Well, technically as I write this, it's the last day of April, but for real, y'all.... Can you believe it's May? Even though (as Paige mentioned) last week seemed to be the longest week ever, it's hard to believe that we are nearing the end of school. Having Follies rehearsals on top of all of that was CRAZY. It was so fun though and we had a blast!
Just a note: If you have any issues with expectations, please bring those to me and not others outside our staff. You do not want to create a negative perception of any kind before we even get into the doors! Thanks in advance for that!
Update: The parent meetings went very well. We have had a great turnout overall. I believe I have about 150 applicants after the meetings. These applicants are of both genders, all races, and all school zones in town. There is a called meeting with the board on Monday at noon where we will be proposing all of the costs for the building for the board to approve so technology, furniture and the gym can get going. Once we get into the rooms and you see what else you may need, we will budget accordingly for that. If it's ok with y'all, I may stick with the logo I used for the Powerpoint at the parent meetings for now. I really would like the kids to create a logo as a contest of some sort once we get into the year and use that for year 2 and beyond. What are your thoughts on that?
I want us to continue thinking about not sacrificing rigor for relevance this week. Look at your lesson plans and see where you can add rigor, especially those of you preparing for testing. Reflection shouldn't be a burden but a welcome part of your day to see how you can improve what you are already doing great. None of us have arrived. That's the great thing about education, it's always a never ending journey. Share your finding in your lessons and what you did to improve them. Please share by Thursday, May 4 (May the 4th be with you-- insert Darth Vader voice here).
Also, we need to plan a 3 day training for the engineering process and planning the strands for the year and what materials we need. We will definitely divide and conquer. We may only need 2 days because y'all are so awesome, but let's carve out 3 to be safe. June is pretty full, so let's look at our July calendars. What about the week of July 10th or 17th? Getting too much later, pushing us into moving days! Let me know what works best for you and I'll see if I can get us space somewhere. Also, I'm looking at bringing in a specialist from Region 8 on a monthly basis starting in July for differentiation training and support. We will get some of that during our GT training, but I want to ensure we have a good handle on that as we are challenging all of our students. That probably would be 1 day or possibly 1/2 day for K-2 and 1/2 day for 3-5. This will involve YOUR lesson plans, so it won't be a sit and get! I will ask her to give me a couple of dates in July and August to get started and then we will schedule the year out from there.
Thanks so much for taking this journey with me. It's a learning curve for all of us and I know I am asking a lot from your personal time. Please know that I GET THAT! I promise I will take care of you! :) Right now, I am off for a Pedi. My feet need some love right now!
SK loves the ROCKET team!
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
It's Getting REAL!!!
This week is going to be crazy! It a fantastic way but CRAZY! The schedule for parent informational meetings are as follows:
April 24th - 4-5 p.m. L.P. Waters; 5:30-6:30 p.m. Carver
April 25th - 5-6 p.m. Lamar; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Bowie
April 27th - 5-6 p.m. Crockett; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Travis
Students will be able to fill out applications at the meetings and application will be available online after the first meeting on the district website. We are working on a STEM webpage now. :)
After the last meeting each night, I will be racing to the municipal auditorium for Follies rehearsal! The show is April 28-29. Tickets are $15 for the floor and $5 for the balcony. If you are interested in going, contact me for tickets. All proceeds for this final Follies goes to the Hunt County Child Advocacy Center.
Also, there is a committee being formed to name our school! WOOO HOOO! I'll keep you updated.
Back in December when HIDDEN FIGURES came out in theaters I went to see it with a friend. (If you haven't seen this movie you HAVE to! I think I've seen it 4 times) This movie is about 3 African American women that were trailblazers at NASA in the 60s. In their movie, one of the characters was petitioning the court to allow her to attend an all white school to get the required courses to apply for an engineering position at NASA. Her words were inspiring to the judge as she said, "You of all people should understand the importance of being first" She went on to tell him all of the "firsts" the judge had achieved. He noted her research and asked the point in which she replied, "The point is no negro woman in the state of VA has ever attended an all white high school (where extension classes were offered). It's unheard of. And before Alan Shepherd sat on top ofa rocket, no other American had ever touched space. Now he will forever be remembered as the US Navy man from New Hampshire, the first to touch the stars. I, sir, plan on being an engineer at NASA. I can't do that without taking them classes at that all white high school. I can't change the color of my skin, so I have no choice but to be the first. Out of all the cases you've heard today - which one is going to matter 100 years from now? Which one will make you the first?" The judge granted her permission to attend only night classes. At that point my friend leaned over and said, "You'll be a first." I almost couldn't contain the multitude of emotions that swept over me in that moment. The huge responsibility that we are facing along with the amazing opportunity for the students of GISD is both completely exciting and scary as the unknown always is. We are risk takers - trailblazers! Embrace all of the emotions for they will drive us to amazing, uncharted waters to discover STEMtastic adventures.
Chapter 3: STEM-infusing the Elementary Classroom:
This may be one of my favorite and most important chapters in this book. At the beginning of the chapter, the author talked about creating a diagram using Popplet. I hadn't heard of this so I looked it up and did a quick tutorial. Has anyone used this platform or something similar? If so, share your experience(s).
We must always be aware of how easy it is to sacrifice rigor for relevance. Relevance is the easy part. There are plenty of "real world problems" in which to choose. "In fact, the art of strong pedagogy is finding the sweet spot where students are so engaged they embrace challenges that push them to apply their understanding at deeper level." In everything we plan for our students during the engineering hour or daily concepts, we must strive to provide a high level of rigor. We must go beyond the levels 1-3 on the Bloom's Taxonomy table found on page 25. We must look to the analyzing, evaluating, and creating areas. Also, I loved that it made a point to address technology as a piece of rigor in the lesson, not to play games and basic skills. There, of course, is a place for computer literacy. That is not what the author is talking about. We need to make sure use of technology is enhancing the experience, not giving us an extra 30 minute break while the IPads "watch" our students. :)
**Look at a lesson you taught last week. Take the Bloom's chart on page 25 and reflect at what level you prepared your lesson and the opportunity you gave your students. What could you have done to bump your teaching/learning up at least to the next level?
Also, let me know how the information in this book as changed your thoughts while lesson planning, or not.
Please respond by Thursday, April 27th.
I hope you all have an amazing week! I hope to see you at the parent meetings.
SK loves Rockets!
April 24th - 4-5 p.m. L.P. Waters; 5:30-6:30 p.m. Carver
April 25th - 5-6 p.m. Lamar; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Bowie
April 27th - 5-6 p.m. Crockett; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Travis
Students will be able to fill out applications at the meetings and application will be available online after the first meeting on the district website. We are working on a STEM webpage now. :)
After the last meeting each night, I will be racing to the municipal auditorium for Follies rehearsal! The show is April 28-29. Tickets are $15 for the floor and $5 for the balcony. If you are interested in going, contact me for tickets. All proceeds for this final Follies goes to the Hunt County Child Advocacy Center.
Also, there is a committee being formed to name our school! WOOO HOOO! I'll keep you updated.
Back in December when HIDDEN FIGURES came out in theaters I went to see it with a friend. (If you haven't seen this movie you HAVE to! I think I've seen it 4 times) This movie is about 3 African American women that were trailblazers at NASA in the 60s. In their movie, one of the characters was petitioning the court to allow her to attend an all white school to get the required courses to apply for an engineering position at NASA. Her words were inspiring to the judge as she said, "You of all people should understand the importance of being first" She went on to tell him all of the "firsts" the judge had achieved. He noted her research and asked the point in which she replied, "The point is no negro woman in the state of VA has ever attended an all white high school (where extension classes were offered). It's unheard of. And before Alan Shepherd sat on top ofa rocket, no other American had ever touched space. Now he will forever be remembered as the US Navy man from New Hampshire, the first to touch the stars. I, sir, plan on being an engineer at NASA. I can't do that without taking them classes at that all white high school. I can't change the color of my skin, so I have no choice but to be the first. Out of all the cases you've heard today - which one is going to matter 100 years from now? Which one will make you the first?" The judge granted her permission to attend only night classes. At that point my friend leaned over and said, "You'll be a first." I almost couldn't contain the multitude of emotions that swept over me in that moment. The huge responsibility that we are facing along with the amazing opportunity for the students of GISD is both completely exciting and scary as the unknown always is. We are risk takers - trailblazers! Embrace all of the emotions for they will drive us to amazing, uncharted waters to discover STEMtastic adventures.
Chapter 3: STEM-infusing the Elementary Classroom:
This may be one of my favorite and most important chapters in this book. At the beginning of the chapter, the author talked about creating a diagram using Popplet. I hadn't heard of this so I looked it up and did a quick tutorial. Has anyone used this platform or something similar? If so, share your experience(s).
We must always be aware of how easy it is to sacrifice rigor for relevance. Relevance is the easy part. There are plenty of "real world problems" in which to choose. "In fact, the art of strong pedagogy is finding the sweet spot where students are so engaged they embrace challenges that push them to apply their understanding at deeper level." In everything we plan for our students during the engineering hour or daily concepts, we must strive to provide a high level of rigor. We must go beyond the levels 1-3 on the Bloom's Taxonomy table found on page 25. We must look to the analyzing, evaluating, and creating areas. Also, I loved that it made a point to address technology as a piece of rigor in the lesson, not to play games and basic skills. There, of course, is a place for computer literacy. That is not what the author is talking about. We need to make sure use of technology is enhancing the experience, not giving us an extra 30 minute break while the IPads "watch" our students. :)
**Look at a lesson you taught last week. Take the Bloom's chart on page 25 and reflect at what level you prepared your lesson and the opportunity you gave your students. What could you have done to bump your teaching/learning up at least to the next level?
Also, let me know how the information in this book as changed your thoughts while lesson planning, or not.
Please respond by Thursday, April 27th.
I hope you all have an amazing week! I hope to see you at the parent meetings.
SK loves Rockets!
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Do Rainy Days and Mondays always get you down? (Even though it's Tuesday)
Hey Staff,
I'm sorry I didn't get a post to you on Friday. There was just a lot to process once my meeting with Dr. Liggins ended. I can't wait for you to meet him. He is very inspiring and is committed to seeing our school a success along with each and every other campus in GISD. To keep you updated, I am working on a presentation to take on the GISD road. It is a parent information presentation. I will be presenting this at each elementary campus in the evenings during the week of April 24th. I will be happy to share the dates/times and you are welcome to come to any or all if you so choose. Preparing the presentation is a daunting task because I want it to be perfect. Yet, I am excited with every bit of information I am sharing.
On another note, I have been informed that Lori Polk, who is currently the secretary at Lamar will be coming on board as my secretary. I am looking forward to getting to know her as well. I will keep you updated as plans continue to evolve. Please reach out to her and welcome her to STEM.
I so enjoyed reading each of your comments about chapter 1 from STEM-infusing the Elementary Classroom. Each of you inspire me and just continue to affirm the reason you have chosen STEM and STEM has chosen you!
Chapter 2 is titled Why STEM in Elementary? What is your answer to that?
As if our jobs weren't stressful enough, the author states that "we must prepare kids to be successful in an unknown future and to actively participate in the building of that future. And because we do not know what the future looks like, our only course of action is to raise problem-solvers, collaborators, innovators, and risk takers." No sweat, right? How do you relate to this statement? Are you looking at your lesson plans with this idea in mind?
You all know how passionate I am about integrating curriculum where it lends itself so I loved the statement that shared, "the most effective type of education is one in which students are pulling together and reorganizing information from all content areas in order to find a solution to an unpredictable real-world problem"
Use "YOUR NEXT STEP" on page 18. Analyze a lesson plan that you recently taught. Highlight parts in which you are preparing students for an unknown future with skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Circle parts that require tasks based on the assumption that our future economy will look like the present or even the past. Please share your reflections. We all learn from each other with no judgment.
I hope you all have an amazing 4-day weekend. I know I am looking forward to it. Please respond by Tuesday, April 18th.
SK loves SMS
I'm sorry I didn't get a post to you on Friday. There was just a lot to process once my meeting with Dr. Liggins ended. I can't wait for you to meet him. He is very inspiring and is committed to seeing our school a success along with each and every other campus in GISD. To keep you updated, I am working on a presentation to take on the GISD road. It is a parent information presentation. I will be presenting this at each elementary campus in the evenings during the week of April 24th. I will be happy to share the dates/times and you are welcome to come to any or all if you so choose. Preparing the presentation is a daunting task because I want it to be perfect. Yet, I am excited with every bit of information I am sharing.
On another note, I have been informed that Lori Polk, who is currently the secretary at Lamar will be coming on board as my secretary. I am looking forward to getting to know her as well. I will keep you updated as plans continue to evolve. Please reach out to her and welcome her to STEM.
I so enjoyed reading each of your comments about chapter 1 from STEM-infusing the Elementary Classroom. Each of you inspire me and just continue to affirm the reason you have chosen STEM and STEM has chosen you!
Chapter 2 is titled Why STEM in Elementary? What is your answer to that?
As if our jobs weren't stressful enough, the author states that "we must prepare kids to be successful in an unknown future and to actively participate in the building of that future. And because we do not know what the future looks like, our only course of action is to raise problem-solvers, collaborators, innovators, and risk takers." No sweat, right? How do you relate to this statement? Are you looking at your lesson plans with this idea in mind?
You all know how passionate I am about integrating curriculum where it lends itself so I loved the statement that shared, "the most effective type of education is one in which students are pulling together and reorganizing information from all content areas in order to find a solution to an unpredictable real-world problem"
Use "YOUR NEXT STEP" on page 18. Analyze a lesson plan that you recently taught. Highlight parts in which you are preparing students for an unknown future with skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Circle parts that require tasks based on the assumption that our future economy will look like the present or even the past. Please share your reflections. We all learn from each other with no judgment.
I hope you all have an amazing 4-day weekend. I know I am looking forward to it. Please respond by Tuesday, April 18th.
SK loves SMS
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