Orchard Ranch Weekly BLOG 5.21.18

Useful Links:

Orchard Ranch Bronco intranet website.  Click HERE

INFORMATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(“*” Indicates the number of weeks it’s been in newsletter.)

This week's staffroom Eric Church playlist is being brought to you by Christina Dupont.

"We can choose to be victims of the system, or we can choose to influence the system."

1st Responder Day: Thank you all for your help and flexibility. What an amazing day! It was great interacting with our law enforcement and watching them interact with our kids. Thank you for your time.

Check out Day: Please sign up for a check out time. Don't worry, I usually get everyone checked out by 12pm. Attached is the information that you will need for check out day. Please make sure you're checked out with Maribel and you will need to submit keys to Rene for the summer. Josh and Rene will be returning on July 23rd. You will be able to collect your keys starting 7/25. 
Check Out Form
Classroom Sign out Sign ups ;-)

Computers over the summer: If you plan on taking your computer home for the summer, please sign it out with Rene. If you want to leave it here, please sign it in with Rene. 

Moving Rooms: There are many moving parts to moving rooms. First and foremost, respecting each others space. We also need to maintain consistency for our kids. Moving too early may cause more challenges in your class. Please follow these expectations when moving classrooms this year.

1. You can begin taking your supplies to your new room starting 6/2. Please talk with the teacher currently occupying the room to see when a good time to move in is and where a good space will be to put your stuff. We have to keep in mind, classrooms have to be left in a state that allows them to be cleaned.

2. We will still have to check you out of your old room using the check-out form.

3. Please make sure the POD is also free of unnecessary debris. These areas need to be deep cleaned too.  

**Confidential Information: As more and more parents are around our school, please make sure you are aware of who's around you when you're having confidential conversations. (i.e IEP supports and behaviors) Thank you!!!

EL Coordinator for OR: Thank you to Trevor and Melissa for being our EL coordinators for next year.  

*Office/Classroom Communication: We are always growing and changing and trying to find ways that may work best. Office to classroom and classroom to office communication is key to supporting our students and each other. Please follow these steps to communicating with each other. Of course, if you've found yourself skipping a step, it's ok. Just know, this is the protocol we are implementing.

Office:

1. Call room

2. Walkie Teacher

3. Voxer

Classroom Teacher:

1. Call office

2. Walkie Office

3. Voxer office


Digital Literacy: A part of digital literacy is a typing program. This is only one aspect of the digital literacy program, but it's a program the district is going to support for all schools. 

BLOG Focus Article: Too often we wait for someone with a certain job description to “fix” a seemingly broken culture, and while it is certainly frustrating when the one tasked with leading doesn’t rise to that occasion, we have a moral imperative to step up to the plate to make our schools places where humans grow and thrive because our students and those who work on students’ behalf deserve it.  If we all take responsibility for influencing school culture, how can we best leverage our influence?

4.Know your sphere of influence.

Oftentimes we think we need to rise to a traditional position of power to have an influence on the vision, the culture, the policies, or the practices. That is far from true. One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is it must be top down. Ideally, people in positions of power would also be amazing leaders, but even when they are, leadership cannot be unilateral.

“Leading up” and “leading across” is just as important as “leading down.” There is nothing more disheartening than when an amazing classroom leader does not exhibit those same leadership qualities they have with their students when it comes to leading their peers or superiors.

I think people greatly underestimate the power of leading those in their sphere of influence. Frustrated by your boss? Instead of complaining, how could you lead him or her to see things differently. Frustrated by your peers? Rather than complaining about their efforts, have you considered inspiring them (as you would surely do with struggling students)? It’s not condescending; it’s proactive. We can choose to be victims of the system, or we can choose to influence the system. It’s really that simple.

 Note: Dates may change. Please continue to double-check the google calendar to confirm dates.