The Final Friday Focus of 2021!!!

 

You read that right...this is the Final Friday Focus for 2021, because I won't have one for you next week. 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Respectful dialogue as students worked in partners to provide writing feedback during their editing phase of their realistic fiction stories. 
• Our student crowd at basketball games (with both middle and high school students) has been filled with school spirit, pride and great cheering for our teams! Yes, there have been a few not making the greatest choices, but the majority have been incredible to represent Dodgeland!
• SO many food donations collected to benefit the foodbank. NHS students have done an incredible job of organizing this!
• Our student council went holiday shopping to provide Christmas gifts for families in need.
• Many of our students/staff showed up for two of our students in support them at the wake/funeral for their mother. We have such compassion in our Dodgeland family!  I also know that many of you are keeping a watchful eye for when the grief sets in and additional support is needed.
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Upcoming Events:

Faculty Holiday Singing each morning before school greeting students as they come in!! Here's the sign up sheet for your day.  

Monday - Roll Out of Bed...Pajama Day 

With 4 days till Christams break, you don't need to bring a lunch, because Elf Modaff is providing you with a soup and potato bar for the holidays!

7:00 PM Middle School Music Concert

Tuesday - Festive/Ugly Sweater Wear

7:00PM High School Music Concert

Wednesday - Santa and His Helpers...Dress the Part! Wear something Santa/Elves 

Thursday - Wear your Festive Holiday Colors

PLEASE REST UP AND ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY VACATION!! SEE YOU IN 2022!!!

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*The HS IEB Document for next week can be found HERE. 

*From the Grinch: If you have Christmas or LED lights in your classroom, please unplug/shut them off before you leave for the day.  Custodians are noticing many of these left on, which could be a safety/fire hazard. 

*Please be ready to welcome students back after the holiday break. Think #Significant72 and remember that you'll need to review/rehearse procedures. If there was a bad classroom management issue percalating, now is the time for a restart!

*We are almost to the end of the semester (gasp, I know!). There will be an email soon on end of semester grading information. 

Friday Focus - December 10, 2021

 

Upcoming Events:

Monday - "Mad About Plaid" and Jeans Day

Tuesday - "Grinch Green" and Jeans Day
   Schoology training in IMC at 3:15 (for HS CTE//Electives)

Wednesday - HS Faculty Meeting at 3:15

Thursday - Festive/ "Ugly Sweater" Day - I will also have a green screen with holiday props for you to take fun photos with your colleagues before/after school, at lunch or during your prep. 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Recently we had a safety inspection. One of the deficiencies noted that is easy for us to correct (and one I admit I didn't realize was a concern!) is leaving rooms open/empty when out of the classroom during the school day.  The recommendation for safety was made to turn off lights/shut the door (even lock if you'll be gone for a while) when you are not in your classroom.  This is so students will not end up in your room unsupervised. 

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:

*Instead of a blog this week, its a youtube podcast from a couple of great educators: Protect Your FIRE and REIGNITE the Flames

Friday Focus, December 3, 2021

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Collaboration/Problem-Solving conversations regarding students with challenging behaviors. 

*A "hook them in" video clip from Stranger Things to dig into how the setting can change psychologically, not just physically to affect the characters in a story before they applied it to text. 

*I recognize we had some difficult information to digest in this week's faculty meeting, but I appreciate your ability to challenge your thinking from all the factors outside of our control to those that are all within our control. Every moment we have with our students, in each class period and even Aspire/IEB or Study Hall/ARP matters in the impact that we can have on them. Your ability to reframe and target your focus to what's important matters. I challenge you as we move forward to stop yourself or a colleague any time you catch yourself or someone else focusing on factors outside of your control and flip your thinking to what IS within your control. All of the factors/ideas you came up with can be found HERE. WE'VE GOT THIS!!! 

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday - HS ELA team Schoology training in IMC 3:20-4:00

Wednesday - MS Faculty Schoology training in IMC 3:20-4:00

Thursday - HS Science/Social Schoology Studies training in IMC 3:20-4:00

And...

Wednesday will be the start of the 12 Days Till Christmas Break for faculty! But, there's a couple of rules:

 First rule of 12 Days Till Christmas Break...do NOT do a countdown in your classroom. If you count down the days, your kids will too. If you stray from your regular classroom learning routine, chaos will slowly (or quickly) creap in and it will be harder for you to make it to break.  (Also...some of our students will stress as we get closer to the holidays knowing they will not be in school for that long, so let's not add to their stressors).  I'm doing this countdown just for YOU.

Second Rue of 12 Days Till Christmas Break...if you want to wear jeans, you have to wear the festive!

  Starting on Wednesday there will be something each day. The only days I'm telling you about now are the dress-up days so you can plan ahead. If you look at these days and add in Workout Wednesdays and our normal jeans Fridays...there's no professional attire for all 12 Days Till Christmas Break!!

P.S. The last week's dress-up days will be for all MS/HS Students as well. 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*The HS IEB Document can be found HERE. You can also always find this in the DMS/DHS Shared Drive...2021-2022...21-22 HS IEB. 

*Please remember to put garbages/recycle bins outside your doors at the end of the day and have 8th hour students put chairs up. Our custodians greatly appreciate it!

Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:

*10 Ways to Stay Motivated as You Work on Student Motivation