Great Things I Noticed this Week:
- Staff members helping to cover for others in their absence or to assist with bathroom breaks.
- Staff assisting with supervision in the hallways (which is enjoyable getting to chat with students at the same time!)
- Guest speaker into a classroom via Bluejeans for the class to learn about business in the food industry (great connection to careers in Food Science).
- Students in a study hall getting 5 minutes (after their 10 minutes of reading) to share with others about the book they are reading. When kids talk to each other about books, they're more likely to get book recommendations than when teachers suggest it.
- We have had some students test us in different classrooms. I have noticed many of you following through with high expectations for student behaviors, while building connections with them to see their strengths, yet still address concerns. I have seen emails to students and parents to point out the strengths and the concerns. Thank you! This is how kids know you care and that you are here to support them to be their best, even when they don't think they can or should!
- While covering in a classroom for lunch students were having a very respectful debate about Apple vs Samsung phones, sharing pros/cons and their own experiences. When I commented on how respectful their debate was a student said, "Well that's thanks to the English teachers always teaching us how to do this the right way!"
Upcoming Events:
*Workout Wednesday
*Thursday - 3:05 Bluejeans office hour for grading help
"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Ordinarily our schedule for faculty meetings moving forward (as last year) is 1st Wednesday combined MS/HS, 2nd Wednesday HS, 3rd Wednesday MS. We will NOT have the combined MS/HS meeting on Oct 7th because that is the day/time for staff flu shots.
*Request from the custodial crew: Due to the extra sanitizing that needs to be done across the building in all areas (and takes a great deal of time in comparison to normal custodial duties) they ask for your help with the following:
- Move your garbage/bins and green towel bucket outside your door so they can move throw quicker in collections to save time.
- If you need your Rejuvnol bottle filled, please also leave that outside your door so they can refill it for you to be ready for the next day.
Grading Update:
*Grading update: I believe you will see powerteacher pro looking different with domains in there now (*Note - I only put domains, not learning targets). Kay will have some directions out soon for you to see what to do moving forward and what you can do for assignments/assessments you have already recorded. I put on the calendar a BlueJeans session for Thursday at 3:05 just to help answer any questions you may have.
In regards to athletic grade checks, we know that providing a specific standard for a passing grade is challenging this time around. Please consider the following:
-Daily Assignments - is the student completing the majority of the assigned daily assignments and with quality work?
-Class Activities - is the student satisfactorily participating in and completing class activities?
-Assessments - is the student demonstrating understanding and knowledge in exit tickets quizzes, tests or any other type of assessments you are using?
Some additional questions you may have regarding grading:
1. What do we do now if we already had grades in?
- Every assignment that you put in to Power Teacher Pro and the grade you gave it, will still be there.
- Once you see your standards/domains the assignment would just need to be edited to add in the standards that is associated with that assignment and then the grade itself will be edited to the proficiency scale.
2. What do we share with parents or how do we answer their questions?
- I will be sending out a communication to parents this weekend to explain our transition to Target based grading system and why things are looking different for them. I plan to continue having weekly newsletters moving forward to continue to give them bite sized chunks of information about this.
3. When will I learn how to do this?
- Kay is finalizing some very helpful guides that show screenshots walking you through step by step.
- We also need to schedule several after school trainings to support you along the way (several because we know your calendars may already be booked up with IEP meetings or other meetings and want to provide many opportunities)
- Yes. I truly can appreciate how much is on your plates and how overwhelming this might feel. However, please know that I'm here to help (as are many others) and it fits within a larger system so it is to our advantage to start at the same time. Also, if we were ever to go virtual, we will have the advantage of not having to worry about points and percentage, but rather focus on proficiency for the targets and domains.
4. Schoology doesn't transfer?
- Unfortunately no. After discussing this with Kay, she shared that it did transfer last year, but it does not transfer now. She is looking into whether this is a planned update for Schoology down the line. Many, many schools have begun to use Schoology in the last year, so perhaps there is a plan we are not aware of yet to address this issue.
Tech Tip of the Week:
Here is a video made for students on how to participate in a discussion in Schoology. A great example of what a discussion question can look like, but also helpful when working with students who are participating in a discussion for the first time. We’ll get this open for students to view and share it with them in their notifications in Schoology.
Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:
*You shared a video with students this week about gratitude. Now, here's the adult version with some humor for you: PinkCast: This is How to Make a Gratitude Habit. Enjoy!!! :) :)
