Happy Friday!
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been fortunate to sit down with some of our TCAPS teachers to discuss their successes, challenges, and frustrations with the new ELA program and curriculum units and assessments. Despite our best intentions, the roll-out has not been without flaws. While this is probably to be expected when undertaking such a massive change in a larger district, it's not okay to 'call it good' and wait until next year to make changes. In addition to those meetings, I have also had great feedback from Allyson McBride-Culver and the group at the monthly Elementary Concerns meetings. These discussions have provided me with great information that we can use, as a district, to help support you with changes to amplify the positive and eliminate as much of the negative as possible.
In order to have these conversations, folks gave up time before or after their long work day, trusted that I would listen and was trying to help, and openly discussed how they felt we could work together to improve. All the conversations have been focused on how the changes can benefit students and work on revising our strategies, rather than abandoning them.
I wasn't sure how these conversations would go, but they were very "growth mindset" oriented and Carol Dweck-ian in nature. They were very real, sometimes emotional, and incredibly informative. What stood out from these meetings was 1) the true sense of pride that TCAPS educators have in what they do, 2) how much work, adjustment, and anxiety have been associated with these changes, and 3) how dedicated our educators are to students. I can say unequivocally that I have never been more proud to be associated with TCAPS than I have coming out of these conversations.
This is outer ring of the Blueprint stuff at work here! These conversations were all about collective responsibility and were collaborative, collegial, and professional. They are one of the key reasons why I believe that our district will continue to be able to meet the ever increasing challenges that come our way and adjust and adapt in a productive and efficient way. Working together, we will continue to make an incredible difference in the lives of all our students. Thank you for your continued hard work, perseverance, dedication, and passion for this work!
DYK: Cats Can Heal Bones - Frequencies of 20 to 50 Hertz are helpful in speeding the healing process of bone injuries. Cat's purr vibrations which range from 20 – 140 Hertz, can help heal soft tissue injuries to ligaments, tendons and muscles.
Deep Thoughts: In a recent, lesser-known study, John Hattie and his associates have determined that domestic cat pictures (Felis Catus) have a larger effect size (0.73) on reading comprehension than pictures of lions and tigers. While none of this is true, I am more fond of cat pictures and need a break from lions. We will maintain our ferocious focus, but our opening pictures in future blogs will feature cats. My apologies to Mr. Hattie and associates for this brief bit of levity at the expense of his important contributions to the scientific study of education. Cat fans, you're welcome!
Articles of the Week:
Thanks & Appreciation:
- Thank you to all the teachers who met with me over the last couple weeks to discuss ELA. I appreciated your willingness to share your experiences and concerns with me. While we might not be able to solve all the possible issues right away, know that your comments and feedback were heard and that we'll work on continuously getting better.
- Shelagh Fehrenbach: Thanks for your cultural literacy article submission to this week's blog!
- Thanks to Keith Ballmer for always knowing what's going on and for making a mean cup of coffee!
- Thanks to Cindy Farah and Sandy Low for assistance with purchasing, budgets, and all things finance!
- Thank you Third Grade Reading Team for continuing to stay on top of this legislation and all the challenges that come along with its implementation!
- Thanks to CHS Assistant Principal Heidi Skodack and Tech Girls for the presentation at the BOE meeting Monday night! Next year, I want to drive the robot, please!
Announcements & Reminders:
- In related news, earlier this week Heidi invited schools to participate in the district's Hour of Code Challenge during the month of December. The goal is to have all TCAPS students participate in an hour of code. SIGN UP HERE or visit http://hourofcode.com/us for more information.
- The ELA survey that I wrote about earlier should be done later today or over the weekend. This short (I promise) survey will not ask your name or school. It will, however, ask you for your grade level. Grant Chandler of MI-Excel fame will review the data (nobody at TCAPS will have access to the raw data from the surveys) and break it into a workable format so that we can look at pacing, assessments, and other concerns by grade level. Once those results are returned, I will meet with ELA team members, Caroline Wacker, Allyson McBride-Culver, and Grant to help implement changes designed to help make improvements for the rest of the year. I'll also post a summary of the data returned here in an upcoming blog.
- Deputy Matt McKinley of the GTSD contacted us and relayed that the officers are interested in making substantial donations of clothes to TCAPS. I've discussed potential storage options with Kirsten Morgan and Katie Bonne and it looks like we'll have a couple of "hubs" for gear storage for donations. We'll probably have to think about volunteers to help manage some of the donations, to keep them organized, etc... but I am grateful that GTSD reached out to us. They are a fantastic community partner and a huge part of our developing Intense Student Support Network. I'll be connecting Deputy McKinley with our ISSN team leaders Lisa VanLoo, Toby Tisdale, and Dan O'Berski to help keep the momentum going on this important development.
- Speaking of the ISSN, this week we met with a group from Communities in Schools, who could potentially offer assistance in connecting our students in need with valuable community resources. Lots of details to work through here if it's going to happen, but it looks to have some promise. I'll keep you posted as we explore this further.
This Week:
Monday
- ET
- At-Risk Planning
- Board Study Session
Tuesday
- Counselors
- ET
- Performance Management Meeting
- Grant Chandler/Mi-Excel
Wednesday
- Eastern Visit
- STEM/Skodack
- Huddle
- Performance Management Meeting
- Communities in Schools
- Curriculum Budget Review
Thursday
- Huddle
- Partnership
- Parent Meeting
- Curriculum Technology/Reynolds
- Eidex
Friday
- Huddle
- ELA Meeting
Next Week:
Monday
- Huddle
- Joint Principals Meeting
- Board Retreat
Tuesday
- Board Communications
- ET
- Soma/Parker Bi-Weekly
Wednesday
- Huddle
- Building Bridges
- Board Finance
- Performance Management Meeting
Thursday
- Huddle
- Soma/Parker MDE Meeting
- Parker/Chandler
- WH Visit
Friday
This week in pictures:
- ASCD Board Meeting
- Huddle
This week in pictures:
#makingreadingmeaningfulandfun
#canttalklongihavetonstodo
#heyarentyoutheguywhowritesthatblog
#littleprepspacebuttheymakeitwork
#cantwaittoseeournewkitchen
