Do You Need Anything Added To The News?

Good Morning Faculty and Staff,

I hope your Superbowl weekend was fun, safe and exciting. The Caudill’s celebrated with neighbors, friends and family, overeating all the goodies available for the festivities.

"High Interest and Personalized Learning" is taking shape at LTMS. This week is a great week with the inclusion of new touch technology for teacher and student presentation. I hope these devices aide your delivery content in more interesting and engaging ways. Please share your innovations with others and help grow our Pillar: Technology for Learning.

We usher in February with yet another two-hour delay. Today we decided to transition from 1st period to 4th period in order to bring consistency to our student’s day. We understand this is an inconvenience for some and apologize for missing periods 2nd and 3rd. I believe our students will benefit from a version of the typical school day and reduced number of transitions.

As previously mentioned in prior meetings and emails, I’ve asked Mr. Luhman and Mrs. Nahra to begin our Summit Academy transitions with guided tours to our 6th grade classrooms. Please prepare for your visit by fixing your mindset around the following questions:

1. How does the teacher maximize her time?
2. How are students engaging with the content and material(s)?
3. Ask- Please share your classroom performance? Teacher and Student
4. Workshop model occurring or not?

I've been asked to increase the number of 5X5X5 observations in the coming months with some pretty lofty numbers to hit. Therefore, I plan to be present in classrooms each morning and afternoon checking for a few specific items. Mr. Luhman and I will leave behind a feedback card each time we visit:

1. CHAMPS- Success Criteria
2. Lesson plans available on your desks- Agenda, Learning Outcomes, Assessment Criteria
3. Workshop Model- Pacing and transitions
4. Live School Usage
5. Student Discussion

Enjoy the week with kids!

Principal Caudill

Good Morning LTMS,

I hope the opening weekend of December provided you all the time needed to prepare for the holiday hustle ahead of us all. Myself, I fueled my batteries back on the Ohio farm participating in our annual Caudill Deer Camp. The time spent with my brothers and childhood friends is a tradition I've grown to cherish and look forward to each year. I couldn't resist sharing a few images from the weekend. Please excuse my absence and I hope it did not create any inconvenience. Oh, and we can't forget to support our Big Ten Champions, Go Bucks!

At this time, I have to share my excitement for a couple LTMS educators. Last Tuesday we reviewed our school's learning check outcomes noting the need to abandon the traditional whole group approach to instruction and turning our attentions to providing small group and 1:1 support. I've installed two images of our very own circling up students, diving into small group and capturing misconceptions, clarifying understanding in order to move students forward in their learning.

In the above image, Mrs. Lane stands ready at her white board while her huddle small group follows along listening and responding to each prompt. Careful to lead student thinking, yet holding each accountable for the heavy lifting, Mrs. Wooldridge maintains a keen awareness of others working together and independently while she instructs her small group of students. Please look carefully at Mary's classroom and see if you can identify how she has established purposeful zones of support for her students. I'm encouraging you to visit with each, as well as Mrs. Toro, to discuss how to implement small group workshop stations in your classrooms.

Below is the video we shard in case you wish to review again.

Ahead this week we welcome our Summit Coach and Leader, Susan Menkel. Mrs. Menkel will be here to observe our pilot program, offer feedback to the team and if time allows, speak with you. I've mentioned the success of Summit this school year and spotlighted this initiative throughout many of our gatherings. We will move into developing Summit Learning Academy understanding beginning second semester when our Summit teachers lead professional learning sessions preparing for our 2018 transition. Professional development will be set aside for our spring and summer in order to prepare our school-wide launch. Please seek Mrs. Menkel on Thursday for a brief introduction to the individual guiding our efforts.

Here's to a SuperMoon Week!

Principal Caudill

11/27/17

Welcome Back LTMS,

I sincerely hope your travels were safe and the minutes away from work were spent with family enjoying this wonderful holiday. As for the Caudill's house, the Rivalry Week Holiday was enjoyed by all Buckeyes! Seriously though, we enjoyed our WV family, shopping, bowling and Christmas decorations. After the hustle and holiday rush, it's nice to reflect on the work we've done and still to accomplish in the coming days ahead of the winter break.

Keeping in-the-theme of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for your efforts and energies to make LTMS Lexington's School of Choice once again. We continue to make strides toward programming, opportunities and access for all students. We certainly have lots to be thankful for here at LTMS and too little time to dwell on our missed opportunities. Here's to a fun-filled, frantic close to the 2017 year!

Before the Thanksgiving break, I had the privilege of working with the Living Arts and Sciences Center and our district grant coordinator, Mrs. Decker-Davis on a fantastic grant opportunity, 21st Century Community Learning Centers. If awarded this grant would promise to provide $150,000 annually for after-school programming. The grant is worth a five year total of $500,000. In the process, I was fortunate to meet with LASC leaders and several community partners to discuss potential collaboration. Our partners include, Devine Carama of Believing in Forever Inc, Central Library and the Dunbar Community Center. To say the least, I was simply humbled by our community support and sincerely hope we get the opportunity to work closely with each of our partners.

As part of the grant requirements, we had to provide the community context which the grant will serve directly. Our target population is our LTMS district students trending behind academically and behaviorally. Additionally, we hope to target minority and female students in the areas of Math and Science. Here is an excerpt of the description used to describe our community LTMS is working hard to serve:

Multiple sources of data illustrate the compelling need for the program, including K-PREP and MAP assessment scores, non-cognitive data from Infinite Campus, and the Census Bureau, etc. Identified areas of need include low performance in math; low performance in reading and mathematics by African American students and students with disabilities; and high suspension/discipline referral rates for African American students.

The primary zip code area for our school neighborhood has the lowest median household income, average household income, and income per capita of all zip code areas in the county. The average household income here is less than half the average for the county (https://www.incomebyzipcode.com). Approximately 35% of residents live below the poverty level (Census) in this zip code area, nearly twice the percentage of the county (19%). 20.5% of adults over 25 here do not have a high school diploma/GED, compared to 10% for the county. The unemployment rate in the area is almost twice that of the whole county (www.city-data.com). There are higher than average rates of crimes against people and crimes against property and very high rates of rape and robbery in this area (http://www.relocationessentials.com). In July, 2017, a homicide occurred a block from our school in a park known for multiple shootings and drug activity. Specific, compelling needs include:

I include this excerpt as a reminder to us all. LTMS and the institution of "Education" has a huge responsibility and task to fulfill for our immediate district students. These statistics create an urgency within me. These figures remind me how important the work at LTMS is and ground my purpose to make "High Interest and Personalized Learning" the tools to improve the futures and individual outcomes of the children living under the weight of insurmountable statistics.

Today, I'm thankful for this awesome responsibility!

With three weeks remaining until our winter break, I'll ask you all to prepare to maximize your instructional minutes and protect your classroom from interruptions. These three weeks should set-up your final exams and solidify the semester routines you're hoping to build upon during the second term. Team and Department Leaders will discuss our calendar, however two events we all should prepare and plan to adjust implementation of the curriculum map is Winter MAP assessments and of course, final exams.

So I ask, what are your priorities for the remaining three weeks?

As for my office and the next steps for LTMS, the remaining three weeks should include the following:

1. Improve our assessment literacy and establish an assessment calendar for departments to fulfill throughout our second semester.
2. Improve our MAP assessment testing process, goal setting limiting the days of implementation and maximizing our technology to fulfill a successful testing session.
3. Implement the SAT (Student Assistance Team) process and protocol to support students with 5 or more office discipline referrals.
4. Successful implementation of first semester course finals.
5. Complete two district and school site visits to explore programming designed to support target populations with possibilities of second semester implementation.
6. Launch the "Why Try" programming with 9 target students.
7. Review and establish new goals to improve understanding and implementation of a successful MTSS process.
8. Review and analyze first semester FAST RTI intervention progress data, identify exiting students, update rosters to include new students.
9. Establish and implement a meaningful Release Day schedule for professional development.
10. Improve our core programming and technology infrastructure through the strategic implementation of Title I funding.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We have so much to accomplish!

Principal Caudill

P.S. Here in the next few days we say goodbye and congratulations to Mrs. Veronica Randall. We're truly happy for you and secretly a bit jealous! LTMS wishes you all the best, safe travels and to many years of happy, healthy retirement.

11/13/17

Good Morning LTMS,

Here's to the last full week ahead of the Thanksgiving Break. Mrs. Caudill and I picked up our 16lb bird this weekend preparing for the upcoming festivities. In addition to turkey, this guy was successful in the field and the Caudill's will be adding venison to the table. I hope your holiday preparations are successful and full of time with the family.

Regarding our preparations for Tuesday's PSAT assessment plan:

Please note this is an 8th grade assessment only. Our intentions were to use this opportunity to visit the ECR testing process with all other students in 6th and 7th grade. We will not transition until the close of the 8th grade PSAT assessment. Our hope was to begin reteaching our students the ECR process utilizing the scoring rubric and examples to score, introduce a prompt and model the process. Then we've encounter the unfortunate sub shortage which prevented our planning efforts.

We will have to postpone this reteaching opportunity until we have thoroughly trained all members of the faculty. Students will use their chromebooks for iReady and Reading Plus for 6th and 7th grade students. 6th grade students will be permitted to access Summit Academy to continue projects and focus area assignments.

We do not want to introduce the exemplar & modeling process ahead of the this training. Math will begin to utilize the Show/Tell method, while ELA and others will continue to complete ECR prompts using the RACER method.

Using these universal approaches brings the consistency needed to increase our proficiency percentages. Our MAP goals for this year are as follow:

• By May 30, 2018, overall mathematics performance will be improved by increasing proficient and distinguished performance from 38.9% as measured by MAP in the fall 2017 to 55% as measured by spring MAP 2018, while novice performance percentage will be reduced from 26.2% as measured by MAP in the fall 2017 to 19 % as measured by spring MAP 2018.
• By May 30, 2018, overall reading performance will be improved by increasing proficient and distinguished performance from 52.5% as measured by MAP in the fall 2017 to 70% as measured by spring MAP 2018, while novice performance percentage will be reduced from 30.9% as measured by MAP in the fall 2017 to 19 % as measured by spring MAP 2018.

Faculty Players Needed: Please let me know if you are willing and able to participate.

SBDM is canceled for today. We need to have an election for our last SBDM teacher opening. Please let me know if you are willing to handle our election process.

Have a great day!

Principal Caudill

11/9/17

Good Morning LTMS,

I apologize for my absence today and hope to return to school tomorrow. With several faculty members out today, please make an effort to support one another with vigilant coverage and supervision. If you have a moment, take some time to assist with lunchroom coverage today, thank you. I'll be here at the home office most of the day working on a grant, so please feel free to contact me by phone or email. Only during my son's doctor appointment will I be unavailable.

A few notes to end the week.

Veterans Day Activity

Pleased to announce we have an engaging lesson to share with students during 4th period tomorrow in observance of Veteran's Day. Truly appreciate the efforts from Mr. Edgett to ensure we all have a script and plan to follow! Please announce to your classes, tomorrow is Red, White and Blue Day at LTMS!

Veterans Day Lesson

Inventory

Regarding the chromebook inventory, thank you for taking the time to make this a top priority last Friday. We recovered many devices and have an assurance of the number of devices currently out of circulation. One glaring concern is our overall accounting process for check-in during the afternoon. I'm not convinced our best effort is in place for accounting devices once returned. This week, I've taken two off of students as they attempt to board the afternoon bus. Just yesterday, I watched one of our finest removing his device and charger from his locker. Our kiddos are savvy, so we must be out in front good management procedures. Thanks for taking the time to count and record afternoon chromebook returns.

Google Classroom Management

With new devices, comes the expectation for new learning and professional growth. The learning curve is a personal trip and will require different rates and approaches for each of us. At this point, I'm fairly convince we can deliver material or content to our students by using Google Classroom as our LMS (Learning Management System). What I haven't experience while visiting classrooms is the release of delivery from the teacher to the LMS. Providing students multiple access points within Google Classroom should create more time for our teachers to closely monitor student understanding, work within smaller groups and maximize teacher time. Multiple Access Points in simple terms means you account for mulitple levels of learners and in multiple ways for your students to access the content. Some students may have the ability to write a thesis statement regarding how WWI started and others may need to review a video of what a good thesis statement requires.

Within Google Classroom you can provide students a link to KHAN Academy for a review of thesis statements or some other source for thesis statement review. Another resource would be to attach a graphic organizer for prewriting, research links for background content, documentary on the start of WWI, list of primary documents for review and even the agenda with your outcomes for learning, an exemplar for reference and a small Google form quiz to assess thesis statement quality or events of WWI. This to said, we're still attempting to control each moment of the lesson, versus releasing students to access material in a manner which suits their preferred learning. We can facilitate far more if we release a bit of control for students to move through the content at personalized rates.

Ms. Duchscherer is charge to meet with each teacher regarding their Google Classroom management readiness (Except Summit Teachers). You will each discuss your current LMS platform and how it is current in use. Ms. D will then assess your levels of readiness and prescribe your next steps for developing multiple access points. This will be a priority for second term walkthroughs and feedback for our ES3 committee. Thank you for the effort.

Scoring ECR/SCR

This is a big step for our departments at LTMS. Our efforts this week and in the coming days will lay the foundation for assessment success during the spring. Personally, I appreciate the Math/Science department for their efforts and insights this past Tuesday. I know Mrs. Nahra was equally pleased with the response and efforts of our ELA/Soc department. Moving forward, regularly scoring and calibrating will only improve with each trial. We'll meet again on Tuesday to develop our "Show/Tell" Gradual Release of Responsibility for Math/Science and ELA/Soc will continue to calibrate with further scoring. Good Stuff Team!

Today's Walkthrough

Although many are away from the building today, the ES3 walkthough committee will continue with their efforts. I have asked the committee to visit our building during the afternoon to examine our instruction. Please expect our visitors to arrive throughout 5th and 6th hour, possibly the latter part of 4th. Here's looking forward to some quality feedback!

Hall Passes

I've asked our lead teachers to take time during your team meeting to discuss a reduction in the frequency of hall pass distribution. Currently at any given moment of the day, multiple students are permitted access to the locker, restroom, other classrooms and etc. Our afternoon appears to be the most abused times of the school day. As an observer, it appears many of the same students are conditioning our faculty for this escape from instruction. PBIS is asking for suggestions on a universal approach for administering hall passes. In the meantime, please monitor your use and guard your instructional time.

Until tomorrow,

Principal Caudill

10/29/17

Good Evening Blackcats,

Wow, possibly the best weekend for college football I've witnessed in a long while. Congrats to my fellow Buckeyes and my dear Wildcat Football Bowl Eligible winners! For those Louisville fans...there's always basketball season, oops!

We say goodbye to the month of October and with it, hopefully, the "October Implementation Dip". Often during the final days of the first quarter, educators experience a relapse in practice. Practices new or possibly renewed are exciting and viewed as a novelty begin to wane, while old habits and personal comfort fight for room in the traditional classroom.

We're fighting the traditional classroom setting. Remember, 5 rows and a chalkboard is outdated! We're new at LTMS, "High Interest and Personalized Learning".

November is the period of the school year to reach deep and hold onto our newest efforts to bring institutional change at a sustainable level. Initiatives new need your focus more than ever. Collections, PLCs, Ready Math, Live School, Progressive Discipline and Technology for Learning take time, energy and collective efforts to be successful. I'm calling on everyone to stay-the-course and help each other bring new life to our efforts to improve as a faculty.

Last Monday and Tuesday, several of your colleagues and I spent two intense days learning at the Summit Convening in Cincinnati, Ohio. Two takeaways from the event for this principal were: 1) We must begin to bring more of our team into the Summit Learning world of teaching, 2) The evolution of teaching and learning is more exciting today than ever before. Now is the time to begin your discussions with our current pilot team. In the days ahead, we will begin to identify whether we have the will and skill to advance this programming into only 7th or press forward for an entire school wide Summit Learning Pathway. Today, our planning is purely in the dream phase, however we'll need to make concrete decision for implementation ahead of the winter break.

I wish to praise two of our VPA programs at this time. Mr. Burns and Mrs. Henton successfully conducted our fall programming with new and interesting offerings I'm certain all would enjoy. This is evident by the number of students currently participating and choosing the Arts as a focus of interest and area to develop further. I encourage you all to visit their areas during fourth period to see the excitement our student demonstrate for this Pathway. Congratulations Mrs. Henton and Mr. Burns on your successful programs!

Our next praise belongs to each of you and the improved data analysis efforts this past month exploring KPREP and MAP assessment results. Thank you for working and truly seeking meaning in the results while visiting with Mrs. Nahra during your weekly meetings. Becoming an assessment literate (savvy) faculty doesn't occur overnight, however we've taken some big steps since the close of our last assessment window. Without mentioning common assessments, LTMS has six opportunities to collectively examine trends and instructional next steps: KPREP, MAP fall, winter, spring, our upcoming fall Learning Check simulation, plus the spring LC.

Providing these assessments without analysis is simply educational neglect. The time away for the typical scope and sequence A/B day isn't taking lightly. We must value these moments and make certain we, as professionals, take the time to learn about ourselves, our programming, our resources and yes, our students. These moments together should impact you as a teacher and how you address upcoming lessons, units and assessments. If not, you've missed the point and have remained an ill-prepared educator. Maturity, not in a silly sense, in the classroom comes from an honest search for professional growth, often following one of these significant, reflective measures we have planned to provide. I'm calling on LTMS educators to step forward and grow as assessment literate teachers, leveraging assessment in ways to benefit our proficiency goals. Please note, these are universal and bench-marking assessments used to examine instructional trends, program effectiveness and overall proficiency snapshots. More to come from our leaders during the Tuesday morning faculty meeting.

Finally, I am acutely aware of the unrest which comes from the growing pains of progressive discipline. One factor is the direct comparison of old practices to new standards of practice. I am patient with these matters, while understanding of the learning curve associated with new management practices. I want to assure you we are working diligently to handle the larger, more pressing matters and at the same time, collecting running records and escalating the discipline associated with those pesky Tier I issues. I'm attaching three articles for your review in order to bring you up to speed with my thinking and the factors for our approach to fair and appropriate discipline.

Article Number 1- Suspensions Don't Teach

Article Number 2- Black students are punished twice as often as white students in Lexington schools

Article Number 3- 4 Key Strategies for Improving School Culture for Black and Latino Male Students

After your review of these articles, please feel free to open up a discussion with me.

Before we leave, We wish our fearless Football Coach, Mr. Johnson, Good Luck this week!

Principal Caudill

10/15/17

Good Evening Blackcats,

I can hardly believe we're midway through the month of October!

Tomorrow we'll usher in the beginning of the second nine weeks and a few schedule adjustments. I'll remind our Summit, Wildcat and Puma teams, please take the time together to review your expectations for success and procedures for the classroom. The time will be well spent to cover these matters over the next week. I'm hopeful the changes you have made will make the difference we are seeking for classroom success!

Today during our ILT, we take our first look at the October ES3 walkthrough notes and will make these available to all faculty members upon review. Initial thoughts are positive and as always, we'll have a little homework ahead of our November visit. I will pause here and express my appreciation for everyone's effort to reinforce "S"uccess criteria. It was overtly observe in most settings, often referenced and supported by a few rubrics. Our next step with "S"uccess criteria will be providing tangible, student generated exemplars for "all" students to utilize while working toward proficiency on your assigned tasks and objective for demonstrating learning/understanding. Regarding our ABRI observations, hopefully we know more about their finding within the week. We'll be certain to share all findings once we've reviewed the content during ILT.

Calendar for October 15-19

Monday- 2:30pm Shelter in Place Drill, ILT 4:15pm

Tuesday-Team Meetings, ELA Department 4:15pm, Math Department 4:15pm

Wednesday- District Principal Meeting,

Thursday- 6pm Choir Concert

Don't forget to review Morning Supervision assignments within Mr. Luhman's weekly reminder email.

Fast Approaching Dates:

• October 27th- We are in school, replacing the Lunar Eclipse day from school.
• LTMS school administered Learning Check Goal Setting 10/26-10/27
• SS/On Demand October 31, AM SS PM On Demand
• Learning Check Reading November 1, AM Test Session
• Learning Check Math November 2, PM Test Session
• Make ups on the November 3 team decision

More will be shared this week during your Team Meetings.

See you all in the morning,

Principal Caudill

10/11/17

Welcome Back Blackcats,

Here's to four-day weekends! The Caudill family took the opportunity to pull the camper out of storage, roast a few marshmallows, try a Dave Hawkins' bologna specialty and encounter a near wild turkey harvest. I sincerely hope you were able to enjoy your time away this weekend!

This week is busy to say the least. All week, we'll have district visitors and UofL ABRI on hand to assist with our school improvement efforts. One of our primary goals this week will be to really nail the "s" in CHAMPs, as we've trained previously. Success Criteria is the big change in CHAMPs our walkthrough committees will be searching for come Thursday. Please make exemplars, rubrics and frequent references a staple during your instruction.

Our big ILT efforts and team schedule work will continue with schedule adjustments. We will accomplish balanced scheduling in time for the turn of the nine weeks, however IC uploads may lag behind a bit. Please note, we do all we can to make certain all students and teachers are aware of the changes to each schedule.

We congratulate Coach Johnson and Coach Ward on a fantastic football game last Wednesday. The two teams were battling hard all game and as it should, the outcome was decided in final seconds of the game. Below are a few pics from the event.

Calendar

Monday- SBDM (No ILT)

Tuesday-ELA Department Meeting, Caudill NISL, SPED Training

Thursday- ABRI & ES3 Walkthrough, Football Lafayette, Luhman NISL

Friday-PROWL, End of First Quarter, Luhman NISL

Welcome Back Team,

Principal Caudill

9/22/17

Good Morning Potluck Masters,

Today we'll stick to reminders and a few amazing photos from our recent weeks at LTMS.

First up- MAP testing is still suspended.

Today, Fire Drill Today, 10am and Yes! Potluck lunch for everyone today in room 128

Tuesday 26th, 7:30am Faculty Meeting- Our primary topic will be Second Steps (link provided below)

Wednesday 27th, Volleyball Tourney Begins, Prospective Magnet Family Night 6-7:30

Thursday 28th, PBIS Meeting 7:45am

Friday 29th, Collections Assessment (New info coming from Ms. Clark about round 1 CA)

Check out your new programming: PLTW Medical Detectives and Flight and Space happenings at LTMS below!

Have a nice day team,

Proud Principal Caudill

PS- LEGO, lacrosse & one amazing student locker! These kids are awesome and amazing teachers make learning come alive!

9/21/17

Good Morning Blackcats,

Last night our Lady Blackcats won both A & B team games. It took our A team three sets, however victory was eventually secured for our 8th grade celebration. Congratulations Coach Denton on a hard fought victory and for a solid first season at LTMS. We will all be cheering you and the girls along to the city tournament! (Photos from last night are below)

Tonight our Fightin Blackcat Football team will be away at Bryan Station High School. If you have an opening in your evening schedule, please stop by to support the team! Game time is usually 5:30pm. Good Luck Coach Johnson!

This Friday will be a big step in the change process at LTMS. Immediately following work, I'll have an opportunity to introduce our new Pathways @ LTMS programming and entrance criteria to a committee of district leaders. This is a preliminary conversation ahead of a full application for criteria upgrades and programming adjustments. Comparing ourselves today to just month's ago, LTMS has more to offer today than ever before.

Our identity is no longer acceleration only! We can truly hang our hats on rigorous entrance criteria, exciting programming while fulfilling a vital promise outlined in our mission statement, "Students will actively participate in their school through engaging technology and arts-enriched lessons as they grow towards academic mastery."

I've attached a copy of last week's presentation to families on "Special Programs Night" at Henry Clay High School. We will attempt to greet prospective families and students on Wednesday, September 27th at 6pm in our school library and throughout our Panther classrooms.

If you haven't completed your PGP and Self Reflection at this point, no worries. I've learned we'll have until November to get all of the certified teachers and other important areas complete. Administration will need to address their PGP and self reflections complete by October 1.

One last reminder to monitor and perfect your chromebook management system. I intend to visit everyone today to briefly discuss these methods. Thank you for keeping good care of this instructional tool.

Finally, Mr. Huguely will be away from the building today, so please utilize our main office for support with student matters.

Have a great day LTMS,

Principal Caudill

9/19/17

Good Morning LTMS,

Today I will experience life as a LTMS student.

Superintendent Caulk has provided a little homework for all FCPS head principals. We must shadow two students from different academic settings prior to our October Leadership Meeting, comparing both experiences. So today, I will be one your students and not accessible for the normal workday matters. If you see me out and about, give me the student treatment and nothing more. Thanks for making my homework experience a success!!! Follow me on twitter for my updates about #LTMSscholarX

My second #LTMSscholarX adventure will come next Tuesday.

ES3 walkthrough results were shared with the ILT members yesterday and overall, our ES3 committee was impressed with the changes taking place at LTMS. Your consistency toward the instructional process, our decrease in "out-of-seat" discipline and CHAMPs fidelity were some of the highlights noted. Please take a moment to review the notes below regarding our ES3 outcomes and recommendations.

School Structure/Practice

Discussion

There is a clear articulated focus/vision that matches continuous improvement data and need for growth.

The team sees evidence there is significant work towards achieving that focus or vision.

August 2016 14% of classrooms had evidence of routines and procedures. August 2017 88% of classes observed to day had champs.

This is a significant increase over last year and is attributed to the work the leadership team and teachers have done at the beginning of the year.

In School Suspension has gone is down from 63 events to 1 event. 41.152 days of missed instruction to 4 days from August 2016 – August 2017

Significant decrease from last year and is attributed to the work the leadership team and teachers have done at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

Out of School Suspension down from 67 events last August to 0 this August. This is down from 84.7 days of missed instruction in March to 0 days this August

Significant decrease over last year and is attributed to the work the leadership team and teachers have done at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

Agendas with Bell Ringers are in place indicating Formative assessment is taking place.

Evidence of implementation of LTMS vision. Principal expectations. Observations

There is evidence of instructional outcomes being posted. 13 out of 17 classrooms observed had an instructional outcome posted.

Evidence of implementation of LTMS vision. ES3 observation tool supported this strength with data.

Listed below our our next steps and recommendations for our next event, October 12.

Activity: CHAMP(S) Succeed is the assessment criteria and could easily be tied to both behavior and academics.

Product Required: Assessment criteria associated with the S should be represented visually and differentiated in classroom CHAMP visuals

Activity: Develop clarity of program in SPED resource classes. There are multiple resources not being used.

Product Required:Corrective Reading, Alek, iReady

Activity: Address high expectations for all learners in all classes. Support classes, resource classes and intervention classes in particular. Need same observed expectations as the core.

Product Required: Same CHAMPS expectations, Learning Expectations, etc.

Activity: Increase feedback to students across the board. There should be more specific feedback and praise keeping in line with a 3 -1 positive ratio.

Product Required: Call attention to it with teachers

Activity: Establish a hall pass policy to limit the number of students going to the bathroom and who are in hallways

Product Required: Observable- less students in hallways

ILT and the administrative team have discussed the implementation of many next steps toward meeting the goals set forth by the ES3 committee. Today, Ms. Clark will begin our process toward communicating the "Success Criteria" for students. Other matters will be addressed during your team and department meetings. Any department specific activities will be followed up with by one our administrative leaders to ensure progress toward the goal is being accomplished.

Before I close, please keep Belinda Jackson in mind while she is recovering in the hospital. We pray and wish Belinda a speedy healing, hoping to see her back to working with her kiddos soon.

Principal Caudill

@CaudillLarry #LTMSscholarX

Hi Everyone,

Hoping you enjoyed a relaxing weekend and wishing you a wonderful start to another week. Your hard work is certainly reflected in all that you do for our LTMS students. I hope you feel valued and appreciated because you truly are the best!

Let's meet Tuesday/Wednesday to revisit ASSESSMENT (SUCCESS) CRITERIA and let's begin to look at MAP data in teams to make some very deliberate decisions regarding our instructional process, We are well on our way!

I challenge you to "mentor" students during your planning time on Thursday. Meet with a handful of students (individually or as a team) to address behavior that may get them "on track." If you are unsure about this process, ask the Pumas as they were "mentoring" last week. Brilliant idea that will work with students!

I'm also working to get a solution to our "PGP access" mystery. I think we will have answers soon as it is a merging issue.

Wishing you the greatest week,

Leigh

9/12/17

Good Morning LTMS,

Given the gravity of the 9/11, Hurricane Irma and a weekend of R&H, our return to work on Monday was a good start to the week. I hope your weekend was enjoyed outdoors and your favorite football team came out on top. As for my beloved Bengals and Buckeyes, we look to settle in for a long season. Go Cats!

Looking ahead this week, we are expecting visitors on Thursday morning for the beginning of our ES3 support. Our support will come in the form of recommended next steps after each visit to the building from a team of educators following a checklist of "look fors". The LTMS ILT discussed these yesterday, however here is a brief listing of what the committee will be charting:

1. Instructional Outcomes Posted and Reference- again, please post an agenda with approximated time to complete.
2. Assessment Criteria- Not necessarily a must, however you should be communicate success criteria on each and every task, project and definitely writing opportunity (no exception). This is typically done by displaying rubrics, models and exemplars of successful items.
3. Congruent learning tasks- All activities match your learning goals, targets, objective or outcome. Everything leads or lines up to assist the learner to meet the goal of learning.
4. Evidence of High Yield Instructional Strategies
   • Summarizing and Note-taking
   • Identifying similarities and differences
   • Feedback
   • Reinforcing effort/providing recognition
   • Practice
   • Non-linguistic representations
   • Cooperative learning
   • Setting Objectives
   • Generating objectives
   • Generating and testing objectives
   • Cues/questioning
   • Advance organizers

5. Feedback to students- Accurate, specific, timely, with celebration and it's regular

6. Types of Formative Assessment Observed- None, Bell Ringer, Quiz, Exit Slip

7. New Curriculum Program Implementation- Ready Math (Yes/No) Collections (Yes/No)

Below is a photo of a student's work meeting many of the above expectations. As you can see, our student has a plan. His plan includes an agenda with an approximate time for each task. At the end of it all, this student will be prepared to complete his content assessment. This level of clarity will assist our young people with planning and completing tasks, remain focused and bring confidence to what is often a mystery, purpose.

To close this portion of the memo, my latest walkthrough with Mr. Flowers identified a few common themes to consider ahead of the ES3 team's visit. Please post your outcome in a visible location. Very few, in any references to CHAMPs in the classroom were noted. The level of work introduced and being required of students remains at a DOK Level 1, basic recall and knowledge based. I've yet to encounter a "shared inquiry" session in our Social Studies or ELA settings. Many optional engagement sessions were occurring during the recent walkthrough. We must find interesting and mandatory engagement activities for our students to experience.

Please do not forget to complete your SafeSchools training by Saturday, the 16th. If you did not receive a reminder from me yesterday, you should be fine. Please check to be certain.

Keep the Live School points rolling. The more you praise, the more you will see your students step up to meet your expectations. Please keep the record of points up on your projection, make a overt attempt to openly praise the student and challenge the classroom with goals and celebrations. Our student store will be open by the end of this week. Remember, this Friday's dance will be an opportunity for your students to use 200 points. If you have any ideas about our next Live School point opportunity, please share among the team and let us know.

Please stop me today and point out a few of your ES3 targets!

Principal Caudill

9-8-17

Good Friday Morning,

Once again, thank you all for the incredible efforts to host our annual Open House. Our families were greeted warmly with smiles, handshakes and quick-witted professionals. Your professionalism was displayed in every way and it counts! Moms, dads and grandparents left the Open House informed, connected and prepared to assist their student this school year. Whale Done LTMS!

Today is school picture day. We shouldn't have any issues with circulating the 500+ students during the Related Arts periods. If any issues arise, we'll utilize the PA to keep everyone informed.

Lunch is served! Chili is on hand for EVERYONE in room 128. Please stop by for a little taste of fall.

School fundraiser monies were due yesterday, however if you have any late arrivals, please send these along to Mrs. Cooper. Thanks.

When are chromebooks going home? We're almost there. We need a count of every student remaining to pay the ten dollar "take-home" fee. Please send your number to the team lead in order to communicate with our office. Once we have the greater majority ,around 90 percent, we'll decide what to do with our groups with cases at the moment. At this time, 7th and 6th could start this process with a confirmation a fee numbers. Once we verify with the teams the status of the collection, reviewed the process for chromebook care and informed families; we're good! Our 8th grade program will need to wait until our cases arrive in the coming month. Please note, fee waiver will not cover the take-home fee. Our fee waiver will assist families with the coverage of the "technology use" fee. Thanks for the patience and congratulations for becoming the very first 1:1 FCPS middle school program.

Self reflection and PGP are now ready for your completion. Teachers, please use this link to follow the directions for the new process. Other professionals will use this link. It's new and it's not CIITS. Administrators will use this link to access directions. You'll access all evaluation information in your FRONTLINE portal (which is the same for completing an absence request and substitute). We'll post this permanently on the left-hand side in the pages section for future reference. Also, we will certainly help anyone during their planning hours if requested. Please try to have these complete by the end of the September month.

Happy Picture Day!

Principal Caudill

Below is just a couple snapshots of the good things happening last night!

9-7-17

Good Morning Blackcats,

Today, LTMS reaches yet another milestone!

Today, we are accomplishing our 1:1 technology goal. Congratulations LTMS and thank you for accepting this vision and commitment to integrating technology into your lessons. Couple this with our new curriculum, programming, Google Certified Teachers, professional development and expanded after-school program; LTMS is on the rise. Whale Done Team!

Congratulations to our football team and Coach Johnson for their home opener victory. We truly appreciate all the faculty members in attendance supporting the volleyball, football and cheer teams. As I watched the evening develop, I became filled with school spirit and Blackcat pride, especially when students arrived gaining entrance to the game with their Live School points. Below are a few images from last night.

Have a great day LTMS!

Principal Caudill

9-6-17,

Good Morning LTMS,

I apologize for the absence from our Daily Announcements yesterday. Today, we usher in a new era at LTMS, home football games. This small, yet amazing, step is in-line with what LTMS is needing most, a viable school culture. We need school spirit and a reason for students to "opt in" to LTMS. As mentioned in our back to school vision,

"Afterschool program development is a great need and importance for our success in the coming school year and beyond. Rita Pierson is noted for stating, "We know why kids drop out. We know why kids don’t learn. It’s poverty, low attendance, negative peer influence. We know why. But one of the things that we rarely discuss is the value and importance of human connection, relationships."

I invite you to stick around after school to witness LTMS history and watch some students being active during volleyball, cheer and football. I'm certain plenty of students will be roaming in the crowds. So, let's make some connections during tonight's events. Please announce to students entrance can be substituted by 200 Live School points for students and parents admission can be substituted by 250 Live School points. (That's Cool!)

At this time, I wish to thank the entire faculty and staff for making the "O" in PROWL such a priority. Aside from the 6/7 hallway transition, our "On-Time" efforts are improving. In the coming days, we'll troubleshoot the issue with our final transition and announce our direction. Again, as a team, we can accomplish everything LTMS will ever need. Whale Done!

Don't forget to attend Thursday's open house. We expect all faculty to attend, syllabus in hand and ready at the door for evening events to begin at 6pm.

In the spirit of football season, would everyone like to participate in a LTMS chili cook-off this Friday? Bring your favorite fall dish and sides for a tribute to the season.

Please disregard our efforts to support our favorite sport's team on Friday. We will postponed this event due to our school photo day. Please announce to your classrooms, Friday is "dress-up" day for school photos.

Finally, we are scheduled to celebrate our fall sports teams with our Pep Rally this afternoon. The event will begin at quarter til 3 and wrap up at 3:30pm. The event will include music, cheers, team introductions and competitions between faculty and students. The Live School points is set at 30 for each student.

Please note- I am away from the building today for a District Leadership Meeting and will return in time for today's Pep Rally.

Until Later Today,

Principal Caudill

9-1-17,

Good Morning LTMS,

Today we celebrate the completion of our first full week of school. Congratulations and thank you for all those out there leading and sharing in the problem solving and school improvement efforts!

As I toured our building yesterday, I was excited to see our students engaged in their technology and mostly, our faculty ready for the launch of personalized learning. If you are feeling a little behind, whether it is Google Classroom, integrating web-resources, managing tech routines, etc..no worries, we're here to help. Please seek assistance from your teammates and do not hesitate to begin accessing our TRC, Samantha. The TRC position is created to maximize the blended instruction our school is driving toward. Samantha will meet you "where-you-are" in your tech journey and will plan, co-teach, and coach your through the PDSA process.

Ice Cream Social - Weather Contingency Plan

• Ice Cream Cones/Popsicles will be placed on cart and delivered to the classroom
  • 8th Grade will be delivered to classrooms at 2:15
  • 6th Grade will be delivered to classrooms at 2:45
  • 7th Grade will be delivered to classrooms at 3:15
• The cost will still be 300 points

Continue to make LIVE school a power practice in your classroom and please, keep ideas for our token economy coming.

Next week we'll offer students access to the PEP Rally based on their LIVE school points.

Have a great day team,

Principal Caudill

8-30-2017

Good Morning,

Just wanted to remind everyone our 5X5X5 walkthroughs begin today. Mr. Luhman, Mr. Flowers (New Chief) and I completed our pre-walk yesterday, only finding a few spots needing adjustments. These are our opening of school "look-for" items. We'll do our best to leave feedback and notes for your review. Eventually, our focus will move toward engagement, student products, standards alignment/rigor and assessment criteria.

1. P-R-O-W-L Expectations posted and reviewed

2. CHAMPS posted and utilized

3. Learning Outcomes (Objectives/Targets) posted prominently

• Teaching Channel Video on SWBAT

4. Agenda Posted and checked throughout the progression of your lesson

5. Essential Question or Bell Ringer or DOL

6. Exemplary Work posted and utilized for class reference

7. Exit Slip or Closing Assessment

Thank you making each item an instructional priority,

Principal Caudill

August 28, 2017

Good Morning Everyone,

Here's to a relaxing and perfect, weather weekend! With the battery full and energies to spare, let's make our first full week a successful week. Today, I will prepare to discuss our full-throttled close to August and opening to September. Before I move into the heart of the matter, I wish to share a quick story of the heart, witnessed right here, in the hallways of LTMS.

Look it's a hallway hero! No, it's the Ultimate Professional (Use your best comic book narrator, echo voice)

A fellow teacher stopped me to express their unpleasant interaction with one of our most colorful of student. The teacher immediately expressed no interest in the student returning to class later in the school day. With just a few periods remaining, I could since the urgency behind the plea. The description left me with little to defend on the student's behalf, admitting action must be taken prior to the next meeting between the two.

Well, what was this matter? It was a matter of poor language, profane terms repeatedly flowing from the foul-mouthed child while stepping into the hallway and perhaps, a few atta-boys in the presence of the teacher, just to prove their defiant point. Instead of listening to the teacher for "attention, about-face" and "explanation private", the child ignored our professional and exited into the hallway without even a smidge of remorse.

Sounds horrible! Well, this is where something wonderful occurs. As I turned to finish the hallway transition and begin chase of the student named in our little, profane, inappropriate discourse; our hero and student are in the midst of a meeting in mid-hallway. I slowly step toward the encounter, careful to leave plenty of time for the conversation to develop, when our teacher looks up and states, "We're good Mr. Caudill, there will not be any need for that discipline."

Wow, did I mention we had a hero in this story or possibly did we describe this individual as a professional? You see, both fit perfectly here. The hero steps in to save the child from impending doom, full of gnashing and clawing while at the hands of the Discipline Code of Conduct (echo effect). And, finally a true professional understands without restorative justice, the child and teacher will never truly be capable of moving forward with a relationship we all know must exist in order to teach at LTMS. Our hero, our wise professional, keeping the end in mind, seeking to promote growth, and a relationship ahead of punishment. Well done Mr. Edgett, well done indeed!

And that folks, is the rest, of the story! GoodDAAY!

Now the Meat and Potatoes

Tuesday's Faculty Meeting- MAP testing, LIVE Schools and Some District-Wide Expectations, we'll begin at 7:45am. Do not be late or prepare to receive a full review immediately following school.

MAP Testing and Goal Setting- Mr. Luhman has prepared a nice step-by-step slide presentation(click to open) for all to follow ahead of the MAP testing sessions. The window for testing begins Monday, and lasts until September 29th. Our sixth grade team will begin and finish this week. We, of course, intend to complete all testing following Labor Day weekend. Goal setting with each class (as a whole) and then with each student is mandatory, ahead of testing your classroom. With easily to follow chromebook directions and the assistance of Ms. Clark and Mrs. Mattingly, we should experience MAP testing as never before. Yes!

5x5x5 Walkthroughs begin on Wednesday. What are the mandatory "Look For" items? CHAMPs posted and reviewed often, Learner Outcome posted and reviewed, Agenda and times for each step, Use of a Timer and finally, our topic for discussion during Tuesday's faculty meeting- Success Criteria.

Suicide Prevention, Harassment and Bullying student training will occur this week. Details will be available this morning.

Don't forget September 7th is Open House. All members of the faculty, except Ms. Denton, are expected to be in attendance.

High Hopes for Technology- We're expecting technology to be available to every student by the end of this week. Our plan will be to keep technology in the building until we have collected the majority of AUPs, Technology Fees and Free/Reduced Lunch Forms. Student's must complete this week's Digital Citizenship coursework.

"TELL me something good." You asked for it, our teacher website NOW includes an updated school calendar, located on the left side of this page.

SC3 district team walkthroughs are set to begin this September. In order to monitor our MTSS, PBIS implementation and positive accounting of student seat time, the district has develop an eight member walkthrough team to observe monthly. To begin, we all ("all" means students too) must know PROWL, Live School and what in the world does MTSS mean? More to come on Tuesday, during the faculty meeting.

ABRI school review team will begin in October. As an extra-measure, our PBIS team has agreed (at my direction he-he) to work closely with the University of Louisville's special education department to audit our teacher to student interactions. We will host a full team from UofL three times this school and invite their lead staffer into every, monthly PBIS meeting. PBIS team members are (drum roll) Mr. Huguely, Mr. Luhman, Mr. Caudill, Mr. Hill, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Wooldridge, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. A Jones and Mrs. Mattingly. Goooooo Team, no pressure this year! Although, I'm serious and not that we haven't thus far, however, we will improve our efforts to adhere to the core principles of PBIS.(PBIS World Website)

Tardy plan in effect until Wednesday. Come Wednesday, we intend to document each tardy to class and begin the progression of the Student Code of Conduct (echo effect). Please continue to reteach and encourage all those meeting this "Guideline for Success Expectation" with LS On-time points. Thank you.

Live School- Please understand, this is how we are measuring and motivating student participation all at the same time. Our future plans include LS and an ever, expanded token economy on the campus of LTMS. This is not and option, you must participate.

PEP Rally Next Wednesday ahead of our home football game. We will celebrate our football, cheer, volleyball and cross country athletes with our first PEP rally of the year. LS points required is set at 30. Student must purchase the event through LS, wear black, gold or LTMS apparel to attend. Full details will be available this week.

Please announce to your students. Any ticketed event hosted at LTMS, students may utilize LS points to gain entrance and their parents. As part of our LS Token Economy, we will provide entrance to any event on campus: football, volleyball, basketball, dance, etc with a LS debit purchase. This will begin immediately.

And finally our Pillar for Success: Professional Learning Communities will require frequent and multiple meetings throughout the coming weeks to install the district's new year expectations for curriculum, instruction and assessment, the CIA (throw in some Mission Impossible music here). No choice here though, we are obliged to follow our district leadership and will meet their deadlines as established and announced in the coming days. Our first task will be to examine our assessment routines and discuss the common assessment schedule, followed by the curriculum maps and then into the FCPS, trademarked Instuctional Model. In the coming week, Ms. Clark will lead our efforts with PLC enhancement and accountability, assisted by Mr. Luhman.

In order to do this correctly, I have approved yet another schedule change. In order to provide adequate meeting times for our teams, we will move the zero hour intervention courses to the afternoon. The effects will be a little increase in related arts courses in the mornings, with a slight decrease in the afternoon. We'll also add Latin Culture courses in the afternoon to decrease the sizes of the RA courses currently needing a bit of room.

Here's to a wonderful week of school!

Principal Caudill

Follow me on Twitter @CaudillLarry

Follow your school on Twitter @LTMSscholars

August 25, 2017

Good Morning Staff,

P-R-O-W-L is our student expectations! I would rather consider these "Guidelines for Success". So, Prepared, Respectful, On-time On-task, Winning Attitudes and Leadership. Today's focus is O- On Time. Moving forward, today through Wednesday, I am asking teachers to be ready by your doors, locked and closed at the bell. Once the bell rings, the administrative team will observe the volume of students remaining in the hallway.

Our purpose for monitoring today through next Tuesday will be to determine our best, next steps for reteaching the student body and issuing accountability. If we follow the concepts outlined in Ken Blanchard's, Whale Done, we will reward LS points for those following our "Guidelines for Success".

Come Wednesday, we'll finish the reteaching phase and begin to record the students need for progress toward our success goal. At this point, we'll collect our data for each student and follow our progression of consequences for Tier I behavior change.

Over the next three days, please make O- On Time and On Task our reteach priority.

Friday Gratitude

There have been many wins over the last week and few days. If I've failed to mention anyone "giving it their all", please forgive, my lens will soon find you!

I'm truly impressed with our newcomer teachers and how each has demonstrated the resolve & professionalism during the trying times of transitioning to our school. Your efforts have been noticed and we're extremely grateful you have allowed us all to pitch in and work to create the conditions you desire for the classroom.

The 8th grade team meeting was an exceptional reset on PLC here at LTMS. The discussion, focus and mission was evident. The team ended their discussion with sincere appreciations and deepened the commitment to serve one another during the year.

Tracy Murrell and Eric Norris have been wonderful additions to our faculty. Each time I enter the hallway, I see these two greeting our students with a smile, assisting a struggling kiddo and supporting other teachers with classroom management. Thank you for jumping right in and making your presence a valuable asset!

6th Grade Team, Summit and Magnet, is off to the best start, probably in LTMS history. Your preparedness, professionalism, attention to details and willingness to work as a team has created the "Common Ground" sought in the pillar- Professional Learning Community. If this is any indication of the weeks and month's to come, you have created a new foundation for our school. Thank you and well done team!

As always, Mr. Dave Hawkins. Dave, you always work so incredibly hard and your spirit never wavers. How do you do it? You and your team are our ultimate team, even when faced with the challenges brought this summer. Thank you sir!

Professional Growth is Personal Growth! My last shout out belongs to Ryan Harrington. Mr. Harrington has delivered one of the finest individual starts to the school year I've witnessed in a while. Thank you Ryan for communicating early with your parent's by email, uploading several grades in IC, your comic relief during department meetings, adapting to sudden grade level assignment changes, utilizing your available technology to captivate a previously tough crowd of students, stepping up to teach intervention and Alg II simultaneously and finally, lifting the weight of PLTW material distribution. Sir, this is how you make your presence known and incredibly valuable.

So the list doesn't stop there, however I will for sake of time. I'll leave the others until later and carefully note our ongoing moments for celebration. Please know, I and others have noticed tremendous growth in our opening routines and individual efforts everywhere. Thank you LTMS and here's to more celebrations in 2017!

And finally, finally, today we will make our best Whale Done, Live School effort to change the way we celebrate our students' efforts to follow PROWL. Please be prepared to follow the directions outlined by Mr. Huguely and spend a few moments visiting with your students eating outdoors. All indications point to wonderful weather!

Enjoy the Blackcat potluck,

Principal Caudill

8-24-17

Good Morning Staff,

I stumbled across two teachers reteaching expectations in the hallway yesterday. As the experience progressed, I became encouraged by our teacher's efforts to notice appropriate participants, while keeping clear goals for management in the forefront. Many times we rush into content, only to suffer the consequences of this decision well into the school year. Now is the time to stubbornly reinforce the environment you envision, not what the students are unknowingly, conditioning each other. We are in control of how many times we march back into the hallway and how often we start and stop the activity.

Step 1- Identify the target behavior you wish to correct, replace and reinforce

Step 2: Announce your classroom management goal, just one goal

Step 3: Clearly model, describe and reteach the correct behavior

Step 4: Praise, reinforce extrinsically and visually while recording the success moment, tallying your success day after day (Great place for LS)

Step 5: Announce, announce, reinforce and reinforce (How many days do you advise? Until it is done)

Step 6: Shampoo Effect- Rinse and Repeat and on to the next management matter

CHAMPs in the classroom is our technique and system for delivering expectations for the next activity. Couple this with the timer and you're rolling with a full head of steam. As I've entered several classrooms, I'm pleased to see your CHAMPs designated whiteboard locations and posters throughout the classroom. My hope is I will begin to catch some active CHAMPing in the coming days and weeks. Yes, many have noted as I walk by, "We're suppose to be at a level zero", and I appreciate the heads up. So in the days ahead, make it abundantly, theatrically if needed, clear to the students your activity expectation by CHAMPing your next steps.

My point this morning: Spend the time today and tomorrow, etc. until the learning environment is where you intend things to be. You'll have my full support and all the time afforded to make it happen, until it happens.

Here is a video for your reference.

Setting the Tone from Day One

Have a great day everyone,

Principal Caudill

P.S.

1. Keep the fundraiser announcements! The more money we raise, the more our LS points will matter to our kiddos!
2. Dress code reminders- no rips, tears, or holes (patching included) above the knee, no scoop necks, must cover our shoulders.
3. Tardy to class must be met with reminders, reteaches and team consequences. Please be out, in the middle of the hallway and vocal.

8-23-2017

Good Morning Staff,

Are you applying timers to your lessons?

Over the next few weeks, I would like to see you post an agenda with times associated to each task. Make this a visual for frequent reference and adaptable for you or students to check-off or strike-through upon completion. Your students will benefit from listing your agenda and times, helping them to understand the direction of the class and provide clear, visual cues for each's efforts.

While teaching EBD at TCHS and TCMS, I never began a lesson without unpacking our outcome, reviewing the timed agenda and setting the timer. My review always lasted 3 minutes and only 3 minutes. At that point, I released the class into a 1 to 3 problem formative check- always lasted 5 minutes. Next, I lectured and demonstrated new content for 10 or 15 minutes, never more. All of this left my class with an assurance tasks will be organized and predictable. Your agenda and timer becomes another teacher in the classroom. I always left 5 minutes for my closing review of the agenda, discussion of the outcome and preview for tomorrows lesson, never more than 5 minutes. Finally, 3 minutes for 1-3 problems to check for understanding.

Predictability, consistency and measured timed tasks will help your students focus...I promise. I became so predictable, I would wipe down the white-board, upper left, lower left and to the right. Each day, I would hand out the entrance slip with a review or preview, asked students to find their seat, remove their math journal, copy the agenda and prepare to answer the 1-3 questions...every day, 10 out of 10.

To solidify our efforts, I would praise our students work. Some praise was simply taking a struggling student's copied agenda and underneath the projection, state, "If you want to be successful, make your agenda looks as neat and organized as Eddie's." If you like, I still have Eddie's math journal at my home, I'm happy to share.

Teaching Channel Example

Thanks for a fantastic four day start!

Principal Caudill

P.S.- Create your Teaching Channel Account Today!

Announcements for kids:

• Dress Code
• Fundraiser Efforts
• Locker Issues- Direct to Team Leader
• 10-10 rule- No Hallway Pass
• School Spirit Day- Friday Blackcat Day!

8-22-17

Good Morning LTMS,

I want to thank you for yesterday's, learning efforts. I know it may not always appear to be the case, however we are taking major strides toward our goal of "Common Ground" (PLC Pillar) and Technology for Learning. High Interest and Personalized Learning are just around the corner. Again thank you for the willingness to lead as learners, so our students will learn as never before!

Our top quote from yesterday- "All teachers at LTMS will be Level I Google Certified!" Samantha Duchscherer

I must share with you the incredible PLC progress demonstrated by our Math/Science department. Their team spirit and collective efforts managed to complete: 1. Norms, 2. Violation Responses and 3. Mission.

Math/Science Norms

Agenda- Shared, Timed and On-Time

Data Driven Decisions

Roles during each meeting

Equal opportunity to contribute

Be prepared

Violations Response

Discuss as a group

Give heads up notice

Roles are utilized

Math and Science Mission Statement

The mission of the Math/Science Department at LTMS is to create an environment in which critical thinking, problem solving, and real world application is at the forefront of students' personalized learning experience.

Wow, have a great day LTMS!

Principal Caudill,

P.S. Don't forget to increase your Professional Learning Network (PLN )by joining Twitter!

Follow me and our school @CaudillLarry, @LTMSscholars

8-21-17

Happy Solar Eclipse Day,

Today's agenda is as follows:

8:30-9:30 Medical Training

9:30-10:30 Live Schools Review and FAST Interventionist First Looks

10:30-11:30 Google Training

11:30-12:30 Department PLC Norming and Spring MAP Goal Setting

12:30-1:30 Lunch (On Your Own)

1:30-3:30 Team Time

Donuts at 8am,

Larry

August 16, 2017

Here we go LTMS! The first day of school is an incredibly amazing experience for young people, especially our sixth grade newcomers. At this time, I wish to remind all LTMS educators by introducing one of my favorite quotes written by Haim Ginott.

"I have come to a frightening conclusion.

I am the decisive element in the classroom.

It is my personal approach that creates the climate.

It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.

I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.

In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized."

Here's to a wonderful opening day!

Larry