Winfield Staff Blog
End of the 3rd quarter.
March 3, 2016
Favorite quotes...
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart.”
Amazingly, Helen Keller, both deaf and blind, was keenly aware of her surroundings assessed and described a perspective the rest of us often take for granted. Often times, we post sunsets, nature views or puppies with the intent of evoking sentiment or passion, yet it takes an astute “observation” of another, both deaf and blind to remind us to “look” inside for the best.
PS: She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor's degree!
And we dare to think we have it bad?!?!
Good tracking and motivation on the Attendance Challenge. How else could we shift it to bring even more into the winner’s circle (BC)?
The full experience:
Last weekend: Art Museum, Used Car Shopping, Chinese Buffet, Bass Pro Shop, Savers, Harlem Wizards, Community Service… While taking our foreign exchange student all around the St Louis Metropolitan area we began to realize the abundance and wealth we have here in these United States. He is interested in college. For us, we apply, get accepted and move. For him, it is a major life altering event. How do our students in the Middle School gain the vision, hope, ideal and inspiration necessary to persist to college? They cant do it alone! We all must support them. 
Students lacking this attention and support still seek it out, desire and often times demand it through deviant behaviors. The Monday Morning Quote is another reminder that we are not alone in our efforts as we serve this population. These are universal battles and we can’t possibly solve all these problems. We build systems and interventions to try and help to manage the situation but reaching a perfect situation frequently remains elusive.
END OF THE YEAR PLANNING:
Wrapping up a fun Read Across America Week, we had Pajama Day on Thursday.
Schedule:
Friday: I will be out of the district in a Data Meeting.
Quarter grades are due this weekend for email on Monday.
Don’t forget to nominate your student of the month for March.
Birthdays?
Monday
Binder Teams
- MAP Team assignments - Into MAP teams after Spring Break
Night Class
Tuesday
SHADOW DAY First of a few till next Friday, 3/18/16
Math Collaboration Day?
Admin Meeting at CO at 9:00 am
Wednesday
SHADOW DAY
Breakfast Photo Booth
Thursday
SHADOW DAY
Bright Futures at 7:00 at the Central Office
Friday
SHADOW DAY
Bright Futures at 7:00 at the Central Office
In Progress
Block Schedule to align with High School for the last month of school beginning April 18th
- Summer Academy for some 8th Graders
- 5th Grade Transitions - Shadow Days for the 5th graders
- To Be March 17, 18, 21, 22, 24
- Some overlap with the 8th grade days
- 6th Grade Boot Camp Day at the Middle School for incoming 5th graders
- 1 or 2 days of transitioning to the middle school
- Practice Schedule
- Mentors from NJHS etc
- Locker Work
- Lunch Procedures
- Team Building - Connections created with staff & new students
- Paid Teacher Planning Days for May 25, 26 & 27
- Pacing Guides
- Lesson Plans
- Common Assessments
- Student Work Review
- Data Teaming
- Collaboration Days
- eValuate
Glow Night Volley Ball Tournament
March 18th - Assemble Teams now from 3-5 in the MS Gym
Parent Communication
Thank you for keeping those updates current in SIS. It makes it so nice when a parent asks about grades are there are recent postings in SIS for us to talk about. It is quite discouraging to see no recent updates in the young students records.
Conclusion
“... the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
“We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
-Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Together, these two quotes outline the ends of a continuum. The former begins with the attitude of the author, a Czech politician from the last century. He finds no allies, no support and seems overwhelmed with the tide of discouragement, blame and taxing forces. This negativity is countered by Mother Teresa with the omission of one little prefix. “UN” This shift, from “unwilling” to “willing” describes the focus or singular drive from one of passive and external locus of control to deliberate and intentional actions where we are masters of our own destiny. We teach to serve, help, support, and build a better future, one student at a time. We can’t do it alone, overnight or with force but we use time, relationship and finesse to continue to persuade, cajole and admonish our wards.
Together, we can face any obstacle, define its parameters, strengths and weaknesses, develop multiple options and create a plan to attack, overcome and address the concern. Of course, some issues are so deeply ingrained, time, repetition so continual admonishment appears fruitless. Therefore, we deliberately remind ourselves of those successes, twists, and surprises that frequently and unexpectedly catch us off guard. We look at former students that make it because of us and sometimes, in spite of us. We celebrate commencement exercises, not because it’s over but because it’s their beginning. We have done our portion and made our best contribution. We have built our section of the house. We have equipped each student.
We are teachers.
Sincerely,
Tom McCracken
PS. 1/2 is a larger portion than the 1/30th. A school year for us is a smaller portion of our entire life! That is why if feels like thing are happening so fast! Finish strong. We still have 47 days left of the 4th quarter.
No comments:
Post a Comment