via GIPHY
You heard me say this on the first day when I addressed our students. Yes, this is the vision that I have for us all, To Be Amazing. We can do it, and this is how we can see this vision become reality. First, we must know all of our students better than ever. Know them as learners, and as people and when we do this it speaks to them how much we care about them and that we believe in them and their ability to be amazing. Remember you may be the only person in their lives that believes in them and has taken the time to really get to know them. When we are average and sometimes let them opt out or don't get to know them then we get those average results or even less. So it all starts with this. Teachers should know their students better than anyone else. This takes time but I believe the investment is a wise one. Second, to be amazing we must believe in ourselves. This is our self efficacy. We make a difference and what we do matters. Knowing and measuring our impact in the classroom, with our words, with our actions will help us be amazing. All of us learning as a team and leading as a team will help us be amazing. Our effectiveness purposefully planning for instruction, in collaboration meetings, holding each other accountable, challenging each other to have a growth mindset, and continue to learn new strategies will determine whether we are Amazing or just average.
Therefore, for us to Be Amazing, we must believe in students and believe in ourselves. Getting to know our students will help us believe in our students and it helps kids that don't believe in themselves to start to believe in themselves more often more of the time. By learning together and leading together we increase our belief in ourselves as well. When we do these two things well WE WILL BE AMAZING.
Team Lincoln New and Notes
Amazing Start: We have seen many amazing things from Team Lincoln on these first three days. Here are some highlights:
- Our mindset-I am impressed and appreciative of everyones attitude, commitment, and pride. These first 3 days. Change is hard and we threw a lot of changes at everyone these first 3 days. Without your awesome mindsets towards these changes our start could not have been amazing. Thanks to all of you for making this start a fun, exciting, and successful one for our students.
- The amount of teachers that attended our back to school dance. After a long first week back staying extra hours on Friday is hard to do and we had a great teacher presence at the dance. Impressive and important, thanks to all those that stayed. I saw you dancing.
- Speaking of dancing- WOW I loved our house masters dance moves during our bootcamp celebration. Well done amazing moves.
- Supervision and helping students- It was great to see teachers out helping students learn their lockers, schedules, and the school. Special thanks to those helping after school with getting students on the buses.
- Mr. Sommer, using formative assessment in his first day with his students to check for understanding of his classroom procedures.
- All teachers and their blackboard configurations on the first regular day. These BBC's are so important for our impact. Great objectives that are clearly communicated, agendas that help students know where they are going and how they are going to get there and of course engaging do nows that set the stage for the lessons.
- Mrs. Burcham for already connecting with her ELL students in small groups. She knows Spanish, how amazing is that!
- Bob Garrity intentionally introducing collaboration through a fun and engaging activity on Friday.
- Teachers welcoming students on these first three days as they come in the door in the morning. High fives, smiles, and wishes for an amazing day.
Collaborations: Wednesdays are collaboration days. We will start this Wednesday. Core content teachers will collaborate around these 4 important questions.
- What do we want students to know and be able to do?
- How will we know if students know it and can do it?
- What will we do if they don't know it or can't do it?
- What will we do if they already know it and can do it?
Lincoln leaders will hold collaborative teams accountable for answering these three questions during our collaborations. This important process will help us be Amazing and help students be Amazing. This is who we are, learning together. Make it happen!
iPads: Student iPads will be distributed on Monday. Be sure to check the schedule for distribution on the first days document. We will run a two hour delay schedule to distribute. Thanks goes to Jake for creating the iPad Quick Start Cheat Sheet for students. Use this during advisory and review the expectations again for iPad use.
Monday PD: We will start in the red room at 7:45. This Monday we will cover the plan for Monday PD for this year then look at systems and practice in place to be Amazing.
Check Ins: These are coming the week of August 19th. We will use these to set individual goals for this year. Look for google invites for these meetings. We will try to schedule during prep periods as best we can.
Data Meetings- In September we will have release time for LA and Math teachers to look at student learning data. This will happen each quarter throughout the year. First Dates:
- Math- Thursday Sept. 5th
- LA- Friday Sept. 6th
Technology Committee Meeting: Wednesday August 21st 3:15-4:15 These meetings will serve two purposes.
- To vet apps that are requested
- To plan teacher support days
Teachers need to use the App vetting request form found here to request apps.
Commemorative Committee: We will form a committee to plan commemorative events throughout the year to commemorate the last year the building. First meeting is set for Wednesday August 28th at 3:15. If you are interested on serving on this committee please talk with me. We currently have three on the committee, they are Lori Day, Paula Neidlinger, and Sandy Cartwright.
NWEA Assessment: The fall testing will take place on the following dates:
- Tuesday August 20th- Reading
- Thursday August 22nd - Math
- Tuesday August 27th- Language
These will all be two hour delay schedules. The plan is to assess in our advisory classes. Can we assess both 7th and 8th graders together? I need your help in answering this question.
Student Picture Day- Wednesday August 14th through science classes. Blue Gym.
- Beginning of the period = Mercer and Garrity
- 15 minutes into period = Hildreth and Brown
- 30 minutes into period = Caine
Staff picture is schedule for 7:30. Red Gym
First Fire Drill - Tuesday August 13th 9:00 a.m.
Evacu-Trac Training- Thursday August 15th 3:15 for 10 minutes- I need teachers on the second floor to stay for this short but important training.
Lincoln PTO Meeting- Monday August 19th 6:00- Would love to have some teachers attend our Parent Teacher Organization meetings.
Lets all have an Amazing first full week
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