November 2, 2018

How do we keep them engaged, even with the craziness of all of the holidays coming up??? We know it can be a crazy time of year, so just HOW do we keep our Vikings engaged?  Take a look at THIS ARTICLE on some easy ideas to keep em' engaged even with the holiday craze!  Again, would YOU want to be in YOUR class??

WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS???

IF YOUR STUDENTS DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CLASS, WOULD THEY SHOW UP ANYWAY??

Stressed and burnout seem to be a common word we are hearing lately.  Are you feeling irritable?  Not wanting to attend social gatherings, even the easy ones that involve food?  Increase in complaints? Fatigue or insomnia?  You aren't alone.  I think we are all feeling these warning signs in one way or another.

So, how do we reverse this and charge ahead, focusing on the positive/great/wonderful things that are happening in our lives- both at home and at GVMS?  It's time to TAKE ACTION!!  Take these easy ideas, (even something as easy as loading the "momentum" app to your computer like I demonstrated at our faculty meeting last month) including remembering to smile, shift your focus to your home, laugh uncontrollably, try teaching something new, take up yoga, go for a walk during your prep, and share with your colleagues.  I know, I know, easier said than done sometimes.  And, if you have ideas, PLEASE share them with me too =)

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to Tamia for the ADORABLE backpack!  I love it and it made my day! ~KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to Cristina for organizing and implementing the 6th grade scavenger hunt for our 6th graders!  THIS IS AWESOME!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to DHH staff, Admin, and office ladies- thank you for your patience and support while I was no here full time for the DHH students!  Much appreciated! ~Tara
• SUPER awesome shout out to Heather T., for so many good thoughts, superb planning and organization and clear communication in our collab meeting this last week! ~ J. Alfred Prufrock (AKA Jason)
• SUPER awesome shout out to CL and KC for help with troubled students! ~Julie
• SUPER awesome shout out to Carol for patience and enthusiasm working with me to speak with the 7th grade students! ~Peter
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sandy and Leadership for an awesome Spirit Week!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Carla and Heather T. for their work with PBIS and looking at all of our data! ~KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to Paula for letting us use your classroom for College and Career Club during lunch! ~Peter
• SUPER awesome shout out to Karron for helping with Cross Country championships with Liz!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Lorraine for being my twin on Twin Day and always being willing to listen! ~Heather T.
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sandy for the awesome spirit and activities all over campus! 
• SUPER awesome shout out to Carla for always being willing to impart her knowledge to me on the ins and outs of school psychology! ~Heather T
• SUPER awesome shout out to Cristina for her AWESOME work on the scavenger hunt for 6th grade (SO bummed we missed it!) Seriously a ton of time and effort went into this!  MAJOR shout out! ~Julie
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sandy and Leadership for MOC election work coming up! ~Carol

October 26, 2018

"A goal without a plan is just a wish” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

As we continue to go into classrooms, we still seem to struggle (about 7-10 classes) with posting the learning objective versus posting an assignment.  Let's define this again:

Learning Objective:  Learning objectives describe the goal of the program and what the learners have to achieve.

Activity:  The resources that help to achieve the objective.

Take moment to review what's posted on your whiteboard.  Is it an ACTIVITY or an actual OBJECTIVE?  Still confused?  Take a look at THIS easy article for clarification.

Easier said than done, right?  I struggle with it so much that I had to download that Momentum app on both computers just to remind myself to BREATHE.  Why is it important to remember to take a deep breath?  Take a look at THIS ARTICLE as, though it seems like a no brainer, it reminds us that taking a moment can help us remain calm, de-escalating a stressful situation, and focusing on what's important.

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

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• SUPER awesome shout out Emily for saving my life by knowing how to do the Heimlich! ~Karen (DHH)
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sarj for looking out for our student athletes!  Your passion has not gone unnoticed! ~Tara
• SUPER awesome shout out to Karen for always being available to help with math books, copies, library information, and any other request! ~Paula
• SUPER awesome shout out to KC for your support during the rough few weeks!  It means a lot! ~Paula
• SUPER awesome shout out to Cristina for helping set up Illuminate for the writing test!  You are a lifesaver! ~Karron
• SUPER awesome shout out to Brenda and Sandy for all of the Leadership activities and announcements!  We love them! ~Sue
• SUPER awesome shout out to My Secret Pal for all the goodies and gift as they have put a smile on my face! ~Karen
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sue, Julie, KC, and Sarj for helping with the volleyball game.  Couldn't have done it without you! ~Cristina
• SUPER awesome shout out to KC for the pick me up on a really hard day!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Tamia in her passion for supporting our students!
• SUPER awesome shout out to the ELA Department for a great collab day on Tuesday! ~Karron

October 19, 2018

SQUIRREL!  Anyone who has spent ANY time with me knows that I sometimes (so sorry!) have the attention span of a squirrel.  Well- news flash!  So do our students!!  Shocking, I know =)

How do you, as a middle school teacher, COPE?  Distraction and relationships.  True story.  Of course, there is more to it than that, but take a look at THIS great and easy to read article.  Seriously.  It has some easy tricks to try!

ENGAGEMENT is a topic that we will ALWAYS be addressing.  

Do you ever sit in a meeting and check Facebook, Twitter, email, etc?  Have you noticed that our KIDS do the SAME THING when in class sometimes?  It's true and I know many of you have seen it!

Over the week, I found THIS ARTICLE on more EASY PEASY ideas to engage our middle school students.  From encouraging talking (they learn more from their peers than they do from us anyway!), to creativity there are TONS of ideas to help you make sure that they are engaged.  Remember, more engagement= less behavior issues and higher academic achievement.  I mean, isn't that why we are all here anyway?

How do you feel when you aren't engaged in a PD or meeting (not a faculty meeting of course!!!) ?  Checked out and bored? Imagine how our students feel when THEY aren't engaged?

We have asked these questions over and over AND they're worth asking again:

WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS???

IF YOUR STUDENTS DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CLASS, WOULD THEY SHOW UP ANYWAY??

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to Sarj, Heather T., Lorraine, Nate, Dave O., Bates, Aubry, Kevin, Steven,  and Rosa for helping to make the field trip on Tuesday happen!  You guys ROCK!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Lucero for organizing the buses and Susan for taking on the permission slips!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Marlys for helping me with a difficult situation!  You rock! ~Tamis
• SUPER awesome shout out to Lynn and Brenda for helping me find coverage when my dog needed emergency surgery! ~Julie
• SUPER awesome shout out to Kevin for agreeing to participate in our IEP at the last minute! ~Tara
• SUPER awesome shout out to Karen, KC, and CL for getting the history books on campus! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to our Department Chairs (Alisa, Carol, Sue, Heather, Lynn, Cristina, Tamia, and Ken) for working together to formulate SMART goals to move our students to even more amazing possibilities!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for sharing his computer with me! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to Jason for showing me something that will help me save time grading papers- you get "you Da Man" award! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to Lucero and Bates for holding down the fort while I was absent on Monday!~ KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to KC for picking up food on Friday =)! ~Ryan
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October 12, 2018

Have you ever considered sending a Google Survey to your students to get feedback from them on how THEY feel about your class?  Have you ever considered getting their input as to how they best learn?  Think about it.  If you created a survey that was anonymous and couldn't be mean, what would they say?  Would they share how they learn?  Take a minute to watch this video on how kids feel about engagement and how we can make it MEANINGFUL for our students!!

ENGAGEMENT is a topic that we will ALWAYS be addressing.  

LIGHT A FIRE UNDER IT!  Whether "IT" is your lesson, your attitude, your demeanor, or your students!  ANY ONE of these has HUGE payoffs!  Check out THIS ARTICLE for 10 unconventional ways to motivate middle school students!  Some of these we have repeated NUMEROUS times and they are worth repeating until the levels of engagement in crease exponentially!  C'mon people!  Let's bring OUR A GAME!!! Don't you think our #KIDSDESERVEIT already?? 

  

WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS???

IF YOUR STUDENTS DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CLASS, WOULD THEY SHOW UP ANYWAY??

BURNOUT article

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to Sandy for always looking out to her fellow teachers! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to Kevin for being my wing man and having my back! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to Elizabeth for helping out with our 6th graders and getting to the bottom of things! ~Heather P.
• SUPER awesome shout out to EB, CL, and KC for finding fun things for the student store! ~Sandy
• SUPER awesome shout out to Carol for helping me and Fulton with Soul Shoppe! ~Sandy
• SUPER awesome shout out to Heather T for taking on our 504s and SSTs!!!  MUCH appreciated!
  SUPER awesome shout out to PE Department for the help with Soul Shope and flexibility!
• SUPER awesome shout out to our staff involved with Soul Shoppe for being patient, flexible and understanding as we navigate through the new program!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Kevin for helping out in a pinch with copies! ~Sandy
• SUPER awesome shout out to Katherine for sharing your experience with lesson 13 and cutting all of the unnecessary stuff! ~Heather P.
• SUPER awesome shout out to Ms. Kristy for helping me with the gates in the morning and helping KC with the cross walk in the afternoon! ~Rosa and KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for saving me with a cup of coffee after mine spilled on the way to work! ~Kimberly
• SUPER awesome shout out to my Secret Pal!  You are awesome! ~Katherine
• SUPER awesome shout out to Lynn for sharing the resource about Khan Academy lessons with Open Up!~ Katherine
• SUPER awesome shout out to Jason for sharing the Aeries-Google Classroom connection and offering to help!!

October 5, 2018

As I attending a conference at a middle school in Truckee this weekend to improve my practice and bring back tools to help us succeed even more, I realized that we want our GVMS staff to do the same.  We know it's hard to leave your classroom (we love that you feel that way!) and hard to leave family on the weekends (trust me, we get it), AND please find an awesome PD that speaks to you.  One that challenges you to be a more effective educator.  One that helps you to continue to reach ALL of our GVMS students.  From Super Saturdays to NGSS Lesson Design to Classroom Management to FALL CUE in American Canyon, please take a look at the 69 different opportunities in our district or go online and do some research!!  We want to support your learning!

Anyone?  Anyone?  Does this look familiar?  Ever sat through a presentation that made you feel this way?  I did (recently too) and was reminded that, while ALMOST ALL of our classrooms have much higher levels of engagement than EVER before, we are still missing it in some areas.  Our students have less and less of an attention span than ever before and keeping them engaged CAN be tricky.  It's been shared before and HERE it is again on easy peasy ways to keep engagement happening!

As we head into October (our historically challenging month), we need positive.  We need support.  We need collaboration.  We need each other.  We need to build resilience.  How, you ask?  Take a look at THIS EASY article on 12 EASY ways that we can work together to not be exhausted, burned out, and wanting to cry/scream/hide =)

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to CJ and Alex Chalmers for getting the Netbooks up and running! ~Lynn
• SUPER awesome shout out to Larissa for getting the Elodea leaf for our lab and going out of her way to put the plant light for our science class!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Tamia and Cristina!  What a team we make! Love you both! ~Heather P.
• SUPER awesome shout out to Carol for taking Dave's class to Soul Shoppe! 
• SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for always being kind, supportive and helpful! ~Paula
• SUPER awesome shout out to Brenda for always hitting the right spot and forcing me to relax a bit! ~KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to Lynn, Heather, Tamia for field trip arrangements! Cristina
• SUPER awesome shout out to PE for being flexible to help us with Soul Shoppe being here and using the gym! ~KC, CL, EB
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sue for taking faculty meeting minutes!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Tamia for saving me and having jumper cables! ~Rosa
• SUPER awesome shout out to Rosa for always going above and beyond!~ Brenda
• SUPER awesome shout out to Jason for having a bathroom log =)! ~Rosa
• SUPER awesome shout out to our teachers for covering for in leius! ~Brenda
• SUPER awesome shout out to Ric for helping me with the golf cart on Friday! ~Rosa
• SUPER awesome shout out and love to Sue for all of her HARD work making the math curriculum manageable!  Year after year she has helped teachers throughout the district be successful! ~Paula
• SUPER awesome shout out to Brenda for always being there when I need something! ~Rosa
• SUPER awesome shout out to Brenda for the oils to help with carpel tunnel! ~Remier
• SUPER awesome shout out to Nate for helping change the tire on the golf cart! ~Rosa