The Middle Update 11/19/15

Communication of Student Concerns
In our Puma Pride Committee Meeting, we talked further about communication among staff members about student concerns.  A core team member will be sharing the meeting notes after each meeting on Thursday.  If you are having student concerns, check the document, and communicate the specific concerns with Mrs. Morrissey, Ms. Hellmich, Mrs. Morton, or myself.  From there, we can meet to work on a plan for that student to be successful.

Professional Rounds Day
Our next Instructional Rounds Day will be on Thursday, 12/3.

Professional Development Day 11/30/15
On Monday, 11/30, we'll have another professional development day.  A more detailed schedule is on the way, however, we will start the day meeting as a Middle School team, we'll meet again prior to lunch to recap our work in large group.  In the afternoon, our Rapid Response Team will be finishing their training.  The official schedule will be available early next week.

Early Release next Wednesday
Students will be released at 12:40 next Wednesday.  In the original schedule I sent out, I had dismissal time of 12:30.  My apologies...check out the adjusted early release schedule...I apologize for the confusion.  Again, please let me know if there is a conflict.  Also, on Wednesday, the staff is free to leave after all students are gone for the day.

Twitter Find of the Week
timely article...

EdWeek Teacher ‏@EdWeekTeacher  7m7 minutes ago

Why you shouldn't thank a parent for coming to parent-teacher conferences: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/prove-it-math-and-education-policy/2015/11/3-phrases-i-wont-be-saying-during-conferences.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw-tm …

Duty Next Week
Morning - Williams
Bus - Lendobeja

Data
Behavior Referrals through today.
15-16 - 68 Events 41 Students
14-15 - 136 Events 48 Students
13-14 - 93 Events 62 Students

The Middle Update 11/13/15

SLO/PPG's

We are getting very close to having everyone's SLO and PPG approved and ready to go.  I have been reviewing the documents electronically and submitting feedback via comments on individual documents.  My plan is to have feedback to everyone by the end of next week and have the process complete by Thanksgiving Break.  If you have any questions, please let me know, but I will send an email once I have reviewed your document.

Staff Share

It was great to have our English Department report out that they had achieved a "cake moment" for 1st quarter by having little to no missing work at the end of the quarter.  If you have had a similar experience, please let me know.  We have so much knowledge and experience among our staff, that we need to be spreading the wealth often.

Staff Meeting Next Week

This is a reminder that we have a staff meeting on Wednesday, 11/18 at 2:50 in Room 3.  We will be looking closely at the use of targeted assessments in our classrooms.

Puma Pride Committee Meeting on Monday

The Puma Pride Committee's next meeting will be on Monday at 2:50 in Room 3.  We will review the Grade Level communication plan that we put in place for the Middle School, and also look to refine our parent-teacher conference structure.  We'll also continue our school culture discussion.  As always, anyone that has interest is welcome to join.

Hold Drill

Great job on the hold drill today.  This is a reminder that all classroom doors should always be locked.  The purpose for this is if there ever is a hold situation, the teacher simply needs to shut the door.  We will continue to practice our emergency situations throughout the year.

Twitter Find of the Week

edutopia ‏@edutopia  Nov 4

4 key ingredients to motivate students: http://edut.io/iurS4z . #SEL #k12

Duty Next Week

Morning - Schoen

Bus - Kallungi

Data

Attendance Data

15-16 - 96.65%

14-15 - 95.7%

13-14 - 96.23%

The Middle Update 11/5/15

Wanted to send out an early blog because we'll be meeting as a group on Friday.  Some items may need a little explanation besides what is written.  We'll have time to expand upon points on Friday morning...if you have any questions, as always, send me a note.

Posting Grades for Quarter 1
We will extend the deadline for grade posting for the 1st quarter.  Grades will be due on Tuesday, 11/10/15 by the end of the day.  Please revisit Anna's email about posting grades...you should enter a Course Completion grade of 4 for all students that passed the course, and a 1 if they did not pass the course.  Comments should be posted within a standard also for them to show up on the report card.  If you would like to see how the report card looks after you have posted, let me know, I can show you anytime.  Please provide as much information as possible about the progress of each student.

Communication of Student Progress
I worked on compiling the feedback from the staff meeting last week, and I put together this document which provides guidelines for how we should utilize the grade posting in Infinite Campus.  Check it out.  We can discuss any questions or concerns when I see you, or Friday morning.

Lasting Connections
Check out this Article...again the power of connections for culture and achievement.

Veteran's Day Assembly
As per our Veteran's Day tradition, we will be going over to the HS for the Veteran's Day Assembly on Wednesday, 11/11/15 at 9:00 am in the Kerr Gym.  The ceremony typically takes around a half hour.

Field Trip Guidelines
If we have upcoming field trips...please review the guidelines below:
 
-Teachers fill out Field Trip Permission Form and submit to Principal
-Teachers should determine the number of chaperones needed
-Teachers put out a call for chaperones (if necessary), sharing information regarding requirement for completed background check
-Background check forms should be sent to the district office immediately upon receipt
- Two Weeks before the scheduled trip, chaperones are finalized.  That list is shared with principal/administrator
-Principal determines chaperone eligibility based on completed and 'passed' background check
-At that time, any pending background checks must be turned into district office
-Once a week the business office conducts background checks on any pending applications
-Teacher verifies with principal chaperone list one week before field trip

PLP Meetings
As a result of excellent collaboration from our Puma Pride sub-committee about working to improve the communication of student plans and progress, we have set up a system of meetings.  The meetings will be held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays generally.  Teams or teachers concerned about a student should work to fill out a PLP form, and submit it to Christy.  At each meeting, we will be reviewing the PLP forms for students of concerns and setting up our interventions and plans for data collection.  Anyone who works with a student on the agenda should attend.  Emails with details about the students of focus for the meeting will be sent in advance of the meeting.  Our first PLP meeting will be on Wednesday, 11/11/15 at 2:45.  See me with any questions.

Twitter Find of the Week

edutopia ‏@edutopia  Oct 12

The science-backed benefits of #kindness: http://edut.to/1KUeXIV . #BullyFree

426 retweets321 likes

 

 

 

Duty Next Week
Morning - Rogness
Bus - Johnson