Nuts/Bolts - Week of 6/12/17

- RISE Card STORE CLOSED! No more drawings - Replacement incentive? = High-5's & Candy
- Supervision Team B
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line? Send in the referral! 

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Goals / Objectives: Primary Evaluators will make sure they return your Goals/Objectives forms (and any other observations/evaluations) for final signature prior to teacher check-out on Friday. 

Monday, June 12 - PM Assembly Schedule "MS-Recognition Assembly"; 8th-grade yearbook distribution

Tuesday, June 13 - Final Team Leader Meeting; 

Wednesday, June 14 - Positive Behavior Reward / Minimum Day Schedule; 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony Rehearsal. After 1st period attendance, 8th graders sent to the gym. Supervision Coverage

Thursday, June 15 - Minimum Day Schedule. Students released at 1:20 p.m. 10 additional minutes on 7th period.  8th Grade Promotion Ceremony; After 1st-period attendance, 8th graders sent to the gym. Supervision Coverage. 6th/7th-grade teachers, @ 9:15 a.m. line up along the blacktop to "clap out" the 8th grade class of 2017. 

Friday, June 9 - @ 9am Social Committee Breakfast in the MPR; Teacher Check-out; Laptop Sign-Out Form; Year End Yippee @ Borgese's

Tech Tip: Feedly

If you are used to bookmarking your favorite websites and visiting them individually, this will BLOW YOUR MIND!

Feedly is a tool that allows to you to subscribe to and organize online information. It will pull new articles from your favorite websites into one location and you can "tag" or "label" and organize them into collections. You can save them for reading later and create boards that you can share / collaborate on. This would be a fantastic tool to teach students as they collect information online for research papers.

Even better, it's available via website, Chrome extension, and apps for iOS and Android. It all syncs on the cloud, giving you access to everything from everywhere.

Children Must Be Taught to Collaborate, Studies Say

"At its worst, group tasks can deteriorate into awkward silences, arguments—or frustration for the one child who ends up doing everyone else's work." Throughout the year, I've witnessed every teacher emphasizing collaborative work in their classrooms. I've also listened to students and parents as they continue to struggle with the imbalances of group projects. We all strive to make the process inclusive, fair, and purposeful for kids. We assign roles, have students grade each other, etc. 

This article includes some ideas about how to accomplish equity and reinforces the importance of teaching students the skills required for group work, including: communicating with others, resolving conflicts, and managing tasks.

I also noted that the article indirectly supported our co-taught and honors cluster models in saying, "Instead of trying to choose whether the high-performing students will benefit the most or low-performing students will benefit the most, if teachers focus on prioritizing interaction quality, … both benefit."

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 6/5/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! 
- Supervision Team A  
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line? Send in the referral! 

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Monday, June 5 - ELA & Spanish Textbook Collection
Tuesday, June 6 - 8th Grade Textbook Collection, 1st period
Wednesday, June 7 - Homeroom Schedule; 6th Grade Textbook Return, 1st Period; Final Homeroom Lesson TBD - 6th & 7th graders receive registration packets during homeroom; Pop Show, Gym 7-8pm
Thursday, June 8 - 7th Grade Textbook Collection, 1st period; ELA Team @ Training for new ELA Adoption; Concerts in the Park, 6-8pm, Field
Friday, June 9 - TRTV Schedule; 8th Graders Promotion Dance 6-9pm

Shout Out! - ALL STAFF!

As the year is closing out quickly, we have ALL  found ourselves busier than usual. During these times, we truly rely on our teammates. We are asked to cover, pick up the slack, perform, compromise, balance, and carry each other across the finish line with the same energy we started the year with. 

To meet this goal, our staff at "The Ranch" truly puts students first.  We go WAY above and beyond our individual job descriptions and are willing to assist, support, and recognize each other every day. This trust, mutual respect, and teamwork are what makes our campus special. WE ARE TR! Thanks to all for your continued dedication and commitment to our school and community! 

Tech Tip: Stick Pick

Sometimes, during interviews, I stumble upon a tool that a teacher is using that is something I've never heard of. This one is called "Stick Pick". I know that many Travis teachers select students at random using a dice, equity sticks, playing cards, etc. This practice increases student engagement and accountability while extracting a comprehensive metric of ALL student learning. But THIS randomizer doesn't just randomly pick names...it has embedded Bloom's Question stems AND the ability to assess / store student scores. Pretty slick!  Also available for Android. 

A Powerful Way to End the School Year

"Year mapping allows students to see what they’ve learned in your class, and it’s a great resource for your incoming class." As a teacher, at the end of every year I surveyed students and talked to them about what they learned and what they would change to make my class better. In the same way, as an administrator, I'm always attempting to gather input to ensure our environment stays positive, energized, and synergized! This Edutopia post resonated with me as we close out 16-17. Essentially, students create posters and put them together into one big learning map and then present portions of the map to the class. Leave it up on the wall and it's a great introductory visual for the incoming class that you can use the 1st week back. I thought it was a cool idea. Read the article for more details. 

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 5/29/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! 
- Supervision Team B  - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line? Send in the referral! 

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Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day!
Tuesday, May 30 - 6th Graders @ Irvine Outdoor Ed
Wednesday, May 31 - Homeroom Schedule; Lesson 10, Part 2; PLC = Structured PD
Thursday, June 1 - WEB Carnival; Retirement Celebration 3:45-4:45 p.m.
Friday, June 2 - 8th Graders @ Knott's 

Shout Out: Ismael Gutierrez + Christina Gibson

Ish is ending his first year at Travis Ranch as plant coordinator. He has truly demonstrated an amazing work ethic. He keeps our campus clean and our buildings maintained. This is no short task with a building that is showing signs of its age. He's very well connected at the district office and knows exactly who to call to get work orders prioritized. Because of his efforts, we've been able to get special attention from the maintenance department including fresh paint, new lighting in the lunch shelter, etc. I saw him running around like crazy at the Carnival and was reminded how thankful we are to have him! 


Christina is also in her first year at TR. She has shown tremendous patience and skill as she's learned her caseload. She has worked closely with her team to meet the needs of students who have speech and/or social pragmatic deficits. In IEPs she's very professional and provides parents with specific information about how to help their child. By the way, she shares her talents with Bernardo as well! Great job Christina! 

Tech Tip: 6 New Edtech Tools

I'm thinking this website has something for every teacher. The tools posted include: interactively explore math concepts such as Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus; learn English through stories; record and share video notes, understand the scientific mindset, and seartch a cool music history resource. I love this website as they are constantly posting the latest and greatest in EdTech. I'd bookmark it or subscribe to it through Feedly or another RSS feed. 

How I Eliminated (Almost) All Grading Problems In My Classroom

In our jobs, we hear the words "assessment", "measurable", and "data" are heard at least one-thousand times daily. In this short article, teacher Terry Heick outlines what he has done over the years to make assessment more "ubiquitous and always-on." It's more the quality than the quantity that he finds is the best approach, and he also believes in finding ways to publish / promote students work to increase the audience in the feedback loop. He begins to address grading policy a bit and believes in grabbing different tools to assess. Mostly, I appreciate that the intent of the article is to reduce the amount of busy work for teachers "because it takes time and mental energy–both finite resources" and gives "students substantive reasons to do their best work, correct themselves, and create higher stands for quality than your rubric outlined."

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 5/22/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Time is running out to recognize students for their efforts! 
- Supervision Team A  - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line? Send in the referral! 

STUDENT PERFORMANCES - PLEASE CONSIDER ATTENDING 1 STUDENT PERFORMANCE BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. JAZZ JAM, POP SHOW, CONCERT IN THE PARK. Thanks for your support! 

Staff Appreciation Week!
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Monday, May 22 - Mike Out All Day
Tuesday, May 23 - MS Awards Night @ EDHS PAC, 6-7pm
Wednesday, May 24 - Homeroom Schedule; Working Wednesday - 6th & 7th graders vote for ASB Officers 17-18; PLC = Vertical; Jazz Jam @ EDHS PAC 7-9pm.
Thursday, May 25 - Elementary Textbook Training in MPR all day; attendees have been asked NOT to park in marked stalls. 
Friday, May 26 - International Day; TRTV Schedule

Shout Out! - Dinah Vigil & Dana Worden & Jalinda Larkin

Many thanks go out to Dinah Vigil for successfully running our 3rd and final Benchmark Screening for reading comprehension and fluency. This is no small task and she always approaches the task with diligence and professionalism. Also, she recently helped organize and coordinate testing supports for students with IEPs. Finally, she has been a great support to our new SLP, Christina Gibson. Great job Dinah! 

Each year, Dana and Jalinda share the joy that is gathering and inputting close to 700 students' registration forms for the next school year. They receive input from 5th grade teachers, the district, elective teachers, etc. for placement and work very closely with teachers to ensure students get the schedules they've requested. They do this always with precision and integrity. What's most impressive, is this is on top of their normal, heavy work load. We appreciate you both! 

Tech Tip: Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is a free resource included with your PYLUSD account. It's like Skype for Google. You can use it to invite guest speakers, go on virtual fieldtrips, and much...much more! This website provides 7 ideas of how to quickly integrate it into your classroom. My top 2 easy to start with are: Invite a Guest Speaker & Go On a Virtual Fieldtrip. With the end of the year approaching, it might be a fun idea to "pilot" a test drive of this or any other Tech Tip I've posted this year. Click on "Tech Tip" in the Navigation Bar at the top of this blog. Share what you tried!? 

The Power of Introverts - Susan Cain

Susan Cain contests that most contemporary institutions, including education, have over-glorified extroverts and collaboration. Although this runs incongruous with current educational research, it resonated with me. She argues that the majority of creative and innovative thought comes from individuals who are in fact introverts. The video reminded me of the importance of balancing group and individual tasks. The video should also remind us of the importance of seeking out opportunities to find our own time for reflection, thought and creativity. Great video and worth a watch!

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 5/15/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Specific verbal praise for WHY they are receiving the card. 
- Supervision Team B  - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line? Send in the referral! 
- Tardies - Remember teachers should actively communicate home when students have 3-4 tardies so my detention doesn't come as a surprise at tardy #5! 
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space
- ZAP Continued: Dana will run ZAP, Tuesday-Thursday
- CICO / Mentoring: In Horizontal meetings this week discuss who would benefit from "mentoring" or CICO. Dana and I will share the CICO kids.
- State Testing: Proactively report any technology issues with an email to Jason = jle@pylusd.org

Staff Appreciation Week!
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Monday, May 15 - State Testing, English CAT Day 1
Tuesday, May 16 - State Testing, Math CAT & Math PT; PTA Honorary Service Awards, 6-7:30pm, Yorba Linda Country Club
Wednesday, May 17 - Homeroom Schedule; Lesson 10, Part 1; PLC = Staff Meeting, 
Rm 36
Thursday, May 18 - State Testing, English PT
Friday, May 19 - End of 4th Qtr. Progress Report Period; PTA Carnival 3-7pm

Shout Out! - Beelner, Chapluk, Briggs

Many thanks to our amazing testing team! They worked hard to ensure the testing schedule and technology were organized to support testing all middle school students at one time. This is no small task. They stayed late on Friday to ensure all carts were plugged in and that we got off the ground without any major snafus this morning. Without their help we'd be dead in the water! Also, many thanks to our awesome office staff who triaged assistance this morning over the phones and radios! Also to Marita, Cynde, and Lisa Gilles for running around and assisting wherever they were needed! 

Tech Tip: OER Commons

This is a cool resource that houses over 30,000 educational resources that are catalogued by grade level, subject, and standards. Worth exploring if/when you find yourself seeking out some free common Open Educational Resources.

6 Traits of Life-Changing Teachers

This Edutopia Article explains a poll that was recently conducted on Facebook to help identify how adults characterized the 6 best traits of teachers they still remember long after exiting the classroom. Of course, traits like patience and passion popped up, but surprisingly so did toughness. This article explores these traits and reminds us how we will be remembered. I especially appreciated the emphasis on "Safety (as) part of the education starter kit", and a reminder that "learning can be slow and messy." Towards the end of the article they say that of the 700 respondents, 145 went on to pursue careers in education. 

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 5/8/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Specific verbal praise for WHY they are receiving the card. 
- Supervision Team A  - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line? Send in the referral! 
- Tardies - Remember teachers should actively communicate home when students have 3-4 tardies so my detention doesn't come as a surprise at tardy #5! 
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space
- ZAP Continued: Dana will run ZAP, Tuesday-Thursday
- CICO / Mentoring: In Horizontal meetings this week discuss who would benefit from "mentoring" or CICO. Dana and I will share the CICO kids.
- State Testing: Try your login for CAASPP prior to our PLC on 5/10: 

Staff Appreciation Week!
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Monday, May 8 - 
Tuesday, May 9 - PTA Honorary Service Awards 
Wednesday, May 10 - Homeroom Schedule "Working Wednesday"; PLC = Staff Meeting, 
Rm 36
Thursday, May 11 - PTA Car Wash; Art Show, 9am-3:30pm, MPR (Staff & Students)
Friday, May 12 - Art Show, 9am-3:30pm, MPR (Staff & Students); 3rd Annual Art Show, 6-8pm, MPR (Parents, Staff, Students)

Shout Out! - Rebecca, Gary, & Paola

Last week, our band and orchestra traveled to Knott's on Saturday while Paola took 41 students to the Natural History Museum and WE Day in LA.

Thanks to the phenomenal direction of our own Rebecca Dominguez and Gary Hung: Advanced 2 Orchestra's Swept earning a superior rating, Advanced 2 Orchestra placed 1st in the Junior High School division, and won the coveted Best Overall Orchestra award for their awesome performance! Performing Band earned another SUPERIOR rating and ranked 1st place! Also want to thank Rebecca for coordinating a performance by Jazz band the night before at the PTA Talent Show!

WE Club earned their seats at the WE Day event through Paola's leadership and the groups community / global service projects: Over 100 club members have campaigned to collect: 3084+ canned food & hygiene items donated and distributed locally to our district food pantry (WE Scare Hunger), 326 new socks and blankets donated locally to the Orange County Rescue Mission (WE Won’t Rest), $820.00 in Rafiki sales (benefiting Kenyan artisans), 1000+ pasta donations to Anaheim White House to feed children in need, $1,599 raised (WE Are Silent funding a water project in rural China).

Thanks for supporting our amazing band, orchestra, and WE Club!

Tech Tip: Research Tools - Chrome Add-Ons for Students

As we expect students to dig deeper in their independent research and writing, it'd be great to equip their Chrome browser with some built-in search tools to help them quickly and efficiently navigate the web. This website highlights the Top 9 add-ons that students should add. 

Might be a fun activity to take one at a time and explore the tools together. I especially liked the Google Scholar, Thesaurus, and Save to Google Drive add-ons. Best part is that the student adds it once and then it's part of their Google Account on any Chromebook or anytime the login to their account. 

Getting Critical About Critical Thinking

This ARTICLE article primarily caught my eye because the of the reference to "Reality Bites". I love 90's movies! We all know in the world we live in, we are constantly barraged with acronyms and buzz words. 

Critical thinking is one of those, but as this author points out, it's nice to say that's what we're striving for and another thing to be able to define it and apply it in pedagogical practice. The author of the article argues, "Critical thinking is when the brain is active, making connections to the material and applying original thought to the concept. It’s the difference between struggling to remember (“ugh!”) and struggling to solve (“yeah!”).

Here's some strategies she suggests to get started. She provides links to resources for each of these in the article itself:

1. Adopt a PBL philosophy. 
2. Explore the world in a subject-area scavenger hunt. 
3. Utilize habits of mind.
4. Require reflection. 
5. Teach students to question. 

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 5/1/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Specific verbal praise for WHY they are receiving the card. 
- Supervision Team B  - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - 3rd Line send in the referral! 
- Tardies - Remember teachers should actively communicate home when students have 3-4 tardies so my detention doesn't come as a surprise at tardy #5! 
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space
- ZAP Continued: Dana will run ZAP Tuesday-Thursday
- CICO / Mentoring: In Horizontal meetings this week discuss who would benefit from "mentoring" or CICO. Dana and I will share the CICO kids. 

Support WE & Jump Clubs' Baby Shower Drive 

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Monday, May 1 - Public School Appreciate Day - WEAR BLUE! 
Tuesday, May 2 - Team Leader Meeting @8am
Wednesday, May 3 - Homeroom Schedule "Working Wednesday"; PLC = Horizontal
Thursday, May 4 - RTI Sweep through P.E.
Friday, May 5 - Happy Hour - RSVP through Calendar Invite

Shout Out! - Sandra Schneider

This week's shout out to Sandy! She worked hard to coordinate a guest speaker last week for our 8th graders. She recently attended "Gearing Up" training and is actively working to promote this social/emotional support for students at Travis and across the district. She also just completed her annual life skills project with sock monkeys and worked "extra hours" to ensure that ALL students were included and received a finished project.  

Tech Tip: Twitter in the Classroom

I was recently listening to the radio and heard that Twitter has shown significant growth in users recently. I've read about and actually experienced using Twitter in a live educational setting and it can definitely create a forum for a student parking lot (to ask clarifying questions, etc.) to share resources, or to have students really hone in on their succinct / concise writing (i.e. collaboratively write and tweet a thesis statement in 140 characters or less). 

50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

How Kids Learn Better By Taking Frequent Breaks Throughout The Day

According to research and the media, Finland is now synonymous with contemporary education. This ARTICLE explores the idea that most elementary schools there use a very structured system of breaks for learners. "In Finland (students) normally take a fifteen-minute break for every forty-five minutes of instruction. After these shorter recesses, students appeared to be more focused in the classroom."

In looking at the application of this theory to our secondary classrooms, brain research supports "giving the brain time to rest, through regular breaks, lead(ing) to greater productivity and creativity." The research suggests that students need this break after every 12-15 minutes of instruction. 

This can come in the form of "get up, move, find a partner, talk" OR "listen to this song" or "watch this short video clip" OR "talk to your neighbor for 1 minute about this question" OR "stand up, stretch, close your eyes, etc."

"What’s important is that you watch your students carefully," to gauge when students are "drifting" and provide the "Brain Break" as appropriate. 

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 4/24/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Specific verbal praise for WHY they are receiving the card. 
- Supervision Team A - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - Please see the updated flowchart
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space
- ZAP Continued: Dana will run ZAP Tuesday-Thursday, New Slips will be delivered Monday as we're finalizing locations. 

Support WE & Jump Clubs' Baby Shower Drive 

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Monday, April 24 - 8th Coffee House Poetry in Riley, Period 2-5! Check it out! 
Tuesday, April 25 - Inside-Out / Backwards Day
Wednesday, April 26 - Homeroom Schedule; PLC = Structured PD; WE Club Members @ 
                                    WE Day
Thursday, April 27 - WE Club Members @ WE Day
Friday, April 28 - TRTV Schedule; MS Dance; PTA Talent Show 6:30-8:30pm

Shout Out! - Laura Moody, Bethany Curtis, Cynde Riley, Catherine Sullivan

Many thanks to this fantastic team who put on our NJHS Induction ceremony on 4/18. There are a lot of moving pieces with identifying the students who qualify, keeping track of current members' service hours, getting the programs ready for the event, rehearsing students roles for the event, getting sound/stage ready and working, etc. We ALL really appreciate the hard work you each put into making this event a successful one. All this was done on top of your already busy schedules at the end of 3rd quarter! Thanks again! 

Tech Tip: PYLUSD G-Suite "Team Drive"

PYLUSD just recently opened a new feature that you may have noticed in your Google Drive account called "Team Drive". It gives you the opportunity to share files, folders, projects, etc. in a shared space. This way, every team member can get to department resources the same way. 

How Schools Can Face The ‘Bad Habits’ That Inhibit Meaningful Changes

This ARTICLE from Mindshift argues that long-held school beliefs, culture, and structures may actually prevent a school from progress. Seems like an odd idea when we place so much value on traditions and consitency; however, "While habitual behavior can be good — like when it reinforces a positive culture or set of norms — it can also be a stubborn obstacle to enacting meaningful change." 

The article goes on to identify "initiative overload" and the context of technology integration.  

According to the article, both teachers and administrators must "fight hard to recognize and replace their own bad habits, (because if we) truly want to see changes to teaching and learning, we must name negative habitual behaviors, own them, and intentionally make plans to address them. Substituting new belief structures and habits will also take time."

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 4/17/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Focus on students who are respectful, on-task, with specific verbal praise for WHY they are receiving the card. 
- Supervision Team B - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - Please see the updated flowchart
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space
- ZAP Continued: Dana has agreed to continue to run ZAP at both lunches. It may only run 2-3 days a week...stay tuned! 
- No Block Grant $ Next Year? Consider Saturday School! - Organizing a Saturday School will not only earn you an extra paycheck, but also $$ for your classroom. The $$ recouped will come back at a rate of $10/student as a materials/supplies budget. Get 25 students here for an activity, review, writing assistance, etc. = $250. Even better, get your department on board for just 1 Saturday and have $1,000 (or more) as extra department funds! See Mike for details. 
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Monday, April 17 - Welcome Back! 
Tuesday, April 18 - NJHS Induction Ceremony 9-10am, Gym
Wednesday, April 19 - Homeroom Schedule; PLC = Vertical OR Horizontal Teams TBD
Thursday, April 20 - 8th Grade Assembly - Guest Speaker Details TBD; Fire Drill 6th Period
Friday, April 21 - Rainbow Dress-Up; JUMP Club @ Cypress College

Shout Out - Amie Newberry

Amie Newberry has been an aide at Travis Ranch for almost 3 years now. She's working to earn her credential and earning student teaching credits under the supervision of Suzanne Borgese. As an instructional aide, Amie is highly skilled making connections with students quickly through consistent positive encouragement.

She's always willing to jump in head first and do what is asked of her. We've thrown her a thousand curve balls since she started and she has handled each and every "pitch" with poise, patience, and professionalism! Yes...she's a triple-threat Trailblazer!

We ALL want to thank you for serving our students, staff, and community with dedication and compassion!

Tech Tip - Quizlet

I've heard a lot of buzz around a new studying tool called "Quizlet". The tool is an online tool that has built in games and activities to review content. Teacher Quick-Start Guide. You can integrate it with Google Classroom and students can use it on any device. 

A brief overview:

10 different gaming and study modes - including a new classroom game, Quizlet Live

125 million study sets to choose from or create your own

Free and easy to get started

Hidden Brain Podcast

The more I listen to the radio and read about educational trends, the more I hear about podcasts trending as a great resource for our classrooms. There are so many out there to choose from for any/all content areas. There are sound podcasts and video podcasts. You can subscribe to the ones you like and get them delivered to you like a subscription to a newspaper. Here's a "How-To" subscribe guide for iTunes, iOS, and Android.

This particular podcast is very interesting and comes from NPR. It's called "Hidden Brain". They've recently launched into a new foray where they include a "study guide designed to supplement teachers' existing curricula...tailored to serve a range of different learning levels, from middle school to high school to college. Hidden Brain Study Guides. Pretty cool stuff!

Here's an example of one:

STUDY GUIDE

PODCAST: 

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 4/3/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Focus on positive students!
- Supervision Team A - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral - Please see the updated flowchart 
- Sign CICO Forms Daily! - Remind students!
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space

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Monday, 4/3 - Homeroom Lesson 8, Part 2
Tuesday, 4/4 - 
Wednesday, 4/5 - Tie Dye Day, PLC = Vertical Teams, 5-8pm REACH Foundation MS Track 
                            Meet @YLHS
Thursday, 4/6 - Open House 6:30-7:15pm
Friday, 4/7 - End of 3rd Qtr. + Positive Behavior Reward / Minimum Day Schedule

Shout Out! - Dana Worden

This week's shout out goes to Dana Worden. Dana, once again, took the lead and planned a fantastic Career Day for our students today. This was in tandem with presenting registration information to all students, collecting registration cards, facilitating high school counselor vists, GATE Shadow day, etc. She continues to identify students with 10+ missing assignments to assign to ZAP, counsels students with social/emotional needs, and works hard each and every day with a laser focus on students. Thanks for all you continue to do to serve our students Dana! 

Tech Tip: Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is an online and iOS platform to create cool images, videos, and websites. There's a great article about how to integrate its tools with Google Classroom. I have the app on my phone and it's pretty slick and produces some high-quality products. Add it to your "menu of options" for a class project and let students explore and design using the tool! 

Sharing the Depth of Knowledge Wheel With Students

In this Edutopia article, there are tips for integrating Webb's Depth of Knowledge with students. The article first starts with a focus on the importance of integrating literacy skills across all content areas; something Travis Ranch teachers do with purpose and pride! The research supports that literacy instruction includes the following:  vocabulary instruction, comprehension strategy instruction, opportunities to discuss surrounding texts, work that enhances student motivation and engagement, and individualized intervention resources. 

Later on, authors describe how they deliberately teach the DoK wheel while encouraging learners to formulate their own questions. This culminates in "rich, metacognitive learning experiences."

Finally, the article gives a great implementation strategy for use in any classroom:

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 3/27/17

- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Focus on positive students! SSC Student Rep called for 8th grade teachers to step it up a notch! :-0
- Supervision Team B - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referral
- Sign CICO Forms Daily! - Remind students!
- MTSS - Document interventions in this shared space
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Monday, 3/27 - Homeroom Lesson 8, Part 1
Tuesday, 3/28 - Band @ EDHS for Festival, Advanced Women's Ensemble Fieldtrip
Wednesday, 3/29 - Horizontal PLC (discuss intervention model for 4th qtr.); department and 
                               other awards nominations
Thursday, 3/30 - HS Counselors collect registration forms
Friday, 3/31 - MS 3rd Annual Career Day Schedule; Happy Hour Anybody?

Saturday, 4/1 - PRIDE Day, 9am-12pm

This was reviewed at our meeting 11/16/16. Let's keep our commitment! 

Shout Out: Sharon Fagan & Jalinda Larkin

Every morning when I walk into our front office, I'm greeted by Sharon's smile. She is truly the first point of contact for parents, students, community members, and staff. Not only does she ensure visitors, guests, and volunteers get where they are needed, but she does so with warmth and kindness. She coordinates our Watch DOGS' schedules, submits and follows up on work orders, covers the health office, uploads pictures to our main office TV, takes incoming calls, and the list goes on and on and on... 

Jalinda is an amazing sidekick not only to her colleagues in the main office but to all of us! She is Cynde's ASB clerk handling all incoming and outgoing ASB $$, assists Dana with master scheduling and schedule changes, manages the 100+ calendars we have, is my personal go to for help with queries, produces our recognition certificates for students, handles incoming calls & the health office, and on and on and on... 

We're all VERY lucky to have both of you on the front line Sharon. Thanks for your dedication to making Travis Ranch an efficient, friendly, and welcoming place! 

Tech Tip: ClassFlow is the new Promethean Planet

When's the last time you visited "Promethean Planet" to grab some flipcharts or resource packs? It had been a while for me too. I went there and it's been totally revamped. It's now called "Class Flow". They've got a slick new search engine and just a better "browsing" experience. Their "Lesson Marketplace" provides you free resources of already created content by subject and grade level.

Even more advanced, you can build lessons, assignments, assessments, etc. from this online platform and connect your Dropbox and Google Drive accounts. Here's an overview video and a link to a beginner's tutorial.

Emotional Agility as a Tool to Help Teens Manage Their Feelings

This article from KQED's Mindshift page addresses the "prevalence of depression in adolescents has increased in the last decade." We observe this trend on our campus and across the district, seeking research-based strategies to ensure students are equipped to handle the school and home environment with "emotional agility. "Emotional agility is defined as “being aware and accepting of all your emotions, even learning from the most difficult ones,” and being able to “live in the moment with a clear reading of present circumstances, respond appropriately, and then act in alignment with your deepest values.”

According to the article, "Two strategies parents and teachers can draw on are: values affirmation and autonomy. Research out of Stanford University found that asking middle school students to reflect and write about the things that truly mattered to them during stressful points in the school year resulted in significant academic gains, particularly for at-risk students."

This quote summed up the best approach if/when we encounter a child (or adult) in duress: 'When children and adolescents are very upset, literally just the presence of a loving person helps to de-escalate and creates the space where calm is invited in.”

Parents and teachers can support teens by providing them with scaffolded autonomy, giving them opportunities to try (and fail) to solve problems, talking through their choices and potential outcomes, offering them authentic choices and resisting the impulse to rush in to save the day.

Nuts/Bolts - Week of 3/20/17

Room 27 - Please actively monitor student's on any/all computers. Several computers in Room 27 have been tampered with. Consider requiring students to show you their screen before they logoff. 
- RISE Cards - Give 6 Daily! - Celebrate and Empower Students!
- Supervision Team A - Please be on time to duty & write it into sub-plans
- Admin Referrals - Curious what students are being referred for most? - Data Snapshot
- Sign CICO Forms Daily! - Please remind students! Teacher-driven intervention! 
- MTSS - If you are implementing academic, behavioral, or social/emotional interventions 
  with student(s) consider documenting them in this shared space

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Sunday 3/19 - REACH Foundation ShamRock n' Run @ Yorba Regional 

Monday 3/20 - Management Monday; HS Counselors Meeting 8th Graders

Tuesday 3/21 - Crazy Socks Day; APLE Lunch in Teacher's Lounge; Spring Choir Concert 

                        7-9pm

Wednesday 3/22 - WE Club "WE Are Silent"; PLC - Staff Meeting, Rm 36

Thursday 3/23 - Leadership Candidate Interviews; SSC Meeting 3:45-4:45pm

Friday 3/24 - TRTV Schedule; Encore @ Katella Competition;