Various announcements... (with some thinking out loud)

This one is not as long as last week, but the idea is the same--grab pencil, calendar, to-do list, plan book and make pass through. Different announcement will mean different thinks to different people. Some won't be applicable to you at all. Each one is annotated with the kind of decision that would need to be made on each one.

I came across this site the other day and was impressed by the wealth of information and teaching resources: Enchanted Learning (Basically, I would click on the link and decide within 30 seconds whether or not this is a site I would want to visit in detail later. I wouldn't go into that detail now or the end of the day would be here with some potentially critical things being left undone. If it looks good, either jot the URL on your to-do list or add the site to Favorites (but you will still need some type of reminder on your to-do list to trigger your looking for that site in Favorites).

Voyager--Debbie Lett will be here on Monday, Sept.19 for our first of three on site visits. She will be visiting your rooms during your intervention time to help and to answer some of your questions. (For K-5 teachers, this is a note for your calendar. For others, you could ignore it unless you were simply interested in the name of the visitor, in which case, I would jot it on the calendar for that day.)

An interesting page on and by Mem Fox. It includes a section on reading aloud where you can hear her in her own voice as she gives tips on reading aloud and examples. (Same type of decisions as the one about Enchanted Learning.)

Special education teachers--Did you know that you can access SETS from home? If not, e-mail me and I will give you the web address to use. (It's a different one that what you use at school.) (If your are not a special ed. teacher, you wold ignore this one. If you are a special ed. teacher and need this info, take the 15 seconds right now while you are reading this to open an new e-mail message. A time-saving tip--In the subject line, just put "I need address for getting SETS from home" and hit send. Putting the entire message in the subject line is a big time saver for you and the person on the other knows exactly what your message will be about before ever opening it. I will wait a day or so to give everyone a chance to respond and then compose one reply and send it to everyone who needs it.)

Daily Schedules--I am waiting on copies of Daily Schedules from 6 instructional assistants. (In other words, certified folks have taken care of this, so don't worry. If you are an instructional assistant, you know whether you did or not, so it's either you did and can move on to the next item or you didn't and need to jot a reminder on your to-do list.)

If you send information home to all parents, give me a copy. (Many of you do a good job of this already.) If the information concerns such things as a field trip, I will put it in the notebook we keep in the office. We get questions in the office regarding deadlines, costs, etc. related to a project a teacher is handling. If we have the information in the office, we can answer their questions. (This is a little different, because it's really about forming a habit. If you are already pretty good and doing this-and most are-simply move on. Forming a habit basically entails seeing having reminders pop up until the habit is entrenched.)

Exiting Programs—Please be sure that you exit out of programs you are in at the end of the day. In order for us to back-up Accelerated Reader or run the Data Doctor, everyone must be out of the program. (That's why I do those things in the late afternoon or at 6:30 in the morning.) This would also be true of any program that is being used on the network (STAR, Athena, or STI Classroom when we get it.) (This has gotten much better, but I just throw it out as a reminder.)

I will be in Montgomery Sept. 8 and 9 working on the State Course of Study for Fine Arts and in Montevallo during part of Sept. 14 for professional development planning. (You might jot a note on your calendar so that you don't need my signature or need me to make a decision on something urgent only to find out I am out of town.)

Sally Foster Giftwrap Sale--Students are to bring orders and money on Wednesday, September 7. (Be sure they have written this in their planners.) (I would make a note in my plan book, write a reminder on the board, or write it wherever you write other announcement for students to put in their planners.)

Students should also have Monday (Labor Day) in their planners as a holiday. (Same as Sally Foster.)

Continue reading other posts. You will know when you are done when you start running into stuff you read last week. Also, click on the calendar link so just to quickly familiarize yourself with what's coming up over the next several weeks.

Obtaining Microsoft Office

As you are loading software on your new computers, you really want to have both AppleWorks and Microsoft Office. AppleWorks has served us well and continues to be an easy program to learn and use. It's an especially good program for students. For us, getting a license for AppleWorks was a major step forward at a time when the closest thing we had to a word processor was Wordpad, we thought a spreadsheet had something to do with making up the bed, and PowerPoint sounded like a show featuring a TV preacher. AppleWorks not only gave us tools, it gave us the same tools, so that we could share documents electronically.

Microsoft Office has far more bells and whistles, and is constantly being upgraded. In addition, Office is by far the most popular productivity package. When someone outside of our school sends you an attachment, it's going to virtually always have been composed in one of the programs that comprise Office (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint). When your son or daughter brings home a half-completed term paper from high school or college, it's going to virtually always be composed in Office. So, having Office as well as AppleWorks on your machines is pretty imporant.

So how do you get it?
Glad you asked. I have in the office a disk for both Office 2000 and Office 2003. If your machine is running Windows 98, you need Office 2000. If you machine is running Windows XP, you will want Office 2003. When you install the program, you are going to be asked for a code. That code is printed on the plastic cover that houses the disk.

What about home use?
If your school has a license for Microsoft Office (and our entire school system does), as a teacher, you are permitted to load a single copy on a home computer. You may borrow a disk from the office to do this. Again, you are going to be asked for those same code numbers.

Mini-Workshop

You will notice several posts before we get to the real “meat” of the announcements that guide you through the week. First, are some thoughts on how to get the most out this blog and how to mold coming here once a week into habits you have already established instead of checking this blog becoming one more thing to have to remember to do.

To make this blog really work as the communication tool to keep you informed:

Give yourself enough time to digest the material

If you give this sit a cursory glance with the intention of coming back later to read in more detail and wind up making a third pass later in the week, you will wind up spending more time and still have things fall through the cracks. Pick a time when you can go from one end to the other and then safely say you are “done.” Of course, there are exceptions. If there is a story here or some other item of human interest, you know that it will always be available later if you want to come back for a refresher. The things you do not want to re-read are the mechanics of when an event is happening or the deadline to turn in some paperwork.

Read with pencil and paper in hand

Reading this blog is a great deal about making little decisions. Some items will not pertain to you at all. Others trigger a “to do” for you. Getting those commitments down on your to do list, your personal calendar, or your lesson plan book are critical. It you can get it all trapped in one place, you only have to look one place for your blueprint for the day. You have a plan that combines what is happening on your class, what is happening in the schools as a whole, obligations at home, commitments in the community, etc. in one system. Sometimes the lists can be long, but the sanity comes in knowing the lists are complete and not waking up at 3:00AM wondering what you are forgetting.

Heed the “two-minute rule”

That’s to a guy named David Allen out of California for not necessarily inventing this idea, but certainly introducing many people to it through his books and seminars. The “two-minute rule” says that when something comes your way that will take two minutes or less, do it right then. It would take longer to write it on a list and the re-familiarize yourself with it later than it would to just do it. You will invariably read items in this blog that you can handle in two minutes or less.

I’ve got to remember to do what?

When we moved from a paper-based Friday Memo to one residing on the computer, it created for each of us a new “to do”—checking that site on the computer. The Friday Memo worked, in large part, because it piggy-backed on a habit you had already established—checking your mailbox. Since checking your mailbox was something you did anything, you came upon the Friday Memo without having to give it a thought.

To get it all corralled in one place, read on…

Corralling it all in one place

Checking this blog needs to work the same way—piggy backing it on a habit. Before I go in further, realize you could substitute “change the air filter,” “water the plants,” or “write the check to the church” in placing of “checking this blog” and everything is going to applicable….And how many little-bitty tasks that have to be done every so often do we have in our lives?

Here’s how I handle this sort of thing. My daily ritual consists of two things:

1. Check the tickler file.
2. Check the Palm. (Before the days of the Palm, it was to check the Day-Timer.)

The first tool handles all of the paper. The second captures everything else—appointments, to-do items, notes, long-term goals, addresses, etc. The game is consists of taking all of the “stuff” that comes at me from and making it fit into one of those two tools. I can handle remembering to do two things (usually). Three puts me on shaky grounds, and more than that is a disaster waiting to happen.

There are a couple of pretty good options for handling these miscellaneous tasks—like checking this blog.

1. Jot the task on an index card and throw it in the tickler file. You know that announcement I make every Wednesday to leave your computer on? It’s nothing more than a card with that announcement. On the next line is a note to myself to re-file it for the next Wednesday.
2. Make a note on your calendar on each Friday. (Simply writing “Blog” or even just the letter “B” might be enough to serve as a reminder about that task.)

The first method uses the tickler file; the second uses your calendar, Day-Timer, or whatever “capture tool” you use (and we all need a tool that captures stuff in one place). I would not recommend using both an index card in the tickler file and a note on your calendar for the same thing; it’s just double work.

Now, what doesn’t work? Look at the post-its you have stuck around your computer screen right now. How many of them represent things that you will have to wait until sometime in the future to do anything about? That’s an example of something that does not work. A post-it that reminds you to leave your computer on next Wednesday serves as a distraction from Thursday through Tuesday. On Wednesday, you have become so used to seeing it that it has blended in with the background.

Don’t believe me? Think about this one—on a trip from your house to Wal-Mart, how many billboards do you pass and what do they say? That’s a tough one. After a while, they just blend into the background. If that happens to something the size of a billboard, just think what happens with the Post-Its on the computer screen, the notes on the refrigerator door.

Most people remember to change the air filter when the heat pump blows up, flush a box of Rid-X down the commode when they see the septic tank float past the front door, and water their plants when they’re dead, and renew their driver’s license when…(yeah, about 3 of you just got this awful look on your face and started pulling out your license to look).

If you want a good stress reliever, having a good system and then making EVERYTHING fit into that system is a pretty good place to start.

If you know the point of balance,
You can settle the details.
If you can settle the details,
You can stop running around.
Your mind will become calm.
If your mind becomes calm,
You can think in front of a tiger.
If you can think in front of a tiger,
You will surely succeed.
—Mencius

I can’t open the file

We are in various stages of setting up new computers and loading software. There is one question I have been hearing over and over, so it’s one that I feel would be worth going over with everyone.

If you create a document using a certain program (AppleWorks, Word, Excel, etc.), in order to open that document on another computer, the other computer must have that program. If you create a letter in AppleWorks and e-mail it as an attachment to someone else, they would have to have AppleWorks on their computer also. (There actually are other ways, but that’s a little too much for this particular post.)

Here are the things you really need to know:

1. All of our computers need to have AppleWorks. It’s an easy program for kids to use, and so many of the documents we have created as a faculty and used were created in AppleWorks.

2. All of our computers need to have Microsoft Office. We have a license that allows the program to be loaded on computers throughout the building. Microsoft Office is the standard productivity package. When other people send attachments, it’s almost always in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint (which are all part of Office). Also, the “common documents” (such as the Faculty Handbook) have to be in Word in order to be posted.

Next week, I will go into more detail on this—exactly how to get Microsoft Office on your computer if it’s not there, what version you need (Office 2000, Office 2003, etc.) and the implications for home use as well.

Now for the announcements…pencils ready

For each one of these, I have included a little “thinking out loud” in terms of making some decisions about what each item means to you and what to do about it. Some will find this “old hat.” Others will undoubtedly pick up a few ideas.

1. Just a reminder to have students get books off of the floor and put chairs on top of desks in preparation for our custodians cleaning your room. (To handle this, I would jot a note in my plan book for whatever time of the day your room is cleaned. After a week or so, that will become habit, and you won’t need the reminder anymore.)

2. Instructional Money-The deadline for requisitions for instructional money is August 31. (If you have already spent it all, don’t bother writing anything. If you don’t need anything and would like the money to roll in the fund to buy laminating film and bulletin board paper, you don’t need to write anything. If you do need to make purchases, I would add this to your to-do list right now while you are thinking about it.)

3. Physical education—Sure, we would love to have a PE teacher, and we look at the "supervised recess" that we have as a negative aspect of our school. In the most recent issue of District Administration magazine, the subject of recess is addressed. Arguments in favor of recess include this by Dolly Lambdin, president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, states that, "Time for recess may enhance overall learning in the classroom…In a well-designed recess period, children learn how to cooperate, compete constructively, assume leader/follower roles and resolve conflicts. Play is an essential element of a children's social development. (Probably not a to-do here, just info. If somebody has been giving you a hard time about not having a structured program, this might be a “two-minute rule” opportunity. You can highlight a few lines from this announcement, copy (Ctrl-C), open a new e-mail message, paste (Ctrl-V), and send a “See, I told you so” message to somebody in less than minute.)

4. School Choice—The paperwork I have received shows 5 students who will be transferring to Graham as a result of the school choice option. I have e-mailed names of these students to the teachers involved. (This is just information)

Calendar Items:

1. I have moved the entry for the PDP being due from Sept. 1 to Oct. 5 (so you can fix that on your own calendar right now while you are thinking about it). The August 17 post talks about the reason for doing that if you needed to scroll down and review it.

2. Denise Malone will be our Lightspan professional development person this year. She will be with us several days over the next few months. Her first visit is August 31. If at all possible, please work into your day some use of the Lightspan and let me highlight in your lesson plan what you are doing and about what time of day that would be. In this first visit, I would like for her to be able to tour the school, see classes in actions, talk with me, and really gain a feel for our school. (For me, this would be a note in the plan book on August 31 and a notation wherever it is that you jot down rough ideas about plans for upcoming weeks before you really finalize things in your plan book.)
   
3. PTO OPen House begins at 6:30 on Tuesday. As the letter to the parents in your Tuesday folder discussed, the Book Fair open at 5:30. As always, following the meeting, we will go to classrooms for visitation. The evening will conclude with a Lightspan Orientation for those who have not attended one (or for those who would like to attend a second one).
   

Schedule for Rick Shelton

Here is Rick Shelton's schedule for Tuesday, August 23:
9:00 5th Grade (Mrs. Pressley's Room) Expository Writing
10:00 3rd Grade (Mrs. Davis' Room) General Paragraph Writing (Mainly Descriptive)
10:55 6th Grade (Mrs. Killough's Room) Persuasive Writing
12:45 4th Grade (Mrs. Hollingsworth's Room) Narrative Writing
2:50 Faculty Meeting for teachers in grades 3-5 with Rick Shelton (anyone who would like to attend is welcome)

Any faculty or staff member is welcome to sit it on any class. The workshop is being paid for through the University of Montevallo Inservice Center. To help them (because to continue to be funded, they need to show that they are reaching large numbers of teachers), please be sure to sign the sign-in sheet and fill out an evaluation form when you sit in on a demonstration.

The 3 Statements Parents Really Want to Hear

In this month’s issue of Teaching K-8, Dr. Jullian Lederhouse reminds us that as we begin the process of building relationships with parents, there are 3 basic messages they are eager to hear. Our PTO Open House being only a week away, giving each of us the opportunity to interact with parents. Each of us is in the process of sending home communication that sets the tone for the year, making this article particularly timely.

The author asserts that parents are not interested in hearing that we will be preparing them for the next grade level, which tells parents nothing about the experiences for their children now. Further, preparing students to do well on standardized tests is more a goal that we have for our school rather than one parents as a key goal for their children.

Parents are eager to hear three simple statements from us:

1. I care about your child. Parents want to hear that you really enjoy working with children and care about them.
2. I love what I teach. In a time when all too many go through the motions of work, people who are truly passionate about their jobs are truly an inspiration. When a child has a teacher who has that passion, and the joy of teaching is evident to the children, parents realize they are in for a special year.
3. Your child is going to love my class. We all remember teachers from our own days in school that truly inspired us and brought out the best in us. Parents want their children to enjoy school and be successful here. Knowing that their child’s teacher shares that desire speaks volumes.

This week’s post includes a number of disconnected piece of information (as is usual for these first several weeks each year). To make sure that nothing falls through the cracks, if you aren’t reading this with your calendar, to-do list, and pen in hand, go ahead and grab those things. That way, you can glean everything that applies to you and make decisions as to what you need to do about each one without having to go back and reread during later.

1. Rick Shelton will be with us on Tuesday. I will be getting to you a schedule of what classes he will visit and when. That will be my top priority for Friday so that you will have this information as you make plans for next week.
   

2. SAT-10 results (Grades 4-6)—The "Home Report" for your students will be placed in your boxes. This should go home in the first Tuesday folder. I have placed the entire grade level in one teacher's box, so if you will pick out your students and pass the folder to the other teacher on your grade level.

3. Accelerated Reader Update—We have done a slight update on Accelerated Reader (from version 6.3 to 6.35). The first time you go into the management program, you will be asked if you want to upgrade. Choose yes. It would be good for everyone in the building who has Accelerated Reader on a computer to go ahead and do this now rather than have some computers updated, some computers not updated, and then six months down the road wonder why you are getting a strange message.

4. Fall Pictures—You will be receiving in your box a set of cards for your class. Please tear the cards apart and hang onto them until picture day. When your class goes to the library for pictures, give the cards to the students.

· If you receive cards for students who have withdrawn, you may throw those away.

· If you are missing a card for a student (because the student is new), let me know who the student is and we will make one.

· On picture day, turn into the office the card for any student who is absent. We will need those when we do picture make-ups.

· On picture day, we need for every faculty and staff member to have his/her picture made. We will use these as the yearbook pictures. Those who work at several campuses should have your picture made before you leave Graham in the morning. We are looking at setting up the Community Classroom. You will also receive a card in your box for yourself. Bring it when you have your picture made. That card will allow them to match the picture and name.

Wednesday of next week, you will be receiving stickers to remind students about school picture day. To emphasize using their planners, you may want to have them stick the sticker on Tuesday’s square.

5. Crisis Plan—If you do not have one, please let me know. If will be printed on blue paper and will tell you what you would do (and in what order) for any type of emergency. The plan is different for each position, so the one for a teacher will differ from the one for an instructional assistant, etc.

6. Meal count on STI Classroom-We will begin this on Monday. The office will give the lunchroom the meal count each day. On Friday, the office will print a list so that Mrs. Cooper will know which children ordered chicken.

7. Report cards from last year which were not mailed will be put in your boxes. Please send them home in the Tuesday folder.

8. The Junior Welfare League donated some supplies to our school. An assortment of pens, dry-erase markers, etc. have been placed in the supply cabinet in the Staff Room. The donation included several reams of paper. I have credited each certified teacher with 1/4 of a ream of paper.

9. School store—This will be located in the Community Classroom when it opens. Lost and Found will also be located there to make it more easily accessible to children.

10. Breakfast program will begin August 29.

11. Daily Schedule—Let's have all of those in by Aug 26.

12. Posted on the Staff Room bulletin board is an address list for our school employees. Please check to see that your information is correct.

13. Retirement System Counseling—Posted on the Staff Room bulletin board is a schedule for counseling sessions. To attend, you must be within 3 years of retirement. To schedule an appointment, you must mail a "Retirement Counseling Appointment Request." (No calls or faxes.) Several copies of the form are also posted along with the schedule.

14. Substitute Folders & Emergency Folders—Please be sure to get these prepared and to the office

15. If you have extra planners, handbooks, demographic sheets for students who did not show up, you may turn those in to the office this afternoon. As other students come in, we will issue those things from the office.

16. Just a reminder, students should be returning the following items. (You may send all of this to the office). If a student has not brought it back after a couple of days, be sure to have the student write himself/herself a note in the Assignment Book.

· Last page of the handbook

· Demographic information (computer printout)

Lunch forms

17. We have several new Ellison die cuts (banner, open book, cupcake, flag) plus a storage rack. We received these free as a result of the promotion Winn Dixie offered last year. Those who registered their Winn Dixie cards earned points for the school every time they made purchases with that card. In addition, we also received a free overhead projector and stop watch. (Both of those already have homes.)

18. Plan books—Is there anybody who still needs one? I had given out all that we had and was a few short. Over the last few days, a few people who use a different style of plan book have returned theirs. I now have one extra plan book if somebody needs it.

19. American Fidelity—If you did not meet individually with the representative from American Fidelity earlier this week, please look at this schedule and makes plans to take care of that by going to another school. (I have a list of 12 who need to do that.) A representative will be at Houston on August 19 and 22, Young on the 19th, and Ellis on August 23 and 24. Probably Ellis is going to be your best bet because it's so close.

20. Lynn Campbell has been approved for catastrophic leave. If you would like to donate days, I have the paperwork.

PDP

The PDP is available on the Internet. You can open it by clicking here. You can type directly on the page and then save the document to your computer. You will notice that the file is a "pdf" file. If you are unable to open it, you probably do not have Adobe Acrobate Reader on your computer. (Acrobat reader is also needed to print a gradebook from STI ClassroomWeb.) If you need Adobe Acrobate Reader, you can get it here if you are running Windows XP (the newest computers in the building). For those running Windows 98, you can go here and select Windows 98 from the menu. You may notice a couple of minor changes in the form, but nothing that will impact your goals or how you carry them out.

In talking with Dr. Barbara Walters, who is over PEPE at the Alabama State Department of Education, she said that on the "Student Achievement Goal" it is OK to have a goal that an entire grade level shares or even a goal that the entire school shares. I will talk with our Staff Development Committee in more detail. You can be thinking of the upside and downside of that idea. The goal you have on page one (related to your lower areas from the last evaluation) would be individual for all teachers.

I was originally looking at a date of Sept. 1 for PDPs to be turned in. To allow more time for thought on the advantages of a grade level of even school goal (which would tie into school goals we are looking at for our Title I Schoolwide Plan and CSR grant), let's move that to Oct. 5 (the first day back from the fall break).

Any initial thoughts on having a Student Achievement Goal that is common across the grade level or school?

Now that's dedication!

A broken leg may stop some people, but not Lee Messer. Saturday afternoon, Mr. Messer could be seen cutting the grass in front of Ellis. (Note the crutches thrown in the back of the mower.) Now that's dedication!

On Your Mark, Get Set....

...and today it's time to "Go!" Thanks for what you have been doing over the past weeks, and especially these last days, to prepare for "day 1." The extra effort is noticed and appreciated.

As we sat in the library and wrote letters to ourselves, the intensity in the room was obvious. Now, we get to begin the process of bringing the hopes of dreams contained in our letters to fruition.

When we do the best we can,
we never know what miracle
is wrought in our life,
or the life of another.
- Helen Keller

Adequate Yearly Progress

We Made AYP!

Congratulations to each of you who had a hand in our school making "Adequately Yearly Progress." Those who prepare the lessons, those who keep the building clean in good repair, those who ensure that children all children get at least one good meal the day, and those who deliever children safely to school in the morning and home in the afternoon all share the credit.

In the coming days and weeks, I will be getting to you individual and group data from our spring testing so that so can begin to get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of the students who are coming to you and examine how the students you taught last year performed as well.

Ours Ideas in Print

Reading good ideas from other teachers in other schools is a daily occurrence for us. It's simply part of what we do in our profession to get better. Now, we get to return the favor! This fall, Eye on Education will be publishing Classroom Motivation from A-Z.

Our school is included in Chapter C--"Catch Them Being Good" with a description of our Recognition Log and how we use it. The author was also very interested in how our lower grades have a "spot" for each student in the hall where his or her work is rotated for display throughout the year. Chapter G--"Goals and Success" details our use of student planners.

I have a copy of the author's draft that I will give to Mrs. Lumpkin so that she can add it to our library's professional section. Maybe we can even get a complimentary copy of the finished product when the book is published!

We have so many good ideas on our faculty. and because we know about them and benefit from them, we often assume teachers everywhere knows about them. Not true! As teachers, we are all better off because somebody somewhere shared their strategies with us. As we veteran teachers, our obligation is to return that favor.

Updates to the "Setting Up a Computer" handout

I have made some additions to the handout on setting up your Windows XP computer. You can download the updated document here from any computer in the school system. The additions are as follows:

• Clarification on how to choose the data location on Accelerated Reader.
• Addition of directions on choosing a data location for STAR (which is exactly the same as what you do on Accelerated Reader).
• Being able to receive attachments.
• Importing your Outlook Express address book.

(Note: If when you go to open any of the documents you are asked for a password, hit "cancel." You may find you have to hit "cancel several times." I haven't quite figured out why sometimes I am prompted for password before I can downloada document and other times I am not.)

New computers!

Teachers in grades K-4 are each finding a new computer in their classrooms. With 13 new computers, there is no way I am going to be able to set each one up. Yesterday, John Lockin and I sat down at one computer and mapped out step-by-step how to do all of the set-up and load the software. I finished up on that this morning. What you will be receiving is a guide that will walk you through the whole process not only for this computer, but future new computers for our school.

Update on schedule for August 12

8:00-8:30 Meet at THS. Sign-in
8:30-9:00 General welcome
9:00-10:30 Dr. Steve Edwards (guest speaker)
10:30-12:00 Dorthea Walker (Alabama State Dept. of Education) to speak regarding special education
12:00-1:30 Lunch on your own
1:30-3:00 Mrs. Walker will continues with her presentation.