On Monday, I had a terrific visit at the home of the Jackson P. Burley Bears. Principal Kasaundra Blount and I walked all about the school, and it looks great! Also, when I first got there, all students and staff were in their advisory period. That was perfect, and what happened next was special as well. After students were arriving to their first classes, every class we looked into to say “hi” was engaged in a “do now” activity. The instructional and classroom management advantages of the “do now” cannot be overstated.

Kasaundra and I spent time visiting Jason Currier’s 6th grade math, Shanika Curry’s 6th grade math, and Mike Keller’s 7th grade language arts classes.

After her “do now,” Ms. Curry jumped right in with sharing the objectives and activities for the class and introducing a Black History Month Person of the Day: Dawn Staley. Ms. Curry had her students practice order of operations for inequalities, and students were coming up to share solutions on the Promethean Board. At one point I heard her say, “These absolute values gave us some trouble last week, so we are going to continue with them until we get it.” Growth mindset!

Mr. Currier had his students in groups, taking turns passing a tile to determine math topics they would discuss. Before he did so, when he formed the groups, the first thing members shared was who they wanted to win the Superbowl, a wise choice because as I am sure that Jason knows, a self-disclosure activity increases collaboration. He had passed back a quiz earlier, and he asked students to discuss the item on the assessment that gave each the hardest time and why. It seemed like most of the class had an issue with #6, a word problem. He then moved on to get into a whole class discussion with students sharing their approach and how successful it was.

Both math teachers used this heuristic method in talking with students about their approaches to problem solving, and both emphasized making a drawing to understand the problem as a part of planning, solving, and checking. Drawing is a vital skill for problem solving.

I enjoyed Mr. Keller’s class as he and his students were reading A Monster Calls together. Mr. Keller explained to the class that they would be making predictions and inferences together to engage with the story. “We’re not always going to get it right.” As he read, he asked individual students questions, generally starting with “why” and focusing on what the student thought. And he did not let it go with one question. All three of the teachers I observed on Monday challenged their students to explain themselves and did not let them off the hook with one answer. Their approach was that of high expectations for all of their students. 

I want to give a shout out to Office Staff Sharon Wood and Casey Goode for greeting me and getting me off to a good start. And check out Ms. Blount side by side with Master Carpenter Ricky Howard and Art Teacher Matt Shelton 😊.

I want to again thank all of the students and staff at Burley for having me to visit on Monday. After an hour with middle school students, my week was off to a great start! 

 

Check out our latest spotlight of an amazing ACPS staff member from our Portraits of a Division page! 

Here is a note from Web and Social Media Specialist Lauren Hunt, which speaks to how special this staff member is…

Yesterday, I sat down with Amy Wright over at WAHS to chat about all our school counselors do to support our students in their personal and academic lives. She was so great to talk to, and we covered a lot of ground! In fact, this profile is a three-in-one: a Portrait, it celebrates National School Counseling Week, and will be part of our Career Learning Communities campaign.

WAHS Counseling Director, Amy Wright

I hope I won’t embarrass Amy if I take a personal privilege and talk a little more about her. I officially met Amy in 2009 when I first came to the central office from being principal at AHS. I was assigned to “supervise” school counselors, and I remember meeting with the high school directors for the first time in the summer: Amy from WAHS, Laura Gaskins from MoHS, Meghan Parsons from AHS, and Ginny Elgort from Murray (now the Community Lab School). I did not know enough about their jobs to even try to fake it, and through the process of their teaching me - I hope I speak for all of us - we forged a friendship that I will always cherish. I have worked with school counselors at the school level in seven schools in three school districts, and I can say that ACPS has the best; and Amy represents the best of the best 🙂. 

 

Media Links for You!

Tomorrow, our Equity team is hosting their annual conference in which teachers who are seeking their certification in Culturally Responsive Teaching will be making their presentations.  The event also includes a student panel and concurrently, a Job Fair.  Members of the community will be able to apply to become members of our team across a broad category of positions, including, of course, to become a bus driver.  NBC-29 recently aired a story on this important event, which is being held at Burley Middle School:

Albemarle County Public Schools is Hosting an Equity & Opportunities Fair on February 18th

On the subject of bus drivers, Lakeside teacher Jeff Matriccino, in addition to his instructional responsibilities, also is helping with our bus driver shortage by using his CDL license to drive students each day.  Jeff talks about the personal and professional satisfaction he gets from serving students in this additional role, which may interest other members of our faculty: 

Jeff Matriccino Teacher + Bus Driver 

Another very important community event is coming up one week from tomorrow when Burley's Craig Jennings and his outstanding team hosts the WinterSongs concert at Monticello High School at 5 p.m.  A total of nine women ensembles, including many from our own schools, will be performing to raise awareness of relationship violence and to promote healthy self-esteem among women.  Proceeds go to the Shelter for Help in Emergency.  Since its debut, the annual concert has raised many thousands of dollars as discussed by Craig in the TV appearance:

NBC 29 Community Conversations  

 

Upcoming Events and Observances:

• February is Black History Month. 
• February is Virginia School Board Appreciation Month.
• February is American Heart Month.
• February is Career and Technical Education Month.
• February 13-17 is National PTA Take Your Family to School Week. 
• February 23 is Digital Learning Day.
• March is Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Equity in Education Month.
• March is Music in our Schools Month.