We survived our first week back. I can feel a sense of excitement in the building. It's been great to get back into a routine and start re-establishing relationships.
Student First - Always
I shared this on Twitter a few weeks ago - it reminded me of my "why" of this job and how important our students are. Take some time to read it and process through your thinking - are we always student first?
Staying Positive as a Reading Teacher:
Michelle Simon shared this article about four principles to staying positive/happy and how it correlates to being a better teacher: https://literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2017/01/03/focusing-on-happiness-in-the-new-year
December Discipline Data:
We have our discipline data for December - click here to access it
There is some interesting trends starting to emerge in our office referrals. Our PBIS team will analyze this at next week's meeting. We have, overall deceased in December (and we only lost 5 days of learning with the break). What would cause that?
DIBELS Assessments- Monday
DIBELS winter benchmarking will start on Monday. Libby has communicated with teachers on a schedule and process to follow. A huge thank you to Libby for all her work with this!
Staff Power Hour:
Our next Power Hour is this Wednesday, January 10. I would like all staff to attend this. We will focus on staying positive, our biases (finish your bias assessment), and selecting and analyzing text (for guided reading). I sent an agenda out yesterday. I look forward to learning with you on Wednesday!
International Fun Day at Work- January 26:
It's that time of year again - International Fun Day at Work. We will be celebrating (again this year)! We've got a fun day of events planned - I can't wait. Before this date, pick a team and starting planning your themed outfits. There will be prizes!
Click here to see the events
Building Weekly Newsletter
Click here to access the building weekly newsletter
McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week:
For those of you who have been around, you know we use to give away the principal's parking spot each week. This was a great way to highlight our awesome staff at McKinley. We will be changing this focus - to our "McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week".
Our first "McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week" is 4th Grade Teacher, Dani Rypka. Dani continually amazes me, as a person and educator . Dani is new to 4th grade this year, having spent her career in 1st grade. If you entered her classroom, you would think she has spent her career perfecting the art of teaching in 4th grade. Dani has a gift of walking the line between supportive and holding students accountable. Additionally, Dani provides high quality instruction and questioning to her students on a daily basis. I am amazed at how focused, rigorous, and engaging her instruction is. We are very lucky to have you at McKinley, Dani. Keep up the great work1
Just a reminder- you are all educators. An educator is anyone who influences students and helps build an environment focused on learning. This is all of you. I will highlight an employee (and tweet them out!) each week.
Have a great weekend and enjoy our heat wave (it's going to be in the 20's on Sunday!) :)
-Justin
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