Friday Focus - January 28, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*In conversation with a student about an issue she is having, I asked if her parents knew. She explained that all her teachers know, but she never told her parents, because she just doesn't know how they'll react. She went on to explain that she feels safe at school and know when she needs help her teachers are always there to help or get additional help no matter what, but she didn't know what would happen if her parents knew.  Her statement was just so powerful to me in how much you each matter in the lives of our students. 

*I got to watch our Skills USA students assemble the snack pack bags. They were completely independent with a great system to get it done so quickly during IEB on Thursday. Their teamwork was amazing!

*I overheard a student tell a peer in his group, "Why don't you go take a quick break to calm down and we will wait to start the next problem until you come back." We've done quite a bit of SEL work...getting to hear a student say this to a peer when he recognized that he needed a break was exactly why we do this!

*I overheard a teacher explaining that the comments being given on their work could be looked at like coaching...think of it as coaching feedback in basketball, the coach is trying to help you grow to play better. That's what the comments on their work is intended to do so they can keep growing on their next opportunity to show their learning. 

Upcoming Events:

Monday - 8th grade registration for high school 6:30pm elementary multi-purpose room

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday

Our originally scheduled MS/HS Faculty meeting has been canceled. Please feel free to use this time to connect with your departments/grade levels

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*High School teachers - please bring any completed course registration forms to the office so we can begin checking them over. Students will not complete the registration on PowerSchool until the week of February 14th. If you're wondering why so long...it's because this gives us time to review the forms turned in and to connect with the students who were absent, didn't turn in forms, don't know what to do, etc. I know several of you connected with students who were absent the day you led them through the info...thank you SO much for doing that to make sure our students know how important this process is. 

*I am aware Method Test Prep still is not working...I'm trying to figure out why. 

*Parent/Teacher Conferences - just a reminder that we did not schedule an evening for February conferences this year, rather giving you flexibility in using your time to communicate with parents.  Here are my expectations for this:

• Make sure to communicate with parents of any students that you currently have concerns with.  
• Advisors - please check through your advisess to see if they are struggling in mulitiple classes. These are students that we should be coordinating setting up parent meetings so that all teachers that the student is struggling with can be a part of the parent/student meeting to help set up a plan of support. Please let Marcia or I know if you need help coordinating. 
• I also encourage you to send out any positive messages that you can!
  

Friday Focus - January 21, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*We have had several new students at both middle and high school that do not speak English and several of our students have been welcoming and either helping to translate, or introducing themself trying to talk in the few Spanish words they knew to introduce themselves.
*Our NHS students did a great job of planning, organizing and running the blood drive this week (as they always do)!
*This week was 4 year planning and beginning the course selection process with 8th graders. This is such an exciting time for them, filled with great conversations about their future.  It is always so enjoyable to connect with them, not just in their advisories, but also at lunch and other times of the day when they are asking questions and talking about their future planning.  Thank you in advance to all of you for connecting with students as they consider their options and get guidance from you as we help them be as best prepared as possible for whatever may be in their future!
*Great brainstorming and suggestions made to help improve our course introduction and course selection process at the high school...it gets better every year!

Upcoming Events:

Today - 2 hour delay schedule at HS for course intros in the morning
Friday Plan 
Friday Group Lists

Monday - Seals on Wheels is here and will be pulling students out of class who are signed up for fluoride treatments

Tuesday -Badger attire day (and jeans!)
Tuesday/Wednesday - High School Course Registration process begins (forms due Friday!)

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Do you have anything that I can add to the next parent newsletter? Pictures of past classroom activities (even if you were going to share with Mr. Kjornes for Facebook)?  Info about upcoming events? Please send my way!
*Students with Incompletes will have until this Friday, January 28th (unless there is an extenuating circumstance that I already know for a few of our students). Please use the grade change form that Laura emailed out.  This grade change form should also be used if you have a student reassessing after grades were stored.
*HS advisors - we will have everything on Monday for you to be ready for Tuesday's advisory
*Here's the HS IEB Doc for next week: Advisory/IEB Week of Jan 24

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:

*3 Keys to Evolving as a Lifelong Learner

Friday Focus - January 14, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*We had several new students join us this week. I noticed staff members and students go above and beyond to be kind and welcoming, to show them around, to help throughout the day. 
*During a study hall the teacher was making rounds throughout the room, checking in with students to look at their grades in powerschool, giving next steps on what they should be focusing on.  When kids are allowed to chat and play on their phones, they will. But if we let them know our expectations and hold them accountable, they will rise to the expectation!
*With our middle school students completing their math iReady tests, I've already heard several celebrations of students making gains since their beginning of the year score. One student who hates school, even accepted a high five congratulating her for her academic progress. I've also seen the list of students in RISE reading intervention making gains!

Upcoming Events:
Monday - EP Training at 3:15 in IMC (This is on SLO Mid Year Review and 2nd Surveys)

Wednesday - NHS Blood Drive 
Workout Wednesday

Friday - 2 hour delay schedule at High School for 9-11th gr course intros presentations (email to come soon with details)
MS will follow regular schedule (w/ Fun Friday at aspire) then have extra reading/class activity time from 1:36-2:05).

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*New Semester, New Duties. Mrs. Modaff emailed out the schedule, or you can find it in the duties tab HERE. 

*HS faculty: Here's next week's IEB Document

*It's been a while since I sent out a newsletter. Here is what was sent out last night: 
Middle School - https://www.smore.com/y4xt0
High School - https://www.smore.com/0n2gz
Whenever you have something that should be included for all parents to see, please send it my way! 

*SUMMER SCHOOL - reshared from Mrs. Huelsman:
You read that correctly!  It is time to think about Summer School already!  This summer, there are a lot of projects occurring at Dodgeland that limit where summer school can occur.  However, we do have a number of options available to us and we are planning for the majority of courses to take place in the Middle School wing since there will be construction crews working in the elementary and high school wings this summer.

The dates of summer school are:

Monday, June 6-Thursday, June 30 from 8-11:55am, Mon-Thurs.  

If you are interested in teaching summer school this year, please submit your name and classes that you would like to teach by clicking HERE.

*Speaking of summer...with renovation happening in the high school wing this summer, that means high school teachers will not have access to classrooms. 

Blogs, Quotes and Tweets:

Friday Focus - Friday, January 7, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Many students were excited to be back at school after winter break!
*At the start of a math lesson, students pulled out their math logs to add the new math term they learned in the lesson, discussed it as a class and then students added their own examples to their log to refer to (and then I noticed several did during their work time).
*Students were talking at lunch time about book tasting (nope - not something new on the menu, but an activity to decide on the next book they were going to read). I love hearing when students are excited about reading and talk about it with their peers!
*Our special ed staff in both building levels have been doing some incredible collaborating and problem-solving to support our students.
*I've been cc'd on several emails from teachers to parents regarding their child's current low grade to explain what they need to focus on in this final stretch and when the teachers were going to be working with the student for extra help/reassessments.  

Upcoming Events:
Monday - Mentors/Mentees meeting 3:15 in IMC 
Wednesday - MS Faculty Meeting 3:15 in IMC
    Workout Wednesday
Friday - End of 1st Semester
*HS Teachers: If you have an elective course that freshmen can take, please get your videos to Mrs. Johnson by Friday to be used in 8th grade classes!

Monday, January 17 - End of semester grading/comments to be completed by 3:30. Make sure to have Work Habits/Employability Skills grades as well. 

Friday, January 21 - HS running 2 hour delay schedule for course intros in the morning

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*As you know from Dr. Thompson's email we have an update in our staff COVID quarantine protocols. Be on the lookout for an email with a change in student quarantine protocols. 

*GRADES GRADES GRADES
If you have a student who will be getting an incomplete, please send an email to both Laura and me. Here is a review from the student/parent handbook regarding an incomplete:

Any incomplete grades must be made up within 2 weeks (10 scheduled school days)  in traditional classroom courses, with the exception being students who were medically absent for a long period of time.  An incomplete may be extended by teacher-administrator agreement when a student has made significant progress and an extension of time is necessary to complete the course work.  All incomplete grades require prior administrative approval.

Additionally, if a student needs to take a reassessment after grades are stored, then you will need to submit a grade change form. 

Blogs, Tweets & Quotes:

*Moving from Feedback to Feed Forward