PMS News & Notes 5/29/15

From my perspective, the feeling in the school has been a "business as usual" type of feel.  Routines are established and students, for the most part, have been meeting and exceeding behavioral expectations.  Hats off to you for maintaining high expectations, and designing engaging lessons that are getting our students to get the most out of their time here.  We must continue this focus for the remaining week and a half!  Thank you for your efforts!  See below for important information about the weeks to come.

Final Staff Meeting of the 14-15 School Year

The final staff meeting of the year will be on Monday at 2:50 in Room 201.  Please bring your chrome book.

SLO/PPG End of Year Wrap-Up

Teachers that are in their Summary Year have probably had enough talking with me over the course of the past week to last them a lifetime.  The Summary Year End of Year Review is more extensive than any review in which I have been involved. It has been a good opportunity to sit and talk in depth about teaching and learning with the teachers that I have met with already.  It would be great to meet with each teacher in this way every year, but probably not practical from a time perspective.  I would, however, like to check in with EVERY teacher about their SLO and make sure that the Teachscape portions are fully completed, including the Self-Score portion.  Please set up a time with me when you are ready to meet about the SLO and PPG.  I will be happy to address any questions about the process at any time as well.

Last Day of School

We will be running a schedule that is similar to what we have done in the past on the last day.  8th graders will not be in the building.  I will talk more about this at the staff meeting, and a schedule will be coming.

Next Wednesday afternoon

Please mark your calendars for the End of the Year celebration that will take place at the Barn at Harvest Moon Pond next Wednesday.  Please see this Document for food sign-up and more information.  Hope to see you there!

Junk

If there are things that you have not used for a couple of years in your classrooms, it is time to throw it out.  Please be on the lookout for these items, and before we leave for the summer, organize these items and work with the custodians to get them thrown out.

End of Year Check-Out

Before you leave on the last day, there will be the standard end of year check-out for staff.  Part of that process is sharing a policy about using school equipment at home.  If I forget to ask about this, don't hesitate to bring it up at the check-out time.

Middle School Play

Ms. Eckhardt and Ms. Harms have been hard at work grooming our Middle School thespians.  Our students will be performing the play, Loonies and Snatchers, for the school audience at 1:45 on Tuesday, June 2 and then again for the community at 6:00 pm.

Twitter Post of the Week

Rik Rowe ‏@WHSRowe  59m59 minutes ago

From a Student just now: "Mr. Rowe, my grade does not YET reflect what I know and I'd like to show you I'm better than my grade is now."

Duty Next Week

Morning - Hazard, Hendrickson

Bus - O'Connor

Data

Behavioral Referrals Through this point in the 4th Quarter

14-15 - 79 Events, 41 Students

13-14 - 145 Events, 66 Students

12-13 - 132 Events, 86 Students

11-12 - 242 Events, 82 Students

PMS News & Notes 5/22/15

Another beautiful day outside today, and another solid week at Poynette Middle School is about to hit the books.  It was an eventful week, and the remaining weeks will surely be similar...Below is a few notes from the week that was, and the week ahead.

Spring Concert

Congratulations to our Music Department on another solid performance at the Spring Concert this past Tuesday night.  The talents of both our band and choir students were on full display to a packed gymnasium.  Hats off to Mr. Hazard and Mrs. Graeve for your leadership and all of the work that goes into a truly, culture-building event.

Middle School Play

Ms. Eckhardt and Ms. Harms have been hard at work grooming our Middle School thespians.  Our students will be performing the play, Loonies and Snatchers, for the school audience at 1:45 on Tuesday, June 2 and then again for the community at 6:00 pm.

Grading for Learning Parent Meeting

Dr. Hoernke, Katie Morrissey, Anna Niemeyer, and I hosted another Grading for Learning Parent Meeting on Wednesday evening.  This was the best turnout that we have had for a meeting in a long time, and there was a lot of good discussion. We were able to receive some feedback from the parents that were in attendance, and I believe that we shared some information that will help parents understand our grading system and the goals that we have set for the students in our district better. We plan to host another session in June.  These sessions help us get feedback from the parent perspective, and for us to share the "whys" of what we are doing in the classroom for assessment and reporting.

End of Year Information

As we plan for the end of the school year, the SLO and PPG sections in Teachscape for this school year must be complete.  For teachers on Summary Year, we will be meeting for a more thorough evaluation involving Teacher Practices and the Artifact Portfolio within the Teacher Practices section. I will need to meet with each staff member that I am supervising to review the SLO and to complete the check-out process.

IMC Printer Use

This is in reference to Mrs. Bailey's previous email about our Printer Ink shortage for the IMC Printer.  For the remainder of the year, if you could print to a different printer, that would be really helpful.  Thank you!

End of the Year Gathering

On Wednesday (6/3) evening, we will be hosting an end of the year gathering at the Barn at Harvest Moon Pond.  The Retirement Tea will be after school in the HS IMC, and we will be gathering at the Barn afterwards for a dinner (potluck), and end of year wrap-up ceremony.  Mrs. Hebel shared a sign-up sheet.  Mark your calendars.

Twitter Post of the Week

Dave Burgess ‏@burgessdave  May 18

A4: Realize rapport and relationships are often built "around the edges" of your class! #tlap #EveryMinuteCounts

Duty Next Week

Morning - Greer, Harms

Bus - Lendobeja

Data

Attendance Rate (through this point in the school year)

14-15 - 95.32%

13-14 - 95.15%

12-13 - 95.46%

Improving Instructional Practices

You Really Have to Know What Kids Know and Don’t Know

Check out this Edutopia video on assessment, project based learning and creating meaningful learning experiences for your students. It really solidifies all that we are trying to provide for our students in our district.

"You really have to know what kids know and don't know."
Posted by Edutopia on Thursday, March 19, 2015

Improving Instructional Practices

Gradual Release of Responsibility

Danielson’s Domains:  1e Designing Coherent Instruction,   3c Engaging students in Learning, & 3d Using Assessment in Instruction

The gradual release of responsibility model is a way to create a culture of learning within your classroom by showing, guiding, and then letting students apply what they have learned. Below you can click on a link to a great resource on this model that you can print out and  refer to as you scaffold learning for your own students.    

Gradual Release of Responsibility Resource

PMS News & Notes 5/16/15

As we move closer to the end of the school year our focus and priorities remain constant...achieving our goals of increasing the achievement of all of our students.  Each minute of class time and Intervention/Enrichment time must be utilized right up to the end.  I challenge you to focus on the finding/utilizing the most efficient/effective ways for students to receive high quality feedback on their work.  This feedback can come from their teacher/para-professional or even from their classmates.  Sending the message about the value of each minute of classroom time is critical to growing the achievement/literacy culture that we envision.  I appreciate all of your efforts...each person in our building plays a vital role to the success of our students and our culture.  Below is some news and notes for the upcoming week.

Staff Meeting Recap
Really great things come from our staff putting their heads together working towards a common goal. I'll have the guidelines compiled early this week, and I plan to bring them forth to the Puma Pride Committee on Thursday to shore up the language.  Thank you to Ms. Barnett, Ms. Deans, and Mrs. Greer for presenting at the staff meeting. Continuing to push and spread the innovation in our classrooms is key to our culture and achievement.  We will have our last staff meeting of the year on Monday, June 1st.  If you would like to share a practice/activity/lesson that you would like to share, let me know, and we'll work to get on the agenda.  I'll report out after the Puma Pride Committee meeting on Thursday.

SLO/PPG Wrap-Up
Starting from now till the end of the school year, you can wrap up your SLO/PPG in Teachscape. You need to have collected and analyzed your last data point to make a determination of your self score.  You need to use this RUBRIC for the self-score.  Anna, Katie, your peers, or myself are available to consult with as you look at your SLO results.  If you are in a Summary Year, you will be meeting with me to formally go through this process.  I still, however, would like to check in with everyone about this year's process.  If you are ready, and have all of the fields in Teachscape filled in, feel free to invite me to review the progress.  For your PPG, you need to respond to the questions in Teachscape under PPG, and this process serves as a good artifact for your teacher practices.

Summer PD
In the next couple of weeks we'll be meeting for our last department meetings.  With that being said, all teachers will have an opportunity for a PD Day in August.  We'll plan on meeting in departments, and working on Curriculum/Assessment plan work.  As the last three weeks go by, we should be working to set those dates.  Staff will be paid curriculum pay for these sessions.  If you have questions or would like to talk further, please let me know.

Seclusion/Restraint
It is important for each of us to understand the Seclusion/Restraint policy in our district. You can search for Policy 5630.01 - USE OF RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION WITH STUDENTS in our online policy guide which can be found HERE.  The bottom line...we should not put our hands on students unless there is a safety concern, and if an incident happens, I must know right away, and proper parent contact/paperwork must be initiated.

Personnel Update
I'd like to welcome our newest staff member, Stephanie Schoen, to the team.  She is excited to join us as our new 6th Grade Science/7th Grade Math teacher.  We will be welcoming three strong candidates for our final vacant MS Teaching position on Wednesday for interviews.

End of the Year Gathering

On Wednesday (6/3) evening, we will be hosting an end of the year gathering at the Barn at Harvest Moon Pond.  The Retirement Tea will be after school in the HS IMC, and we will be gathering at the Barn afterwards for a dinner (potluck), and end of year wrap-up ceremony.  Mark your calendars.

Twitter Post of the Week

Dr. Justin Tarte ‏@justintarte  59m59 minutes ago

Life's greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes... #life

Duty Next Week

Morning - Frehner, Graeve

Bus - O'Connor

Data

Behavior Referrals (Through 5 weeks of 4th Quarter)

11-12 - 197 Events, 72 Students

12-13 - 101 Events, 71 Students

13-14 - 122 Events, 59 Students

14-15 - 61 Events, 35 Students

PMS News & Notes 5/8/15

Teacher Appreciation Week is a week designated to take time for everyone to show appreciation for the work that our teachers every day.  To me, the job of a teacher is at the top of the list for jobs that impact our society. I can't tell you how fortunate and appreciative of the staff that work in Poynette. Being an effective teacher is very difficult, and getting students to reach their potential is an art form. Thank you for your work...this is the time of year, where it is so important to take a step back, and recognize how far your students have come since they first entered your classroom. You should feel a sense of pride in that growth, because you had a huge part in it.  Again...Thank You!  Now for some news and notes from the week that was and the week to come...

Staff Meeting Change

A reminder that our staff meeting was postponed from last week due to the insurance meetings, and will be this coming Wednesday (5/13) at 2:50 in Mrs. Anderson's room. Also, we will need to move the last staff meeting of the year from Wednesday (6/3) to Monday (6/1) due to the Retirement Tea celebration.  Invitations will be sent through Google calendar.

Mid-Term Grades

This is a reminder to be sure that mid-term grades are posted for 4th quarter.  I will be sending an Infinite Campus message out today at about 3:00 to let parents know that mid-term grades have been posted.

Student of the Month Breakfast

Our final Student of the Month Breakfast will be next Thursday (5/14) morning.

SLO/PPG Wrap-Up

It is time to start thinking about wrapping up our SLO's and PPG's reflections.  From now on is a good time to go into Teachscape and reflect on your goals by filling out the appropriate boxes. For those of you that used STAR, we will be doing the final round of testing in the Math and ELA classes on May 20th and May 21st. For anyone else, you should have your final assessment planned, and ready to gather your data and analyze the results. Once you have your SLO work completed in Teachscape, please let me know, and we'll schedule a meeting to review the progress.  If you complete your SLO, please don't wait until the end of the year to schedule a meeting with me, let's do this as soon as possible. 

Educator Effectiveness

For those teachers that are on Summary years, we will be meeting to review your artifacts and evidence for each component soon. For those teachers on a Non-Summary year, you do not need to have a formal end of year meeting with me for your PPG or Teacher Practices....just your SLO. If you have any questions about Teachscape or Educator Effectiveness, please let me know.

End of the Year Gathering

On Wednesday (6/3) evening, we will be hosting an end of the year gathering at the Barn at Harvest Moon Pond.  The Retirement Tea will be after school in the HS IMC, and we will be gathering at the Barn afterwards for a dinner (potluck), and end of year wrap-up ceremony.  Mark your calendars.

Twitter Post of the Week

As we end of the year, and look at our SLO's, PPG's, and progress towards our Vision 2020 Goals, I thought this post was appropriate.

Jon Gordon ‏@JonGordon11  1h1 hour ago

It's good to have goals but I don't think you should focus on them. Instead focus on your purpose which fuels you to reach your goals.

Duty Next Week

Morning - Deans, Fraser

Bus - Rogness

Data

Percentage of Students Meeting or on Track for Algebra 1 Readiness
	Fall	Winter	Spring
6th Grade	42.6	60.6
7th Grade	50	69.1
8th Grade	50.6	61.8

Improving Instructional Practices

Blog Post for the Week of May 3rd

Motivation Station

Domain 3: Instruction; Component 3c: Engaging Students in Learning

Domain 2: The Classroom Environment; Component 2a: Creating a Classroom of Respect & Rapport

Adapted from: Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves Larry Ferlazzo

There are four qualities that have been identified as critical to helping students motivate themselves: autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance. Check out a few strategies to make this happen in your classroom.

Autonomy

Provide students with freedom of choice is one strategy for promoting learner autonomy.

Competence

Feedback, done well, is ranked by education researcher John Hattie as number 10 out of 150 influences on student achievement. But how do you handle providing critical feedback to students when it's necessary? Since extensive research shows that a ratio of positive-to-negative feedback of between 3-1 and 5-1 is necessary for healthy learning to occur, teachers might consider a strategy called plussing that is used by Pixar animation studios with great success. The New York Times interviewed author Peter Sims about the concept:

The point, he said, is to "build and improve on ideas without using judgmental language." . . . An animator working on Toy Story 3 shares her rough sketches and ideas with the director. "Instead of criticizing the sketch or saying 'no,' the director will build on the starting point by saying something like, 'I like Woody's eyes, and what if his eyes rolled left?" Using words like "and" or "what if" rather than "but" is a way to offer suggestions and allow creative juices to flow without fear, Mr. Sims said.

"And" and "what if" could easily become often-used words in an educator's vocabulary!

Relatedness

A high-quality relationship with a teacher whom they respect is a key element of helping students develop intrinsic motivation. What are some actions that teachers can take to strengthen these relationships?

4 Steps adapted from the article and Marzano’s Ideas:

1. Take a genuine interest in your students
2. Act friendly with your students; smile, joke, be supportive
3. Be flexible and keep a focus on your learning goals
4. Don’t give up on students; encourage them to seek continuous improvement

Relevance

Have students conduct work and projects so that they see what they are learning as relevant to their lives. Encourage students to generate their own connections and discover for themselves the relevance of course material to their lives. This method gives students the opportunity to make connections to topics and areas of greatest interest to their lives.

Want to read the full article? Check it out here.

PMS News & Notes 5/1/15

May is here!  We continue our focus with an eye on achieving our goals.  A few important notes below...

Badger Testing
Our testing sessions in the Middle School are complete!  It will be nice to get back into our routine for the remaining weeks of the school year.  At this time, we have only 5 students that need to make-up a portion of the test.  Thank you to all of you for your flexibility, and willingness to do what it takes to get this done efficiently and effectively.  Results should be available sooner than ever before, but I'm not exactly sure when we will get the results.

Mid-Term Grades
This is a reminder that mid-term grades are due by the end of next week. I will be sending a message through Infinite Campus that mid-term grades are posted next Friday afternoon.  Dr. Hoernke and I will also be hosting another Grading for Learning parent meeting on the evening of Wednesday, 5/20 at 6:30.  If anyone is interested in being a part of the discussion, giving a teacher perspective, you are more than welcome.  Let me know if you have interest in helping out; continuing our efforts to make our communication more effective.

Next Staff Meeting
This is a reminder that our next staff meeting will be on Wednesday, 5/6/15 starting at 2:50 in Room 201.

Spring is Here...
As the weather gets nicer, I appreciate the continued commitment and focus on our goals. Very soon, we will be gathering our student data, analyzing growth toward both our SLO and our Vision 2020 goals. Our focus must remain constant using our "capital" (classroom minutes), getting the most out of each minute right up till the end of the year.

Student of the Month Breakfast
The next Student of the Month Breakfast will be on Thursday, May 14. This will be the final breakfast of the year.

Twitter Find of the Week

Dan Rockwell ‏@Leadershipfreak  1h1 hour ago

From: "22 Ways to Dramatically Increase Your Influence" http://bit.ly/1420Cqo 

Duty Next Week
Morning - Anderson, Barnett
Bus - Vian

Data
Attendance Rate: 
14-15 - 95.43%
13-14 - 95.18%
12-13 - 95.42%