April 29, 2013

I appreciate and I value your diligence and hard work.  Thank you for all that you contribute to our school.  I hope you have an excellent week as we enter May!

May's Thinking Strategy: Book Talks
Click here for May's thinking strategy and information on giving Book Talks.  Thank you, Aimee and Jen, for a year of support with these thinking strategies; I am looking forward to how we might build on these next year.

Cell Phones
Last week I observed Drs. Miller and Roberts give a lot of discipline for cell phone use; I have also seen several students with their devices out in the hallways.  I want to remind you that, per our handbook, you may confiscate cell phones and electronic devices if they are being used during a time or place that's not appropriate (essentially any non-structured activity without teacher permission).  Doing the following will help students adhere to the policy better:

• Reminders at the beginning of class,
• Reminders at the end of class to put electronics away, 
• Collecting devices in something like the cell phone jail pictured to the left that I noticed in a teacher's classroom, and
• Enforcing the handbook policy as necessary.

School Supply List
If you or your department have changes to the school supply list, please let me know by Friday of this week.  Click here to review this year's list.

8th Grade Recognition
The 8th Grade Recognition PowerPoint is still available online for any interested teacher to add to.  Students will value what you add, I know.  Click here to access and add to this presentation (you'll notice some additions have already been made).

I'm working with four 8th graders now as speakers.  I'm looking for more (a poet would be nice).

AST Self-Assessment Survey
The results of our self-assessment survey are very interesting to me. If you click here you will find Marzano's Teacher Scales for Reflective Practice: Applying the Art and Science of Teaching." I wanted these available to you now even though I know that at this time of year you might not find time to review them.  The scales use almost the same language as the observation instrument and also show teacher and student evidence.  At the beginning of next year, you will be asked to rate yourself, using similar scales, on each AST strategy; you will use the results of this survey to create your annual PDP.

60,000 Copies/Prints in Two Weeks!
To help us be mindful of our copying/printing, each of us will have a limit of 1,000 copies/prints on each machine in the building. Once the limit is reached, Jason Heisel can reset it.  I've just reviewed copy/print data; 60,000 copies is a lot for a recent two-week span.  Paying for overages is expensive, so I continue to ask that all of us be mindful and use this limit as feedback should any of us reach it.

May's Thinking Strategy: Book Talks

The documents below will help you implement the reading expectation in Discovery for the month of May.

The focus in May will be to celebrate our successes and reflect on the reading students have completed this school year. So, while there is not a thinking strategy to focus our Discovery instruction upon, May’s Discovery expectation is that students to share their favorite book with their classmates.

PowerPoint: This PowerPoint presentation provides detailed information about book talks. This may be used as background information for the teacher, or as a prompt for classroom discussion.

Mini-Lesson and One-Pager: This document contains background information for teachers, suggested activities for a mini-lesson, the monthly one-pager, and possible feedback teachers may provide to a completed one-pager.  The mini-lesson should be conducted at the beginning of the month during the first twenty minutes of Discovery.

This month’s one-pager helps students plan for their book talk. Because the book talks should be on any book the student has read during this school year, book talks may be given at any time during the month of May. Students will need at least one, if not two, Discovery reading time periods to plan for their book talk.

Thinkmark: This month’s bookmark should be able to be copied double-sided so that the back may be used as a reading log.

Click here to access the PowerPoint, Mini-Lesson and One-Pager, and the Thinkmark.

Please contact Jen or Aimee if you have any questions or are in need of support. 

April 22 (continued)

Track Day
Track Day is Thursday, May 2nd.  After we dismiss students, we will gather in the cafeteria for our annual (this year it's early) Teacher Appreciation Qdoba lunch.We will meet at 2:30 in the cafeteria for a brief, end-of-the-day faculty meeting as well.

Interviewing
We need two different teacher panels for two sets of interviews scheduled for Monday, April 29th, 2013; interviews begin promptly after school and, depending on the number of candidates, might extend to 6:30. We will be interviewing 2-3 Spanish teachers and 2-3 drama teachers.  I am interested in whom among you might be interested in serving on this panel and what questions you think might be good to ask during an interview.  Click here to share.

April 22, 2013

I just realized . . . we're beginning our last month of school.  I am looking forward to all of learning, projects, and traditions that represent culminating experiences for our students each year.

Faculty Meeting, 4/22/13
Monday is a BYOD faculty meeting; bring your own device and a pen or pencil, please. We will use part of our faculty meeting time to respond to two online surveys (on behalf of the district and on behalf of two of your colleagues' doctoral studies) and one paper survey on behalf of both the building and the district.

Hixson High Five Awards
It's time to begin thinking about whom you might nominate for the Hixson High Five award.  Please take sometime out of your busy schedule to recognize students, who may not otherwise be recognized, for their readiness, respect, and responsibility.  Students really do value and benefit from this personal feedback.  Click here to read more information about the High Five Award.  Click here to e-mail Mrs. Davis your nominee.

8th Grade Recognition PowerPoint
Some teachers have already begun putting notes on student slides for the 8th Grade Recognition PowerPoint (thank you).  I am looking forward to seeing this develop over time.  Click here to view and add to this presentation.

Summer Development for Hixson Teachers
Is your team interested in working on a new and innovative interdisciplinary unit or project for next year? Are you finding that you do not have enough department time to brainstorm and develop new ways of teaching or assessing your content?

Based on a couple of developing themes on the Grid in my office, I wonder if some (or many) of you might be interested in a summer opportunity to pursue interdisciplinarity or a new and innovative way of delivering content. If so, please keep reading:

The building has limited funds to support this (six groups of four, or fewer, teachers for eight hours at $15/hour); I will consider these on a first come, first served basis. Teams or departments must submit the following in an e-mail:

•  The new idea, project, strategy or topic you wish to pursue, please keep in mind that
• All disciplines must be represented, to some degree, for interdisciplinary ideas,
• Your idea must be experiential, project- or challenge-based, and hands on,
• You must plan to use essential content as well as technology (based on our TILS), and
• You may not use this time to tweak or revise existing units, projects, ideas, etc.,
• Your work must fit within the framework as described in The Art and Science of Teaching, and
• Before I approve your stipend, you must present your work to me (more details on this to come).

If you have any questions, please ask.

April 15, 2013

After several conversations in the building, I can tell that we, as a school, may have benefited from a weekend as beautiful as this one.  These past two weeks have been challenging, I understand, and your diligence and attention are both appreciated and valued.  Thank you.

Hixson High Five Awards
It's time to begin thinking about whom you might nominate for the Hixson High Five award.  Please take sometime out of your busy schedule to recognize students, who may not otherwise be recognized, for their readiness, respect, and responsibility.  Students really do value and benefit from this personal feedback.  Click here to read more information about the High Five Award.  Click here to e-mail Mrs. Davis your nominee.

8th Grade Recognition
This year, the plan for 8th grade recognition is changing somewhat, and I will need your help.

• Essentially, we will only be recognizing students during the program who receive awards and recognitions from Hixson only (e.g., the Franey Award).  In order to recognize all students and to account for recognitions beyond school (e.g., participating in an all-suburban band or a Destination Imagination competition), Mr. Anderson and Mr. Heisel have created a PowerPoint in the WGCloud with a slide for each student.  
• I will send an e-mail soon with instructions for how you might add to this presentation which will run twice before the event begins and once after; the presentation will be open to all faculty and staff.  Click here to see a sample slide; I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.

. . . from an earlier blog post:
Art and Science of Teaching: DQs 7, 8, and 10
Given that our faculty meeting time is running short, you will be left on your own to review Design Questions 7, 8, and 10 in The Art and Science of Teaching. I do not anticipate that review the following chapters will be difficult or take a long time:

• Recognizing and Acknowledging Adherence or Lack of Adherence to Rules and Procedures,
• Communicating High Expectations for All Students, and
• Developing Effective Lessons into Cohesive Units.

If you are interested in the PowerPoints provided by the district, you may click here to review them.  Reviewing the action steps in the text will also be helpful.  Taking some department or team time may expedite the process as well.  

 . . . and thank you, Dr. Miller, for arranging THIS for us!

April 8th, 2013

MAP testing weeks are always interesting from my point of view.  It's different and difficult work in some instances, and I have seen and heard of some great examples of how it has brought out the best in students and the adults in the building.  Thank you for your attention to this annual task.  One more week, and we'll be finished!

I think there have been sufficient updates regarding the upcoming week, so I am going to take this opportunity to share something that's been developing in my office.

"You're on the wall!"

Beginning on 3/26/13

I've been collecting successes, gripes, struggles, and new ideas on the wall of my office using a grid.  It started when I wondered aloud to myself about meeting times (How might we use department chair/faculty meeting time differently or better?).  I wrote it on the post-it note and stuck it on the wall so I wouldn't forget it over spring break.  Beginning on March 26th, I've added others based on conversations I've had with people as they have visited my office.  As of today, 22 different voices are represented on this grid.

As of 4/5/13

I shared the grid with department chairs on Monday, and today I am sharing it with you.  If you are interested in contributing, stop by sometime; I'll give you a "tour".  You can also add to the wall.  I am going to sue these ideas to help plan for next year.  When you visit, you'll see there are several good conversations we may have as a result. The pictures show you how ideas have been added to the grid and how people have built on ideas already on the grid during our first two weeks back from spring break.

You can send your thoughts via e-mail or stop by.  I can explain my next steps and how I am going to use of this information then.  The four quadrants are:

• What is going well? How might we build on this? How might we make it better?
• Where are we struggling? Why might we be struggling? What might we be doing better?
• What are your gripes? How are you feeling? OR What is your hunch about what students are feelings? What might students be complaining about?
• What are possibilities we haven't considered? What might we build on?

Most of the items are very candid, about me, about our work, about what we might do better.  I value this candor and look forward to everyone's contribution.  I will not take the grid down until the end of May.

Hixson T-Shirts

Several parents have asked if I would sell this year's faculty/staff t-shirt.  I have arranged to do this with STL-Style, the company that designed and printed them, and PayPal.  Please find a way to include the link to the order information (click here) in your next e-communication home (or use the link to buy another or a replace a lost one for yourself).