Sunday, September 22, 2019

The week ahead: last week in September

Google's million dollar study provides a great rationale for our early year focus on teamwork.

Every week has its focus. This week's math teaching focus will include a review of divisibility rules with a quiz and the start of our our numerical reasoning introductory math study including the weekly homework practice. We'll also reach deeper with regard to our teamwork efforts with a teamwork assessment and team activity, and we'll continue our emphasis on independent reading and read aloud. My colleagues will engage students with a focus on students' readerly life and writing survival stories as a follow-up to our team read aloud, Hatchet, and a a complement to our survival environmental education theme and study. 

During our student service meeting we'll focus on learning more about specific students' needs and interests as well as creating a shortlist of priorities--what is it that we want to help students with in regards to overall school success and happiness, and at PLC, we'll likely discuss how we want to organize the dates and agenda for upcoming parent-student-teacher conferences. With regard to professional learning, our main focus will be meeting with evaluators to review our year-long teaching/learning goals and research, discussion, and revision to our year-long environmental education study including planning and prepping for upcoming field studies, expert visitors, STEAM activities, and other science/social study learning experiences.

Further I plan to attend this week's school committee meeting as part of our local union's focus on community involvement and positive advocacy with regard to creating and maintaining the best possible work conditions and supports for optimal teaching and learning. I'll work with one child to build his ability to set goals and work towards those goals in meaningful ways that include a review of skills taught and successful strategies for new learning.

This week also marks our first school-wide assembly where the whole community gathers to recognize birthdays, sing the school song, say the Pledge of Allegiance, and learn about and share school-wide initiatives. Fifth graders will contribute by stacking chairs after the event.

Personally, I hope to stay the course with a positive, energy-filled focus on the efforts above in order to serve and partner with the students and colleagues well. Every teaching week is filled with numerous activities, interactions, decisions, triumphs, and challenges too. To make time to envision the days ahead is one way to stay the course of positive teaching and learning on your own and with those you partner with and serve. Onward.