2-7-2020

A Big thank you to April, Kerry, Megan and Matthew for presenting at the staff learning meeting on how they have integrated Habits of Mind with their students.  The whole purpose of HOM was to have a tool that would increase student engagement, achievement, accountability, and critical thinking while not adding to your plate. I think they did a great job showing that the work they did with HOM in their classroom, helped them and their students!

Alright Dungeons and Dragons nerds out there.  How D&D can help students with their Social Emotional Learning.  (I am proof that this works!...or maybe not)
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51784/how-dungeons-dragons-can-help-kids-develop-social-emotional-learning-skills


Thanks to Nicole for speaking at our meeting and planning the school-wide kindness day.  Please think about how you can contribute on February 18th.  #weareallinthistogether 



Thanks to Megan P and all other teachers who participated in World Read Aloud Day on February 5th. It's not important if you missed February 5th, what is way more important is if you can include reading out loud as part of your normal practice for middle school kids!


Thanks to Melissa Falkos for integrating AR and VR in her classroom with the assistance of Angela.  It's great when teachers are willing to go outside their comfort zone to bring tech skills and higher levels of engagement to their classroom.  Shout out to Betty for planting the seed at the beginning of the year. 

Boosting student engagement in math.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/strategy-boosting-student-engagement-math

I'm excited that the 6th grade team are having students participate in podcasting currently.  Many of them might also choose to represent Benjamin in the NPR podcasting contest. 

Teaching Kids Media Smarts during "Breaking News". 
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/teaching-kids-media-smarts-during-breaking-news

Thanks to Greg and Angela for traveling to the different teams to teach about our great Gmail migration adventure.  I, for one have been looking forward to saying something to Kerio for awhile.



Thanks to Jen H for doing a fabulous job in her first week helping our success track students.  It takes a lot of persistence with the students and a lot of varied communication with our staff to keep track of priority assignments.



Melissa, April and Danielle are ramping theater club into high gear with some outstanding rehearsals and set/prop/costume work.  They present a preview for the school board on Monday. 


Thanks to Dan and Matt Tylk for pushing our three levels of girls basketball team to increase their skill, will, teamwork and sportsmanship as they continue to have a very successful season.  Also thanks to supervisors and scorebook/clock workers.  We couldn't do it without the very important supporting cast. 

Scientists Show How Gratitude Literally Alters The Human Heart & Molecular Structure Of The Brain #happinessadvantage
https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/02/14/scientists-show-how-gratitude-literally-alters-the-human-heart-molecular-structure-of-the-brain/


I never get tired of watching the creative things that Sherry's 6th grade STEM students do with their Sphero projects.  I had a blast watching them earlier this week. 


All student growth goals reflection/update should be in my hands by now unless we talked about an extended deadline. 

The best thing you will watch this week!

“How we choose to act changes who we choose to become.” -- Seth Godin