Weekly Update- September 29, 2017

Happy Homecoming!
What a beautiful day for a parade!  I hope you enjoy your afternoon downtown- celebrating Owatonna!  Go Huskies!

Staff Power Hour Follow-Up:
Thank you for the great conversations and learning on Wednesday at our Staff Power Hour.  It is great to go even deeper with our work around PBIS and literacy.  Just to recap our learning:

PBIS:

• Lots of behaviors at recess, lunch, and in line.   We brainstormed some ways to be proactive in keeping our lines quiet and focused.  Remember- the volume is a 0-1 in the common areas (including hallways).
• Be aware of your proximity - we should be spread out in lines and outside. 

Literacy:

• Benchmarks are fully underway! 
• Continue to finish those up.   This resource- and the data collected- will help us shape the focus of our small group instruction and conferring.
• As you dig into this work, please invite Libby to either meet with you individually or at a common planning time so you can figure out how to support you with these resources. 

 
McKinley Building Goals:
Our Site Team has developed our two building goals for the year:

• Goal 1: My May 2018, all grade level PLCs will meet their goal of 100% student mastery of critical, teacher-identified reading Enduring Understandings. 
• Goal 2: By May 2018, McKinley Educators will closet the achievement/opportunity gap(s) by increasing each student group's proficiency by 10% as measured by the Reading and Math Comprehensive Assessments (MCA III). 

The team will be developing some action steps to achieve these goals.  Please make sure your PLC goal or individual goals are helping to support one (or both) of these goals.  More to come! 

 

What Does My Headscarf Mean To You?

I recently watched a 14 minute video on TED talks:  Click here to access the video

The video made me think about my biases and behaviors related to it.  I know that 14 minutes is a lot to devote.... so here are some key learnings. 

• You have biases.  Everyone does.  Biases related to class, race, disability, etc. 
• The goal is knowing your biases - and how to acknowledge them and navigate them.  

I really walked away questioning myself and how we work with families in a diverse building.  We all have kids and families best interest at heart- everyone does.  It's important we are aware that care isn't enough - we need to be aware of our own structures, words, and actions that support all. 

This year we will be doing some more work around this. 

EL Graduation- Tuesday:
We have our EL Graduation on Tuesday from 4-4:30pm.  This is a time for us to celebrate our students who have exited the program.  Join us for a fun reception and awards ceremony! 

Is Homework Valuable?
Another great article from Twitter (you know how much I love Twitter!) on the effectiveness of homework at the elementary level.  I think you will be surprised - click here to read the article

I want to add my two cents to this topic- in no way am I saying that you should never give homework.  If homework has a purpose and students have the support, homework can enhance the learning process.  However, the purpose and support aren't always there.

Building Weekly Newsletter:
Click here to access the building weekly newsletter


Have a great weekend, everyone!  Don't forget to make every second count! 
-Justin