It's Fall Back Weekend. Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed on Halloween!
Monday, November 9 - Let's plan for birthday lunch for Carol and Barry.
Please remember to submit to me your sustainability schedule for each school which indicates the coaching cycle for each teacher in the grade band you serve. You may email it to me or post it on the server in the ASAP Schools 2009-10 folder and email me that it is there. I need schedules for White Plains Elementary, Walnut Park Elementary, and West End. If you do not have it electornically, then a copy of a handwritten schedule will be fine too. Remember, Kay made a template and it is on the server.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
October 23, 2009
Luckily I didn't have any SDE meetings this week so I do not have any AMSTI information to share.
Prayer request
Sad news - Lynn's grandmother Alice passed away. Keep them in your prayers.
Please continue to pray for Kay's daughter, Michelle.
I failed to mention that Shelly Hollis' husband and Carol Mueller's husband have both lost their jobs or given severance, ect... Shelly husband has started his own business but Carol's husband will be looking for work.
Prayer request
Sad news - Lynn's grandmother Alice passed away. Keep them in your prayers.
Please continue to pray for Kay's daughter, Michelle.
I failed to mention that Shelly Hollis' husband and Carol Mueller's husband have both lost their jobs or given severance, ect... Shelly husband has started his own business but Carol's husband will be looking for work.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
October 16, 2009
Updates from Director's Meeting
Please remind 7th grade science teachers about the Genetics Kit.
We are going to receive Success Net Tracker Codes for each school year 3 and beyond. We will send through "snail mail" to AMSTI teachers only.
Do not share AMSTI Bundle numbers with anyone. The Bundle numbers are for AMSTI sites only.
Math Specialist - you will receive an email from SDE Math asking you to bring lesson plans to the November meeting. Preferably lessons that you have taught in a class. I believe you are going to work on making those into 5 E lessons and then learn how to place those plans on ALEX. I believe you are also going to work with Exam View and Success Tracker.
ALEX contains AMSTI lesson plans. Inform your teachers and you may want to use some of them too.
The new inventory tracking system will bring many changes to our site including but not limited to how materials are handled, ordered, checked out, etc. More later. FYI - everything will have to be inventoried in the warehouse. This will be a TEAM project probably summer of 2010.
Barry -- think about beginning to order and collect non consumables. The recommendation is enough non consumable for 10% of our kits.
Materials will need to be formally requested from the warehouse and recorded as used. More later when we begin to make this transition. Just fyi!
From Steve: Remember, if you are going to retire or take another position, please let me and Steve know at least 6 months in advance, 1 year if possible, so that a smooth transition can take place. Troy still does not have a director or materials manager. They have not even interviewed for the directors position. They left in July so this situation has reminded Steve that for a smooth transition to take place then advance notification must take place.
2011 Budget will be worse than 2010. Begin praying for funding and developing a plan for getting support from teachers and public for funding.
Sustainability and getting schools to implement is very important. We must make gains in test scores.
MSP money - Keep contact hours on everyone like you have been doing.
We need to develop some workshops to offer to schools. I would like to hear more about the GLOBE and math work that Sandra and Lynn Vaughn have been working on. I think a good title is: Milk and Oreos – made for each other just like GLOBE and Math. I also want us to develop Alphabet Soup – making sense of SAT10, ARMT, ASA, and AMSTI- basically a work session for teachers to find in their AMSTI materials were each of the standards for the test are addressed and develop a plan to get them taught before testing! There are two more but we will partner with Eric to deliver those. I am thinking after testing for the Milk and Oreos workshop but BEFORE testing for the Alphabet Soup workshop. We can pay subs. It's part of the sustainability grant/MSP grant. We can also offer these in the summer time.
Making Middle Schools Work: Saks Middle, Wellborn High, Emma Sansom, Gadsden Middle, Hokes Bluff Middle and Litchfield Middle are all participating. I have a SREB booklet to share with Mary and Sue. We were given one per site. When working with these schools we are to consult the SREB book.
PLTs - I have worked with WE Striplin and I think they can continue. I have a date scheduled to work with Weaver HS, and Hokes Bluff Middle. Piedmont Elementary and CA Donehoo are sending me dates.
Eric will deliver technology PD to us on November 30. It will take place here. You will need your laptop and blackberries’.
Calhoun County would like Sandra, Kay and Donna to deliver a PD on AMSTI math to the Para pros that are working with kids and teachers at their schools. They need to understand how to work with them. Probably how to use the investigations. Would a 1/2 day work? If so, get together and give me data so I can call Bobby Burns back with a date for training.
Sue had given me dates for compressed training. I need dates from everyone else so I can schedule compressed training. Please supply those dates by the end of Monday, Oct. 19.
Please remind 7th grade science teachers about the Genetics Kit.
We are going to receive Success Net Tracker Codes for each school year 3 and beyond. We will send through "snail mail" to AMSTI teachers only.
Do not share AMSTI Bundle numbers with anyone. The Bundle numbers are for AMSTI sites only.
Math Specialist - you will receive an email from SDE Math asking you to bring lesson plans to the November meeting. Preferably lessons that you have taught in a class. I believe you are going to work on making those into 5 E lessons and then learn how to place those plans on ALEX. I believe you are also going to work with Exam View and Success Tracker.
ALEX contains AMSTI lesson plans. Inform your teachers and you may want to use some of them too.
The new inventory tracking system will bring many changes to our site including but not limited to how materials are handled, ordered, checked out, etc. More later. FYI - everything will have to be inventoried in the warehouse. This will be a TEAM project probably summer of 2010.
Barry -- think about beginning to order and collect non consumables. The recommendation is enough non consumable for 10% of our kits.
Materials will need to be formally requested from the warehouse and recorded as used. More later when we begin to make this transition. Just fyi!
From Steve: Remember, if you are going to retire or take another position, please let me and Steve know at least 6 months in advance, 1 year if possible, so that a smooth transition can take place. Troy still does not have a director or materials manager. They have not even interviewed for the directors position. They left in July so this situation has reminded Steve that for a smooth transition to take place then advance notification must take place.
2011 Budget will be worse than 2010. Begin praying for funding and developing a plan for getting support from teachers and public for funding.
Sustainability and getting schools to implement is very important. We must make gains in test scores.
MSP money - Keep contact hours on everyone like you have been doing.
We need to develop some workshops to offer to schools. I would like to hear more about the GLOBE and math work that Sandra and Lynn Vaughn have been working on. I think a good title is: Milk and Oreos – made for each other just like GLOBE and Math. I also want us to develop Alphabet Soup – making sense of SAT10, ARMT, ASA, and AMSTI- basically a work session for teachers to find in their AMSTI materials were each of the standards for the test are addressed and develop a plan to get them taught before testing! There are two more but we will partner with Eric to deliver those. I am thinking after testing for the Milk and Oreos workshop but BEFORE testing for the Alphabet Soup workshop. We can pay subs. It's part of the sustainability grant/MSP grant. We can also offer these in the summer time.
Making Middle Schools Work: Saks Middle, Wellborn High, Emma Sansom, Gadsden Middle, Hokes Bluff Middle and Litchfield Middle are all participating. I have a SREB booklet to share with Mary and Sue. We were given one per site. When working with these schools we are to consult the SREB book.
PLTs - I have worked with WE Striplin and I think they can continue. I have a date scheduled to work with Weaver HS, and Hokes Bluff Middle. Piedmont Elementary and CA Donehoo are sending me dates.
Eric will deliver technology PD to us on November 30. It will take place here. You will need your laptop and blackberries’.
Calhoun County would like Sandra, Kay and Donna to deliver a PD on AMSTI math to the Para pros that are working with kids and teachers at their schools. They need to understand how to work with them. Probably how to use the investigations. Would a 1/2 day work? If so, get together and give me data so I can call Bobby Burns back with a date for training.
Sue had given me dates for compressed training. I need dates from everyone else so I can schedule compressed training. Please supply those dates by the end of Monday, Oct. 19.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
October 9, 2009
Directors meeting October 4-6, 2009:
• We met as a PLT and we are submitting our LOG to Steve. Please submit your log to me.
• Material managers met a few weeks ago and from that meeting asked that each site be aware of the time of the rotation and be mindful that if you need materials from the warehouse, please request those materials prior to the kits returning, being refurbed and going out again. Usually a 2 week window. Just be mindful those 2 weeks (4 times a year) are extremely stressful for them and any interruption probably makes them lose 30 minutes of work time.
• K-5 math - using the "math workshop" which was at one time a part of the SI, is a way for schools to do math intervention without calling it intervention. A suggestion by one of the other sites that has tried it and it has been successful for them.
• Please remember that no one person should be the sole source for any information. i.e... any information you receive from the SDE or anything that pertains to the smooth operation of our site - should be shared via this blog (all of you were asked to be contributors, not just followers- I can resend that request if needed) or email.
• Any email that concerns any materials changes for kits or SI should go to Barry, and cc specialists for that subject and Tanya.
• Any email concerning curriculum for SI should go to Barry and Tanya and cc specialists for that subject.
• Any email concerning materials needed for a teacher should go to Barry and cc specialist for that subject. When that request is completed a reply email should sent to ALL recipients so everyone knows that has been completed and the request didn't go to SPAM.
• More proration is expected later in the year up to 4% more.
• And remember - Sustainability plans must remain flexible - which is what the minutes from the staff meeting from 10/4/09 reflected. YEA! There is not a cookie cutter approach. Please remember to submit to me a copy of your sustainability schedule which indicates the support cycle with each teacher you serve.
Let's please drop the ASAP term and replace it with Sustainability.
Monday, Oct. 12 will be BUSY! 8-10 Interwrite Training, 10:30 - 12:00 Office of Institutional Research and Assessment meeting, West End DDD 3 PM - need to leave at 1:00 (better to be early than cutting it close).
Directors meeting at UM Oct. 13 - 14 I'm leaving from West End to go to UM.
Concerns from staff meeting:
Schools not making AYP - Etowah HS, West End HS and Southside HS - 2 of the 3 are Year 1 schools and should received math sustainability support. Southside HS didn't make it this year for reading. The 3 still in SI, Moody is year 1 and could received sustainability support but I do not believe at this time the principal or staff would be on board. Pell City and Wellborn both attended the PLT training and can receive our support in that area but our role is facilitator and we haven't been requested to help. Their teachers can always received help between sustainability cycles because we are not leaving one school and moving into another school.
Compressed Training:
Please supply me with specific dates you can deliver the trainings that are listed in the staff meeting notes. I need dates for every kit listed so I can make a schedule. I'll use the dates you supply unless there is a conflict with State Meeting or availability of training rooms.
Quotes from my eLearning class about building learning communities. Reasons why we need PLTs in AMSTI (staff and schools).
Here are three reasons why you should consider building community into your overall learning strategy:
Approximately 70% of what an employee needs to know for success is learned outside of formal training*** (e.g., on the job, through mentoring, etc.). Communities extend learning by creating a structure whereby people can learn from "informal" interactions.
Tacit knowledge - the informal knowledge about "how things really get done around here" and ultimately, how to be successful in one's job - is extremely difficult to capture, codify and deliver through discrete learning objects and traditional training programs. Communities are a way to elicit and share practical know-how that would otherwise remain untapped.
Creating and structuring opportunities for people to network, communicate, mentor, and learn from each other can help capture, formalize, and disseminate tacit knowledge, and thus accelerate learning and organizational effectiveness. Communities become a boundaryless container for knowledge and relationships that can be used to increase individual effectiveness and a company's overall competitive advantage.
For most learning professionals today, the question isn't if building communities will deliver value to the organization, but rather what kind of community is needed and what are the steps involved in building it.
• We met as a PLT and we are submitting our LOG to Steve. Please submit your log to me.
• Material managers met a few weeks ago and from that meeting asked that each site be aware of the time of the rotation and be mindful that if you need materials from the warehouse, please request those materials prior to the kits returning, being refurbed and going out again. Usually a 2 week window. Just be mindful those 2 weeks (4 times a year) are extremely stressful for them and any interruption probably makes them lose 30 minutes of work time.
• K-5 math - using the "math workshop" which was at one time a part of the SI, is a way for schools to do math intervention without calling it intervention. A suggestion by one of the other sites that has tried it and it has been successful for them.
• Please remember that no one person should be the sole source for any information. i.e... any information you receive from the SDE or anything that pertains to the smooth operation of our site - should be shared via this blog (all of you were asked to be contributors, not just followers- I can resend that request if needed) or email.
• Any email that concerns any materials changes for kits or SI should go to Barry, and cc specialists for that subject and Tanya.
• Any email concerning curriculum for SI should go to Barry and Tanya and cc specialists for that subject.
• Any email concerning materials needed for a teacher should go to Barry and cc specialist for that subject. When that request is completed a reply email should sent to ALL recipients so everyone knows that has been completed and the request didn't go to SPAM.
• More proration is expected later in the year up to 4% more.
• And remember - Sustainability plans must remain flexible - which is what the minutes from the staff meeting from 10/4/09 reflected. YEA! There is not a cookie cutter approach. Please remember to submit to me a copy of your sustainability schedule which indicates the support cycle with each teacher you serve.
Let's please drop the ASAP term and replace it with Sustainability.
Monday, Oct. 12 will be BUSY! 8-10 Interwrite Training, 10:30 - 12:00 Office of Institutional Research and Assessment meeting, West End DDD 3 PM - need to leave at 1:00 (better to be early than cutting it close).
Directors meeting at UM Oct. 13 - 14 I'm leaving from West End to go to UM.
Concerns from staff meeting:
Schools not making AYP - Etowah HS, West End HS and Southside HS - 2 of the 3 are Year 1 schools and should received math sustainability support. Southside HS didn't make it this year for reading. The 3 still in SI, Moody is year 1 and could received sustainability support but I do not believe at this time the principal or staff would be on board. Pell City and Wellborn both attended the PLT training and can receive our support in that area but our role is facilitator and we haven't been requested to help. Their teachers can always received help between sustainability cycles because we are not leaving one school and moving into another school.
Compressed Training:
Please supply me with specific dates you can deliver the trainings that are listed in the staff meeting notes. I need dates for every kit listed so I can make a schedule. I'll use the dates you supply unless there is a conflict with State Meeting or availability of training rooms.
Quotes from my eLearning class about building learning communities. Reasons why we need PLTs in AMSTI (staff and schools).
Here are three reasons why you should consider building community into your overall learning strategy:
Approximately 70% of what an employee needs to know for success is learned outside of formal training*** (e.g., on the job, through mentoring, etc.). Communities extend learning by creating a structure whereby people can learn from "informal" interactions.
Tacit knowledge - the informal knowledge about "how things really get done around here" and ultimately, how to be successful in one's job - is extremely difficult to capture, codify and deliver through discrete learning objects and traditional training programs. Communities are a way to elicit and share practical know-how that would otherwise remain untapped.
Creating and structuring opportunities for people to network, communicate, mentor, and learn from each other can help capture, formalize, and disseminate tacit knowledge, and thus accelerate learning and organizational effectiveness. Communities become a boundaryless container for knowledge and relationships that can be used to increase individual effectiveness and a company's overall competitive advantage.
For most learning professionals today, the question isn't if building communities will deliver value to the organization, but rather what kind of community is needed and what are the steps involved in building it.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
October 2, 2009
I have a directors meeting Monday and Tuesday in Mobile. I will leave Sunday afternoon. I'll see you all next week.
October 5, 2009 - Specialist PLT begins (9;00 - 10:00)-- who is going to be the leader this week?
Remember: You need a log - (log is not minutes) - Record big ideas from team's disucssions during the meeting, and decisions the team makes. Log is not being evaluated and need not be lengthy. The idea is to communicate information that helps readers get inside the meeting, glimpse the team's thinking, and learn where the team is going. Logs supply a written plan for the next meeting. Use logs to review strategies and directions and to track the teams effectiveness.
Remember -If you refer to Anne Jolly's book -- for us when it mentions students we think teachers we serve. I've downloaded the tools and saved a copy to the G drive. It is called Team to Teach tools and it is in PDF format.
At the meeting in September, the placemat consenus decided that the focus would be 5 E lessons while learning how to differentiate lessons both 5 E and traditional lesson and learning how to use technology to support 5 E lessons, enhance 5E lessons, and our presentations. (I elaborated - the consensus was 5E, technology and differentiated instruction but to any of those taken seperately will not allow as much professional growth to occur as if the team uses technology and differenctiated instruction to support, and enhance the presentation and application of 5 E lessons.)
Data notebooks: all contain current AYP information. We serve 4 schools still in SI and 2 that didn't make AYP. In schools imporvement : Moody HS, Etowah HS, Pell City HS, and Wellborn HS. Moody, Pell City and Wellborn did make AYP this year and if they make it one more year then they are OUT of SI. Didn't make AYP: Etowah HS, West End HS and Southside HS. Likewise, if they do not make AYP again, they go into SI.
Staff Meeting - 10:30 - Carol is the leader. Donna is the notetaker for Oct. if memory serves me correctly.
Proration- 7.5 % declared for the education budget. Steve held some back from the sites so he is "covering" the proration. But if it is declared again, we will lose money from our budget. Remember, it was cut 50% from last year so there isn't much left to trim! We must be very cautious. Please car pool when ever possible.
If you have material request from paper to pencils to staples or whatever, please ask Lynn. She knows what we have and where it is and asking her will prevent us ordering something we already have ample in supply. Barry, Lynn and I reguarly discuss material needs and if we have the money in the budget to fund the purchase.
Data: White Plains Elementary data will be on the "G" drive by the end of Friday.
School PLT: I have had 4 requests for help with PLTs at schools. If it is ok with you all, I will handle those until the request get to many for me to handle. That will free you up for ASAP.
Equipment: Please make sure all equipment (projectors, elmos, interwrite pads, everything, is labeled with AMSTI JSU and numbered. Carol was working on this earlier this year. Also, any equipment you are not using on a weekly basis can be left in the vault. Just a thought....
Certificates - AMSTI certificates for teachers will be sorted and seperated by schools by end of Friday. On Monday, if you have trips planned to a school, get that schools certificates and please deliver. I will take all of Calhoun Counties to their central office to be distributed through their interoffice mail. THANKS
October 5, 2009 - Specialist PLT begins (9;00 - 10:00)-- who is going to be the leader this week?
Remember: You need a log - (log is not minutes) - Record big ideas from team's disucssions during the meeting, and decisions the team makes. Log is not being evaluated and need not be lengthy. The idea is to communicate information that helps readers get inside the meeting, glimpse the team's thinking, and learn where the team is going. Logs supply a written plan for the next meeting. Use logs to review strategies and directions and to track the teams effectiveness.
Remember -If you refer to Anne Jolly's book -- for us when it mentions students we think teachers we serve. I've downloaded the tools and saved a copy to the G drive. It is called Team to Teach tools and it is in PDF format.
At the meeting in September, the placemat consenus decided that the focus would be 5 E lessons while learning how to differentiate lessons both 5 E and traditional lesson and learning how to use technology to support 5 E lessons, enhance 5E lessons, and our presentations. (I elaborated - the consensus was 5E, technology and differentiated instruction but to any of those taken seperately will not allow as much professional growth to occur as if the team uses technology and differenctiated instruction to support, and enhance the presentation and application of 5 E lessons.)
Data notebooks: all contain current AYP information. We serve 4 schools still in SI and 2 that didn't make AYP. In schools imporvement : Moody HS, Etowah HS, Pell City HS, and Wellborn HS. Moody, Pell City and Wellborn did make AYP this year and if they make it one more year then they are OUT of SI. Didn't make AYP: Etowah HS, West End HS and Southside HS. Likewise, if they do not make AYP again, they go into SI.
Staff Meeting - 10:30 - Carol is the leader. Donna is the notetaker for Oct. if memory serves me correctly.
Proration- 7.5 % declared for the education budget. Steve held some back from the sites so he is "covering" the proration. But if it is declared again, we will lose money from our budget. Remember, it was cut 50% from last year so there isn't much left to trim! We must be very cautious. Please car pool when ever possible.
If you have material request from paper to pencils to staples or whatever, please ask Lynn. She knows what we have and where it is and asking her will prevent us ordering something we already have ample in supply. Barry, Lynn and I reguarly discuss material needs and if we have the money in the budget to fund the purchase.
Data: White Plains Elementary data will be on the "G" drive by the end of Friday.
School PLT: I have had 4 requests for help with PLTs at schools. If it is ok with you all, I will handle those until the request get to many for me to handle. That will free you up for ASAP.
Equipment: Please make sure all equipment (projectors, elmos, interwrite pads, everything, is labeled with AMSTI JSU and numbered. Carol was working on this earlier this year. Also, any equipment you are not using on a weekly basis can be left in the vault. Just a thought....
Certificates - AMSTI certificates for teachers will be sorted and seperated by schools by end of Friday. On Monday, if you have trips planned to a school, get that schools certificates and please deliver. I will take all of Calhoun Counties to their central office to be distributed through their interoffice mail. THANKS
AMSTI - The 5 E's
Weaver High School - August 3: 8:30 - 11:30- Tanya, Sue and Mary
CE Hanna - October 5th 3:00 - 4:00 - Mary and Sue
CE Hanna - October 5th 3:00 - 4:00 - Mary and Sue
ASAP
K-5 math specialists will begin ASAP at White Plains Elementary School on Sept. 15
K-5 science specialist will begin ASAP at Walnut Park Elemetary School on Sept. 15
6-12 math and science: West End (?)
K-5 math : Coldwater
K-5 science: Alexandria Elementary
5-8 : CE Hanna
K-5 math : DeArmanville
K-5 science specialist will begin ASAP at Walnut Park Elemetary School on Sept. 15
6-12 math and science: West End (?)
K-5 math : Coldwater
K-5 science: Alexandria Elementary
5-8 : CE Hanna
K-5 math : DeArmanville
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