September 30, 2011

Staff meeting at 10 AM to make sure we are all on the same page concerning the Statewide meeting we are hosting.  


Specialists will meet after the staff meeting to learn the new Activity Log. 
The SDE has provided the Activity Log which is to be implemented in  October.  We will have a training session on it on Monday at 10 AM.  If you have a thumb drive, bring it with you to the meeting.  You will enter your activities  on the form given to you and each month you will give Tanya the thumb drive and she will load each specialist log in to the SITE Activity log which will combine all activities and produce a report to send to the SDE.  This Activity Log will take the place of recording MSP hours and upon discussion how you are recording sustainability at the school, it will more than likely replace it.  You will only complete the Activity Log. More info on Monday.  Bring a thumb drive.  Clean it off if possible.  You do not  want  to use your BIG drive.  Do your best to dedicate one thumb drive to the activity log.  Tanya has extra.  



State Wide Staff Meeting: - changes since Tuesday are highlighted


Specialists, please see Ben Hicks email and register on STIPD for the Statewide Staff meeting. 

We are hosting Statewide staff meeting is October 10 – 13.  The time is 8:00 - 4:00 so we need to be there at 7:30.  We will help with snacks in the morning and at breaks.

Oct 10 will be a half day of meetings beginning around lunch and people will arrive before lunch. We will need have people at the inservice to help unload snacks and drinks. I think I will give the instructions so they can park by the elevator to unload and then go to the lower parking lot to park.   We need AMSTI signs to indicate where to park and where to unload the snacks.  


I have sent a lunch form to everyone so people can pre-order lunches.

We will provide homemade goodies on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please see Tara to let her know what you will bring.

Our command room will be 2112. We will set up snacks in the hallway like we did before but we need a holding area, and I’ve asked to borrow the Inservice Center coffee pot. I have a timer for the coffee pot so we can "make the coffee before we leave each day" and set the time to start at 7:00. 

We are using the following rooms. Since I set this up in August, science has since asked for rooms on Monday. So a committee will meet in 2110 and one committee will meet at our office on Monday afternoon.

October 10 October 11 October 12 October 13

• Math will use 2101 all 4 days
• Break out rooms on Monday 
• 2112 
• Conference room at the InService center by the kitchen
• Science will use 2110 on Monday and our "book room" on Monday
• Tuesday - Thursday : Big room will be 2107 
• In 2107 make sure NO ONE MOVES the big wooden table that is against the wall. 
• The legs are not secure and it could collape. 
• Only move the tables with wheels.
• No one should touch the video conferenceing equipment in the corner of the room

• Directors will be in 2113 all 4 days.

All rooms will need chart papers, tool boxes, extension cords.

Science specific material list.
2107 is the big room for science and their list is below. We can’t get in there until the Tuesday morning. But, if we have everything ready to take in there, I think it will be ok. The projector, screen, and speakers are in the room. We will need a document camera in there. (Our document cameras are in the same rolling cart with our projects so we can just take the rolling cart over there.) The SDE is bringing a microphone since I told them we didn’t have microphones. There are tables in 2107 so there shouldn’t be any more needed. For 2107, we need a sign that says “DO NOT MOVE THIS TABLE” (Barry and Lynn know what table I’m referring to in 2107.)

Materials List

AMSTI Science Content Deepening

October 2011

For classroom

1 projector - in the room

1 screen - in the room

1 set speakers - in the room

1 (?) microphone - SDE will bring

1 document camera - AMSTI JSU provide (they are the vault in the rolling carts)

9 extension cords

2 tables - for demo

3 Chart paper (Post-It)

9 toolkits (*markers may be in kits)

* 9 sets Markers *

Sustainability

Please share with Tanya when you will be teaching a lesson during your coaching cycles.  Part of my "plan to work with leadership" is to visit schools during coaching cycle and ask the principal to visit a class with me so they can "see" what  good instruction looks like. 


Math Specialists - dates from the Directors meeting
Hold the dates:  December 12-16 for training on the Explorations Guides  :  Guides the SDE is buying/making as part of the Phase II training.


On Monday Tanya will provide you with a handout of dates from the SDE.

Tanya attended the ARMT+   session on Thursday and will prepare a memo the high points.

September 16,2011

Please remember to complete your site report on Monday if you haven't completed it for September.


Dr. Hammett may be at our staff meeting on Monday.  When I sent him our list of meetings, he indicated he would be in attendance at the Sept. meeting. 


Please drive a van to any State Dept Meetings, or any meetings or PD that occur out of our InService Area (ASTA, ACTM).  If there is a reason you can't drive a van to an out of town PD/meeting, please, in advance, talk to Kay or Tanya concerning this matter.

Please submit a list by email to Kay and Tanya concerning any PD or meetings or training (you are attending or leading) that will take you out of the  schools. This includes any specialists PLTs that have formed around the state.   The list of dates below was shared on June 3rd and this is what we have scheduled our school plans around these dates. Please, always share in advance, any dates you receive that Tanya and Kay do not have.  We need to have discussion before agreeing to any dates not on the list.  Some specialists have been asked to attend monthly meetings around the state and honestly, that is too much. I'm in discussion with the SDE concerning that now and will bring it up at the next Director's meeting.

PCN meetings:  I think  CE Hanna, Moody M and Springville Middle are participating so this is a great opportunity to interact with those schools.  They will all be at the elementary meeting not the secondary meeting.  If you sit at their tables be sure to count those as contact hours.


New Dates: 
Director's meetings:
September 27-28, 2011
November 29-30, 2011
February 7th-8th and maybe 9th with Joanne
May 8th and 9th and maybe 10th with Joanne

Statewide Staff meetings
October 10th-13th  everyone
April 16th - 19th everyone
June 25th - 29th everyone

Possible TTT
February 21-23:  Math
February 27- March 2: Science
February 28- March 1: Math
March 5-8: Math

Science will hold one training for the whole state and math will hold one in the North, one in Central and one in the South.  Which date if for North, Central or South has not been decided.

Materials Manager meetings
September 13-14
April 3-4

Wording:

Just a side note!
In one of the books I'm reading for Key Leader, it says,  "monkeys receive training and people receive professional development".   Let's do our best not to refer to sessions we offer as training but as professional development.  I'm also trying to stop referring to them as workshops because people tend to think of a workshop as a one shot deal which we know research says is ineffective.  I am usually successful when I type it but it is taking a lot for me to stop saying training.   And the extended onsite support is really embedded professional development too.  


Brief Meeting
Monday around 1:30, we need to have a brief meeting to discuss the "staff" procedure notebook I'm getting together.  It will  take around 30 minutes. 

September 9th, 2011

Wow, long time since the last blog.

Staff updates:
Cy Wagner began working with the Material Staff in August.  Welcome Cy.

I’m happy to announce our new K-5 math specialist is Amber Trantham from Alexandria Elementary.  She will begin November 1.

Instructional Services Project  PD


We will not have a staff meeting before this PD, so please get together on Monday and make travel plans.  I have a van reserved for each day so decide who will pick up the van, leaving time, etc.  Please register on STIPD.   I have placed a copy of the PD memo on your desk.  The STIPD codeis on the second page.

 It is my understanding the PD begins at 10 AM and ends at 3 PM.

Donna Mullinax and Melanie Griffis will attend on Friday, September 16 at the Gordon Persons Building. 

Polly Crow, Sue McDaniel, Cherie Prickett and Tara Hood will attend on Wednesday, September 21 at the Shelby County Instructional Services Center.

Kay Johnson and Tanya Barnes will attend on Thursday, September 22 at Wallace State Community College – Hanceville. 

Travel forms:

Please complete and submit all travel forms for the month of September by end of the day September 26th.  You should know your schedule for that week.  Go ahead and print maps and write your mileage for that week.  Banner, ie. the system, will shut down to make the transition from FY 2011 to FY 2012 and all expenses for FY2011 must be submited.  Please submit all forms to Lynn by the end of the day on September 26th.

Math PD 

Monday is the ACHE math PD.  It begins at 8:30-3:30.  Phase II ACHE schools:  White Plains E, Alexandria E, Donehoo E, Floyd E.  Striplin and Walnut Park are also participating. 

Data meeting:

Monday, Sept 12 at Striplin
Monday, Sept 19 at Floyd

Handbook for AMSTI JSU

I would like to create a handbook on “This is how we do “this”  at AMSTI JSU”. 

Please send me any thoughts and or comments on what should be included.  I want to include things to that there aren’t any unwritten rules that we forget to share with new folks.

Examples:

Never leave the van without fuel.  Fuel it up before returning it and give the gas receipt to Lynn.  

Inservice Center issues CEUs and uses My Learning Plan, not STIPD.  

There is a white notebook for every school which contains data and anything else we need to document about a school.  ( One day, I’m going to get sustainability schedules printed and placed in there.)

The filing cabinets in Lynn’s office contain training records for every teachers that has been through AMSTI JSU. 

Complete a material needs form, 48 hours in advance, if you need supplies from the warehouse.  

If you empty the copier of paper, fill it up. 

The van keys are kept in Barry’s desk drawer.

Simple stuff like that.  It’s too much for one to remember to “tell” so I want to put together a handbook so we will all be on the same page.    

Think about when you first started to work here, think about the things you  "found out" but it would have been nice if someone would have told you.  

 I’m not looking for JSU or AMSTI Policy.  There are guidelines and handbooks for that.  Looking for the stuff that we all know to do.   I would like to have the handbook completed before October 1 so if you have anything  you would like to add, please email  it to me by September 23^rd.