December 3, 2012

I know that things (behavior, impatience, excitement, snacking, etc.) can intensify in the period between Thanksgiving and Winter Break; I want us to rely on another as we remain focused on student learning and effective teaching. We are just 14 days away from a well-deserved extended break.

DQ 2: What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?

I have attached a list of the strategies presented at the faculty meeting. You'll notice the list has two sections: 1) the list that was generated for you to sort and 2) the list that we generated as a faculty.

Because effective teaching can be seen as a range, the variety of strategies under each component is valuable to us as we consider all of the ways we might help students effectively interact with new knowledge.  It is easy, perhaps especially during this time of year, to rely on habits, no matter how effective.  I encourage you to implement as many new and/or familiar strategies from the list as possible to deepen student learning, energize your practice, and practice the framework.  

Click here for the list of strategies.

I am also attaching two concept circles, one of which we used as a warm up at the faculty meeting, for your own reflection and as a model of another vocabulary teaching strategy.

Click here for the PowerPoint; the concept circles are the second and third slides.

The Hixson Network Blog

I sent out the link to this already.  Click here if you missed it.  I hope that this revised blog is more helpful and easier to navigate than the other sites.  Since this information is for you, please make sure you share any feedback with Jason or me.

The Hixson High Five Award

Nominations are coming in for this student award.  It's a great way to recognize students who might otherwise escape recognition.  Please contemplate how a student might value and benefit from the personal feedback I send from you.

This week, we'll have a department chair meeting on Monday after school.  I'll be out with TLA on Tuesday and Dr. Roberts, Ms. Evans, and I will be out on Thursday morning for some administrator PD.