Friday Focus - March 25, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*HS FFA students leading agriculture trivia at both ms and hs lunches. It was great to see how many students were interested to join in the fun!

*At the start of the class period, students reviewed their notes from the previous day for the first two minutes while the teacher was taking attendance and then asked for any follow-up questions from when they reviewed their notes. Then 10 minutes into the lesson the teacher stopped the lesson to give students time to review their notes again to process what they had just learned and to ask any questions before moving on.  This frequent review of notes gives students the time/structure to study (many don't know how to study!) and check in on any gaps in their learning. 

*I've overheard many conversations in the middle school about books...in classrooms, hallways and lunch. They're been chattering about the March Madness book bracket! It's so great to see kids excited about books! I also know some high schoolers have been checking it out to see which books are winning so next year High School will need to have their own March Madness book bracket!

*I appreciate the reflection that some of our high school faculty have been giving to the IEB reboot for after break. I have heard some teacher/student conversations and seen emails to students/parents. 

*Our 9th/10th graders went on their business/MPTC and Fox Valley Technical College visits on March 8th, but I've still been hearing students talking about new decisions they have made about choices after high school that they did not have on their radar before the trip! This really speaks to how important it is that we have ACP lessons and activities to expose them to the many options that they might not even know exist!

Upcoming Events:

Just a reminder that no one will have access to the building Friday, April 2nd from 1:00pm until Sunday, April 4th at 3:00pm due to complete power shutdown.

Wednesday, April 6 - MS Faculty Meeting (Forward exam training)

April 27 - ACT Aspire test for 9/10th graders, Senior class trip (No class for Juniors)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*HS faculty - please make sure you're ready for your reboot of IEB (see my email on March 22nd). Here is the IEB/Advisory Doc: Week of April 4

*I will be working over spring break for all sorts of catch-up work to prepare for the end of the year. I do not expect you to be checking email, so please do not feel like you have to check them. If I need you for anything (which I can't imagine I will) I will call/text you. 

SPRING BREAK ORDER: RELAX. RECHARGE. REJUVENATE!

Friday Focus - March 18, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Check out the great artwork above by one of our seniors.  What do you think of when you see this picture of a rainbow over Dodgeland?

*Class game of "trashketball" to review concepts for a test while having fun.

*Middle school students focused on writing, referring back to their criteria for writing counter arguments.

*One of our hs students with the most tardies only had one this week...a friend bet him to go through without tardies and kept checking on his classes to make sure he was there. Talk about an accountability partner! How can we incorporate student leaders more?

*Teachers working 1:1 with students in ARP/Study Hall to help them maintain focus or work on getting caught up.  While we wish kids would spend this class period independently studying, most of them need our help to use that time well! 

Events Next Week:  March Madness College shirts and jeans all week! 
I don't see any meetings...am I missing anything?

Upcoming Events:

Please make sure Wednesday, May 4th is on your calendar for the next district-wide (certified and para) meeting 3:15 - 4:15 in the IMC. This meeting will be longer than the last one. 

*As you plan for your classes when we return from Spring Break, please be ready to welcome students back and reconnect with relationships, review expectations/procedures and be ready for them to finish strong. If we come back grumbling that we wish spring break were longer, they will too. (Sure, we all wish we had a longer break, but when we say that outloud with grumbles, we will act that way too and that attitude will spread. What do you want spreading in your classroom?)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

I know you're probably counting down your days until Spring Break, but remember that if your daily actions exhibit that mindset, your students will too.  While we only have ___ days left until spring break, we also only have ___ days left until spring break to keep kids learning and growing until they are gone for a week.  We have Forward and ACT Aspire testing upon us, along with lots of left to learn in your classes.  Let's keep focus and be engaged in our work so our students will too. :) :)

*Just another reminder: As we close out the midpoint of the quarter, you should have a rating in for Employability Skills or Work Habits.

*Next week's HS IEB doc is HERE

Reminder - if you do decide to take a class outside to use a fob to re-enter the building (we can not prop doors open)

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:

*25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently

Friday Focus - March 11, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• HUGE thank you to all the different tasks of high school staff on Tuesday - proctoring the ACT, relieving staff for breaks while supervising students, supervising on the field trips, etc. It was a successful day!
• Our juniors took the ACT exam seriously and several mentioned their appreciation for tips they learned from teachers to prepare for the ACT. 
• In a parent meeting, the parent told his daughter that the reason he got through school was that staff member in the meeting from when he was in school. Sometimes it takes years to see the harvest of our seeds planted, but it feels so good when it does!
• We had an alumni panel for our juniors to hear about life after high school - military, work, college options and lessons learned in life. 
• Our freshmen and our sophomores had field trips to local businesses, MPTC and Fox Valley Technical College.  It was great to hear students find interests in possible jobs/careers that they didn't even know about before. 
• As new unit math terms were introduced, the Spanish terms were also introduced. The spanish speaking student beamed with a smile while getting to teacher peers how to pronounce it as they tried to repeat it. 

Upcoming Events:

Monday - 3:15 Effectiveness Project training in the IMC. Topic: Documentation Log

Reminder...the week of May 21st you can wear jeans each day along with college shirts for March Madness.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Our Targets for Employability Skills or Work Habits provide students and parents with important feedback on the behaviors in school.  Do you have grades in for Employability Skills or Work Habits?

*The IEB/Advisory Doc for next week is HERE

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:

*Helping Students Find the Truth in Social Media

Friday Focus - March 4, 2022

 

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Our students were shining stars at the Bandorama concert. Not only does this concert show the incredible growth in musical skills that sudents make from 6th - 12th grade, but this year it also showed the growth in our instrumental program with the addition of the Jazz band and drumline this year!
*I hear all sorts of interesting topics being discussed at lunch tables. This week I was excited to hear several students discussing their middle school science fair project ideas. It's great to see how engaged our students are in coming up with experiments for our upcoming first ever science fair!
*When a lesson was done and most students were finished with their practice work early, the teacher quickly pulled up a review kahoot of the unit vocab that was ready to go for filing in any cracks of time so there was no time lost.

Upcoming Events:

Monday - Our new school social worker starts next week. Please help welcome Ms. Neis to our team!
Tuesday - Juniors taking the ACT. No school for seniors. Freshmen/Sophomores on college/business trips
Wednesday - All district staff meeting (for certified and paraprofessionals) in IMC at 3:15

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Planning ahead...the NCAA March Madness is a great time to promote colleges as people make their bets on what teams they think will win. To help promote colleges you can wear jeans every day the week of March 21st if you wear a college shirt!

*Here's the HS IEB/Advisory Doc: Week of March 7

*From the handbook: No field trips will be allowed 3 weeks prior to the end of the school year. No more than two field trips per week will be allowed unless adminstrative approval is given.

*I'm honored and humbled to take on a challenging new role next year.  While it will be another new learning curve for me, Dr. Thompson has been an incredible mentor and leader for all these years to pave the way on our road to a better tomorrow.  For those of you who have expressed your fears of change and concerns of who will fill my role next year, please be assured that I am fully committed to every facet of our district and school and won't be far!! That is why I pursued my superintendent's license...because I knew the day would come someday when Dr. Thompson would retire and I wanted to make sure that someone who loved this district was ready to follow in her footsteps.

Blogs, Quotes & Tweets:

*The 3 Best Practices of Performance Based Assessment