Week of January 14

Thursday Thoughts January 14

I have enjoyed meeting with teachers to conduct the mid-year conferences.  I am only about half way through the conferences but there is one commonality among all of the teachers that I have met with thus far.  Teachers at Medlock are doing what it takes to bring their very best to students.  Veteran teachers are asking for tips on how to improve their practices and new teachers are eager to get constructive feedback.  I often tell parents that we have the best teachers and staff in Fulton County.  It isn't because we have revolutionized how to teach, but it is because we bring our best to the classroom daily.  We get to know our students, we know what they need and we stop at nothing to provide it.  New parents share how our school is so much better than their child's former school. And I am sure that parents who move away to other schools quickly notice the difference.  The work we are doing is not easy and I don't foresee it getting easier any time soon.  But it is rewarding and meaningful work.  Thank you for bringing your best everyday! 

Staff Spotlight

This week I would like to shine the spotlight on Janie Massey.  Janie works with all grade levels to help students make incredible gains.  There are so many children that are able to join their classmates and keep up with on grade level work after receiving instruction from Janie. She listens to the concerns of classroom teachers and provides feedback for her students that are in SST.   Janie also serves as a support for the new teachers at Medlock.  She has hosted monthly new teacher sessions this year and she assists them with the Fulton Online Teacher Induction Program as needed.  Most recently, we decided to have the Extended Learning Program during second semester.  We wanted the Extended Learning students to access the iReady adaptive software that Janie uses in EIP.  Although only some of her students will be attending the Extended Learning Program, Janie got all of the program's students loaded in the platform.  She even offered to load the IRR students into our newly acquired iReady Reading program.  We know that the EIP program is an important support for students who are below grade level and Janie quietly gets the job done. We are fortunate to have her experience and expertise in such a critical area.  Janie, thank you for all that you do!

Personalized Learning







Habitudes- (Growth Mindset)

Looking Ahead

The State Board of Education held its first meeting of 2016 January 13-14 in Atlanta.
 
The (Rules) Committee and later the full board agreed to the posting of the new Science and Social Studies standards. The standards will be open for public comment for a minimum of 60 days and will be considered for adoption at the March State Board meeting. 
 
 There have been very few changes in content. The primary change involved changing social studies standards currently taught in grades 4-5 to grades 3-5, providing more time for teaching the standards in elementary grades. One significant change is a change in terminology used in the standards. Native American becomes American Indian and African American becomes Black.   See a summary of the proposed revisions below.  I will let you know when the DOE website has the public comment ready.


Social Studies
Summary of Recommended Revisions
 From Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) to Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE)
 I. Overview:
 Financial Literacy was expanded in grades 6-8. There was more scaffolding of the existing financial literacy standards in grades K-5.

 The fourth and fifth grade U.S. History standards will now begin in third grade which allows teachers more time to teach the content.

 Overall there was a reduction in content based on the 9,031 teacher surveys stating that teachers did not have enough time to teach the standards.

 Student expectations via Depth of Knowledge was increased to reflect a deeper level of thinking in the Reading and Writing Standards for Literacy.

 Minor changes were made to content based on teacher feedback.

 In United States History, thematic standards were removed and all content was reorganized chronologically based on presidential eras.

 World Geography was reconstructed into a more conceptual course.

 The use of "Students will" as an opening to each standard was eliminated to match Science, ELA and Math.

II. Changes by Grade Level:
 Kindergarten-Second Grade: There was a slight reduction in content and clarification of the elements. Folktales were removed from first grade because most were fictional characters. Folktales are addressed in the first and third grade ELA standards.

 Third Grade: Third grade is now the first part of a three-year study in United States History beginning with American Indian Cultures and ending with Colonization. Key individuals previously taught in third grade are now incorporated in all three years of the course appropriate to the historical time period in which they lived. Economic, geographic, and civics and government standards were adjusted appropriately.

 Fourth Grade: Fourth grade is now the second part of a three-year study in United States History beginning with the American Revolution and ending at Reconstruction. Economic, geographic, and civics and government standards were adjusted appropriately.

 Fifth Grade: Fifth grade is now the third part of a three-year study in United States History beginning with the Industrialization and ending with the Digital Age. Economic, geographic, and civics and government standards were adjusted appropriately.

Science
Summary of Recommended Revisions
 From Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) to Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE)
 I. Overview:
 The characteristics of science and the nature of science standards have been embedded in the content standards.

 Content was modified when appropriate to bring it up to date with current scientific knowledge.

 Wording in the standards have been modified in some cases to reflect the following suggested changes:

 increase in expectations

 additional clarification

 Standards or elements were moved to a different grade level in response to survey data.

 Added clarification statements as appropriate.

 Included elements that addressed engineering practices, e.g., the engineering design process.

 Replaced "Students will" with "Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information" as the beginning language for each standard.

II. Changes by Grade Level:
 Kindergarten

 Describing the effects of gravity on the motion of objects (SKP3) was incorporated as part of the revised standard (new SKP2) that asks students to describe different types of motion.

 First Grade

 Recording changes in water as it relates to weather (S1E2a & S1E2b) were incorporated into the revised standard that asks students to identify patterns in weather and climate (new S1E1). Elements S1E2c and S1E2d, the idea of weight not changing under a physical change (conservation of matter) and the external conditions needed for water to evaporate, were not included in the revised standards based on survey feedback indicating they are not developmentally appropriate for first graders.

 Second Grade

 An element was added to S2E1, to focus on the visual characteristics of the sun as compared with other stars. The original standard also included an understanding of star patterns but this was not addressed in the original elements and has been removed in the new standard.



  Identifying sources of energy and how energy is used (S2P2) was removed based on the survey feedback.

 Third Grade

 Investigation of how heat is produced, the relation between temperature changes and heat, and the effects of heating and cooling (S3P1) was generalized to take the core idea of how heat energy is produced, transmitted, and measured. The standard addressing the concept of energy production and usage was eliminated in second grade.

 Investigation of magnets (S3P2) was removed. The ideas addressed in this standard were moved to first grade and fifth grade.

 Investigation of the habitats of different organisms and their dependence on this habitat (S3L1) was revised to correctly address the differences between habitats and geographic regions of Georgia.

 Fourth Grade

 The standard comparing and contrasting the physical attributes of stars, star patterns, and planets (S4E1) was reduced in scope to focus only on comparing and contrasting physical attributes of stars and planets.

 The standard analyzing weather charts/maps and the collection of weather data to predict weather events (S4E4) was extended to include the identification of the major cloud types (cirrus, stratus, and cumulus) as part of the type of data that can be collected to inform weather predictions.

 The standard identifying factors that affect survival such as adaptation, behaviors, and external features (S4L2) was moved to third grade to improve alignment to third grade concepts, i.e., S3L1.

 Fifth Grade

 Standard S5P1 that introduces the idea of conservation of mass by asking students to recognize that an object’s mass is the result of the sum of the mass of its parts was removed. Element "a" under this standard was incorporated under the new standard that asks students to explain differences between chemical and physical change (S5P1). Element "b" under the old standard was moved into the standard that asks students to compare and contrast parts of plant and animal cells (S5L3).

 A new standard (S5P3) was written to combine the existing standard dealing with magnetism with ideas on magnetism that were moved from third grade.