Gator Run Friday Focus - September 23, 2016

Next week we will begin celebrating the #eduheroes of Gator Run. Each week we will have a drawing to select two names, allowing us to take time to celebrate everything these individuals do to make Gator Run awesome. To nominate a colleague, please fill in a #eduhero slip and drop it in the wooden box in the mailroom. This is open to all staff!

Inventory sheets were due to team leaders on Wednesday. Please make sure to submit them by the end of the day today.


Teacher Of The Year and School-Related Employee of the Year voting will take place on Tuesday 9/27. Ballots should be submitted to Zuly before 3 pm. You must initial the roster when submitting your vote.  Congratulations to our nominees for TOY: Corinne Mendez, Denise Boehm and Lynn Mitchel; and for SROY: Teresa Vina, Margaret Garcia and Francis Bohorques.  You all represent Gator Run very well!

We are loving all of the pictures tagged with our hashtag, #GRE1617.  Keep it up!  You are showing the world how amazing Gator Run is!

Next Week at a Glance:

• Fall Pictures are Tuesday (Pre-K, VPK, K, 2nd and 4th) and Wednesday (1st, 3rd and 5th).  
• NESS Meeting - Wednesday at 2:20 in Mrs. Bryce's classroom.
• Yoga Meeting - Wednesday at 2:20 in the Media Center.
• Team Collaborations are scheduled for Thursday at 2:20.
• Boosterthon Staff Kickoff on Friday at 2:20 in the Media Center.  We are raising funds for improvements for the Media Center.  We appreciate everyone's support in this endeavor.

Quote of the Week:

Gator Run Friday Focus - September 16, 2016

A big "Thank You" to the amazing teachers who presented at yesterday's Teachers Training Teachers event!  We are so lucky to have so many individuals willing to share what they are doing or trying in their classrooms.  Professional development is a must if each of us are going to grow in this amazing profession of education and what better what to learn and improve than from our own Gator Run staff?  We are indebted to the following teachers for opening up their classrooms and offering their expertise: Elayne Hollander, Angela Davis, Melissa Lopez, Carrie Velasquez, Kristy Bryce, Lynn Mitchel, Candace Oesch, Jackie Sherman, Denise Boehm, and Corrine Mendez!

Next Week at a Glance:

• SAC meeting next Wednesday at 2:20 in the Media Center.  We will be continuing our discussion on the value of reading programs such as AR and possible replacement reading initiatives.  
• Teachers, emergency sub plans must be submitted to your Team Leader by Wednesday.
• Interim Reports go home on Thursday. 
• Team Collaborations are scheduled for Thursday at 2:20.  

Podcast of the Week: Thanks to Elayne Hollander for sharing this with me - 3 Reasons to Make Social Media a Priority.  Check it out if you have the time (especially if you are not a regular user of social media).  Great reasons to get connected.

TED Talks of the Week: Hacking the Classroom - this one totally motivated me as to why we need to allow students the opportunity to create at school.  Let's Teach for Mastery Not Test Scores - this one is by Sal Kahn from Kahn Academy.  Sal gives us some things to think about regarding 'school' and how we need to start looking at it differently.

Quote of the Week: "Clearly the energy and passion for learning that the school has worked hard to foster in their culture is contagious. Nice work Gator Run, it's going to be a great year. So thankful that we made the switch." - This is from a message from a new parent to our school.  This mom stated that her daughter is so excited to come to school that she even wanted to come on Labor Day!  How awesome is that?  

Gator Run Friday Focus - September 9, 2016

Please understand that Mrs. Brown, Ms. Felton and I understand how overwhelmed everyone can be.  While we are not in each of your positions, we know that every year brings new challenges.  Please remember that our doors are always open and we would love the opportunity to help you problem solve.  I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few things:

• Social media use is certainly not mandatory.  You know that I highly encourage promoting what you are doing in your classrooms via social media but I would never say that you have to do it (and I believe that most of you know this).  Let me state this - I will not judge you by whether you use it or not.  The choice is yours.
• My desire to have everyone Tweet using the same hashtag was based on my vision to increase the learning throughout our school.  It appears that this is not having the desired effect.  Therefore I am discontinuing promoting use of #GRE1617 for a weekly raffle.  I hope that some of you will choose to promote what you are doing in your classrooms via this hashtag but I will no longer recognize those who do.  Perhaps this is something that we can revisit in the future. 
• Learning Goals and Performance Scales are a District initiative that we are implementing because they are beneficial to both students are teachers.  There is value in having teachers delve into the standards they are teaching and for students to know what they are learning and how they are progressing toward understanding.  
• Textbook use is allowed.  I have stated before that textbooks are a resource but should not be our primary source of instruction.  If you only follow the textbook you are not covering the specific standards required by your grade level.  However, if we walk into your room and your students are using textbooks, no one will be upset with you.  We might ask questions but this is only because we want to ensure that we are exploring every possible avenue to reach our students.  
• I stated my belief about homework last week so I will not repeat myself here.  What I will say is that you are allowed to give homework.  Just be conscious of how much you are giving each night.  Let's stop with the idea that "we have to get our students ready for middle school."  That is nonsense.  Just because their lives are going to be miserable in middle school with the amount of homework doesn't mean that we have to start making them miserable now.  I know that a lot of you agree with me on limiting homework but for those of you who don't, please ensure that your homework is meaningful and will not take students an exorbitant amount of time to complete.  Assigning a Ten Marks lesson, reading, math practice, responding to a post on Canvas, or a lesson via Achieve 3000 are all good options for this.  If you want a specific policy, please make sure that what you assign should take no more than 30 minutes a day.  
• For those of you who might be overwhelmed with the amount of new technology this year, I understand.  But you have to know that Outlook and Canvas are District-wide.  Ten Marks and Achieve 3000 are new to our school but they were both obtained for free and are amazing tools for our students.  
• I will say this about feeling overwhelmed - if you aren't planning together as a team, please consider doing so to ease the load.  And by together, I mean everyone contributing.  This will not guarantee eliminating this feeling but will ensure that you are trying every possible avenue to do so.  We are lucky at Gator Run to have so many amazing educators who are willing to share and work with each other.  Take advantage of this.  
• Finally, no one is 'getting in trouble'.  We are all learning and working to provide our students with the best education possible.  

Next Week at a Glance:

• Our Fall Book Fair continues until next Wednesday.
• Our kickoff ESOL Parent Meeting will be next Wednesday at 6:30 in the cafeteria.  
• Next Thursday is an Early Release Day.  I'm sure that our boys and girls are looking forward to meeting with their Book Buddies and participating in our STEM activities.  
• I'm excited for our first Teachers Training Teachers professional development next Thursday afternoon.  Details on participation will come soon from Ms. Felton.
• Updated Interim Reports are due to your Assistant Principal by next Friday.

Website of the Week: BCPS Literacy Guide  This is Broward's Literacy Guide and contains so much information about reaching all of our students for reading.

Quote of the Week: This was being shared on social media yesterday.  If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look.  It's from a principal in Singapore to parents.

Gator Run Friday Focus - September 2, 2016

Let's talk about homework.  I know that most of you know my feelings on this topic.  There is no research that shows that homework in elementary school is beneficial to students.  John Hattie's research shows that it actually has a 0.15 effect size, which is basically nothing.  Besides the research, let's think about what our purpose in school is - to develop lifelong learners.  Does anyone really feel that giving students extra work after a long day is really helping toward that goal?  I believe that it actually turns students off to school.  So many of us believe that homework has to be a part of school because that's how we grew up.  Our goal at elementary school is definitely not to prepare them for middle school as some might suggest.  (Really?  Because they are going to be weighed down by homework in middle school, we need to torture them in elementary?).  At this point we do not have a 'no homework policy' but right now I ask that you consider the following before assigning homework:

• Are you assigning it because it has some benefit or assigning it because you feel that parents expect it or because you feel pressure to do so?
• Will what you assign interfere with the following: family time, students' after school activities, and time to just be a kid?  If any of these would be interrupted, don't give the assignment!
• Is what you are about to assign related to what you are learning in class?  If so, what is the purpose of the homework?  If a student has already mastered the standard, why do they need practice?  If a students has not mastered the standard, how will giving them homework without support help them?  Let's think about the inequity in support at our homes.  Some parents might be able to assist their children but many more don't have the time and some might not have the ability to do so.  Wouldn't it be more beneficial to reach those students via small group instruction during your class time?
• Finally, I ask you this - what gives us the right to dictate how students and parents spend their time after school?  

Gigantic shout out to Corrine Mendez!  I visited her classroom yesterday and sat down with her students.  They were cutting out 3 dimensional shapes and sorting them based on the type of shape.  I asked the students what they were doing and one boy answered "We are distinguishing between different types of 3D shapes."  What?!?!  'Distinguishing'?  I stated that I was impressed with his used of the word 'distinguishing' and asked where he learned to use that word.  He pointed to the posted learning goal and scale:

He said that the word was located on his 'ladder', the word they use for their goal and scale.  I was blown away!  This is the second week of school!  I went to other groups and received similar answers from students.  

This is what we need to be doing in our classrooms.  Our students must know the 'why' we are doing what we are doing.  If our first graders can do it (and our Kindergartners too!), then all of our students can.  

Next Week at a Glance:

• No school on Monday.  Enjoy your holiday weekend!
• Team Leader Day on Tuesday.  
• Yoga meeting at 2:20 on Tuesday in the Media Center.  I am looking forward to learning some strategies to be more present and to focus.
• Our Book Fair kicks off next Wednesday.  I hope to see most of you at our Book Fair Night from 5:30 - 7:30 that night.  Our students love to see you at our family events!
• Team Collaborations are scheduled for Thursday at 2:20.  Please let us know if you need an administrator or support staff member to attend to answer any questions or provide information to your teams.  Please know that administration will be rotating through meetings on a regular basis.  

Quote of the Week: I found this one on Instagram this morning. 

Gator Run Friday Focus - August 26, 2016

This has been an amazing first week of school.  Thank you for all that you do for our students.  We need your assistance at dismissal time in the front office.  Please be aware that from 2:00 - 2:30 our office staff is answering phones and responding to dismissal concerns on the walkie talkies.  We need to make sure that the office is as quiet as possible during this time.

Next Week at a Glance:

• Open House next week: PK-2 on Tuesday and 3-5 on Wednesday, both at 6:30 PM.  
• Our first General PTA Meeting is Wednesday at 9:00 AM in the Cafeteria.  
• Our first SAC meeting is Wednesday at 2:20 in the Media Center.  
• Team Collaborations are scheduled for Thursday at 2:20.  

Website of the Week: Get Epic - https://www.getepic.com/app/  Thanks to Melissa Lopez for sharing this one.  It's sort of like Netflix for books.  It's also available as an app.  Check it out!

Article of the Week: Great article from the New York Times on the debate over homework - How Much Homework is Too Much

Quote of the Week: "Students will do amazing things if you can design a class and environment that is positive and empowering." - Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a PIRATE.

Gator Run Friday Focus - August 19, 2016

This week we asked all of our instructional staff to write out their hope for this school year.  My hope is for everyone to be happy here at Gator Run.  We all have outside concerns and worries (me too).  But if our personal goal is to help make kids' lives better, what better place to do that then here at GRE?  I hope that each of you finds happiness in what you do and I hope that you find it (or found it) here!

Twitter Challenge - We are going to have an ongoing contest to see if we can flood Twitter with the awesome from Gator Run.  As I spoke to you on Monday, I am encouraging everyone to post 1 Tweet a day using the hashtag #GRE1617 and then to spend a few minutes each day reading other posts from our school using that hashtag.  If you can add #trendthepositive or #CelebrateMonday when appropriate, please do so.  We want to overflow social media with how amazing our school is.  Every teacher who posts using #GRE1617 at least 3 times a week will be entered into a weekly raffle.  We will draw a ticket each Monday morning for a prize.  Remember - "If we as teachers don't tell the stories of the positive work in schools, there is a chance that nobody will." - Josh Stumpenhorst, @stumpteacher

Let's also continue to use Instagram to tell the stories of our classrooms and our school.  Here are five new Gator Run accounts to follow if you haven't already:

Next Week at a Glance:

• Please make sure that you know how your students are going home on Monday.  Apart from starting to build relationships immediately with them, this is your most important goal of the first day!
• We will be conducting our first fire drill on Wednesday at 8:20.  We will immediately follow this up with a tornado drill.  
• Let's make this the best school year ever!  It starts next week.  

Quote of the Week: "The expression "work-life balance' makes no sense.  You don't try to balance your life with your work.  Your work is a sub-category of your life and should serve the values and ideals of your life." - Bert Jacobs, Life is Good Co-Founder

Gator Run Friday Focus - May 27, 2016

One of the best parts of being in a school is seeing our students get the chance to perform and to display their talents.  This past week has been amazing with our Chorus/Dance and Talent Shows.  A huge "Thank You" to all those who allowed our students the opportunity to shine: Ms. King, Ms. Davis, Ms. Nossen, Mr. Weiner and Ms. DePalo!  I truly appreciate the time that you put in for our kids.

Next Week at a Glance:

• No school on Monday.  Enjoy the holiday weekend!
• Report cards are due to Team Leaders on Tuesday and to Ms. Felton on Friday.
• Wednesday is our big visit from the administrators from Vietnam.  Please remember that we will be visiting four 5th grade classrooms that day (Yassen, Davis, Krauss, and Safra) and will be using the Media Center all day.
• PLCs are scheduled for Thursday at 2:15.  

Article of the Week: 6 Bad Reasons Teachers Assign Homework  This one is from the educator behind the Hack Learning movement.  Great thoughts here about why we give homework and about why those reasons might not be good.  

Quote of the Week: