Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

Professional Development is always an important part of being a "professional", in my opinion.  No matter how seasoned or strong one is about anything, keeping the attitude of "continuous improvement" is always important.  AND, if you are like me, when you are not seasoned or strong. . . professional development is a necessity!  :-)

Last year, I started participating in the Indiana Principal Leadership Institute (IPLI) as a member of Cohort 6.  It has been WONDERFUL professional development opportunity and I feel I have grown a lot as an instructional leader.  One of the areas I have been learning about is Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum.  Robert Marzano, in his book, "Highly Reliable Schools", talks about the importance of this work. No matter what classroom a student is in, having the opportunity to learn the same content is imperative.  Not only is guaranteed content important, but ensuring it is viable by making sure we have time to teach what is important.  Just because a typical school year is 180 days, doesn't mean that you really have 180 days of teaching!  

Both Marzano and Mike Schmoker (in his book "Focus") lead us to this important work.  This work is not new to Perry Central Jr./Sr. High School as we have been talking about Guaranteed and Viable curriculum and PLC work for years!  At our Back To School Retreat, we took some time to refocus this work by starting to look at our Power Standards (standards that students must know to be successful) by categorizing what we teach to ensure our curriculum is viable by developing a strong scope and sequence.    

I look forward to working with all of you this week on what you think are your next steps as a team to continue this work in our PLC teams.  In the business of learning, we know that this work is necessary and I am grateful that all of you are willing to dive in and ensure our students have every opportunity to learn.  

Important Information: 

Standards-Based Reporting Topics:  Thank you to everyone who sent me their updated version of their reporting topics for the first quarter.  I think I was able to get all of the necessary updates completed.  If you haven't had a chance to look at your first quarter and ensure your grade book is set up correctly, please do so quickly.

Junior High Commodore Pride Meeting:  We will have a Junior High Commodore Pride meeting Tuesday, August 13th at 7:30 a.m. in the high school library to hand out activities for you to do with your teams for the month of August.  Our plan is to get information to you for the short-term during this meeting and eventually get you a nice calendar of events for every month.  Our kick-off day was great.  I look forward to our next venture!  Also, you can find a link to the team lists HERE.  We will discuss locations for team meetings and the best way to communicate that with students on Tuesday.

WIN Gym Time - Phil has been working hard to develop a schedule for each 7-9 WIN group to visit the High School Gym one day a week.  You can find a copy of the schedule HERE.  We will start using the gym this week!  It is a great way for our students to take a much needed brain break!

Please remember these important protocols to ensure the success of this activity: 
   * In your WIN groups take ATTENDANCE FIRST!
   * Make sure all students know where to go - maybe post the schedule
   * Communicate with Mrs. Hilgenhold or Mr. Schwartz and make sure they have WIN coverage - please see document for who should help supervise the gym with them.  

PLC Meetings:  In your team folders, I have started quick agendas for our first week of PLC meetings.  I plan to stop by everyone's meetings this week and check in.  Looking forward to a great time of collaboration! 

Important Dates: 

Event Link - Remember you can log-in to Event Link off of the PC Website to view all athletic events this week.  

Faculty Meeting - August 20th  7:20 a.m.  High School Library