News for the Week of February 8, 2021

 

It has been a difficult week for our SJPS Family.  Please remember: We are a team. We are strong and united. We have accomplished great things and will continue to do so - together. 

This Week at Brown School

2/8   BOE Meeting @ 6pm (virtual - Lincoln presenting on P2) 

2/9   Severe Weather Drill (tornado) @ 9am

2/10  Late Start Day!

         Count Day

2/12  No School for students - School Improvement Workshop (remote - see schedule below)

Coming Up...

2/15  No School for Students & Staff - President's Day

2/16  Half-Day - Vaccination Clinic (pm)

         Staff/SI Meeting - asynchronous - details coming

         PTO Meeting virtual meeting @ 7pm - Dilley

2/17  Late Start Day

2/18  New Teacher Training 4:15pm-5:30pm

WOW! Get your Master's degree in ESL (English as a Second Language) for almost free from WMU! Click on the link below for more details:

https://wmich.edu/specialed/scholarships

Equality - Equity - Removing the barriers

Doc Brown reminded us that providing true equity involves removing the barriers that require the boxes in the first place. What barriers (policies, practices, etc.) do we need to remove to ensure our students are afforded the equitable learning experience they deserve? Please be thinking about this. We will embark in this essential work as part of our school improvement process.

Professional Development Day

We are looking forward to learning and growing together on Friday (2/12). Sara and our amazing at-risk and special education paraprofessionals will join our instructional teaching staff for a day of remote learning. The theme for the day will be "Enabling Us to Thrive in A Safe and Equitable Environment".  

We will begin the day as a district team, learning together via Zoom with Kristin Anderson, CEO of the Brilliance Project. She will kick off our day centered on our individual well being and hope (the "me"). Then we will transition to Google Meet with our Brown School team (welcoming our SJVS colleagues) to learn more about trauma informed and restorative practices with Amanda Lezotte (the "we"). 

After our session with Amanda ends, our support staff will embark on the equity work we began on MLK Day. 

Agenda for February 12th 

8:10 Welcome & Introduction - Kelly (whole district via Zoom)

8:15 Keynote Speaker: Kristin Anderson - Well being & Hope (see her bio below)

10:15 Break

10:30 Processing/Next Steps (Google Meet building level)

11:00 Trauma Informed & Restorative Practices - Amanda Lezotte

1:00 Reflections, Commitments, and Next Steps (instructional staff ends at 1:15 per calendar agreement)

1:15-1:45 Lunch break for our support staff (Sara and paraprofessionals)

1:45 Exploring Equity with Amy Dirlam (join here: meet.google.com/hoz-kwqf-msn)

Spread the word...

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Kagan Corner

Over the coming days, please take a few moments to read Dr.
Kagan's short article, Why Call On Just One When We Can Call On Everyone?. In it he explains the power of using cooperative learning structures to bolster student engagement and to foster the development of a cohesive classroom community. 

You might remember the "Benefits of Cooperative Learning"  segment of your Kagan training where we analyzed teacher A, B, and C. This article reminds us of the "why" to move toward becoming Teacher C (a cooperative learning teacher). He challenges us to consider the following questions:

Marzano agrees! 😀