Ideas to Inspire

Teachers,

Check out this great website for a ton of ideas for use across the curriculum.  Let me know what works out best for you.

Have a wonderful day!

Smile and Move!

Good Morning!

At the risk of publicizing a book (which is not what I am trying to do) I invite you to check out this "Smile and Move" website.  With just a few minutes of your time and an few clicks of the mouse, you can receive a healthy dose of encouragement and a great attitude adjustment (which we all tend to need in the "home stretch!").  

Thanks so much for who you are, and for your dedicated service to Trinity!

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Blog Subscription Information

Teachers,

Please note that you can now enter your email address in the space to the right of this post and have each new post delivered to your inbox.  There have been many questions about subscribing to this blog, and this seems to be the very best answer of all.

Thanks to my good friend Frank Buck for putting me on to this through his school system blog.

Good Monday Morning!

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather we had this weekend!

Here are a couple of announcements as we begin our final week before Spring Break:

1. We will have a faculty meeting this afternoon in Whittington McLemore's room (right next door to Kathy Pirtle's room).  We will be learning how to use our Apple Mobile Laptop Carts and you will receive CEUs for attending.

2. 7th grade lesson plans are due by Friday.

3. Please remember that proactive communication is very important.  Grades should be updated on Edline the first and third Monday of each month.  If a student begins having academic difficulty, notify the parents and document your conversation.  Along the same line, please notify parents of any discipline problems you may encounter.

4. Please remember that we are moving toward conferencing as a team.  I am trying to discourage parental "drop-in" conferences.  This language will be in next year's handbook and we will make it a matter of practice throughout the middle school.  Conferences may be scheduled through the Guidance Center

I'm looking forward to seeing each of you at 3:40 today in Whittington's room!

Have a great day!

Good Monday Morning!

Our weekly faculty announcements will be posted on Monday mornings beginning today.

Here are some general announcements to start off the week:

1. There will be no faculty meeting this afternoon.  I will try to cover our important points here in order to avoid keeping you here after school unless absolutely necessary.  I will be planning some professional development activities for the remainder of the year, and we will try to use our faculty meeting time for that type of thing.

2. Sixth grade and fine arts lesson plans are due this week.  Please have them in by Friday.  If you teachers in the other grades feel as though you missed a week, it is fine with me if you simply turn in your plans on your next due date.  We will follow with 7th grade and technology next week, and 8th grade and PE the week after Spring Break.

3. Please help us during the day by keeping your classroom doors closed and locked.  It is also very important that you notify a teacher in an adjacent room if you must leave the room for even a few moments with students present.  We should avoid leaving classes unattended, but if an emergency arises, please have the teacher in the room next door help keep and eye on your students.

4. Thanks so much for the wonderful job you did in helping us handle our tornado warnings Friday.  Things ran smoothly due to your professionalism.

5. I have been so impressed with the infusion of writing into so many classes across our curriculum.  Thanks for the effort in this area!  Please continue to find ways to have your students write, even if just a little every couple of days.  This is a skill that they will be called upon to utilize throughout the remainder of their educational career and future work life.

6. If you find an opportunity, please take a moment to thank Ahna Baggett for leading our first-ever middle school chapel service last Thursday.  The feedback on this new endeavor has been nothing but positive.

7. If a parent requests a conference with you, please tell them that these are now being scheduled through the Guidance Center and that we are meeting together in grade level teams.  This allows us to examine issues that are present in all classes and work together for a solution.

Have a great week!  

The Friday Memo (Saturday Edition)

Happy Saturday!

I usually publish this post at the end of the day on Friday.  However, I had two back-to-back birthday parties to get my daughter to, so being Daddy had to come first.  I'm sure you parents understand!

Please remember that we will have a brief faculty meeting at 3:40 Monday afternoon in Kathy Pirtle's room.  I'll go over all announcements and important information then.

Have a fabulous weekend!

The Friday Memo - Thursday Edition

Good Afternoon!

Just a couple of quick announcements before we head out of here for a much-deserved long weekend:

1. There will be no faculty meeting when we return Tuesday.

2. I will have all of your lesson plan notebooks ready to give back to you by the end of the day Tuesday.  I have really enjoyed reading about the many great things you are doing in your classrooms!

3. Lesson plans are due next week for 6th grade teachers and any 8th grade teachers who haven't gotten them in yet (yes, you get a pass because of DC!).  This should put us back on track -- please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

4. Remember to continue to find ways to implement writing across the curriculum.  I have been so pleased to see this in many of our classes - keep it up!

I would like to extend a very special THANK YOU to our DC chaperons: Kathy Pirtle, Kathy Moody, Elisa Bowden, Rebecca Helms, Barbara Littlepage, Trip Franklin, Randy Ragsdale, and Dann Cleveland.   You guys, along with our tour guides and students  were AWESOME!  What a great trip!  

I have an idea: Let's do it again next year!

Have a great weekend!