Principal Points

I must admit that I'm a sucker for the holidays. I always enjoy this season. As I have mentioned before many of our students do not enjoy the same feeling of joy that we may feel during this season. Many of our staff members also experience heightened anxiety and pressures during this time. As their leader it is important that you are empathetic toward how those you lead could be feeling during this time. So continue to spread that joy!

Have a great week!

Please ensure you have updated the observation and feedback document to reflect your updated coaching conversations and action steps.

Dr. Liggins has asked you before in his question of the week about your sense of urgency. Remember if your faculty and staff do not see you with a sense of urgency about improving student achievement then they will not believe that it is an urgent matter on your campus.

The most successful teams have a healthy sense of urgency and spend their time and energy on doing work that will have the greatest impact. We are almost at the break, but you must still think about how you and your teams are maximizing your time to create a healthy sense of urgency. Here are a few questions to consider when discussing and defining urgency with your teams.

*What should your team's actions look like?

*What will the arrival and hallway transitions look and sound like? What are students and teachers doing?

*What does your calendar look like? How is your time being mapped?

*What will classroom instruction look and sound like? What will students and teachers be doing?

*What will be the characteristics of PLCs/Data meetings?

A quick article to read at your leisure.

https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/10-school-leadership-best-practices

This is a good time to ensure that you have a good updated campus emergency phone tree in case you have to contact your staff in the event of a closure. I do realize that most of this is done electronically now but it's always good to ensure that all know how to be reached in the event an emergency occurs are we have to close school. Please check your systems.

Please make sure you are caught up on all of your drills before we end the semester. Remember to have a fire drill once a month. I know you all have done a good job on lock-down/shelter type drills. If you need further assistance please see Chief Rodriguez.

As we are all aware our nine week assessments are fast approaching. We all know how important these assessments are as it relates to knowing exactly where our students are in terms of their mastery of assessed standards. It's a good time to do the following:

*Ensure proper alignment is taking place within all tested areas. You do this by being an active participant at PLCs/data meetings and actively daily in classrooms.

*Ensure younger students know how to properly take the assessments. Remember they have have to be taught how to test.

*Ensure proper accommodations have been aligned with each student for testing.

*Ensure all staff know and understand the game plan as it relates to testing on your campus. No surprises. It's best to be well out in front of it.

If you should need any other support or help please reach out to the Testing department early on.

There are several steps that help us have a good system of observation and feedback. As we have discussed before, having a random system to improve your teachers is not a best practice. It must be highly organized and efficient and grounded in those that you can get the highest leveraging return on.

I have attached a rubric from the Relay Graduate School of Education that allows you to rate yourself. Take some time with your instructional team to rate yourself in each area to see where you stand. In the areas that you are less than proficient take some time to build actionable steps to get to the proficient implementation zone. Let's discuss this when I come around to see you this week!

Rubric is below.

I've seen several campuses do this before. I've never done it but it seems fun. It pretty much is a fun thing to do with your staff on most days before Christmas break. Of course you do not have to do it but it's an idea.

December 10th: STAAR EOC Retest
December 10th: GISD Council PTA

December 12th: 9 Week assessments begin for elementary, SGC & middle

December 16th: DEIC Meeting

December 16th: 9 Week assessments begin for GHS & NHHS
December 17th: School Board Meeting

December 19th: Early Dismissal

December 20th: Staff Development & Student Holiday

Please make sure you are reading all WAIP information. This information is very important. You do not want to miss a due date or something critical because you are not reading thoroughly. Your secretary receives the communication as well. Please work with her/him to ensure that all deadlines are met.

Email: oneilh@greenvilleisd.com
Website: www.herbertoneil.com
Location: 4004 Moulton Street, Greenville, TX, USA
Phone: 903-457-2500
Twitter: @herbertoneiljr

Academic Improvement

• Each student is to improve in their learning at least one year
• Each educator is to improve their skill set in providing rigor

Attendance

• Students will be present and accounted for regularly
• Each educator will be present and accounted for regularly

Culture

• Students will thrive in an environment of high expectations where they feel loved, appreciated, and challenged
• Educators will work in an environment of high expectations where they feel loved, appreciated, and challenged

Monday: Campus visits AM/PLC Visits pm/WMAB PM
Tuesday: Meetings AM/GISD Council PTAs

Wednesday: T6 Campus Appreciation/Coaching visits

Thursday: GISD Principal's Meeting/Coaching visits pm

Friday: Campus visits am & pm