September 2016

This Week
Tuesday: 7:30 Leadership Team Mtg. @ Gold Mine Rm
Wednesday: SD: Continue to Enter CITE 6 Baseline Data & Goals
Thursday: 7:30-8:15 Appy Hour @ Library

Reminders
• Please sign up for your goal setting conference on the calendar on Janis' desk.

•  Please be prepared to share specific assessment data and goals with parents during upcoming conferences.  Parents should walk away with a clear understanding of how their child preformed on Istation and the DRA/F&P, their students' strengths and what their child is working on.

• The tech committee will be hosting our first Appy Hour! If you would like to learn more tips and tricks about Google Apps, please join us in the library on Thursday from 7:30-8:15. If you have specific questions you can submit them HERE.

• Digger dash banners are in the conference room.  Please share your classroom theme with your banner parent and remind her that we are not doing flare this year due to cost and safety.  If you are planning to wear the same color shirt please also share this information.

Happy Birthday
Tobey Vogt - September 20th
Justin Brakefield - September 23rd
Jenny Brown - September 24th

Go For the Gold
• Thank you tech committee for meeting and planning for Appy Hour!
• Thank you to everyone who helped with Cogat testing this week!
• Thank you Allison for a great first book study!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Rayens
Lounge Duty: Rayens/Fleet

Mathematical Mindset Book Study
We had a great math book study this week! Thank you Allison for facilitating this discussion. Here are quotes and a video that captures the value of a mathematical mindset.

 

In an important study, Sian Beilock and colleagues found that the extent of negative emotions elementary teachers held about mathematics predicted the achievement of girls in their classes, but not boys. - pg. 9	Studies of successful and unsuccessful business people show something surprising: what separates the more successful people from the less successful people is not the number of their successes but the number of mistakes they make, with the more successful people making more mistakes.  - pg. 13
If we want students to be making mistakes, we need to give them challenging work that will be difficult for them, that will prompt disequilibrium.  This work should be accompanied by positive messages about mistakes. - pg. 19	For now, one of the most important changes that a teacher (or parent) can easily make - one that has the power to make a huge difference for students - is changing the messages that students receive about mistakes. - pg. 20
When we ask student what math is they will typically say it is a subject of calculations, procedures, or rules.  But when we ask mathematicians what math is, they will say it is the study of patterns; that it is an aesthetic, creative, and beautiful subject. - pg. 22	The difference in math (from other subjects) is due to some widespread misconceptions...that being good at math means being fast, that math is all about certainty and right and wrong answers, and that math is all about numbers.  These misconceptions are held by teachers, students, and parents... Many parents hated mathematics in school, but they still argue for traditional teaching because they think it just has to be that way. - pg. 31
In classrooms students do not experience this important mathematical step (finding an interesting question to ask); instead they spend their time answering questions that seem dead to them, questions they have not asked. - pg. 27	The powerful thinkers in today’s world are not those who calculate fast, as used to be true; fast calculations are now fully automated, routine, and uninspiring.  The powerful thinkers are those who make connections, think logically, and use space, data, and numbers creatively. - pg. 31