Friday Focus - January 31, 2020

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Hands on partner activity involving starbursts and rock paper scissors to learn about different types of economies--this made it so much easier to remember by experience than just reading!

*Students creating data charts and graphs based on survey data and explaining how they made their decisions as the presented to the class. 

*After 10 minutes of reading in ARP students got into two rows to each get a minute to share with the person across from them about the book they were reading, then rotated to share again so they each got to share 3 times (and got 3 book recommendations from others in the process!)

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday - combined ms/hs faculty meeting at 3:15 in IMC

Thursday - all district staff faculty informational meeting about the referendum at 3:20 in IMC

"Nuts & Bolts" notes:

*In case you didn't already see on our school Facebook pages, we are merging all of the school/district pages into one page in better effort to share the great things happening at Dodgeland so our families can see it all in one place. So now's when you need to help...there are great things happening in your classrooms, your student groups or even in just individual students you want to recognize somehow.  So...share it with me so I can post it for all to see. This isn't bragging, this is letting our families see the great things our students are doing, because most of them go home and say they did nothing at school. And we know that's not true. So, PLEASE PLEASE at some point in the next few weeks send me one of the following:

--a picture (or more) from your class with one sentence describing what your students are doing/learning

--a student or group of students you'd like to have spotlighted for something...maybe hard work, always being kind to others, being a mentor to a younger student, etc. 

--your info for a faculty feature (I got a couple of these before winter break, now it's time that we will be posting one each Friday on the page!) You can send me: 

• Your hometown/where you graduated from
• Your career experience (this could be years taught, previous positions/schools, etc.)
• Family, hobbies, fun facts that you're comfortable sharing
• Why you love Dodgeland
• Picture(s) of you, your classroom, your family...again what you're comfortable with (otherwise I have to take your school picture off the website, but you probably have more fun pics!)

Tech Tip of the Week:

Workflow on Your iPad. Workflow is how you have your tools set up when working. Sometimes we would like to read (article, questions, notes, presentation) and work (take notes, make a list or answer assignment questions) at the same time on our iPad. Apple calls this multitasking on our iPads (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207582)  Split View is quite convenient when working, but what I didn’t know is that you can Split View in same app (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207969) so if you took notes in one document and wanted to write an essay in another, you could. Keep in mind this doesn’t work with all apps but Notability and the Apple apps will for sure.

Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:

*9 Ways to Use Flipgrid in the Classroom

*A 3 Minute Tradition for Better Feedback

Friday Focus - January 24, 2020

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Some great conversations with students regarding creating their 4 year plans for high school and with current 9-11th graders about making thoughtful course selections aligned to their long term goals. Not only did I hear these conversations in advisories, but also in some content classes and even in the lunch room. Wow!
*At the start of this week I got to see several classes (new classes) starting out with some #Significant72 activities or introductory activities to hook kids into class:
   -The 1,2,3 counting/clapping/snapping back and forth partner activity.
   -Textbook scavenger hunt.
    -Students filling out individual profile sheets for the teacher to get to know them in their new course.
     -Kahoot to see how much students know about their new class and to get first exposure to some of the concepts they will be learning this semester.
    -Two truths and a lie for students and teacher to get to know each other.
*Unit preview with a content preview guide to help students develop the skill of previewing nonfiction information (don't you wish they just did this on their own with their content? We know they don't, so giving them a guide and some time to do it is so important!)
*Middle School students giving their best effort (some fighting through anxious nerves) in the spelling bee.
*We have gained several new students at both levels and it has been heart warming to see some of our students reach out to welcome them, invite them to their lunch table, make sure they got to their classes (and I especially loved having teachers notice when kids did this and share, because now I get to send home positive postcards to those students!)
 
Upcoming Events:
Monday -9-11th graders course registration forms due (advisors -collect and turn in to office)
-My Monday resilience video for aspire will also mention a student survey for you to share with students in aspire (the link will be in my email of the video to you). This is to seek student feedback just as we do have staff feedback in the surveys.
Tuesday - IMC is closed
Thursday - MS pajama day for $1 for Kids Heart Challenge
Friday - MS and HS lunch time swap for MS rewards field trip


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Now that we are in 2nd semester, please update your class lists in your guest teacher binder.
*Reminder - NO students should be sent to the IMC without a physical pass. If a student says "Mrs. Soandso said I could come" Ms. Abegglen will send them back. These passes are important in case of an emergency drill so she knows who is in the IMC.


Tech Tip of the Week:

Below is the Student Tech Tip this week. This week is a great time to review some of the workflow items available to you and students. 

Planner Templates can be found in Schoology>The Meeting Place>Resources>Building>Planner Templates. From here you can Settings Wheel>Copy to Course and add them to your Advisory course. 

Daily Announcements are in Schoology and also on the web site for the public to read: http://hs.dodgeland.k12.wi.us/students_and_parents/announcements & http://ms.dodgeland.k12.wi.us/students_and_parents/announcements

PowerSchool App, if you have a student who is not logged into the PowerSchool app refer them to the beginning of school year “setting up your iPad” presentation in your Advisory course in Schoology. 

It may be a great time to help students set goals. They are not our goals and how students “create” them can be anything from a video, drawing or list. Remembering the, what are “we” going to do to meet those goals, may be the hardest part. 

Welcome to 2nd Semester and Quarter 3! A few reminders to start the semester off right: your Advisory teacher should have planner pages in Schoology to choose, download and use. Also in Schoology, daily announcements and the IEB document. You can use the Notes or Reminders apps to make lists and the Reminders app will send notifications for when to do things. Use the PowerSchool app to check your grades regularly, literally no excuses there. If you have questions, email teachers with two considerations, spelling and grammar always count AND immediate response is not always possible. Finally, setting goals this time of year can make 2nd Semester successful! Use any app you would like, make a list, draw out your goals, be specific (getting good grades is a bit vague) and then...what are you going to do to meet those goals? #DodgelandProud

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:
*How to act (rather than react) and stop wasting class time when kids are off task - a great post/podcast by Angela Watson. She makes such a great point when she says: If you want to stop feeling like you are expending energy all day long and yet barely getting through your lessons and the kids aren’t really learning … examine your response to student behavior. You are responsible for your own choices, not student choices.

Friday Focus - January 17, 2020

I want to ask you to do something.  Think back on the week with kids.  What is one thing that you thought of that you did really well for the kids?  How much work did you put into that one thing?  Was it planned or did it happen because there was a teachable moment?  Did you share it with anyone or did you keep it to yourself?  If you shared it with someone, how did they react?  If you kept it to yourself, why did you do that? 

I have grown so much over the years from ideas I learned from others. I love the saying "the smartest person in the room, is the room." WE are our own best resource. But we can't be a resource if we are keeping our ideas to ourselves. I encourage to share your ideas with colleagues. Share something that went well. Share a strategy or activity that worked. When we keep sharing, then we all become better for our kids. We are pretty good right now. Imagine how great we could be if we shared. 

Events next Week:
Monday - EP training (Mid-year SLO review, 2nd surveys)
Wednesday -optional Self Care 101 session at 3:30

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:
Ready to start over fresh 2nd semester with classroom management? Here's a great read: How to Undo Classroom Management Mistakes

Friday Focus - January 10, 2020

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*I heard a couple of students sharing words of encouragement before a test. It is so awesome to see our kids have empathy to recognize when someone could use encouragement!
*When a student was completely disregulated, a peer tried to calm him down and even tried to get him to take a break.
*Students identifying details and then determining the central idea of the text they read as a class.
*After reading a paragraph to the class, the teacher asked if anyone knew what one of the terms was. No one did so she shared the definition and then had them relisten to the paragraph to understand it better with the new term.
*To review the previous day's learning, the teacher displayed a set of questions on the board and then let students pick which question to respond to.

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday, MS Faculty meeting

Thursday - Early Dismissal/Report and Planning
Since both buildings are on different schedules, we will NOT have bells. I would recommend alarms on your iPad.

MS schedule:

HS schedule:

Friday - Professional Development Day - agenda yet to be finalized, but the day will all be dedicated to our target based work to make sure we are on track for target based reporting to start next school year.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes: 
*If any students are being given an incomplete grade, they have until January 31st to complete their work for the grade to be changed.
*I hope you saw the email from Kalise Horst about the Self Care Academy. We do NOT have staff meetings on those days to ensure that you can participate. I know that you are all in your position to make a difference, but I also recognize our days can be very stressful and complex, and self-care is not always your top priority. This is our opportunity to fit it into our schedules:

Tech Tip of the Week:

Schoology Help. Reminder that there is a Schoology PD course available to you in Schoology. In this course you will find: Getting Started with Schoology, Discussions, Rubrics and Schoology in the Elementary Classroom. More materials will be added for Second Semester! Schoology>Courses>Schoology PD

Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:

*Repairing Harm: A Better Alternative to Punishment 

I have this book-I'd be happy to loan it out if you're interested.

Friday Focus - January 3, 2020

What I noticed to start of 2020:
*I visited many classrooms and saw you reviewing expectations/procedures and some class community building. Even when students complained about being tired, you engaged them in learning.  And even when some high school students complained about the new cell phone procedures, you continued onward with the plan like a buffalo heading into the storm and then getting through it to the sunshine!
*I heard several students say they were glad to be back at school--and even some of the students you would be least likely to think they wanted to be here!

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday - HS Faculty Meeting (agenda-PreACT results workshop review and HS Course Selections)
Thursday Jan 16th -1/2 day and final day of the quarter
Friday, Jan 17th -PD Day

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*We will not be having a modified schedule for HS exams due to the number of shared staff and the challenges it poses for ms. If you have concerns about the length of your exam I would recommend a part A and part B for the 14th and 15th.
*Thursday, January 16th half day is the new "rererescheduled" PreACT results workshop. I'll share a additional details with HS staff in a separate email (along with the 9th gr results).
*Thank you again for taking time for a video from me in your Aspire that I will continue to share each Monday. If you didn't yet, here's the ms welcome back video: DMS Jan 2 and here is the high school welcome back video: DHS Jan 2

Tech Tip of the Week: iPad Accessibility in New iOS Update.  With the update to our iPads there are some changes to the accessibility features. Check out this website and see what is new!   https://support.apple.com/accessibility/iphone-ipad

Blogs, Tweets and Quotes
*Take Care of You - I hope you all came back feeling rested and rejuvenated. Now what's your plan to make time for regular self-care so you don't run yourself ragged up until spring break?