Faculty Meeting Notes, 5/18/16

Announcements:Ø  Please complete the registration form for the First Aid class on June 13^th if you plan to attend. Registration forms are in Jen's office.Ø  Monday, 23^rd Mindfulness at 6:30-7:30 at UNCA. Teachers who attend can come in on Friday, 5/27 at 10AM for the teacher workday. See the original e-mail from Megan for details.Ø  For a Class Pool Party, please send Cory an e-mail with preferred day and time. Recognize that we will do our best to accommodate, and we may not be able to!·         End of Year Conferences and ReportsØ  In the upper grades, grades are due by Friday May 27^th by the end of the day (4:00). Please tell the admin team in advance if you cannot turn in your grades by then.  Grades will be sent out from the office.Ø  In the younger grades, if you have parent conferences, hand them a copy of their report at that time (and submit one to the office for student files).Ø  Please give two copies of each student’s report to the office. The office will mail out grades and reports at the end of the year.Ø    The template for narratives has not changed from last year.Ø  Admin. team needs to know about any grade retentions or families that need a conference.Ø  If you want Megan to attend; please use Megan’s link to her live schedule. www.doodle.com/mccarter.Ø  A suggestion was made to put the link in the faculty handbook.·         Honoring ceremony:Ø  In prior years, the elementary grades have included one of the following: Reflections related to student treasures, haikus, a recognized a quality in each student, etc.Ø  K/1 has typically included a slideshow as a visual that shows images of the kids.Ø  Each class should plan to be on stage for about 8 minutes max, with middle school at ~10 minutes.Ø  The experience of parents is that they appreciate the small way that their child is being showcased.Ø  There will be a rehearsal with River on Wednesday at 10:00. (There will not be any music classes that day.)Ø  The admin team will honor staff who are moving on to new adventures.Ø  Classes usually honor class parents with a card and a gift (ex: plant).·         Orientation training list:Ø  This schedule will be somewhat different for various grade levels.Ø  According to some teachers, there was an appreciation for the offerings of Steve Torma. The recommendation was that his workshops may need to be more directed for our increasing mastery.                                                      Ø  CC  is foundational to what we are doing as a school community, and we will continue deepening our understanding.Ø  A suggestion was made to refresh CC skills with a book study this summer.Ø  A recommendation was that the workshop be teacher/student-focused. One suggestion was that teachers read the book and act out various scenarios and practice the CC techniques in real-life situations.Ø  Teacher professional homework or study skills could involve questions such as: How did you use this practice this week. Using the CC practice in real life outside the classroom.Ø  MV will share the Non-Violent Communication (Marshall Rosenburg) CDs with MeganØ  We could perhaps explore CC through other people in the field.Ø  Faculty generated a list of training ideas, captured by Megan. If you have more ideas to add to the list, please email her directly.Ø  Could we have an option for teachers to attend ongoing training for C.C.                   ·         Possible orientation/training possibilities include:Ø  Unstructured time for teams to work on curriculum/Open-ended collaborationØ  Was last year a good balance of unstructured time and planned workshops? Yes.Ø  Classroom management for 6-12Ø  Design Thinking and Integral lesson planningØ  Basil's sense of integral (It was useful, although it was less applicable)Ø  Folks might not take things that were optional and still interesting.Ø  Subject specific spectrum across the grade levels (ex: Math Instruction)Ø  Orienting lateral entry students.Ø  Neuroscience of learningØ  Revisit homework policyØ  Art-based fun and creative trainingØ  STEM·         Faculty Members completed a survey regarding how we fulfill Odyssey's mission.·         Megan then led a workshop modeling group-work practices, inviting teachers to celebrate successes and brainstorm goals for next year.