Trimester 1 Comes to An End

It's the final countdown.  Our first trimester comes to an end on Friday.  I know we had some disruptions this first trimester, but we actually only lost two days of instruction.  Some things to remember:   

• Every class gets an ATL
• Conduct goes in Homeroom
• Any ATL or Conduct score lower than a 3 should not be a surprise to parents.  Written communication or a conference should have happened before you can give a 1 or a 2
• A score lower than a C should also not be a surprise
• All 1's, 2's, D's and F's MUST have a comment
• Grades must be complete by 8:00 a.m. Monday morning, Nov. 6

Charles will provide a complete checklist for you to be sure grades are correct before we print report cards.  

Nov. 9 is a Parent Conference Day.  Every core teacher should be having conferences that day.  You should be meet with every parent at least once during the year.  For this first conference day, you should be focusing on students who may be struggling or are new to the school.  First set up conferences with students you know you need to meet on, and then offer a conference to other parents.  Every parent should be offered a conference.  Anyone you do not meet with this time, insist they come in on the next conference day.  It's impossible to meet with everyone on this one day so I understand that you will most likely be meeting before and after Nov. 9 with parents.  If you plan a conference before school, set the start time by at least 7:15 a.m. and end promptly at 7:40.  Students should not be waiting outside your room while you conference.  Please send your conference schedule to me by Friday, Nov. 3.

As I've been reviewing Unit Plans and doing observations, I am finding that everyone is doing a great job in you lessons, classroom management, activities, student engagement, questioning, etc.  However, in general we still struggle with the overarching parts of the unit plans.  Enduring Understandings read like skills, Essential Questions are too content specific, Values Infusion is a quote from the Bible that has little connection, assessments are not in Atlas, Knowledge consists of only vocabulary words or has no vocabulary words, and Atlas attachments will not open.  These issues are not evident in every unit plan, but in general everyone has at least one struggle.  I will be reviewing these items in depth at an upcoming faculty meetings.  The other thing I've noticed is that it's hard to know what unit plans are for this year and what was copied over from last year.  I believe unit plans can stay in the prior year and you can access them there but it is difficult to know what you are doing particularly if you are a new teacher and there are plans from a prior teacher.  I will be reviewing all these things individually with you when we go over your observations.  

Lastly, Nicki gets a lot of feedback from new parents in particular and many have only good things to say about our school and particularly about our teachers.  What impresses them most is the caring attitude we have here at St. Stephen.  You should all be proud of yourselves.  Thank you all for making me look good!! 😊