At Desert Trails we are continually striving to identify and meet our student's needs. Today, during our Teacher In-Service, teachers will be collaborating together in a Professional Learning Community, where they will use data to pinpoint specific weaknesses and strengths our students possess. All students from time to time need a little "polishing" on certain concepts and skills but as quickly as the day goes by- we can be left with the question "When do we get to that?"
One of my goals, is to never accept the status quo, but to make a difference. Working with the teachers, we have done just that. We will not accept that our students have needs, or that students could be doing more, and we don't have the time- so we will make some changes!
We did!
I have asked teachers to build into their days a 30-40 minute IMPACT time for ALL students! In the subject of Math, student's who need the polishing, students who need the reinforcement, and students who are ready for the next jump up will get this embedded time during their school day! Teachers have worked diligently to move from teaching subjects in isolation to integrating and blending subjects together. An example would be to move away from a "writing block" to integrating writing in Social Studies or Science, still using the same writing objectives and goals but with a Social Studies or Science topic. Be sure to ask your child(ren) about this special time and during your Parent~Teacher Conference be sure to get more information from your child's teacher.
We are all really excited about this new opportunity for our students, and we are sure it will IMPACT them in a very positive way!
On-Line District Parent Survey is coming out soon! Be on the look out for this opportunity for you to share your input. This important survey will take "2 minutes" to complete, but will provide valuable input to daily operations! I will send out the link asap!
Our Kindness Committee invited Mr. Andy Cohn as our guest speaker to talk with our students about developing positive social skills. Andy, who is now in a wheelchair, due to a car accident at age 16- is a Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby player and is part of the Team USA. They won the Gold Medal in Beijing China, the Bronze in Athens, and many more major achievements! We will watch for Andy in the London Paralympics this coming Septemeber, once again representing the USA!
Some of the things Andy stated that I thought were important to note:
"See the person IN the chair, not the chair - Look out for each other and we all succeed." Andy also challenged the kids to find other ways to treat each other besides saying unkind things. Thank you PTO and KINDNESS for bringing such a positive role model to Desert Trails!
Jan. 23-26 Parent~Teacher Conferences
