First Faculty Meeting - Tuesday, 04 August 2015

Hello everyone,

We're going to get together as a group for a couple hours on TUESDAY morning, August 4th from 10:00-12:00, after the all-FUSD welcome-back meeting at COCONINO High School (which is currently slated to run from 8:00-9:00 AM) BEFORE district-level meetings for various staff (which have blocked out 1:00-3:00).  

 Our meeting shouldn't take too long.  If you don't have other meetings on Tuesday (and most of you don't), you can work in your rooms the balance of the day afterward.

Please feel free to bring your laptop to our First Faculty Meeting.  It will come in super-handy.  Together, we will review most of our important stuff online, set a few bookmarks, save a tree or two, and leave it at that.

Of course, you should also feel free to print these things out (or not), either before or after we meet... If you like.  Totally up to you.  But in an effort to save expensive paper, invaluable support-staff time, my time (for whatever it's worth), as well as wear-and-tear on our dearly-beloved, oh-so-delicate copier, I will link to them here, and let you use them when/as you see fit.

As always, these documents will always be here.  All year long.  

 AGENDA

 Welcoming remarks 

Introduction of new staff:
  • Ms. Rachael Chow joins the Marshall staff as a new third-grade teacher.
  • Ms. Tiffany Ogg joins our staff as a new kindergarten teacher.
  • Ms. Eva Herberger joins our staff as the new teacher in our new Cross-Cat II classroom.
  • Ms. Kaitlin Sally-Trulock will join our SPED-Resource team as a 0.5% Resource teacher; she will work her other half at Kinsey.
  • Ms. Becky Witt officially joins our staff as school nurse.
Recognition of returning staff with new assignments:
  • Ingols will teach a full, straight first-grade SEI this year
  • Bergs will teach a four-five SEI this year
  • Heck Petrie will teach fifth
  • Fisk will teach fourth... they hope to establish an ongoing loop this way.
  • Alonso-Paez is our new Multi-tiered Systems Of Support (MTSS) Specialist 
  • Fugett returns as our 1.0% SPED Resource teacher
  • Perkins will become our new 1.0% Structured English Immersion, English as a second language coach.
Schedules & Calendars
  • Master Planning Calendar
    • Always up-to-date!
    • Includes: special events, testing dates, grading periods, conferences, assemblies, etc.
    • Key dates
      • APTT Connect-To-School Night
        • Thursday, Sept. 10, 2014, 5:00-7:00
      • Parent-Teacher Conferences
        • Oct. 12-14 (prior to Fall Holiday)
        • Mar. 9-11 (prior to Spring Break)
      • Other dates: Master calendar
  • Marshall Specials & RTI Schedule [Week A] [Week B]
  • Marshall Lunch Schedule (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • Lunch Duty Schedule
      • Teachers, please stay with your classes in the lunchroom for 10 minutes
    • Mon.-Thurs.
      • K-1: 11:35-12:15
      • 2-3: 12:05-12:45
      • 4-5: 12:35-1:15
    • Friday
      • K-1: 10:35-11:15
      • 2-3: 11:05-11:45
      • 4-5: 11:35-12:15
  • RTI Reading Schedule (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • Monday-Thursday
      • Tier 2 (begins week of 31 Aug.)
        • 11:25-11:50 2nd & 3rd
        • 11:55-12:20 4th & 5th
        • 12:25-12:50 K & 1st
      • Tier 3 (begins week of 31 Aug.)
        • 8:45-9:15
  • Morning Math: 8:45-9:15 (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • begins week of 10 August
    • Monday-Friday
      • Preview, Review, Reteach
      • Further discussion of strategies, creation of common formative assessments in your CTs
  • Faculty Meetings (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • 7:45-8:30, third Thursday of the month
    • See: Master Calendar
    • the third Thursday of each month will always be reserved for Faculty Meetings
    • Faculty Meetings may occasionally occur on other dates as-needed
    • The weekly Blue Note Update will confirm if a meeting will occur on reserved Thursdays
    • We will meet on 27 August at 7:45 with Dietrich and other members of FUSD Admin
  • Collaborative Team Meetings (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • during your 2-hour specials block each week
    • Will begin the week of 10 August
  • Professional Development meetings: 1:00-3:00 
    • See: Master Calendar
      • August: APTT Prep
      • September
      • November
      • January: APTT Prep
      • February
      • April
  • Morning routine (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • All classroom teachers will lead students in the following  prior to the first lesson of the school day, as required by state statute:
      • The Pledge Of Allegiance (you must give students an opportunity to recite the pledge, however you cannot compel them to speak)
      • A moment of silence (not to exceed one minute)
    • All classroom teachers will use the 8:45-9:15 time-frame for Morning Math or Tier 3 reading interventions
  • End of the day routine (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • At bus dismissal time, please ensure that students do not leave your classroom until their "flight" is called; students who leave class before their "flight" will be returned to class
    • On the first day of school, please make a list of student names and their bus-route numbers
      • Send students who are confused about this information to office for confirmation prior to lunch-time on the first day of school
      • Send a copy of your list to office; keep a copy for yourself
    • K-2 teachers, please arrange with your teammates to have at least one teacher walk-out and wait with walkers/parent-pickup during the first few weeks of school
Important Documents & Websites
  • Coe's Calendar
    • Always up-to-date!
  • 2015-2016 Marshall Staff List
  • 2015-2016 Marshall floor-plan
  • 2015-2016 Marshall Class Lists 
    • in your mailboxes and on the doors on 27 July
  • Your Marshall School @ FUSD1.org page (needs updating)
    • Bare minimum:
      • Current role, contact information (email, phone + extension)
  • The Marshall School Blog (for our families)
  • The Marshall School Facebook page (also for our families, but you can "like" us, too)
  • Blue Note blog acknowledgement (unchanged from 2014-2015)
  • Student Information Packet materials
    • pick up in cafeteria now, no later than on 05 Aug after PTO luncheon
    • Use attached checklist to ensure that all forms have been collected
      • Free-and-reduced lunch form is e$$ential; PLEASE ask all families to complete
  • Marshall Telephone Extensions (coming soon)
  • Don't forget: The Blue Note "Important Stuff" resources: see sidebar at-left
  • Call-off system (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • Use the AESOP system to call off
  • TPEC Evaluations/Observations (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • ALL teaching staff will have two formal observations
      • Pre-conferences to review TPEC rubric (available under the TPEC Resources tab online) will be held in CT meeting during the week of 14 Sept.
      • 2015-2016 Observation Calendar
      • Observations will begin the week of 21 September with members of the first-grade team
      • All observations will be scheduled by-the-week
      • Submit your weekly schedule (not plans) by Friday of week prior to your scheduled observation; I will arrive at a time of my choosing during the week of your scheduled observation.
      • If your score on your first evaluation is at least a 3.0, and you have been employed as a certified teacher in FUSD for three or more years, we will determine together whether or not to waive your second observation
    • Scheduled observation calendar (Plan ahead; no changes, please)
Forms To Fill-out Online TODAY (~10 minutes)
  • Marshall Employee Emergency Contact Info
  • Marshall Teacher AM/PM Duty Schedule
    • AM duty: 8:20-8:40
    • PM duty: 3:20-3:40
  • Marshall Committees
    • See: new committees, new task descriptions for 2015-2016
  • Marshall Workday Sign-out form
    • All staff, please use this form whenever you're leaving campus for non-work-related activities (ie: the dentist) during the school day, except during your duty-free lunch period
  • CPS/DCS Reports
    • Remember: you are a mandatory reporter.
    • You may make CPS/DCS report online.  Register for an account here.
    • Complete report online via this link.  (see sidebar also)
    • Print and deliver a copy of your report to me within 24 hours.
    • IF YOU FEEL A CHILD IS IN IMMINENT DANGER, DO NOT REPORT ONLINE.  CALL 1-888-SOS-CHILD (1-888-767-2445) IMMEDIATELY.
      • CPS/DCS will advise you if you need to contact law enforcement
Things That We Need To Discuss
  • Our Core Values (unchanged from 2014-2015)
  • Professional Expectations (essentially unchanged from 2014-2015)
  • Health Office procedures (unchanged from 2014-2015)
  • Workplace Injury Procedures (basically unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • If you get hurt, you must make a report the day you are injured 
  • Behavior Incident Referrals
    • For minor Tier 1 behavior management or social interaction concerns, please attempt to resolve within your classroom or domain.
    • For Tier 2 level concerns (frustration, refusal to work, minor disputes and/or acts of insubordination), please follow guidelines on Incident Referral form and/or strategies at Polk USD. Bring concerns to monthly B-GDM or members of PBIS Committee.
    • For Tier 3 concerns (fighting, major acts of aggression and/or insubordination), refer the student to the principal's office.  Please complete the Incident Referral form (see sidebar also) for all office referrals.
  • Emergency Procedures (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • Red Folder
      • Ensure it always contains an updated class list
    • Major incident assignments
    • Emergency Drill dates (Not on Master Calendar; see Coe's Calendar)
      • 18 Sept: fire (procedures) (see tab at-top also)
      • 23 Oct: lockdown (procedures) (see tab at-top also)
      • 20 Nov: fire
      • 11 Dec: lockdown
      • 22 Jan: fire
      • 19 Feb: lockdown
      • 25 Mar: fire
      • 15 Apr: lockdown
      • 13 May: fire
  • Other Important Documents
  • Connect-To-School Parent Group Data Meetings (APTT)
    • During CTs in August determine and prepare the following for Connect-To-School Night on 10 Sept.
      • Student data reports and packets for parents on each student
      • Topics and materials (.ppt?) for discussion/presentation during ~40-min Group Data Meetings
      • Goals to establish with parents for at-home work
      • Materials to send home with parents to assist in meeting goals
        • Determine if you wish to include the Parent Compact (or wait until Conferences)
  • Protected Instructional Time (unchanged from 2014-2015)
    • Required teaching/intervention blocks built into Master Schedule  
      • 90-min ELA 
      • 60-min Math
      • Tier 2 reading intervention
      • Tier 3 reading intervention
    • Library 
      • Built into Master Schedule
      • Opportunity to attend during Weeks A & B
      • Pleas notify Travis well in advance if you will not attend
    • Wellness 
      • Built into Master Schedule
      • Must attend during Weeks A & B
    • Specials: art, music, technology, PE
      • Built into Master Schedule
      • Specials alternate, 2 each during Weeks A & B (unchanged from 2013-14)
    • Magnet programs
      • Built into Master Schedule
      • Suzuki and Magnet Monday electives are extracurricular (unchanged from 2013-14)
  • Recess Schedules (unchanged from 2014-15)
    • The recess times are included as part of your mandatory instructional minutes and are reported to the state as follows:
      • K:  two 15-min. recess periods, one AM & one PM; one 10-min. PM rest time
      • 1-3 two 15-min. recess periods, one AM & one PM 
      • 4-5 one 15 min. recess period, AM or PM
    • Recess times should be indicated in your daily/weekly plans
    • Recess schedules should be provided to principal via email during first week
    • Please: 
      • move and scan while on duty
      • No clumping, no texting
      • All adults on duty must wear yellow/green safety vests
  • Title 1
    • Projected budget decrease for 2015-2016 due to current slight reduction in enrollment, 93% of previous budget
    • Title 1 staff
      • 1 Technology teacher
      • 2 RTI specialists
      • 1 Magnet program coordinator
      • 1 MTSS specialist
    • Program Overview
    • Free & Reduced lunch forms!
Other Stuff From Other Folks
  • Parenting Arizona (Murray)
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Dual Focal Points

If you've ever taken a picture, you know, having your subject in focus is everything.  If your focus isn't sharp, little else about your picture matters, not composition, not color, not contrast... nothing.

Lack of focus*

*All photos in this post have been used without permission;
I Googled each of them.
You may click any image to enlarge it.
Sometimes, when trying to find our focus, we are inclined to attune ourselves to the obvious thing, the thing right in front of us, no matter its size or scale.  Sharp focus is always where a good picture starts.



In elementary public education, it's simple to find our focus on the obvious things, the things right in front of us.  I think they are:
  • Student Safety
  • Student Achievement
  • Student Development
In  that order?  Yeah.  I think so.  Most of the time, anyway.

When it comes to our focus (foci) at Marshall, I think we've got Student Safety pretty much down, especially after last year. And I don't think anyone will begrudge us in our efforts to continually practice and refine our procedures this year after all that we've endured.

I also think we've got Student Achievement pretty-much in-hand, too, though it's become quite challenging for us to gauge this component using the means we've employed in the past.  With AZLEARNS letter grades gone for now, and AZMERIT scores still somewhere out there in the ether, we've got only the benchmarks and assessments that we've used in-house: Galileo and AIMSWEB, and, well, they look pretty good. Room to grow, as always, for sure.  But pretty good, all in all.

And I think we've got Student Development in the bag, too.  Most of us have solid class-management plans in-place and likewise most of us are implementing our Tier 1 and 2 PBIS program effectively.  Our grade level teams are putting our IDM, GDM, and B-GDM processes to work exceptionally well, too.  Marshall's counseling and school-psych team is always ready to assist us, even at a moment's notice.  And, in general, our aides and parapros get sharper and better equipped to provide much-needed support to our students, especially the ones who stick around year after year.


All in all, when it comes to focusing on the-obvious-things-right-in-front-of-us, I'm inclined to observe: we've got this.

Sometimes, however, a keen but unexpected focus can yield surprisingly beautiful, if not downright inspiring results.



There are times when, by focusing on the less-obvious thing, we can also get really great results.

(Please note: I am in no way suggesting that we stop focusing on the things right in front of us.  We can't ever do that!  Those things, well, that's basically our job in a nutshell, isn't it: keep 'em safe, teach 'em some stuff, and, oh yeah, get 'em all grow'd up nice, too.  But, we have before us, I think, an opportunity this school-year to focus on a couple less-obvious things which might "yield surprisingly beautiful, if not downright inspiring results," too.)

Interested?  Ok then.

Not to get all science-y on you now, but if you think back to your high school physics class, you'll probably remember that a camera lens technically has two focal points... a point in front of the camera (there be your subject) and a point within the camera (where your image is magically in focus).  There must be parity or agreement between these two points for your image to be sharp, elsewise, if your focal distance isn't balanced, your image will blur and become something less than the masterpiece it (let's be honest) demands to be.


Multiple optics, complicated machinery, or computing can enable a photographer or astronomer to move these points to achieve focus without moving his/her feet, by twisting rings and turning dials or touching a screen.  But any budding photographer learns pretty quickly: without moving your feet, without maneuvering yourself  physically in order to find the sweet spot, its tough to get the shot just right: in the moment, at the right angle, and sharply in focus.



We are not astronomers.  We are not looking at far off stars and our lenses are not fixed in place in hallowed white mountain-top domes.  If anything, we are more like war correspondents, in the trenches, on the front-lines, day-by-day.  Therefore we must move continually, with decisiveness and purpose, in order to ensure that our focus remains sharp.  Our subjects, too, are constantly on the move after all.

Having said all that, it should come as no surprise that I'd like to encourage you to shift your focus somewhat this year, to attend your professional-gaze to two separate concerns which might not be super-obvious or right in front of us all the time, to literally physically reorient your professional-self to do new things in new ways.   I think, if we try to focus on these things, we have the potential to make Marshall all-the-more exceptional, proficient, and refined in the ways we think and act both towards our students and toward one another.

Focus 1: Grading & Assessment
Hopefully you attended the 301 Day on Monday 03 Aug. and listened carefully to what Thomas Guskey had to say.  Hopefully, you received a copy of his book, On Your Mark.


Hopefully you will read it.

I have. I read it last year as a part of a book study with the other elementary principals in FUSD.  It affirmed many of my notions about what, and how, and why we assess student learning as well as the fact that we, as a district, need to reexamine and refine our practices when it comes to the assessment of learning.

We're a bit ahead of the curve here at Marshall.  But only a bit.  We've already begun to reflect on grading and assessment.  You might recall, last school-year, in January in the Blue Note, I asked you to complete a formal survey about your thoughts and beliefs in this regard. The results were encouraging and seem to suggest that many, if not the majority of you, tend to hold fairly progressive views about standards-based grading and assessment.  The survey also demonstrated that most of you seem to feel that our current methods, which while conforming to our district's expectations, may not be the best way for our students and their parents to truly understand Student Achievement based on mastery of the standards.

I'd like us to focus on standards-based grading and assessment this year.  I'd like our grade-level teams to experiment with developing new forms for assessment in an attempt to devise more valid and reliable ways to determine what our students actually know and, likewise, what they are able to do.  I'd like us to perhaps even come up with new tools and means to communicate these outcomes to both our students and their parents.

How do we accomplish all that?  We experiment.  We take chances.  We open ourselves to change.  Rick Wormeli, another grading/assessment-guru, has a few good suggestions about one small aspect in our approach to all this that we might consider changing: our grade-books:



As Marshall teachers, if we choose to take on this new focus, I think we may have a chance to lead change in this regard, throughout FUSD in a very positive direction.  That's never easy.  But it's often exciting.  It's usually important, too.  As Guskey says,


Focus 2: Support & Well-being
Some months ago, as is their habit, the powers-that-be at FUSD sent out their annual link to an employee satisfaction survey.  This year, for the first time, the survey was nationally norm-referenced and the questions pertained not just to Marshall, and not just to certified staff, but to administrators and classified staff across the district, too.  More than 700 of the district's employees filled out the survey.  At Marshall, of some 70 people who work here, about 30 completed the twenty-five question inventory.

At Marshall, in the main, based on this survey it looks as if we are satisfied with much of our workplace environment; our relationships with our coworkers as well as with our supervisor(s) all came out well above the national norms set for these indicators.  Similarly, morale, teamwork, and how/when/where we enjoy a little recognition for the work we do all came out well above national norms, too.

However, at Marshall (and consequently across FUSD), support is one of the indicators that came out the lowest.  At our school, it's the only one that's below the national midrange (just a hair, the 49th percentile, to be exact), which is concerning to me (particularly when compared to many of our other scores which were in the 60th and 70th percentile nationally).

It's hard for me to glean fully from your responses where this sense of a lack of support derives from.  But, reading through your comments, a couple of you said things like:
"Resources are limited [and] we hear, there's no money for that..."
"Ask the teachers what kind of resources we need..."

In response to those comments, I'd like to encourage you, once again, to let me know what you need and when you need it.  Our coffers at Marshall are not bottomless, but they are not empty either.  We work awful hard around here to raise, chase, gather, and collect money.  So, if you have a need and you're able to justify that it will be of great benefit to your students, please make your requests known.  I may say, "Please try and find a better price," or, "Please find a way to better align your request with the standards."  I might even ask, "Is it urgent? Can you wait until we receive our new budget monies?" But when it comes to the expenditure of our tax credit donations, our dodgeball funds, or the monetary gifts that have been given to our school, I (often by proxy of the Site Council) rarely (if ever) just say no.

Many more of you provided comments on the survey related to support that went more like this:
"FUSD needs to provide adequate special services assistance...
"...provide resources to inclusion students..."
"More, qualified SPED aides..."
"...the lack of special education services..."
"...parapros need to be trained..."
"We absolutely need more support for special education..."

 To which I can only reply, "I know."  We've tried to offset this need for this school year by hiring one of our own faithful faculty members, Laura Alonso-Paez, into a new support-services position to fuction as our multi-tiered systems of support specialist, to oversee the implementation of our SPED inclusion, talented-and-gifted, and cross-categorical programs at Marshall.  Plus, we retained our now seasoned-veteran SPED Resource teacher, Amanda Fugett, recruited another excellent and well-recommended SPED Resource teacher, Kaitlin Sally-Trulock, and been able to convince the vast majority of our experienced paras to stick around.  And finally, I want you to know, I've spent my summer doing pretty much just one thing: trying to hire the best and most well-qualified paraprofessionals FUSD's money can buy.

Together, this team and I will do all that we are able to do to support you and the exceptional students on both ends of the spectrum in your classroom.

Also pertaining to support, on the survey a few of you also mentioned things like:
"...improve the morale of staff..."
"...coworkers try to support one another..."
"...most of the staff are willing to help one another..."
"...there is strong collaboration between faculty..."
"I have felt cared about, loved, and appreciated so much this year..."

To respond to these statements, I have reworked our school committees, eliminating some, combining others, and, most importantly, revamping our long-standing Social Committee into a Faculty Engagement Committee whose new job description reads,
"Recognizes staff bereavements, birthdays, anniversaries, and other achievements, plans and coordinate occasional/seasonal celebrations and staff gatherings to encourage staff to engage with one another on a social basis. Creates calendar of events, coordinates event workforce. Attendance at after-school events may be required. Meets monthly at a time to be determined by the committee."

It is my hope that this group will actively take on the job of helping all of us to support one another.

We're all in this together, after all.

Finally, I also want you to encourage you to support yourself this year.  I want you to focus for the next 10 months on your own well-being and how you might better balance your work-life with your not-work-life.

Did you know that in 2008 the federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics found out that teachers...
  • are more likely than any other group of professionals to do work at home
  • are more likely than any other group of professionals to go in to work on Sunday
  • are more likely than any other group of professionals to have more than one job
Our lives so easily slip out of balance, especially during the school year.  This job will beat you up.  And usually, it won't apologize for doing so.  The thing I love most about summer is the feeling I get toward the end of June that my life is beginning to get back into balance and that my personal well-being is on the mend.

This summer I attended the Leading Change conference in Tucson, along with a large contingent of FUSD teachers and administrators.  Adam Saenz, a licensed psychologist, was our keynote speaker the first morning.  I was dubious from the start that he would have much, if anything, relevant to tell me that would improve my practice as a school administrator.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by what he had to say to educators about personal well-being and living a balanced life.

I was given a free copy of his book at the conference, The Power of a Teacher, and read it the next week with great interest.  It's quite good and contains a number of strategies and encouragements to help the reader strive for balance and achieve greater personal well-being in life. I would be happy to loan it out.

Before we conclude our time together today, I'd like us to watch the first 28 minutes of his talk:





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