High Expectations

Research shows that students will meet and exceed expectations when they are held to high standards for success.  Every child we serve deserves to have high expectations for academic success.  How do we ensure we are holding students to these high expectations?  Here is a comparison of teacher behaviors for low and high expectations from the "Disrupting Poverty" book by Kathleen Budge and William Parrett.  Thanks for always making sure our students are encouraged to do their best daily!  

Teachers who hold HIGH Expectations. . .

   - Articulate the belief that student can achieve at high levels

   - Create warm social-emotional relationships focused on strengths, funds of knowledge, interests and aspirations

   - Provide informative feedback on performance to scaffold learning

   - Teach content and use tasks with high cognitive demand

   - Ask frequent, high-level questions

   - Encourage a productive struggle (refrain from giving answers, allowing wait time, guiding to answer)

   - Maintain close physical prosimity

   - Interact Frequently

   - Use positive nonverbal communication

Teachers who hold LOW Expectations . . . 

   - Call on students less frequently

   - Provide less "wait time" for answers

   - Provide answers or call on another student without wait time

   - Reward low-quality or incorrect answers

   - Criticize more frequently for failure

   - Interact less frequently

   - Seat students far away from teacher

   - Rely on tasks with low cognitive demand

   - Overuse independent/seat work

School Notes: 

* ISTEP Test Schedule - Attached to the email is a daily ISTEP schedule with coverage listed.  EVERYONE should please look at this list to see if they are required to help cover students.  Thank you to everyone for their flexibility and help these next two weeks!  You can find the document for 2018 ISTEP Groups in the Teacher Resource folder in Google Docs.  Please help make sure students know where they will be testing and when! 

* Book Study!  We are very excited about our book study!  Please remember our first post in the Google Classrooms are due March 9th.  This first post is just an overview of the book - take a look at the Table of Contents and just flip through the book to gather a sense for what the book is about and share with us what you hope to gain.  We will have questions for the first three chapters of your book posted soon and feedback will be due by Friday, April 6th.  If you need help accessing Google Classroom, please see Phil.  

* Reminders:  The end of the grading period is now Friday, March 16th.  Report cards will come out on Wednesday, the 21st, so the window for finalizing grades will be shorter.  We will NOT meet after school for a PLC meeting on March 14th.  PLC Data will be due by April 6th.  You are encouraged to use your WIN team time to finalize this data.  Documents will be available in the PLC Organization Folder.  

Important Dates: 

Friday, March 2nd - Pep Session for Boys Basketball Sectional!   Boys will play at 5:30 p.m. at Castle High School on Friday night!  Go Commodores!!

March 13th - Aspire Event for all 10th grade students.  Students will be gone from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

March 22nd - Virtual Day for students/Teacher Professional Development Day with safety as the topic

March 9 - Book Study entry due

Relationships Matter

The events in Florida are on all of our hearts and minds this week.  Working in a school and knowing the vulnerability our children live in every day, every place they go makes these tragic events feel close to home.   At Perry Central, the safety of our students and staff are at the core of our daily actions.  More important than safety drills, security plans and protocols are the connections that we are making with our students.  Knowing and understanding our students allows us to reach out for help,in their behalf, when we notice they are reaching a breaking point with the stress in their lives.  I feel so fortunate to work in a place where students and their families are surrounded by caring adults, such as  teachers, custodians, cooks, bus drivers, and administrators, who build lasting, positive connections with the students in our school.  We know that punitive discipline is not the answer, but restorative justice brings hope and change to students.  

Thank you for making Perry Central a safe and great place to educate our communities most precious resource, our children.


School Notes: 

Safety Meeting - Just a reminder of the after school safety meeting that will be held in the high school library at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 20th.  We will also use this time to have a school wide ISTEP meeting as well.  

Celebrating Bob - We will have a retirement celebration/open house at 5:30 p.m. in the high school library to celebrate Bob Ransome and his years of service to Perry Central.  Hope to see all of you there!   

12 Days to ISTEP - The PBIS team has been working on test taking tips to share with students in grades 7,8 and 10.  Teachers who have 7th, 8th and 10th grade students first period will be asked to share these tips each day as we count down to ISTEP.

SAT/ACT Test Prep- Please encourage students to take advantage of the SAT/ACT Test Prep Sessions that will be available to them for FREE starting this week.  Sessions are in the mornings 7:05 - 7:55 a.m.  On Tuesdays, students can practice English with Ms. Petty in her room and on Wednesdays, students can practice math with Mr. Linne!

Important Dates: 

Tuesday, February 20th -  Faculty Meeting 7:20 a.m. High School Library/  After School Safety Meeting 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 22nd - 8th and 10th grade parent meeting 5:45 p.m. 

Friday, February 23rd - Boys Varsity Basketball Game @ home vs. Heritage Hills 6:00 p.m./ Bob Ransome open house - 5:30 p.m. in high school library/ Senior Night!!

Reading Children

This week, I just wanted to leave you with a few good reads I found on Social Media.  I think they are all just good reminders of what all of you already know and do every day.  Hope you have a wonderful week!  

“Psychologists usually try to help people use insight and understanding to manage their behavior. However, neuroscience research shows that very few psychological problems are the result of defects in understanding; most originate in pressures from deeper regions in the brain that drive our perception and attention. 

When the alarm bell of the emotional brain keeps signaling that you are in danger, no amount of insight will silence it.” 

― Bessel A. van der Kolk,
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

 

Children who have been hurt, learn how to hurt; themselves and others.

These children may engage in a barrage of negative behaviors including aggression, violence, threats, property destruction, and extreme disorganized behaviors.

The targets of this experience often find themselves moving away from the child, fighting back or feeling lost and incompetent.

The purpose of proving a trauma sensitive response to wounded children is that we learn to lean in during the most difficult times so as not to perpetuate the experience of abandonment.

The art of trauma informed care is a sacred practice. 

School Notes: 

PLC Meeting - Reminder we will have a PLC Meeting on February 14th from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. in High School Library!  We will learn about Restorative Practices along with time to work on our PLC Data.  See you there!

ISTEP Trial Test - New DATE:- All students in grades 7,8 and 10 must participate in an ISTEP Trial test on February 15th at the beginning of 4th period.  If you have students in these grades, we will be issuing you test tickets closer to time.  This should only take 10-15 minutes in theory!  Please just mark you calendars and more information will come out soon.  10 school days until ISTEP window opens!  

8th Grade Field Trip - Reminder that all 8th grade students will be on a field trip on Thursday the 15th until around the middle of 6th period.  Students will be visiting the Perry County Detention Center and Court Room.  The will also be watching the "Hit from Hell" documentary, learning about the opioid crisis. 

12 Days to ISTEP - The PBIS team has been working on test taking tips to share with students in grades 7,8 and 10.  Teachers who have 7th, 8th and 10th grade students first period will be asked to share these tips each day as we count down to ISTEP.  Watch your email for details!

SAT/ACT Test Prep- Please encourage students to take advantage of the SAT/ACT Test Prep Sessions that will be available to them for FREE starting this week.  Sessions are in the mornings 7:05 - 7:55 a.m.  On Tuesdays, students can practice English with Ms. Petty in her room and on Wednesdays, students can practice math with Mr. Linne!

Important Dates: 

Monday, February 12 - ISTEP Meeting for special education teachers after school in High School Library/ School Board Meeting 6:30 p.m. High School Library

Wednesday, February 14 - Valentine's Day Sweet Treats!!  7:30 a.m. in High School Office/ PLC Meeting 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 15 - 8th Grade Field Trip/ ISTEP Trial Test 

Friday, February 16 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Paoli 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 17 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Home vs. Tecumseh 5:30 p.m.

February 20th - Corporation After School Safety Meeting 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

 

The Blind Side

I am not very good at sitting down and watching movies, but last night our family started the movie The Blind Side.  Wow!  What a movie!  The entire time I was watching, I was thinking about some of our students. (If you are not familiar with the movie, Michael finds himself without parents (due to drugs) and another family adopts him.  He ends up being an NFL Star! He was doing terribly in school and teachers were giving up on him, except one - and after getting a tutor and a place to live, he excelled!)  We have many students that have endured complicated home lives.  This story reminds me that all students have a background; a story that many of us are not aware of. As professional educators, it is our job to never give up but to seek to understand and provide opportunities for our students to be successful.  

My favorite character in the movie was Ms. Sue.  She was Michael's tutor. Before Ms.Sue, Michael struggled in school and many believed he didn't know how to read as homework was hardly completed. She believed in the growth mindset as she told Michael that he didn't know the material, YET!  She was great at holding Michael to high expectations while at the same time supporting his needs. It took a lot of hard work, but watching him walk across stage for graduation with a high school diploma and a 2.5 GPA was well worth the effort and led Michael to go on to earn a college degree. 

We all have an example of a Michael in our classrooms.  To help these students be successful, it is important to build relationships, be kind and yet hold students to high expectations.  At Perry Central, we are fortunate to have a system of supports through learning lunch, 8th period and tutoring that helps make sure students are not falling behind in their academics (high expectations of doing the work) while at the same time supporting our students with engaging classroom projects, counselors and kind, smiling faces.  It is a lot of hard work, but when graduation comes, it is worth every minute of it!  Thanks to all of you for making a difference in our students' lives. 
 

School Notes: 

ISTEP Trial Test - All students in grades 7,8 and 10 must participate in an ISTEP Trial test on February 7th at the beginning of 4th period.  If you have students in these grades, we will be issuing you test tickets closer to time.  This should only take 10-15 minutes in theory!  Please just mark you calendars and more information will come out soon.  15 school days until ISTEP window opens!  

12 Days to ISTEP - The PBIS team has been working on test taking tips to share with students in grades 7,8 and 10.  Teachers who have 7th, 8th and 10th grade students first period will be asked to share these tips each day as we count down to ISTEP.  Watch your email for details! 

SAT/ACT Test Prep- Please encourage students to take advantage of the SAT/ACT Test Prep Sessions that will be available to them for FREE starting this week.  Sessions are in the mornings 7:05 - 7:55 a.m.  On Tuesdays, students can practice English with Ms. Petty in her room and on Wednesdays, students can practice math with Mr. Linne!

Snow Make-Up - We will now be coming to school on February 19th to make up our school days, along with the first four days of Spring Break (first week.)

Indiana Youth Survey -   The week of February 5th opens a survey that all students in grades 7-12 need to take.  The information we get from this survey is very important.  Students in grades 7-10 will take the survey in their science classes, 11th grade in US History and 12th grade in English.  More information will be coming.

Important Dates: 

Friday, February 9 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Northeast Dubois 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 10 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Home vs. North Posey  3:00 p.m.  (Career Pathway Night!)

Tuesday, February 14 - PLC Meeting  3:00 - 4:00

Thursday, February 15 - 8th Grade Field Trip

Tuesday, February 20th - Corporation Safety Meeting  3:00 - 4:00 p.m.