Resource of the Week
The resource this week gives a much more in-depth look at one of the key words of the PUMA Way...Mindset. When we talk about Mindset, we are trying to instill in the students the idea that mistakes are a key part of learning. The article this week goes more in depth on this phenomenon and the takeaways suggest that we are "dead-on" in having Mindset be a key focus area for our kids.
"The Mistake Imperative - Why We Must Get Over Our Fear of Student Error" - Youki Terada
PD Day - January 18th
We are about one week away from our next Professional Development Day. I believe Dr. Shappell is planning to send out a video message which we'll set aside time for at 8:00. We'll meet virtually at 8:30am as a Middle School Staff to analyze our School Climate Survey Data, and discuss implications for our practices moving forward. After our morning meeting, there will be opportunities for collaboration with department-mates to accomplish specified goals, and also time for teachers to work on report card grades/comments, and work on lesson plans throughout the rest of the day.
Updated District Calendar
After the School Board voted to extend Winter Break by 2 days, there were a couple of other adjustments made to the district calendar...most notably, changing March 12th from a PD Day to a normal day of school for us. Please take a look to verify your planning reflects accurate information.
Preparing for the Pig Races!!
It's almost Pig Racing time! As we prepare for this annual event, please return your pig from last year to the office. We will conduct a thorough examination of each pig and ensure there are updated batteries before we re-distribute them. We'll roll out the details for the pig racing competitions within the next couple of weeks. Until then, it's probably a good idea to start brain-storming some names, costumes, and strategies for the pig race. We will not have all of the students in the gym for the pig races this year, but we'll find a way to still have some fun with it.
End of Quarter #2
We are about to start the last week of Quarter #2. Grades will be due by the beginning of the day on Thursday, January 21st. We will print report cards on Thursday morning and get them in the mail as soon as possible afterwards.
Teachers will have time to work on finalizing grades and writing students comments on the report card on the afternoon of our PD Day on the 18th.
1st Semester Appreciations
It's always a good time to show appreciation. As we near the end of the 1st semester, I'd like to take a moment to formally share your appreciation. Please complete the linked Google Form below to write the name of a staff member who you appreciate and provide a brief description of what made that staff member stand out for you. Also, please do the same for a student that you have worked with so far this school year.
Protective Plexi-glass Partitions
We have more protective plexi-glass partitions available for your classroom if you would like them. If so, please contact Robin in the office, and we'll have Randy deliver and set one up for you.
Policy Check-In
It's January and probably a good time to start putting reminders out there about district policies that could impact our day-to-day decision-making. I'll plan to put in a few policies from time to time to serve as reminders for all of us. There are a lot of policies, and it's important that we all follow these policies, as the school board has put them in place to guide the operations of the school.
The policy this week centers around the use of the Internet and Social Media. A couple parts that are worth making sure everyone knows well are listed below, followed by a link to the whole policy:
-Staff members shall provide instruction for their students regarding the appropriate technology use and online safety and security as specified above, and staff members will monitor students’ online activities while at school.
Monitoring may include, but is not necessarily limited to, visual observations of online activities during class sessions; or use of specific monitoring tools to review browser history and network, server, and computer logs.
-Staff members shall not access social media for personal use on the District’s network, and shall access social media for educational use only after submitting a plan for that educational use and securing the Principal’s approval of that plan in advance.
Social Media Use
An employee’s personal or private use of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogs, etc., may have unintended consequences. While the Board respects its employees' First Amendment Rights, those rights do not include permission to post inflammatory comments that could compromise the District's mission, undermine staff relationships, or cause a substantial disruption to the school environment. This warning includes staff members’ online conduct that occurs off school property including from the employee’s private computer. Postings to social media should be done in a manner sensitive to the staff member’s professional responsibilities.
In addition, Federal and State confidentiality laws forbid schools and their employees from using or disclosing student education records without parental consent. See Policy 8330. Education records include a wide variety of information; posting personally identifiable information about students is not permitted. Staff members who violate State and Federal confidentiality laws or privacy laws related to the disclosure of confidential employee information may be disciplined.
Is the PD day in March supposed to say March 12? I didn't have Thursday, March 18 marked as a PD day.
ReplyDeleteYes, March 12th...sorry about that. Thanks for catching the mistake!
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