Major Kudos to Ms. Michelle in PreK for helping out the the preschool busing lists!
and
Kudos to our new 2nd grade teacher, Natalie Miller, for taking initiative to help her fellow new teacher :)
-From Natalie Udstuen
To everyone who helped make Monday morning's Opening Institute such a blast! Your help is truly appreciated!
-From Heather :)
To the Lotus staff members who stayed late on Day 1 to make bus tags for the students who didn't have them!
-From Heather :) (and the kids' parents!)
To Jill Becmer for spending 4 hours with me on Saturday creating bus seating charts. Thanks Jillze!
and
ToDavid Roat for working multiple hours over the weekend preparing Chrome Book carts for all 308 Stanton students! Thanks Googs!
and
To the entire Stanton Summer Staff. The facility looks amazing. I'm proud to call Stanton my home!!!
--From Jeff Sefcik
Thank you to Jill Glauser for staying late to help a fellow colleague set up their classroom and donate supplies.
and
Thank you Barb Brown for providing Solar Eclipse resources for our students at Lotus.
-From Matt Peters
Thank you to Melissa Williams for training all of our coaches on how to use an AED. :)
-From Rachelle Peters
Kudos to our wonderful Kindergarten para, Gina Crosthwaite for going above and beyond to help me sow my special reading tent and cut some of my Math centers at home. This is her daughter posing for you all! Gina is so selfless, we are lucky to have her in K.
-From Tiffany Mihovilovich
To the Preschool team for collaborating to support the kick off of the district blended EC program sharing curriculum and materials! One Team, All In! Thank you!
-From Lynn Smolen
and
Kudos to our new 2nd grade teacher, Natalie Miller, for taking initiative to help her fellow new teacher :)
-From Natalie Udstuen
To everyone who helped make Monday morning's Opening Institute such a blast! Your help is truly appreciated!
-From Heather :)
To the Lotus staff members who stayed late on Day 1 to make bus tags for the students who didn't have them!
-From Heather :) (and the kids' parents!)
To Jill Becmer for spending 4 hours with me on Saturday creating bus seating charts. Thanks Jillze!
and
ToDavid Roat for working multiple hours over the weekend preparing Chrome Book carts for all 308 Stanton students! Thanks Googs!
and
To the entire Stanton Summer Staff. The facility looks amazing. I'm proud to call Stanton my home!!!
--From Jeff Sefcik
Thank you to Jill Glauser for staying late to help a fellow colleague set up their classroom and donate supplies.
and
Thank you Barb Brown for providing Solar Eclipse resources for our students at Lotus.
-From Matt Peters
Thank you to Melissa Williams for training all of our coaches on how to use an AED. :)
-From Rachelle Peters
Kudos to our wonderful Kindergarten para, Gina Crosthwaite for going above and beyond to help me sow my special reading tent and cut some of my Math centers at home. This is her daughter posing for you all! Gina is so selfless, we are lucky to have her in K.
-From Tiffany Mihovilovich
To the Preschool team for collaborating to support the kick off of the district blended EC program sharing curriculum and materials! One Team, All In! Thank you!
-From Lynn Smolen
When you have a kudo to share for someone, please just email me and I'll include it here! The goal is to create system celebrations--so your input is truly welcome!
Timely given the eclipse...hope you enjoy!
News from the Business Office
INSURANCE UPDATE
You should have received your benefits application forms for open enrollment on Friday. The packet had a green memo on top, and all the forms you need stapled to it.
We need the complete packet returned by all staff members by Friday, August 25...even if you are declining coverage. There are lines clearly marked to sign off that you do not wish to elect benefits. :)
If you have questions, please refer to the information on the green sheet. Sandy Popp will be available on Wednesday at Lotus from 6:30-7:30 AM and at Stanton from 3:00-4:00 PM to field any questions.
Additionally, watch for more information on Monday, as we are awaiting website updates from Blue Cross Blue Shield to further help you in making plan decisions.
Please also find the slides presented on Monday by Kayla from the Horton Group attached to the email with this week's blog link.
WAHOO! I'm super excited to get to be a part of the following teachers' classes through the Adopt A Class drawing:
Sue Marker--2nd Grade at Lotus
Gizelle Wells--8th Grade at Stanton
I'll be in touch later this week to come announce this for your classes.
THANK YOU to so many people for putting your names in the buckets!
Early Release Plan
Please click to see the plan for Wednesdays for the school year. More detailed information will come each week, but here's a road map of where we are going. Kudos to the administrative team for working collaboratively to plan for these dates!
FACILITIES UPDATES
Just a reminder..
Please use the work request link to let our team know what you need. The link can be found in the list below...
Several staff members have asked us about preferred websites and reminder apps. While you are free to use whatever you're comfortable with, the ones we'd recommend are:
Google Sites for website
Remind as a reminder app
No matter what you choose David and Mike are happy to help support your work to make sure you're set up and ready to roll!
Education Association of Fox Lake News and Updates
The Executive Board had our first meeting of the school year last week. We are excited for another great school year and are looking forward to continuing to support our members as we all work towards being the best we can be for our students!
Melissa and Barb attended a school year kickoff event hosted by our region and The Opportunity Coalition. One of the main goals of The Opportunity Coalition is to promote collaboration among local leaders in various capacities to help narrow the achievement gap. We got to hear about some great things going on in communities around us and also got some information about upcoming events that we hope you will consider attending (check your email for more information).
Melissa Williams, President
Maureen DeVoss, Vice President for Certified Staff
Chris Brown, Vice President for Non-Certified Staff
Katy Gardner, Treasurer
Betty Cwiak, Secretary
Barb Brown, Region Representative
Matt Shannon, Stanton School Representative
Gayle Mondie, Lotus School Representative
Questions for thought as you read...
How is your collaborative team already embracing the PLC core beliefs?
What actions show this?
What is your team working to do even better?
Advocating for the PLC Concept
By Bob Eaker, published on All Things PLC
Occasionally, I have found myself in the position of being asked to defend the PLC concept. My initial impulse has often been to reference relevant research findings or point to schools and school districts that have benefitted from the PLC concept. In addition to research and examples, I have found it especially effective when I break the PLC concept down into its basic components and engage in dialogue by asking a series of questions.
For example, I begin by asking, “So, if you were not going to implement the PLC concept, which part would you leave out? How many think it’s a good idea to leave the question of what students should learn up to individual teachers? How many think it’s best to leave it up to individual teachers to determine what the standards, if met, should look like in student work? Should individual teachers determine how much time they will spend on each standard? Should we stop having collaborative discussions about issues such as learning targets, homework, and grading of student work?”
Next I ask, “How many of you think it would be a good idea to discontinue collaboratively checking along the way to see if students are learning? How many would prefer to rely solely on homework grades, end-of-unit tests, and state assessments to determine which students have been successful in their classes/courses?”
I then turn to the question of time, support, and enrichment: “How many of you think we should drop the idea of providing additional time, support, or enrichment for students? How many of you think it’s a good idea to leave the question of helping kids who are struggling with their learning or need enrichment up to the discretion of individual teachers?”
Toward the end of the discussions, I have found it helpful to ask, “In regards to your own child’s education, how would you want these questions answered?” I have found that parents, almost without exception, know what kind of school, teachers, and lessons they want for their own child. They want clarity regarding what their child should learn, regardless of the teacher to whom they are assigned. They want their child’s learning monitored along the way. And, they want extra time and enrichment for their child as a result of a collaborative analysis of their child’s learning data.
In short, parents—and certainly most teachers—feel that a school should be more than a collection of independent contractors who share a common parking lot, that a child’s learning should not be dependent on an “educational lottery”—the luck of being assigned to certain teachers. They might question the idea of adopting a specific acronym such as PLC since such terms often represent a new initiative or a new program, and many teachers have often had bad experiences with new initiatives or new programs. However, I have found most people wholeheartedly support the underlying concepts and commonsense practices reflective of a high-performing PLC!
Occasionally, I have found myself in the position of being asked to defend the PLC concept. My initial impulse has often been to reference relevant research findings or point to schools and school districts that have benefitted from the PLC concept. In addition to research and examples, I have found it especially effective when I break the PLC concept down into its basic components and engage in dialogue by asking a series of questions.
For example, I begin by asking, “So, if you were not going to implement the PLC concept, which part would you leave out? How many think it’s a good idea to leave the question of what students should learn up to individual teachers? How many think it’s best to leave it up to individual teachers to determine what the standards, if met, should look like in student work? Should individual teachers determine how much time they will spend on each standard? Should we stop having collaborative discussions about issues such as learning targets, homework, and grading of student work?”
Next I ask, “How many of you think it would be a good idea to discontinue collaboratively checking along the way to see if students are learning? How many would prefer to rely solely on homework grades, end-of-unit tests, and state assessments to determine which students have been successful in their classes/courses?”
I then turn to the question of time, support, and enrichment: “How many of you think we should drop the idea of providing additional time, support, or enrichment for students? How many of you think it’s a good idea to leave the question of helping kids who are struggling with their learning or need enrichment up to the discretion of individual teachers?”
Toward the end of the discussions, I have found it helpful to ask, “In regards to your own child’s education, how would you want these questions answered?” I have found that parents, almost without exception, know what kind of school, teachers, and lessons they want for their own child. They want clarity regarding what their child should learn, regardless of the teacher to whom they are assigned. They want their child’s learning monitored along the way. And, they want extra time and enrichment for their child as a result of a collaborative analysis of their child’s learning data.
In short, parents—and certainly most teachers—feel that a school should be more than a collection of independent contractors who share a common parking lot, that a child’s learning should not be dependent on an “educational lottery”—the luck of being assigned to certain teachers. They might question the idea of adopting a specific acronym such as PLC since such terms often represent a new initiative or a new program, and many teachers have often had bad experiences with new initiatives or new programs. However, I have found most people wholeheartedly support the underlying concepts and commonsense practices reflective of a high-performing PLC!
August 21--Lotus Curriculum Night for Grades K and 3
August 22--Lotus Curriculum Night for Grades 1 and 4
August 24--Stanton Curriculum Night
August 25--ALL OPEN ENROLLMENT PACKETS DUE!
August 29--Lotus Curriculum Night for Grades PK and 2
September 19--Board of Education Meeting at Lotus, 7PM
September 23--TRIVIA NIGHT! Let's show our D114 pride! I bought two tables---who's with me?
September 29--D114 Day of Service
While I had LOTS of pictures I loved this week, this one is my favorite...
It was so incredibly awesome to see every single adult in our system jump right in to make the first week such a success. You may not know it, but this isn't the way it is everywhere.
So glad to be a part of this amazing district!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Let's make it a magical week 2!
Heather 😎
