The Middle Update 1/29/2016

Our next school day will be February!  I saw the sun on my ride in this morning...all good things!  Important updates below:

Questioning in the Classroom

Check out this short 2 minute video for a little more depth into 3B

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/questioning-in-the-classroom

Drill Next Week

We will be having a lock down drill next Thursday morning (the specific time will be communicated next week).  During a lock down, lights should be shut off, door shut and locked, students should be placed out of sight.  Please review your surroundings to prepare for this drill.  If you have logistical questions, please let me know prior to the drill, and we will work out other issues if they come up during the drill.

Meetings Next Week

Next week on Tuesday after school, there will be a 6-12 staff meeting focused on Academic & Career Planning.  Also, our Puma Pride Committee will meet on Wednesday (2/3) at 2:50 in Ms. Deans' room.  Anyone is welcome to attend and contribute to the Puma Pride Committee.

Report Cards

Report cards will be mailed out later today (Friday) or early Monday.  I will be running reports from the report card data and sharing them with you as we work to systematize our approach to intervene in the areas outlined in the report card for kids that need further assistance.

Tom Guskey

In this video, Tom Guskey shares some thoughts for us to ponder about communication, as we look to develop systems of interventions from all of the data that we currently have.  It's about 2 minutes.

Twitter Find of the Week

edutopia ‏@edutopia  13h13 hours ago

Tips for providing students with timely & targeted feedback: http://edut.to/1KFEW72 . #edchat #assessment

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Duty Next Week

Morning - Lendobeja

Bus - Harms

Data

2nd Quarter Puma Pride Results

% of Students with ALL "Meets Expectations" scores

6th - 79.5%

7th - 75.2%

8th - 54%

PMS - 69.5%

The Middle Update 1/22/16

We are midway through the year already and February is almost here!  Warm weather is not too far away.  This week's blog will be brief, as we will be meeting on Monday for a staff meeting to cover many of the items that are usually covered in the blog.

Wednesday's Staff Meeting Cancelled
We will not be meeting as a Middle School Staff on Wednesday, 1/27 because of our building collaboration work on Monday.

Student of the Month Breakfast
A reminder that our Student of the Month Breakfast will be on Thursday, 1/28, morning.  Congratulations to this month's recipients: Brady Wentz, Kyla Thays, Devin Curtis, Leah Grey, PJ Nelson, Megan Reddeman, John Kin Bergeman, and Mollie Blochwitz.

2nd Quarter Grades
This is a reminder that 2nd Quarter Grades for Middle School students should be posted by the end of the day on Wednesday, 1/27/16.  We will review report cards, and mail them out by Friday, 1/29.  Please report on standards that you assessed throughout the quarter in which students had opportunities to display Advanced level work.  Standards that are not assessed should be left blank.  Comments specific to a student's performance can be useful feedback for both students and parents.  As a reminder, we will be recognizing student achievement in academics and behaviors with the following stamps:

     "Distinguished Academic Performance" - all Proficient or Advanced scores on report card
     "Model Puma" - meets expectations in all 5 Puma Pride areas
     "On Time, Every Time" - 0 unexcused tardies for the quarter

Grading Practices (Late Work)
Rick Wormeli has some solid opinions about grading practices.  Take a couple of minutes to hear his thoughts about late work.

Twitter Find of the Week

Blake Peuse ‏@BlakePeuse  Jan 21

Listening to Poynette talk about their journey on effective grading practices. Great stuff! #2016EdCon @SFSDSchools

4 retweets1 like

 

 

 

Duty Next Week
Morning - Kallungi
Bus - Greer

Data

7th Grade STAR Math Numbers

September: 52.5% of students were above a scaled score of 815

January:    70.5% of students were above a scaled score of 815, 4 more students were close with scaled scores above 800, but less than 815.

The Middle Update 1/17/16

As we enter into the final week of the semester, it is always good to reflect on all that we have accomplished during the 1st semester.  As we gather during next Monday's Inservice, we'll get the chance to really take a look at the student data that reflects all of the learning that has taken place within our classroom walls.  We are still on a journey to grow the culture of excellence in our building.  There are some key areas for us to improve our system-wide practices, and we will be digging into those areas looking for solutions to make the most of all the data that we collect, and really look towards improving our efforts to instill a solid work ethic in each of our kids along with a strong academic background.

Although there are many strategies and supports to help our kids in this effort, none are more important than our efforts to make meaningful connections with each student.  This is especially important with our most challenging, frustrating students.  Each day, we impact our students, and one day they will look back with much appreciation to the teachers who took a little time and extra interest in them during a time in their life where they were a little lost and needed a little support.  Starting with a clean slate each day, and treating each student with the same loving care that we would our own children will make a difference in their life.  This can prove very challenging at times, but that is why Middle School teachers are the most important people in the world.  Continuing to keep this at the forefront of our daily interactions will continue to grow our culture towards the warm and excellent place we all strive to build.  Each one of us play a key role in the lives of our students...

End of Quarter is Friday, January 22
As a reminder, Friday is the End of the Quarter.  We will be running our End of Semester Celebration on Friday.  This will include a different schedule.  Please let me know if you notice an oversight in the plan for Friday.  The purposes of this activity are for kids to build stronger connections with peers and teachers, have another positive school experience, and for them to get an opportunity they may not get outside of school.  Please use this day to get to know students in a different venue, and grow the connections you have with the kids.  At our morning assembly, we will continue to strive towards growing our school expectations and fostering a culture of excellence at PMS.

End of Quarter Grades
As a reminder, we must have sufficient evidence in each standard that we will report out for report cards.  Grades posted in campus since mid-quarter grades were posted should represent a student's current grade.  Teachers should be updating the posted grades as recent student evidence suggests.  Final grades will be due at the end of the day on Wednesday, January 27, and report cards will go out by the end of the week.  Comments specific to a student's performance can be useful feedback for both students and parents.  Report cards will include recognition pieces in the 3 categories mentioned in last week's blog.

One of those sad, but happy things
I wanted to recognize and show appreciation for the work that Mrs. Molitor has done for us and all of the kids in Poynette.  If you are not aware, this will be Mrs. Molitor's last week with us, as she came across an opportunity in her hometown that she couldn't pass up.  Her departure will be tough for us but good for her, and I'm really happy for her that her family life will benefit from her new opportunity.  Thank you Mrs. Molitor, you will be missed, but we are happy for you.

Pritzl out of the building
January and February are turning out to be a little on the chaotic side for me.  You probably have noticed that I have been absent a little more than normal during the past two weeks.  I have had to take some leave time to conduct research in other schools for a dissertation that I am working towards.  My data collection is complete, so I will not have to miss school for that purpose anymore.  However, I will be out of the building a bit more than I like over the next month...see below.  I appreciate all of the extra work that takes place when I am out of the building, and most likely, many of you don't even notice, which is a good thing.

Thursday, January 21 - Presenting at WASB Convention in Milwaukee
Thursday, January 28 - Presenting at AWSA Associate Principal's Conference in Appleton
Friday, Feb. 5 - I'm in a wedding in Houston
Wednesday Feb. 10 - Friday, Feb. 11 - Attending and Presenting at AWSA MS/HS Principal's Conference WI Dells

Twitter Post of the Week

Duty Next Week
Morning - Johnson
Bus - Frehner

Data
99% - Percent of our students in attendance during last year's End of Semester Celebration

The Middle Update 1/10/16

The first post of 2016 comes right after the excitement of an exciting Packer victory!  I know this week will go a lot easier and faster for all of our staff members with the anticipation of another Packer playoff game on the horizon this coming Saturday.  As January keeps trucking along, we have 2 weeks until the end of the semester.  We certainly have some busy times ahead, but student learning and relationships must remain our focus.  Check out below for a couple of notes about the weeks to come.

End of Quarter - Friday, January 22
The end of the quarter is two weeks away.  As a reminder, we must have sufficient evidence in each standard that we will report out for report cards.  Grades posted in campus since mid-quarter grades were posted should represent a student's current grade.  Teachers should be updating the posted grades as recent student evidence suggests.  Final grades will be due at the end of the day on Wednesday, January 27, and report cards will go out by the end of the week.

Report Card Recognitions
On all future report cards, we will recognize student excellence in the following areas:

"Distinguished Academic Performance" - students who score PR and AD in all standards
"Model Puma" - ME in all 5 Puma Pride categories
"On Time, Every Time" - 0 unexcused tardies for the quarter

At the end of the 1st quarter, we had a number of students score all PR and AD's, with 1 DE in a standard...by recognizing and posting these achievements, be mindful that more scrutiny of grades in all classes will be natural.  The goal for this recognition is to give students goals to shoot for each quarter, and to recognize true excellence.

End of Quarter Celebration
As a reminder, we will have an End of Quarter Celebration on Friday, January 22nd.  Permission slips have been distributed and teams are working on getting me the number of students signed up for each venue.  More details will come out this week as far as the schedule for this day.  There will be an assembly somewhere in the schedule on Friday.

Puma Pride Committee
The Puma Pride Committee met on Thursday after school this past week.  The focus of the work was on the upcoming March Parent/Teacher Conferences.  The committee had some great discussions, and I think we are closing in on a format that will be more effective and efficient than in past years.  The finer details are still being worked out, and will be communicated soon, but feel free to see Mr. Kallungi, Ms. Deans, Mrs. Anderson, or Mrs. Morrissey for information on the progress thus far.  As always, anyone is welcome to join the Puma Pride Committee.  Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 2 at 2:50 in Ms. Deans' classroom.

MS Leadership Team
The Middle School Student Leadership Team has been meeting and are planning a couple of cool events for the next couple of months.  Their work centers on the following activities:

-Penny War: Will raise money for the local food pantry
-Box Tops Collection Competition: Will be run to help raise more funds for the Poynette Parent's Club
-Expectations Videos: Student produced video to review expectations in areas like the cafeteria, hallways, etc.

If you are interested in lending a hand to these students, let me know.

Targeted Assessments
Thanks to those of you that have shared your Targeted Assessment Data Analysis sheets with me.  Focusing on specific student achievement data will help move both our instruction and student achievement forward in a big way.  Also, this process provides a great artifact for multiple Danielson domains.  I will continue meeting with teachers as the Data Analysis Sheets are shared with me.

STAR Testing
Our mid-year STAR Testing dates in Math and Reading have been set for the end of January.  We look forward to analyzing our student progress in these areas.

Twitter Find of the Week

edutopia ‏@edutopia  Jan 1

22 powerful lesson closure activities that leave a lasting impression: http://edut.io/K5Dh6F .

Duty Next Week
Morning - Hendrickson
Bus - Deans

Data

Attendance Rates (September - December)

15-16 95.9%

14-15 95.28%

13-14 95.72%

12-13 96.21%

Behavior Referrals (September - December)

15-16 99 Events 46 Students

14-15 158 Events 55 Students

13-14 132 Events 81 Students

12-13 94 Events 58 Students

Number of Students Scoring ME in all areas of Puma Pride Rubric

15-16 1st Quarter about 70%

14-15 All Year 46.5%

13-14 All Year 54.6%

STAR Data

Fall 2015 - # of Students at or above benchmark

Math - 74.2%

Reading - 55.9%

Spring 2015 - # of Students at or above benchmark

Math - 81.1%

Reading- 52.9%

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