Dear JHS 13 Community,
With the many challenges we have faced in setting up for our school year, we have done a tremendous job staying focused on providing the best learning environment for our students. The hard work is visible throughout the building. The commitment to making sure we are doing what we can to provide for our students is consistent across the board.
With the month of September come and gone, we have much to celebrate. For instance, we hosted to spectacular events at our school. Justin Tuck from the New York Giants was able to host a successful launch of his literacy campaign for the second year in a row at our school. In addition, GenoYouth Foundation launched their health and wellness program with a filming of a webinar at our school with Mark Sanchez, the quarterback from the New York Jets. Mark Sanchez was tremendous in sharing the importance of eating healthy and staying active. We were even showcased on both the GenYouth website (www.genyouthfoundation.org)and Sports Illustrated for Kids website (http://www.sikids.com/blogs/2011/09/29/new-york-jets-qb-mark-sanchez-urges-kids-to-eat-right-and-exercise).
We were able to gather enough donations to continue with our Behind the Books program where the students get to meet the author of the books they read together. The program has been with us for almost five years and has proven to be a huge motivation to our students in appreciating literacy. We were able to expand our partnership with Los Planeros where our ESL population will be exploring Hispanic cultures through dance and music. Finally, we have formed a partnership with Momentum Education to not only provide professional development for staff but to host a teen group of self-exploration and reflection to promote better decision making. These initiatives have either started or will begin in the near future.
In the next few weeks, we will be working with teachers to provide low inference feedback to other teachers. We will also be exploring the Charlotte Danielson Rubric to get a clearer picture of what we can be doing inside our own classrooms to improve instruction. The more we review these expectations together and begin exploring how we can reach those expectations, the more successful people will be in increasing student engagement, differentiating instruction, and improving the learning environment. I highly suggest reviewing the rubric thoroughly and begin discussing ways in which Highly Effective can be achieved. The goal in using the rubric is to increase communication among all staff to improve the craft of teaching, comprehensively explore our classrooms to produce the best results, and use data to measure our success.
Our school goals of 35% increase in proficiency for both math and ELA are challenging to say the least but, as we realized looking at the data our first formal day together, very achievable. Intervisitations and the use of the rubric will be key elements in improving our instruction. The shared reading sessions during the 37.5 minutes will prove to be essential in raising our students’ reading levels and reinforcing the power strands to raise their achievement levels on the state exams. We have great ideas moving forward while simultaneous creating and adjusting systemic change. It is going to be a wonderful school year because of how passionate and dedicated we are to making a difference. TWO TESTS! ONE DREAM! TO BE THE BEST, WE MUST BE A TEAM!
Continue to be the difference.
With Endless Love,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
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