Weekly News and Notes

Greetings!

As our last four-day week for a while winds down, we hope that people have had an opportunity to get into their regular classroom routines and start to digest all that we have going on this year! Obviously, there is a great deal already, with the teacher rubrics and the new system for evaluation.

You have obviously noticed us in and out of classrooms, which will be part of our regular routine. They will enable us to learn more about instruction and learning, to validate effective practice and ensure continued use of those practices, help create a community of learners, open classrooms to all staff, and focus teachers and administrators on the learning process It will also help us design more useful PD.

1.

Research has suggested that walk-throughs yield the following benefits (among others):

• Teacher sharing of best practices; Increased principal awareness of what is happening in classrooms;
• Better principal understanding of curriculum gaps and inconsistencies;
• Better principal understanding of professional development needs;
• Improved quality of conversations about instruction; 
• Development of a common language around instruction.

So, we will continue to be in and out of classes, and hope that you share in the dialogue!

Cafeteria Support Needed

We are asking you to position one person in the line for the first few minutes to avoid situations like the one below (although, with the new regulations, most of that food is not available to our students)!

Oh, the days of the college cafeteria - and all those beautiful empty calories!

SMART Goals  

At this point, just about everyone in the building has been through the initial rubric and SMART goal training. As you begin crafting your goals, and determining whether they are specific, measurable, attainable, action-oriented, realistic, and relevant, feel free to seek us out for support. We expect all SMART goal drafts to be submitted to Doug by October 19.

If you are curious as to your status in terms of whether you are on or off cycle, let us know. We hope to put something in writing next week to everyone as to their status, per our records.


UPCOMING EVENTS:

Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Wednesday, October 24. To date, we have close to 1000 appointments scheduled online. We are confident that moving into classrooms will cut down on lines and waiting, and will also enable you to be more prepared for each coming visitor!

The Senior Breakfast and Halloween parade will take place on Friday, October 26. We will be meeting with the senior officers and advisors in the coming week to review details, and we will be sure to pass along details to you as they become more specific!

Our next after school meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 23, and will take place in departments.

Reminder that grades close for the first quarter on November 9, 2012, and report cards will be issued on November 19!

 
This week's PD360 video of the week is on Common Assessments: http://www.pd360.com/index.cfm?ContentId=3789

If you are looking for another visual on SMART goals, this video may help:

 

With parent-conferences coming, you may get a laugh from this goofy animated short. Please don't take it too seriously!

A reminder that the weekly resources can be found at: http://paper.li/MedwayHSDean/1346850266#

Mike's Diigo links are here: http://www.diigo.com/user/mikerubin

Thanks for all your hard work!