Instructional Goals

 

Several weeks ago I shared with you the process that we as a faculty went through to develop a one page set of goals for this year.  It was certainly an empowering process.  I would like to share our goals with you.  I will also be sharing these goals at PTA meeting tomorrow night as well as our 2011 ARMT+ test scores.  I am so excited about our goals because they are a work in progress.  They are not just words on a piece of paper, but a working document for ourselves as well as the students.   Very soon we will be asking some of you to come in and go through a similar process that we went through in order to look at parent realities and then determine parent goals and responsibilites.  On Tuesday of last week, we had our first Instructional Meeting.   It was a pretty inspiring meeting.  We committed to the goals below and talked about the impact we have on our students.  I am excited because this year will be a journey and at the end of this journey we will be a school of impact, a school of distinction, a school of greatness.   

 

Instructional Targets

 

School Climate

Teacher will:

• Create a safe, purposeful, engaging 21^st Century learning environment.
• Take an active role by sharing knowledge for professional development and connect across grade levels.
• Convey and model positive character traits and high expectations.

 

Student will:

• Demonstrate respect.
• Demonstrate leadership qualities: responsibility, competence, confidence and independence, both academically and socially.

 

Planning

Teacher will:

• Display student friendly learning targets from Common Core Standards.

·         Incorporate 21^st Century Teaching Tools.

·         Provide differentiated instruction.

 

Student will:

• Understand and demonstrate awareness of learning targets.
• Set personal learning goals.

 

Instruction

Teacher will:

• Foster higher order thinking skills.
• Help students make connections with real life skills.
• Model and guide respectful, effective communication.

 

Student will:

• Work collaboratively to build knowledge and comprehension.
• Make connections with academic and real life situations.
• Actively engage in their own learning.

 

Assessment

Teacher will:

• Use formative assessment to guide instruction.
• Celebrate student successes for meeting high expectations.
• Create assignments and assessments from content standards.

 

Student will

• Develop ownership by actively participating in lessons.
• Demonstrate content knowledge.
• Reflect and adjust to meet personal learning goals.

 



You Matter

West Madison, I want you to live every day as if what you do matters,  because it does.  Teachers matter, parents matter, even students matter.  You matter, West Madison!   Every choice you make matters.   Every action you take, matters. It may not seem like it, but the choices you make matter to you and to all those around you and create the life and environment you live.  We have decided this year to teach students to stop and think before they make the choices they make in life.  Because the choices we make matter. 

 Very soon, Mrs. Miller and I will begin reading  a couple of books to the students.  The book I will read to the fifth and sixth graders is called Wonder by J.R. Palacio.  It is about a boy who has never been to school because he has craniofacial condition.  He has never been to school because he has had numerous surgeries.  The story is about his struggles going to school (middle school) and his families struggles.  I am looking forward to experiencing this book with our students. 

The book Mrs. Miller will read is called Have you Filled Your Bucket today?  She will read it  to the lower  grades.  This book shares about how we all can go about filling our emotional buckets as well fill buckets of those around us by saying and doing positive things for ourselves and each other.  On the flip side, we can empty our buckets by saying negative things about ourselves and each other.

What we wish by reading these books is for each student to gain an understanding of the importance of treating everyone with kindness and that we all  matter.   It doesn't matter whether we are boys or girls, tall or short, stout or slim, we matter.    We want them to know that the choices we  make in life, whether in Kindergarten, second grade or  sixth grade will set our paths  towards greatness, success or failure.  Our choices matter whether at work, home, or even at school. 

Parents, we would ask you to help us along this path to make better choices.  Let your children know that they matter.  Many of them question this every day.  I know as a child, I always wondered whether I mattered.  It took me into my adulthood (far into it, I might add) to realize that what I did matters.  I want to instill this type of confidence in them now, today.  Let's work together to encourage our kids and let them know they matter and launch them towards greatness.  And always, I wish for you to know that you matter and you make a difference.  We are partners in educating your children.  As we lead our children in knowing and believing they make a difference, we will move our school forward, our school system forward, our community forward our state forward and ultimately the world forward.  You matter.

It's Time to Turn up the Heat West Madison

It’s Time to Turn up the Heat!

 

Some children experience “Lethargitosis” around this time of year.  After spending sunny days at the pool or going to summer camp, late August arrives way too soon.  This ailment brings on extreme symptoms including complaints about going to bed early, protests about getting up early and an overall distaste for having a routine.  My boys have had the worst case of “Lethargitosis.”  It has resulted in, “Where are my shoes?” “Where is my lunchbox?” "Where's my project?" This has resulted in an overall frustration as we leave for school in the morning. 

Recognizing these symptoms, I explained to the boys the other morning that we were going to turn up the heat!  My youngest son, look puzzled; since it has reached the 90 degree temperatures for the past week.  Certainly I should be turning the air conditioner on instead of talking about turning on the heat.  I went on to say, “We need to turn up the heat to 212 degrees before we’re able to create the steam necessary to change our morning routine.

The other evening, we met as a family to discuss how our actions were creating chaos in the morning.  We decided on a plan for going to sleep earlier, sitting down for breakfast, and making sure that we allow enough time to be relaxed, instead of rushing out the door.  As I hugged the boys and said good night, I expressed how proud I was that they were willing to make the extra effort.  I knew we could do it.  We were going to definitely turn up the heat to reach our full potential. 

 

“To get what we’ve never had, we must do what we’ve never done.”

This year, you will notice your child’s teacher “turning up the heat” in the classroom.  The staff at WM consists of the finest group of educational professionals in the country.  There will be a 212 degree focus in every classroom activity.  Our expectations at WM remain high as we embrace the uniqueness of your child.  We ask that you continue to partner with us as we foster student growth and prepare leaders for the 21^st Century.  We must continue to search for innovative ways to evaluate and solve real-world problems, understanding that we are held accountable and evaluated with a variety of tools.

Just as I recognized that I needed to make a change with our morning routine, we ask that you evaluate how you might make daily changes within your routines to foster the best environment for learning.  As a parent, wake and act each day with the understanding that your actions will be absorbed by your children. …and your children will grow to be contributing adults to the level of your influence.  Be bold and incorporate the 212 philosophies into your daily routine.

Having a simple, clearly defined goal can capture the imagination and inspire passion.  I can cut through the fog like a beam in the night.

Later in the evening, as I read several books to my boys, I reflected upon the hard work we had done that evening as a family.  I was proud of my boys, but also proud of myself as a parent because I had the courage to embrace the 212 philosophy.

 

At 212 degrees, water is hot.

At 212 degrees, it boils.

And with boiling water, comes steam.

And steam can power a locomotive.

Welcome back to WM! Small things make all the difference.  I challenge you to make each day one degree hotter!