This post marks the 60th 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
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Achievement Level
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Minutes of Reading Per Day
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Words Per Year
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90 Percentile
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40.4
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2,357, 000
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50 Percentile
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12.9
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601,000
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10 Percentile
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1.6
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51,000
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Source: Anderson, Wilson and Fielding, 1988
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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
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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May 20
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May 21
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May 22
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May 23
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May 24
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Final Monday Points
Evaluation Writing
Community Support Meeting
Success Academy Review
Sped Meeting
Teachscape Study Group
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In Classrooms
Indistar Work
Staffing Planning
ELL Service Plan
Transition Planning Meeting
EOC Proctor Training
Sped Intake Review Meeting
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IEP Meeting
Staff Meeting Prep
M/Tech Services
CHOICE Staff Meeting
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Geometry EOC
New Start Night
New Start Dance
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Bi-Weekly Staff Appreciations
District Principal’s Meeting Committee
Weekly Admin
Lunch with Office Team
Furlough Friday
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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
I look forward to our many meetings and events ahead. Have a wonderful week and final dash to Summer!
Mike
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