Corporate, individual and community sponsors put together a back-to-school staff luncheon for teachers, administrators and staff at Chouteau-Mazie Schools recently.
The luncheon, held at the First Baptist Church, was attended by 140 teachers and staff. Teachers were treated to a catered lunch at themed tables.
Members of the com-
munity joined individual and corporate sponsors to decorate each of the tables with goodies for each person in attendance.
Parent Committee Chairman Jonette Duck worked with committee members Aimee Orcutt, Connie Holland, Caleb and Candice Woods, Sheila Cox, Meredith Yoakum and Jeannie Nuegin to provide several teacher appreciation gifts.
Teachers were entertained by Chouteau cheerleaders before Pastor Tom Landsaw and Leanne Hall presented the district with approxi-
mately 50 backpacks filled with school supplies. The backpacks and supplies were distributed through Brenda Cunningham’s school supply program. Door prizes from the parent committee were awarded to 25 teachers from movie passes and OSU
T-shirts to facials, manicures and pedicures.
Keynote speakers were four local students, Lancy Jones - fourth grade, Torrie Middleton - third grade, Cameron Anderson - fourth grade and Paige Davis - eighth grade. The students spoke to the teachers about their needs and expectations for the new year. The speeches brought tears to many eyes and drew a standing ovation.
Superintendent Dr. Lisa Horn welcomed teachers back with the “Great Expectations” theme. The district is working toward being a Great Expectations Model District. She challenged all teachers to be
student centric and raise the bar.
“Students, more than ever, need to be able to solve problems and create solutions to complex problems,” she said.
Teachers will work on building accountability books for all subjects they teach. Teachers and students alike will be charting their class and individual student progress through the year. The data charts will drive teacher instruction and
student achievement.
Teachers will build aligned curriculum guides which include a pacing schedule, essential skills aligned to state and national testing standards and mapping their subject curriculum including researched and best practices to teach each essential skill and objective.
Teachers will work each month with Great Expectations Coach Betty Shoofy and Curriculum Specialist Donna Aldridge during their professional learning community planning times. They will work with the Alpha Plus system to ensure curriculum taught is the curriculum tested. During the two days before school began, teachers trained with All Kinds of Minds. This training includes brain research on student learning modalities. Other out of the state training sessions included Reading First, Great Expectations, All Kinds of Minds, Advanced Placement Training, Math and Science (SMART) Training, Autism Training, Gear-Up Algebra Training and Science - NASA Telescope Training.
Chouteau-Mazie has already raised their API scores from last year and are above the state’s required scores in both reading and math.
