Friday Focus -Homecoming Friday

"Teaching without learning isn't teaching at all, it's just presenting."

 ~Mark Johnson, Superintendent

As I reflect back on the video clip of Becky DuFour that we watched in our meeting last week and I think about the shift from teaching to a focus on learning, I think about the great things that our teachers already do that shows they are focused on student learning.
As I'm out in classrooms I notice a common theme among our best teachers at Dodgeland--they rarely sit behind their desks.  I've asked some of our teachers when do they ever sit at their desk? I thought for sure the answer would be "never," but have been surprised by what I have learned:
-"Only in the beginning stages of launching Daily 5 and students are building their independence."
-"When I want students to be completely independent with a test/task and then I'm not tempted to offer help if I see them choosing the wrong answer on a test."
-"When I have to get attendance into PowerSchool before 8:30!!"
-"When they're in a special or it's lunch time."
-"I do sit, it's just not at my desk...it's next to a student when I'm conferring."

So, what are the best teachers doing when they're not at their desks?
-Building rapport with students.
-Circulating the room to check student progress, offering feedback and praise.
-Paying attention to student behaviors that might signal they are struggling.
-Checking to see which students are struggling to answer questions and provide additional guided practice as needed.
-Using proximity to get an off-task student back on track.
-Talking to individual students or small groups with a voice soft enough that it doesn't distract the rest of the class (you can't do that from your desk).
-Checking the guided practice math problems to make sure it is something they can do indpendently for homework.
-Recording formative assessment data.
-Conferring with individual students for reading/writing during Daily 5 time.
-Meeting with a reading group during Daily 5 time.

In addition to our great teachers, we also have great support staff/student specific aides that are just as focused on student learning.  I see these exceptional ladies interacting with students all day long to help them be successful in the classrooms!

Our students are so fortunate to have such great staff at Dodgeland that are focused on learning and students' individual needs.  I know I've shared quotes with you from Todd Whitaker before, but as I think about our great teachers, I have to share this one again:  "In a great teacher's classroom, nothing hapens randomly.  Great teachers have intentional decisions for everything."  Our great teachers are even intentional with when they decide to sit down!

Monday Memo - Homecoming Week

Here are some great things I noticed last week:
*Mrs. Petersen spent some time giving book talks on some of the books in the classroom library to get readers "hooked" into new book choices.
*A student in Mrs. Harnisch's class stopped me and asked if he could share something interesting that he learned in his read to self book that day.
*5K team started WIN groups already this week
*Many classes were so focused on what they were reading that when I came in the room NO ONE noticed!
*A 4th grader (who has been here since 4K) walking with me for a while during the walkathon said, "I think I really like this school."  :)



Events this week: HOMECOMING
Monday - Colors Day
Tuesday - Team Day
    Tech Tuesday meeting after school in Christina Abegglen's room.  This entire Tech Tuesday will be on the SMARTBoards (since I know that's what you need/want right now!).  The agenda includes: reviewing the tools/tabs and ways to create interactive lessons: click and reveal, move and reveal, erase and reveal, creating movable charts/labeling activities, basic creation of a math lesson that includes pdf's and websites.  If there's still time she'll show basic searching to find ideas/pre-made lessons.
Wednesday - Hat/Tie Day
Professional Development Meeting at 3:05 (location to be determined). Please bring your reflection journals. Here is the agenda--please feel free to add your concerns/resources to it!
Thursday - Backwards Day
Hopefully we will get into the gym to practice our surprise for the Homecoming Assembly--I'll let you know as soon as I have that coordinated with Mr. Miller
Friday - School Spirit Day (Wear your new American Treasures t-shirts!)
  Lunch time TODAY is 11:55-12:55 so you can take your students right to the gym for the assembly from lunch/recess.
  Pep Assembly is 1:00
 Early Release-2:30, parade starts at 4:00

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes (My apologies, but there are several):
**For Wednesday's PD Meeting we are discussing "barometer children" and helping each other problem solve.  I hope you've been jotting down some of your reflections in your journals (even if they aren't specific to Barometer children).  Here are some other things to think about before Wednesday:  --Are there consistencies from day to day with the barometer
children (i.e., behaviors, places they sit, who they
might be sitting near, book choice)?  --Are there things that could be done to help those children
read for longer periods? Please feel free to add any concerns/barriers you are currently experiencing to the agenda for Wednesday.  This is a google doc that you can all edit in without logging in.
**The Sisters have published an UPDATED CAFE MENU on their website.  Nothing has really changed, except they've just highlighted the most important literacy strategies that students should have first.  These are the skills that readers use with automaticity. You can find their detailed description HERE. 
**When you are meeting in your Grade Level PLC's I give permission for you to not feel like you ahve to write a response to each section of the meeting form.  I trust that your focus is on student learning and understand that you won't always discuss every part of that form--it is just a tool to keep the focus on student learning.  Just a reminder for your next PLC meeting you are discussing the Literacy Beliefs and will go to http://bit.ly/dodgelandplcnotes
**If your grade level plans to use POPS t-shirts for prizes this year--please see Sarah or Marie. There have been many unused shirts for quite some time, if no one is going to use them we are going to put them in the school store.
**I've added 2 sections to the elementary web page to feature student art work and student work from the classrooms.  I want to continue to feature student work on this page and have it be a site parents check frequently.  If you have something for me to add to it, please let me know! The URL for the website is long, but I made a shortcut: http://bit.ly/DodgelandElementary (D and E must be capitalized)
**If you want any books added to the school library, just email Peter Pendleton and he will make sure to grant your book wishes!
**Now that classes have built independence and stamina, when I visit your rooms I would love to randomly sit next to a student and quietly confer with them. If you are not comfortable with me doing this, it is completely fine for you to just let me know now and I will make note not to confer with students when I come to your room.
**Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 8th (4:00-6:00pm) for our first elementary art show! Mr. Mane's classes in October will be creating the art work that will be on display and then will also serve as our fundraiser this year. Parents will be able to order almost anything with their child's artwork on it in time for holiday gifts for family. Teachers will not have to stay for the art show (we will either have it in the gym or the commons), but we would love for you to stop in at some point if you can.  If you have any ideas to help make our first art show a success, please let Mr. Mane or me know.

Friday Focus

"What you teach today in your first grade classroom matters to those students when they are in fourth grade. and well beyond." ~Unknown

When I attended Regie Routman’s Literacy and Leadership Institute this past summer, one of the leaders of a breakout session (a principal from Colorado) shared this quote with us.  In addition, she talked about how her staff, over time, developed professional trust with one another.  I almost snickered when someone asked, "What do you mean by professional trust?"  But I was amazed by her profound response...

"If we have professional trust amongst us, then a 2nd grade teacher can trust that the student coming to her has been taught appropriately and can trust that when she moves that student on, that in the following grade levels, that student will be receiving the same great instruction and focus on learning as she had dedicated to that student.  As a teacher, you trust that the growth that you have seen in your students will continue year after year, no matter which teacher they are placed with.  Unfortunately, it only takes one teacher's practice to compromise the work of the entire school."

Wow!  Until I heard her say this, my understanding of the term "professional trust" was very superficial.  As a teacher, I was always naturally collaborative and thrived on learning from my colleagues that shared their great ideas, successes and their failures (so I wouldn't make the same mistakes!)  When I heard complaints from some of my colleagues that didn't want to spend their prep time planning with others (because they just wanted to focus on "their" kids) I never agreed with that point of view, but I could understand how it can seem time consuming or "messy" trying to get a group of people to all agree on what they are going to do.  


This explanation of professional trust has completely solidified for me why it is so important that we collaborate.  Not just that we're meeting each week, but that we are developing common expectations within our grade levels and across all of our grade levels.  So that whatever grade you teach, you know what all of your incoming students were taught last year and you know  where you need to get your students by the end of this year.  And if you have a student or multiple students not meeting that expectation, you know that you have your PLC to rely on---to learn what your colleague did in his classroom that was more effective for a particular skill or that when you send your students out for WIN time, that teachers’ heart is in it for “your” kids just as much as yours is.

Over the past two days our 3/5th grade teachers (as well as MS/HS English teachers) spent an entire day scoring students’ 6 Traits Essays collaboratively.  Before beginning this process, each group scored the same student papers together and discussed why they chose that score for each writing trait to come to inter-rater reliability, or a common agreement on scoring.  While this process took time and work, it is found by Douglas Reeves to be an effective practice for teachers to develop common expectations that impact student learning.   By having these discussions at the beginning of the year, teachers develop a collective understanding of what a student must do to earn a score of a 3 or a 5 when they are writing.  
 

  As we discuss our beliefs on reading and writing and come to agreement on our beliefs collectively, we will be laying the foundation for our common expectations and practices as well as building our professional trust amongst one another.  

 

"Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him,and let him know that you trust him.” ~Booker T. Washington

Monday Memo for the week of September 19 - 23

Here are some of the great things I noticed last week:

**A 2nd grader in Mrs. Zastrow's class excitedly shared, "I could build stamina all day!"
**Found a class that reached 18 minutes of stamina for read to self.
 **4th Grade classrooms were focusing on explaining HOW they got their answers in math (not just the right answer).
**Students in Ms. Johnson's classroom were working in collaborative groups to plan how they will make a model of a plant/animal cell--they were all actively engaged (often in group work some sit back and let others do the work).
 **Ms. Braunschweig followed up a great picture book with a baking project--students had to learn to read a recipe and follow the directions (and of course eat the cookie the following day!)
**Some of the 1st Graders in Ms. Lucht's class told me about the book choices in their book boxes.  One creative boy was excited about a book that was too hard, but read it to me with his make-believe story for the pictures (and was very entertaining)!
 **Several classrooms had the Lesson objective (or objectives for each subject of the day) on the board to provide focus and use for reflection at the end of the lesson.  
**Mrs. O'Toole was persistent with Independence for Read to Self and rang the chimes just 10 seconds after students starting choosing their spots, because a couple students asked, "Can I sit here?" She reviewed the I Chart and then they tried it again---with independence this time!
 **When Mrs. Stampfl's class walked back from their SRI test, many students were proud of their results and shared their high scores with me!  On top of that, Jenny printed the 5th grade SRI results and they are GREAT!!!!!


Events this week:  (You can see these events on the google calendar on the right side of the blog as well)
Tuesday - Trojan Jr. Football game at HOME 6:00 PM
Wednesday - All K-12 Staff Meeting in the Media Center
Friday - Walkathon 1:00-2:30


"Nuts and Bolts" Notes: 
**Just a reminder to park in the 2nd section in the parking lot--MaryBeth is usually the first person in the parking lot, so you'll see her vehicle there if you're not sure.  This is to allow enough space for parents when they come for drop-off/dismissal.  Thank you!
**Our first "Tuesday Tech Day" is next week on the 27th.  I am planning for this one to just be on SMARTBoards and hope you all had the chance to complete Christina's survey. She will be using this to plan for Tuesday.  If you haven't, you can click here for the survey.  Thank you Christina!
**I started a Daily 5/Cafe page on the blog, just click the tab at the top. If you find something helpful to add to it, please email me and I will add it.  

Friday Focus - 3rd Friday

"You are the barometer of your classroom, not the thermometer." ~Tiffany Thompson

During Tiffany's presentation for staff on Wednesday I had to write this quote down in my journal (I keep a whole section of quotes in my journal).  It took some time for me to process her quote before I fully understood it and then began to make many connections to the many great teachers here in our building.

When the teacher is a thermometer for the classroom there no vision for what the class should look like in terms of behavior and student learning.  A thermometer teacher would find it a waste of time to continue reviewing/practicing procedures and want to get right into the curriculum (we have SO much to teach, right?).   Unfortunately, this means that after the "honeymoon phase" with a new class, chaos will slowly begin to take over and learning will not be the top priority of the class. 

When the teacher is the barometer for the classroom, the teacher sets the tone and climate of the room for behavior and learning.  When the class is loud in the hallway on the way to a specials class, the barometer teacher will turn the class around, take them back to the classroom, review the Hallway Code of Conduct and try it again.  Yes, they will be late for that specials class, but I'm sure our specials teachers would be supportive of practicing procedures that mean there will be less disruptions from a loud hallway. 

When I'm out visiting classrooms, I see a lot of great things happening from many barometer teachers.  Here are some of the other characteristics I notice from our barometer teachers:

• Uses a soft voice when conferencing with students to set the volume level/tone for the room.
• Models respect/communication skills and provides students with the opportunity to practice these skills in class meetings.
• Displays a sense of urgency for learning throughout the day for students, never wasting a moment of time. Students know that as soon as their morning procedures are done they must complete bell work or read at their desks.  The learning objectives for the day are on the board (or added throughout the day) so that students can use those objectives to reflect on their learning.
• Continues to learn each day and models a love of learning for the students.  Todd Whitaker says, "If you didn't learn anything today, then your students probably didn't either."
• While having a sense of urgency for learning, focuses on teaching students and not content.  
• Is focused on learning (as opposed to just teaching) and inspires students to focus on their learning as well, not just grades in the gradebook.

While we continue to encourage our students to be "coffee beans" I encourage you to continue to be barometers.

I welcome your thoughts on this.  If you'd like to, you can add your thoughts in the comment section below on the blog. 

Monday Memo - September 12th

I hope you all recovered from the fast 4 day week (which seemed like 5) and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside!

Here are some of the great things I noticed last week:
*Mrs. Kroon's class was working together to sort the books in their classroom library--what a great way for students to take ownership of the classroom library and know what books are there!
*Students with special needs participating in the regular classrooms much more than in previous years.
*Reading stamina is increasing (I saw one class as high as 16) so teachers are able to start meeting with students.
*Students are excited about how much they read during read to self time.
*An at-risk student from Mrs. Peterson's class stopped me in the hallway to tell me that he was on page 47 of a chapter book (I don't think he's ever read a chapter book before)!
*Mrs. Petersen used a student's book request for her read-aloud--you wouldn't believe how excited those boys were that she was reading a non-fiction book about different types of cars!
*Mrs. Harnisch started highlighting in her lesson plans each time she used the SMARTBoard as a way to reflect on how/when she is using it--great idea!

Events this week:
*Monday - Probationary Teachers Meeting at 3:05 in the Media Center
*Tuesday - Send home Walkathon information
                 - Benchmark Assessment training for 3rd grade teachers after school
*Wednesday - Tiffany Thompson presentation to 5K-5th grades in the HS gym at 8:20. The staff presentation is after school at 3:05.
*Thursday - No Office Day (see below...I'm hoping 4k-2nd grades will keep me busy!)
                  - Benchmark Assessment training for 1/2nd grade teachers after school
*Friday - Staff social lunch...the winning vote was for Hors D'oeuvres so I'll have an assortment in the lounge. Please enjoy each others' company in the art room for lunch. 

"Nuts and Bolts" Notes:
*No Office Day (in 4K-2nd grades) - I plan to set aside days in my calendar throughout the year to spend immersed in classes/grade levels throughout the day.  I am really excited about this! I will be in the classrooms from students’ arrival through the end of the day; planning to spend time in the rooms during academic times and to visit specials with your classes. I am happy to sit and observe, but reeeeally what I would love to do is join in the fun. Please put me to work! Need someone to facilitate a small group? Want to team up to teach a topic? Would you like to have someone work 1:1 with a student? Want me to help prepare something on the SMARTBoard? These are all ways I’d be happy to help.  Please send me an email to let me know--my calendar is WIDE open!! If there is work/planning I need to complete before that day, kindly let me know a day or two in advance.

*The SRI/SMI tests should be ready to go by Tuesday--Jenny will be sending you an email with the directions. Students will be accessing them differently this year.  Please also send home a note the day before or have students write it in their planners. Our parent survey last year included feedback that parents would like to know ahead of time when their students are going to be testing.

*Please complete the safety survey that will be sent out by Tracey Scheffler this week...this is part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Grant.

*Mark your calendars for the Rock River Reading Council Meeting on Thursday, November 3rd.  This meeting will be held at Prairie View Elementary in Beaver Dam with the focus on: "Revisit and Refine Our Work with the Daily 5 and CAFE." If you would like to attend this (it is optional) the time is 4:45 for social/sharing, 5:15 for dinner, 5:45 for the meeting and 6:15 for guest speakers.  I'll share more information once I receive it. 

*I am continuing to add links to the Forms/Resources tab of my blog as I think of ones to add.  I just added the SMART resources Christina shared. I will also be creating a page of Daily 5/Cafe Resources. Please let me know if you think of anything I should add.  We have a lot on the shared file, however, these can be accessed from home!

Friday Focus - September 9

"What makes a good school has very little to do with how rich or poor the students are or the type of curriculum that's taught.  It has very little to do with special programs, expansive playing fields, huge endowments, snappy uniforms, celebrity alumni, or whether the school is wired to the internet.  What makes a good school, whether it's public or private, religious or nonreligious, charter or noncharter, it is a feeling.  A feeling shared by the entire staff that their particular school is special.  The feeling that their school really belongs to them." (Manna, 1999)

The above quote may not directly tie in to the subject matter of today's Friday Focus, however, I thought of our staff and start of this new school year when I came across it.  I feel that the energy amongst us this year is truly special and fosters a feeling of ownership among us as we continue to learn together and model learning for our students. 

I recently came across an older article titled "What Makes a Good Teacher?" (Traina, 1999). The author sought to identify characteristics that are consistently cited by students and parents as those exhibited by their very best teachers.  They are as follows:

*Command of subject matter.  Effective teachers know their subject matter inside and out.  In addition, they convey a love of, and passion for, their subject matter.

*Caring deeply about each student and about that student's accomplishment and growth.  Effective teachers take time to consider each student as an individual and a unique learner.  They take the time and make the effort to get to know about each student, inquiring of their interests, family, and so forth.

*Distinctive character.  Effective teachers add a special flavor and zeal to their instruction that creates a memorable impression on their students.  Whether it is an eccentric sense of humor or a tragedy overcome, such teachers stand out in the minds of their students.

At Dodgeland Elementary, we are obviously staffed by teachers with distinctive character who care deeply about each and every one of their students and display a passion for learning.  As a result, your students will remember you long after they move on from the elementary years.

Happy Weekend,
Jessica :)

Monday Memo - 2nd week of school

What a great first (short) week of school! Thank you to everyone for introuducing the Code of Conduct with your classes for your classroom, hallways, bathrooms, etc.  As I met with classes, the students all seemed very knowledgeable and excited.  Do not abandon efforts to establish school-wide and class routines just yet...continue to go over classroom routines/procedures, because they are what will make or break your classroom management.

A few things I noticed last week:
        -You were all well prepared for Open House, which all of the parents/students appreciated.
        - I can't believe how many brand new SMARTBoards I saw in use already.
         -All of our students made it home safely (I think this is the first year of no phone calls for me on this issue)
         -I've seen several staff members helping each other out--especially helping out with our 4K       classrooms that are sharing Vicky as their aide this year.
         -All of these tech issues we've encountered should not happen next year at this time (ok, I know  that is a common source of negativity, but had to include it in here as a positive for next year!)

"Nuts and Bolts" Notes:
*Please send Marie your Open House turnout numbers if you haven't already done so.  For attending Open House you will be allowed to leave 2 hours early from our January 23rd Report and Planning Day. :)

*As you get dismissal routines down, please do NOT dismiss from your room to go to lockers until 2:50. Things in the room can be packed up before then.

*Please do not open the district office door to let parents in--once we start doing so, they start to rely on going in/out that door which the insurance man would not like.

*I ordered positive postcards this year--they have our American Treasures logo on them.  Sarah will be putting them in your mailboxes--enough for each class list in classroom teacher boxes and 5 in other certified staff boxes.  I am asking that you use them up throughout the year to send home something positive on each of your students to build rapport and home-school connection. If you run out and want more just ask me. 

*Classroom teachers-you will be finding student profile cards in your mailboxes. At the end of last year when we were creating class lists one teacher mentioned that it would have been nice to see the notes at the start of the year.  I always liked to start the year with a "blank slate" or open mind on my students and didn't look at their cumulative information unless I had concerns.  You can feel free to look at the notes or not.  Please file them away somewhere safe so you can add to them at the end of the year. If you're afraid you will lose them, just give them back to me.

*This week's Professional Development Meeting will start out with individual professional goal setting and then we will move right into discussions on Launching Read to Self.  What were your successes?  What challenges/pitfalls have you encountered? Let's problem solve together.  This obviously does not apply to all, so specials teachers you can leave after goal setting and use this time to meet and discuss how your classes have got up and running and make sure you are all on the same page with the specials "class of the week" contest again.  

Ideas
*This Week's "Tip of the Week" from Gail and Joan relates shopping for a swimsuit to finding a good fit book--great analogy!  There is also a list of ways to try to provide students with enough good fit books.

*Are you planning to talk about September 11th with your class this year?  This fits in nicely with our American Treasures theme, since the Twin Towers were an American Treasure.  Here are some sites I found with Lesson Plans:
http://www.northcantonschools.org/~elem/neverforget/neverforget.html
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/us-history/tragedy/6807.html
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/911/teachers/lesson_plans.htm
http://www.teachhub.com/september-11-teaching-resources

The first Friday Focus

In previous years I have always tried to have a weekly memo in which I included important information and an assortment of other things, such as links to articles, celebrations, my thoughts, etc.  This year I am planning to continue the memo (on Mondays), but also have a weekly "Friday Focus" to provide insight into a specific aspect of teaching and learning for all of us to reflect throughout the year. 

CC license shared by ice_birdy

Our First Friday

"Schools are not just buildings, curriculums, and machines. Schools are relationships and interactions among people." (Johnson & Johnson, 1989)

I hope everyone enjoyed a productive (and fast) couple of in-service days, Open House and First day of school.  I never lose the nervous edge I felt on my very first day of school when I began my career as a special education teacher in northern Minnesota.  As we begin a new school year, I hope you share my sense of excitement, rejuvenation, and anticipation of what will be a tremendous year of growth for our students and our staff.

As I will suggest on countless occasions during the course of this year, our success as professional educators will depend to some extent on our specific skills and the breadth of our knowledge base.  However, I firmly believe that our character and our human relations skills are even more vital to the ultimate success we experience with our students and our entire school community.  Nearly every great teacher I have worked with has excelled in the area of interpersonal skills.  Although no list of such traits can be thoroughly exhaustive, I do hope that you will peruse those offered below.  Let's focus on these human relations skills as we embark upon a noble journey: teaching young children who need and crave our guidance!

• Help think of a solution to a problem you are encountering.
• Be willing to admit when you're wrong.
• Be able to laugh (have a good sense of humor) and cry (display empathy and sensitivity).
• Take time to help others.
• Remember how it felt to be a child and recognize how difficult the parenting role can be.
• Be able to resolve conflicts between people.
• Enjoy working with people of all ages.
• Truly care about others. 
• Realize that you can't please everyone.
• Be optimistic about people's motives.

Thank you all for your extraordinary efforts this week; thank you all for the human relations skills you already possess and practice daily.  Let's remember the importance of these as we progress through this year.  I can't wait to see you all in action next week (after I finish reading to all classrooms).  You hold the keys to success for our students; unlock their hearts and their minds.

Happy Weekend,
Jessica :)