Trust the Process

“What we are waiting for is not as important as what happens to us while we are waiting. Trust the process.” Mandy Hale


This weekend, I am typing this post from a hotel lobby in Philadelphia while we wait to head to the airport after attending a Teach to Lead Conference hosted by the ASCD and the US Department of Education.  This conference allows teams of educators from across the United States to build on ideas that they believe will change student outcomes and create an implementation plan, with the help of experts in the field, to make a positive change in their schools and districts.

My husband has an idea of creating a database that recent graduates from his high school and alumni can access that can give them a "foot in the door" when getting that first job after college or after time in the military.  Since I am a graduate of Triton High School, where Guy teaches, and have some connections to businesses in the community he invited me to be a part of the team.

After visiting some outstanding schools on Friday, the Teach to Lead staff led us through the Logic Model when creating action plans.  

Here is the template we used:

As we worked through this process with our Critical Friend from the Department of Education we were reminded that we MUST TRUST THE PROCESS and not get stuck in the messy middle or go off track by exploring a rabbit hole.  The process of completing this model step by step with revision as we go was the only way to be successful.

The speaker also used the local Philly basketball team, the 76ers to explain how trusting the process could look.

I have attached a video but to sum it up...the team intentionally chose to lose and drafted injured players to get higher picks in future drafts and allow injured players to heal to end up a few years done the road as a competitive team.  The fans and the team had to trust the process.

This is so true when it comes to improving outcomes for our students.  It can be messy and at some points we might question if we are on the right path.  Is Arts Integration the best way to reach our students? Is it working? Should we continue our journey and professional development with Singapore Math or just do what others have done and abandon current practices with "shiny new ideas" that are being advertised to cure all ills?

This weekend reminded me that the process can be tough and messy but you must see it through to its end to see the results.  And just like the 76ers, I believe that it will be well worth the wait!

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning!- Angela

Week of Monday, April 1- Friday, April 5, 2019

* Penny Wars Continues

* Walk Through Form will have A+ Focus Snapshot Form (see email from Hill)

* No PLCs This Week

Monday, April 1

• Penny Wars Continue 
• Mrs. Hill will be covering Ms. Mac for her Birthday
• 5th Grade Planning 10-11 AM
• Planning for Middle Grades ELA/Humanities (Motsinger, Fiore, Connors) 2-3 PM
• Planning for Middle Grades Math (Ezell and Clough) 2-3 PM

Tuesday, April 2

• Penny Wars Continue
• NCDPI Continually Low Performing Schools Visit 8:30 AM - Until
• Classroom visits will be part of the visits so please be prepared and ready to have a guest pop in
• Administration Team Mtg. 9-10 AM
• Builder's Club Mtg in Theater from 11:30 AM- 12 PM
• TED ED Club in PLC Room 11:30 AM- 12 PM
• NCDPI Meeting with Leadership Team Members 12-1 PM
• Kline
• Falls
• Thomas
• Hill
• Covington
• Majka
• Lanham
• 3rd Grade Planning 12-1 PM
• Arts Integration Team Planning 1:05-1:35 PM in Ms. Ward's Studio
• Kindergarten
• Caudle-Akers
• Johnson- Strimel
• Williams-Pond
• Planning for Middle Grades Science (Ezell and Hughes) 2-3 PM
• Hill leaves at 3:30 to go to CAC

Wednesday, April 3

• Penny Wars Continue 
• Mrs. Hill and Mr. Thomas at NC MTSS Consortium: Making Connections for All Students in Chapel Hill

Thursday, April 4

• Penny Wars Continue
• Kindergarten Planning 8-9 AM
• Second Grade Planning 9-10 AM
• 4th Grade Planning 12-1 PM
• Arts Integration Team Planning 1:05-1:35 PM in Ms. Ward's Studio
• 1st Grade
• Person- Falls
• Campagna-Gholston
• Brown- Hill
• Mandatory Faculty Summit 3:30-3:45 PM

Friday, April 5

• 1st Grade ELA Unit 6: Fig Lang Post Assessment
• Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Ezell at UNC-P Job Fair
• Mr. Thomas covers Mrs. Scriven for her birthday
• Kindergarten Planning 8-9 AM
• First Grade Planning 10-11 AM
• Give Five completed by noon

Saturday, April 6

• TCEA Job Fair 10 AM -2 PM

🦎👏 Chameleon Clap 🦎👏

From Hill:

Thank you to our teachers who took on the call to participate in the early adopter group of Lesson Planner.  One of your early adopter incentives is on the way!!

Thank you to all staff members who have participated in the Worksheet Audit. You still have a few hours to complete the challenge. Ends at 11:59 PM on 3.31.19.

Open Your Door!

Good morning!  I hope everyone is enjoying this sun and our taste of Spring.  I am afraid the cold returns soon so get out and enjoy.

Today I am including a link to a wonderful article that one of my educational heroes wrote a few years back.  I hope you take the time to read it and I'd love to hear how this impacts your craft.

Get Quick Article Here!

See everyone tomorrow!-  Angela

Week of Monday, March 25- Friday, March 29, 2019

Walk thru focuses for remainder of March: Rigor Rate, Instructional Strategies, Focus on Instruction,  Student Engagement and Grouping!

Monday, March 25

• Mr. Thomas cover Ms. Payton for her birthday
• 2nd Grade Presentation in the Cafe 8:30-9:00
• 4th grade library 9:00 AM and 1:15 PM
• 5th Grade Planning 10-11
• Hill at Dr. Appt (will leave at 11:45) and will take 1/2 day
• Planning for Middle Grades ELA/Humanities (Motsinger, Fiore, Connors) from 2-3 PM
• Planning for Middle Grades Math (Ezell and Clough) from 2-3 PM

Tuesday, March 26

• Mr. Thomas and Mr. Falls at Testing Coordinator Meeting
• PLCs facilitated by Hill (focus: licensure, Open Office Hours, and CEUs)
• Please bring any questions/concerns that you have as well
• 5th grade at 10-11 AM
• 4th grade at 12-1 PM
• Raffle Ticket Pickups between 9:30-11:30 AM
• I will be calling students down by classes to place their raffle tickets for prizes from our most recent fundraiser. Please keep students until I call for them.
• TED-ED Club Meeting in PLC Room from 11:30-12:00
• 3rd Grade Planning 12-1 PM
• Arts Integration Meeting from 1:05-1:35 PM in Ms. Ward's Studio
• Scriven-Samuelson's Sub- Salena Alston-Gholston
• Bigler- R. Brown
• Planning for Middle Grades Science (Ezell and Hughes) 2-3 PM

Wednesday, March 27

• Mr. Thomas is out
• PLCs facilitated by Hill (focus: licensure, Open Office Hours, and CEUs)
• Please bring any questions/concerns that you have as well
• Kindergarten 8-9
• 2nd Grade 9-10
• 1st Grade 10-11
• 3rd Grade 12-1
• Arts 1-2
• Middle School 2-3

Thursday, March 28

• Hill covers Weir for her birthday
• Kindergarten 8-9
• Kindergarten Presentation in Theater 8-8:30 AM
• 2nd Grade 9-10 AM
• 4th Grade to Art Council 9:30-10:30
• TED-ED Club 11:30-12:00 in PLC Room
• 4th Grade Planning 12-1 PM
• Arts Integration Team Meeting in Ms. Ward's Studio 1:05-1:35
• Middle School
• Motsinger- Falls
• Fiore- Hill
• Conners- Thomas
• Hughes- Lanham
• Ezell- Covington

Friday, March 29

• Hill in Philadelphia at Teach to Lead Conference
• 2nd Grade ELA Unit 7: Text Structure Post Assessment
• Kindergarten Planning 8-9 AM
• Cane at BTS Collaborative 9:00-11:30 AM
• 1st Grade Planning 10-11 AM
• Middle School Awards Day in Cafe 2-3 PM
• Give Five due by 3 PM

🦎👏 Chameleon Clap 🦎

From Mrs. Hill

• Shout out to Ms. Akers, Ms. Turner and Mr. Salisbury for a successful visit from Child Nutrition office at NCDPI
• Shout out to staff for a good visit from the fire marshal and correcting any areas of concern immediately.
• Shout out to Kline, Mr. Falls, and 1st Grade Team for representing at 4th Friday!
• Shout out to Mr. Thomas for holding down the fort on Friday.
• A BIG thank you to Ms. Akers and the FEO for a successful Book fair!
• Shout out to Ms. Norris for representing TCEA with me at our Regional A+ Meeting!
• And last but not least... THANK YOU to Will and Jonathan for handling the Full Moon Madness of March 2019!!!

What Comes First??

There's been a lot of conversation on Instagram and Twitter lately (and I am sure Facebook although I am not up there enough to see it) about how we must focus on Maslow before Bloom.  What all of these educators are saying that building relationships and taking care of students' needs comes first and that little to no learning can take place until students' needs are met.

Just in case you're unfamiliar with Maslow and Blooms I have posted the respective triangles below.

Maslow Triangle

I agree with this idea and this is why I believe I have always been a strong proponent of taking the first ten days of school to build culture in classrooms while reviewing procedures and expectations to ensure student success.  I guess where I do differ and where I worry that educators can go wrong is when they believe that you can only focus on one area at a time.  I have seen this go wrong when teachers LOVED their students so much that they struggled to maintain high expectations and basically "loved them to DUMB".  They protected them from the struggle while withholding high expectations because they wanted kids to feel good about themselves. 

I actually believe we can take care of students' basic needs while pushing them towards being the best version of themselves.

Great teachers have high expectations for their students, but higher expectations for themselves. 

Todd Whitaker

What are your thoughts? Would love for you to comment via this blog or email. I hope everyone has had an amazing week and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow! -Angela

Week of Monday, March 18-22, 2019

Walk thru focuses for remainder of March: Rigor Rate, Instructional Strategies, Focus on Instruction,  Student Engagement and Grouping!

Monday, March 18

• Penny Wars Begin and runs through Spring Break!!!
• Dress Down Week (Sponsored by 4th Grade)
• Please see email from Hill for details
• 3rd grade SWYK rough drafts due
• 4th grade to library 9 AM and 1:15 PM
• 5th Grade Planning 10-11
• Planning for Middle Grades Math (Ezell and Clough) 2-3 PM
• Planning for Middle Grades ELA/Humanities (Motsinger, Fiore, Connors) 2-3 PM
• TCEA Board Mtg in Ms. Scriven's Studio at 5:30 PM

Tuesday, March 19

• MTSS PLCs Facilitated by Mrs. Samuelson (either in person or via phone)
• 5th Grade 10-11 AM
• 4th Grade 12-1 PM
• 4th grade SWYK rough drafts due
• Dress Down Week Continues
• 1st grade Awards Day 8-8:45
• Hill at A+ Training in Wilson 
• Builders Club at 11:30 in theater
• TED-ED Club at 11:30 in theater (Ms. Pond and Mr. Kline will supervise students working on research for speeches- I will have laptops for them)
• 3rd Grade Planning 12-1 PM
• AIT Meetings 1:05-1:35 PM
• 4th Grade
• Majka- Riffle
• McLaughlin- Akers
• Planning for Middle Grades Science (Ezell and Hughes) 2-3 PM

Wednesday, March 20

• Dress Down Week Continues
• 5th grade SWYK rough drafts due
• Hill out (presenting at the CCES Conference...🤞)
• Thomas, Falls, and Covington gone to Establishing a Core Tier of Behavior Support - East
• MTSS PLCs Facilitated by Mrs. Pond (K-2), Mrs. Samuelson (3rd) and Mr. Falls (Middle School)
• K: 8-9
• 2nd Grade: 9-10
• 1st Grade: 10-11
• 3rd Grade: 12-1
• Middle School: 2-3 Mr. Falls will reschedule and email you a new date/time
• Arts PLC 1-2 PM
• 5th Grade Field Trip to Civil Rights Museum
• Beginning Teacher Mtg at 3:30 in Mrs. Cane's Studio

Thursday, March 21

• Scholastic Book Fair
• Report Card Conferences
• 10 AM- 6 PM
• Dinner will be served after 3 PM in Lounge (Pizza and Salad)
• Hill out 1/2 Day at Conference (PM)

Friday, March 22

• Scholastic Book Fair
• Report Card Conferences
• 7:40 AM- 3:40 PM
• Lunch will be served at 11 AM in Lounge (Subs and Salad)
• Hill out at Conference all day
• FEO - Parents Night Out: 5:45 – 9:15 PM
• No GIVE FIVE this week!!

🦎👏 Chameleon Clap 🦎👏

From Mrs. Hill

• Thanks to Mr. Kline for bringing Junie B. Jones to our school. Great job directing as well.
• Thanks to Ms. Payton for hosting all of our guests from MU this year.
• Thanks to Mr. Salisbury for a smooth lottery this year and to Ms. Lanham, Mr. Thomas, and Ms. Trojan for helping out!
• Thanks to all core teachers for completing slides for Board Presentation tomorrow night!

Boosting Student Memory

This time of year we begin to stress as educators (not that the rest of the year is stress-less).  But our stress now is focused on this one question... "Have we prepared our student to be able to display proficiency in the state standards we were to teach during the year?"  Many times we can review what we have taught and can confidently say we covered it but the answer to will they be able to remember what we taught is not a sure YES.

This popped up on Twitter today and reminded me that no matter how long we've been in education, it does not hurt to be reminded of good practice.  Please take the time to watch this quick clip on 

FIVE TIPS TO BOOST STUDENT MEMORY

1) Use Peer to Peer Explanations

2) Review. Break. Review Again.

3) Give frequent practice tests.

4) Try Interleaving.

5) Pair Texts with Images.

See everyone tomorrow!- Angela

Week of Monday, March 11- Friday, March 15

Monday, March 11

• Mandatory Teacher Workday
• 8-9: PBIS Committee Meeting with Mr. Thomas
• 9-3: A+ Training in the Theater
• Lunch Break 11:30-12:30 (lunch on your own)
• Bring Pacing Guides

Tuesday, March 12

• Instructional PLC 8:30-9:30
• Data and Intervention PLCs facilitated by Ms. Covington
• 5th Grade 10-11
• 4th Grade 12-1
• Middle Grades: Humanities 2-3
• TED-ED Club Mtg. in PLC Room 11:30-12:00
• AIT Planning Mtg in Ward's Studio 1:05-1:35 PM
• 2nd Grade
• Cane- Pond
• Acosta- Strimel
• Marshall-Lanham
• Grades Due by 4 PM

Wednesday, March 13

• Core Teacher Slides Due to Hill by End of Day
• Data and Intervention PLCs facilitated by Ms. Covington
• Kindergarten 8-9
• 2nd Grade 9-10
• 1st Grade 10-11
• 3rd Grade 12-1
• Middle Grades: Science and Math 2-3
• Junie B. Jones Performance in Theater 1-2 PM
• 1st and 2nd grade
• Lottery 5:30-6:30

Thursday, March 14

• Kindergarten Planning 8-9
• 2nd Grade Planning 9-10
• TED-ED Club Mtg in PLC 11:30-12:00
• 4th Grade Planning 12-1
• AIT Planning Mtg in Ward's Studio 1:05-1:35 PM
• Third Grade
• DeNoble- Riffle
• Weir- Thomas
• Miller-Covington
• Department Chair Mtg 3:30-4:00

Friday, March 15

• 💰💰💰 Pay Day!
• Spring Pictures
• Please be on the look out for a schedule from Ms. Trojan
• Kindergarten Planning 8-9
• 1st Grade Planning 10-11
• Give Five due by 1 PM

🦎👏 Chameleon Clap 🦎👏

From Mr. Kline:

Thanks to Payton, Norris, Haslem, Ward and Thomas for putting on a wonderful arts night week!  

🏾🥁

From Ms. Akers:

Staff members with lunch counts with 1 discrepancy or less:

Johnson

Caudle

Brown

Williams

Person

Campagna

Weir

DeNoble

Miller

Acosta

McLaughlin

Bigler

Scriven

Fiore

Connors

From Mrs. Hill:

Thank you to Ms. Acosta, Mr. Falls, Mr. Kline, Ms. Norris, Ms. Trojan, Ms. Cane and Ms. Covington for an awesome legislative visit on Friday.

Thanks to Ms. Covington for covering Ms. Campagna's Class for AIT.

Thanks to Mr. Falls for changing his schedule to ensure our students can have MTSS in grades 3rd-5th.

Mission Accomplished for February

Arts:  Review Arts Integrated Lessons executed so far this year.  In the one area where you have not done much integration, plan an arts integrated lesson and reach out to the Arts Staff Member in that area for guidance. After teaching the lesson, drop a quick lesson description and a picture of student work here.

Mission Completed: Earns a Mission Accomplished Stamp on your Mission File and a Jeans Pass.

No One Completed This Mission

Academic: Read this article and either adapt an upcoming lesson to make it more equitable OR do the attached lesson and upload your lesson and/or student work here.

Mission Completed: Earns a Mission Accomplished Stamp on your Mission File and an early leave (3:00 PM) or late arrival (8:00 AM) pass.

No One Completed This Mission

Culture: Send a positive behavior referral to Mrs. Hill's box for at least two students you serve or work with.  

Mission Completed: Earns a Mission Accomplished Stamp on your Mission File and a visit from the Hoot! Hoot! Wagon

No One Completed This Mission

Personal:  Give a peer a "heart attack" anytime before 3/1/19. What's a heart attack? Decorate a staff member's door with hearts saying what makes them so awesome.  Complete this sheet if you decide to complete this mission.

Mission Completed: Earns a Mission Accomplished Stamp on your Mission File and a Coffee/Tea Delivery to your room/office.

 Mrs. Majka Completed This Mission

Mission for March

Complete the Worksheet Audit between now and March 31, 2019!

TCEA...We Have A Problem...

Today's focus will be handled by the all knowing and highly respected Jennifer Gonzalez. If you have some time, please read and/or listen to her post regarding worksheets.

The reason why I wanted to focus on this is because we have a problem at TCEA. We have gone through 750,000 copies since the start of the school year. That breaks down to 107,140 copies per month. We have 40 staff members, which means EVERYONE is making 2,679 copies per month. That's 1,100 more copies, per person, per month. We have spent 84% of our budget in ink and paper and we have 4 more months to go. 

We will not make it to June if we continue in this manner. I have asked Joe to investigate a way to control the printing that just sits on the copier and is thrown in the trash because no one ever picks it up.

I was worried about the amount of copies before discovering the cost issue.  Last month during an instructional PLC, I spoke to the team about instituting No Worksheet Wednesdays when we would encourage the staff not to use worksheets.

We ruled that out as a school initiative because we did not want to stress you more or cause people to just make copies on a different day.

This concept of using less worksheets has to be more than a directive...you must see the purpose behind it.

I hope that this post and attached podcast will help you do the following challenge from Jennifer Gonzalez.  This will be the March Challenge and more information will go out next week.

THE CHALLENGE: DO A WORKSHEET AUDIT

Everyone teaches differently, and as we have established, all worksheets are not created equal. There is no single prescription for what kind or how many worksheets you should be using with your students. Only you and your students can know that for sure.

So my challenge to you is simple: From now on, every time you’re about to use a worksheet, ask yourself if it’s contributing to student learning or if it’s actually just keeping them busy. If it’s the latter, start replacing your worksheets with better, richer alternatives. Your students will learn better, school will be more fun, and you’ll waste a whole lot less time in line at the copy machine. 

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow! - Angela

Week of Monday, March 4- Friday. March 8, 2019

5 x 5 Walk through return:  Please know that due to feedback in SIT and best practices, at least one of the walk thrus a week will be for an extended time (30-40 minutes).

This will not be a formal observation but will focus on all areas on the informal walk thru document.

For the 5-7 minute pop ins, Mr. Thomas and I will focus on:

Culture

Classroom Management

Additional Observations

*********************************************************************************

Also peer observations will be taking place now through March 25, 2019.
*********************************************************************************
No PLCs this week!!!

Mid Year one on one continue

Monday, March 4

• 5th Grade Planning 10-11
• Planning for Middle Grades ELA/Humanities (Motsinger, Fiore, Connors) 2-3
• Planning for Middle Grades Math (Ezell and Clough) 2-3
• SIT Mtg at 3:30 in Ms. Majka's Studio
• NCEES Peer Training 3:30-4:00

Tuesday, March 5

• Admin Mtg 9-10
• Builders Club 11:30-12:00 in Theater
• TED-ED Club in PLC Room 11:30-12:00
• 3rd Grade Planning 12-1
• Chameleon Viewing Hours 12-2 PM
• More information to come
• Arts Integration Team Meeting in Ms. Ward's Studio 1:05-1:35 PM
• Kindergarten
• Caudle-Akers
• Johnson- Strimel
• Williams-Pond
• Planning for Middle Grades Science (Ezell and Hughes) 2-3 PM
• Trimester 2 Middle School Elective Night 6-8 PM
• Visual Arts, STEAM, and Music

Wednesday, March 6

• Hill possibly leaves at 2 PM

Thursday, March 7

• 4th Grade ELA Unit 5: Thematic Genre Unit Post Assessment
• Kindergarten Planning 8-9
• 2nd Grade Planning 9-10
• TED-ED Club 11:30-12:00
• 4th Grade Planning 12-1
• Arts Integration Team Meeting in Ms. Ward's Studio 1:05-1:35
• 1st Grade
• Person- Falls
• Campagna-Need coverage since we have no sub for Samuelson (anyone interested in volunteering please let Hill know)
• Brown- Hill
• Mandatory Faculty Mtg. 3:30-3:45
• Trimester 2 Middle School Elective Night
• Theatre/Film, Dance, and Drumline

Friday, March 8

• Last Day of 2nd Trimester
• 1st Grade ELA Unit 5: Nonfiction
• 2nd Grade ELA Unit 6: Figurative Lang Post Assessment
• 3rd Grade ELA Unit 5: Theme Post Assessment
• 4th Grade at Marbles Museum
• Kindergarten Planning 8-9
• 1st Grade Planning 10-11
• Chameleon Viewing Hours 12:30-2:30
• Details to follow

🦎👏 Chameleon Claps 🦎👏

From Ms. Akers:

One discrepancy or less... Thank you! 

Person

Brown

Caudle

Campagna

Williams

DeNoble

Weir

Marshall

Acosta

McLaughlin

Scriven

Hughes

Clough

Motsinger

From Ms. Hill

Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to be kind to me during this difficult time. I really appreciate working with such a caring group of people.

Thank you to Ms. Majka and Ms. Ward for hosting visitors for last week's Chameleon Viewing Hours.

Thank you to Mr. Thomas and all staff that made our Read Across America event wonderful. I saw the pictures and was so proud.

Last Call....

If you wanted to participate in February Missions, please complete by end of day on March 4th.