I know that last week I referenced halftime of a basketball game. Many of you know that I am a former high school basketball coach and if you didn't know that, now you do. One of the most important times of a basketball game is the first 5 minutes of the third quarter. The halftime adjustments, based upon reflections and observations from the first half by the coaching staff and players, have been discussed and now they need to be implemented. What sorts of adjustments are you making to better meet the needs of your students, your colleagues, and yourself? How will you use assessment data to guide your instruction? Have you met with your content colleagues about their data? What's one thing that you're trying this quarter that you haven't tried before? How do you know if it's successful? I know that's a lot of questions but they are important ones, for sure.
Calendar
Monday, January 31st School board meeting 6PM
Wednesday, February 2nd Building meeting at 7:45AM
Wednesday, February 9th District meeting at 7:45AM
Friday, February 11th No School
Monday, February 14th Professional Learning Day
Wednesday, February 16th Content meetings at 7:45AM/ PTO Culver's Night
Thursday, February 17th Family conferences 4:30-8:15PM
Monday, February 21st BLT meeting 4:15PM
Wednesday, February 23rd Grade level meetings at 7:45AM
Monday, February 28th School board meeting 6PM
Tweets, quotes, and blogs
"Persistence is critical. Being creative and persistent is even better."
Katie Couric, journalist, writer
It feels like too much too much of the time right now, doesn't it? (from Allyson Apsey)
(from Inspiring Quotes)
Why People Keep Going (from George Couros)
Helping out our custodians...
Please remember to put the trash out in the hallway at the end of the day. This small step saves our crew a ton of time especially during the Winter when we are short staffed. Thanks for helping out!
Educator Effectiveness
Have you set up a time to meet with me about your mid-year SLO/SPO? Please make sure to do so as soon as you can. I really enjoy these meetings as we can talk about your successes and your struggles and ways that I can support you. And while we're talking about meetings, have you set up your 5 minute check ins with me? I'll be stopping in to see all of you today, if at all possible, to get an update. I'm looking forward to our conversations.
Analyzing student data
You may have noticed my mention of data in the opening paragraph. Have you set up a content meeting with Maria and I to discuss a recent assessment? If you haven't, we need to set up a meeting by Thursday, February 10th. That gives us two weeks to get something organized.
I hope that you had a great week. I sure did as I was able to get into a lot of classrooms, and I'm looking forward to getting into more classrooms today. I even got to "direct" the Band yesterday afternoon. Here's a selfie I took at the end of our rehearsal.
This is a group of 6th graders who are brand new to Band. They are first year Band students and they sounded really good. Listening to them play two songs pretty well after less than 5 months is nothing short of amazing. I've noticed similar examples of growth in all of our students in all content areas. Can you think of one student who has improved exponentially in your class? I know that you can. Do you recognize the impact you've had on that student's success? I bet you haven't but know that your efforts with our kids allows them to succeed. Our kids are fortunate to have you as their teacher. Keep on doing what you're doing and remember to reflect and adjust. That's how we all get just a little bit better every day.
Have a great weekend!
Jay
Take care of the kids. Take care of each other. Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell
