Dragon Tales Week of August 16thTHANKSThanks to everyone for such great responses to our Professional Development on August 9th. I can’t say it often enough how impressed I am with your professionalism and dedication to Mc Donogh 26. The students are truly blessed to be surrounded by such caring, willing, and hard working adults. As I have said before each day I am convinced we will reach our goals and watch our vision become a reality.

Thanks to everyone who has welcomed me with open arms. It is my gift to be here among such great people.

GREAT START

At the start of this school year we are focusing on purposeful planning and focused small group instruction. On August 9th you discovered that you already have a wealth of tools to help you plan effectively. Are you utilizing those tools? How can we develop skills in the areas where we thought we needed additional tools? Remember your colleagues are a valuable resource.

Are you getting a grip on focused small group instruction? Have you thought about your expectations for groups, procedures for moving from group to group, group job responsibilities,, how students are to request help when working in small groups, what is your decision making process for working in groups?

The Impact You Make

The work of Tim Daly illustrates the dramatic effect and ineffective teacher can have on the academic success of a student. Think about his slide and ask yourself: Am I doing all that I can to be an effective teacher?

1©The New Teacher Project 2009

Research has shown that effective teachers are critically important to student learning.

Dallas students who start 3rd grade at about the same level of math achievement…

57

55

0 20 40 60 80 100

Group 2

Group 1

Average Percentile Rank

Beginning of 3rd Grade

27

77

0 20 40 60 80 100

Group 2

Group 1

Average Percentile Rank

End of 5th Grade

After 3 EFFECTIVE

Teachers

After 3 INEFFECTIVE

Teachers

…may finish 5th grade math at dramatically different levels depending on the quality of their teachers.

Original analysis by the Education Trust. Source: Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.

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Committee Sign –UpPlease sign up for the committee you would like to work on. Everyone is expected to serve on at least one committee. You can sign up for more than one if you choose. Sign-up posters will be displayed in lounge by the end of the week for you to choose the committee you would like to serve on. Be thinking: What is the best fit for me?

Committee’s are:

1. PBIS

2. School Improvement (Title 1)

3. A/BIT

4. Hospitality- ( Please limit enrollment to Para’s only and two teachers)

5. Leadership Team- Already determined. Thanks to those who agreed to be a part of this team.

Instructional Look Fors week 0f August 16th

Lesson plans turned in on time- Purposeful Planning Lesson plans indicate GLE’s and are aligned to interval assessment schedule- Purposeful

Planning Objectives are posted, referred to, and the student understands what they are supposed to be

learning.- Purposeful Planning Lessons being taught are aligned to GLE’s and what is on lesson plan- Purposeful Planning Lesson plans indicate how small group instruction will take place- Focused Small Group

Instruction Teachers are modeling, setting expectations and establishing routines for small groups- Focused

Small Group Instruction

Each new day should bring us closer to the reality of achieving 20% growth in each content area. What are you doing this week to help reach that goal?