ALL students can learn!
ALL students will learn because of what WE do!
There is much to celebrate!
I will have some small candy (pre-packaged) treats spread out on the tables in the staff workroom downstairs to celebrate. There are so many great things happening in our school each day for our kids, but I wanted to share a couple of reasons to celebrate that come to my mind from the past week. Feel free to email with me with more success stories in your world.
-The Mabrey girls were back in school and had a positive, productive week!
-Ashton N is back and having much more success this quarter than last
-A couple of new 8th graders joined us at the quarter and are adjusting well, and have shared great surprise and appreciation for the calm, learning environment that is absent of physical fighting
-We have implemented a plan to help Chandra (6th grade) be more successful in Math
-Many 8th graders that would have been in a Math 8 class are thriving at learning difficult Algebra 1 material this year
I know there are so many more examples, but these small successes are the result of a staff that has the mindset that all kids can learn and they will learn because of what we do in school.
We will continue to explore how we can continue to improve what we do to be steady place where our students can count on us to help them through their learning journey.
Resource of the Week
Our resource this week comes from "The Developmental Relationships Framework". The research broke down the actions you can take to make relationships powerful. We know the student/adult relationships are critical to the student experience and ultimate success in school The actions below provide some concrete ways to grow these important relationships with students. They are split into 5 elements outlined below:
• Express care: Show me that I matter to you:
- Be someone I can trust.
- Really pay attention when we are together.
- Make me feel known and valued.
- Show me you enjoy being with me.
- Praise me for my efforts and achievements.
• Challenge growth: Push me to keep getting better:
- Expect me to live up to my potential.
- Push me to go further.
- Insist I take responsibility for my actions.
- Help me learn from mistakes and setbacks.
• Provide support: Help me complete tasks and achieve goals:
- Guide me through hard situations and systems.
- Build my confidence and take charge of my life.
- Stand up for me when I need it.
- Put limits in place that keep me on track.
• Share power: Treat me with respect and give me a say:
- Take me seriously and treat me fairly.
- Involve me in decisions that affect me.
- Work with me to solve problems and reach goals.
- Create opportunities for me to take action and lead.
• Expand possibilities: Connect me with people and places that broaden my world:
- Inspire me to see possibilities for my future.
- Expose me to new ideas, experiences, and places.
- Introduce me to people who can help me grow.
“The Developmental Relationships Framework” from The Search Institute, 2018
State Principal Convention Takeaways
I was able to both attend and present at the Wisconsin Principal's Convention last Thursday and Friday. The virtual format was an adjustment and there were many takeaways and affirmations for me. If I had to sum up the overarching message, I would sum it up in the following way (my words): "We have to know our students really well, and do everything we can to make sure they are connected to school, so that they have a safe, supportive, thriving learning community. This type of environment is essential before we can expect them to learn at their highest levels."
A couple other takeaways or quotes from the presenters:
"Giving students VOICE in their learning deeply impacts their engagement"
"Every learner in our environment needs to know and feel that they MATTER...we have the power to do that for every kid in our school"
"So many of our systems in schools are based on compliance...we need to rethink some of these structures with focus on giving kids voice and creating plans that involve high engagement"
"It's impossible reach a student's mind without getting to their heart first"
Lessons from Local School Districts
In last week's blog post, I wrote about an incident that occurred within the Sun Prairie School District. There are a lot of lessons to be learned stemming from a situation like this. Please take a moment to read or listen to a letter written by Katie Morrissey sharing more details about this incident.
Wisconsin Forward Exam
As we roll through February, the time for our students to participate in the annual state testing program is quickly approaching as well. The Forward Exam will take place this spring, and there has been some adjustments to the testing format from previous years. The testing sessions will not be as long as they had been in the past, and there will not be a TDA Writing Response portion. We still have some planning to do to create the best environment for testing, that sets the tone for all students to be ready to give their absolute best effort on this exam. Please take a moment to review the tentative Testing Timeline.
Spring STAR Testing
Our Spring testing data will provide some important information about how our students fared learning through the pandemic. Along with our Forward Testing sessions, we need to create a similar level of
"importance" for the Spring STAR testing environment. We'll be discussing this soon, but I'd like to take a building-level approach to when students take the STAR test and create the conditions where all students put their best efforts on this assessment.
Pig Races
Due to the snow days from the past couple of weeks we have moved all of the Pig Race Activities back one week. The races and voting will take place next week. We have received many of the names for your pigs, and will have them posted in the school for all to see and think about prior to voting. I hope the groups are enjoying the conversations.
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