InclusivE recognition of holidays
Wishing everyone who celebrates, a Happy Hanukkah. In my family we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas, so it is a busy month of celebrations for us. Here is a link to the history of Hanukkah for those who would like to learn more.
As we approach the holiday season, I wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation for the efforts you put into creating a positive and inclusive learning environment. While holidays can be joyous occasions for many, it's important to recognize that they may not be festive or celebratory for everyone. Our staff and student body brings together various cultural, religious, and personal backgrounds, each with its own set of traditions and beliefs. Recognizing that holidays hold varying significance for each student, I would like to suggest some considerations to enhance inclusivity in our classroom during this festive time:
Reasons to Celebrate
Incredible growth seen on MCAS math. Last week we presented an overview of MCAS results to the School Committee and Community. One of the highlights was the incredible growth many of our students saw in math at all levels. For those who don't know, Student Growth Percentile (or SGP) is a metric that indicates how students who scored similarly on the MCAS one year do in relation to each other in the following year. When students score above the 50th percentile that means they are making progress in relation to their like-scoring peers. At the Elementary level, fourth graders saw 57.3 percentile growth in math on average. That means they did better than almost 60% of students who scored similarly the year before. At the high school, the average SGP for 10th graders in math was 64.6. And at Miscoe the 6th and 7th graders knocked it out of the park! 6th graders had an average SGP of 60.9 and 7th graders had an average SGP in math of 76. Wow! That means they did better, on average, than 76% of their similarly scoring peers. Obviously this is good news for our students! And, it is a tribute to the attention and care that teachers across the district are giving to the standards, their instruction and the needs of students. It's a real reason to celebrate and an inspiration for us all!!
Focus on us - What I Need (WIN)
"What do I need?" Have you been thinking about that question, like I have recently? My family pesters me for ideas for the holiday season and I have to say, often I have no idea what to tell them. It's not uncommon to not know what you need, or to be unable to articulate it. Just last week I was on a call with PD Committee members and we made this observation together. It's what is behind our decision to create a district-wide WIN experience during our PD day in January. We want to kick off 2024 in a way that will remind us to focus on ourselves so we can be our best for our students. Part of our PD will be a keynote by Carrie Stack, a former educator and licensed social worker who works with districts across the Commonwealth to inspire and remind educators that positivity starts with being good to ourselves. The other part of our PD January day will be a menu of workshops and activities that you can choose from to start the year right in the way you think best for you. If you have an idea about something valuable and interesting you'd like to share with your colleagues or you'd like to see offered to help us cultivate positivity, share your workshop/activity idea here. Some ideas we have already: learn CPR, book club discussions, dance, AI for improving your life, yoga, journaling, strategies for disconnecting. . . what (else) do we need? --Cheryl
Feedback for last Monday's PD
We hope you both enjoyed and found value in your PD day last Monday. The PD Committee values your feedback and will be reviewing it at our next district-wide meeting in January. Please take a few minutes to provide us with your thoughts and ideas by filling out this form.
Opportunity to Learn CPR
As part of our attention to wellness and school safety, we are looking to better understand who among us is interested in getting CPR certified, and will be rolling out a first opportunity for each school to enroll up to 5 educators in a CPR course for certification this year. Our current plan is to offer the course and assessment on January 12th, our next PD Day. However, we are exploring an online, asynchronous version of the course. Please use this form to express interest, and know that only 5 educators from each school will be able to participate in this first opportunity, but the interest form will help us plan additional courses in the future.
MUEF Basketball fundraiser
Save the date of January 27th--the Harlem Wizards are coming to town and will be playing against the MURSD Dream Team. MUEF is looking for players from all of the schools to participate in this fundraiser, which brings funds directly back to all of you through classroom grants. Please sign up here. MUEF would like as many teachers/staff involved as possible.
Laughter is the best medicineFor inspiration
2 Comments
Liz Kadra
12/11/2023 04:59:10 am
Thank you so much for recognition of the success of our students particularly in math this past year. Much appreciation!
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Liz Kadrda
12/11/2023 05:00:08 am
I enjoyed the history of Hanakkuh!
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