As we check in on the progress of our students, it’s also a good time to check in on the progress of our 3-year plan to quietly transform 102 into a thinking factory and become the best school ever. As you can see above, we’re right on schedule and now we focus on 1) identifying the best practices we’ve surfaced this year by piloting multiple initiatives, and 2) doing every thing we can to provide the appropriate interventions to students who need it. And here’s how:
1. Beg. Of Jan. Identify students who are promotion in doubt (DONE)
2. End of Jan: Get parents on board (Guidance/APs assist in scheduling concern meetings)
3. Beg of Feb: Identify a clear plan of attack to reach individualized targets (What are the most important (and most attainable) skills the student needs to acquire ASAP?)
3.Feb-Jun: Deliver FOCUSED intervention (102+, AiS, Mid-Winter Intensive, etc. and not just more of the same instruction they receive during the school day)
Children that fall behind need more personalized instruction (not more standardized tests), and we’re going to give it them.
HIGHLIGHTS: (As told by Ms. Pearlman) When describing a conflict with one of her peers, a sixth grade student said, “There’s just a lot of friction, like a low quality pulley.” This is just such an awesome and particularly 102 thing because 1) it evidences the comfort level between students and Ms. Pearlman, 2) I can absolutely imagine Mr. Grbhardt’s frustration with materials not meeting his high standards; 3) that’s just an amazing and wholly Hamiltonian use of a literary device.
From Mr. Borelli: The students in 5-338 were tasked with creating a parachute that would actually work. Sounds simple enough, but the challenge of how long your string is in proportion to the canopy presents a host of challenges. What is the air pressure? Is there a breeze? Is the canopy light enough to slow the object down but strong enough not to tear? The eye opening part of this engineering learning activity was seeing Mr. Dewhirst’s class come alive when presented with the challenge.
From Ms. Mintiens: The Kindergarten students have been studying self and family in Social Studies. They worked with their families to create a poster board that showed where their family is from. Posters included countries’ flags, typical clothing, food and more. Each child also included themselves in cultural garb. These posters turned out fantastic! Be sure to visit the kindergarten hallway to check them out and learn more about our students.
For Ms. Mulé: We love you.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Team Meetings: I will be meeting with grade/content teams in the next two week. Please look out for schedule and times from your AP.
Thinking Generator Walkthrough #4: We will postpone our TG Walkthrough originally scheduled this week to next week. New TG materials (A short How-To Guide) will be distributed this week via your mailbox.
Mid-Winter Intensive: As one of the tools we’ll lean on to support students who are struggling, we want to provide them with the opportunity to attend a summer intensive during the mid-winter break. Interested teachers should email me ASAP to discuss availability. We’re hoping to provide students with 2 days (8 hours total) of small-group instruction.
Operation Thank You: Thank you Ms. Nova for taking the lead on this awesome initiative. I can’t wait to see what comes out of this and would like to remind everyone that there should be zero anxiety for this. There’s no element of compliance for this project: thanking someone because you have to completely defeats the purpose. Please understand that the climate team would welcome these projects done at varying dates and times, and there is no actual “due” date should you need time. Just let them know and we’ll adjust.
Thanking people should be fun; make sure it is so for you and for your students.
102 Academic Policy: It’s confusing and it’s one of those things I don’t understand enough to touch this year. However, it’s incompatibility with everything else we’re already doing is evident, and we’lll be sure to build a new Grading Policy Committee with members from each grade to design a more elegant and family-friendly system for next year. Stay tuned.
Happy MLK Day: The Civil Rights Movement was powered by people who thought for themselves and cared for others. Social justice tomorrow depend on what educators do today, and I’m humbled to serve along you in this tremendous and humbling endeavor.
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