January 31, 2020

Continuing our discussion on student engagement (one of THE MOST important things in teaching), building relationships with our students is CRITICAL to how effective we are as educators.  We cannot simply close the door, turn our back, ignore the signs, or pretend that our kids DO NOT need us.  They do.  Plain and simple.  So how can you build these relationships with 30+ students in your class?  Some ways can be simple.  Check out THIS ARTICLE on some of the "golden rules" of easy peasy ways to make SIMPLE connections.  C'mon people.  Don't they deserve it?  Don't YOU?

I've asked this a MILLION times and I will again: 

Would YOU want to be a student in your class?

We know that reading aloud is commonly thought of as an elementary thing, reading aloud with middle school students has a ton of benefits as well!  Take a minute to read THIS ARTICLE as to why it is helpful and doesn't need to be the ENTIRE book to be effective!

Did you know? ONE MORE TIME....Let this sink in please.

• We have an overall class GPA range from the report cards of a 3.86 to 2.04.  
• We have 101 students with one or more Fs.  101 is not okay....
• We have 25 students with 3 or more Fs.  
• We 18 6th graders, 37 7th graders, and 46 8th graders with one or more F's, indicating that we are NOT ready to send them to high school.

Some things to think about and questions to ask yourself:

• Have we reached out to parents/guardian, personally, to see what's going on?
• Have we pulled the student(s) during tutorial to work with them at all?
• Have we met with parents/guardians and student to go over what is going on?
• Have we sent home a permission slip to get tutoring for Math and History (currently the ones being offered at GVMS)?
• Is the grading really reflective of the standards being taught and mastered?
• Is there any "out of the box thinking" that we can do to reach all students?
• Is an SST a logical next step and have you considered scheduling one, asking Carla and Christina to help you get the process started?  Click HERE to get started.

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• SUPER DUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA DEVRIES for her countless hours, planning, replanning, and scheduling for the Multicultural fair that is a HUGE HIT!  WE CANNOT WAIT!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to KEVIN, when having interpersonal exchanges with our mutual student, thank you for continuing to nudge/prod him to give you more! ~Tara
• SUPER awesome shout out to CAROL and DUSTIN for handling incoming 8th grade elective selection for me!
• SUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA for working so hard on the Multicultural Fair! ~Lynn
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX, JASON, CARLA, and LYNN S. for working with me on a 7th grade student who needs support!
• SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA G for all her hard work with our Check and Connect students and supporting them to reach their goals!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to SANDY, ALANNA, PETER S., LYNN S., and LUCERO for staying for my IEP on Tuesday! ~Marlys 
• SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE, KARRON, ANITA, and CRISTINA for handling incoming 7th grade elective selection for me!
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX for the great coffee and such a surprise! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to JASON and ALEX for moving a student who they KNEW could benefit from ACC Math =)
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA for ALREADY completing and turning in her adjunct duty form!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to JASON, STEVEN, DUSTIN, and MEGAN for letting me use your room for testing! ~Marlys
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for giving one of our 8th graders a 2nd (probably 4th or 5th actually) chance!
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January 24, 2020

You may or may not know this, however, my youngest daughter does All-Star cheer in Livermore with a gym called The California All Stars.  We travel A LOT.  We cheer and scream and clap A LOT.  We recently spent the long weekend in the lovely town of Bakersfield where her team, J2 Crew, won a paid bid to Summit (like the Super Bowl for cheer) in Florida.  It got me thinking about taking a risk and how she took the risk to join this prestigious, competitive, highly sought after, and amazing gym.  This lead me to taking a risk as an EDUCATOR...

How do you encourage your colleagues to take a risk in the classroom with technology, engagement strategy, lesson delivery, etc?  How do YOU take a risk and be okay with it NOT working the first time?  Take a look at THIS ARTICLE about some EASY ways to take a risk from co-teaching it, to modeling for another teacher, to simply planning it together and discussing the results. 

All of this chances should be used to help, encourage, support and learn from one another to reach ALL of our students!

Here are some pics from Kendall's risks in cheer (and how they have paid off!) and check out the Netflix docuseries "Cheer" if you get the chance!

Did you know?

• We have an overall class GPA range from the report cards of a 3.86 to 2.04.  
• We have 101 students with one or more Fs.  101 is not okay....
• We have 25 students with 3 or more Fs.  
• We 18 6th graders, 37 7th graders, and 46 8th graders with one or more F's.

Some things to think about and questions to ask yourself:

• Have we reached out to parents/guardian, personally, to see what's going on?
• Have we pulled the student(s) during tutorial to work with them at all?
• Have we met with parents/guardians and student to go over what is going on?
• Have we sent home a permission slip to get tutoring for Math and History (currently the ones being offered at GVMS)?
• Is the grading really reflective of the standards being taught and mastered?
• Is there any "out of the box thinking" that we can do to reach all students?
• Is an SST a logical next step and have you considered scheduling one, asking Carla and Christina to help you get the process started?  Click HERE to get started.

#kindnessmatters Did you know that a smile, a kind word, a helping hand or a simple note of thanks on a sticky note can truly make someone's day?  These are SIMPLE acts of kindness that can be LIFE CHANGING for many on our staff/students.  Happiness researcher (yes, it's a real thing), found that if you perform random acts of kindness for two minutes a day for twenty-one days, you can actually retrain your brain to be more positive. 

The Great Kindness Challenge is next week and Elizabeth will be passing out the check off sheet to students! 

Staff Kindness Challenge for next week:

Monday: enjoy breakfast treats and coffee from KC and CL!

Tuesday: Go check on a teacher that you rarely get to see!

Wednesday: Write a happy note to a staff member and leave it in their box!

Thursday: Compliment 5 students who are NOT in your classroom!

Friday: Write 5 Good News Referrals for students in any of your classes and the Traveling Treat Trolly (football edition!) will be coming by before lunch!

Love it or not, MAP testing is one more piece of data that we can use to inform our instruction, make school-wide decisions, use to support students with IEPs or 504s, shows what standards that students need SUPPORT and small group instruction with, and inform parents as to how they are progressing throughout the school year.  It can also be used to help show how our students will do on the CAASPP test (if they take their time and take MAP seriously).

Each English and Math teacher will be receiving the PDF version of each class period/student's growth as soon as all testing is completed!  THEY ARE AWESOME!  I have already printed them for Nunez, Laffey, Phillips and Koehler! PLEASE feel free to print to show students and then send home!  HERE is a sample of one...

Check out this very quick and short video from a fellow teacher!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for being an awesome Department Chair for Math! ~Lynn
• SUPER awesome shout out to ENGLISH and MATH for taking care of most of their MAP make up tests!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to MIMI, BRENDA, RUDINA, and MICHELE for jumping on the registration stuff already for 2020-2021!
• SUPER awesome shout out to KC for being so responsive and punctual on emails in spite of the large numbers she gets! ~Ryan
• SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA for sharing the best beef jerky at our Department Meeting! ~Julie 
• SUPER awesome shout out to ELIZABETH for scheduling Challenge Day for 2020-2021 already!  Yes, it's on your calendar already too! 
• SUPER awesome shout out to RYAN, CHRISTINA G., and SANDY for working together to make No One Eats Alone come to LIFE!  Excited for this to happen!!

January 17, 2020

Check out this video from Kid President...Yes, it's old and yes, it's a repeat AND it's WORTH sharing =)  again and again!

Love it or not, MAP testing is one more piece of data that we can use to inform our instruction, make school-wide decisions, use to support students with IEPs or 504s, shows what standards that students need SUPPORT and small group instruction with, and inform parents as to how they are progressing throughout the school year.  It can also be used to help show how our students will do on the CAASPP test (if they take their time and take MAP seriously).

Each English and Math teacher will be receiving the PDF version of each class period/student's growth as soon as all testing is completed!  PLEASE feel free to print to show students and then send home!  HERE is a sample of one...

Check out this very quick and short video from a fellow teacher!

EVERYONE feeds off of positive praise and recognition!  Have YOU taken a moment to praise a student, send a positive card home to a student, compliments/thanked a colleague, written a Good News Referral to a student or staff member?  It takes LESS than 5 minutes to spread a little kindness and positive vibes around here so let's step up to the plate!  Still not convinced?  Check out THIS ARTICLE for the 7 effects of positive praise for students AND peers!!!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA and HEATHER for exploring small group instruction more with their 1st and 2nd period classes!
• SUPER awesome shout out to SANDY and her Geography/Leadership classes for helping with the Multicultural Fair! ~Cristina
• SUPER awesome shout out to ANNETTE for helping me keep Battle of the Books up and running! ~Karron
• SUPER awesome shout out to KARRON for doing Battle of the Books!
• SUPER awesome shout out to AIDA and BRENITA for holding it down while Rosa was away for a day!
• SUPER awesome shout out to MEGAN for sending out the MAP information since the district website is NOT user friendly! ~Julie
• SUPER awesome shout out to TERRI, TIFFANY and TAMIA for lending TAP a hand when they have been short a person for two weeks now! You guys are AH-MAZING!! ~Rosie
• SUPER awesome shout out to KAREN for helping me keep track of who has checked out the class novel! ~Julie
• SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN for always checking in on me!  You are a rock star! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to 
• SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN for always checking in and being a friend! ~Ryan
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January 10, 2020

As we have come back from Winter Break, we often continue to hear a rise in concerns about students being unmotivated, apathetic and not valuing their education; that they are too distracted with technology (which is true!) and more.  How do we make/encourage/push for our students to be MORE engaged, thus increasing their achievement (see our dashboard results for ALL subgroups) and decreasing disruptions from learning (again, see our dashboard results for ALL subgroups)?

Seriously, take a few minutes to read THIS ARTICLE about creating deeper learning experiences through questions.  All them to be curious.  Allow yourself to give up some control (you can do it, I promise!).  Ask more questions using WHY and HOW.  Make connections that MATTER!

New Ideas for ENGAGEMENT!  Until we are at 100%, WHICH WE ARE NOT, we will CONTINUE this conversation as high levels of engagement directly link to higher achievement, LOWER off task behavior, and all around happier students!  

As we start a new year, let's implement new and rejuvenating experiences within our classrooms!  Let's make it AUTHENTIC with purpose! Take a MINUTE to check out THIS ARTICLE to help make your life easier and our kids' experience and education more meaningful!

LOVED reading all of the positive posts from our meeting!  Here they are so you can feel the positive vibes too!  See if you can guess which one belongs to which staff member =)

*Spent lots of time with family over break! *Got smart girls glasses! *Able to rest and see family I don't usually see! *I became an aunt! *I feel better than I have in 8 years! *The 49ers are in the playoffs! *My students clean up after themselves! *Lets of rest and relaxation and time spent with husband and dogs! *Baby Maximina celebrated her 1st Christmas and was incredibly spoiled! *18 students with 0 missing assignments before break and I did lots of crafting! *Celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary on NYE! *Spent precious time with family and attended 1st game at Golden 1 Center! *Saved money on gambling by NOT going to Reno and I see a lot more smiles and happiness in my classes! *Got to see one of the last Beach Blanket Babylon shows with my adult children! *I didn't kill my kids! *Gained custody! *I got to see my baby for the first time at my OB appointment! *I became financially solvent and have no more credit cards! *I am caught up with grading! *I got engaged! *Had fun at the ocean and got 3 classes of essays graded *Great time spent with family and friend including a fun art project *I am not longer the "bad cop" in PE! *I spent the holiday with my daughters and their husbands! *Lots of rest and relaxation and my daughter had a great Christmas! *I have not written a referral or send a student out of class this year! *I went horse back riding and remembered how to do everything! *My students are stepping up their work ethic, accountability, responsibility and enhanced learning! *I rode my recumbent bicycle everyday during the break and lost 39 lbs! *I did lots of hiking and running over the holidays and my mom is getting healthier! *My foot is fixed!

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• SUPER awesome shout out to KAREN for handling ALL those kiddos during the lunches!!! ~KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA, PETER, and LIZ for taking care of everything in PE and athletics while I was out! ~Sarj
• SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA for making the college and career signs! ~Peter
• SUPER awesome shout out to HEATHER for encouraging the use of her classroom for faculty meetings and FSUTA voting! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE and TAMIA for always checking in to see if the can help or support me!  I cannot say thank you enough! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to KAREN for always accommodating my classes every time we "need" to go to the library! ~Julie
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for staying in the library to give me a break during the lunch rush! ~Karen
• SUPER awesome shout out to KEN for ALWAYS covering TAP 1st period! ~Brenda
• SUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA!  We are happy you're back! ~Heather
• SUPER awesome shout out to SARJ for covering my yard duty! ~KC
• SUPER awesome shout out to L-TRAIN!  Our Math team is back together again! ~H-town
• SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA! Thank you for ALL that you do! ~Heather
• SUPER awesome shout out to LARISSA for always being willing to cover my yard duty! I appreciate you! ~Heather
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA and CHRISTINA G for covering score board for us at the basketball game! ~Peter