The day started with teams meeting together and building relationships with one another.
At 9:00 am the faculty and staff came together. New staff and teachers to the campus were introduced as well as changes in placements were shared.
First question asked was why acronyms changed for leadership. It was explained that roles/responsibilities and titles changed to reflect current times, for example, with technology expected to be fully integrated into learning and instruction there was no need to have a separate technology leadership team. The Leadership Team Leader will now assimilate the responsibilities of the Technology Leadership role into theirs. Operations and Safety are now combines for the Operations Safety Leadership team. Finally the Campus Advisory Council (CAC) is comprised of teachers and support teachers that attended the Leadership Academy with the Administration team. Their primary role is to keep us apprised of the pulse of the campus and keep us focused on the goals set for the campus.
Bulletin Boards were also discussed. It was decided that each teacher would have selected six items of student work to display that students have chosen as their "best" work. Students not on the board will still have their self-selected best work displayed around the board. Students on the board will write or be recorded explaining why they selected this particular piece of work. Students should somehow explain why this work exemplifies their "super power." It is important to note that student work does not have to be academic but can be selected by the student to showcase progress/growth in a social/behavior related area. The six students showcased will also have powerful, specific teacher feedback. The title of the boards that will remain all year is "What is Your Super Power?" It is important to remember that the boards are meant to further our campus learning and provide a picture into classrooms of what students are doing.
It was also noted that it would be done once a six weeks with the first round needing to be up by September 11th in time for Curriculum Night on September 12th. Journal entries can be utilizes and teachers may photocopy or scan work and print to hand on the board.
In an effort to move forward with a goal from the previous school year and align with the idea being promoted by central administration (School+2) we are doing clubs school wide every other Monday from 8:00 am to 8:30 am. Bradshaw shared her experience with this when she was on a previous campus. She encouraged us to keep it simple, focus on relationships, getting kids involved and making it a way for student to associate school with fun.
It was stated that there needs to be at least two adults per club. Parent volunteers (at the teacher's discretion) is encouraged. We could all meet in the gym and divide up into clubs at first since it will be a vertically mixed group. Upper grade students can help younger students navigate the process.
Jurgens is working on putting together a google sheet for the staff to determine what clubs teachers/support staff may want to sponsor. AMP teachers are not expected to participate (it is their conference time).
Wilson will put out a survey to parents via Facebook and create a QR code that can be posted on Meet the Teacher Night.
Planned Start is the first Monday of the second marking period, October 2nd.
Curriculum night will be on September 12th. Times to be determined. It will be in two rotations and will be in classrooms with that grade level. Departmentalized teams can partner with the colleague they share kids with. Self-contained can also partner together.
Flexible Grouping (Tier Time) will be an expectation for the campus. It will happen across the campus Tuesday-Thursday from 8:00 am- 8:30 am. Edugence, that is replacing AWARE, will be a great resource to determine groups and use data to drive targeted instruction. It will be important to determine extensions for students not needing intervention. Additionally, students needing intervention for all content areas that are in a departmentalized setting will need to have a fluid schedule between teachers to consistently address targeted skills. Grouping across the team to address and meet needs of all students is expected and encouraged.
Morning work is no longer going to be used as it had been in the past. Our focus when we start the day is greeting the kiddos as they come in the door. Teachers are to be ready and waiting at their door at 7:20 am. As part of the discussion Covarelli shared an article about rethinking morning work: http://mrdovico.blogspot.com/2017/02/rethinking-morning-work.html
We will begin true flex grouping the third week of school on Tuesday, September 12th. The first week of school teachers are to stay with their class, build relationships and establish routines and procedures. Week 2 have students move into one antoher's classrooms with "soft" activities to get to know their other teachers and begin to learn the process/expectations of flex time.
Morning Meeting will be part of how teachers will start their day. After greeting students at the door from 7:20-7:40 teachers will begin morning meeting right after morning announcements at 7:40. Morning meeting can be together (for departmentalized teams) or separate. We will work to curate some resources for Morning Meetings (also known as The Responsive Classroom/ Five Minute Meetings). In the meantime some great go to people on campus who have successful morning meeting strategies include Pair, Aslin and Woods. This time is designed to create a family atmosphere in the classroom. It is meant to build relationships. It is highly effective and powerful when it is student owned/led.
Homework is a thing of the past. We will not have homework assigned on top of school work done during the day. Unfinished work from the day may be sent home. There will be no reading logs, but reading trackers may be used as part of an incentive program to encourage students to read at home. Reading is still an expecation that will be done at home. We will communicate with parents that we are no longer assigning homework, and are encouraging positive family engagement. Initiative via social media #SREFamilyHomework was suggested where students are rewarded when parents share via social media sites ways they are engaging as a family. For those students and parents that want additional academic activities teams can create a resource of links on the team page that parents can utilize.
Spelling was discussed. We want to move away from the memorized list/list test and try to find more authentic ways to encourage quality spelling in student writing while adhering to district grading guidelines that state 10% of ELA grades must come from spelling.
Homework is expected to be part of every teams' Curriculum Night informational session with the parents.
Reading Stampede continues and we are looking for ideas to boost engagement. What are some things that are working and what are some things not working? It was noted that the flex grouping will help with recognition of students when out catching kids reading. It is very possible we will be sharing dates with Thompson and having a Sendera Ranch Subdivision Reading Stampede. We plan to continue handing out the bookmarks like last year as it was well received by the students.
Miscellaneous items...
- Eliminating SEAC, new program AIM; Adding a Behavior Interventionist Coach that will be at SRE one day a week.
- Lunch Choices? Not sure, we will have a new Cafeteria Manager this year
- Birthday Celebrations will happen at the end of the day (2:45) except for third grade which will be 15 minutes before AMP
- Lunch parent table concerns... address as they occur
- Dismissal- address "falkers" on a case by case basis; Rainy day dismissal- will try to avoid but will make the call as close to 3:00 as possible with the idea we may need to call parents
- Friday's are still going to be "Hat Days"
- First few days of school K-2 will have some type of identifier for what bus to take to get home... Durham has an interim director so not sure how they will be identified but we will figure it out
- Daycare pick up will now include a Champions bus to pick up in the front except for Premier
- Champions is no longer our onsite after school care. AlphaBest is our new after school care provider.
- We will not have a 'hard rule' on Fidget Spinners; Address via kids; Will decide by Curriculum night if needed on our approach
Still discussing... Tutoring.
Today was an amazing day. Super Powers of Collaboration and Collective Efficacy were definitely on display. Cannot wait to see what Day 2 will bring!
Please feel free to comment or share your thoughts!
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