Academics
Promoting a Community of Growth
Students’ academic goals this year are focused around the skills they need to engage texts at a high-level, solve problems and find and synthesize information. By the end of the year all students need to score at least 60% on rigorous math and ELA assessments, a T on the Fountas and Pinnell assessment, a 700 on the SRI and be “meeting” on writing assessments. Throughout the year students will engage in a deep understanding of computations (addition, subtraction,multiplication and division ) and synthesize that information to solve problems involving geometry, fractions, and real-life applications. Reading growth will result from students’ passion for engaging texts in and outside of class and being able to do so consistently by asking and answering questions,inferring and making predictions based on evidence provided in the text. In all subject areas students will become familiar with resources in a way that allows them to solve problems that are posed by the teacher, peers or by the student his/herself. It is my responsibility to provide opportunities for students to track their progress and celebrate when they make progress towards their goals.
Making a Difference
What will my students get from your class?
This year students will realize, apply and reflect on the power they have as individuals and as a collective. Students are very familiar with Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy but need to understand that his work was a part of an everyday grind that was dependent on not just his dream but his steps to implement that dream. MLK, Cesar Chavez , Ella Baker or Jimmy Carter did not accomplish what they did without the help of a country filled with many people with a similar dream and grind. Students in my class often enter understanding the implications of not being successful in Missouri. However in order to understand the “Why” behind community, we must be aware that Missouri is ranked 2nd in the nation for homicide rates, the majority of those occurring in Kansas City. Our success and survival starts in grade school and is strengthened in the 4th grade, in understanding that our goal is to be safe, proactive and goal-oriented within our community. Without an understanding of community at this age, students risk not seeing how their actions and treatment towards each other affects the lives of those around them. Throughout U.S. history communities have been strongest and most powerful when the members unite for a common goal and support each other in reaching that goal. Students in my classroom will need to be trendsetters that understand that not only is the individual’s success dependent on his/her own work but also the success of those around them. This year I will urge my students to understand that reaching our goals will be reliant on our daily grind as well as our ability to do the following as a community: learn, work, uphold expectations, and protect each other
