Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Vickie Coleman
Our initial meeting was held with the grade level leaders to discuss the
academic standards and student expectations to plan for
Math/Science Night Plan. We focused on last year assessment data
and which TEKS our students scored low in to help guide our focus for
improvement. Everyone was very helpful and willing to express their
thoughts and ideas to enable achieving student success for the
upcoming event. The meetings were very successful and plans were
underway. I then spoke with the PTO President to arrange for light
snacks and refreshments to be served. We have a new president but
luckily she is very familiar on campus and willing to assist in anyway.
She has children at our school and has built a relationship with the
faculty and staff. Communication and teacher support is crucial in
communicating with the families of our students to provide updates on
their students progress and actively work with them at home to
support learning. I was impressed by the amount of teacher and family
engagement. It was a lot of work planning, implementing, and
communicating information to so many people in a short time. My
peers relied on my throughout the night when they had questions or
concerns but for the most part, everyone knew what to do. I was
completely and utterly exhausted the next day. I feel like this is falls
under more than one standard. I feel like standard one is appropriate
because as a school we exhibited part of this standard in point three,
Model and promote the continuous and appropriate development of
all learners in the campus community. Standard five, Facilitate the
implementation of sound, research-based instructional strategies,
decisions, and programs in which multiple opportunities to learn and
be successful are available to all students. I feel that all parts of
standard seven apply to this event. What I find to be the most difficult
is that I still have a classroom filled with children to teach and papers
to grade. Right now, I know that I have a lot to learn and am trying to
absorb all I can. This was a great experience and I know that without
the support from my mentor some things would have been dropped
and it would not have been the success that it was. At the end of the
night, I was proud because I was more than just a part of the
Math/Science night, but helped in the implementation of the events.
The extended day program has been in full swing and going as
planned. The director had to take a few days off to attend a memorial
service out of town and so my part in the extended day program grew.
They grew by having to manage the snacks, behavior during snack
time, taking attendance of all students in extended day, dismissal of
students, calling parents who did not pick up students on time, and
assigning classroom subs where needed and passing out attendance
tickets to teachers. The week was very busy and overwhelming. This
was very time consuming but teachers are doing what they need to do
to get strategies taught for the STAAR. Thankfully, we have a male
teacher who is assisting with behavior in the cafeteria during snack
time. This was getting out of hand. We have had to stop the students
from misbehaving in the cafeteria on numerous occasions and it just
did not seem to be very effective until he came to help. The students
are very active after school and some seem to not fully understand the
importance of the extended day program.
Fridays faculty meetings are not being received very well because,
well it is a Friday! We are having these meetings on Fridays for
another 4 weeks. After the 4 weeks, we will resume Monday Matters
Meetings! Until then, I am responsible for presenting the kudos to the
faculty and staff which I hope are lifting spirits and morale thereby
inspiring others to do the same.
The discussion that began in February with the vice principal has
evolved into planning a permanent implementation project for the
faculty and staff. We decided to continue discussion pertaining to the
improvement process long term but we have to have a discussion with
our district representative. I actually spoke with the representative
and she informed me that she will be coming to the school soon to see
how the organizational health at the campus is going. We formed a
committee at the beginning of the year to discuss and implement plans
that would improve the organizational health of the campus. I am on
this committee that laid out instructional plans, curriculum, and getting
the faculty involved. The plan has made some tremendous
improvements but our school has a long way to go.
The vice principal asked that I assist him with thanking everyone who
worked so hard to prepare for the STAAR test. There were so many
people involved in the initial organization that he felt like it was only
right that he give them something other than an email. I felt the same
way. Teachers always feel like they are over worked and not
appreciated, so I know the thought put into this idea will be
appreciated by all. We sat down and brainstormed ideas on what to do
that would send the message that they are appreciated. So I came up
with a goody bag with a drink, trail mix, spirit stick, candy bar, and a
nice pen. I am hoping that the teachers will love it! I feel this goes
well with standard 3 Executive Leadership as we see administration
treating all community with respect and developing strong, positive
relationships with them.
During our meeting I had to implement the kudos and accolades for all
of the teachers who submitted one on the Superhero bulletin board.
The teachers were all so excited to receive the snacks and treats. I
heard a lot of positive comments from everyone. The vice principal
has also been very grateful for my work with this project and also gave
me a small gift.
Standard Four -- Vickie Coleman
01-09-2017 to 01-15-2017: Math/Science Night (1 hrs.)
A first grade teacher was in the hallway with a student who was yelling
and screaming in her face. He was constantly arguing with her and
would not stop. I walked up and asked if she needed help and she
began telling me that the student had been disrespectful to her in
class. He refused to work and tore up all of his work. She tried talking
to him several times in class and he kept yelling over her. She said she
had no idea what to do with him at the moment. I asked if I could talk
to him and she said for me to help myself. I talked to him to try and
get him to breathe and calm down and he did. It took us a while to get
him to just listen to what the teacher was asking him to do but he
finally listened. We talked about our school wide 8 keys program and
how he could use integrity in the classroom when he needs to speak.
This would mean that he would give the respect to the speaker in order
to be heard later. He seemed to listen for the time being and was able
to go back to class.
A fifth grade teacher who never has any problems with students that
she cannot handle came to me and asked if I could help her with a
student issue. I agreed and spoke with her briefly about the issue so
that she could return to class. Apparently during the science day
outside activities the student was not very well behaved and had been
arguing the entire time during one of the activities with another
student. I spoke with the young man and told him he would be staying
with me for a while and he was fine with that. He worked very well
with helping to do small organizational tasks and had no arguments. I
was surprised and kept waiting for him to lash out but he did the total
opposite. He was very manner able and worked quickly and quietly.
He was calm and by the time I sent him back he was just fine. The
teacher indicated that he was a nice student but when he gets around
another young man they have issues.
During the week I facilitated three days of team faculty meetings which
includes; beginning with group norms and having difficult
conversations about the lesson preparation and curriculum
requirements needed to enable student success. We have to meet the
needs of all students and by doing so we must be sure to differentiate
our lessons to accommodate all learners. Team members bring ideas
to the meeting for the upcoming week activities and then TEKS,
number of days to implement, and assessments are planned. We also
reflected on past weeks lessons in what worked and what did not.
Minutes are taken during the planning time and other upcoming events
mentioned.
During the week I facilitated three days of team faculty meetings which
includes; beginning with group norms and having difficult
conversations about the lesson preparation and curriculum
requirements needed to enable student success. We have to meet the
needs of all students and by doing so we must be sure to differentiate
our lessons to accommodate all learners. We discussed the team
budget and how much we need to pay off the busses from our recent
field trip. Team members bring ideas to the meeting for the upcoming
week activities and then TEKS, number of days to implement, and
assessments are planned. We also reflect on past weeks lessons in
what worked and what did not. Minutes are taken during the planning
time and other upcoming events mentioned.
During the week I facilitated three days of team faculty meetings which
includes; THIS WEEK WE HAD TO CHANGE A DATE DUE TO MY HAVING
TO IMPLEMENT A STAAR EXAM ORAL ADMINISTRATION TO A STUDENT
IN THE UPPER GRADES; beginning with group norms and having
difficult conversations about the lesson preparation and curriculum
requirements needed to enable student success. We have to meet the
needs of all students and by doing so we must be sure to differentiate
our lessons to accommodate all learners. Team members bring ideas
to the meeting for the upcoming week activities and then TEKS,
number of days to implement, and assessments are planned. We also
reflected on past weeks lessons in what worked and what did not.
Minutes are taken during the planning time and other upcoming events
mentioned.
04-05-2017: Budget
In standard five, I was able to sit with the principals secretary who
walked me through the handling of our school budget. She is very well
versed in the area of school budgets and shared how our school utilizes
the funds allocated effectively to make them last throughout the school
year. The general funds account is one that she uses often to move
money around as needed. The majority of the schools budget will go
into the general funds budget. Budget information is submitted using
several different numeric codes (fund, function, object, and program
intent codes).
During the week I facilitated two days of team faculty meetings which
includes; this week we discussed the upcoming Spring Fling. This is
our semester school fundraising event for the school. It is just a big
carnival where all the grades levels provide two or three activities to
raise money for field trips. We then begin with group norms and
having difficult conversations about the lesson preparation and
curriculum requirements needed to enable student success. We have
to meet the needs of all students and by doing so we must be sure to
differentiate our lessons to accommodate all learners. Team members
bring ideas to the meeting for the upcoming week activities and then
TEKS, number of days to implement, and assessments are planned.
We also reflected on past weeks lessons in what worked and what did
not. Minutes are taken during the planning time and other upcoming
events mentioned.