A Fresh Start

As we reflect on 2018, there is a temptation for all of us to strive to do more in 2019 through our resolutions.  Head Space Co-Founder, Andy Puddicombe has a different idea.  Andy is a mindfulness and meditation expert who created an app that helps companies and individuals clear their heads and understand the powerful science behind this work.  He reminds us that to bring less stress in our lives and to find regulation, we need to focus on doing less.  Below are his recommendations for a successful 2019!

Tips for Less Stress in 2019:

·        Learn to Meditate (Sounds familiar! J) – Science research says that learning to do nothing can help us live healthier lives.  It is important to find ways to be present and mindful of our surroundings. 

·         Judge Less –  Be kind to yourself.  When you start to get critical of yourself or others, note those feelings and then let them go.   Conscious Discipline also reminds us of the importance of noticing and not judging! 

·         Binge Less -  A lot of times we find ourselves being emotional eaters (Guilty as charged!!!)  When you go to the cabinet (or desk drawer) looking for food, ask yourself if you are hungry or a little stressed!  J  (You may have to help me with this one!) 

·         Scroll Less – Put your phone away!  When we are with our children or loved ones we are there physically, but many times not emotionally because we are checking our email or getting notifications.  Andy suggests that you reset your phones for the New Year – clear all notifications and clean out all in-boxes to start the year fresh and with less distractions.  Remember that our own children and students in our classes need their Joy Juice of face-to-face interactions! 

·         Fight Less – Get rid of grudges and other baggage that you may be holding.  When in doubt BREATHE! 

What great tips to have for the New Year!  Here is to a new year with less stress and more enjoyable interactions.  

Important Information: 

PLC Team Meetings - I would like to schedule a PLC meeting date for all groups.  I started a rough agenda on our documents in the PLC Organization Folder.  I will be sending more information to each team individually.  If you have agenda items you would like to discuss with me, please let me know!

After School PLC Meeting - We will have our after school PLC meeting on Wednesday, January 9th from 3:10 - 4:00 p.m.  I will post an agenda soon!  We will have time for reflection and working with your teams.  Snacks will be provided!

Wedding Bells - Congratulations to Bo Gibson for marrying his best friend on New Year's Eve!  We are happy for both of them and wish them many years of happiness!

Conscious Discipline Trainings - Lauren Blake and Kelly Cash have been working hard to create a refresher/training around Conscious Discipline principles in January.  We are going to split up into junior high and high school teams.  Junior high teachers (listed below) will meet after school on January 16th and high school will be January 23rd from 3:10 - 4:00 in the high school library.  It will be a great training.  Looking forward to learning with you!
   Junior High Teachers (January 16):  Jason, Brennan, Michelle, Abbie, Hailei, Seth, Ty, Stephanie, Hilarie, Pam, Keith, Heidi, Melissa, Carol
   High School Teachers (January 23): Debbie, Bo, Adam, Mackenzie, Jennifer, Dana, Vanessa, Nancy, Andrea, Carrie, Josh, Kris, Diane, Mary Jo, Jill,

Grades:  Grades are due in Skyward by Tuesday, December 8th at midnight.  Report cards will come out on January 11th.

Poly-Tech Institute - January 7th and 8th Perry Central will be sending a team to New York to visit two well known poly-tech institutes.  Perry Central was invited by CELL to attend the event.  Tara, Jody, Ray and Glenn Etienne will be attending.  We look forward to sharing what we learn.  Poly-Tech programs work to embed work based learning opportunities into the classroom.

Career Day - Maria Sweat is working on Career Day for January 18th.  We are hosting this event earlier this year in hopes of helping students with class scheduling for next year.  More details will be forthcoming.  Career Day will be for students in grades 8, 9 and 10 and will be hosted during 3rd and 4th periods on the 18th.

News 44 Visits Again - On Friday, January 25th, News 44 will host another morning pep session for our students.  We were chosen again by their producers because they had so much fun last time!!!  The Pep session starts around 7:00 a.m.  More details will be forthcoming.  Mark your calendars for a fun start to the day!  We love having so many teachers be a part of this fun activity!

Assistant Meeting - On Friday, January 4th during both lunches we will have an assistant meeting.  Please meet in the teacher meeting room (room behind the ISS room) during your lunch time.  It will be a great time for us to catch up, talk about successes and struggles, share changes to WIN schedule and learn more about student brains!  :-)  Looking forward to seeing you!

Important Dates:

Wednesday, January 2 -  Back to School

Thursday, January 3 - SEL Team Meeting 3:00 - 4:15 High School Library/ Girls Varsity @ Home vs. Paoli 5:30 p.m.

Friday, January 4 - Boys Varsity @ West Washington 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 5 - Girls Varsity @ Home vs. North Posey 12:00 p.m./ Boys Varsity @ Home vs. Forest Park 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, January 8 - Grades Due by midnight

Wednesday, January 9 - After School PLC Meeting 3:10 - 4:00

Living Grateful Lives

As many of you are fully aware, I am an avid Purdue Boilermaker fan!  Even though our athletic teams seem to struggle with consistency, we still bleed black and gold.  As alumni we are proud to be a part of a great family that has one thing in common:  We hate IU!    (Just kidding!)

One of the great stories coming from West Lafayette right now is the story of Tyler Trent.  Tyler was a student at Purdue University when he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. He too is an avid Purdue Boilermaker fan!  You may recognize his face, because he was the inspiration to our football team's victory over Ohio State this past season. Tyler has tugged on the hearts of many the last couple of months as he chooses to live a positive life and strives to make a difference each day.  I found the following quote and felt like his perspective is a good reminder about what our Holiday Season is all about..

Words from Tyler Trent: 

Though I am in hospice care and have to wake up every morning knowing that the day might be my last, I still have a choice to make: to make that day the best it can be.  To make the most of whomever comes to visit, texts, tweets or calls me.  

Yet, isn't that a choice we all have every day?  After all, nobody knows the amount of days we have left.  Some could say we are all in hospice to a certain degree. 

So, why don't we act like it?  Where is your gratitude?  Which Christmas coming up, what are you thankful for?  I had to write my will recently and I am just thankful I can give my family Christmas presents, maybe even for one last time.  Let's not forget that my doctors gave me three months to live almost two-and-a-half months ago.  So why can't we live grateful lives?  Why can't we make every day count like it is the last?  

Tyler Trent is SO right!    I hope you make each day of your Christmas Break count as valuable time with your family and friends.  I am grateful for each and everyone of you and  wish you all Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  See you in 2019!

Important Information:

Final Exam Schedule:  Thursday - 2nd period 7:55-9:35, 4th period 9:39-11:19  (Lunch/WIN)  5th 12:20 - 1:16, 6th period 1:20-3:00         Friday:  1st period 7:55-9:35, 3rd period 9:39-11:19  (lunch/WIN)  5th 12:20 - 1:16, 7th period 1:20 - 3:00    Grades need to be updated by January 8th and report cards will be sent home January 11th.

Restorative Practices:  Shelly Kunkle shared this link with the admin team this week.  It was a great, short video that reminded me of the value of restorative practices in our schools.  I hope you take 30 seconds to watch!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9I8dDGKUcg

BINGO!!  Do not forget to turn in your BINGO sheets for prizes this week!!!  Our Christmas meal will be Wednesday, December 19th!  Looking forward to some great food and fellowship!  Yes, Mr. Barnett, you can wear jeans ALL WEEK!

Faculty Meeting - We will have a Faculty Meeting on Tuesday, December 18th at 7:20 a.m.!  See you there!

Guests- Commodore Manufacturing will host a small group on Wednesday around 10:30 a.m.  The group is interested in learning what students are up to with Commodore Manufacturing!  Thanks to their leadership team for making it so successful!

Advisory Board Meeting - On Monday, we will be hosting a small group for a Computer Science Advisory Board Meeting.  We always value our partners and look forward to finding ways to making our programs stronger for our students!

Snow Make-Up Day:  Because we love our jobs so much, we get to come back one day early from Christmas Break!  We will be using January 2nd as our first snow make-up day!  See you then!!


Important Dates: 

Monday, December 17 - Computer Science Advisory Board Meeting 11:00 - 12:00

Tuesday, December 18 - Faculty Meeting 7:20 a.m.

Wednesday, December 19th - Commodore Manufacturing Visit 10:30 a.m., Junior/Senior High School Christmas Celebration Meal 11:00 a.m./ High School Band Concert 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 20th - Final Exams/  Girls Varsity Basketball @ Home vs. Springs Valley 5:30 p.m.

Friday, December 21st - Final Exams

December 28th and 29th - Boys Varsity Holiday Tourney

A School On FIRE!

I have a new favorite author, Ted Dintersmith. I am slowly reading the book, "What School Could Be" and it is so energizing!! After reading part of the book, I was quick to follow Mr. Dintersmith on twitter. He has a lot of great thoughts that he shares, but I LOVED the quote below.

"A key question in education. Do we teach for assessment, or for engagement? Imagine if our big goal in school were to increase S interest in subjects and in learning. Ss would learn more, and retain it, but it wouldn't adhere to standardized curriculum and tests."
- Ted Dintersmith (Twitter)


I think we all know that standardized testing is not the answer to bringing the joy of learning to our students. Just saying the words out loud makes us all want to stay in bed! Even though we have parameters that we have to work within, my question still begs to know how we CAN work to bring engagement into our classrooms, even with our required testing. We need engagement that will bring learning to life and bring back curiosity, innovation and excitement. Instead of getting frustrated with daily attendance and asking how we can get kids caught up on their daily work, what if we asked, "What can we do so our students are excited to come back every day?" How can we find ways to bring learning to life and find authentic lessons that are relevant to student lives?

The book, Better than Carrot and Sticks tells us that we can utilize conscious discipline and restorative practices all day long, but just because students feel valued doesn't mean that our students will automatically behave. If our classrooms are highly engaging and highly relevant to students' lives we are going to find greater success. The book defines ways to help engage students:
- Formative Assessments
- Gradual Release of Responsibility
- Purposeful Learning - meaningful and relevant learning targets
- Collaborative Learning
- Argumentation - productive group conversations with Accountable Talk Stems

Buddy Berry, superintendent at Eminence School Corporation in Kentucky asked the same question as he and his team worked to change the face of education at their private school. (You can watch the intro video on YouTube HERE.) They call their school a school on FIRE! He reminds us that in a world full of information our students do not need to be content experts - but need to be able to know where to find information, synthesize and utilize it! Quality instruction (formative assessments, disciplinary literacy, etc.) is important, but how can we personalize, energize and innovate to create a blended model of fun and engagement.

We are doing a lot of great things like: internships, embedded work based learning opportunities, flexible scheduling, conceptual learning, student accountable talk, etc. I still ask myself what other shifts do we need to make here at PC to help reflect this passion and excitement of learning. I look forward to working with all of you to continue to make Perry Central Jr./Sr. High School a school that is on FIRE!

"The overarching goal of education should be to immerse students into the beauty and inspiration of their surrounding world." - Ted Dintersmith, Tony Wagner

School Information:

* Data Team Meeting: Did you know there is a data team? Maybe, maybe not - but there is! This team is just taking a birds-eye view of where our students are at and find a way to communicate this information to you so we can utilize the information and use it to guide your work. Our team will be meeting this Monday from 3:00 - 4:00 in the high school library! Thanks to all of our team members for their hard work!

* Community Counseling Meeting - As part of our Lilly Counseling Grant, we meet with our community advisory board to make sure we are working hard to meet the needs of our students and the community. Meetings like this help us find ways to collaborate and learn together. Please welcome our guests in the building on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

* Laurie Desautels' thought for the week is in the picture to the right. So Powerful. Really, strong relationships are about unconditional love. :-)

* Disciplinary Literacy Training - Sarah Kelly will be providing short disciplinary literacy sessions to our core content teachers on Wednesday! We thank Sarah and our teachers for their efforts and their willingness to never stop learning!

* Holiday BINGO - Hope you are all having fun with your Holiday Bingo! I have heard stories where the English team asked a student that struggles with relationships to eat lunch with them during their PLC time (that team plans to occasionally continue this practice as it was so successful), looked at some very colorful socks and of course listened to Vanessa sing for a day! Thanks for all of the fun! We have a great team! When you have a BINGO or coverall - don't forget to turn in your cards for prizes and next week - chance to win drawings! For every BINGO you get, you get your name in the drawing that many times! :-)

* Faculty Meeting - We will have a Faculty Meeting on Tuesday, December 18th at 7:20 a.m. Breakfast will be served and we look forward to a time where we can learn together.

* Final Schedule - Just a reminder that we will have finals coming up on the last two days of the semester (December 20 & 21). Here are some important reminders about finals:
* Students need to be engaged in something meaningful the last day they are in your class. This is NOT a time to watch movies (unless your test is finished early) or give "free days".
* A final does not have to be an old fashion test - it can be some assessment of learning for one or multiple standards.
* Final Days are an excellent time to give students survey's about your class and ask for feedback that could be helpful to you for next semester! :-)
* Final Schedules: Thursday: Periods 2,4,5,6 Friday: Periods 1,3,5,7 (All periods are blocked except for 5th period due to lunch. )
I know that some of you double up your schedules with the elementary or have a double block of students. If you need help figuring out your schedule or coverage, please let me know.

Important Dates:

Monday, December 10th - Data Team Meeting 3:00 - 4:00 HS Library/ School Board Meeting 6:30 p.m. HS Library

Tuesday, December 11th - Candy Cane Carnival

Wednesday, December 12th - RTI Meeting 7:25 a.m. in the teacher meeting room

Thursday, December 13th - Community Counseling Meeting 8:30 a.m. HS Library, Success Skills PLC Meeting 11:30 a.m., Girls Varsity Basketball @ Orleans 5:30 p.m.

Friday, December 14th - Varsity Boys Basketball @ Home vs. Springs Valley 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 15th - Varsity Girls Holiday Classic Tourney @ Tell City 11:45 a.m.

I'm SO Happy!

This meme caught my attention this weekend.  It reminded me of my feelings when I had asked my youngest son to do his homework for the 15^th time!  When Jediah, my husband, came into the room and asked me where the coffee was I said, “In the cabinet” in what I thought was my nicest voice, but he did not agree.  He gave me the look after that!  J  At that moment, I realized how dysregulated I was.  Even though I was trying to hide anger, my body language and tone of voice was saying otherwise! 

We have all been in these situations and it is a very human response to be upset and carry over our dysregulated minds to the next task on our agenda.  I remember in college in my methods class where some of my college friends were students acting up while I was teaching.  I took care of them very sternly, but my professor reminded me that I couldn’t be upset with the rest of the class when I tried to pull the lesson back together!  Even though I was trying not to seem upset, my body language and tone of voice (non-verbal’s) proved differently.  It is SO Hard!  Regulation is nearly impossible to fake! 

Jules Alvarado talks to us about the importance of staying regulated when we work with students.  “You cannot give what you do not have,” is a quote from her that reminds us that we cannot help a child or other adults regulate until we ourselves have regulated.  Teaching our students to regulate is not enough, as it is co-regulation (calmness from both parties) where we can find true solutions. 

Even though it is hard to do, sometimes we must be honest with ourselves about where we are in this process.  It is important to know that it is okay to not be perfect, but just being aware of our own response is a great step. 

As for me, I am going to take a few deep breaths, remind myself that Justin will respond better if I am calm and try to have a better day!  J   

Important Information: 

* Math Professional Development - Laurie Ferry, math expert, will be at Perry Central this Thursday and Friday.  Her services are paid for by a grant.  We are fortunate to have her leadership and support through these changes in math curriculum! 

* Work Base Learning/Graduation Pathways Meeting - Seniors in an internship will meet in the high school library on Friday during Lunch/WIN to fill out important paperwork for the new graduation pathways requirements!  Thank you to Mike Bishop for leading this effort!

Important Dates: 

Monday, December 3 - Girls Varsity Basketball @  West Washington 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, December 4 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Home vs. Crawford County 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, December 6 - Girls Varsity Basketball @ Home vs. Tecumseh  5:30 p.m.

Friday, December 7th - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Wood Memorial  6:00 p.m.

Saturday, December 8th - High School Christmas Dance