Departmental meeting on October 1, 2007

Dear Colleagues,

There will be a English Language Arts Departmental meeting on October 1, 2007 in room 427 during periods 9 and 10. Please bring your attendance outreach logs and your gradebooks to the meeting for they will be needed. I thank you in advance for your punctuality and professionalism.

Sincerely,

J. O'Brien

Classroom Expectations

1. Teacher standing by the door greeting pupils as the enter the classroom

2. Aim, Do Now, Collect previous day's homework

3. Motivation of 5 minutes in the form of a visual, audio, or pop culture tie in connection to the lesson

4. Mini Lesson in which the skill to be learned is modeled, and the content is discussed.

5. Think Aloud with the class. Pose questions, create text to self,text to world, text to text connections and model close reading and comprehension

6. Distribution and explanation of the rubric

7. Explanation of the group work, or differentiated instruction with designated group roles or steps pre-posted on chart paper, PowerPoint, or handout

8. Teacher walking with a seating chart monitoring the progress of the students by taking anecdotal notes as to who is on task, who is advancing, and who is struggling

9. Students either do a gallery walk of posted group work, or share out core understandings that build toward answering the aim

10. Final summary provided by the students. Pupils can either repeat, or elaborate on the answer to the aim

11. Homework assignment

Bulletin Boards

All bulletin boards must have:

1. A type written title of the project in a large font

2. A type written brief description of the project in a large font

3. The name of the teacher, and the class

4. A rubric that explains how work was graded

5. Projects with a range of grades and comments by the teache

Parental Outreach Logs

All teachers are required to submit parental outreach logs on a weekly basis.

If the phone number is erroneous or disconnected, you must refer the name to the Attendance Office for further investigation. This referral must also be documented. These logs will be uploaded to the blog ASAP.

Course Offerings and Vision

Course Offerings and Vision

Special Education ELA: Study Skills and Foundations Level S
E1 Study Skills and Foundations Level S
E1H Study Skills and Foundations Level S, HS
E3 Study Skills, Foundations Level S, Regents Prep
E3H Short Fiction and Regents Preparation
E5/E7 Regents Preparation
E5H Theater and the Dramatic Arts
E7H Journalism
E7 Advanced Placement English LIterature
E8 College and Career

Progress Reports

Dear Colleagues:

As you are already aware, the marking period is drawing to a close on October 12, 2007. In an effort to begin an open dialogue with families of our students, we will be sending both "positive" and "needs improvement" progress reports home on October 1, 2007.

With the gracious help of the McKee staff, we have reproduced over 2000 "positive" and "needs improvement" progress reports for our departments alone. As you read this, class sets of each type of blank report are being placed in or near your mailboxes. Please take these, review your gradebook and fill in accordingly.

All "needs improvement" reports for students who are in immediate danger must be filled out and returned to me no later than Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 9 AM in room 415. These reports will be labeled and posted directly from school. Additionally, please note that all "positive" progress reports must be distributed through your period 0-9 classes on Monday, October 1st, 2007. May I suggest that these be given out at the end of the period so as not to disrupt your lessons.

It is essential that we inform our students' families of their current progress and enlist their aid in the educational process. I thank you in advance for your professionalism and punctuality in this matter.

Sincerely,

J. O'Brien