Open Thread Friday
Last Friday of the summer vacation. I'm sure that's a mournful thought for some kids. But hey, don't your kids get excited about filling up the backpack with new pencils, folders and maybe a new lunchbox?
As was noted earlier in the week, there are no Board community meetings this Saturday. But, don't forget the Nova High School yard sale tomorrow from 9-3 p.m. at 4833 S. Morgan Street.
What's on your mind?
As was noted earlier in the week, there are no Board community meetings this Saturday. But, don't forget the Nova High School yard sale tomorrow from 9-3 p.m. at 4833 S. Morgan Street.
What's on your mind?
Comments
- Clothing, housewares, bikes, skis, kitch, vintage lamps... And hopefully some homemade banana and zucchini bread.
Nova Yard Sale
Saturday, Sept 3
9am-3pm
@4833 S. Morgan St; 98118
--Owlhouse
Pegi McEvoy is great at getting back to me about operational issues. I think I got a response to an email once at 10:30 pm on a Friday.
Gretchen DeDecker at the Self-Help Office and District grounds staff for arranging for and bringing (respectively) tools for the Loyal Heights Elementary garden work party.
LH parents and students for showing up and working at the work party yesterday. We had over 150 person-hours of labor in the morning work party. It was great to see incoming kindergartners pulling weeds and spreading mulch alongside their parents!
I'm a big fan of Gretchen DeDecker and don't know what would happen if her office didn't exist.
More TFA discussion at UW COE
Many of the committee chairs were new 1st grade parents who took the ball and ran with it. Beautiful signage is in the halls, a great playground is in the works, and hundreds upon hundreds of books were donated to the reading room. This in addition to helping the 17 teachers (7 of them brand new!) get their classrooms ready.
In addition to Pegi McEvoy and Gretchen DeDecker, much of the move to Lincoln wouldn't have happened without Brandi Fox from facilities. She rocks.
Mr. Ed
Curious though, did parents and/or students have to sign a contract for the orca cards last year? Anything about lost cards, or not letting others use them? And could you add e-purse value yourself for use in the summer or would anyone even think that would be a nice feature? Do they have the SPS logo? They said the new ones will and that should help with kids who look older than 18 getting hassled for not paying adult rate. But I would have expected them already to be branded.
My district just hired two brand new UW masters students in the last couple of days. They have been frantically trying to get their rooms together, but in conversations with them, it is clear they have been thinking through curricular goals, opening day/week routines, and they have a pretty good clue what to expect when kids walk in the door. I believe that is because they have spent an adequate amount of time in classrooms prior to getting their own, as well as having all of their background learning theory, content area, and pedagogy classes completed. They will be applying their knowledge and teaching children, not experimenting upon them because the don't have enough preparation to know what has already been proven to work. These two will do well, and are a good addition to their respective buildings.
The sad thing is that there were at least 7 candidates interviewed for each of these two jobs, and ALL of them were qualified - these two just stood out a bit more. THERE IS NO QUALIFIED TEACHER SHORTAGE IN SEATTLE!
The Times is happy that Seattle teachers now earn less, that "Seattle Public Schools, teachers and staff agreed to smaller raises and furlough days. That sounds good..." but I guess it's too little too late because "employees in the private sector have been taking furlough days and receiving no raises for several years."
I am not sure why they need a new card. It seems to me that the plastic card is reusable - the accounting can change without changing the plastic card.
The State PE requirement is for an average of 100 min per school week (grades 1-8), which equates to a minimum of 60 hours per school year. However, different schools have different minimums for a PE waiver request.
Shouldn't this be equal across the District?
confused
Does anyone know the citation for the 100 minutes/wk?
confused
According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), recess is not viewed as a reward but as a necessary educational support component for all children. Therefore, students should not be denied recess so they can complete class work or as a means of punishment.
http://www.k12.wa.us/healthfitness/Standards-GLEs/HealthFitnessStateStandards.pdf
PE Waiver
Eckstein requires 60 hrs, Whitman requires 60 hrs (and specifies grades 7-8), Hamilton requires 90 hours (is it a typo?).
a reader
WAC 392-410-135
Physical education — Grade school and high school requirement.
(1) Grades 1-8. Pursuant to RCW 28A.230.040, an average of at least one hundred instructional minutes per week per year in physical education shall be required of all pupils in the common schools in the grade school program (grades 1-8) unless waived pursuant to RCW 28A.230.040.
You also say, "different schools have different minimums for a PE waiver request"---Beware of waivers as they often do not protect the student's best interest as in many cases there is no "minimum" bar set for a waiver, believe it or not- so any waiver application most likely will be approved!
For example, there is no minimum of waiver day limit to the 180 day per year rule, no minimum to the 150 hours per credit rule (still on the books, although the district acts otherwise), and definitely no limit to the number of half day early releases that a district or an individual school has (the district has had 5, plus 2 (?) more for the new budget cuts), plus up to 32 additional early releases in district schools (Hale High School has held the record for several years- altogether its almost one early release each week all year long!).
Is there any SP school that complies with that requirement?
Clueless
perplexed
We love PE!
If you have 180 days/(5 days/wk) = 36 weeks. 36 weeks x 100 min/week = 3600 min per school year, which equates to 60 hrs per school year.
The minimum requirement is for 60 hours per school year, yet Hamilton requires 90 hours per school year for a PE waiver. 90 hours is equivalent to the class time for a 0.5 PE class, but 50% more time than is required to meet the State standard. Yes, Hamilton meets the standard, but it is requiring exceessive time to meet the standard - 90 hours is equivalent to 2.5 hours per week, or 150 min. The State requirement is for 100 min per week (1.7 hr).
Other middle schools seem to stick to the 100 min/wk (60 hr per year) minimum for PE waivers, which is adequate to meet the State PE requirements.
As far as PE in elementary, with the overcrowding at many schools, it simply isn't possible to schedule 100 min of PE time for each class.
a reader
PE, music, art and civics are not tested, therefore they are unimportant. Jettison this waste immediately.
Thanks for clarifying, I think I misunderstood what she said about state requirements.
And yes, we only get PE waivers so the kids can do a language and music.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/nyregion/before-the-first-school-bell-teachers-in-bronx-make-house-calls.html?pagewanted=all
SPS Parent
-PT
"In our professional learning communities using the works of DuFour, DuFour, and Eaker. They define PLCs as “An on-going process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators.”
There are four essential questions to this work. I am listing the questions with the work we have been doing.
What do we want students to know and be able to do?
Aligned curriculum (Departments continue to update this every year to align with state and common core standards)
Determined “power standards” What are the most important twenty or so skills/content that students need to know by the end of the year? (We continue to evaluate what students need to know at each grade level to take them from where they are in elementary and prepare them for high school. We have the common core standards to consider this year.)
How will we know if they have learned it?
Common Formative Assessments- These are formative assessments for the power standards. They are collaboratively developed and assessed. The results of these guide support and interventions for students. (Year before last our goal was four a semester; last year we worked on eight to ten a semester; this year we are all committed to at least twenty identified power standards for the year).
Common Summative Assessments (Math has common unit exams created by PLC’s. End Of Course Exams are determined at the district level. Each PLC creates their own common summative assessments.)
What do we do when they have not learned it?
Use our common formative assessments to determine students who need extra help and specifically what the skills and standards are that they are struggling with. This information can be given to Cohort teachers, tutors, etc. to provide targeted teaching.
Give them opportunities to relearn and reassess. (These are the kids who “can’t”. Pre-teaching based on common formative assessments; reteaching; test corrections and retakes, guided study hall, mandatory afterschool tutoring and small group instruction)
Give them opportunities to do the work. (These are the kids who “won’t . Catch-Up-Café; teacher directed make-up times, mandatory after school homework center).
Cohort – Targeted intervention for students who are not SPED or ELL and are not meeting standard. (Study-Hall Cohort is for students who need someone to touch base with twice a week for organization and a little help. Cohort Class is for students who need more guided instruction and study hall in a five day a week class.)
Extended Day- Extra time provided by our Community Learning Center partners. (Two sections each of reading, writing, and math taught by teachers.)
Tutors (We have a number of partnerships with the community and parents to provide 1:1 tutoring for students during the day and after school.)
What do we do when they already know it?
Use common formative assessments to determine which students are in need of enrichment.
Provide in class and after school extensions for students who meet and are exceeding standard.
I'm a Kiwi... and this is what I am fighting for...
If this video doesnt make you sob, then you really dont get it...
- from concerned in Magnolia