Happy Friday-payday... and no more Mondays either!
Long weekend ahead as well.
Win.
What you may have missed...
We had the NAU Praxis folks in for a visit at our Faculty Meeting on Thursday morning. Their dual-certified SPED pre-service teachers will start back with us during the week of 26 August.
I hope, like me, you're excited to have this program return to our school (You might recall: they're on a three-semester rotation; that's why we haven't seen them around for a while). As before, they will be housed across the street in the old FMS shop rooms. If you sign up to participate (and I hope you will), you can expect them to be in your classroom most of the day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the fall semester.
Also, during our Faculty Meeting...
I spoke a little about my abiding appreciation for all of you and the fact that I still consider it to be a real honor and privilege to be your principal, drafted out of your own ranks. I am so grateful to you for your support and, even more than that, for your hard work and dedication to the craft on behalf of our students.
Remix, again
Likewise, during our Thursday Faculty Meeting this week, I mentioned once again how inspired I was at our SEI teaching strategies two-hour in-house professional development seminar the other day. And that, in reflecting on it afterward, I was compelled to recall the emphasis on the concept remix which we've discussed on more than one occasion earlier in the year. You might recall the gist of this remix-idea: we already have much of what we need to be successful right here at Marshall, but we must always be ready to look at things in new ways, and from new perspectives, in order to put our assets to use most effectively.Watching our expert SEI teachers showcase some of their remarkable teaching strategies for us got me thinking about all of the other areas- and individuals-of-excellence that exist here at Marshall.
You may not be fully aware, but I am because I get to visit your classrooms everyday, that right here at Marshall, right under our very noses, are some of the best lesson-planners, and classroom-managers, and teacher-leaders, and creative-collaborators, and science-instructors, and arts-integrators... and the list goes on and on... that I've ever known.
I honestly believe that. And I also believe that if we could (as we did a few weeks back) harness our own in-house expertise and broaden our ability to incorporate some of what our very own cohorts are doing on a more school-wide basis, that it would benefit our entire program in wonderful ways.
Therefore I am proposing, as we begin to plan our Professional Development schedule for next year, that expert-you and your expert-coworkers begin to brainstorm and develop an inservice of your own to be presented to the faculty at some point during the year next year.
In your planning, keep in mind: due to partial months, parent-teacher conference months, and months shortened due to long holidays we're really only able to do PD-days in September, maybe November, January, February, April and maybe May. So, it's probably best to get your team together on this sooner rather than later.
Off the top of my head, a few areas of expertise, which already exist here at Marshall, and might lend themselves to excellent teacher-led in-services next year:
- effective classroom management strategies
- writing and teaching well-crafted objectives
- integrating the arts into core content
- integrating the sciences into core content
- scaffolding instruction for special needs students
- using PBS behavior strategies in the classroom
- crafting standards- and map-aligned written lesson plans
- using iPads effectively with students
- realigning classroom instruction to the new common core standards
Calendar
- Monday, 13 May
- NO SCHOOL (snow day)
- Wednesday, 15 May
- Coe @ Elementary Admin mtg, 7:30-10:30
- Friday, 17 May
- NO SCHOOL (snow day)
