Dear all,

Thank you to all of you! Your actions on a daily basis are what make ISY such a wonderful place for our students to grow and learn.

I know last week was a bit stressful, but as always, you showed your resilience and support to the school through all your positive actions. It is appreciated.

Thanks to all those that supported the holiday bazaar. It is planned for this event to become a permanent fixture in our school calendar.

Thank you to Patty for organizing the Holiday Assembly and Bekka/Patty for ensuring the traditional holiday dance lives on.

Thank you for updating your curriculum documents.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS – STAY SAFE AND HAVE THE BEST TIME!

Sandy

ASSEMBLY FUN

FOCUS ON LEARNING

See below; you are encouraged to read these ‘focus on learning’ short write-ups each week. Feel free to share things you think your colleagues might be interested in. In particular, anything to do with our year-long focus areas:

• Guided Reading
• Inclusive Practices
• Sustainable Development Goal

MATH ENRICHMENT & ASSESSMENT

Grade two has been learning about two-digit addition. To practice these skills and to show their understanding, they were asked to inquire into a provocation based on the Yangon Animal Shelter.  Not only is this relatable to students and engaging, but it also ties in with service learning.

This not only enriches learning but can be easily differentiated. Here is a link to Dan’s Google Slides with ideas on how to differentiate the task for leveled math groups.

When using a performance task like this, students will be able to think more creatively when faced with real-world math problems. Using a model like GRASPS to help create these assessments provide opportunities for students to actively apply what they have learned and create a product to demonstrate mastery aligned with standards.

Jay McTighe describes performance tasks as follows: A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding, and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product or performance that serves as evidence of learning. Unlike a selected-response item (e.g., multiple-choice or matching) that asks students to select from given alternatives, a performance task presents a situation that calls for learners to apply their learning in context.

During planning meetings, we can reflect on assessments and look at ways to integrate authentic contexts like the SDGs and Service learning. If you are interested in observing Dan, please let us know, and we can arrange cover. 

Quarter 2 Reports Timeline & Instructions 2022-2023

We will work to basically the same timeline as we did for Quarter 1 reports. 

However, we will peer review our comments, and I will check them before they are entered on Powerschool. Therefore we will write our comments on a Google Document which will be shared with peer reviewers.

Monday, January 16

• Subject blurbs to be entered on Grade Level documents
• documents here

Monday, January 23, by 8am

• All comments (Subject Blurb + Personalized Comment = 800 characters max) are to be written on a Google Document and shared with the peer reviewer and Sandy.
• Monday afternoon is set aside for peer-reviewing report comments.

Tuesday, January 25, by 5pm

• Sandy will let teachers know comments are ok to be entered into Powerschool.

Wednesday, January 25, by 5pm

• All comments and grades are to be entered into Powerschool. Copy and paste comments from Google Documents to Powerschool

SAMPLES

Reports can be found here

Professional Growth Plans

Everything can be found on our ISY Faculty Pages.

Thank you all for completing your Professional Growth Plans. 

Quarter 2 Colleague Observations / Assisted Reflections 

For Quarter 2, please arrange for a colleague to observe you and help you reflect on your practice. It can be very effective to ask your colleague to provide feedback on your Professional Growth Plan focus.

Just make another copy of the Assisted Reflection Form in your Professional Growth Folder. 

Observers, please remember to also complete the ISY Inclusive Practices Checklist (UDL: Engagement) at the top of the Assisted Reflection Form. This is an anonymous form that gives good school-wide data about the inclusive practices we are using.

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