Hello everyone,Happy Trifecta-Friday!
Gosh. Nothing but mostly-sunny blue skies and breezy conditions ahead as far as the eye can see. Hard to view that as depressing news in January, and yet somehow, at least to me, that's how it feels. We're on the cusp of yet another weather-record, I hear, due to this prolonged mid-winter period of no precip. Alas... A hint of a little something-maybe in the 23-24 Jan. time-frame, but whatever it is, it looks pretty paltry right now.
So ya might as well get out there and enjoy it somehow. For the record: Sedona's been lovely.
As for me and my family, we'll continue to pray for snow.
Flagstaff Symphony Concert
Ms. White corresponded with third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers this week with the details of our upcoming trip to NAU to listen to the Flagstaff Symphony on Tuesday, 04 Feb.
If you teach at these grade levels, please review her email again prior to the fieldtrip.
Practicum Need
Coconino Community College has a need to place a student taking EDU 235 (Relationships in the Classroom) into a classroom for 30 hours of observation and assistance. The student is available on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:00-12:00. Please contact Emily McRobbie if you are interested in hosting this student in your classroom.
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
I am still available to read to your class if you'd like to schedule a time for me to come in.
Route Home
We sent home a flyer and also did a robo-call this week reminding parents to contact the front office any time their student has a change in route-home or after-school plans. It is NOT sufficient to have such changes-in-plans communicated solely via the student's daily agenda. I'd like you, also, to please take the time to remind your parents of this, too. Something to the effect of:
"Thanks for using your child's planner to communicate with me about homework progress as well as your nightly discussions about classroom and playground behaviors and things like that. But please remember, if you are changing your plans for what your child will do after school, it's essential that you call the office with your change in order to ensure the message is received. It's fine to leave a note to this effect in the planner, but it's not sufficient. Planners get lost. Please ensure you've called the office whenever you're changing your child's after school plan. Thanks!"Marshall Values
Thanks to all of you who took the time to complete the Marshall Values form in last week's Blue Note. If ya haven't yet, please do so; it's also your requisite acknowledgement for last week's blog.
Earlier this week I went through all of your responses, and highlighted common themes. It wasn't hard, in truth this process turned out to be much simpler than I had anticipated. The main themes, which I believe are basically our Core Values, were pretty obvious and bubbled to the surface quite organically. There are five of them by my reckoning: Passion, Collaboration, Honesty, Innovation, and Persistence.
After my initial read-through, I once more reviewed every narrative you wrote and highlighted the key components of each and put the behaviors you identified into one the five Core Value groups. Here are the behaviors you identified as fundamental to our Core Values:
Marshall Values: Passion
- You maintain a positive attitude as you seek the best for all our students.
- You are enthusiastic about teaching and learning.
- Your enthusiasm is contagious.
- You are dedicated to our entire community and love the work you do.
- You are committed to making every effort for every student.
- You enjoy being part of a team and view your colleagues as part of your extended family.
- You seek to be supportive of your coworkers at all times.
- You communicate effectively.
- You willingly share of your expertise, time, and resources.
- You work to include our parents and broader community as valued partners.
- You desire to trust and be trusted by your colleagues.
- You have a strong moral compass.
- You practice empathy and act compassionately toward others.
- You are respectful at all times and forgiving when necessary.
- You are expressive but professional as you communicate with others.
Marshall Values: Innovation
- You are driven to seek improvement in all aspects of your work.
- You are creative, curious, and willing to take risks as a professional.
- You are unafraid of change.
- You work with purpose to overcome obstacles and challenges.
- You enjoy creating new and useful things to enhance student achievement.
Marshall Values: Persistence
- You persevere in your role despite challenges and setbacks.
- You are, at all times, dedicated to the success and well-being of your students.
- You work hard to be efficient and effective.
- You own your responsibilities.
- You pursue excellence in your practice and expect the same from your students.
This may not be an exhaustive list of all the behaviors we value at Marshall (it shouldn't be), but personally, I am thrilled with it nonetheless. There was such a great deal uniformity to your responses, and compiling the five core values and the five key behaviors for each happened so naturally for me, that I can't help but be encouraged by this list! To me, I'm inclined to recognize that it appears most of us are "on the same page" when it comes to who we are and what we value about our workplace and coworkers at Marshall.
As we move forward in planning to hire several new members of our team for next year, we will hopefully be able to utilize this list of Core Values to provide the members of our interview committees with insight into the kind of applicants we want to hire, as well as to help our applicants better understand what sort of a place Marshall is.
Likewise, as a faculty, it's my hope that we will use these Core Values to help us establish better norms and expectations for ourselves as professionals working together at Marshall Magnet School.
Calendar
Week B
GDMs in CTs
As we move forward in planning to hire several new members of our team for next year, we will hopefully be able to utilize this list of Core Values to provide the members of our interview committees with insight into the kind of applicants we want to hire, as well as to help our applicants better understand what sort of a place Marshall is.
Likewise, as a faculty, it's my hope that we will use these Core Values to help us establish better norms and expectations for ourselves as professionals working together at Marshall Magnet School.
Calendar
Week B
GDMs in CTs
- Monday, 20 Jan.
- NO SCHOOL -- MLK Day
- Friday, 24 Jan.
- Lockdown Drill (rescheduled), 9:30
- Two-hour PD: Team Mastermind, 1:00-3:00 in the Library
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