STEAMing with JSA

MICHAEL'S MEMO 5/30/17 Hello to everyone. This is the final instructional week of the year. I am extremely grateful for the progress made at JSA Magnet this year. I want to say Thank you to all of the teachers, students, support staff, stakeholders, and administration for the academic year of 2016 and 2017. We know that there is only 1 constant in life and that is change. Let's remember that as we approach our final week of instruction. We want to continually challenge our students within the classroom and their learning experiences here at JSA Magnet. Take this time to have your students engaged in fun activities that are tied to your standards and STEAM. We do not want to see us mailing it in during this final week. For those that are unfamiliar with the term that is a statement that deals with a half hearted effort towards something or in essence giving up. School is not over until June 2 for the students at 12:30 p.m. Lets' focus on changing our focus and ways to im...

Michael's Memo 5/22/17 Good Morning, we have 10 days to continue to make an impact. I want to start the Memo off with a HUGE Congratulations to our 3rd grade Team. The scores came in for FSA and they increased by 12 points. This is a huge feat and I want everyone of our teachers to receive a Great job from their colleagues today. This is an excellent example of the power instructors have to make an impact on their students' lives. The crop of students did not have very high expectations of their performance on the FSA. Despite the consternation of the FSA outcomes, student progress went up tremendously with teachers that didn't flinch in the face of adversity brought on by expectations and continued to do their very best. I commend our teachers and would like for everyone to take this approach moving forward as we strive to improve JSA Magnet School. Jennifer Boyce, Bridgette Henry, Rebecca Parker and Nickesha Ricketts, Thank you for ALL of your GREAT work with your stu...

MICHAEL'S MEMO 5/15/17 Hopefully everyone enjoyed the TAW (Teachers' Appreciation Week) activities. I want to say thank you to all of the staff members, PTA, and students' that made the week one of the best we have had to date. It is just a small token of appreciation of how much we appreciate all hat you do to make JSA Magnet the wonderful school that we are.  We must continue to push our students in the final days of school and explore and push the boundaries of effective instructional strategies. We would greatly appreciate if you would contact administration to come by and see a new instructional strategy to highlight in the remaining days. Here is an interesting video of outside the box thinking! Shout Out For the Week Congratulations to our Kindergarten and First Grade teams for putting on wonderful Mothers' Day events here at JSA (Hatzer, Phelps, Trueheart, and Pena also Meyers, Kilpatrick, Brady, and Wilson). Another big CONGRATS goes to the...

MICHAEL'S MEMO 5/8/17 Good morning, I know that this week is engulfed in testing and we have 21 days left in school before our students embark on new pathways and adventures. Please remember to stay Focused on the Goal at hand, which is quality instruction. Now is a great time to try out the innovative ideas that you have wanted to experiment with your students. Flipped lessons, various apps, Kagan strategies, and other instructional innovations that you have wanted to try, but did not have the time to do so. Remember, our goal is always to have students engaged and learning within your classroom environment. We want to say Thank You, for Teacher Appreciation Week! I know that we are all pressing towards the finish line for the school year. I just want each and every staff member to know that we greatly appreciate the job that you do here at JSA Magnet. Teachers have a HUGE influence on their students' lives. Continue to fight the good fight while making a difference in yo...