Viking Cheers!! Focus on the Fabulous!!
Our students spent the day on Wednesday participating in ICAP activities. Thanks, once again, to Katrina Ruggles for getting the day organized and planning such beneficial experiences for our students. The focus of our ICAP days is to prepare our students as fully as possibly for post secondary options and workforce readiness. These efforts support our core belief that with our support we can all students can achieve at high levels and be successful in life. I also want to recognize the middle school staff for their support of this process. In each of the classes I visited, teachers and kids were engaged in the scheduled activities and were supporting the overall efforts. This type of team work demonstrates everyones' commitment to excellence in all we do every day.
Rewind
Last week started in Denver for a two day training with PEBC on mentoring. This training was in preparation for our participation in the Boettcher program and the process of establishing learning-focused relationships. We are preparing to have four to six Boettcher residents at the middle/high next year. This training provided valuable information on learning-focused interactions including consulting, collaborating and coaching that will help me with walkthroughs and refining my efforts in this process.
Wednesday, after the ICAP training our students were busy with ICAP activities. Once again they got to listen to Josh Sosa who encouraged them to stay focused on the long term life goals by taking the necessary steps at this phase of their lives. The day included a number of Kagan strategies and learning focused on preparing our students for their futures. After students were released we met as a staff to go over TCAP data and then broke into data teams to begin analyzing the data and discussing how this information will impact teaching and learning. PLC groups met at the end of the day.
Thursday I had the chance to visit a number of classrooms. I saw some great instruction going on. Teachers are incorporating a variety of the engagement strategies into their instruction to reinforce learning. In Gail Martinez’s class, students participated in a fan and share activity related to annotations and connotations. Ms. Donaldson was doing a great job with guided instruction, walking the kids through the process of solving for proportions. In Mrs. Ruggles class, aside from her eating cat food (yuck!) the kids were discussing the concepts of self fulfilling prophecies and positive and negative labels.
Kids were working in their journals and participating in class discussions.
Friday, I traveled to La Junta to help districts in that area begin the process of using the Focal Point curriculum calendars.
Entering into the conversation with these people who are embarking on this journey, helped me to reflect on how far we have come and deepened my appreciation for the progress we have made in the last couple of years. Our successes are a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our staff. Thanks for all you do!
Wednesday, after the ICAP training our students were busy with ICAP activities. Once again they got to listen to Josh Sosa who encouraged them to stay focused on the long term life goals by taking the necessary steps at this phase of their lives. The day included a number of Kagan strategies and learning focused on preparing our students for their futures. After students were released we met as a staff to go over TCAP data and then broke into data teams to begin analyzing the data and discussing how this information will impact teaching and learning. PLC groups met at the end of the day.
Thursday I had the chance to visit a number of classrooms. I saw some great instruction going on. Teachers are incorporating a variety of the engagement strategies into their instruction to reinforce learning. In Gail Martinez’s class, students participated in a fan and share activity related to annotations and connotations. Ms. Donaldson was doing a great job with guided instruction, walking the kids through the process of solving for proportions. In Mrs. Ruggles class, aside from her eating cat food (yuck!) the kids were discussing the concepts of self fulfilling prophecies and positive and negative labels.
Kids were working in their journals and participating in class discussions.
Friday, I traveled to La Junta to help districts in that area begin the process of using the Focal Point curriculum calendars.
Entering into the conversation with these people who are embarking on this journey, helped me to reflect on how far we have come and deepened my appreciation for the progress we have made in the last couple of years. Our successes are a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our staff. Thanks for all you do!
Forward Focus
One of the areas of discussion at the administration meeting a couple weeks back was the idea of instructional walks. This will be an added component of the walk through process in which teachers will accompany administration in weekly walk throughs. This approach will allow us to learn from the expertise we have in our building, share ideas and strategies, and more fully collaborate on what effective instruction is all about. The purpose of walk throughs is to improve instruction and this approach will give us opportunities for collaborative inquiry that will help us to focus on what is working in terms of teaching and learning. We will be starting this process this week and I will be meeting with teachers to discuss the format and identify areas of focus.
We have two home football games this week. Tuesday we play Sargent and Thursday, Monte Vista. I have a few meetings during the week, including IEPs and Infinite scheduling. I will be working to get the after school tutoring program structured for our students who are in need of extra support. Our volleyball girls play in Antonito on Tuesday and home against Monte Vista on Thursday. Our cross country team will compete in South Fork on Tuesday afternoon.
We have two home football games this week. Tuesday we play Sargent and Thursday, Monte Vista. I have a few meetings during the week, including IEPs and Infinite scheduling. I will be working to get the after school tutoring program structured for our students who are in need of extra support. Our volleyball girls play in Antonito on Tuesday and home against Monte Vista on Thursday. Our cross country team will compete in South Fork on Tuesday afternoon.