March 16, 2015

Recently a group of our teachers went on a site visit to another STEM school called Town Center Elementary in Coppell.  They are in their fourth/fifth year of STEM.  At our last STEM leadership meeting after school, teachers shared some of their take-aways from that visit.  One of those was the way they have adopted the STEM design process as their writing process.  Erica came back to her class and began to utilize it.  Jennifer learned about it at our share session and has already put it up on her classroom as well.  Please go by these two classrooms and see it. We can work in PLCs to design one that fits with your grade level.

October 20, 2014

WHAT IS YOUR WORD??

Instead of meeting the needs of the students that come to ME in MY classroom this year, I am going to your classrooms, the PLC room, and the PDEC to carryout my new expectations as a liaison. My role is to foster and support growth among the staff.

In my classroom, I created hundreds of anchor charts with my students to foster growth. Bottom line… I miss having anchor charts!! The transition to using my computer or personal calendar/interactive notebook has not been flawless and I STILL MISS MY ANCHOR CHARTS! Thankfully, Tona asked each grade level to make an interactive bulletin board. Now I have an excuse to put one my office without looking foolish! :-) I am in the process of making TWO- one for me personally and one for the PLC room. Both of my interactive bulletin boards will “give meaning and focus” in my new role and help me achieve my goals-with an anchor chart & moving pieces. I can’t wait to share them with you.

This is from Jon Gordon:

My friends Dan Britton and Jimmy Page believe that one word can change our life. Dan and Jimmy are the co-authors of Wisdom Walks, and they share a powerful concept in their chapter “Just One Word.” Every year for 15 years before New Year ’s Day, they come up with their word for the year that will give meaning and focus to their life. They said they don’t randomly pick a word, but rather through reflection, prayer and listening to their heart the word comes to them.

My word for this school year is INTENTIONAL! Why did I choose this word? I chose this word because I must be intentional so I change and grow. I am curious to know what your word is AND what are you being intentional about?