Eagles in Flight Weekly Staff Newsletter December 3, 2018

Educational Excellence for All

Reminder:
Please complete this survey during grade level meetings today (or by the end of the day on
Friday, December 7).

This is the data used to calculate our School Climate Star Rating.
Georgia School Personnel Survey
The Georgia School Personnel Survey (GSPS) is modeled after the student survey and includes
31 questions. The GSPS is for all certified and classified staff members who work at least 50
percent of the day in the school. At least 75% of certified and classified staff members must
participate in the survey to be eligible for the School Climate Star Rating. Most teachers
should be able to participate in the GSPS using their classroom computer. The survey is also
accessible using a tablet or smartphone. Survey responses are anonymous and will be submitted
directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis. The Georgia School Personnel
Survey link is posted below.
Georgia School Personnel Survey:

http://gshs.gadoe.org/personnel

Calendar:
*Tuesday, December 4 -*6th and 7th grade Lunch and Learn;
*The election run-offs will be held in the Chorus room.
Chorus will be held in the theater.

*Wednesday, December 5 – 8:30 Staff picture in the Theater

*Duty Free Lunch; STEAM Block/ Eagle Eats;
*6:30 6th grade band concert at Simpson

*Thursday, December 6 - *8th grade Lunch and Learn; Grade level meetings;
*Chick-fil-A Spirit Night
*Friday, December 7 – *8:10 Simpson Guiding Coalition/SSP Team;
*5:00 – Staff holiday party at Simpson

Coming soon: *December 10 – Anxiety and Self-Control groups with

Counselors begin
*December 12 – STEAM Walk
*December 14 – 8:00 Department meetings
*Color Battle: Monday, December 17 during Connections
(weather permitting)
*December 20 – Holiday luncheon hosted by the Admin
Team; Early Release 1:30;
5 min. faculty meeting at 1:30 in the
Cafeteria
*December 21 – Early Release 1:30
*Thursday, January 3 – 9:00-10:00 Faculty meeting
*Friday, January 4 – CCSD Professional Learning Day
Q2 grades due at 5:00

Instructional Strategy provided by the Professional Learning Key Team:

Hints for Differentiation
*Remember that differentiation is not for all students. (When differentiating, think do all my
students really need this or am I enabling some students who can do it without the
assistance.) Differentiation is not giving more work to high and gifted learners; it is giving
different work.
Struggling Learners

 Offer teacher direction

 Provide a model or exemplar (similar problem solved or sample of the type of writing)
 Furnish step-by-step directions; break down the task; chunk it
 Provide hints or tips
  Color-code different elements; highlight for focusing; provide “masks and markers” for
focused attention on specific text
 Provide sentence strips, sticky labels with terms or manipulatives
 Provide a partially completed graphic organizer
 Provide out-of-sequence steps for students to reorganize
 Provide partially completed paragraph (fill-in-the blank) paragraph (with or without a
word box) or an outline
 Give a framed paragraph or essay (with sentence starters to help organize writing)
 Provide guided questions
 Supply a word bank with or without definitions
 Support with visuals, diagrams or pictures
 Provide words on labels for students to pull off and place in the appropriate place

Challenging Gifted and Advanced Learners

 Design activities that are more complex, abstract, independent, and/or multi-step
 Pose a challenge question or task that students need to think beyond the concrete and
obvious response to more abstract ideas and new use of the information
 Require more complex expression of ideas (vary types of sentences, synonyms, etc.)
 Make text-to-text and text-to-world connects (more abstract than text-to-self
connections)
 Tell the story from a different point of view
 Consider “what if” scenarios
 Include distractors or mistakes for students to identify
 Have students use the information in a completely new way
 Provide open-ended projects
 Incorporate creative and critical thinking
 Incorporate metaphorical thinking
 Have students avoid using common words (or a list of words the teacher provides)
 Answer students with a question rather than giving the answer
Make EVERY day a GREAT day for our kids!
Ansley