Winfield Middle Staff Blog
November 17, 2016
Please remember the minimum 4:1 ratio.
Schedule for the next two weeks:
Monday:
- Begin to meet with staff during their prep to review student survey, talk about DOK, student engagement and eValuate contributions and pedagogy. Send me an invitation for one of your plan periods, please.
- Basketball
- Girls to Montgomery County
- Boys host them here
Tuesday:
- PBiS Tier 2 Meeting in Strouds Room
- Basketball
- Girls to Wright City
- Boys host them here
Thanksgiving:
- Wednesday at 8:00 am
- Sunday at 3:00
- #overnightsuccesstakesfiveyears
- Optional? (Not mandatory but definitely a good event)
Monday:
- First day back after Thanksgiving
- Basketball
- Boys to Warrenton
- Girls host them here
Tuesday:
- Culture / Climate in Gracey’s Room
- Myra Collins to meet with Math Dept
- Basketball
- 8th Grade boys & girls to Wentzville
Wednesday:
Early Release
Thursday:
- December 1st - Wow
- Binder Meetings -
- Submit data through T Steffes, typical cycles as last year.
- We are a bit behind pace right now.
- We receive funding for our planning days because of our involvement in this process and the 6 cycles we submit
- Basketball
- 7th Grade boys & girls to Troy
Friday:
Upcoming
- Nov 29th - Myra Collins Math PD Day
- Dec 7th -
- Early Release
- Intruder Training
- Pepsi with the Principal
- Kolbe Discussion
- Removed
- Dec 8th - ELA Planning Day
- Dec 13th - PBiS Tier I & II PD Day
- Dec 14th - HS/MS Choir Concert
- Dec 19th - Middle School Band Concert
- Dec 21st - Early Release - Semester End
- Ac Lab Challenge
- Door Decorating and Lip Synch Contest
- Hoff to create rubric
In-District PD...
eValuate Adjustments we can make ourselves:
Just listening to the Intermediate Team share the story behind their success was both inspiring and confidence building. With the elusive growth curve just out of our reach, we see their success and celebrate as well as look to model and emulate a few of their implementations. I was glad to see the growth displayed in their MATH scores, just by reteaching the test. The test is just a test, but it is a good indicator of how well they do on the MAP! It also seems like a focus we can all get behind. I can see myself building a hedge and insulating you from other distractions.
From the good to the great! Key take-aways I gleaned were:
- Quick, and thorough review of the test and all questions was instrumental in their success
- Some competition that celebrates growth for individuals and groups works
- That’s where we could do AC LAB Challenges
- Ac Lab groups might allow us to compete here
- Competition could also be individual with student determined goals.
- I will allow special prearranged celebrations if entire classes meet goals
- Like a class wide Hat Day for individuals reaching goals and if the entire class goes up, the entire class can wear a hat ALL DAY LONG
- If an entire class earns a HAT DAY type goal, the teacher earns JEANS DAY
- Try not to reward the efforts with recess type time or expensive distracting items but something like a hat allows learning to continue.
- NO SHOE TUESDAY or ???
- PJ DAY or???
- The classroom connectors can be shared with the paired content to help reinforce and reteach struggling areas.
- It seems the differing structures will cause us to build and create our own interventions adapted for our building .
- For instance, if we had their setting, we could just adapt on Science or Social Studies time for an Intervention Block. Here, we will need to create our own method to increase the student's time in front of the evaluate problems.
- Science and social studies both seem willing to help in whatever way they can. Let’s share our needs.
- A burden shared is a burden halved.
Now or Later?
During this month of Thanksgiving, we want to come to appreciate our friends, families, blessings and opportunities while here in Winfield.
What extra special events, actions, attitudes or behaviors have we put in place this month that could serve us throughout the rest of the year?
Gracing the cover of the Lincoln County Journal, Winfield Middle School is working our way #onthemap. The Veterans Day Celebration and #selfiewithasoldier made lasting impressions throughout Lincoln County. While waiting for breakfast, the Veterans heard a summary of a book by Tim O’Brien titled, “The Things They Carried.” Early chapters in this book began with easy “things,” like all the technical gear and reminders of home where weapons of war sat alongside pictures of wives from back home. Later chapters developed a presence of the internal and heavier burdens, such as memories of events and altercations with the enemies that left internal scars far more difficult to identify and articulate, let alone treat. Physical wounds provided clear evidence of progress during the healing process but the mental and psychological stress occupied a subtle and long lasting hole. This conversation set the mood for a somber Veterans Day Assembly. Then students, staff and esteemed guests were treated to a continental breakfast, fellowship and honorable assemble meant to say Thank You in the best way we know how!
Respect!
Any Given Evening at Winfield Middle School...
You might see a sunset like this…
These photos never really do justice to the great skies we see here in Lincoln County, but our horizons help remind us to stop, remember why we teach, refocus and then recenter ourselves around those esoteric reasons that brought us here in the first place!
We may have wanted to change the world!
We have a need to help others!
We were gifted in a specific content!
In Other News...
The Board of Education holds its monthly business meeting but finds time to congratulate outstanding students with appropriate approbation and accolades!
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In other news,
Luke M gets a shout out in front of our Winfield Board of Education
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Fun for All, All for Fun
Ms Gracey and her minions are rockin’ the concession stand raising funds selling snacks, treats and dinner of champions. Student activities accounts are the big winners here.
#NeverDull when students are involved!
Finally…
Action on the maple proves as entertaining as the all the events surrounding the contest! BIG wins by both the 7th and 8th grade boys demonstrate a depth and passion for excellence.
MID YEAR DE-BRIEFING
Again this year, let’s try and have a mid-year debriefing to review our student surveys, progress and growth measures put in place. We can discuss individual contributions and review classroom videos as they are completed. We will review the NEE evaluation tool and discuss ways to maximize our scores in every category. This opportunity for feedback could open new avenues of discussion that the conversations in May never reach.
Conclusion
We truly enjoy these middle school students. They are exploring who they are, how they fit in among their friends, who their friends are and how to interact with adults. At the Middle School, we spend time in various size groups teaching students how to interact in all settings. Small group work with just one or two others builds deeper relationships. Larger group projects teach cooperation and tolerance. Class size groups help students empathize and see how to put others first. Lunch, a group of over 100, facilitates audience participation norms. Finally, school wide assemblies allow students to cooperate and collaborate within their classes to complete in a safe, secure but fun setting with groups of peers. Orchestrated to provide a spectrum of opportunity, we continue to grow and foster our students soft skills as well as academics. Let’s continue our growth and success by remaining strong and encouraging, even in the face of ambiguity!
Sincerely,
Tom McCracken
A few reminders about expectations heading into the busiest time of the year.
- Student confidentiality, names and negative talk is not appropriate for a school building, especially the office.
- Please ensure you deliver at least one WOW a month. If you need more, I will come by and deliver them. Negative sticks like VELCRO but positive slides off like TEFLON! This means we NEED TO REMAIN POSITIVE about all expectations. This, we can do and costs us nothing.
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