The Ripple Effects of Small Things

" Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon."
Booker T. Washington

Have you ever had an inner debate on whether you should take on a battle?  Especially when it's a battle where the pay off might be small and not have a large impact on current practices or number of people?  This is what I debated, in my head and with the unfortunate staff members stuck in a room with me, when I thought about the Bathroom Battle of 2018.  To say and do too much about the bathroom cleanliness or lack there of could go two ways: (1) the attention gets the bathroom to a clean state or (2) the attention challenges the students to make it worse.

As you know, I decided to close the bathrooms on the middle grades hallway and challenged staff to ensure that the rest of the bathroom are keep clean.  This is one of those things that I am unsure how it will ultimately play out but I do know that it truly is one of those small things that if left unattended could largely impact out school in a negative way.  If you do not attend to the small things, they can sometimes multiple and become worse.  Trashing the bathrooms extends to our halls, classrooms and then possibly damage to other students' belongings.

Will this plan work? I am unsure.  Will I give up if this plan doesn't work? Nope, because I have always believed that the BIG things can't be tackled until the small things are.

What in your classroom or life are the small things that need more attention?  Why wait until the next week of trimester?  Start making the small things important because they usually make a big difference.

Want to hear more? Check out the video below.  Hope you have had a great weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.        - Angela

Week of Monday, February 12- Friday, February 16

Monday, February 12

• Mid Year One on One Staff Reviews Begin
• 5th grade planning at 12:50
• Small Group SIT Mtg at 3:30-4:00 PM in Hill's Office
• Candygrams on Sale
• Each grade level team (K-5) will come up with a game (carnival style) to play and get a list of materials to Joe by 2.12.17

Tuesday, February 13

• Hill and Thomas at Testing Meeting
• Arts Integration Team Planning- Mr. Kline is the facilitator (1st and 4th grades)
• 8-9: 1st Grade
• Johnson- Lanham
• Person- Strimel
• Brown- Pond
• 9:05-10:05: 4th Grade
• Majka-Carr
• McLaughlin-Bullington
• 1st Grade to Library 9:45-11:00
• 3rd Grade Planning 10:10-11:10

Wednesday, February 14

• Mid Year One on One Staff Reviews Continue
• PLCs (Data/ Intervention with Ms. Covington)
• 8-9: Kindergarten
• 9:05-10:05: 1st Grade
• 10:10-11:10: 2nd Grade
• 12:50-1:50: 5th Grade
• 1:55-2:55: Middle Grades
• 4th Grade Planning at 12:50-1:50

Thursday, February 15

• Mid Year One on One Staff Review Continue
• Kindergarten Planning at 8:00-9:00
• PLCs (Data/ Intervention with Ms. Covington)
• 10:10-11:10: 3rd Grade
• 12:50-1:50: 4th Grade
• 2nd Grade Planning at 10:10-11:10
• Arts PLC at 11:30-12:30
• MTSS Team Mtg. at 12:30-2:30

Friday, February 16

• Math Foundations Training 8 AM- 3PM
• Unit 5 Learning Task
  ● Select a student who is struggling in mathematics as compared to
  his/her peers.
  ● Administer the Number Knowledge Test, annotating the recording
  sheet diligently.
  
  
  ● Make certain to read and refer to the “Directions for
  Administration” for help in administering and interpreting the
  assessment.
  ● In a one to two page report provide the background of the
  student and analyze the results of the assessment to determine
  the student’s strengths and needs.
  
  
  ● Using data from the assessment, determine where you need more
  information about the student.
  ● Use any further assessment tool such as the Math Instruction
  Checklist, probes from Intervention Central, teacher made
  assessments or diagnostic interviews to gain more insight into the
  student’s area of need.
  ● Determine where instruction should begin for this student.
• Admin Meeting during lunch break (Noon-1 PM)

🦎👏 Chameleon Clap 🦎👏

Mrs. Majka:

Ms. Covington. Thank you for guiding me and helping me grow so that in turn, my students can grow. I truly appreciate everything you do to help me ensure I'm the best I can be for my students!

Ms. Mac. Thank you for not only being you but for also being the kind of teammate and friend who helps me grow professionally, makes me laugh, and also encourages me to keep moving forward! xoxo

Mrs. Fleming-Scriven. Thank you for encouraging me to have a growth mindset when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone (literally).

Dates to keep in mind...

• President's Day (No School) on February 19th
• Chameleon Crawl on Friday, February 23 5:30-7:30
• TCEA SIT Mtg on 2.26.18 at 3:30
• TCEA Board Mtg on 2.26.18 at 5:15
• Black History Program at 2 PM on 2.27.18
• Battle of Books Eastern Region will be held at TCEA on Monday, March 12th