While it has been a long couple of weeks, we are now beyond that halfway point. From conversations with you this week, I know you are already feeling the pressure of time towards our game day in spring where we see if all the time, and love, and support we have put into our students has paid off in terms of them being able to demonstrate their learning.
As usual, I am blown away by your dedication not just to your own students in your classrooms, but by your attention to the success of the school as a whole. That’s what it will take to continue with the level of success we have had and to reach our more ambitious goals.
As we enter into this final push to achieve our goals, I'd like to focus on a couple of concepts that will be critical to us this semester:
High Expectations Follow-up--Using Data Strategically. I've had a couple of great conversations this week with teachers trying to maximize their efforts in the limited time we have left. These conversations made we realize how important high expectations and intentionality are when we think about intervention time. We discussed the importance of strategically pulling students for intervention based on ones that are on the "cusp"-- ones that we think we can move from one performance level to another. If you aren't pulling the lowest tier of students and they are on iready, they are still receiving high-quality intervention. So reflect on how you are using your intervention time. Are you maximizing every minute? Are you engaging your students in activities that will make a difference? Are you pulling strategically? How about your class' iready minutes? Check those reports. Are your students getting the time (45 minutes each week) that they need to be successful? If not, how can you make adjustments?
I'll be making this reflection easier for you by sharing our iready minutes and other data in each weekly email/slide/blog post moving forward. We all need to be open with our data so we can share strategies with each other. I'll also be intentional in my walkthroughs of targeting intervention time to see how I can support your efforts during this critical time of our day.
High Expectations Follow-up--Using Data Strategically. I've had a couple of great conversations this week with teachers trying to maximize their efforts in the limited time we have left. These conversations made we realize how important high expectations and intentionality are when we think about intervention time. We discussed the importance of strategically pulling students for intervention based on ones that are on the "cusp"-- ones that we think we can move from one performance level to another. If you aren't pulling the lowest tier of students and they are on iready, they are still receiving high-quality intervention. So reflect on how you are using your intervention time. Are you maximizing every minute? Are you engaging your students in activities that will make a difference? Are you pulling strategically? How about your class' iready minutes? Check those reports. Are your students getting the time (45 minutes each week) that they need to be successful? If not, how can you make adjustments?
I'll be making this reflection easier for you by sharing our iready minutes and other data in each weekly email/slide/blog post moving forward. We all need to be open with our data so we can share strategies with each other. I'll also be intentional in my walkthroughs of targeting intervention time to see how I can support your efforts during this critical time of our day.
Humor. The other thought I'd like to leave with you is one based on collegial support. The last couple of days people have been sending me funny memes, videos, and gifs. Both last night and this morning I was howling with laughter. I can't even begin to tell you the difference those gestures have made in terms of my mood and ability to focus. They had such a profound impact that when I was preparing for this week's blog, I even looked up research on the use of humor with teachers and in the workplace. (Fun fact--people have written dissertations on the use of humor in schools and the impact on school culture and teacher effectiveness). Anyway, it doesn't take research to convince me of the positive impact of humor. I encourage you to encourage each other through humor. See someone stressed? Is there a way you can make them laugh?
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