Last Saturday night, at 10:30pm, we traveled to the Missouri Botanical Garden to take in the rare blooming of the amorphophallus titanum commonly called the Corpse flower due to the odor and size.
(Seldom do I see 2:00 am these days.)
Start of the year…
There has been a very encouraging mood throughout rooms, halls, buildings and even the district. The first full week of school held the August full moon yet the building had a great feel. Students said they wanted to go to school year around, just because of the safety and security in this setting. ALL of them are able to smile when talked to. (Let me know if you find one that won’t smile with prompting.) You have been reaching into students lives, building bridges of commonality in a quest to teach. They have responded. Reading in AC LABS has become a new norm. The place is becoming a sanctuary of learning.
PD Time
Thanks for the great enthusiasm and participation displayed by so many at our PD time yesterday. The food was delicious, the conversations stimulating, the PD assuring and the vertical time exactly what we needed. We will follow the RTI Intervention flow chart as presented by Dawn. We have been approved to acquire the MOBY MAX intervention system for ALL staff and ALL students. It is great for RTI, enrichment, or reward incentive type activity for students. There may be a PE component and we trust Coach and Coach to apply the intervention with the right amount of pressure so as not to “throw students into the briar patch” nor punish them with work…
BINDER TEMPLATE:
In our binder team time, our agenda will include reviewing the contractual obligations, building expectations and allow time to develop a plan to reach those goals. Please ensure you have days requested according to the PD schedule for your planning. Let’s use this UPDATED TEMPLATE just for our BINDER meetings. We can visit among the groups to set up a plan for serving the needs of each team as needed. We can use one document for the entire year and log things on that page as necessary.
SPIRIT WEEK
Monday
- Red, White and Blue Wear
- Laptop Rollout - 5:30 at the Gym, to present to parents
- Team and Squad practices continue throughout the week
Tuesday
- Baseball Apparel
Wednesday
- Favorite Animal
- PBiS PD in Building. Tier 1 and Tier 2 Toggle between the AM and the PM.
- One sub hired for roughly two teachers.
Thursday
- Tacky Tourist/Beach Wear
- Binder Teams
- Review DESE contract & Obligations
- Plan overview of year and the 6 testing cycles
- Bus Ambassadors candidates identified by today
Friday
- Class Color
- Myra Collins in building to observe the Math team and develop overview for possible interventions
Saturday
- Homecoming 2016
- Parade at 10:00
- Carnival at the High School
- Football Game at 1:00
Conclusion
After driving an hour, waiting in line for another half hour, then seeing the flower for less than 5 minutes, it makes me wonder… Was it worth it? YES. Unabashedly Yes. How often would I actually get to see and smell it in "real Life?" I heard a student sway the "Grand Canyon? I will just google it!" How many other things do I miss because I am in a hurry, on my way someplace else or not paying attention. I really must take time to smell the roses. I see these 8th graders and it does seem like they were just in 6th grade. They are growing with leaps and bounds right now and it is amazing the maturity they are showing. Let’s continue to provide them opportunities for leadership. We were even thinking about having them assist during the first day of school while everyone is trying to get things together, there are still new students, lockers, classes and teachers to find. Mentoring and peer leadership roles are wonderful motivators at getting those students engaged.
Keep up the good work. It is worth it.
Trying to be brief.
Tom McCracken
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