Friday, January 30, 2015

1/30/15

THINK WIN-WIN




PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

2/2  Negotiations
2/2  Leadership
2/4  Kindergarten Start Date Task Force
2/7  Foundation Strategic Planning Day

SYNERGIZE 

*Congratulations to Becky, Jerry and Terri on successful Walkthrough days! So many wonderful things happening in our schools-It was great for our teachers who joined us to begin spreading Best Practices across our district!

STREAM-At Any Age!



COMMON CORE MATH STRATEGIES EVERYWHERE!!






We are seeing more and more posting of the objectives...



 *Once again our TOSA's knocked it out of the park with the Math PD Days!  The teacher feedback has been outstanding!  Thank you Cara and Katy for supporting our teachers on this Common Core Math Journey!  It was also nice having Angie make a "guest appearance" each day to show Tech Integration!


*Thank you to Lisa D and Jerry for representing the principals on the Parent/Teacher Conference Task Force.  Special Kudos to Terry D and Nancy for taking this on and facilitating such a great process!
*Yeah for all of our schools for participating in The Great Kindness Challenge!  So great for our kids!
*Fun visit to Qualcomm's Thinkabit Lab!  What an inspiriting place!

*Congratulations to Erik Johnson and Tabor Samuelson-they will be our Summer Enrichment Principals!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders
•Research Supports Engagement: 5 Reasons to Improve Yours-Excellent article highlighting why it is important to Engage our teachers in our schools!
•OMG!!! If you are not following this Facebook Page/Twitter Feed/Blog, YOU are missing out on something AMAZING! (Thank you Elisa for introducing it to me!)
Humans of New York is so inspiring!  Currently running a story about a boy and his principal.
Facebook-Humans of New York
Brandon Stanton@humansofny 

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

BE PROACTIVE

Great ideas from Twitter this week...
..."If culture is a school's personality, climate is its attitude."
..."You don't have to prove who's in charge, everybody knows who's in charge.  The more you try to prove it, the more people try to prove you wrong."
...If Everyone is happy, then you're not doing it right..."
...What are the characteristics of schools that Students, Teachers and Parents knock down the doors to get into each day?

USING OLD TECH TO TEACH THINKING SKILLS!


WOW!!


SHARPEN THE SAW




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Friday, January 16, 2015

1/16/15

THINK WIN-WIN




PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

1/19  Holiday!
1/21  Walkthrough @ CC
1/21  P/T Conference Task Force Mtg.
1/22  Walkthrough @ SR
1/23  Walkthrough @ SSF

SYNERGIZE 

*Congratulations to Lisa P, Lisa D, Elisa and Matt!  The Walkthroughs this week were amazing!  The instruction is absolutely "Shifting" in our schools!  Trends so far include: Consistency of instructional content and strategies across grade levels, schools AND across our district; Meaningful use of technology to up level assignments; Actively engaged student doing VERY purposeful work; Happy kids and staff!



 *Major kudos to our teachers who have joined us on our walkthroughs!  Their presence has certainly enhanced the Walkthrough experience.  Not to mention, that I have no doubt that each of them will go back and share Best Practices that they saw in other classrooms!  EduAwesome!!




*Hip, Hip, Hooray for Angie, Cara, Ellen Leventhall, Stephanie and Dawn Butler for their absolutely AMAZING presentations at the Board meeting!  WOW!  Our students are so lucky to have these teachers spearheading EduAwesome instruction throughout our district AND then sharing examples with our Board of Education!  We really have innovative and highly engaging instruction happening in our classrooms!
*Speaking of Board Presentations...Elisa hit it out of the park last night!  The Spotlight on Solana Pacific was a highlight of the Board meeting!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers
Don't assign homework.  Inspire homework...



BE PROACTIVE

GREAT Ideas from Twitter this week
...Walk your campus and consider:  What do I want this place to look like one year from now? @ MelachiPancoast  Write it down and think about what you need to do to make that happen.
...Is says a lot about a leader who makes the time to learn right along side of their teachers! @Kyle Pace
....Start with where folks are and shine a light on where they should go


SHARPEN THE SAW


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Friday, January 9, 2015

1/9/15

THINK WIN-WIN



PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

1/12/15  Negotiations-Good Luck to All!  Thank You Carlos, Terry, Sal, Terri and Elisa for serving on this team!
1/13  Tech Job-A-Like
1/13  Walkthrough @ SV Team 3
1/13  ELD Job-A-Like @ Skyline
1/13  Spec. Ed Job-A-Like
1/14  Cal 200 Staff meeting @ SP
1/14  Walkthrough @ SH Team 1
1/14  BTSA
1/15  Walkthrough @ Sky Team 2
1/15  Board Meeting-SP Spotlight
1/16  Walkthrough @ SP Team 3

SYNERGIZE 

*Kudos to Angie for working so closely with Apple to develop two EDU-AWESOME Professional Development days for our teachers!
*Congratulations to Terry Decker for producing yet another award winning video production! Prescreening will be Monday at Leadership!
*Thank you to Elisa for stepping in and agreeing to present (School Spotlight) at the January Board meeting

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders
5 Leadership Questions to Finish (And Start) the School Year With
Engaging Your School Community Through Social Media

Kid President Video-For the Heroes!  A great way to start the year-Are you a Hero?  YES!!

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND


BE PROACTIVE

•Looking forward to attending the USD Spotlight on Education evening featuring Kevin Honecutt with the principals!  Thank You to everyone who responded to Melani, she will register all of us!  Do you follow Kevin on Twitter?@kevinhoneycutt 
•NCPDF is offering a Workshop series on GATE Certification.  Click Here for the flyer.
•Mark the Date:  February 9 is the next Envision Team Meeting.  More information to follow at Leadership.
•We've posted the Summer Enrichment/Intervention Principal positions.  Please encourage teachers who you know are interested in administration to apply.

SHARPEN THE SAW


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Friday, December 12, 2014

12-12-14

THINK WIN-WIN 


PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

12/15  Grade 2 Math PD
12/15  Negotiations
12/15  Leadership
12/17  BTSA
12/18  Board Topics and Updates Due
12/19  Jimbo's Lunch at the District Office
12/22  YAHOO!! WINTER BREAK!

SYNERGIZE 

*Thank you to Nancy and Tom for hosting yet another wonderful Holiday Party!  So much fun-and so many incredibly thoughtful ornaments!
*Huge Kudos to Cara and Katy who continue to hit home runs with their Math PD days!  TK/K, and 1st grade days were very well received!
*Thank you Lisa P for those YUMMY treats at Leadership-(Sal, did you get some of your favorite chips?)
*Kudos to all of our Computer Discovery Lab Instructors for participating in Hour of Code-Our students are loving it!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

Hmmmm...Common Core Mathematics for teachers!

BE PROACTIVE


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Friday, November 21, 2014

11-21-14

THINK WIN-WIN



PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

Enjoy Your Break Next Week!  We have so much to be thankful for!
12/1  Leadership (Who would like to do snacks!?)
12/3  BTSA
12/4  New Principal Meeting
12/5  Ed Coalition
12/5  Holiday Party @ Nancy's (Thank You Nancy & Tom)

SYNERGIZE 

*AMAZING!! Katy and Cara did an AMAZING job planning and facilitating the New and Improved Math PD days this week!  Loved this quote from a 3rd grade teacher, "This day will improve my math instruction ten-fold!  What a valuable day!  Thank You!"
*Thank You to Angie for coordinating and supporting the Apple PD days!
*Thank you to Melani for restocking the snacks for each of the PD days-The grapes were delicious!
*Kudos to Terry Decker and Carlos for holding down the fort this week!  Smooth sailing!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders
Flipping Staff Development (Staff Meeting Content too!) Great article on how to extend learning past the presentation!

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers

BE PROACTIVE



SHARPEN THE SAW







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Friday, November 14, 2014

11-14-14

THINK WIN-WIN




PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

11/17  Apple PD
11/17  Leadership-Thank you Carlos for Snacks!
11/18  Apple PD
11/18  Math PD Grade 3
11/18  ELD Meeting
11/19  Math PD Grade 4
11/19  BTSA
11/20  Math PD Grade 5
11/20  Board Topics and Board Updates due
11/21  Math PD Grade 6
11/21  CDC Thanksgiving Feast

SYNERGIZE 

*Another Great Week of Walkthroughs!  Congratulations to Solana Pacific, Solana Santa Fe and Solana Ranch!  Elisa, Becky and Jerry should be very proud of the amazing work that is happening at your sites-our teachers are really "shifting" their instruction to implement the new State Standards and provide our students with opportunities for depth and complexity in their learning. I had a blast Tweeting out real time highlights of each visit-check them out #sbsdedu




*WOW!!! A big round of applause to all of our Sites for their progress on their STREAM Year 1 Implementation Plans.  Our Envision Committee meeting was a huge success.  Each site is doing a fabulous job providing STREAM opportunities for our students!  We had the opportunity to hear from each school and to share all of the exciting things that are happening across the district.

*A special thank you to Jeff Busby for all of his years of service to the Solana Beach School District-We appreciate all that you have done for our students!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers
6 Rules to Break for Better
Delivering Differentiated Instruction in your Classroom-It's not just about acceleration!

BE PROACTIVE


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Monday, November 10, 2014

11-7-14

THINK WIN-WIN




PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST 

11/10&11/11 Happy Veteran's Day
11/12 Walkthroughs continue at Solana Pacific-Team 2 (Elisa, Becky and Terri)
11/12  Envision Committee Meeting
11/13  Walkthrough @ Solana Santa Fe-Team 3 (Jerry and Lisa P)
11/13  School Board Meeting
11/14  Walkthrough @ Solana Ranch-Team 1 (Lisa D, Lisa R, Matt)
11/9    Congratulations to the Mother of the Bride!


SYNERGIZE 

*What a great week of Walkthroughs!  Thank you to all of the staff members at SV, SKY, SH and CC!  Such amazing things happening at all of our schools! Check out our tweets (#sbsdedu) highlighting some of the highlights!



*Kudos to Katy and Cara for a Fabulous Math Committee Meeting.  The prep from the day before's work group set the stage nicely for the meeting and as we plan for the future Math PD days!
*Thank you to John, Caroline and Tech for working with us to get the Core APP list resolved and put into place!
*A great big thank you to Monica for working with SDCOE to get all of the Eureka math materials printed!  Whew!  What a task!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Instructional Leaders
The Disease of Being Busy...Something to think about for us and for our kids!
The Life of a Project -A great summary of the foundation of true STREAM Units-Project Based Learning (PBL)
9 Ways to Plan Transformational Lessons-Are you seeing these shifts in your classrooms?
I would suggest that we are in "the dip" with our New Progress Report-and that's OK-Because I know that by the end of the year, we will see the Possibilities of the Curve!  Our job is to support our teachers as they move through this change.

 ASCD Article on Standards Based Grading

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

Blogs/Articles/Videos for Teachers
15 Reasons Why I Teach


BE PROACTIVE



 SHARPEN THE SAW

One of my "most favorite" quotes!!

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