Good morning. For those of you who are new to my
supervisory, every Monday I send out a Cougar Communication (I couldn’t come up
with a catchier name). I use this as an opportunity to share some of the
excellent strategies, techniques, and more that I see in my classroom visits.
I’ll also try to share other instructional ideas, tech tools and more.
This year, I’ll be posting these on a blog, so that you can
always go-back and find any ideas, suggestions, techniques, etc. at a later
time. Obviously, I’ll edit out anything that the public shouldn’t know.
My Goals
In the interest of transparency—after all, you’re required
to share your goals with me—I’d like to take a minute to share my goals with
you. I’ve actually written them in the SMART format, but I’ll save you from
having to read all 3 pages of my goals. So, here is the Cliff Note version.
1.
I’ll communicate with and engage parents,
students and community on school issues.
2.
I will be a lead learner and instructional
leader.
3.
We will grow our collaborative model in our
inclusion classes.
4.
Every day I will make a colleague better.
5.
Every day I will make myself a better lead
learner.
6.
I will create relationships based on respect,
trust and mutual understanding. I will support and engage those with whom I
work and always act with the utmost integrity. I will listen and learn.
7.
I will provide timely feedback to all teachers
and staff.
8.
I will encourage teachers to go beyond the
standards.
9.
I will work with struggling students to improve
their academic performance.
Ideas for the Classroom: Parent Engagement
Through Remind101 and Portfoliyo
Countless studies prove that increased parent engagement
leads to higher levels of student achievement and improved student behavior, regardless
of other factors. Parental involvement is the greatest predictor of student
achievement. Building relationships with parents requires that we exert the
necessary time and effort to communicate openly with parents. Remind101 and
Portfoliyo enable teachers to easily communicate with parents and teachers.
Some possible uses/texts?
·
I’ve updated grades on Blackboard.
·
Reminder that the unit project is due on
Wednesday.
·
Please be sure to bring your textbooks to class
tomorrow.
Remind 101 is a great—FREE—tool that allows you to
text/email your students and/or parents in blast fashion. Sign-up is easy.
Parents and students don’t see your phone number. You can send your text/emails
through an app or using your computer. The only downside to Remind101 is that
your students/parents cannot text or communicate with you. We have several
school accounts with several hundred of followers.
Last fall, I met Harsh Patel, the founder of porfoliyo.org.
Portfoliyo is very similar. Unlike Remind101, followers can communicate with
you. It is still secure with users never seeing your personal info. There is no
app that I know of at this time and parents cannot sign-up for emails.
Both websites have simple, step-by-step sign-up directions.
It only takes a minute.
This might be something that you want to share with parents
tonight!
Administrative Notes
Positive Referral Link: Again for those of you who are new, a positive
referral is for a student who shows Courage, Character, or Citizenship or
embodies our mission. You can “write” a
positive referral for any student (doesn’t need to be in my alphabet). I’ll call the student who receives the
positive referral up into my office, congratulate him/her, give him/her a
homemade treat and follow-up with a phone call to the parent. This is a great way
of recognizing students and it really means a lot to the student and the
parents. Please try to write at least one referral every month. Occasionally, I’ll
require a positive referral with a certain theme.
Meet the teacher night
tonight from 7-8:15.
Faculty meeting
tomorrow after school or Wednesday morning.
Field hockey has home games on Monday and Wednesday. First
football game of the year is Friday.
On August 27 at 7pm, Daniel Pink, author of Drive and To Sell is Human, joins #edfocus for a twitter
chat. If you’re not familiar with Daniel Pink, Drive is a must read book on motivation. Check out this video
explanation http://goo.gl/o5kO . If you’re not
familiar with Twitter or Twitter chats, here’s a brief primer http://goo.gl/kTWcQh .
Stat of the Week
ACT reported that 31% of all high school graduates who took
their test were NOT ready for ANY college coursework requiring English,
science, math or reading skills. The other 69% of students met at least one of
the four subject-area standards.
