Week Ending 10/26/18

on
Broadway Show?  
NOPE- Right here @Durfee!  
Kudos go out to Gary Bigelow and his fearless team of tech students for learning the technology and art behind this amazing show!  

 Tech students in Mr. Bigelow's class prepping components of the set for the BIG SHOW!


Good afternoon and happy Friday!

 This week, I spent some time with a team of teachers and administrators at Durfee thinking about what type of school we currently "design" for kids...  It really brought me back to our work with Daniel Pink and his Whole New Mind text... That aptitude of Design- Utility enhanced by significance.  John Heskett, quoted by Pink defines Design simply as "The human nature to shape and make our environment in ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives."  This could also be the definition of what you every day as teachers, and what attentive building leaders do as system builders...
 I Need You!  I wanted to ask you to think about three questions and shoot me a short response back in my FlipGrid... https://flipgrid.com/93f95139

 Thank you in advance!  

 In the News This Week: 
  • The Narrows Center for the Arts is again planning a great fundraiser for our Durfee Music Program!  Check out this year's Michael Troy Tribute Show on November 18th! LINK TO SHOW INFO
  • Here is a summary of the event:
    • Fall River native, Michael Troy, has written amazing songs about his home town, people who have touched him and life itself, in the way he knows best…through his ability to combine his music with storytelling. He would tell you he has lived many lives as a mill worker, fisherman, laborer and carpenter, however he has always come back to his first love, music.  Michael’s family invites you to join them to enjoy live performances by: Gary Farias, Louie Leeman, Monica Ambroziak, Johnny Botelho, Barry Brown, Chuck Williams, Mike Laureanno, Mary Beth Shares, Joanne Doherty, Joan Aiken, Steve Pelland, Grace Morrison.
    • All proceeds from the concert will go to the Michael Troy Memorial Music Foundation, Inc a newly formed non-profit organization. The foundations pledge is to keep the music and memory of Michael Troy alive by establishing funding for the B.M.C. Durfee High School Music Department. The foundations mission is to “provide a safe and supportive place for our future musicians and songwriters, where they have access to instruments and performance equipment, as well as the technology used in today’s world of music.
  • Durfee's Got Talent was a huge success on Friday of last week!  Congrats go out to the winners- Ethan Da Silva and Andrew Curtis, and all who had the skill and the will to compete and perform!  Kudos to Lara Beth Terry and her team for pulling off this great annual event!
  • The Marching Band performed at the Annual ROTC Inspection here at Durfee and their sound was AMAZING... Yessss!

  • Some of you may remember Ms. Marilyn (Prodnick) Russo and her amazing work while at Kuss Middle School a while back- well, she has returned to the FAM to work with our kids at Greene Elementary School!  Welcome back, Marilyn!  Your classroom already looks amazing, with alternative lighting, colorful posters, vocab words around the room, and engaging activities!  Loved this task around identifying counts using candy treat names!
  • Ms. Brenda Gaudette's students created these amazing Asian inspired chopsticks (above) in ceramics class, and is now working on "plating up" some fun foods to celebrate with- ceramic plates and all!
Planning Ahead!
  • The SLG and PPG Activity Plans will be due on October 30th.  Make sure you make them shareable with your evaluator so they can see them, approve/give feedback!  Once that's done, you can go back in and sign.
  • The Fine and Performing Arts team will be together on the morning of Tuesday, November 6th for PD day.  Here are the three topics:
    • Use of Tech to Narrate Assessment Results: Teachers will learn technology tools to measure student learning growth and be able to use these tools when narrating that growth at the formative and summative evaluation meetings as well as with students. We will use the Google Tools as well as a Rubric Generator.
    • Special Needs in the Art and Music Classroom: Teachers will present strategies for art and music that work for students with special needs. These strategies will allow for all abilities to reach the goal set for the task. Teachers will leave with supplies and strategies for these scaffolds.
    • Planning Rigorous Tasks That Drive Academic Talk: Teachers will engage in conversation with art and music staff about the types of tasks that we plan and how a task can or cannot lend it self to solid academic conversation. This continues our work in Close Reading in Art and Music. A presentation will be given that reviews what a close read in each content area looks and sounds like, and teams will identify the best ways to frame discussion for students around art and music thinking.
  • The afternoon will be used to continue to build Curriculum Maps in K-8.  The Durfee Team will be meeting as a school after lunch and then will also have some time to map curriculum.
  • Henry Lord 3rd Grade will be visited by the NBSO on Wednesday the 7th at 12:30!  Interesting interdisciplinary work going on between music, science and recycling!
  • Durfee Faculty Meeting- November 13th
  • Durfee Department Meeting- November 28th
  • K-8 Department Meeting- November 29th
Have a wonderful weekend!

-Jackie

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