Many teachers are still taking the time to focus on routines and procedures--this is excellent! The foundation we lay now forms the building blocks for the rest of the year. By and large, students are still well behaved in the building this year. I credit the relationships we build with students as a major factor in this. I am out there each morning trying to learn as many student names as possible and know many of you are doing the same.
It has been great getting to brag about you to the various people I talk to throughout the week. The message I try to send each day is that we have an outstanding staff and outstanding students. I share with them our commitment to customer service and our belief that Bolich should be a school of choice for anyone on Summit County. You are sure making it easy to say good things.
There is a lot of important information below so please be sure you take some time to check it out.
Staff News
As you have news you would like to share with our whole community, please let me know! It is so important that we celebrate life's highlights together, and everyone loves hearing about the great things happening in people's lives.
Students As Learners
A lot of great was done this week in teaching routines and procedures. In 7th grade science, I saw students working collaboratively on issues of safety. In 6th grade science, I saw alligators being used to teach displacement. I saw numerous instances of Plickers being used in classrooms and loved it every time I saw clear learning goals posted for students. There is so much more that I wasn't able to capture in photos this week, and I thank you all for the work you are doing.
Video(s) Watching
Become sometimes teaching is just like this!
Article and Blogs Worth Reading
What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?
News You Can Use
OTES/SLO
If you have questions about SLOs or the OTES process this year, please ask. We will support you this coming Wednesday at the High school during ERW, and will do so again the following Wednesday if needed.
Professional Growth Plans are due 8/31/2015. The template is on the shared drive, and for many of you who have done the process before, you can utilize much of the same information if it is still accurate. I already have some turned in, so it seems many of you know what to do. If you need help, please ask. See Julie Dudone's Email from this afternoon for more information.
i-Ready Training:
If you are interested in i-Ready training modules to further your understanding of how things work, you can find resources here:
Administrative Detentions
Will be Thursday this year, not Friday
Attendance Issues
Please continue to take attendance for kids that show up in ProgressBook but you have heard or know are not coming or coming back. We need to have absences recorded until they are officially withdrawn.
Technology Survey
If you have not completed it, please do so. One of our building goals for the year will likely center around technology. If you want meaningful, engaging PD, I need to know where we currently stand. You can find the survey HERE. We currently have 34 responses, giving us an estimated response rate of only ~56%.
Door Duty
I still need someone for 8th grade door duty. I have been doing it for the past week and have enjoyed getting to know the kids. They are not difficult to manage, and it is a great time to build relationships with kids. Please let me know if you can help.
Hallways
Be sure you are stepping to your doors when possible during class changes. Not everyone can supervise every hallway during each class change, I understand, but today I saw times when there were no adults watching certain hallways during class changes.
Refrigerators / Microwaves / Coffee Makers
Please recall Hal Kendrick's email regarding personal refrigerators, microwaves, and coffee makers followed up by Dr. Nichols' request today. Please make sure these items head home if you have them at school.
Media Center Usage
With more and more kids wanting to use the media center before school, we need to move meetings out of there as much as possible. IEP meetings before school should only be held there if there is no adequate space elsewhere. Unfortunately, this means donut club needs to move to the staff lounge :-)
Emergency Folders
I have been made aware of one person who needs a new emergency folder. Anyone else need one?
Bus Safety Assembly
There will be a bus safety assembly on Thursday, 9/3/15 @ 9:35 am for all students who ride buses to and from school or with athletic teams. We will keep it as short as possible, hopefully around 30 mins.
Walkthroughs
We will begin the walkthrough process starting next week. As Care and I work to get calibrated to ensure our "inter-rater reliability" we will probably be walking through together. Please don't feel threatened or intimidated by this. I view the walkthrough process as one of the most important parts of my job and take doing a good job with them very seriously. I have ambitious goals of being in every teacher's room at least once each week.
With walkthrough data, we are not looking for one 5 minute lesson to "check all the boxes" on the form. There is no way anyone can demonstrate everything that the walkthrough protocol has in one walkthrough. With walkthroughs, generally we are looking at data trends over time, not individual lessons. There is nothing wrong with teacher-led instruction. If, after 5 or so walkthroughs, each one has shown teacher-directed instruction, then we can start to talk about ways to move to student-centered approaches. The key is trends over time. Many times, when doing walkthroughs, teachers will later respond "I just did that before you came in the room" or "I was getting to that and then you left." That's ok! Remember, there is no way to observe all the great things you do in a 5-minute walkthrough. We are looking for trends in your teaching, and ways we can support the great things you already do, along with ways to boost your performance so you can reach your goals and we can all increase student growth and achievement.
I know we are all over the map on the way we feel about walkthroughs, with some of you excited to have a much feedback as possible, and some of you being nervous about being judged. I don't want anyone to feel anxiety over the walkthrough process.
In summary regarding walkthroughs: I LOVE WALKTHROUGHS!! I view them as a positive coaching process and feel it is some of the most important work an administrator can do in a school. I even envision inviting other administrators to do walkthroughs with me to help me get better--think of it as a walkthrough of my walkthroughs (go crosseyed yet?). If you see central office administrators with me on a walkthrough, I have asked them to come in and help me, not evaluate you.
I hope you enjoy your weekend, you've certainly earned it!
WE are Bolich!
Upcoming Events
Click HERE to view our full calendar of coming events.
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