into classrooms and seeing the magic happen.  I have been able to start sharing evidence with some teachers through email after a mini-observation.  It is my hope to familiarize all teachers with the process of analyzing evidence from the classroom and think of each piece of evidence in terms of components on Danielson's Framework for Teaching.  I have documented evidence, linked it to a component, and sent an email to a teacher following a visit.  So far, I have been able to connect with each teacher afterwards.  It has been a great way to begin the conversation about teaching practices.  My goal is to create an environment where having an open conversation about teaching and learning a normal and non-threatening event in our school.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I have been having a lot of fun being back in the middle school.  I know we have had some bumps, and that there will continually be challenges that no one can anticipate, but I am excited about being a part of the journey that we are all on together.  I have no doubt that our efforts will continue to make the culture of our school about learning, and that the data will continue to reflect these efforts.  Thanks again for your openness to doing whatever it takes to meet our goals!  Have a great week!

Improving Instructional Practices Vol. 2

Thanks to Mrs. Morrissey for this Ms. Niemeyer for these short, weekly tips for effective instruction.

Best Practices to Engage Students

(Danielson’s Domain: 3C Engaging Students in Learning)

Want to make learning more interactive? By focusing tightly on instructional strategies and PD, educators at Cochrane Collegiate Academy saved their school from closure. In just three years, they have doubled student performance, and they continue to reach higher.

The educators have developed an instructional model called Interactive Learning (IL). It is a collection of their ten best practices, which they call their non-negotiables, and teachers must implement them in every lesson, every day.

Watch how this school used 10 "non-negotiables" to do it: http://edut.to/1uwaUeB.

Thanks to Edutopia for yet another valuable resource for instructional practices.

Important Practices for the Right School Culture

-Make sure every minute of class time is planned and students are doing meaningful work aimed at meeting the learning goals...students have plenty of social time between classes, at lunch, after school, and on weekends

-Students should be dismissed by the teacher at the end of the period (not lining up at the door)...students are dismissed after having reflected (always a good way to assess student's level of understanding) on the learning that took place during the lesson

-After the initial honeymoon phase at the beginning of the school year, students will start to try to figure out what they can get away with...consistency in rules and expectations are appreciated by all students and fellow staff members

-After one week, you probably have an idea of a couple of students that will help us become better teachers by posing different challenges...it's best to be proactive with these students and go out of your way to establish a positive relationship and let them know you care about them and want them to be successful

Week 1...Almost in the Books

Wow!  What a week it has been so far.  I want to thank all of our staff for their hard work and flexibility in a week that is full of transition.  There were many adjustments that we had to make, and I appreciate the easy-going nature of the people in this building to make adjustments seamlessly. Thank you.

This week has been a learning process for me, I have made notes about the adjustments needed for next year, so that we can continually get better.  Here are some items for your attention about the week, and things to come.

Classrooms
I am really trying to be a presence in the classrooms.  I am impressed by the things that are going on in our classrooms.  It is very evident that our teachers work hard to plan good, solid instruction.  I have seen "bell to bell" (as much as you can without bells) instruction utilizing every minute of class time for our students.  Another solid area that I have noticed is the quality of student to student conversations that are taking place.  This is a great way for students to give and get feedback on their thought process.  It is my hope that I can continue to be in classrooms during the day as much as possible.

PUMA Pride Training Camp
Kudos to all staff members on running a successful Training Camp.  It was really a lot of fun to witness our MS students step up and be leaders for our elementary students.  I appreciate the work that our MS staff did to prep our students to shine in these leadership positions.  I received many compliments about the awesome performance of our MS students.  From here on out, please continue to monitor and remind students about the PUMA Pride expectations around the school if you notice a student that may need a little reminder.

Handbook Signature Forms
These forms should have been distributed to all of our Homeroom teachers.  As soon as you have finished reviewing the Handbook, please have students take this home and get it signed by a parent/guarding.  These signed forms are very important for us to have on file.  As an incentive, I will provide each homeroom that has returned all forms with a snack.

I/E Plans for Next Week
Beginning Monday, we will begin the schedule of Enrichment activities for our students.  On Monday, we will have a silent, sustained reading period.  Please remind kids in the morning that they will need to bring a book to read during this time.  The I/E lesson plan outline will be shared shortly, but will follow a similar format as last year.  For 7th and 8th grade, Friday will be a Homeroom day.  Students will meet in their homeroom groups, and Mrs. Morton will provide a lesson to implement during that time period on Fridays.  We will begin the process of assigning our Intervention/Enrichment groups towards the end of next week, so that we can target the needs of our students.

MS Breakfast Update
The Nutrition/Breakfast break got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but it appears that we have the system running a little more smoothly.  We have 3 separate times (6th - 8:35)(7th - 9:50)(8th - 9:05). If there are any concerns or issues with the breakfast for students, please let me know.  Thank you for your patience and flexibility.

SLO/PPG's
We will be starting to focus on setting our SLO and PPG for this school year.  Please start to put some initial thoughts together about the SMART SLO goal that you would like to implement this year.  We will be administering the STAR assessment on Tuesday (Math) and Wednesday (Reading). These assessments can help some of you to form your SLO.  Others may have to rely on some other sources of data to set their SLO.  We will be meeting about these soon.

On the PPG front...please start to think of a component of Danielson's framework that you may want to focus on improving this school year.  Our individual meetings will be instrumental in framing this goal.

Relationships
A week has gone by, and I have talked to many happy students who are excited about their awesome teachers.  Kudos to all of you for establishing the groundwork for getting all of our students to achieve past their expectations in the months ahead.  Continuing to express interest in our students and their outside interests is like investing money in their piggy banks, that we can later pull out when we need to adjust/correct behavior.  Adjusting and correcting behavior is so much easier and more effective when a strong relationship is already established between teacher and student.

Improving Instructional Practices - Vol. 1

Thanks to Mrs. Morrissey for this Ms. Niemeyer for these short, weekly tips for effective instruction.

53 Ways to Formatively Assess Students

(Danielson’s Domain 3d:Using Assessment in Instruction)  

Want a research based strategy that has been proven to double student learning?  Formative assessments will do just that.  A great way to easily remember formative and summative assessments is to think of cooking in your kitchen.  Formative assessment is when you, the cook, tastes the soup and makes adjustments to the recipe.  Summative is when your guests finally taste the soup.  The following link, 53 Ways to Check for Understanding  from Edutopia, is a great short and to-the-point resource to print, laminate, and keep handy at your desk as you plan and implement your lessons this school year.  

Want to read the whole article?  Click on the link here