January 14, 2021 RCSD Educator Blog

 Message from Jamey Schrey

Little Actions

Happy New Year!

I hope that you all are doing well and are off to a great start.

Over vacation, I enjoyed spending time with my husband and girls. We played lots of pickleball and board games. We also used House Party to play Uno and Pictionary with my sister and my nieces. Lots of laughs and fun memories, even in this time of having to be physically distant.

On a walk during the break, I listened to a medical podcast where doctors talked about patients in building new habits. All three doctors kept recognizing the book Atomic Habits. As someone diagnosed with ADD, habits and routines do not always come easily to me, so I am always trying to learn new strategies. For example, I loved The Power of Habit because it gave clear examples and strategies to make shifts in my habits rather than just hoping to make changes. It was also so interesting and funny, which is a bonus with a more technical book.

The author of Atomic Habits is a person who almost died of a head injury he experienced in a sporting event. His path to learning everything over led to his recognition of habits and practice. I dove into the book Atomic Habits, which got me thinking about our schools and students. One of the interesting outcomes from our modified schedule and our new rituals and routines on-site is the decrease in poor behavior. I certainly am not saying that there are no children needing behavior interventions and increased support. But if we took a snapshot of the extreme behaviors from past years, there would have had consequences of office referrals, suspensions, and multiple meetings; many extreme behaviors are significantly down (yes, I just knocked on wood). 

Atomic Habits talks about little changes that are made, similar to 10% Happier, that lead to a more considerable compounding change. One example in the book is that of a British cycling team that is doing poorly. The new coach looks to improve every cyclist’s performance by 1%, changing behaviors in physical and mental habits, with the idea that the compounding effect would be dramatic as a team. 

Well, haven’t our schools recently made little changes in routines, processes, and procedures that are taught, practiced, and coherently followed for safety and the ability to have in-person instruction?  Could we say the same about distance learning? How have these changes been impacted by all staff being coherent in expectations of students no matter the grade level or department? What are the implemented practices that we need to carry on to next year as we plan to come back (fingers and toes crossed) full time?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear helps the reader plan how to break bad routines and make good ones. One funny habit that I recognize that I built into my ritual during the fall distance learning was doing the New York Times Mini-Crossword and Letter-Boxed games. I would get up very early, have a cup of coffee, do the games, and then jump on emails for the day.  It brought me joy to have quiet time, do something fun, and feel like I could solve a little problem at 5 am. Now that we have both in-person and distance learning, I have begun jumping right into the emails, and I need to build back in the habit that brought me joy. I keep saying I will, but I tend to start with what is more urgent. I plan to get up earlier now and build it in. And try it for one week.  While we all love the 15 minutes of extra sleep, I believe the habit, and the momentary joy for the 15 minutes of peace in the morning, may give more to my health and well-being. I will let you know!

So I leave with you with the hopes that you are living 10% Happier. I hope you recognize what is right within your life, and you can make small breakups with those things that compound into stress and energy suckers!

Atomic Habits | How to Transform Your Life by Changing Your Habits - James Clear

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Conference Week Information

Elementary Information

Elementary Conference Guidelines:
Here are some important guidelines we must adhere to for Elementary Conferences. Please read!

Conference Week and Report Cards:

We will have additional information about Zoom recommendations for conference week in an upcoming blog. We will have office hours for Report Cards on the following dates:

2/1 2:30-3:15, 3:30-4:15

2/9 2:30-3:15

2/11  3:00-3:45

You can find the links to the Zoom on the Optional PD document and will be shared as we get closer to those dates.

Each site is running their own report cards so your site admin will give you more details about that schedule in the weeks ahead. Once again, more details will be sent out in upcoming blogs.

Middle School Information

Report Cards:

Below is a sample schedule of when report cards will be due. Sites are running the report cards and emailing them out. If you have additional questions about the timeline below please speak with your administrator.

Run preview reports on 2/23

Run reports by grade level and added to the site folder. 

Final grades completed by 2/24 at 11:59pm

Run Final Reports 2/25

Run reports by grade level and added to the site folder. 

2 emails go home 2/26, Summative and Learning Behavior

We will have office hours for Report Cards on the following dates:

2/1 2:30-3:15, 3:30-4:15

2/9 2:30-3:15

2/11  3:00-3:45

You can find the links to the Zoom on the Optional PD document and will be shared as we get closer to those dates.

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Additional Information

EduTpying Reminder

A reminder that as part of the Roseville City School District Digital Literacy plan, all students in grades 1-4 were given access this school year to a typing program called EduTyping.  Edutyping was kind enough to give the program to all 5th-8th grade students in our District for free from now until August 2021.  Please see the below guides for how students log in and how teachers can log in to see progress.  For middle school teachers, there is no expectation you have students use this but it is a nice option for students to improve their typing skills. 
EduTyping- Student Log In
EduTyping- Teacher Log In