"Martinez, Roberto A. (LD5 SUPT)" <roberto.a.martinez@lausd.net> To: "Carlos Garcialara" <cgarcialara@gmail.com> Cc: "Jonathan Sison" <jms5829@lausd.

net>, "Raul Correa" <rcorr2@lausd.net> Re: MACHS SJS GI Academy Week-in-REview/Forward Focus

March 2, 2013 5:30 AM

Carlos, Thank you for including me in your email and sharing a practice which allows teachers to have qualitative data to guide their efforts to differentiate instruction and personalize support. Gee, wish I would have known that strategy back in the day at Main Street! Have an awesome weekend! Roberto Antonio Martinez Instructional Superintendent ESC EAST-LAUSD "Supporting 21st Century Learners through Leadership and Service" On Mar 1, 2013, at 9:04 AM, "Carlos Garcialara" <cgarcialara@gmail.com> wrote: Hello wonderful SJS MACHS faculty,

I wanted to give you a heads up with student notes youll be finding in your boxes today. They are Im struggling with notes from my mentoring students mostly but also from students I have in my learning center (sped / iep). I am borrowing this strategy from one of FPAs finest teachers, Ms. Young, as a way to survey and support our struggling students. Students recently received the 5 week progress report card and once again received a wake-up call on what they are or arent doing in your classes. I HOPE that all of you use this valuable and sensitive information to inform your instruction and your attitude towards our students. Some of them are hurting really bad and need more than simple try harder or you really need to want it advice. I know you all know this but please remember that these kids are coming from a socio-economic background that is seriously disadvantaged financially, academic and also because many come from broken homes and most likely, dysfunctional too. This may or may not translate to poor attitudes, self-discipline, academic progress and inappropriate behaviors. But nevertheless, this is a tough phase/stage of their lives, and while many of them lack the maturity or respect expected from all students/them, keep in mind that they sometimes feel like they have nothing to lose, because they dont have much right now! With that said, please take their desperate feedback with a grain of salt and let them know we are working together as a united team to support their academic and social needs. Some of them wrote to me and suggested that my tone or attitude was a bit harsh, and that even though they knew how much I cared for them, not all of them deserved it as not everyone had a behavior problem. This gave me something to think about and I know they are in the process of developing their self-esteem. Please keep this in mind J I am including the e-file I acquired from Ms. Young and encourage all of you, specially the mentoring teachers, to do this with all of their students because Im sure it will surely do more good than not. If you chose to use this strategy, please make sure students are as detailed and specific as possible when writing these notes and remind them (explicitly) to refrain from vague statements such as I need help in math or Im confused/lost, instead, tell them to be specific, like I am struggling with factoring trinomials or Im not sure what our essays thesis should look like in a persuasive essay, etc. Please remember that they will need your guidance to fill these notes out the first few times J If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your dedication, Carlos Garcia-Lara

On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 10:53 PM, Sison, Jonathan <jms5829@lausd.net> wrote: Greetings, GI Academy What a great week of successes for the Social Justice Schools! The big news, of course, was that the WASC Accrediting Commission for Schools granted both SJS GI and FPA Academies the maximum possible of three years Initial Accreditation! Again, thank you all for your daily efforts to do what's best for our students. Thank you Ms. Colindres and Ms. Lewis for coordinating and accompanying our students on the field trip to Cal Poly Pomona. I understand that the journey had a dubious beginning, but ended on a positive note. Sports: Congratulations to our girls soccer team who proudly competed against the number one-ranked Pumas of Northridge Academy, on a very cold and very rainy Tuesday night in San Fernando, in their season-ending second round of the playoffs. Great job, Wolf Pack! SJS Hiking Club: Sarah Knopp sent the pics below from the hiking trip to Frazier Park. This was an awesome one! Everyone got on cross country skis! Thank you Sara, Raphael, Carlos, and Dave! Looking forward into this week . . . Attendance: Our attendance submittal is improving! Keep up the diligence! And please remember to submit attendance for your FPA Academy students, too. We will continue our daily tardy and PE sweeps this week! Schools for the Future iPad Initiative: Tentatively, we're looking at an April 29-May 3 rollout of the iPads to our SJS students. Stay tuned for more information around student and family orientations. Professional Development on Tuesday will meet by department/PLC, at 1:50 PM. This week, I will be participating in the Math Department data performance dialogue. Department Chairs, please submit your agendas and sign-ins by the end of the school day, on Tuesday. In addition to your content-specific items, please continue your dialogue around the proposed bell schedule. SJS-wide faculty meeting will follow professional development on Tuesday, February 26, at 3:25 PM, in the library. Please see attached agenda. SDMC Discipline Subcommittee will meet on Wednesday, at 4:30 PM, in the Parent Center. Graduation Committee will meet on Thursday, at 3:30 PM, in the Parent Center. I will be off-campus on Thursday morning, for an Operations Unit meeting, at ESC East. SJS will hold grade-level CST assemblies on Thursday and Friday, during Mentoring, in the MPR. Stay tuned for more details. SJS will visit L.A. Academy Middle School, on Friday, for Middle School-to-MACHS SJS articulation. Thank you GI teachers for accommodating OCISS trainings in your classrooms. Please connect with me, ASAP, if your space was not left in the same condition as it should have been found by the PD facilitators. Our strategy of the week: Please see the attached PDF on the impact of texting and tweeting on students' writing. I hope the article informs your lesson planning around literacy in the content areas.

Finally, my Personal Recommendation: Please bring your family and friends to the Eastside Arts Festival at Esteban E. Torres High School, on Saturday March 2, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. Also this weekend, type in "French Cafe" and "Latin Jazz" in your Pandora music station search window - great tunes to accompany your Sunday morning lounging! Have a wonderful week of teaching and learning! Best, Jonathan

Jonathan M. Sison, Ed.D., Principal Maya Angelou Community High School Social Justice Schools - Global Issues Academy 300 East 53rd Street Room 2-104B Los Angeles, CA 90011 (323) 846-4741 (323) 846-4749 (626) 487-1190 (24-Hours) jms5829@lausd.net<mailto:jms5829@lausd.net>

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