Weekly Post 10/3/16

For this week's walkthroughs, we will focus on structured academic conversations. How often are you having students speak with each other using academic language throughout the day?

It was such a pleasure being in classrooms this past week.  Thank you for your dedication to our students, it is clearly evident that the first six weeks have been focused on the rituals and routines of your classrooms.  There is also evidence of high expectations and rigor.  As I walk classrooms this week I will be noting how often academic language is being used in the classrooms by adults and by students.  I encourage you to use the academic language of a content area when teaching a concept or topic.  The students will latch on to it and use it themselves!

How can I teach academic language? Some suggestions for teaching academic language include:

• Identify the text and then analyze the genre, academic structure (see above), and academic vocabulary (see above). For example, a lab report for chemistry requires different academic structure and vocabulary than a newspaper article for social studies or a food recipe for home economics. Two resources for this task: Gibbons (2002) and Knapp & Watkins (2005).
• Provide explicit instruction/deconstruction/analysis with students concerning the text; provide multiple models if necessary. Teaching students to deconstruct a word problem in algebra requires different academic language from deconstructing a proof in geometry, a poem in English, or a musical symphony. Teach them to use textual evidence to support their ideas in speaking and writing.
• Use explicit, scaffolded instruction: give clear instructions, both auditory and visual, and provide models of expected or possible outcomes.
• Bring academic language to the surface: teach students the term academic language, explain why it is important, and provide systematic instruction and examples.

Adapted from Gebhard, M. & Willett, J. (2008). Social to Academic: University-School District Partnership Helps Teachers Broaden Students’ Language Skills. JSD, 29(1), 41-45.

Custodian Staffing

 As many of you are probably already aware Rico hurt his toe while at work.  He will be on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays to support Dan our guest custodian while he is on modified duty.  If you have any questions or concerns about the cleanliness of your classroom or the campus please see me directly.

Fifth Grade Camp

Our fifth grade will be leaving for camp on Tuesday, they are headed to Alliance Redwoods.  Thank you, to our amazing fifth grade team and support staff, for all of the preparation for outdoor education camp. This takes a tremendous amount of time and coordination and I know our families truly appreciate it! 

School Site Council
    Thank you Madeline for volunteering to be a part of out SSC.  We are in need of TWO additional teachers to be a part of the SSC.  We will be meeting the third Tuesday of the month after school.  The meetings will be no longer than one hour.  Our first meeting will be October 18.  If you are interested in being part of this team please see Margaret.  PRETTY PLEASE!

RTI

     I will be dropping excel rosters of grade level data from iReady into a RTI folder and sharing it with grade level RTI reps.  Please feel free to use this data when forming RTI groups.  I will also be sharing a spread sheet at the end of the week.  Please compile a list of your students who are receiving interventions and the program that you are using with them.  We will then create a data wall with this information.  

PBIS
Thank you, PBIS team, for attending the PBIS Year One Training meetings on Thursday! We were able to begin our PBIS work and a foundation for our PBIS relaunch in January.  The team is suggesting that we follow the common practice and agreement and our acronym will be RISE!  Our TJ stars will be Respectful, show Integrity, be Safe and show Effort.  The team will share more at our staff meeting on Wednesday. 

Awards Assembly
Students did an awesome job with the assemblies on Friday! Great job in enforcing and reinforcing our common agreements of being Respectful, Responsible and Safe for assembly behavior! It was truly a joy to come together and celebrate our students!