Posts

Showing posts from January, 2018

Buh-Bye January!

Image
The love and pride that our Nina, Durfee student feels about school is infectious, as is her smile! In the Blog This Week: Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are announced!  This year, we have three award winners! Caitlyn Borges - Painting, In the Mills- Honorable Mention Kiara Raposa - Painting, The Blue Period, Self Portrait- Honorable Mention Nolin Freitas - Painting, Durfee Union Mills- Gold Key Congratulations to all, and to Mark Carvalho for his mentoring of these young painters! Also, Congratulations to Reece Ashley, Durfee Band Student ,  for being accepted to participate in the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) All State Conference playing Tuba!   Reece auditioned on November 18, 2017 and was accepted for the Southeastern District Music Festival held on January 6-7, 2018.  After receiving a score in top 50% in the state on his instrument Reece was then was eligible to audition on January 20 with the other five districts in Massachusetts for

Is it Spring YET?

Image
A Few Share Outs!  Doran Welcomes YOU! Silvia Art Teacher, Ms. Steph Pereira using that content vocab! The cold weather and short days can be challenging, but somehow, we made it to the end of the half way through January mark!   Some of you are getting ready for Formative Meetings , so I wanted to re-post some information regarding these: Your evaluator will be looking at the artifacts that you upload to your evidence file.  Make sure it is organized and easy to understand.  Labeling it with the appropriate Standard/Goal or making folders for each is a good idea.. For most of you, your evaluator is not an art or music teacher, so make sure that you explain how each artifact shows growth in your content.  Also, explain how students show this growth, and "how you know" they grew! (Student work, pre and post tests, formative assessments, rubrics, check ins, tickets to leave- all of these can show growth) It's the Formative time, so you should be &

Flooded with GREATNESS and GRIT

Image
   In reflecting on this week's events at Durfee, and also Tansey, I am compelled to share that I feel so proud to work in this district.  I say that because of the greatness and grit I see among us.  We had an already deteriorating building take another hit with thousands of gallons of water destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of technology in classrooms, and that same day, had to evacuate students from Tansey due to a gas issue.  And still, we persevered.  The district team reacted instantly, proactively and with a positive attitude toward getting it done, whether that be cleaning up in the aftermath of the flood, or getting the Tansey kids safely to Durfee for dismissal.  And today, we are back.  I walked through classrooms today and my heart was full to hear and see Our Kids working with teachers, and teachers welcoming them back, both with that same GREATNESS AND GRIT that I so admire in my city.        Nonetheless, I was reminded today that we read about th