STEAMing with JSA

MM 12/12/16 First and foremost thank you for all of your hard work inside the classroom to ensure that all of our students are getting a quality education at JSA Magnet. I would also like to say I appreciate all of the teachers that ensure the safety of our students by doing a wonderful job performing their supervisory duties before, during, and after school. I know that we are winding down and about to head into the holidays and I would like to personally thank our entire staff at JSA for the wonderful job you do. Thank you for everything.  We are going to focus on how we are monitoring student progress with formative, summative, and daily work data. Please take the time this week to establish a complete picture of your students and take time out to have a data chat on key areas as we go into the break.  Our video is holiday themed and mirrors our quest to achieve our goal of student achievement (cookie) and the lengths we go through in order to reach it.  ...

MM 12/5/16 Good morning staff as we head into the winter break we would like to reflect and focus on the student progress. Please check the status of your students progress and look at ways to provide the reinforcement and practice needed to ensure success. We would like to preview the reading/math/science progress data of our students. Please do your best to have data chats with the students prior to the winter break.  https://youtu.be/L3eO8gYmWCc  EDUCATIONAL FOCUS please focus on your student data and track the growth using the baseline information from the beginning of the year and the student progress displayed through grades, formative, and summative assessments throughout the year. Please reflect back upon the students FSA scores if available along with the most recent FAIR, STAR, IBTP, and quarter test data. HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK Mrs. Pruitt, 1st grade, u sing plickers to assess students in math and allowing immediate feedback and referencing diff...

MM 11/28/16 Welcome back from a hopefully restful Thanksgiving break. I definitely pray that everyone had a safe and joy filled week off. As we embark upon our final stretch of the Fall headed into the Winter Holidays I would like for us to ensure that we are assisting one another and meeting our colleagues needs. Today's video focuses on the difference our outlook can make on our lives.  Educational Focus This week I would like for the staff to focus on utilizing collaborative pairs to summarize information within the classroom setting. We should also have methods in place when using collaboration to ensure equality in workload and always have methods to share out findings to ensure fidelity within the classroom exercises.  Highlights for the Week I would like to highlight an effective use of reading, writing, and oral presentation that was utilized in Mrs. Martins 6th grade ELA classroom. Students were required to chart the characters progress throug...

MM 11/14/16 Good Morning staff as we enter the week prior to the Thanksgiving Break I would like for us to focus in on the aspect of being thankful for the situation we are charged with as educators here at JSA. We are provided the opportunity with our actions, words, and instructions to illuminate a positive and well informed educational opportunity to enrich our students' lives. Please remember that sometimes the students are in need of education in more areas than just reading, math, science, language arts, and fine arts. Our video today works on communication styles. Educational Focus This week I would like the staff to focus on writing in response to learning. Please have your students write utilizing information covered within the course from text, (electronic, hard print, research, video, etc.) Students are charged with being able to transcribe their information on paper and not just be able to verbally provide answers. Highlights for the Week I would like ...

MM 11/7/16 Good Morning JSA Staff, this week is a short week and we want to pack as much instruction into the four days as possible. Please make a note to review your student data on FAIR/IBTP/STAR and other items you are using to track student progress. Please focus on your differentiation of instruction methods and feel free to collaborate with your neighbors within the school site. Last week was a very peculiar week with happenings around the school. I want to thank everyone for remaining diligent and increasing the security methods around the school for questioning adults who are do not have a PCSB ID or visitors' badge. We want to focus on how to continue to embrace change. Highlights for the Week I would like to highlight excellent hands on labs presented by Mrs. Gaineys' 4th grade class dealing with temperature transfer in the science lab and dealing students having the opportunity to present a hypothesis and conduct an experiment collecting data and justifying ...

MICHAEL'S  MEMO  Good Morning Staff, as we embark upon the week I would like for us to reflect upon the methods of teaching and the set up and expectations of our learners here at JSA Magnet. I would like to recommend watching the video of Sal Khan who created Khan Academy to assist us in shifting our outlook on education and mastery & non mastery and how gaps assist in our students not being successful. Mastery Framework and Agency over our learning are the key points of the video.  Highlight's of the Week @ JSA I would like to highlight Dennis Dill for constructing the EdCamp style professional development on Monday. I would like to especially thank K. White, S. Barnes, N. Gainey, K. Reddick, R. Huyhn,, M. Turner, and S. Lew for presenting on a wide variety of topics. The professional development was relevant and successful based upon the feedback on the PD. We seek to always highlight the great instructors here at JSA and continue to build up...

MICHAEL'S MEMO 10/3/16 Volume 6 Good Morning staff, we have completed another successful week at JSA. I want to continue to commend the staff on a job well done in standards based instruction occurring daily within the classrooms. We as an administration are continuing to conduct coaching forms and Journey Walk throughs to document the instructional prowess of our staff. Staff members we will continue to focus on the EDP and STEAM Infusion within instruction. We are seeking staff input on activities for Culture Building activities outside of the work environment, and would like to hear suggestions such as root beer floats on Fridays', staff social at establishments, school cook out etc. Please leave a comment on the comment section or e-mail me your ideas. Our video this week focuses on the impact and importance of relationships in relation to being an effective classroom instructor with an emphasis on Middle School, please enjoy.  Focus For The Week We will focus on ...

MICHAEL'S MEMO 9/26/16 Good Morning staff last week was a very successful outing based upon the site visit feedback from the external evaluator. She was extremely impressed with Mrs. Pruitt in 1st grade with her arts integration activities and usage of student work to display on the student board. Students were able to discuss and exhibit various disabilities while completing the art assignment by having one hand behind there back, and creating playground equipment while being blindfolded to display student disabilities.  external evaluator also was very impressed with the entire 8th grade team, who were exhibiting the EDP process during the sight visit showing their various nautical devices and testing them to see if they are sufficient to hold cargo. The projects are simulating the crossing of the early settlers to america and incorporating math due to the measurement of angles and science as it relates to mass and weight distribution calculations. The Fine Arts department w...

MICHAEL'S MEMO 9/12/16 Congratulations first and foremost our Teacher of the Year Dennis Dill, and our SPARK of the Year Pamela Smith. We want to congratulate both of the candidates and hopefully they can bring home the big prize and lots of cash and win the big award for the county!! We appreciate both of your efforts and sacrifices to make JSA great. The long hours that both you sacrifice to ensure that the school runs smoothly and always looks good whether it be JSA TV, innovative lessons, alternative classroom settings, DJ, photographer, mechanic, mentor, leader, supporter, cheerleader, Dennis is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure students are engaged and interest are placed first when making decisions on educating his students.  Pamela works tirelessly to ensure that all items are covered as a terminal operator and puts in long hours to ensure all items are current and up to date. She goes the extra mile to ensure that all of our stakeholders feel the warmth ...

MM 9/5/16 Good Morning, I hope everyone had a safe and restful Labor Day Holiday. As we set out for the week I would like to have this quote serve as the driving thought for the week.  "I like to think that the greatest success of any life is the moment when a teacher touches a child's heart and it is never again the same...Everything America is or ever hopes to be depends upon what happens in our school's classrooms. -Frosty Troy Remember that you are the difference makers in the world and you have a greater influence on the shaping of our future with your educational practices that you provide on a daily basis. Walk Through Highlight Mrs. Nichols' drama class was working on performing a slate with students in 3rd grade displaying proper posture, speech, volume, and appropriate crowd etiquette within the classroom concluding their presentation with a bow. The students presented with confidence and were an excellent audience to one another in class. ...

Michael's Memo Good evening staff, as we embark on our third week of school I would like for us to reflect on the baseline information that you have gathered on your students academically, socially, and ability to work with others. Please make sure that we are utilizing our C.H.A.M.P.S. models to monitor behavior and set your instructional expectations. The video for this week will focus setting routines utilizing C.H.A.M.P.S. HIGHLIGHTS 4 THE WEEK       Mrs. Barnes was utilizing the CHAMPS model to set instructional outcomes within the classroom. Student seating was conducive to collaboration by using four desk groupings throughout the classroom. Students were utilizing graphic organizers with color coding to define plot structure. Technology was used to enhance the lesson through modeling utilizing the document camera.       Mrs. Gainey utilized the EDP process with students in the science lab. Students were working in groups of four to design an...

Michael's Memo 8/22/16      Good Morning Staff, I would like to thank and congratulate everyone on a very fine first week of school. Our staff did an excellent job ensuring students were able to get accustom to their new classrooms and procedures. You also made sure each student traveled to the appropriate destination throughout the week. During administrations visits into classrooms, instructors were actively teaching and students were engaged in the instruction. We really appreciate the attention to detail by all staff members to ensure that we are functioning at a high level in the areas of instruction, supervision, and transitions. Each week I like to include a video that will assist all of us in becoming better educators'. Please enjoy the video focusing on relationships. C.A.R.E enough to make a difference (Communication, Accountability,Relationships, and Enhance). Grade Chair Staff Members 2017 Good morning, listed below are the grade level chairs who...

MM6516 MICHAEL’S MEMO 6/5/16 Latest News    Good Morning, as we embark on final week of the school year I want to say a deep heartfelt thank you to our entire staff @ JSA. We have worked tirelessly throughout the entire year to provide a high quality education for our students here at Jewett School of the Arts. I want everyone to know that I appreciate all that every member of our staff does to keep the school running smoothly from administration to our custodial staff. You all have continued to support the vision of JSA becoming a GREAT Fine Arts & STEAM Magnet school and we will only get better as next year rolls around. I believe our wonderful strides have come about due to the strengthening of our mental fortitude this year and the growth is extremely evident in our site visit feedback Please check out our video for this week and reflect on it over the summer and use it to build up yourself throughout the summer. Please make sure that you pay attention...

MM 5/31/16 Good Morning Staff, I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Holiday and had a moment to reflect on the sacrifices made by our troops to afford us the wonderful freedoms we experience in the United States of America. We have 8 instructional days left in this academic year, please be sure to make the most of your remaining instructional time. Our video of the week touches upon the importance of the perspective of thinking. Highlights for the week We want to say a resounding thank you for Mrs. Power who retired this past Friday, we have all been enriched by her wonderful work at JSA and she will be greatly missed on the JSA campus. I want to take a moment to say thank you to Mrs. Holbert, Mrs. Wheaton, Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Jarrett that put on the glow party formal for the 8th graders this past Friday. The students really enjoyed the night and the decorations and theme was very exquisite.  Thank you goes out to Mrs. Gravitt, Mrs Burke, Mrs. White, Mrs. Brown, Mr. and ...

MM Update Thank you to 4th grade Mrs. Strouse and Mrs. Gainey for wonderful walk throughs during the site visit. I know that the 5th grade students displayed their work and were interviewed. The students in the two classes were able to clearly explain and elaborate on the information being taught within the Readers' Workshop and provide Mrs. Janice with a tour around the classroom to speak about the various projects that they had the opportunity to complete throughout the year. I apologize for the over site in the weekly memo. Thank you SO much for the wonderful job you did last week. Michael

MICHAEL’S MEMO 5/22/16 Latest News    Good Morning, as we embark on the week I would like to take a moment to thank our 3rd grade instructors (Henry, Boyce, Parker, and Smith) for improving the 3rd grade scores by 11% from the previous year(52%) to 63% achieving a level 3 or higher. I appreciate all of the hard work that the team has done to increase the learning achievement of the grade level and provide our students with an excellent STEAM experiences. Our video of the week is an excellent example of the proper approach to achievement for STEAM. IMPORTANT EVENTS Ø          Piano/Chorus Concert 5/25/16 in the JSA Cafe @  Ø         3rd grade field trip to Lakeland Tigers Henley Field 5/23/16 9 - 12:45 p.m . Ø         David Gregory Training Change Management 5/24/16 Ø         Assistant Principals' Meeting 5/24/16 @ JMPDC Ø       Chic Fi...