Texas to Michigan

Letting go is hard. My husband and I spent this past weekend helping Austin move into his apartment at the University of Michigan. It’s a double edged sword that this young man really didn’t need us. Yes, I want to say that he needed us every step of the way with the move, but honestly WE needed him and this experience.

He is in for another year of such a special opportunity. Our hope is he heaps his plate with new academic, athletic, cultural and social offerings. During the next two years, life will mix youth, freedom, opportunity, and resources together in quite a remarkable combination. We want him to make the most of them all!

In the end, our job as parents is to make sure our kids are independent and happy. Well, Austin Carr, you have certainly accomplished this task and have made your parents extremely proud. Keep stepping out and showing the world just who you are.

To all our Bethke Elementary parents, please take time to enjoy all the steps your learners experience this year. All those steps add up to BIG lessons in the coming years; these years will go quickly, believe me.

Beginning 2019-2020 @ Bethke Elementary

 

The first 8 days of the 2019-2020 school year happened! The best part of our school FINALLY arrived on our campus – our learners! It was such a thrill to watch our learners in various spots around our campus. There was excitement all over our building as students were reconnected with old friends and learning about many new friends to Bethke Elementary.

I’m always impressed with what our educators make happen at the beginning of a new school year. Teachers work hard to provide open-ended opportunities that challenge our scientists, mathematicians, and readers. It’s fun to enter learning spaces to check out some of the action! Make sure you follow the action on Twitter #BethkeGrows. You will want to connect with us online to see the daily views being shared.

Check out some of our sights…

Our new families add new ideas and smiles to our learning spaces.	Our first grade writers are experimenting with phonics during our "Rug Clubs". Thanks, Mrs. Cameron!	Welcoming our second graders are on the first day in Mrs. Anderson's room. There is something about play-doh that adds fun!
Yep, these are our fifth grade teachers and they are #ROOTED for instruction and collaboration.	Thank you to all the parents who sent a piece of home in lunchboxes. We loved reading notes from parents in our cafeteria.	It's all about letters/sounds in first grade...even on the first week! Thank you to Ms. Martinez for sharing these smiles with us.

 

First Week 2016-2017 - Bethke Elementary

We entered week 1 with the best resource FINALLY stepping foot in our brand new building – our scholars! Learners arrived at Bethke Elementary on Monday from many locations in and out of our district. Our school opened our doors with 613 students ready to embrace learning! It was such a beautiful sight. When a new school opens, there are so many possibilities for all the new ideas that will flood into a building from ALL learners!

The excitement on our campus is just amazing! All of our resources haven’t quite arrived and you would never know from the activities happening in classrooms. Teachers creatively provided open-ended opportunities for our scientists, mathematicians, and readers. It has been fun to enter learning studios this week to see all our learners engaged and collaborating with others on projects. Thank you Bethke educators for making sure our students loved learning this week. I can't wait to see what this school year brings as we Build our Bethke Legacy! Follow the action on Twitter #BethkeLegacy.

Check out some of the sights…

Smiling families greeted our educators on Monday!	Bus driver gave high fives to ALL learners. What a way to start the day!	Flexible/Choice seating took over our campus. Thanks #desklesstribe.
Collaboration during fifth grade science experiment. “How/Why” was topic of conversation!	Yes, reading workshop happened on Week 1 in fourth grade. Thank you, Mrs. McKiernan.	I love hanging out in the cafeteria and engage in conversations with our learners. They teach me so much daily!

Journey

The last couple of days have truly changed me as a mom and educator. My husband and I traveled to Michigan to get our son, Austin, set up for his first semester in college. A stream of emotions have accompanied me on this journey. I am so proud of what this young man has accomplished in his eighteen years of life. His dream of playing baseball in college has come true and he secured an amazing scholarship (87%) to make it happen! Austin knows the power of sticking with something that you love through all the ups and downs. He knows how to make choices, learn from mistakes, and handle conflict on his own. There has been such a delicate balance of leading him and allowing him to walk forward alone. We have worked hard to give him the opportunity to navigate through life’s twists and turns. The game of baseball has taught him so much and most importantly how to persevere; that will carry him far in life.

Watching Austin take the next steps on his educational journey makes me want to thank some special educators who touched him with wisdom, but more importantly spoke to his heart. Thank you to Julie Cruser, Deedria Bourgeois, Vicki Armentor, Rafael Villarreal, and Mark Fobian. I want each of you to know that your planted seeds in Austin have taken root and have made a difference in his life. A little piece of each of you is now ready to shine in Michigan for the next four years. Thank you for pouring your heart into our son.

Educators, please know that you play such a big part in our learners’ lives. When we focus on building our learning spaces with love, everything else is secondary. You will never know just how far your reach will influence a student. Many of you won’t see the fruits of your labor for many years to come…just know that it will happen. My hope is that someone remembers to say thank YOU many years later. 

Austin and mom after dorm room was assembled. Success!	Mason (roommate) and Austin with Dr. Ditzler (Albion President) while taking a tour of this beautiful home.	Faculty creating a “clap in” to welcome all incoming freshman. This was one of those heart moments this weekend – pure love!

TEPSA 2016 - Learning and Growing

It has been shared by several passionate leaders that powerful ideas happen through reflection. I’ve heard that the first 48 hours after an event one must take time to reflect and capture thoughts for real change. That means that it must be time for me to reflect on my #TEPSA16 adventure. I believe I began attending the summer TEPSA conferences in 2011 and this summer’s event was one of my favorites by far due to the topics, presenters, and collaboration.

One hundred and twenty-six sessions were offered over a course of three days. I chose ten sessions hoping to push my thinking. I attended several sessions with topics focused on how to ensure we have high-quality educators in every classroom in our buildings. Each of these sessions reminded leaders about the power of positivity, accountability, and transparency.

I actually think of myself as a positive person who believes it’s important to see the silver lining. Hearing presenters such as @christinacole03, @TechNinjaTodd, and @Teach_aLa_Carte talk about how accentuating the positive is actually necessary to build strong school team…well, it just made me smile. I know that positive ideas drown out the negative and try walk that talk daily. It was suggested that we talk about the problems, but must focus on the solutions. Small problems stay small when we focus on quickly addressing and working together to find solutions. When educators make time to put their heads together, amazing things happen for all learners!

Ms. Christina Cole shared that educators can take accountability to the next level by helping their students set their own learning goals. We must find ways to propel student’s learning forward by focusing on what goals they have for themselves! I’ll be serving 3^rd – 5^th graders as a lead learner at Bethke Elementary in the fall. I want to help our educators improve learning for our students by helping our learners build their own learning goals for the 2016-2017 school year. Let’s do this! It was stated that part of accountability is finding ways to involve the community in the process. We want our schools to be known as places where all community members are welcomed on a daily basis. Mr. Todd Nesloney not only invites the business leaders into his school weeks prior to the opening of school with a Business Open House, but he also shared how the educators in their school take the school to students’ homes with a hot dog event! I am determined to chat with the Bethke educators on finding a way to make this happen in our learning community.

Ms. Frances Gonzalez shared ideas on ways schools can invite teachers to be viewed as change agents by encouraging groups to have open and honest talk – Think Tanks. Our educators need to be positioned with other learners to grow in their thoughts. Networking inside and outside of our four walls is not only helpful, but it is crucial to the development of our teams. I will make sure I’m a leader who works side-by-side with all educators in our building and I want to make sure I am a person who is learning from educators outside of Bethke community, too. I believe that all learners need to view their leader as someone who talks about his/her own successes and failures. I want to be an educator who is trying things and growing from those experiences. 

To say that I love collaboration would be an understatement. I truly believe that ideas grow when passionate educators join forces and collaborate about our work. During #TEPSA16, it was a thrill to collaborate with many people in my PLN. Participating in sessions at TEPSA planted topics for evening dinner conversations and hotel room meetings. Connecting with other educators and discussing “what ifs” puts control in our hands, but it also helps push the entire field of education forward. Thank you to many educators who reflected and pushed my thinking this week. There is something special about professional learning communities! Thank you #TEPSA16. 

Possible?

Have you ever wondered what is really possible? As an Assistant Principal, I have been thinking about that quite a bit lately. I wonder if we are giving each and every student exactly what he/she needs at the exact moment he/she needs it in the learning process. I know our teachers are amazing and are planning night and day for exceptional thinking tasks for our learners. How can we make sure we are meeting all our students’ various needs? It’s called COLLABORATION!

Just a couple of things you might not know about our educators at Morton Ranch Elementary:

1. Our educators meet with their instructional teams and our Instructional Coaches at least once a week for EACH subject taught. These sessions are amazing to watch! Discussions happen around HOW and WHAT we are using to cement concepts with all learners. That means teachers who teach multiple subjects (math, science, reading, language arts, and social studies) meet at least three/four times a week with these various subjects. 

2. Our MRE educators are constantly on Twitter chats involved in learning with other educators around the world. Did you know that most of those chats happen during the evening hours (after a full day of work with your students) and on Saturday and Sunday? Your child’s teacher wants to make sure if a new idea is out there, she/he is using it! Our educators are building our MRE story at #mreALLin on Twitter. Why not login and follow/join the conversation!

3. Many of our educators attend each and every after school event just to chat with our families. Yes, they have families they are leaving at home and stating they will “see them a little bit later” on that evening. Our educators can’t wait to cheer on your family at events such as: grade level musicals, Glow Run, Art Night, Book Fair evening events, Math Night, Breakfast with Santa, PTA Meetings…and this is only a partial list. We love it when our students’ families show up at these events. Thank you!

4. Did you know that our MRE educators think about your learner and family around the clock? These dedicated people are constantly striving to serve YOU. That really is our passion! How can we help all our learners at Morton Ranch Elementary? This is asked on a daily basis in our hallways and meeting rooms.

Is it possible for educators to care this much? Yes, it is and it’s happening in our learning community at Morton Ranch Elementary. Thank you for allowing us to share the magic of learning with your students on a daily basis. It really is possible to make sure that each and every student feels that he/she matters in our learning environment!

Thank you to the educators at MRE for making it happen on a daily basis. It is noticed and appreciated by our families (not to mention our administrators).

First Week of 2015-2016

How does one measure a great week? Well, we just completed our first week at Morton Ranch Elementary and by all accounts it was fantastic!

Our students enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting many new friends. Students all over our campus were helping each other learn routines and procedures. There is something special about learners helping learners! A campus just isn't complete during the summer months without students' smiles, laughs and questions. Welcome back, Mavericks! 

Our school has grown by one classroom in each grade level this year. With growth arrives many new families and several opportunities to embrace change! Our students have a Grab-and-Go breakfast opportunity located by the front office. No longer must students venture from the buses to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. They can "grab" breakfast and "go" directly to their classrooms to eat. Let's maximize our instructional time!

Our families engaged in two parent rallies this week to begin the volunteering adventure -Mommies & Mavericks and Watch Dads Of Great Students (Watch D.O.G.S.). Many of our previous volunteers are back in force. We are just thrilled to see so many of our new parents ready to help our students and staff make MRE simply the best this year! Please join the fun by registering for one of these extraordinary clubs. Check your Tuesday folder for all the details. You will be glad you did!

Not only did we have excitement for our students and parents, our educators are pretty excited about Mrs. Christina Dismuke's news! One of our Second Grade Teachers was chosen as one of the three state of Texas finalists for Elementary Teacher of Texas! She will head to Austin, Texas during September for an interview and reception. We received word about this honor during her Region IV Teacher of the Year reception held at our school on the first day of school! To say we are thrilled would be an understatement! We simply LOVE Mrs. Christina Dismuke and think she has hung the moon for students, parents, and educators!

Our first week assembly would not be complete without a special birthday wish to Morton Ranch Elementary. Our school turned eight years old this year! We sang happy birthday and all learners enjoyed cupcakes. Our administrators shared a special rap about the meaning of MAVS and ALL IN! Our lead learners might just have some hidden talents.

We plan to share moments and build our MRE story. Please check back often as we share our reflections and celebrations with you. Follow the conversation on Twitter with #mreALLin each and every day. Can't wait to see what the rest of the school year brings!