ITBS Rewards & Motivation- The student advisory met with me yesterday to brainstorm incentives for ITBS. They are voting on those today so teams can use the results to decide what incentive they want to tie to reading and math. I will be coming into classrooms next week (Wed-Thurs) to talk to students about ITBS, why we take them, what they scored before, our overall building scores from previous years and goals for this year. Schedule your 30 minutes with me as soon as you can! I like the 5th grade's idea about setting goals based upon each classroom raising their scores by 1.0 GE and may look at setting the building goal upon that same concept. This may be easier for students to understand and be motivated by to improve their scores.
Saxon Discussion - See last week's FWR...has your team (and with the other grade level) discussed this yet?
Tutoring and Summer School - I have two people who have expressed interest in tutoring. If you're interested, I'd like to meet with those teachers after school on Monday so we can begin soon. If you're interested in summer school, please see me soon too.
Spring Dates - Teams should list all their spring events/dates and turn these in to the office so we have a master schedule. Spring gets busy so please communicate, communicate, communicate!!
Food for Thought - Someone left an article on my desk entitled, "The End of Grade Levels?" A very interesting read and something to think about as education continues the attempt to make changes to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century. After reading the article, if you have feedback please click on the "Comment" link below and let us know.
Dates to Note:
March 29 – 7:40 am mtg w/ Mr. Schmidt
March 30 – PTO Mtg @ IPS (5:30 pm)
March 31 – ITBS Planning Mtg for all involved @ 3:40 pm
April 1 – 7:15 am mtg for all classroom teachers
April 2 – No School
April 5-8 – ITBS week
April 9 – 5th Grade to Rose Theatre
April 9 – 4th Simply Electrifying Assembly (3rd grade visit)
April 12 – Board Mtg (6:00 pm)
April 16 – Comprehensive Portfolios Due for teachers on cycle!!
Website of the Week
Great interactive website for math, including a great one on fractions and decimals.
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3 comments:
I appreciate having the opportunity to read the article from Parade. Having taught in a multi-age building before, I see just how much the concept helps students. I would have loved to use the concept to this degree though. Our classrooms were 2-3 grade levels together. There were fewer recommendations for retention, and CAT scores increased.
I understand the concept, but I have a hard time seeing this as the best solution to improving 21st century skills and decreasing dropout rates. I would hope that schools have expolored all options before moving to this concept. Other methods have proven to increase student success, concepts such as student centered classrooms, integrating 21st century technologies, differentiated instruction, and the list goes on and on. Also, I worry about the social aspects of this concept. I worry that this concept encourages looking at students as "one true self" and can see the labeling of students, such as "fast tracked student" becoming a problem. Just like any new concept, I would have to see it, research it, and test it out before I truely believed in it.
Great points from both of you! I would also need to 'see it in action' and do more research. I don't think that one size education works for every child so whether it is differentiated instruction or multi-age concept - we need to do something. :)
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