12-18-2020

This is the holiday edition so no external links or articles to read so please take time to watch our student videos.

MJ, Kendra, and Maddie did a great job helping their students make this great Holiday Parade Project. Also, MJ's class is coming back January 4th to in-person instruction.

Melissa and April put together a cute Holiday Breakfast Bag for their choir kids for pick-up so they could continue their Holiday Breakfast Tradition.

Thanks to Alex, Colleen and student council for sponsoring spirit week and to all of you guys for participating.

Thanks to Lyn for capturing all of the holiday spirit week pictures and sharing them so they can be shared with parents on social Media.

I enjoyed the Holiday themed BB300's this week, the Make it a Great Day mugs were a nice touch. 

Thanks to Dr. Woell for setting up the holiday lunch and to Jen S  for organizing and delivering it! I am looking forward to the delicious treat. 

Check out this awesome holiday video from the Benjamin Choir, Melissa, and April.  Special thanks to Danielle for her editing skills.

Now presenting the Benjamin Band Holiday Project Video with  Director Matthew Turek (There are two videos, one for 7th grade and one for 8th Grade)

                                                    7th Grade

8th Grade

Now another video showcasing our amazing students and Sherry Anderson in her STEM Classes Holiday Parade.  Special Thanks to Angela Anthony for her editing skills and Angela, Sherry and Megan P for their announcing skills. Oh Yeah and to Santa for making time to appear. 

I am so grateful to be principal at BMS and to be able to be surrounded by wonderful educators working together to help kids.  PLEASE use the break to relax and enjoy time with your family.  There are donuts and coffee in the lounge along with a little goodie bag as a small thanks for all that you do. 

12-11-2020

 Thanks to Kim for organizing and staying late to run the Graduation Pictures on Tuesday for our 8th grade students.  It went very smoothly. 

Next week we have data meetings and Debbie, Nicole and Todd have been working on how we can help some of our struggling students.  Two expectations for all teachers is that you have reached out and had communication with the struggling student's parents and that you are utilizing the office hours to schedule time to meet with the students individually.  Please make sure that you have tried these interventions before we move to the next level. 

Also please reach out to me to help in these situations...I am more than willing to help make contact with hard to reach parents and had pretty good short term success this week. 

Students who have IEPS aren't "special education students" they are general education students who receive special education supports.

Understanding Middle School Friendships.

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57010/how-understanding-middle-school-friendships-can-help-students

Festive food!  Please be on the lookout for the Holiday Lunch form from Jen S. for Friday the 18th's boxed lunch and also take advantage of the ordering option that April put together for the 15th. 

Just a Public Service Announcement that the two weeks before winter break are always a frustrating time for teachers and we won't be pardoned from the craziness just because we are remote!  

If you are interested in having input on creating the master schedule for next year, please reach out to me.  There will be a Scheduling Committee formed after break....more information will follow. To be clear you are not locked in to being on the committee if you email me, you will just be included about the formation of the committee and what the expectations will be. 

How to make remote learning better. (even though written for admin, still a lot of teacher takeaways)

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-11-25-remote-learning-is-not-going-away-soon-this-is-how-to-make-it-better

Next week is a holiday spirit week.  Thanks to April for organizing it.  Ellen will eblast it to families and you can share with kids on Canvas.  Be on the lookout for the email. 

Engagement in remote SS classes.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-started-pbl-social-studies

Here is the Benjamin book and movie results from our RLPD.  Please add to the list if you were left off or didn't get a chance to share....or add to the list if you have more to share.  The list will give a great reference list for our winter break.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Azocik2igc_RrvZnaw0wwraaKm_YZd0D2rWG09NdLzE/edit?usp=sharing

Was browsing through twitter looking for resources for the blog and found this on Payton Campbell.  

https://www.d94.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=1855&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=7444&PageID=1

So my Principal Advisory group loves the new schedule.  The students think the longer classes give teachers more time to get through the lessons and therefore they have less homework.  They also like the lunch break with more classes after and the individual help option along with longer CFU's. 

Please send any pictures you may take of class activities to Janice.  Promoting the great work you are doing in remote classrooms is great to show our parents on social media.

A new way to look at work/life balance.

  https://www.edutopia.org/article/new-way-think-about-work-life-balance

My next newsletter article (due next week team leaders) is going to focus on learning over grades, attending and engaging classes and academic honesty.  Please remind your students the importance of doing there own work and reaching out for help.  

"Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it’ll always get you the right ones." -- John Lennon

"You have to keep busy. After all, no dog's ever peed on a moving car." -- Tom Waits

12-4-2020

 Thanks to all of the Tech Liaisons for sharing information with teams this week and to everyone for getting needed website and app information to Greg. 

How to help students focus on the learning, not the grade.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-help-students-focus-what-theyre-learning-not-grade

Early Feedback on the new schedule has been positive.  Please share any insights you have with me in case we make changes/improvements in the future.  

The staff learning meeting was fun and I was able to learn much more about everyone.  We are going to compile the book and movie recommendations and send them out. I was able to make my way around the building in-between Zoom meetings and it looked like everyone also had a productive day of planning.  

4 criteria for effective directions:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-criteria-effective-directions

Congratulations to Courtney who has shared with me the upcoming birth of her first child. We are all so happy for you and know you will make a great mom!

I have been walking the halls a lot lately and have been extremely impressed with the tone and fluctuation of voice that I have been hearing from our staff as they talk with their students via Zoom.  I know that is a weird complement but it really does go a long way to increase student engagement so nice job.  

Thanks to Teachers Learning Loss not as bad as expected: 

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-11-30-thanks-to-teachers-learning-loss-this-year-was-not-as-bad-as-projected-nwea-finds

Thanks to Nicole and Melissa for their assistance in helping with supply pick-up on Tuesday.  We had a little over 3/4th of the parents come and have had many pick-ups the last two days.   Kim also eblasted the parents yesterday to please come and pick-up their supplies if they had not done so already. 

Thanks to MJ and Kerry for the work they are doing to help their students remotely and keep them engaged in learning.  These classes will stay remote until sometime after winter break.  

Monitoring your emotional Gas tank.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90580362/why-monitoring-your-emotional-gas-tank-is-critical-to-fighting-burnout?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Thanks to Nicole for getting the "student check in" button implemented on their computers.  This allows the students who may be struggling or  have a question to quickly check-in with her.  Also, obviously thanks to Greg for the behind the scenes work for getting it pushed out.

I watched a documentary called the Social Dilemma on Netflix.  It shows how social media is changing and influencing our lives in many ways, most of them not good.  It is definitely worth a look and part of it deals specifically with its effect on students. Please watch this short trailer: 

  

I think I mentioned it before, but I was able to jump into Specials Team yesterday and I love their positive Thursday where everyone goes around and talks about something that has worked well with their students or projects/lessons.  It is such a great way to hear from others all of the positive things that are happening in the building and also gives ideas for lessons/activities

Thanks to the 8th grade team for meeting with the high school yesterday to start the transition process for this years 8th grade students. 

"This is my report on how to live... They say the best way is just to live one day at a time... If you try to live seven days at a time, the week will be over before you know it." -- Charles M. Schulz

Never regret a day in your life. Good days give happiness, bad days give experiences, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories. —Professor Richard Feynman