We survived our first cold, snowy week! I've quickly discovered - along with many of you- that I need a better winter coat! The wind is crazy here!
Exit Slips:
I know a lot of you are using exit slips to check on student mastery during and after instruction. It's great to see the precise focus we have on student needs, especially in the area of small group reading.
One tool I shared last year was how to add student voice to the exit slip process. Below is a structure to use when students turn in the exit slip - their "voice" tells you where they are at with mastery of the lesson. This can be an extremely powerful tool. For example, a student who says they are a "4" and mastering content, but are really a "1" - what is the disconnect? Perception? Lack of knowing what mastery really is? The same goes for the opposite - a student who says puts their exit slip in a 1 or 2 but is really mastering content. Self esteem? Perfectionist? Too hard on themselves?
This is an extremely valuable way to add student voice into the assessment process. For younger grades, you may change it to a smiley faces?
Brightbytes Survey - 3/4/5th Grade:
3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Teachers - stop during your library time to complete the Brightbytes survey. Connect with Denise if you have questions.
Update on Student Support Specialist:
As you know, we are looking for a Student Support Specialist. This person would help coordinate and supervise our proactive student supports - things like the Relaxation Room, Check & Connect, or just connecting with identified students throughout the day. If you know of anyone interested, please have them apply ASAP. We are setting up interviews for next week with the hope of this person starting January 2, 2018.
Lockdown:
Great work with our first lockdown practice. This drill was valuable- we discovered some glitches and changed a few things. As I have shared, the best practices in this area have changed greatly. Bob Olson is working on a district plan for training us in how to respond in this situation. More information will be coming with this change.
STEAM Superbowl Family Night:
We had a great time at our STEAM Superbowl night on Tuesday! Thank you to everyone who helped with this night. We had three stations - toss a football, design a stadium, and football math. It was a great night!
Reading Leadership Team:
We have a new leadership team starting at McKinley- Reading Leadership. This team will help guide our professional learning in the area of reading - with the focus this year on knowing our readers through small/guided group instruction. I'm excited to have this team provide guidance on the professional learning happening here. A huge thank you to the following people for agreeing to be on this team: Paige Larson, Jess Zupansic, Catie Stephani, Kayla Davis, Lauren Bogda, Paige Gilligan, & Libby Zeman. We meet next Thursday - after this, we will gather some feedback on what supports you need.
Teacher Workday Fun:
Our staff had some fun on Workday! Enjoy the pictures (I should have taken videos!).
Weekly Building Newsletter:
Click here to access the weekly building newsletter
Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Justin
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