Hello all,

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  Several teachers and assistants noted questions and questioning as a professional need.  We will have some time to flesh this out this year in our meetings and concentrated conversations, but I thought it would be helpful to share a interesting article entitled, “A Practical Approach for Increasing Students’ In-Class Questions” as you challenge students to ask questions emphasizing critical thinking skills.  This article can be found at:

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/practical-approach-increasing-students-class-questions/

In addition, you will find within the article a link to a PDF of prompts to elevate students’ questioning skills.  Have a fantastic week, and please take time to review the information below.

Best,

Dustin

REMINDERS FOR ES and MS TEACHERS

• This week is a BLUE week for MS.
• Please continue to work on updating your blogs.
• Word Study Assessments begin this week and can be completed any time before September 15^th. Word Their Way Inventories are given in elementary, and Root Word Assessments are given in MS.  Tony please check with Sarah, Lower Elementary please check with Amber in your team meetings, and Upper Elementary please check with Sondra in your team meetings to ensure that you are administering it correctly and have all of the necessary resources.  Results will help you differentiate your word study groups, and completed inventories should go in your assessment boxes.
• Assessment plans are due September 1st.  Please refer to your email regarding the assessment schedule this school year.  It is also posted along with duty schedules, handbooks, and other important documents in the “Teacher Resources” section of the principal’s blog:  https://principalcollins.edublogs.org/teacher-resources/
• Mobile Learning Plans should be posted on your blogs no later than September 15^th. Please see me if you have questions or would like specific feedback.  I will then send information home to parents to inform them of our system.  You will also need a copy of a plan for your class for each student.  We will then place them all in one folder for the students to store at home.
• Our CIS visitor is coming this week. Please check the schedule that Simon sent out in case you are scheduled to meet.
• The AISA conference applications are due on Wednesday.
• This Wednesday you have time to work on a professional goal/s draft.  If you are on mysupervision list, please make an appointment with me for your professional goal meeting.  These meetings begin August 31^st and end September 15^th.  It is important that you send in a few dates and times early because my schedule fills up quickly.
• The Visible Thinking group that will present to our division on September 27^th was emailed information. Please let me know if you have any questions as you prepare.
• September 15^th is the Middle School Condor Retreat. We are currently finalizing the plan, but will email it out to MS as soon as possible.  Retreat committee, please review the google doc and make any last minute changes by the end of the day on Monday.
• September 22^nd is the Elementary School Condor Retreat. Thanks to the group that volunteered to plan it.  We will send finalized plans later this week.
• The Social Committee will be sending a survey for you to fill out this week. They will then take the results and create a social calendar for TASOK Faculty and Staff.  Thank you Social Committee.  Stay tuned!
• Elementary DRA’s begin next week. I am in the process of creating a schedule.  Elementary and Middle School Language Arts teachers will have release time to administer these very important assessments.  I would like to propose that those who administer will meet at 3:30-4:00 to finalize the schedule and to review the DRA.  We will meet in the Elementary library.
• Get it Done Club is for MS and HS students who are not submitting their work. When mandating that student attend Get it Done, the teacher should verball inform the student that they are being referred to the next club (Mondays with Ms. Kraft in the Second Library and Thursdays with Ms. DeHolton in HS5).  You will then send an email to the parents, Ruthy or Kelly, and Dustin informing us what day(s), the student must attend and what needs to be completed during this time.  You will need to give the parents at least 1 day notice, so transportation can be arranged.  If students have another ASA or sport when they are assigned Get it Done, they are required to attend Get it Done instead.  Please write with questions.

 Wednesday Meeting Schedule

08.30.2017

1:45 – 2:45 – Professional Growth Plan time 2:45-3:30 CIS Meeting 3:30-4:00 Developmental Reading Schedule and Review

On your own or in pairs/small groups Meet in the CAC Meet in the Elementary Library

 IMPORTANT DATES

August 28th-After School Activities Begin

August 28th-(K-8) Word Study Baseline Assessments Begin

August 29th-Council of International Schools Member Visit Begins

August 31^st-Elementary CORE Block Begins

September 1st-Assessment Plans Due for Teachers

September 1st-Middle School Assembly during Tutorial (CAC)

September 4th-School Holiday (US Labor Day)

September 5th-Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA) Begin

September 15^th-Middle School Condor Retreat

September 18^th-Outdoor Leadership Club Field Trip to Kitambo

September 20^th-Back to School Night Open House

September 22^nd-Elementary School Condor Retreat

September 25^th-MAP Testing Begins (Schedule to be sent soon)