What does a modern educator look like? I am glad you asked... THIS ARTICLE describes the photo in more detail to include thoughts and practices such as seeing yourself as a "co-learner", allowing yourself to fail, feeling secure to ask colleagues for help, embracing change and more.
Observable Fish Moments at SV:
Be There:Thank you for making sure students are ready for SBAC testing.
Play: I hope to see everyone on April 30th to help support our Parent Club event :)
Choose your attitude:
To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!
Make Their Day: Thank you! Thank you for making administrative assistants day and nurse's day this whole week a celebration of love!! Vicky, Kristin, Kit and Renee keep our school running smoothly in the front office and we are so luck to have them.
Still working on building that rapport with students? Not sure how to even start? Check out THIS ARTICLE on 5 Easy Tips for Creating Real Rapport with OUR Students! PLEASE CONTINUE TO HAVE DAILY CLASS MEETING SO WE CAN TAKE CARE OF ISSUES BEFORE THEY HAPPEN DURING UNSTRUCTURED TIMES OF THE DAY :)
Click HERE to read about ways to engage students rather than using worksheets.
Observable Fish Moments at SV:
Be There:Thank you Fern for being teacher in charge today and helping out with SBAC testing!!
Play: I hope to see everyone on April 30th to help support our Parent Club event :)
Choose your attitude:
To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!
Make Their Day: Mrs. Ryan's class visited UC Berkeley and Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Raina's class visited UC Davis, and Mr. Redgrave's class visited SCC. Way to get our students on college campuses!!
I love the quote to the right to remind ourselves that we will fail sometimes as we work with new instructional strategies, technology, etc! In my eyes the only way we fail is if we are not trying something new to support our move to 21st century learning and CCSS. So, keep at it and give yourself permission not to be perfect! Guess what, SBAC Testing probably will not go perfectly either but we will prepare ourselves and our kids all we can, then learn from our experience! That is what being a lifelong learner is all about! Keep up the great work stretching your comfort zones!
How to Coach for Equity (from a blog)
Recently, I suggested that all coaches should be coaches for equity (see this blog post)--that it is our moral obligation and that if we aren't coaching for equity we are complicit in reproducing an inequitable system. I want to offer some concrete ways in which we can coach teachers and leaders within our education system to build more equitable classrooms and schools.
What does it mean to be a coach for equity? I've landed on five broad domains which encompass coaching for equity: What you see in schools, where you look, who you listen to, your self awareness, and finally, what you say about what you see and hear. In each of these areas there are specific actions that a coach for equity takes. This blog will discuss what you see and where you look.
It's What You See
Where does your gaze settle when you walk in to a classroom? Is it on the teacher and whatever he/she is doing? Is it on the students who are on-task or off-task? What draws your attention?
As a coach for equity, I scan the room for any child who seems left out, cast out, under-served or under-performing; for those who are socially, emotionally or academically not succeeding; for the vulnerable who need us to huddle around and help them get through childhood. Those are the children I look at first. I also see through a lens of power and systemic oppression because my gaze lands first on the children who may come from communities that have been disenfranchised for centuries, the children who may have more hurdles to jump across.
Then I pay attention to how the person with authority (usually the teacher) relates to these children. These highlight the first two indicators of equity in a classroom. I have been in more classrooms than I can count where when I walk in the door, the first thing I see--right by the door--is a "time out" chair occupied by a black or brown male. The inequity stares me in the face. The symbolism of being by the door calls for a re-labeling of so called "drop outs"--I see those who may one day drop out being pushed out in the first, third, fourth grade. I have seen the same in the front office of many schools--black and brown boys (and a fair number of black girls) also being pushed out, waiting to be picked up because of a behavioral infraction. As a coach for equity, I take note of this.
When I go into classrooms, I also notice the following:
• Who is the teacher calling on? And are those students the "successful" ones? Or are they from the group of disengaged boys in the back of the class? And what is the nature of that interaction between the teacher and the students? If the teacher does call on one of those boys, is the interaction positive, neutral or negative?
• If students are doing group work, is every child meaningfully involved? Do they all have input into the work? Do they each contribute? Are each child's contributions appreciated and valued? How do students speak to each other? And are any students treated differently because they are perceived as being different?
• English Learners struggle in many ways when their learning needs aren't met. So I pay attention to how they are given access to the content and curriculum, how their specific language needs are met, and perhaps most importantly, whether they speak at all. We know that ELs need to speak a lot to become proficient in English, but I've been in dozens of classrooms in dozens of schools where many ELs can go an entire week without a single opportunity to speak. So I notice--who speaks? What do they say? How does the teacher respond?
In order to "see" inequities, you really need to know something about where to look--this is also part of the seeing. In other words, you need to have some information about what the inequities are in your school, district, state, and in your country. This information can be found in performance data, attendance rates, graduation rates, participation in AP classes, and so on. You'll usually have to disaggregate data in order to see the equity issues in your school and district. Look at the data by gender, race or ethnicity, English proficiency levels, socio-economic levels, and by students with disabilities of all kinds. You need to hone your ability to see inequities.
SBAC- HERE WE COME!!!
A few reminders as we jump into another
week with a smile ☺
· Please remember that ALL smart phones must have the wifi disabled. When smart phones are online using wifi during testing, it can cause the testing computers to be kicked offline.
· All laptops using wireless and tablets not being used for testing must be offline. When laptops are online during testing, it can cause the testing computers to be kicked offline.
· Please check the Testing schedule carefully. If you come across any problems, let me know so that we can address them prior testing.
· Please plug in all Chromebooks upon completing the test and have them ready to go!! They will ALL be shared among ALL 3rd-8th grades!
· PLEASE let me know if you are having an issue IMMEDIATELY and know that I can’t be in more than one place but I will GET THERE!!
*Progress Reports: due to me on April 28th. Send progress reports home on May 4.
Primary literacy window: April 25-May 20
STAR reading: May 9-20
Observable Fish Moments at SV:
Be There:Thank you Sarah, Patty, and Christina for being there for Carol during a very difficult loss in her family.
Play: Thank you Sarah and ALL teachers and staff that came out to be part of our HAPPY video to kick off our SBAC testing!! Way to have some fun!!
Choose your attitude:
To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!
Make Their Day: Mrs. Ryan and I get to take 12 boys to the Tim Brown Mentor camp in Sacramento. We get to make their day!!
Gold Ribbon visit was a HUGE success!! I am so
proud of your hard work!! For those of
you who were initially on our school site before we had an Agri-Science focus you
didn’t sign up for this program but you embraced it to keep our school open.
For those of you who applied to our school from 2013 on, it is part of the job
description when you choose to teach here at Suisun Valley. You have worked
hard and learned about Agriculture AND I know that was not part of your
credential. It was so amazing to walk around with the team and actually look at
the growth that has happened over 5 years!! Now we await the phone call . . . .
So....
Spring is here. Can you tell yet? Please help us reinforce the rules and remember
to teach your character trait lesson for the month. Daily class meetings help
with daily tattle telling that happens when students come in from recess. Check out this article HERE
Observable Fish Moments at SV:
Be There:Thank you to our Ag leadership team for taking the time and meeting with our team visit.
Play: Thank you Sarah and ALL teachers and staff that came out to be part of our HAPPY video to kick off our SBAC testing!! Way to have some fun!!
Choose your attitude:
To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!
Make Their Day: When was the last time you had lunch with a student? Make their day by eating with a student and finding out much more about them :)
April Fool's Day is always a fun day in my family. My older sister loves to play the same joke every year and tends to start text messaging at 7:00am! This year she switched it up, but we were all on to her!! Never a dull moment in my family :)
The last two years we have really focused on writing. We have implemented school wide prompts and have really gained valuable feedback that have led to crucial conversations on how we can support our students and each other. The video below is very well done and touches upon the feedback that Mrs. Merodio has given us on writing. She does a great job working with our 1st-8th graders and across all grade levels she is noticing a pattern. They need help with organizing their thoughts. This video gives a great example on a very visual process for students to organize their writing. Please watch this video!! Check out this video .
Writing aligned to the Common Core and the needs of English Learners
As we continue to focus on the needs of our English learners, it is important to continue to examine how instruction is differentiated. This article from Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski provides an overarching view of writing. The article discusses the three types of writing in the Common Core: Argument/Opinion, Information/Explanation, and Narrative. The author's highlight the integration of reading with writing, especially for Argument and Information writing.
The article provides some specific implications for English learners and writing.
Create meaningful opportunities to communicate ideas rather than focus on grammar and conventions
Provide support for citations
Provide modeling and guidance
Provide many sentence starters and graphic organizers
Use collaborative writing projects
Support students in self-assessment and goal setting
The article is part of a series. Part 2 provides more specific strategies including 12 guiding questions to help students when writing.
HERE IS FUN VIDEO TO WATCH THAT TWO TEACHERS CREATED ABOUT SBAC.
Be There:Thank you Kristin, Mrs. Merodio, and Mr. Wright for getting our campus for our Gold Ribbon visit for next week.
Play: SBAC is coming up. Anyone interested in creating a fun song for the SBAC????
Choose your attitude:
To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!
Make Their Day: Fill out a good news referral and make a student’s day.
