Great First Few Days!

What a great first two days of school!  It is always great to see the building come to life with student laughter, smiles and questions.  Thanks to all of you for making it such a welcoming atmosphere - one that earns the description of Commodore Family.

What We Need From YOU this Year: 

• Utilize Brain-Aligned/Trauma Informed  Strategies - Relationships First

• Be Consistent with PBIS Areas of Emphasis

• Update your gradebooks weekly 

• Utilize your classroom time wisely.  

• Communication: Check your email 2-3 times a day/Read Monday Moment 

• Be Respectful & Professional Always

• Let someone know you are struggling.  

• Come to us when we make mistakes (We will make them.)

• Work Hard - Everyday, Every Period

• Share your passion and love of learning with your students daily.

Inspiration and Resources: 

Focus Tip of the week for ENGAGEMENT:  In Marzano's Elements, he reminds us that getting up and moving in the classroom is a great way to engage students - take that worksheet and put it on feet! Also, academic conversations among students increases memory, deeper learning and can reveal misunderstandings!  Here is an activity that is SUPER easy, gets students moving and talking!

Corners Activity

 PBL Focus of the Week:  Cell Phones shouldn't be used in the classroom - out of sight and out of mind!  If you would like a cell phone wall pocket chart to set a protocol in your room for this, please let the office know!  Together we can transform our culture!  (By the way, if students are engaged, they don't have time to even be on their phones!)  

This Week's Info: 

HOUSE Choosing Ceremony - 7th and 8th grade students will have their HOUSE Choosing Ceremony on Wednesday afternoon in the high school gym and we will start releasing students the last few minutes of 6th period.  The theme for this is the BEACH!  Junior High Teachers, please see Lauren Blake's email she sent on Friday and a formal schedule will be coming soon!  Let us know if you need coverage.  

HOUSE teachers met before the beginning of the school year to determine our purpose for our  HOUSE system - what do we want students to get out of this?  After going through the affinity mapping protocol, here is what they determined:  Students in our HOUSES will learn how to operate in a community, both large and small, by providing opportunities to grow in skills such as collaboration, kindness and acceptance by taking chances and being vulnerable among their peers; all while having fun!   

PBIS Celebration:  Our PBIS Celebration for high school students will be part of 6th and 7th periods on Friday!  Clubs will have booths so they can gain more members and students will enjoy ice cream, games and maybe even a little surprise concert!  We will send more details this week.  Club leaders, thanks for pulling together some fun activities!

Engaging Start:  Don't forget to turn in your project/surprise and delights this week!  We will need pictures and a short description of your activity by August 21st - for a chance to win a prize!  I already got a few in - and one teacher told me, "My project idea is going to rock everyone's boat!" - the competition is on!    (Remember - we are going for the 10% Disney affect, if we can make our classroom fun and memorable 10% of the time, the kids will want to come back, just like Disney World!) 

PLC Meetings - Core Content groups will meet this week during their PLC assigned dates.  PLC leaders have been working hard to develop agendas for the meetings!  We look forward to kicking off another great year of growing together.  Remember, someone should be there to cover your WIN.  I have attached the list HERE.  If you need help with this, please let me know!  

Calm before the STORM

 I hope this post finds all of you enjoying some down time and allowing yourselves to rejuvinate and be excited about a new school year!  This summer has flown by but we have also accomplished so much!  Many of you have participated in professional development of some type, put in countless hours, communicated with students to just check in with them and have been out to get your room decorated and ready!   I feel so priviledged to work with such professionals who are always ready to put in the work to ensure our students have everything they need!  You are all a blessing to our community and I am SO GRATEFUL for you!  

I wanted to update you on a few things and provide information that I hope is helpful as you start to put your school hat back on (although, I hope you don't have it all of the way on just yet!)   Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns!  

WIN - This school year, we are going to start off the school year like we ended with teachers leading a WIN class.   Last year, there were a few people that requested certain groups of students to be assigned to them because they pulled them most days.  (For example, Mary Jo wanted her Spanish II students, Andrea band students, special education teachers wanted some of their students.)  Teachers will still be able to pull students they need to work with through our document, but if there is a group of students that you see a lot we can try to put them in your WIN. Please feel free to send your requested list (if you have one) to Jody and Phil by Monday.  We can't promise it will work out, but we can try!  

Master Schedule -  Please find an updated copy of the Master Schedule.  We are still working through conflicts and as usual, there will probably be several changes at our Back To School Night.  If you have questions or concerns about your gradebooks, please let us know!  

Parent Letter/Student Handbook - Last week, we sent a welcome back letter to parents and students with updates to our student handbook.  We wanted you to have this information as well.  You can take a look at the Parent Letter and Power Point through these links!  We will talk more about this through our PBIS lessons, but wanted to keep you posted!  

Chronic Absenteeism -  The Department of Education defines chronic absenteeism as any student that misses 10% of the school year for any reason (even if they have doctor notes).  We all know that attendance is really important for students to ensure that learning is occuring!  This year, we are sending a letter to each student and their families who are on the chronic absentee list in hopes to bring this to their attention.  

HOUSE Leader Meeting - We will have a meeting on Tuesday, August 8th from 9:00 - 11:00 to kick off our HOUSE program for junior high teachers.  We will be setting a vision for what we want students to gain from their time in their houses, talk about AVID and our focus on the skill of organization and create a fun and exciting kick-off event for the year!  See you then!

Assistant Summit - August 3rd from 9-2 will be a professional development opportunity for our teaching assistants.  You received an email with details a few days ago.  During that day, we will also be sharing your schedules, etc.  Looking forward to seeing all of you there!  

7th Grade Orientation - August 1st at 6:00 p.m. we will be welcoming our new crop of 7th grade students and their families to Perry Central Jr./Sr. High School.  I know that many of the teachers attend and we appreciate that.  Thanks to Dana for pulling all of that together!  

Back To School Event - August 3rd we will host our Back To School event from 5-7.  If you can attend, it is really nice because students love seeing their teachers as they return!  It is a great community event and we want to thank Joyce for all she does to pull this off!  

First Teacher Day - First teacher day will be August 9th!  Our morning will be full of meetings and you will have a little time in the afternoon for final touches!  Assistants are invited to attend the morning of first teacher day for a half day of work.  

Last Day Check-List

 

Congratulations to Mrs Schwoeppe on her retirement!  We will celebrate her at our retirement breakfast on Wednesday!  We will miss you, Carol!  

Final Exam Schedule:   Monday periods 2,4,6/  Tuesday periods 1,3,5,7

Senior Walk-Through: On Tuesday, we will have the senior walk-through.  We will start around 9:15 a.m.  Seniors will start at the coke machines by the gym, walk down the north hall into the elementary, then to bottom of the 2 story, back up through the 6th grade hall and will finish up down high school hall on the south hall and out the front doors for a picture.  

We will release students by intercom- please have students stand out in the halls and spread out so we can fill the halls with students and wish the Class of 2023 well!

Check-List for the end of the day Wednesday: 

Grades are due by midnight on Wednesday, May 24th.  Please let Phil or I know if you need to put in an incomplete grade (but hopefully you will not need to or you have made a strong plan with the student to get caught up.  I know there are a few special situations that will require incompletes. 

Certification List - If you are a CTE teacher and you have given an industry certification, please fill out this form.  We have to list all industry certifications for our school data!  Thanks to everyone who already filled it out!

Dual Credit Teachers- Please remember to enter your dual credit grades into the Ivy Tech Portal.  ALSO, please print that list of students and their grades once you have entered them and turn that into Dana.  This is the only way we can get this important information on their high school transcripts.  

Computers - Gloria needs to update your computers over the summer.  Please leave your computer with Gloria at the end of the day or make arrangements with her to get that accomplished.  

Summer Orders - Please remember to fill out your summer orders by the end of the day Wednesday using the spreadsheet attached.  Notice the tabs at the bottom of the sheet.  Let us know if you have any questions.

Summer PD List - Sharing so you can mark you calendars.  Please fill out this document (it is very quick) in regards to our 2-day summer PD Training.    

Celebrate

 

One of our vision statements that we are holding ourselves to is CELEBRATION.  It is always very important to take time and reflect on the enormous amount of work and success we had in a school year.  Too often we only focus on what needs to change instead of the amazing work that has happened.  

This Monday, May 15th, we are going to take time to do just that!  We will have burgers and brauts for faculty and staff by the high school office during your lunch time.   Your ticket to the event is bringing something that represents success for you this school year that you want to share with everyone around you.    We will have some models of what this could look up on the walls starting on Friday and I will deliver a large post-it note to your door!   This doesn't have to be fancy - could share sample student work, information about a project, improvement of students, what you learned new from the school year, etc.!!

While you eat, you will be able to have a gallary walk and share in each other's success.  We are successful because we are all in this together.  

This will be the last Monday Moment for the 22-23 school year!  So happy to do this work with all of you!  

Important Information: 

Computer Plan (we finally got it together, Abe!):  Computer pickup will start on Thursday of next week.  We will begin with seniors and see how many grades we can get through that day.  Any grades that weren't picked up on Thursday will be picked up on Friday.  If you indicated you need computers for finals, please reach out to Gloria and make a plan.  She is happy to get a cart in your room.  (The idiot that created the survey forgot to collect your names!  (That was me!!!)

Master Schedule:   I am a little reluctant to share this because you are probably going to have a lot of questions that I may not have the answers to and it could change - but this is the tentative master schedule for next school year.  I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I am brain dead!  I worked on it far enough to know that it is in a pretty good spot!    If you have questions, please know you can ask, but I will be working on it more after school is out.  

Locker Clean Out Schedule: 

            Friday, May 19 -  2nd Period, Seniors

            Monday, May 22 - 1st Period - Juniors, 3rd Period - Sophomores, 5th Period - Freshmen

            Tuesday, May 23 - 2nd Period - 8th grade,  4th Period - 7th grade

Commodore Pride: 

        10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.   9-12 Commodore Pride  (Students are expected to be in class the rest of the day during their assigned class periods)

         10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. - Junior High Awards Program (If you click on the link you will see the outline of the program.) I would like junior high teachers to present their awards to the students.  

             * We will ask assistnats to try to cover junior high students from 10:00 - 10:30 and during WIN the best we can - but we should have a regular 5th - 7th period classes for all students.  

Fun Games:  Thanks to Abe Schwartz, Jennifer Ball, Vanessa Johnson and many others for taking time to organize a few fun things for our students.  We have had mean wiffle ball games, dodgeball games (I am not much help at this!), and corn hole for students to participate in during lunch and WIN.  It is great to see students participating in some friendly competition and teachers playing with students.  Thanks for making the last few days special!!

Internship Training - Thursday, May 18th, we will be hosting a few of our business partners who will be mentors for our students duringt their internship next year.  Our goal with the training is to develop a training plan and set goals with the student and their mentor to increase communication and rigor during these opportunities.  We are excited about this.  Thanks to Mike Bishop for organizing!

Scholarship Banquet - Thanks to Dana for organizing our scholarship banquet that will be Wednesday night, May 17th for families and senior students.  This is a very large and nice event!  Our speaker this year is PC Alumni, Kyla Edwards/Schroeder!

Finals:  Monday, Periods 2,4,6

             Tuesday, Periods 1,3,5,7

Wednesday, May 24: Teacher's Last Day - we will have a retirement breakfast to celebrate Carol that morning at 8:00 a.m.   A list of what we need you to complete before you leave on Wednesday will be shared at a little later date.  We are asking if you need to do ordering for your classes next school year that you please add it to this excel file that is shared with the Central Office.  This helps us keep shipping costs down and ensure all is ordered properly.  LIST  (Please note the different tabs at the bottom.)

PD Dates:  Just a reminder of our PD dates for this summer.   For our two days of training, June 28 & 29, I will be asking you to let me know if you CANNOT make it pretty soon because I have to make our reservations more permanent!  Here is a rough agenda:

        June 28 - 7:45 a.m. - Leave PC for Toyota

                        9:00 a.m. - Tour Toyota

                        10:30 a.m. - Drive to a location in Gibson County area for lunch

                                          - Introduce you to our Core Principle Rubric, Personality Testing

                                           - Guest Speaker about skills needed in the workforce

                        2:00 ish p.m. - Arrive back to PC

         June 29 - 8:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. @ PC for Design Thinking training!

Wear Jeans Next WEEK!!

Teachers Matter

 

As we continue to role through May, I know that the days seem to get longer and harder!  Just know there is a break coming soon!  We can do it!!  Don't forget we are all in this together and if you need to tap out during the school day, you can and should reach out!  

Teaching is one of the hardest but most rewarding careers anyone could have!  There are so many decisions to make, emotions on the table, students that need so much and still curriculum to teach!  Even though it is hard, exhausting work - it can also be so rewarding.  We know the statement to the left is true - we can name all of the teachers that had a positive impact on us, even though we left high school many, many years ago (or at least I did!)  I can't remember one of my college professors, but I can remember my high school teachers.

Keep smiling and pushing and connecting to students.  YOU are making a difference!!

Our Junior High Community Service Day was AMAZING!  We had students baking and freezing meals for needy families, helping clean trails and paint at Anderson Woods, spreading mulch at Perry Child Care, cleaning up Sunset Park, picking up debris at Tipsaw Beach and so much more.  I spoke to several teachers and they were amazed at how hard our students worked and all worked with a happy heart.    This is one of my favorite days of the year for our students.  Thanks to Lauren Blake for leading us and for all of our faculty and staff for working so hard!  I hope you left school that day with that good - exhausted feeling!  

Important Information: 

* Faculty Meeting - We will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday, May 8 at 7:25 a.m.  A very light breakfast will be served!  This will be our last meeting of the year and will be sharing a lot of important information!  See you there!

* Summer PD Schedule -  You can find a list of Summer PD activities HERE. I plan to walk everyone through these ideas at the faculty meeting!  I thought having all of the links/information on one page may be helpful (at least it is to me!)    Looking forward to a full summer of learning!  

* Academic Awards Banquet - Our Academic Awards Banquet is Wednesday, May 10th at 6:30 p.m.  Please be there just a little before.  We will save a spot for all teachers to sit on the south side of the gym.  Like last year, we will have teachers go up in department teams so you can help each other pass out your awards.  We will have awards on the table, organized for you!  Please let us know if you have any questions/concerns.  

* TESTING- We will be pulling a few students out the first part of the day on Monday to finish their ILEARN tests.  Thank you for your patients.  We also have a lot of AP exams and industry certification tests  this week  as well.    Please take a look at the spring dates list for a full list of tests.  

Senior Pictures - Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Danny Bolin will be at Perry Central to take individual pictrures of seniors with their cap and gowns along with a class photo.  We will be taking individual pictures in the high school gym.   This is our first year to do this - so a new tradition for PC seniors!

Special Shout Outs 

**Shout out to Tara Schaefer, Sara Hubert, Kris Walsh and Stephanie Walsh!  They volunteered their time to help a life skills student get dressed and ready for prom and Sara and Tara even stayed with her during prom.  Their kindness will be remembered by this young lady for many years.  Thanks for making PC so special!

**Congrats to the girls track team for winning the PLAC Conference meet on Friday and to the boys for coming in 2nd!  A great tradition for PC athletics is to bring home that trophy!

**Also, thanks to Mary Jo Hagedorn and the Student Council for hosting a wonderful prom.  The students all danced the night away and had a great time!  

Teacher Appreciation Week

 

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week.  I am not a person who uses their words well and especially on such an occassion as this - reaching out to people who I watch give their all each day and serve the children and families in our community.  There really never seems to be the right words for an occassion such as this. 

SO, in 21st Century fashion, I asked ChatGPT!  Here is what AI had to say: 

Teachers play an invaluable role in shaping the minds and futures of their students, and their contributions to society cannot be overstated.

Teachers inspire, educate, and mentor their students, often going above and beyond their job descriptions to make a positive impact on young people's lives. They are dedicated to creating a safe and nurturing learning environment where students can grow, learn, and thrive. They are patient, compassionate, and committed to their profession, and their hard work and dedication are greatly appreciated.

This week, and always, let us honor and appreciate the hard work and dedication of teachers everywhere. Thank you, teachers, for all that you do!

I couldn't have said it any better! Thanks to all of you (faculty and staff) for enduring the hard days, celebrating the good days and always coming to work with a smile and the heart for kids. As a parent and administrator - you are all heroes in my book!

Appreciation Week Treat list was placed in your mailboxes last week. Hope you enjoy the goodies!

Important Information:

ILEARN - We had a great week of testing and this week, Tuesday and Wednesday, will be finishing up with math! HERE is the schedule if you need it again! Thanks to everyone for help with these important days! Notice on Tuesday we will be testing periods 1-3.

Mock Car Crash - Thursday, May 4th @ 1:00 p.m - We will call students in grades 10 - 12 out to the parking lot for this pre-prom event. Please accompany your students.

Important Dates: HERE is the page with important dates coming up! We only have 3 weeks of school left! Some other important dates are:

Friday, May 5 - Junior HIgh Houses Community Service Day

Tuesday, May 9th 7:25 a.m. - Faculty Meeting

Wednesday, May 10 Awards Banquet, 6:00 p.m. (Please be there by 5:45 p.m.)Everyone should plan to attend. If you cannot attend, please let Jody know

Early College Week

 

Once again, we are getting ready for Early College Week!!  College, as we know, means any type of training beyond high school (4 year degree, 2 year degree, industry certification, military, etc.).  We also know that education opens doors and our goal is to teach our students to be life long learners and to take advantage of as much education as they possibly can!  

Not only is Early College Week about celebrating college, but also about celebrating all of YOU.  You are the teachers/support staff that help provide students with not only academic skills, but you are encouragers and believers that all students can learn and help students see their potential!  I often think about my husband during this week.  He was one of the students sitting in your classrooms today that was a first generation student, smart and hard working.  His ag teacher saw that and made him bring an application to Purdue to the classroom and made him fill it out in front of him and helped him along the way.  His path to Purdue wasn't easy, but it was his ticket and he did it because someone else believed in him and encouraged him along the way!  (He was REALLY lucky that he met me, too!  Lol!)   

As educators, you are creating life changing opportunities for all of our students!  Thanks for all you do!

           To help us celebrate Early College Week we have several surprise and delights this week, please see below: 

JEANS WEEK!!!!

Monday: Chick Fil-A Sandwiches to celebrate all teachers & support staff for preparing all of our students for our Early College program!

Tuesday:  Student celebration - Ice Cream for students in grades 10-12 during lunch!  Everyone wear their Black Early College Shirts for a picture!  

Thursday: Early College Mentor Meetings (Pizza for Mentors and students)

Friday:  Sweet Treats for our teachers and our day to celebrate Laura Purcell and our Ivy Tech partnership!

Important Information: 

ILEARN - This week we are starting the ILEARN test for students in grades 7 & 8.  Please take a look at the updated schedule HERE.  We will be testing 2-3 periods Tuesday and Wednesday and 1-3 on Thursday!  Please help the other students stay quiet during passing periods as much as possible.  

ILEARN PEP Session:  We are going to use WIN on Monday for a short pep session for students in grades 7 &8  to celebrate learning before the ILEARN tests.  Teachers are going to perform a short skit and we are going to recognize students that grew their scores from the prior years of testing and students who earned Pass +.   Please do not code junior high students for WIN on Monday.  

END OF YEAR:  If you haven't noticed already, the natives are starting to get really restless as we start to enter the end of the school year.  This is a really, really important time to keep students busy in meaningful work these last 23 days.  Here are some ideas: 

           * If you want to give students time to study - don't give them time on their own, structure their time into a game (we know games are very engaging to students.)

                     Marzano's Academic Game Ideas

           * Create authentic learning opportunities for students - how can you connect to the community to empower students? 

           * Create opportunities for movement in your classroom: (Gallery Walks, 4 Corner Activity,)

                                                                         Marzano's Corner Activity/Body Representation Ideas

   Updated Grades:   I know it is super hard, but please make sure your gradebooks are up to date as we move forward through the end of the school year.  We want to make sure students are getting adequate feedback and parents know where their students are at!  Please let me know if you need help with this!           

      Some Things Going On Around HERE:  

AVID - You will be hearing about a new program that we are going to start in the junior high called AVID.  This program is designed to help students who are 3.5-2.0 students (middle students) that sometimes get overlooked because they make pretty good grades, they complete their work and fly under the radar.  The program is designed to give these students the skills they need to push forward so they can be better prepared for college level courses.  12-15 students in grades 6,7,& 8 have been identified and will have a class period for AVID next year.  We are excited to have Jessie Bryant, Brennan Malone and Abe Schwartz teaching a section next year!

NAPE/PIPE Process:  This school year a team from the high school and elementary have been participating in the PIPE process sponsored by Toyota.  PIPE (Program Improvement Process for Equity) is a process to help ensure that we are using research based practices to provide equity in education.  We had to pick a project to work on and try to improve our practices.  We decided to focus on trying to get girls more comfortable in non-traditional career fields, such as construction, ag, welding, diesel, etc.  This week, Jane Goffinet has been leading our team to activites for 6th grade students around this idea.  On Monday, high school girls in non-traditional career fields will be meeting with 6th grade girls and talking about their career pathways.  Friday, we have 4 women professionals in non-traditional careers to come and talk to the 6th grade girls as well.   Our goal is to expose students to the possibilities and see that anything is possible for them!  Thanks, Jane, for your leadership!

Congratulations:  Congratulations to Josh Craney's Enterprise team of Bowdie Cronin, Jacob Wagner, Noah Benjamin and Jackson Wallace presented a problem in Commodore Manufacturing and how they solved it!  The judges were so impressed with their process and data driven approach - they said their engineers in their company do not solve problems that well!  They won $6,000 for their program! 

 

Art Show: Once again, Mrs. Poehlein and her studnets have put together a wonderful art show centered around the Prehistoric World!  If you haven't had a chance to stop by, I would encourage you to do so.  It will be open to the public Tuesday evening from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.  Bring your family!

Band Concert - The final band concert will be this Thursday, Aprils 27th at 6:00 p.m.  Hope to see everyone there!!

FFA Banquet - The PC FFA Banquet will be Sunday, April 30th!

Power of Positivity

As we approach the end of the year and we embark a season of testing, I am reminded about the importance of a growth mindset and positive thinking.  Science proves that when you believe in yourself or have others believe in you that your outcomes change for the better!  Whether you are shooting a basketball blindfolded (in the video clip below) or taking a test, the way you approach life and approach each other can make all of the difference in the world.  

Below is a short youtube clip that proves this scientific fact.  It is a great reminder about how much of a postive impact we can have on each other.  Thanks for always believing in our students and cheering them on in every aspect of their lives.  Our students acheive great things because of you!

       Power of Positivity - Here is the short video that explains the research.  It may be a great piece to show your students before they start testing in the next few weeks!  

Important Information: 

Assistant Lunch and Learn:  Teaching assistants, I would like to invite you to the library during your lunch time for a little lunch and learn opportunity on Wednesday, January 19th.  After our last PD day, many of you were interested in some activities to help students engage with the work more.  We would just like to take a few minutes to share with you some of those strategies so you have time to practice what feels comfortable to you from now until the end of the school year!   Since it will be a working lunch, I will have lunch for you.  This should not affect your WIN.  Let me know if you have any questions/concerns.  See you there!

ILEARN Proctors:  HERE is a copy of the ILEARN schedule.  If you are a proctor, we will have a meeting on Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m.  We will talk about the important parts of proctoring, go over the schedule with details and talk about a small ILEARN pep session (I emailed out earlier).  See you Tuesday morning for this important meeting!  

House Leader Meeting:  We will have a House Leader meeting on Wednesday, April 19th at 7:30 a.m. in the High School Library.  This is a very important meeting to discuss our Community Service Day on May 5th.  Please be there.  

Perry County Trades Fair:  On Tuesday, April 18th, juniors and a few seniors will participate in the Trades Fair at Ivy Tech from 8:00 - 10:00 a.m.  It is going to be a great day for students to learn about all of the opportunities in our region.  Dana will be sending out a list of students soon!  

Education Pathway - Jane Goffinet will be taking the Education Pathway students to Ball State on Friday, April 21st.  Perry Central is luck to be a part of a grant to promote Education Apprenticeships - a new and innovative way to grow our own teachers!  Jane is leading this pathway and doing a great job!  They have even started a teaching club!  

Enterprise Competition - Josh Craney and Michael Jarboe have two teams participating in the Conexus Indiana Enterprise Competition this week.  Student teams will give a virtual presentation about a problem they have encountered in their student ran business and how they solved it.  Good luck to our students!

STEM Challenge - Stephanie Walsh took 7 students to the STEM Challenge at Oakland City University on Friday.  They didn't come out with any cash prizes, but they learned a lot and had a great time.  Thank you, Stephanie for taking the students!

Workplace Challenge - Carol's business students prepared a business plan for a t-shirt company.  On Tuesday, the top 4 groups will present their plans to the Small Business Develoment Center representative for authentic feedback on their proposed business.  The goal is for hopefully their business plan to come to fruition and be a plan for the business enterprise program! 

Legislative Updates

 

We are nearing the end of this legislative session.  It is a budget year, so it is always an exciting ride.  They always remind us that the legislative process is a marathon, not a sprint!  I do believe that.   :-)  

Below are a few notes out of the Senate Education Committee you may be interested in: 

* 1002 - High School Redesign Bill        

- Removed the requirements for Career Fairs, Career Class in high school and the 30 minute meeting requirement with an "intermediary

- Redefines Intermediary as any non-profit organization that strives to provide career advice/counseling for students and connect them to opportunities in the region.  It also adds a grant opportunity for intermediaries to gather some funds to support this work.  (I think it could help bridge the gap between school and work - I just hope that person is good and has the best interest of our students in mind!)  

- States that new diploma requirements must be in writing by December 31st 2024 and new requirements would begin 2024-25 school year and the first cohort of students to go through the new diploma requirements for Class of 27-28

- Career Saving Accounts would be available for students to use for career coaching, post-secondary training, transportation/equipment, certification fees, etc. 

* 1635 Education Matters Bill

- Would cap graduation waivers - 9%, 6%, to 3% or less over three years.  If we have waivers over this percentage it would go against our graduation rate - students could still earn the waiver.  Legislators think that waivers do not allow students to gain skills they need to be successful in the economy

- Will bring back an A-F lettergrade as early as this school year  

SB 6 - Regulatory Relief Bill - received a LOT of (hours of) negative feedback.  This bill currently has language that supports teachers/media specialist could be "charged" for disseminating materials harmful for minors.  Also gives parents a lot of control over what is in the library.  They are not sure who is really for this bill, so hopefully it will disappear!

Most of these bills have been through the committee work and will be going back for a second reading on the House or Senate floor.    If you have quesitons about these bills or others, I am happy to share the podcasts that I listen to.  The bills I am listing are bills the Indiana School Principal's Association is following the most.  There are other updates about other bills I can share as well!

Important Information: 

Professional Development Day - HERE is an updated version of our Professional Development Day Agenda.  I have added some links for you to have, etc. 

       * Teachers - Please bring your computers to the Faculty Meeting in the morning - this will be in the library after the safety meeting at 8:00 a.m.

      * Assistants - you will need your computers as well (or it will be nice to have).  I will meet with you and get you started in the Flex Room after the Safety Meeting in the main cafeteria

Early College Survey - PLEASE:  Our High School General Account can earn $400 for surprise and delight items if we get good participation in the Early College Survey!  This survey is also very important as we look at how we can improve our Early College program, etc.  We are asked to do this through our RECN grant.  This is for ALL teachers.  If you could fill this out by Friday, it would be appreciated!    

https://uncg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6lLG2a4As65GPlk?sc=1886

ILEARN Schedule: I am still working on coverage plans for the ILEARN schedule, but you can see changes on this live document. I will send out a final document once all details have been put into place. We will test the last week of April and first week of May (specific dates and times are on the link). This test is for 7th and 8th grade students. ILEARN SCHEDULE We will have a meeting for proctors very soon!

RISE - Just a reminder that Domains 1 & 3 are due this year. We only require that these are updated every three years. Please try to have them finished by the end of the week. If you need an extension on this due date, please see Jody or Phil. Also, don't forget that you have a professional goal in the SFS system as well. Your PLC team picked a strategy you wanted to focus on. You may want to remind yourself of your 2nd semester goal!

STEM Grant Meeting - On the agenda for Monday afternoon is a STEM Grant meeting. If you feel you will have a workplace challenge or PBL finished by the end of the year and would like to make sure you have documentation for the $400 stipend, please attend the meeting!! A lot of great projects happening this month:

* Carol Schwoeppe - Business Plan Presentations to the Small Business Development Corporation

* Vanessa Johnson - Chemistry in the workplace - students will visit Waupaca and see some chemical reactions happen in the industry and understand different careers around this topic!

* Adam Stowe is starting a new PBL this month in his World History classes that connect students to local heroes

GOOD LUCK!!

* We have two teams traveling to the STEM Challenge at Oakland City on Friday!

* Conexus Indiana is sponsoring a virtual competition for Enterprise programs. Josh and Michael have two teams competing - students have to present a problem in their company they had to solve and how they solved it! It will be a great experience for our students.

* Mrs. Schwoeppe is taking Ace Emerson and Ali Thomas to the National BPA conference in California to compete!! Good luck!

Heartwarming Tidbits

 My body was exhausted but my heart was full after last week.   So many great things happening: 

Vanessa Johnson invited Kaydyn Jarboe's grandfather into their medical class to talk about his Kidney transplant.  To their surprise, the donor made his first public appearace to share his experiences with our students.  I wish all of you could have heard their story and witnessed the most geniuine and loving smile that Mr. Jarboe shared when talking about this experience.  What a great opportunity for our students to not only learn about the medical side of a kidney transplant but also about what community love looks like - when a community comes together (not only the donor, but all of the people that helped them harvest crops, etc.) to save a neighbor's life.   My eyes were not dry during this!  Thank you, Vanessa, for providing this community learning opportunity for our students.  

Senior Top 10 Banquet was last week.  PC Alumn, Bryce Lain, gave the talk at the banquet.  It was so great to watch one of our graduates talk about how Perry Central prepared him for college and life.  He even quoted his cross country coach, Jason Barnett!  He remembered during a time he was worried about going to college that Mr. Barnett gave him great advice and he shared that with the students - because he still uses the advice today.  As a teachers and coaches, just remember ALL of you have such a powerful influence on our students.  Great event!

 This week, because of a spare washer and dryer, I got to visit a couple of our students who really had a tough life while at PC.  They lived in high poverty and while in school lost both their mom and dad over a period of time.  Our school family really wrapped their arms around these kids as they worked hard to make it on their own.  Because of welding/manufacturing classes, internships, dual credits and relationships at Perry Central - both kids have been able to purchse their own homes and are doing so well.  One is even starting to train others in the company he works in!!!!  What all of you do matters - this is just one example of the many that happen every year!  

Thanks for making a difference!!!!

Important Information: 

PLC Meetings: We are finishing up PLC meetings this week.  The feedback I get from all of you will help shape our PD day on April 10th!  Four Day Work WEEK!!!

Learning Lunch Reminder:  Just a reminder, if you sign students up for Learning Lunch you did it because they have late work.  Even though we do not punish students by giving them zeros on the work they don't turn in or doc them for it being late (because we want their grade to reflect what they know), it is important to hold them accountable for being late.  The accountability comes from them having to serve the Learning Lunch.  If students get work finished before they serve their Learning Lunch - that is GREAT, but we want them to serve at least 30 minutes of their time since the assignment was late.  Our goal is to help students learn to not turn in work late.  This is important for Billie Sue and Debbie as well because they are working hard to hold that line for all of us!  Thank you!

Important Spring Dates:  You can find the Spring Date list HERE.  We will keep adding to it. 

Commodore Pride - If you are interested in helping with Commodore Pride, there is a meeting Tuesday morning, April 4th, in Vanessa Johnson's room.  

Community Service Projects:  Junior High Houses will be working on deciding where they want to conduct their Community Service projects soon.  We plan to have our big day on Friday, May 5th.  If anyone knows of someone in the community that needs something or a non-profit organization that could use some help, please share with Lauren or Jody.  We like to let the kids decide, but sometimes they need to know what needs are out there!    We know that as humans, when we have the opportunity to serve others, we create our own happiness.  We hope that we can instill this into our students! 

 

Meet At the TRACK!

Ashley Hubert shared this meme with me.  It is so true about all of us!  To help support our mental health the next few weeks, I would love to start a Walking Club.  Anyone that is interested can meet at the track at 3:15 and we will walk for 20 minutes together!  We can meet by the ticket booth by the CTE building!  Bring a friend!!!!  

We will walk 2 days a week for sure - Tuesday, April 4  and Thursday, April 6 this week.  

Spaceship Earth

Over Spring Break, I had the honor of going on the PC Band Disney trip with Justin and the rest of the band. While I may never do 4 parks in 4 days and sleep two nights on a bus ever again, it was a great time to be with family - both my personal family and school family. On top of that, the sun was shining and it was warm, a much needed bonus.

One of my favorite rides was in Epcot, Spaceship Earth. It wasn't a thrill ride, but a travel back to the dawn of humanity, when early man painted on cave walls and humans didn't have a great way to communitcate. It then allowed us to navigate all of the changes in communication and watch how ideas spread as humans went from no communication, to writing on cave walls to the invention of the Gutenberg's printing press. As books were printed the wheels of time turned even faster as we entered the age of media, from newspapers announcing the end of the Civil War to the televised broadcast of the moon landing - and beyond. As we traveled, it was evident that society never stopped changing and as education (books/reading) became more and more available our society moved even faster.

This ride really resignated with me as we are living in such a pivital time of change as our information is not even in books but now with the Internet, social media, artificial intellegence, and more. Information that was once at the mercy of a printing press and slow transportation modalitites, is now at our fingertips with our cell phones and Amazon Prime next day delivery! For me, all of that change made me think about two things: 1. the importance of literacy AND 2. the way we engage students in learning. The days of teaching from books and memorizing information are skills of the PAST. Students need purposeful lesson that create meaning, skills that allow students to critically think across several pieces of text and professional skills such as communication, teamwork and resiliency.

We have all heard the quote, "The only thing constant in life is change." and sometimes we get frustrated in education because there are always "new things". But the truth is, education has to change because education is the driving force of the economy and the world we live in. We will continue to try to be intentional and only chase research based change, but as professionals in the field, we have to make sure we are preparing students for their FUTURES, not their past. It can be an overwhelming but exciting/rewarding task - but worthy of the effort.

Speaking of Change - Here are some Design Thinking Examples from Twitter and our own Payton Malone (Payton's students are learning about scientific design through their Workplace Challenge with Anu, vertical grow towers - they are designing a scientific experiment to determine how much water is needed for a grow tower of lettuce. They have each created their designs and hypothesis and are sharing with each other - practicing their public speaking skills and learning from each other):

           

Important Information: 

PLC Meetings:  This week, I will be sending a few agenda items to Science, Social Studies and English PLC teams and will catch up with math, Island and Special Education soon.  My goal is to talk with each group about progress made in our PLC process along with other goals that pertain with disciplinary literacy and discuss goals for the last quarter and next year.    

Advisory Board Meeting:  We will be hosting one of our quarterly Advisory Board meetings on Tuesday morning for community members.  CTE teachers are encouraged to visit our partners from 7:45 - 8:00 a.m. We will ask a few students to share some of the work their work, get feedback on our core values (professional skills grading scale we are developing), and more.  We appreciate our community members and need them to help lead us so we can be preparing students for skills of the future.

Internship Training:   We have been working on making our internship program stronger.  One of our ideas is to host a training for our incoming interns.  So, on Wednesday, March 29th we will be hosting a lunch and learn for junior who have signed up for an internship.  The training will be from 11:00 - 12:30 on this day, so students will be out of 4th period a little early.  Whitney Zellers from Work One will be presenting to students and we will provide lunch for them.  I will send a list of students.

Spring Dates:  I realized that I forgot to prepare a list of spring dates for everyone!  HERE is a link to a google document with upcoming dates.  We will be adding to it.  This helps for your planning purposes.

School Play: The school play will be this Friday, March 31st (7:00 p.m.)  and Saturday, April 1st (2:30 p.m.)   Hope you can make it out to support our students!   

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!