The EduGATOR!
Week of January 2 and January 6 2025!
Weekly Update
Thursday, January 2-Welcome back and Happy 2025!
Friday, January 3- Wear jeans and your Gator Gear!
Monday, January 6-Regular School Day
Tuesday, January 7-Regular School Day
Wednesday, January 8-Regular School Day
Thursday, January 9-Regular School Day
Friday, January 10-Wear jeans and your Gator Gear!
Staff Mid-Year Celebration
TFM Thank you!
As our DESE Tiered Focus Monitoring (TFM) came to a close last week, we wanted to thank all of the staff who contributed to its success! As many know, the TFM process is very time consuming and requires lots of evidence and documentation to complete. The DESE evaluator assigned to Gateway was highly complimentary of all of the staff in the district. She said that it is rare that you find a staff that really works well together and she could tell that we all did. So THANK YOU and congrats on a job well done!
JANUARY Instructional Vision Challenge! (Yes, there are still fabulous prizes!)
We will continue into January with inviting staff to share how YOU are implementing a part of our instructional vision.
This month's focus are the third two bullets in the instructional vision are:
- Gateway students will work together to support each other as members of the learning community.
- Gateway staff will push every student to grow as a learner and as a community member.
Staff are invited to fill out a brief (2-3 sentences!) summary of how you are implementing this part of our vision. It can be specific or general, and it should clearly describe how your actions are moving this part of our instructional vision forward.
Here is the link to share!
https://padlet.com/ksmidy1/january-instructional-vision-challenge-qhfhko8arphwpo3j
To add to the board, click the plus sign in the bottom right corner and write in your submission. Finally, hit Publish and voila! You're done!
Staff who share how they are implementing or supporting implementation of December's focus area of the instructional vision by January 31 will be entered to win a $50 gift card to one of the following locations: Carms, Common Table, Moltenbreys, Amazon, Big Y, Dunkin or at a place of your choice that I can get a gift card with relative ease đ
District Data for your review
I am going to try to share some data with you each week that may be of interest to you.
The financial State of the District was shared at our School Committee meeting on December 12. This is the full presentation for your information. I'm going to share bits of this data out over the next few EduGATORs so don't feel like you need to go through it, but you are absolutely welcomed to!
This is the enrollment information that we have as of now. I will be collected again on March 1. The percentage of students that each town sends to Gateway determines the budget percentage that they contribute. For example, since Chester's enrollment number went up from last year, their assessment is expected to be a big increase. Since Huntington's enrollment dropped below the average enrollment number, the amount that the town will contribute may be less than last year.
This data is very important to the towns and the clerks will check every student and their address in our towns to ensure accuracy.
*Please note that these are not the final numbers that determine the budget amount that each town pays. The enrollment numbers are taken from the March 1 census, but since it isn't March 1 yet, we try to give them a hint at what it could be for planning purposes.
Productive Struggle How Tos
This resource is adapted from a resource from the Perkins School for the Blind, but is highly applicable to all "productive struggle" supports we can offer students.
196Ways to Step Back
Adapted from Classroom Collaboration by Laurel J. Hudson, PhD.,
Perkins School for the Blind
It often feels right to give help to students with visual impairments or disabilities, but this may not be in their best interest. Use this list to help yourself to step back.
1. Youâre stepping back so your students can step forward and become independent. Keep this in mind.
2. Clock how long it actually takes students to start their work, find their evidence, or develop the answer to a question. Whatâs a few more seconds in the grander scheme? Letting the student do it empowers their learning.
3. Let your students make mistakes. Itâs part of the human experience!
4. Acknowledge your own needs. Thereâs a reason you chose the helping profession.
5. Sit farther away. If youâve been within armâs reach, sit just within earshot. If youâve been sitting just within earshot, sit across the room.
6. Pat yourself on the back every time you help prompt thinking instead of doing the thinking.
7. Even though helping can feel right, be aware that too much assistance is short-sighted. Sometimes less is more, less is better.
8. Catch yourself before you correct your studentsâ work. Donât cover for them. This is about their skills ⌠not yours.
9. Commit to no intervention for a whole activity. Take data instead. Things might not fall apart as much as you expected.
10. âWhat page are we on?â âWhatâs for lunch?â Have students ask their classmates instead of you, both during school and on the telephone.
11. Teach students to decline assistance: âThanks, but please let me try it by myself.â
12. Whenever you add prompts, include a plan to phase them out.
13. Let the other staff members you are working with know what you need to step back so that your students can be more independent.
14. Collaborate with other adults to break your habits of helping too much. Agree to remind each other to step back.
15. For a para and a teacher duo- Try helping only when the other give you a signal. They may prefer to respond directly, or to give students longer to work it out alone.
16. Put a sign for yourself, âAre there any other ways I could step back?â
