Welcome to 2016. .
This “party in a box” came with supplies to ring in the new year. Celebratory noise makers, tiaras and hats all served to remind us that we can’t go back and make a new start but we can make a new ending.
Reflections:
While writing Christmas Cards for those supporters of our students at Winfield Middle School, I began to notice something. A theme developed and former strangers had become friends. People considered co-workers now are noticed as vital companions and contributors to the success of the building. The “my” is shifting to the “our.” “My school” becomes “our school.” Likewise, in a quest to get to know every student, they are corporately and individually earning a place in my heart. The simple act of using their names in an affirming or positive sentence, not corrective but endorsing and pleasant illicites a positive response from them so many times. Even one of the hardest students seems to be making great progress. Early greetings might have earned a grunt and a glance but recent replies range from reciprocal and even student initiated. Remembering just a brief or minor detail of their life and using a quiet voice to greet them builds great social capital. People notice and appreciate it, even if their manners are not tuned or developed well enough to respond according to typical decorum. Ironically, students receiving less positive praise and encouragement need it most. Their actions stifle and repel the very treatment they strive and hunger for while developing and learning social skills and nuances. Mendler* even builds an intervention around deliberate forming of relationships.
*2:10 Intervention - Talk to a student for just 2 minutes every day for 10 days and see what happens!
“At-a-boy”
Personally, I can remember growing up and wanting to earn authentic praise, endorsement or an “at-a-boy!” I tried to get it from someone who knew my history, knew my skill set and knew the efforts. It seemed when my mother would say something, she was obligated but if a teacher noticed extra effort or improvement, I could parlay that encouragement into at least a week of hard work, all to compound the praise and seek even more.
PBiS Big 5 Data
I wondered if this was strictly anecdotal since bus drivers and substitutes, who used to dread the Middle School have remarked at noticeable and obvious shift in the culture and attitudes of the students. However, our PBiS Bid 5 Data continues to confirm the progress. Majors per day have been steadily dropping all year as compared to the few years prior. Longitudinal data shows the students at Winfield Middle School have been breaking behavior records all year long. They have improved from over 12 major write ups a day to many days with none but an average of 3 a day is quite normal now. This great improvement keeps them in class, learning both content as well as “soft skills” most beneficial when future employment opportunities present themselves. Students seem nicer and more pleasant by displaying more manners to their teachers and chipper attitudes to me. Watching them respond to the Warrior Way Tickets, earned when they are Responsible, Safe or Respectful is especially satisfying when they ask for them by name. Mix Bucks and McCracken Money. They are valued the same but kids seem eager to mess up the principals gray and not the counselors brown. (Parents, ask them about what Pink or Purple means.)
Welcome to 2016. Feel free to turn it into whatever you’d like. Each of us helps or hinders. The phrase, “do no harm” is often time mistakenly attributed to the Hippocratic Oath. yet it still rings true in principle to us today. We work along-side our students day in and day out, learning about them, learning with them and learning for them.
What might be our next goal? We have had successes, such as PBiS, the one way hall, recent improvements in our eValuate data, and our Ac Lab Challenge Assemblies. Each of these trophies represents more than just a successful event but a us all acting like a team, playing individual parts while the entire unit reaches its goals.
Housekeeping:
1. Second Semester Meal Schedules for Early Release PD Days - Objections?
Jan - All staff bring a finger food
Feb - 6th grade binder team + SPED
March - 7th Hour binder Team
April - 8th Hour
May - Office, Hines, Flamm
2. The trip to see Peter and the Starcatcher sounded amazing! Well done team. We fed everyone, got them there and back safe, sound, no tickets and incident free. The play was fun, although some students gave it a noteworthy critique. They thought the early portion “lacked depth and character development!” :)
3. Early numbers on the 8th Grade ELA are showing some positive colors from advanced and proficiency! Sheri will share that and a bit of feedback on you Lucy Calkins training.
4. Contact all parents of students earning Ds and Fs. Nobody like surprises. Note SPED students, Pass/Fail or other variables according to IEPs. Send me the student list please.
5. TO DO: Thanks to those of you that have shared professional reflections on your school year. They seem like accurate reflections on current situations. To those who have not yet, please re-visit the back to school reading pages from August and complete the new highlighted columns with reflections about the year.
6. Attendance Challenge - We will resume the AC LABS, then rotate through the hours, first 5 gets pizza or fresh cookies delivered to their room that hour! Our MSIP 5 Goal is 90% of the students, 90% of the time. This translates to a student missing (175 x .1 = 17.5 ) 17.5 days per year or they fall below the state goal.
7. Here is a parent questionnaire we have been working on. http://goo.gl/forms/oOh1lJr3xu It may be another way for us to gather parent feedback. Please open and take the survey. so we can work through rough edges before we bring the final version to the parents.
8. January 6th PD time - Needs?
9. Character Word of the month - INTEGRITY
Define -
Posters -
Examples & non-examples -
Class Discussions
Agenda for our Monday to School - Jan 4th
Time - I have been reading this in all my spare time. Happiness Advantage Please note some of the activities. Here is my favorite. Hum that tune - Row, Row, Row your boat - Stop-Watch now speculate how long we did that…
1. Goal/Team Building - Warm-up - Plickers - Davis
2. Success so far this year - Post it notes - Still to go.
Vision for Middle School - Building Goals These are the goals and action steps we have published. How are we doing on them?
4. Grades imported by today - Print, email and send home Tuesday with Students
5. 9:35-11:00 - Google Training from J Neels
6. Ideas for after lunch today:*
Grade Level Teams
Content Teams
PBiS Team - Tier 1 - Tier 2
Building Leadership
Care Team Meetings
SPED - Co-Teacher Time
Building Time to work on direction
Unit of Instruction Review
7. Consider & Submit needs for Wednesday PD _____________
Schedule for Jan 5-8, 2016
Monday
PD in room 300 for the AM and work in rooms, or teams* in the pm.
Tuesday
Students back to school - Consider their growth and development just over these past 2 weeks. It may be astounding!
Semester Grades will be sent/emailed home today. No parent surprises. Please contact a student receiving failing semester grades.
Wednesday
Early Release - Professional Needs?
Thursday
Wagner Photo Shoot
Friday
Conclusion:
I have been revisiting Hattie and his work on teaching, pedagogy and learning about learning. Below are some of my current ponderings. He says so much about teaching, leading and helping others learn about themselves so they might learn better.
From 10:34 into the following TED Video.
We may flip a meeting by watching a video, then responding to a Google Forms to submit responses, similar but different than everyone working on the same Google Sheets Page. I may need to know how to do the google forms better before it works the best. Feel free to investigate some of his videos, either posted below or through your own search.
Personally, I remember the January back to school time as the most potential and impactful. I already knew the students. Many of them came back after the break with noticeable growth and maturity and were recommitted to making new starts. Many good procedures were already in place in my room so only a few tunings were necessary.
Let’s continue tackling the challenges in front of us. Our prior successes reinforce to me, we can do anything!
Have a remarkable second semester.
Tom McCracken
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