The Marshall Blue Note Blog: January 2017

Updates - 26 January 2017

Hello everyone,

I'm afraid I'm a little off-the-back when it comes to Blue Notes. Due to our recent six-day weekend, I was unable (read: skiing) to produce a Note for you last Friday. In light of that, I'm going to sorta produce a two-fer for you today, combining last week's update with this week.

That said, I hope you had as much fun as I did over the course of the past few days. I burnt a few of my precious vacation days to go skiing and hang out with my family, and, but for a few hours on Tuesday, didn't show up for work the whole time. I'm not regretting my decision at all. Conditions on the mountain were all-time perfect. And ya can't ski in June.

Marshall Values: Collaboration & Persistence

I've mentioned on more than one occasion that Marshall has become an increasingly challenging place to teach over the course of the past few years as we've added in a significant percentage of students with academic, language, and behavioral needs, the preponderance of whom are living at or near the poverty level and qualify for federal meal assistance.

It's not easy to meet all of these needs. But I remain convinced that we have assembled the very best faculty and staff in the world to try. It's because of your earnest efforts, and because your collective outlook that we're all in this together that we've been able to maintain, and in many cases increase, student achievement measures as we have simultaneously endured this remarkable shift in our demographic.

I'm so grateful to all of you for your willingness to carry out every day the values of Collaboration and Persistence that we formulated together earlier in the year. I'm pleased to recognize, as I walk through the building and interact with you as you are working with your kids, that the sentiments enumerated on these posters are evident in your attitude. We share a great collective responsibility as a staff for the well-being and academic progress of every kid who attends our school. I know you get that and that this concern is at the heart of your every professional interaction as you dialog together about our kids whenever you're given the opportunity to do so. This happens at every CT, in every hallway conversation, in each of our monthly B-GDMs, at every transfer between specials, at every IEP meeting we gather together to accomplish, at the mailboxes, in the lounge, while standing next to the copy machine, during AM and PM duty times, and even in the parking lot before and after work.

Thank you for talking with each other about our kids at every turn of your day. Marshall simply does not work unless...

you can be counted on by your team members
you stand united with your colleagues and our entire community
you are a problem solver
you believe each member of our organization has value

Marshall works because you do.

Spring Semester Transfers
We have a number of new student teachers in the building this semester who will, once again, (along with our aides, parapros, and support staff) help us move students between specials so that classroom teachers are able to have uninterrupted CT meetings and to ensure we carry out our consistent expectations for student behavior in the hall.

Please remember: our school-wide safe-responsible-respectful behavioral expectations should be reinforced by all staff members throughout the school day, not just between specials, but also as students transfer, as they always have, unaided to-and-from their RTI classes, and when transitioning independently from lunch in the cafeteria to the playground at recess.

To minimize traffic jams in the Kinder hall, this semester, at the end of P.E., classes will use restrooms by the rock wall to clean up before their next special class.

Students transitioning between Art to Music will wait quietly on the wall between those two rooms and Mrs. White will make the transfer between classrooms one class at at time.

CT	Day/Time	Switch	Switcher

4^th/5^th FB	Monday morning Fisher/Baker 4^th Fisher/Baker 5^th	9:50 am Art – Music PE – Art	Aide Aide

1^st	Tuesday afternoon Shaw Rittman Burgoon	2:00 pm Art – Music Music – PE PE – Art	White Grant Grant

4^th/5^th	Wednesday morning Grimmett Ingols Arnold Fisk Bergs	9:50 am Art – Music PE – Art Computer – Library FitKids – Computer Library – FitKids	White Student Teacher or Sam (not needed) Student Teacher or Janea Hanno

Kdg	Wednesday afternoon Housholder Ogg Paulsen	2:00 pm Art – Music Music – PE PE – Art	Christina Stephanie Student Teacher

3^rd	Thursday morning Joe Foubert	9:50 am Art – Music PE – Art	Student Teacher or aide Student Teacher

2^nd	Thursday afternoon Overton Reger Macias	2:00 Art – Music Music – PE PE – Art	Student Teacher or Kim Reasor Reasor

FUSD Summer FACTS Program
It's official. Our school will host summer FACTS again beginning on 12 June and running throughout the summer vacation until 28 July.

FACTS will use classrooms in the first hall (Colt Crossing) as well as the Gym, Computer Lab, and Library this summer.

Calendar

Thursday 26 Jan

Coe at ESS Director hiring committee, 3:00

Friday 27 Jan

Payday!

Monday 30 Jan

Coe, Paez, Hanno at Adaptive Schools training, all day
Magnet Monday Showcase, 2:10-3:10

Tuesday 31 Jan

Coe, Paez, Hanno at Adaptive Schools training, all day
Salary advacement papers due to HR for 2016

Wednesday 01 Feb

PTO in the Library, 6:30

Thursday 02 Feb

Faculty Meeting in the Library, 7:45
Coe at ESS Director hiring committee, 9:00-5:00

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Updates - 13 January 2017

Hello everyone,

Happy trifecta Friday! Been quite a while since all our stars have aligned so fortuitously. Nice to have a payday-Friday-three-day weekend to celebrate today.

Hope you've got great plans for the days ahead.

Pam the Intern
I hope you'll have a chance to say hello to Pam Kennedy soon. She's doing her school administrator internship here at Marshall this semester and has been meeting with me regularly for the past several months as she completes her coursework at Grand Canyon University.

Over the course of the next few weeks she will be out in the building more often, visiting classrooms and observing our day-to-day operations here at Marshall. I'm sure she'll introduce herself to you when she has a chance to do so without interrupting your instruction. Thanks for making her feel welcomed.

W-2s
We all received an email this week indicating that your 2016 W-2s are available on Employee Online. Please don't forget to make your tax credit contribution to Marshall before you pay your taxes!

Calendar

Monday 16 Jan

NO SCHOOL - MLK Day

Wednesday 18 Jan

Coe at Elementary Admin mtg, 9:30-11:30

Thursday 19 Jan

Coe at Exceptional Student Service Director hiring committee, 3:00

Friday 20 Jan

Fire drill, 10:00

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Updates - 06 January 2017

Hello everyone,

Twenty-seventeen. Gosh dang. Not sure how we got to this point. But I'm glad you're here with me, doing what you're doing for the students of Marshall Magnet School.

Wouldn't be the same without you.

Halcyon Days
I'm compelled to recall every January, following the long holiday break, how pleasant every January always is. Please remember to enjoy this period of the school year when everyone is satiated by a prolonged period of time away from work and school, when the preponderance of kinks and kooks seem to have been ironed out, when we all tend to feel like we've truly found our groove.

It never lasts. That's the truth of the hard work of teaching

Which makes it all the more important to recognize and revel in it while it's here. February brings planning for the coming year, the impending pressures of upcoming testing, the rush to complete all that's on your curriculum map before it's too late, and the resurgence of the madness that inevitably must come as we work together toward the end of the school calendar.

But for now, don't forget: these are the halcyon days.

TPEC Stuff
The Round 2 TPEC calendar has been set for teaching staff and can be viewed by clicking on the link Calendar: Evaluation in the sidebar at right. Remember: folks with less than three completed years in FUSD on a 1.0 full-time teaching contract must receive two formal written evaluations during the school year. Similarly, folks on one-year-only contracts with less than six completed years of work in FUSD must likewise have two evals during the school year.

Thems the rules.

For the rest of the faculty, those with more than three years of teaching experience in FUSD, you may waiver out of one of your two required annual evaluations if we both decide that this is the proper and desired course of action. I have always used the threshold of a score of 3.0 or better on your initial eval as a standard starting point for this process.

Thus, I will be bringing 2016-2017 TPEC Waiver forms around for many of you to sign next week.

Everyone who has had an initial evaluation this year (that's the entirety of the teaching staff with but three exceptions: Grant, Hanno, and Reasor) should complete the acknowledgement process as soon as possible. After logging in to your TPEC, follow these steps to do so:

Click Evaluations at the top of the page
Click the header 2016-2017 TPEC
Ensure there is a green check mark next to the Pre-Conference section
Click on Observation Acknowledgements tab above
Click on the Formal Observation Acknowledgement section
Click the Edit button
Enter today's date
Choose Formal Evaluation #1
Check the box "I acknowledge that I have received..."
Click the Save & Exit button in the lower right corner
Select Mark Complete
Ensure there is a green check mark next to Formal Observation Acknowledgement

You're done. Thanks!

Tax Credit
Still super important that you continue to remind your parents about our tax credit campaign. We'll be putting the thermometer up in the lobby next week, and we'll be filling it in to the $18,000 level (approximately the amount we've collected since the end of April 2016) to start things off, which is great . But that means we still need to garner another $22,000 before 15 April in order to keep Magnet Monday, Suzuki, and all of your important field-trips as a part of our one-of-a-kind magnet programming here a Marshall School.

Thanks for all your efforts in this regard.

PBIS Update
PBIS Resources coming soon to your classroom! Our team has been compiling what we hope will be very useful resources for you to utilize in your classroom. Expect to see them next week, with a follow-up email giving you an overview.

Remember, it's time to get your buddy classroom teacher set up. Remember to go up or down 2+ grade levels. If you are having trouble finding a buddy, please let Sheila White know and she will assist you. This is now a required component of our PBIS Plan here at Marshall

To quote Woody from Toy Story:

Half-day Call Offs
This applies to everyone, certified and classified staff alike. Remember, if you call off on a Friday and do not intend to come to work at all, you must call off for the entire day. We in the front office get scolded by the folks at the head-shed on a regular basis when y'all neglect to do this and are required to revise your absence for you when you don't do this yourself.

Calendar

Monday 09 Jan

Coe at Admin, 12:00-4:00

Friday 13 Jan

Payday!

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