Bison Colleagues,
Happy Friday! I hope your first week and a half back at Buffalo Grove HS was happy and productive. I enjoyed getting to see you all during the opening days and greeting our students together at the first day assembly. I also enjoyed getting to visit many of your classrooms this week and look forward to many more such visits. From my visits, it is obvious that BGHS is staffed with outstanding educators who are committed to making kids' futures bright! Thank you for all the work you do to make their dreams a reality each and every day.
Each Friday (or Thursday evening, actually) again this year I will email all staff an Instructional Focus memo (this one is longer than typical). I know how busy you are and how many emails your receive every day and week. I certainly understand if you do not get around to reading each of these, but wanted to stay in touch on a weekly basis about the important topic of instruction. Each week I will simply share resources related to best practice instruction. In addition, I will include a favorite quote or two, some Danielson Framework tips and a strategy/tool to try in the classroom. I hope these weekly emails are helpful to you in a small way.
Have an awesome Friday and...
Teach and Learn with Passion!
Teaching and Learning Quotes:
"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized." - Haim Ginott
"What makes a school great has very little to do with how rich or poor the students are or the curriculum that's taught. It has very little to do with special programs, expansive playing fields, huge endowments, snappy uniforms, celebrity alumni, or whether a school is wired to the Internet. What makes a school great is a feeling, a feeling shared by the entire staff that their particular school is special. the feeling that their school really belongs to them." -- Phillip Manna
Danielson Framework for Teaching reminder:
There are 4 domains, 22 components and 76 elements that are considered aspects of a teacher's responsibility as documented through empirical studies. The 4 domains are:
1. Planning and Preparation
2. The Classroom Environment
3. Instruction
4. Professional Responsibilities
Looking at Domain 3 Instruction
3d: Providing Feedback to Students
Here's a peek at what "distinguished" looks like for 1b :
Teacher’s feedback to students is timely and of consistently high quality, and students make use of the feedback in their learning.
Strategy/Tool to Try (Thanks to ITF Jeff Vlk):
10 Chrome Extensions That Make Your Life Easier
The Chrome browser is a blank canvas and Chrome Extensions are the paint that can make it into a work of art. Much like shades of paint, there are tens of thousands Chrome Extensions to choose from, making it hard to find the essentials you need to improve your web browsing experience.
Instructional Focus:
Formative Assessment and Feedback Resources:
http://www.scholastic.com/
Have a great weekend!
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