Happy Friday, McKinley!
Belief System:
Last Monday, our teaching staff engaged in some work around our beliefs and mindset. Below is a few thoughts for ALL staff to think through our beliefs...
Last Monday, our teaching staff engaged in some work around our beliefs and mindset. Below is a few thoughts for ALL staff to think through our beliefs...
Do you believe all kids can learn? Do you truly believe this? Or, are you an educator who makes comments like "Oh, that kid" or "Man, it's only been a month with these kids!" Your belief system determines so much of your daily experiences. First, your beliefs will determine your outlook for the day. If you are looking for negativity, you will find it. If you are out seeking the positives, you will find many of those! Secondly, your belief system can make or break a students' experience here at school. This includes your thoughts and biases. If you have already "painted a picture" of a learner in your room - and it's not positive - I challenge you to get to know that student more. Find time and patience to learn more. And, if you are biases are standing in the way of this work, walk to your bias. Learn more about it... challenge it... decrease the way you think about it. The quote below is from Jimmy Casas, a former principal and now author/presenter around school culture and all kids. What legacy do you want to leave?
McKinley Building Goals:
Our 25-26 building goals have been completed. A huge thank you to our Building Leadership Team for helping with this extensive process. Linked are the goals. Please take time to read through the action steps, as you are responsible for many of the action steps.
Kiel Individual Goals:
I wanted you to be aware of two of my personal goals (and action steps) for the year. The first is instructional leadership in which the bulk of this goal is around completing 2 walkthroughs per week (with feedback to the staff). The second is around belonging and our theme "All In, All Welcome". The bulk of this goal is around 1:1 interviews with students and staff (please sign up for next week!) to gather feedback around their experience and level of belonging.
As you all hopefully know, I am a lifelong learner. I'm excited to continue growth in these two areas.
Holiday reminders: We have students from various backgrounds who hold various beliefs. This is just the yearly reminder that celebrating holidays is not part of the curriculum and we need to be sure that we are honoring and/or educating, but not celebrating. We want to be sure that if talking about a holiday, like Thanksgiving, we do so from a historically accurate perspective. Please keep any classroom celebrations fall related (vs. Halloween related). If you have questions about specific activities, we can certainly chat more about them.
Instructional Coaches Day - Monday:
This Monday is Instructional Coaches Day. I can truly say we have the best coach - Katie Demmer. Katie wears many, many hats in your building. However, her primary role is support for us all to do our job better. And, she rocks at that. Please take some time on Monday to recognize Katie for all her gifts.
National Chewing Gum Day:
A huge congrats to our winner Lynn Jensen! I hope you all had fun with this!
Building Weekly Newsletter:
Have a great weekend!
-Justin
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