Monday Morning Wins: Staff Newsletters Support and Connect the School Community
Students deserve great teachers. And teachers deserve the support they need to become great.
– Bill Gates
INTRO
When Ocean View High School expanded the implementation of MTSS schoolwide, principal Courtney Spelber identified a need to help the school community—specifically the school’s staff—see what on-the-ground examples look like on the Ocean View campus. For example, teachers asked for specific examples of what First Best Instruction (FBI) looks like in classrooms throughout the campus.
To address this need, Courtney developed a weekly newsletter called Monday Morning Wins where she ties what’s happening in the school, both in and out of the classroom, to the MTSS schoolwide initiative.
OBJECTIVES
- Reflect on areas of confusion/concern for your staff
- Brainstorm, plan, and implement how you can develop a practice such as Monday Morning Wins
WHAT IT IS
The Monday Morning Wins newsletter includes pictures as well as instructional strategies of the work being done in classrooms. This newsletter is helpful for staff new to the concept of MTSS by providing them with examples of student engagement and the many teaching methods that are already happening every day on campus.
Themes highlighted in the newsletter include the following:
- A focus on what is positive that is happening in the school
- Specific examples of FBI in the classroom
- Examples of what’s happening to support students in co- and extracurricular programs
- Being explicit about attaching everything to school values/identity
HOW IT’S WORKING FOR OVHS
Monday Morning Wins has given the staff a better understanding of what MTSS looks like on a daily basis and a better understanding of how to support all students.
Building on this momentum, Ocean View High School leadership was able to continue to support the school’s MTSS work in the following ways:
- All of the staff professional development was organized around MTSS
- Leadership continued to find ways for students to be better known by staff, including implementing grade-level, cross-curricular collaboration meetings
- Leadership identified and operationalized student outcomes throughout the school day so that both students and the staff now have a clear understanding of the skills students need to be prepared when they graduate from OVHS
REFLECTION
- Reflect on areas of confusion/concern for your staff. Consider any new programs, initiatives, or district/schoolwide changes that they may need support with and/or clarification about.
- What’s the top area that some additional attention and support could have a big positive impact on for your staff, students, school?
- Brainstorm how you can develop a practice such as Monday Morning Wins:
- Scope
- Content
- Frequency
- Delivery
- If you’ll need additional assistance, who is best to reach out to?
- Develop and document a plan to keep you on track
TIPS
- When brainstorming your own ideas for something to keep your staff/community supported and connected, consider:
- What is a top area of confusion/concern that can be addressed in something like a weekly newsletter?
- How can you always keep this area of focus related to your school’s values/identity/maxims?
- Consistency will be a key expectation once you launch this practice – make sure you can fulfill the commitments you make before making them. For example, if you know weekly newsletters won’t be sustainable, then maybe start with biweekly or monthly ones.
- Remember to maintain the specific focus and brevity of the newsletter.
- Know what goals/results you want to measure for this practice and when and how you will measure them before launching the practice.
- Keep it positive.
Responses