Week 6

Holland's Reflection

We have completed another event filled week.  The temperature is changing and the honeymoon phase has come to an end.  I appreciate everyone pulling together  during our power outage on Thursday and teaching through the heat.   Our flashlights worked and this was a good opportunity to practice our emergency procedures (always make lemonade). I could tell that everyone worked up a good sweat.  Our Superintendent, Dr. Avossa, was able to speak during our Community Meeting this month, and we had a good community turnout.  A special "thank you" to everyone that attended the small group Charter meeting and who joined us for the Community Meeting this week.  The engagement was high and the spaghetti meal was delicious.  

 

Highlights:  Mrs. Faye Seymore, CCMS Cafeteria Manager, was nominated by the district Nutrition Department to train other managers on cafeteria operating procedures.  Congratulations Faye for representing the Warriors and Leading by Example.  



Stone Mountain Fieldtrip August 2012
Create memories with your students to enhance learning!

Focus on Teaching and Learning

This week during our District PLC meeting all school administrators reviewed “formative assessment” strategies.  School Administrators spent a few hours discussing and reviewing best practices for “formative” assessments.   The training was enriching and supports our continued focus on developing quality common assessment for each department.   Here are a few strategies that we reviewed ( I hope to share a poster soon.

Choral Response	In response t o a cue, all students respond verbally at the same time.  The response can be either to answer a question or to repeat something the teacher has said.
A-B-C Summaries	Each student in the class is assigned a different letter of the alphabet and they must select a word starting with that letter that is related to the topic being studied.
Debriefing	A form of reflection immediately following an activity.
Idea Spinner	The teacher creates a spinner marked into 4 quadrants and labeled “Predict, Explain, Summarize, Evaluate.”  After new material is presented, the teacher spins the spinner and asks students to answer a question based on the location of the spinner.  For example, if the spinner lands in the “Summarize” quadrant, the teacher might say, “List the key concepts just presented.”
Inside-Outside Circle	Inside and outside circles of students face each other.  Within each pair of facing students, students quiz each other with questions they have written. Outside circle moves to create new pairs.  Repeat.
Numbered Heads Together	Each student is assigned a number.  Members of a group work together to agree on an answer.  The teacher randomly selects one number.   Student with that number answers for the group.

 Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment (C.I.A)

•     Finch-Smith,  Franklin, Reddick, Loehne represented CCMS this week at an ELA collaboration with PLC South Middle School Departmental Meeting. The ELA team worked to develop comprehensive formative assessments for the learning community.

• The Math Department administered Check Points via CBT.  The team worked through most glitches and we were able to use the computer labs.   Remember students should use headphones and scratch paper even without sound to cut down on distractions.  Train students to focus in on questions and stems when taking CBT assessments, many students just click buttons.

•  Holland/Allen met with Stem Program Specialist Creseda Moore to develop grant propodal for High School 8th STEM implementation.

This Week's Events

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_{E-mail Mrs. Laster (for conflicts) lastern2@fultonschools.org}

 

Technology Tip

Great “how to” videos….