January Newsletter

Happy New Year Pleasant Valley community,

There is an old expression in education that says, “Teaching is like trying to fix an airplane and fly it at the same time!” Really, it means that teaching is a difficult and complex job that is constantly changing. It’s the thoughtful planning of sequential lessons that are directly aligned with state standards. It’s monitoring instructional practices and continuously preparing materials for lessons. It’s presenting lessons that are motivating and provide frequent opportunities for students to be actively engaged. In addition, it’s administering ongoing formative and summative assessments, analyzing results, and providing extended learning activities for the kids who “got it,” and re-teaching for those who didn’t that makes teaching such a complex and challenging profession.

Late-start Wednesdays provide teachers a bit of time to stop “flying” and to focus fully on “fixing,” whether that means addressing learning needs, fine tuning instructional approaches, or being trained in new initiatives.

During these valuable late start days, teachers analyze student data and discuss best practices moving forward to meet the needs of each of our students. Teachers identify students’ specific learning needs, and review our instructional pacing and whether or not our chosen strategies are proving to be effective with the majority of the students.

There are four questions that guide our Collaborative work:

What is it we want students to know?

How do we know they have learned it?

How do we respond when they have not learned?

How do we respond when they already know it?

Late-start time is valuable time, and it is time well-spent. It has to be. Our passengers on this journey-our students-your kids-deserve nothing less than the best possible learning experience!

We THANK YOU for all of the support that you give to our school and our dedicated teachers!!!

Mike Maloney, Principal

Krishna Smith, Assistant Principal

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icon 14320 NE 50th Avenue
Vancouver, WA 98686

icon P.O. Box 200
Battle Ground, WA 98604

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