What Not to Do!

Great clip from Dr. McLeod's blog... Enjoy...

My Anti-Creativity Checklist from Youngme Moon on Vimeo.

Turkey Day!!!!

Thought of the Week: We live in a society where it is really easy to be negative. It doesn't help that I have to watch the Lions play football on Thanksgiving day (indigestion is blamed on too much pie, I'm beginning to wonder...). I'm so happy that we have a holiday dedicated to positive thinking and family fun! I tend to wonder though, why we need a holiday to do something so basic like being thankful? What would the world be like if everyday was thanksgiving? Besides being completely obese, I think we would find more positive people doing positive things.

Before you begin your day, take a moment to think about the things you are thankful for (it helps if you write them down). If you can't think of any, IPERS laws are changing, so maybe it would be beneficial to retire now (that was my interior monologue), actually come to my office, and I will give you a great list of positive things for you to ponder. I would also encourage you to share them with your students.

Here are a few of mine:

1) Breckyn (healthy and alive) and Amy

2) A talented and gifted teaching staff who love kids.

3) Jane (need I say more?)

4) our 1:1 laptop program

5) The Bears being 7-3

6) Great kids

7) Positive growth within our district

8)Teresa, who continues to live in her office for the betterment of our district :)

This is just a few! I mean it every time I say it: we have a lot of GREAT things going on in our district! Our building is positive, we are having very few majors, and we are continually getting better every day that we teach.

Where is the year going?!?

WOW! This year is flying by! I can't believe football and volleyball are over (congratulations to both teams for representing us well). We are two weeks from Thanksgiving and only 4 1/2 weeks (or so) to Christmas! With all of that said, this is a very crucial time for students in school. It is easy during the upcoming holiday seasons to want to relax and take a break, but it isn't break time yet!

Parents: are you encouraging and mandating your child read 20 minutes a day? Students: do you care about your future? The BEST way to improve your reading skills is by READING. I just read a great article in "TIME" magazine about what implications the mid-term elections have on our society. Did you read it? What have you read lately that challenged your thinking or made you want to argue with its beliefs?

Learning doesn't stop unless you let it...

Bullies Hurt People...

The Case for Change...

Throughout this year, a continuing theme within our district is raising student achievement. One way of raising our district's achievement is clearly identifying which students are not proficient in reading. While reviewing data, there is a clear achievement gap between students who are categorized as low SES and those who are not. A major goal of mine throughout this year is to increase the number of proficient readers in our at risk population by empowering teachers to improve our identification and instructional strategies to meet their needs, to ensure a positive future for all students.

So how are we doing this?

• Identifying which students are non-proficient readers (and why)
• Implementing Second Chance Reading at the middle school level
• Continuing our commitment to SCR at the high school level
• Early intervention and identification at the primary grade level
• Continual evaluation of primary curriculum
• Professional development to improve how ALL teachers can help improve reading

So what is at stake if our district DO NOT improve our reading scores?

• Labeled a School/District In Need of Assistance
• Increased number of students who are not successful in our school and could possibly drop-out
• Negative publicity which can lead to decreased enrollment
• Our students students do not have the workplace readiness or the 21st century skills to be successful coming out of high school

At Graettinger-Terril, we are working very hard to provide the best education for ALL students. By improving the way we identify which students actually need help, and new and improved strategies on how the help is given, we will be able to serve our students to their full academic potential.

Our First Group of Right Knights!

back row- Cormick, Claudia, Kelsey, Dorothy, Dalton, Mackenzie, Kate, and Laura.

front row - Clayton, Benny, Hailey, Delaney, Halie, Natalie, and Tony

The Science Behind the Music...

Inspired by the BlueMan Group, Zac is working on constructing some musical instruments. He is using a program on his laptop to be able to measure the frequency of the sound being made so he can construct an accurate musical model!