Highline Alt Ed Weekly: May 2013

Monday, May 20, 2013

Monday Points: May 20, 2013

This post marks the 60^th edition of the Monday Points blog, and the last of the 2012-2013 school year. It is a spring farewell edition until new students come next year.

Celebration Points:

The New Start Talent Show was a highlight of the last week for me. You may or may not know - for years now - we have only had mere modicum of success trying to launch a traditional Talent Show…until last week. Granted, mostly staff participated with singing songs, touching poetry and even magic tricks! The kids loved it. Oh how this reminded me how important it is for our students to see their adult role models in such a different light. Staff made themselves vulnerable, and exhibited courage in order to make a solid New Start talent show a reality…all in hopes to inspire more kids to participate next year. It was great fun. I was so impressed by our teacher’s willingness to get up there and cut loose for the enhancement our student’s experience. That is love! Thank you. (A side note, that I need to be working on my routine for next year, take some tap lessons or something. Also, we’re trying a first ever New Start Dance this week. It is a year of first!)

Instructional Point:

My closing instructional point is to think about reading and reading at grade level. As we learn about the common core, I was exposed to an interesting piece of data a few weeks back.

Reading Levels of students of different levels of achievements
Achievement Level	Minutes of Reading Per Day	Words Per Year
90 Percentile	40.4	2,357, 000
50 Percentile	12.9	601,000
10 Percentile	1.6	51,000
Source: Anderson, Wilson and Fielding, 1988

I hope you can infer my point here, but the above table tells me something substantial about how much time students spend reading and their achievement levels at school. I have recently taken great interest in how, and how much, our students interact with text. Be it informational or Literary, as the common core describes, the reading must be at grade level in the anchors standards of the ELA.

Take a look at this graph and think about it this week. I am curious how you think (initially) this might affect your teaching practice…all of our practices. As we talk about our school improvement planning through the end of this month I’d like to talk with you individually or as a group how we can increase student’s engagement (not just exposure), for sustained periods of time with complex texts. I look forward to hearing from you.

PCT Points: Two PCTs remain this school year.

May 31, 2013 1:00 @ CHOICE and 1:30 @ New Start: School Improvement Planning. The stagger start at respective sites is so I can spend some time with each of you. Leadership team will lead us through the final steps of our SIP as we continue to vigorously plan for next year.

June 7, 2013. 1:00 at Elliot Bay in Burien: All Staff Appreciations. I sent a separate email on this last week. Our mutual recognitions appreciation for each other as individuals is important. I have set aside required collaboration time for all staff to come together for this very purpose. You are required to join your colleagues in a time and space set for this very purpose.

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
May 20	May 21	May 22	May 23	May 24
Final Monday Points Evaluation Writing Community Support Meeting Success Academy Review Sped Meeting Teachscape Study Group	In Classrooms Indistar Work Staffing Planning ELL Service Plan Transition Planning Meeting EOC Proctor Training Sped Intake Review Meeting	IEP Meeting Staff Meeting Prep M/Tech Services CHOICE Staff Meeting	Geometry EOC New Start Night New Start Dance	Bi-Weekly Staff Appreciations District Principal’s Meeting Committee Weekly Admin Lunch with Office Team Furlough Friday

There are four weeks of school left starting today. While this will be the last Monday Points Blog for the year, I will continue to send out Final Weeks Calendar up until the end. The Final Weeks email will provide important logistical considerations and notes during these increasingly busy days. Please stay tuned to email to avoid missing any late, last minute memos. Calendar looks like this:

May 20 – CHOICE MSP Reading

May 21 – CHOICE MSP Reading

May 22 – CHOICE MSP Writing / Staff Meeting

May 23 – CHOICE MSP Writing / Geometry EOC / New Start Night & Dance

May 24 – Early Dismiss / Furlough Friday Afternoon (Certificated)

May 27 – Memorial Day (No School)

May 28 – Sun Day (No School)

May 29 –

May 30 – Algebra EOC

May 31 – PCT New Start / CHOICE School Improvement Planning

June 3 – Regular Day

June 4 – Biology EOC

June 5 – Regular Day

June 6 – New Start Graduation Walkthrough

June 7 – CHOICE Graduation Walkthrough / PCT All Staff Appreciation

June 10 – Regular Day

June 11 – Extended Lunch BBQ / CHOICE & New Start Grad Practices

June 12 – Graduation Two-hour Day / Commence CHOICE (10:30) & New Start (1:00) /Summer Party (4:00)

June 13 – Last Day Three-hour Day / CHOICE BBQ / Summer Checkout & Grades

And so we are off to a great and certainly exciting final few weeks of the school year. This week brings MSP Testing to CHOICE, the Geometry EOC at all sites, A New Start Curriculum Night, followed by a Dance at Salmon Creek Gym (First Ever). Friday is a certificated Furlough afternoon for teachers. At 12:00 all Certificated staff are directed to leave campus and enjoy a nice long weekend. For all of us, (have a good weekend too)and remember that due to little or no snow this year, classes resume after the Memorial break, on Wednesday May 29.

I look forward to our many meetings and events ahead. Have a wonderful week and final dash to Summer!

Mike

Monday, May 6, 2013

Monday Points: May 6, 2013

Monday Points

May 6, 2013

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! This week Monday Points welcomes guest writer, our esteemed counselor, Andrea Love…

Celebration Point:

I want to take a few minutes to acknowledge the great work that went into the garden in the court yard as well the music project that is starting to take shape. Both of these projects are examples of staff going above and beyond, community involvement, and authentic hands on learning experiences for our students. In addition to that, I for one, am thrilled that this central space on campus is something beautiful that we as a school community can take pride in.

Instructional Point:

We had our last Success Academy of the year last week (April 22-25). It was a really great group of students who I am excited to welcome onto campus. We have started finishing the Success Academy class with a small Graduation Ceremony. During this ritual students have an opportunity to articulate what they value, their goals, and what motivates them. They also receive a certificate and have a group picture taken. I believe that this is an important piece of what we do in the class for two reasons: first we as a whole group are taking time to acknowledge an accomplishment and an important milestone in student’s education and second students are required to present in front of the group, practicing their presentation skills. What are other ways we can mark important accomplishments and milestones? How can we increase opportunities for students to get up in front of a group and present?

Data Point:

A few weeks ago I collected data on our students’ mental health at New Start. I have turned this information over to a student who is using it in her Senior Project (after taking steps to ensure confidentiality). However, in my initial glance through the surveys I was surprised by some of the responses that I saw. Fortunately, fewer students felt depressed or exhibited symptoms of depression than I expected. This was very encouraging. What can we do to continue the conversation about mental health and to ensure that students basic as well as emotional needs are met so that they can focus on learning?

Guest Writer’s Point:

As you know, this week our students at New Start are presenting their Senior Projects. In a few weeks students will also have their second students led conferences of the year. These are both important rituals that we as an entire school engage in. How can we continue to increase the weight that these events carry as well as the buy in from students? What would make these experiences more authentic? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this as the next few weeks unfold. Thank you for all of the work that you have put into supporting our students in these endeavors.

PCT Point: May 10, 2013. 1:00 @ New Start and CHOICE Sites: “Indistar the new SIP”

This Friday sites meet at their respective locations with all staff to inputs action plans for school improvement and learn about the Indistar processes.