What does a grade mean?

'Tis the season to give thanks for everything we are grateful for in our lives.  Often we find ourselves in a monotonous routine that does not provide time for reflection and thoughtfulness to what is important to our existence.  Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the latest 5 day break and is looking forward to an additional reprieve during Winter Break! Before we begin our break, we have 10 school days left to impact our students.  This is a time of year when students become excited (for the holidays) and unfortunately depressed (because of the holidays) and we must continue to implement effective, engaging lesson plans that provide structure.

When developing plans student mastery is the objective of every excellent lesson!  To ensure student mastery the objective must have a measurable verb, but what happens when the student does not master the objective?  Do we give the student a poor grade and then move forward with the next objective?  What does the grade really mean?  Does the grade truly measure what we want the student to demonstrate knowledge of?  Grading is a subjective process and a long standing staple of the educational system.  Below you will find articles discussing grades and the importance or lack thereof.  However, as we look forward into how or why we grade we also must deal with the fact student g.p.a's are still reviewed at the college level.  (Please remember all of these articles are to stimulate your thinking and do not necessarily represent my opinions!)    

 Why its time to give up grades?

Do you give zeros?

5 Principles of Assessment

Standards based grading

Now that you have reviewed the four articles above...what are your thoughts?  Please comment your thoughts on grading to this blog!  I am curious to everyone's perspectives.  Recently, I spoke with local principals and superintendents regarding this issue and their consensus is our parents are not ready for this change.  However, I believe we will always make the best decisions for our students regardless of how difficult it may be!

Calendar

Monday 12/8/14 Board meeting - 6 p.m.

Tuesday 12/9/14 Math and Science Night -  5:30

Thursday 12/11/14 PBIS Meeting - 2:45

Monday 12/15/14 Class Mtgs PBIS - 2nd, 3rd, 4th Periods

Monday 12/15/14 Choir Concert -  6:30

Friday 12/19/14 PBIS Whole School Celebration - All day

Launch..3.2.1....Blast off!

We have an exciting week at SMS with the launching of our first two whole school strategies!  These two strategies have faced the rigor of field testing here at Scott and have proven to show growth in student skill sets.  The TAP Leadership Team (TLT) worked extensively this summer to address teacher concerns and chose two separate strategies for Math and ELA.  We understand the importance of content specific strategies and look forward to your feedback in regards to this year's strategy cycles.  Remember the strategies are to be INTEGRATED into your content, not a separate lesson to teach.  Let's blast off to success with content specific strategies!    

In addition to the implementation of the two new strategies we are digging into the data more than ever with the completion of our Acuity Readiness 1.  After reviewing the data last week we realized our students are need of some intense instruction to meet the requirements of the quickly approaching ISTEP+ exam.  The whole school strategies in combination with purposeful instruction guided by collected student data will lead Scott Middle School to the A or B school status!  

As we prepare ourselves to develop successful students during the 2014 - 2015 school year keep in mind the data from the following illustration.  Our students will be successful if we keep their best interest at the forefront of our planning.

• Looking for Managing Student Behavior tips?  Click the links below.  

30 Strategies to Quiet a Classroom

Survival Guide to Classroom Management -  This is a short video that is EXTREMELY relevant to what we experience!

• In need of a technology resource...utilize Ted-Ed instead of Youtube for instructional videos for students.  See link below.  Additionally, I am using Google Drive extensively to communicate with our staff.  Please check your drive consistently.  

TED-ED to inspire learning

Calendar

11/11/14

Cluster

2:45 p.m. Literacy Mtg Library

5 p.m. Basketball game vs. Gavit

Veteran's Day - Remember to thank a Veteran

11/12/14

2:45 p.m. PBIS Mtg.  Conference Rm.

5 p.m. Wrestling vs. Gavit

11/13/14

5 p.m. Basketball game at Eggers

ELA Data Mtgs 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods

11/14/14

Athletic Department Fundraiser Kick-off 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods

Report Card distribution

Every one of us is a leader to our students and some of us to our peers.  Remember we do not just teach content...we develop the next round of leaders to enhance our global society.  

Looking for guest bloggers!  The first article received will be rewarded with an extra release period with Mrs. Bergren as the sub!  Get those articles in!

What is your inspiration?

Everyday we leave our home, our families and our responsibilities to come to Scott Middle School and support our students.  We use our own funds for school supplies and tangible rewards for our students, we grade papers until midnight and develop lesson plans on Sunday morning.  New strategies, new standards, accountability by the state...where do we start and where do we end?  Mrs. Smith said it best today, "1/3 of the school year is over and I feel like we just begun!"  Our objective for cluster this week was to remind ourselves of our own personal and/or professional goals and why we are committed to our own success!  It is essential to remind ourselves what inspires us to meet those goals and be successful in  life.

I look forward to viewing everyone's Motivation Boards and feel free to stop by and see mine posted next to my desk.  My inspiration comes from my family, I don't know if I could have achieved my career goals if it wasn't for their support and commitment to me.  Additionally, the staff of Scott Middle School drives me to work hard to ensure their hard work is recognized and not done in vain.  We deserve to achieve recognition from the state and our colleagues and this motivates me to work hard!  We will succeed and my motivation board will continue to remind me on daily basis of why I choose to reach my goals!

Although, we are 70 days away from the first portion of the ISTEP test, I wanted this weeks blog to serve as an inspiration to what and why we do the work we do.  Below you will find a few photos from THIS school year as a reminder to how AWESOME we are as a school!  We have already accomplished so much.

Student vs. Staff Volleyball game

PTSA Halloween Dance

Football 2014 City Champs (Coach P would be so proud!)

Fall Choral Concert

Hispanic Heritage Festival which brought in over 100 participants!

Garden Club planting bulbs for the spring!

Morton Homecoming cookout

The SMS band marching with the MHS band.  We rock!

8th grade girls volleyball team....city champs!  What What!

PTSA 5k event...yep I finished the whole thing...not sure about everyone else...Browning?

Learning how to use chopsticks in Chinese!!!

PBIS Team Building event

Boiler Up!

Starting our whole school book...do you dare to cross the line?

Hands on learning in Mrs. Peterschmidt's class

2014 8th grade dance...the year goes by sooo fast....we will be here again soon!

Rigor and 72 days until ISTEP+

After reviewing the Indiana College and Career Readiness Standards the first word that comes to mind is rigor.  We are not only increasing the level of activities we develop for our students, but the depth of knowledge.  Our Acuity scores indicate a need to increase the rigor in our daily teaching to ensure we meet the new standards the state has developed.  As the instructional leader it is my role to support the classroom instruction and build a culture of collaboration so all individuals, teachers and students, will succeed.  

Below you will find two blog articles addressing rigor in the classroom and Webb's Depth of Knowledge.  Without fully understanding Webb's DoK, one might think that rigor would be hitting the higher level of Bloom's taxonomy.  However, it is crucial to remember that it is not the verb that makes the task rigorous, it is what comes after the verb!  Take the challenge located in the second link and assess the tasks you assign your students!

Rigor isn't bad!

Do I create rigorous lesson plans?

Depth of Knowledge Chart

Calendar

October 27th - Acuity Make-ups; Readistep 8th grade testing

October 28th - Last day for Acuity Make-ups; Picture Re-takes; Fire Drill 1:30 p.m.

October 29th - Halloween Dance 2:30 - 4:15 (The PTSA would appreciate volunteers!); Kevin Dill Training

October 30th - Kevin Dill Training (Mr. Friend out of building);  Door Decorating Contest should be complete!

October 31st - Happy Halloween; judging of the doors will occur!

***I will be attending the NCTM (math conference) on Thursday and Friday.

Announcements

I would like to welcome Evelyn Morales to our Scott Family!  Evelyn is our new 7th grade math teacher for team 7B.  Welcome!

Same Stuff as Stars - everyone should be near Chapter 14 and administering quiz 3 on Friday.  Please continue to have students complete quizzes and continue reading.  These quizzes allow you to hold students more accountable during advisory.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain

A person’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of her/his opportunities, and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of her/his difficulties. ~ Harry S Truman

Second Grading Period

It seems as though every article on twitter recently is in regards to student behavior!  I think across the country we are hitting the PEAK!  We all cannot wait for Fall Break!  I have continued to email these articles to myself in hopes of sharing them with you, but as I comb through 150 emails everyday I remind myself they may get lost in translation!  So....I have embedded them into this week's blog.  I promise they are worth your time to peruse!  I personally find myself reading in all of the wrong places, specifically while driving!  Enjoy!

Are you listening? 
Break the blues

Calendar Reminders

Acuity Testing Continues

14th RtI mtg for those interested 

15th Trammel In-service (Math), Hispanic Heritage Celebration and Faculty mtg*

17th Progress Reports**

*I have professional development information to share and updates regarding our school grade.

** I understand not all teams print out progress reports, but I want ALL students to pull up their individual grades on STI.  Student need to take ownership in their academics and we must teach how to do this.

Differentiated Learning

Last weeks data meeting focused primarily on student data and discussing how we can utilize our data packs to increase student achievement and develop lessons.  To meet this objective we must differentiate for our students to maximize success!  Below find two articles:  one for the teacher new to differentiation and one for the differentiated expert!

New to differentiation 

Looking to learn additional practices...

Hello Homecoming!

Unfortunately, I did not allot enough time to develop last weeks blog!  I understand many of you were very disappointed (enter sarcasm here)!  The journey of life makes us feel overwhelmed, exhausted and unappreciated and sometimes it is necessary to take a step back and re-examine what is important.  The last two weeks have proven to be mentally exhausting to me beginning with the passing of my grandfather and a week later a dear friend.  Events such as these put life into perspective and certainly remind us to appreciate what is in front of us.

Often times we let students get the best of us...raising our voice, saying demeaning things, asking questions (when we really don't want them answered), making assumptions (they "just" don't want to work, he doesn't even care) and shaking our pointy fingers at them.  All of these behaviors lead to combat with students and don't resolve conflicts!  Every single one of us is guilty of one or more of the above behaviors.  

Kevin Dill and his dynamic training and life changing strategies have helped many educators to re-evaluate their disposition.  Recently many Scott teachers were given the opportunity to attend the Dill training and were excited to share their experience.  Ms. Carroll has written a powerful piece which makes her our 2nd GUEST BLOGGER!  Yes!  Mrs. Carroll is a blogger!    

Enjoy the articles and remember we are here for a purpose.  Every child needs support and we accepted this charge when we became educators.

We all need that day in the sun, that long-awaited vacation, or even that morning when we can have a stay in our pajamas all day.  This is the kind of day Kevin Dill gives to teachers and administrators when they attend his Choice Language, PBIS, Conflict vs. Combat workshop.  Every year we come back to our classrooms with specific goals for the year, especially when dealing with student behavior.  We tell ourselves, we will not yell, we will not argue with a student, and we will handle any behavior problem in our classroom without any help from the office.  These plans sometimes fail by that third or fourth week of school.  With this workshop, teachers are shown how to establish a school wide tiered system for behavior expectations and understanding the three types of behaviors some students may have and how to handle them with routines that teach good behavior expectations.

            Understanding why students challenge rules is what this workshop entailed.  Kevin Dill is very serious with his presentation but entertaining with his anecdotes.  Mr. Dill explained the three different tiers for misbehavior and gave solutions to handling them through various strategies.  Students misbehave because of what he called distorted thinking and their lack of skills to use in a classroom environment.  Although we smiled and giggled at his explanations and his reenactments, most teachers and administrators easily saw ourselves at one time or another in these situations.   As teachers we must flood the environment with positives, do not argue, use key words, such as regardless or nevertheless, and know that we do not have control over the students.  Students have control over themselves when it comes to behavior.

            Everyone who attends a workshop with Kevin Dill will walk out at the end of the day refreshed and ready to go home to make their plan of action for positive reinforcement in their classrooms.  They will walk out ready to go back to their schools and share these ideas with their peers.  One of Mr. Dill’s best quotes of the day was “Kids don’t crave discipline…They crave boundaries.” We need to give these boundaries in a positive environment. After all the word discipline really equals discipling. 

An additional note on Balanced Literacy...

As the saying goes (with a little change of words), “You can teach an old dog (or even a young one) new tricks.  This school year Balanced Literacy is being implemented by the language arts/reading teachers. As a result, the camaraderie with language arts/reading teachers is at a high this year.  Balanced Literacy combines reading with writing in the classroom through several components, Guided Reading/Writing, Shared Reading/Writing, Individual Reading/Writing, Individual Conferencing, and Word Work.  These terms are constantly being repeated to the students in the Balanced Literacy class so that they, too, become familiar with the terms.  Also, most Balanced Literacy classes are scheduled for a blocked class (two class periods together).  At the end of last year’s school year, most of the language arts/reading teachers attended a two day workshop to further understand this program.

Be aware that teachers and administrators are meeting together several times a month to share ideas and questions.  The discussions are at their highest peak between these teachers.  Discussions are constantly flowing in the hallway, at team time, during lunches and prep times, and after school, to share ideas of what is working and may not be working.  Classrooms are being visited among one another to see different methods teachers are using in their classes.  Each day another idea or teaching strategy is added to the different components of this program. The baby steps we have been taking are now becoming giant steps as we build more confidence with the program each day through practice in the classroom and communication with one another. 

Counselor's Corner

I am excited to announce this week we have our 1st guest blogger!  A HUGE thank you to Ms. Beckham for her contribution!  I look forward to additional columnist.  

The Scott PTSA has announced the first ever Scott Scorpion 5K on September 27!  The cost is $10 for PTSA adult members which includes a t-shirt and begins at 9 a.m.  The proceeds go towards Scott educational activities.  Flyer is forthcoming via email.  Runner or walker...please begin spreading the news and sharing with your friends.  The cost for non-PTSA members is $20 and also includes a shirt.  We would like this to be a special event!    

by Alyson Beckham

According to the American School Counselor Association, the primary function of a school counselor is to assist students with their academic, college, career, personal, and social concerns.  However, the most common issue at the middle school level revolves around student conflict.  I say conflict because bullying, as defined by the state of Indiana, occurs less than the media and popular opinion leads us to believe. I was inspired to address this topic after reading an article on Huffington Post.   As you will read, it emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between being rude, being mean, and bullying for students, parents, and teachers.  As we delve into our anti-bullying curriculum, I hope that this article can serve to remind us why it’s essential to teach our students, parents, and ourselves what true bullying is. 

Although, a school counselor is primarily here for the students, an essential component of our job is to share knowledge we have gained with all stakeholders.  Therefore, I’d like to share a few helpful sites.  If you know of any great sites please share them with me-I am always looking for more resources! 

For Who	Website	Description
Educators	http://findyouthinfo.gov/program-directory	Database for youth topics including evidence-based programs.
Students	http://www.jobshadow.com/	One of my favorite websites!  It has interviews from hundreds of professionals who discuss their careers.
Parents	http://www.discoveryeducation.com/parents/	Great help for parents of students struggling with academics or motivation.

Front loading...Check!

As we begin the 5th week of school, the curriculum moves from PBIS front loading, review from previous school year and pre-assessments.  Now we begin the meat and potatoes to meet our school goals!  Data team meetings will continue bi-weekly with our next meeting being held on the 11th to support data driven instruction.  Please remember to have your team complete the activity from our last meeting prior to Thursday.  It is important to keep curriculum and instruction at the forefront to develop successful students, but it becomes meaningless without relationships.  Please see these articles for some ideas to build relationships and manage student behavior.    

Balanced Literacy

The Balanced Literacy teachers are finding there way with this traditional elementary practice now being implemented at the middle level.  Balanced literacy is research based and proven to be highly effective at the secondary level if implemented correctly. The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project provides many resources regarding balanced literacy at the middle level.  Also, the links below provide videos with different instructional strategies.                                               

                                           The Workshop

                                       High order thinking

                                              Transitions 

All strategies used in the balanced literacy classroom can be succesful in other content areas!  Utilize the TeachingChannel.com to watch videos of strategies in action.  

Calendar Updates

Register for Remind to receive test updates of calendar events.  Sign up here.  

What's going on in your classroom?

Many exciting lessons and evidence of student learning is occurring in Scott's classrooms!  Please send pictures or written descriptions of what is occurring so I can share with others.  We deserve to brag about our hard work and share with others so we do not reinvent the wheel!

The Love of Labor...Day!

Labor Day used to signify the beginning of school and the change of seasons.  Now it is our first break and we are still wondering if summer will ever come!  Scott Educators have completed their second week of school and we are on track for a successful year! A few brave and giving souls stepped into the courtyard after-school Friday to support the ALS Ice Bucket challenge.  The video is can be found a this link. If you would like to make a donation please click here ALS donation.  

Social media is a source of connectivity among colleagues, friends and family.  As educators it is our job to help our students become responsible digital citizens, but to do this we must have working knowledge of technology.  A popular tool among teachers, parents and students is Remind, formerly known as Remind101.  I have set up a Scott Educator Remind account for all staff members.  If you are interested in receiving reminders regarding school activities, upcoming events, snow days and incentives register at the link below.  This is an easy tool to spread the word quickly!  Just click here!  

The Scott School Improvement Plan (SIP) will be disseminated to team leaders by the end of this week.  We are asking team leaders to review the plan with their teams to look for areas we missed and to educate their entire team on the plan.  There will be a quiz! (Just kidding!)  The plan is similar to last years plan however the goals are a bit different.  We will spend time during our weekly data meetings reviewing the goals of our SIP and the interventions we will utilize to reach our goals.  

Attached are a few superb ideas from Pinterest for back to school night!  Don't be afraid to ask parents for particular supplies you may be in need of.  Also, please support the PTSA Chili dinner beginning at 5 p.m. on September 4th.  

Parent support for supplies

Create you own class brochure

Free brochures

     

Calendar

September 1 - No School

September 4 - Open House/Chili Dinner

September 8 - School Pictures 

News around education

IASP newsletter packed with information pertaining to educators.

Lets go...week 2!

Lets go...week 2!

As we enter week 2, I enjoy watching the students begin to blossom into their true selves and the hard work begin.  Sunday was a phenomenal group picnic!  Thank you to all staff members who attended and all of the wonderful food.  (My son stated we should do this every year and I agree!)  PBIS front loading is well on its way and we must continue to model the behavior expectation throughout the school year!  I look forward to the upcoming team building activities and watching the students and staff work together.  

Calendar Updates

Monday, August 18th - SRI testing begins

Tuesday, August 19th - First Cluster Meetings of the Year

Monday, August 25th - NIET training

Monday, August 25th - School board Meeting

Monday/Tuesday, August 25th & 26th - Bob Trammel Math Inservice

Thursday, August 28th - Data Meetings

*Additional activities will be added as they arise

Interesting reads

Motivating Students  We constantly ask how do we motivate our students.  Click the link to read one persons perspective.  

Tips for New Teachers  This link will give you a few tips whether you are the veteran teacher or new to the profession.

Questioning  How often are your students asking relevant questions?

Bloggers

Don't forget...I'm looking for Scott staff members to forward me stories they would like to include in our blog.  Technology is important to our students success and we must practice the behavior to see carry over into our classroom.  Please let me know if you have questions about how to submit.  Have a great week and I look forward to reading your stories!  

Looking forward to the 2014 - 2015 school year!

It's that time of year again....back to school!  We have an exciting year planned with many new faces joining our team.  Below find an inspiring message, how to start your PLN and a few calendar items.

This year I will utilize Blogger through google+ to share information and am asking teachers to become weekly guest columnist.  Everyone has something exciting to share about our profession and this will be the place!

Twitter is THE place to develop your Professional Learning Network (PLN)!  Follow me @colleenbergren and Scott Middle School @SMSHammond.  Other VIP's include @mayerik_theresa and @IDOEpolicy!

Calendar Items:
1st Cluster 8/19/2014
Open House 9/4/2014

If you have not joined Pinterest and you you are looking for new classroom ideas, this is the place!

I am looking for Scott Educators for upcoming columnist to contribute to our Blog.  Email me if you are interested.

I am looking to a great year at SMS!