Wink’s Weekly Words
FA’s are Next Week!! Don’t miss your opportunity to motivate your students to reach their +10 Goals
No Excuse November - Response to Learning
Our metal is tested in times of challenge not times of success. This month is No Excuse November, and I challenge you to join me in eliminating excuses that we are so quick to throw up when we encounter difficulty. The biggest excuse is the excuse of not having enough time. That’s an excuse that I am prone to throw up every now and then, but I have to remind myself that someone better and more effective than me has the same amount of time as me and they are getting the job done. So when it comes to the excuse of time, I must ask myself where I am wasting it, not where can I find more of it.
Excuses are nothing more than our inner negative naysayer telling us that we’ll never get there. They tell you that it’s ok to not reach your goals. The only way to win in No Excuse November is to do what Dr. Scott Leslie says. Be Stronger than Your Excuses. You can beat excuses if you commit to telling them to take a hike.
When it comes to learning, I challenge you to bank more time in your day by staying focused on whether the students are learning or not. If they are, ask yourself how can you release them to independent tasks that don’t need you as much, so that you can dedicate your time to those who aren’t there yet. By extending students with independent task that require less time from you, you are setting your sights on helping all kids with skills that need your direct expertise.
PRIZE PATROL
Amy’s Announcements
MANDATORY STAFF TRAINING COMING UP!As we know, 504 and SpEd students receive accommodations for state testing. Now, in some cases, our RtI students can also receive designated supports if they're already using them in everyday classroom instruction. Come and learn how to use these supports/accommodations to assist your students, which in turn, gives them needed support for STAAR. This information, applied in your classroom, will make a huge difference with these students.We are holding 4 training sessions in November to explain this to all staff. This is a mandatory training, so every staff member will need to attend one of the after school trainings. Dates are: November 9, 16, 27, 29. Sign up in Eduphoria to get PD credit.
Thanks in advance for motivating our students to do their best, knowing the results will provide needed data for interventions.
Start now thinking about how you’ll respond to the data.Use the BRISD Instructions for Formative Assessment 17-18, - https://goo.gl/kqmhBo. Scroll down to Week 6 & 1.
These are the important steps that you will need to go through in order to analyze your data. It is critical that you analyze your 8-12 most essential standards which in all likelihood will be your readiness standards. Use the data to make a plan to do the following:
- Spiral critical skills into your 2nd 6 weeks instruction,
- Make guided learning plans and tutorial groups.
- Reflect on instructional strategies that need to be replicated, revamped or replaced.
Also, it is critical that you make a plan to have the students analyze their data using the Student Goal Sheet. This step is critical so that they take ownership of the data and make their +10 plans for future growth.
In our October 16th Staff Learning Day, we identified the 2-3 critical standards you would be focusing on for weeks 2.1 through 2.4. As we worked through the tasks for that day (https://goo.gl/pF6KnM) , many of you entered 2017 STAAR and FA1 data into your lesson plans. If not, here’s a video showing where to get the data and where to enter it - https://goo.gl/jurizk
PLEASE HAVE YOUR STAAR 2017, FA1 and FA2 DATA ENTERED BEFORE YOUR FA2 DATA MEETING WITH YOUR PRINCIPAL. It’s imperative that we continue to analyze the data for your most critical standards.
Professional Learning
- Make sure you sign up and complete the survey to receive credit.
Special Programs Announcements
- Dyslexia
Miscellaneous Announcements
- If you haven’t heard the news, Cathy Agan, who serves in many capacities at Central Office (personnel, substitutes, volunteers, etc.) has resigned to be able to spend much needed time with family. We will miss her terribly at Central Office! Please join us for a come-and-go, goodbye send-off reception on Tuesday, November 14th from 3:30 - 4:30 in the Board Room at Central Office. Her last day in the district is Friday, November 17th.
