Another Great week has gone by!

I am privileged to see a lot of great strategies going on within the 6th grade team, and some well executed lesson plans.

Some great things I have seen are the integration of station work and technology into classrooms with a lot of on topic collaboration by students. Great opportunities for students to get up and get moving while they think by doing scavenger hunts outside (and the weather has been so Awesome). Brain research shows that middle school students learn better when given the opportunity to move around every 10-15 minutes. The use of data to group students and differentiate by readiness, and some great anchor activities that have allowed teachers to work with small groups of students while other students stay on task with a given assignment.

Some things to remember:

Please remember to complete all of the ELP. The second page is easy to forget about but provides great opportunities to include formative assessment and time allotment planning.

ELP’s listed in your rooms are looking very good. Remember to refer to your objective throughout class so that students stay aware of their learning goal for the day(s).

Kinks to work out:

For how hectic block 6 seemed on Thursday, I thought we had a pretty good turn-out. We can reflect on block 6 together during Team meeting on Monday. Things such as getting passes out, keeping passes with block 1 teacher, organizing the spreadsheet for block 6 pick-up, and what to do with late bus kids until the 19th are all things we can come together and adjust.

Observations:

I believe I have been around to all classes for an observation and provided some written and verbal feedback to everyone (if not verbally I will be touching base with you soon). Attached is a copy of the observation rubric that will be used to help target some of the main areas we are working to become excellent at throughout the building. Just a reminder that this is Formative and meant to reflect a 30 min. snap shot of your class, but it is an excellent tool to use while planning your lesson. The rubric is designed so  1) represents an area of work to continue to improve in 2) Progressing  3) proficient 4) above and beyond.

It is such a great feeling when I see kids leaving your rooms with smiles on their faces and talking about what they were learning in class and how much they “liked that class”. You are doing a fantastic job of building a strong, safe, and trusting community for learning!

To each one of you, thank you very much for all the hard work you have been doing.

Enjoy your weekend and keep up the good work!