Commodore Pride

A few months ago when I received the email asking us if Perry Central would be interested in hosting another morning Pep Session for Fox 44 News, I will have to tell you that I took a deep breath! Knowing the time of day when all of us have to get up and be at school, I was worried that the activity may have worn out its welcome.  

Boy, was I wrong!  The students and staff pulled together another AWESOME pep session last Friday.  Easily over 250 students were in attendance, wearing green, playing games, smiling, cheering for each other, eating McDonalds and just having a great time.  Our students thoroughly enjoyed having teachers play games with them in several friendly competitions.  I am not an emotional person, but when the 5th grade cheerleaders ran off of the floor hugging each other and reliving the energy they felt when the high school students were cheering them on, I have to tell you that I really did almost cry.

Perry Central is such a special place to be.  It isn't because of our building, the number of dual credits and career pathways or our athletic teams; it is because of the people that are in it.  Even though the days are not perfect, the culture of Perry Central is loving, caring, and overall a family atmosphere that accepts others for who they are. 

I just wanted to send a heart-felt thank you to all of you.  You care so much for our students and their families.  Your leadership and love are felt and you are the reason that Perry Central is what it is today.   Thanks for a great morning!

Important Information:



Teaching Tip:   Just a reminder for this week, as you are planning your formative assessment activities you must remember that a strong learning objective is important!  Mike Schmoker tells us that a strong objective is measurable and skill based.  Create and communicate good targets so students know what they are shooting for!  I hope to come in and see the great "I can" statements you post!

Welcome Whitney!  If you walk into Mr. Reese or Mr. Guillaume's room, you may find them looking a little different over the next few weeks!  Whitney Schwartz is working on her education license in Social Studies/History and will be student teaching with both gentlemen!  She is currently a student at Oakland City University.  We are very happy to have Whitney join us!

PLC Meetings: 
     Monday, January 28 - 1st WIN - 8th Grade ELA/SS - ILearn Performance Tasks
                                         2nd WIN - 7,8th grade Math - IREADY Data Dive

     Tuesday, January 29 - 7th Grade ELA/SS/Science - ILearn Performance Tasks


Visitors:  On Thursday, Mayor Scott Faddness and John Wechsler (entrepreneur) from Fischers, IN will be here to visit with some of our students!  Students will be talking to them about Commodore Manufacturing, Biomedical Technology, Engineering/CAD and Entrepreneurship projects that are going on at Perry Central.  Mayor Faddness is known for his leadership in creating an entrepreneurial culture in Fischers, IN that has allowed their economy to boom and ideas to flow!  We hope to develop a strong working partnership that will help keep innovative programming on the forefront at Perry Central!  If you want to learn more about their backgrounds, I would highly suggest you research them on Twitter! 

Girls Basketball Sectional:  Girls Basketball Sectional action starts this week!  Perry Central drew the bye and will play the winner of the Forest Park/Mater Dei game on Friday!  We will have a pep session on Friday.  A pep session schedule will be shared closer to Friday.  Hope to see a sea of green at the game!


Virtual Consult MD comes to PC:  It has been a very long road, but we think we are ready for Virtual Consult MD to start seeing students for counseling, starting the first week of February.  We are very excited about this partnership as it will help eliminate barriers for families who have children in need of counseling services.  Perry Central will provide space for their both, in-person and virtual, counselors to use.  Thank you to Kelly, Lauren and Brittney for ensuring this program will have success! 




Important Dates: 

Monday, January 28 - PLC Team meetings for junior high math and 8th grade performance task

Tuesday, January 29 - PLC Team meeting for 7th grade performance task

Thursday, January 31 - Mayor Faddness visit 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Friday, February 1 - Pep Session/  Girls Varsity Basketball Sectional  @ Forest Park  5:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 2 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ South Spencer 12:30 p.m.

What the Future Could Be

I am reading the book, What Schools Could Be by Ted Dintersmith.  The book gets me excited as it takes us away from a traditional, fact finding classroom and puts students into real-world, problem solving events all day long.  His book is compelling and argues against traditional college; SAT/ACT scores, ability to regurgitate facts, and basically how students learn to play school.  He talks about the need to develop more critical thinking, problem-solving, innovation, entrepreneurship experiences for our students!

Based on his book, I think he would really like our Commodore Manufacturing program.  Students are taking on leadership roles, problem solving, learning to apply math skills and how to communicate with businesses, etc.  It is creating a space where students can be innovative, build relationships and know what it means to be a leader.

Even though Commodore Manufacturing is a step in the right direction, I often find myself wanting to do more for our students.  The world is changing so quickly, but our education system is so slow to change and so far behind.  As a public school, we often find ourselves trying to keep one foot in the old system and one foot in a system that we dream about!

You will hear more from me about this book.  If there are any of you that would be interested in joining this book study, please let me know as soon as possible.  I look forward to taking on this journey together.

Below is a note from Mr. Dintersmith that comes from his book.  To me, it is a very compelling reason we must make changes in the way we play school if we want to make sure our students are ready for the world that will await them.  What you read below seems like science fiction, but are truly technologies that are underway.

What the Future Could Be:
You're connected 24/7 to vast resources through tiny devices on your watch, clothes, glasses and body implants.  No need to carry around a clunky smartphone.  Your day starts with a made-to-order breakfast, compliments of your personal kitchen robot.  Your virtual assistant briefs you as you eat.  With a quick voice command, you summon a driverless car to take you to a meeting. 


One your drive, you pass teams of agile robots maintaining your neighborhood - collecting trash, repairing buildings, tidying yards, policing for safety.  A swarm of drones passes overhead to address and emergency.  A corner log, vacant just a week ago now as a beautiful home manufactured by 3D printers, listed by an online real-estate site and sold with the help of a virtual lawyer.  

Your meeting includes a few people in person; most attend via lifelike holographic replicas.  Each participate virtual assistant tracks the conversation and provides relevant, curated observations in real time.  Leveraging online resources, your group designes a complex initiative and implements it in a matter of days, for a few thousand dollars, and then continuously improves it with the help of big data.  


Robots perform your errands.  Your purchases are either 3D printed in your home or delivered in minutes by drones.  To diagnose health challenges, you turn to artificial intelligence.  An aging relative receives 24/7 care from an automated attendant.  In your leisure time, virtual reality takes you to museums, cities, parks, or performances around the globe.  The boundary between real and virtual life has blurred in ways that are uplifting, and disturbing.  

Here is a great article that tells a story about how successful people can have a very different education approach.  To me, stories like this help me to see that it is okay to let go at times and let students take the lead.  Story is HERE.



Important Information:

Fox 44 Pep Session:  Our morning pep session will be this Friday, January 25th!  The main part of the pep session will begin at 7:00 with doors opening at 6:45.   Student Council will be asking some of you to play games - they are looking forward to your participation!   See you there!

ILearn State Readiness Test (Oxymoron to what we just talked about above!  LOL!) :  Our wonderful Tech Team will be leading us in the State Readiness Test on Wednesday, January 23 from 8:50 - 9:20.  If you have students in grades 7-8 at this time, we will be asking all students to log-in to the state testing site at this time.  On Tuesday, please remind students to ensure they have a working computer by 2nd period on Wednesday.  If students need help with this, please ask them to visit the Tech Team or enter a Tech Support Ticket.  The test could take anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes.  You will be receiving directions and usernames and passwords very soon.  Please let us know if you have any questions!

Faculty Meeting - We will have a Faculty Meeting on Tuesday (the day we return) at 9:20 in the high school library.  See you there!

PLC Meetings:  Just a reminder that I have the following PLC meetings on my calendar this week:
    * Tuesday, January 22 - Art, PE, Foreign Language, Band, Business
    * Wednesday, January 23 - English/SS periods 1-2/ Performance Tasks
    * Friday, January 25 - Science  (Table Grade Performance Tasks)

Conscious Discipline High School Training- Wednesday, January 23rd   (3:10 p.m. - 4:10 p.m.)

Career Day Kudos - Thank you to everyone that helped with Career Day and a big thank you to Maria Sweat for her leadership for the event.  We had over 50 individuals come and talk about their careers to students in grades 8-10.  It takes a large team of people to make this even a success.  Thanks to everyone that helped!


Important Dates: 

Tuesday, January 22 - Faculty Meeting 7:20 a.m. / Senior Night Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Rock Creek @ Home 5:30 p.m. . /Forest Park JV Tourney - boys @ FP 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 23 - High School Teacher Conscious Discipline training 3:10 - 4:10

Thursday, January 24 - Laurie Ferry Math Meeting

Friday, January 25 - 7:00 a.m. - FOX 44 Pep Session/  Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball @ Crawford County  5:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 26 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ home vs. Lanesville 5:30 p.m.

Relationships Win Again!

As Perry Central Schools continue to work towards becoming  Trauma Informed, there have been many times when I have sat back and reflected on how overwhelming our jobs in education can be.  ISTEP/ILearn Tests,  recording grades, timely feedback, common assessments, etc. can feel like too much, at times, by itself!   Adding the concerns of Social Emotional Learning, Trauma Informed Care and other acronyms that surround the work that impacts students who have experienced very stressful lives adds to the complexity of our jobs. 

This week, I happened across an article, "What Can One Teacher Really Do About Trauma?".  I have to admit the title caught my attention.  Many students come to us with exponentially stressful circumstances that impact our classrooms and culture.  I believe in the midst of this chaos it is very human to ask this question.  What can one person do when the need is so great?

Even though the question is so complex the answer continues to come back so simple.  All our students really need is unconditional love.  Building strong relationships with students and letting them know you care for them is the most powerful thing we can do for EVERYONE around us. This article is a great read that shows us the impact of a smile, an empathetic moment, a personal question, and a joyful high-five!  These interactions do not have to take a lot of time if we are intentional. This article also provided me with hope as an educator, showing me that I can, as one person, make a significant impact for students.  I HIGHLY recommend you read the article yourself as you can find a link HERE

This Wednesday is our first after-school meeting for the junior-high teachers.  We will be refreshing ourselves about Conscious Discipline, Lori Desautel's work and more.  I am really excited for us to have the opportunity to gather together and learn from each other.  I respect each of you for being learners and having open minds - I promise this journey will be worth it. 


Important Information:

PLC Team Meetings -  Just a reminder about our upcoming PLC team meetings this month: 
    January 15 - Social Studies/ January 16 - English/ January 18 - Math/ January 22 - Island Meeting/ January 23 - Special Education (Team, I will need to change this date - sorry!)/ January 25 - Science   Please find meeting agendas in the PLC Organization Folders.  

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 - 4:10 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, Pam, Keith, Heidi, Melissa, Carol, Vanessa
   High School Teachers (January 23): Debbie, Bo, Adam, Mackenzie, Jennifer, Dana, Hilarie,  Nancy, Andrea, Carrie, Josh, Kris, Diane, Mary Jo, Jill,

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.  We will have a schedule for students and staff to share with you early this week!  

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!

Homecoming- Due to the winter storm, we had to postpone Homecoming activities.  The new date will be February 8th.  We appreciate Mrs. Hagedorn and the Student Council for their flexibility!

Faculty Meeting - Tuesday, January 22nd will be our faculty meeting date!  An agenda will be posted later this week. 

IREADY Training - Just a reminder we will have IREADY training on Monday, January 14 during first and second WIN for 7th and 8th grade English and math teachers.  Please see email from Jamie Guillaume for details.  


Important Dates: 

Monday, January 14 -  IREADY Training/ Varsity Girls Basketball @ Home vs. Tell City 6:00 p.m./ School Board Meeting 6:30 p.m. HIgh School Library

Tuesday, January 15 - Commodore Manufacturing students speak at Work One Region 10 Meeting/ Social Studies PLC Meeting

Wednesday, January 16 - English PLC Meeting/ Junior High Teachers After School Training

Thursday, January 17 - 

Friday, January 18 - Career Day/ Math PLC Meeting/ Boys Varsity Basketball @ Orleans 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 19 - Boys Varsity Basketball @ Mitchell @ 5:30/ Girls Varsity Basketball @ NE Dubois 10:30 a.m. 

Monday, January 21st - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Day

Significance

This weekend we started our journey with CELL to visit two Poly-Tech schools in the state of New York.  As we were flying into Newark Airport today, I couldn’t help but be in awe at the view from my window seat.   Getting closer to the city limits, as the number of Lego sized houses seemed to multiply, ships in the ocean looked like a game of battle ship, and thousands of small cars moving about reminded me about how big this world really is.  In a way, viewing the world from this view really made all of my stress seem insignificant as I realized I am such a small little piece of dust in this huge world.    The feeling was humbling and helped me really put life in perspective.

Even though we are each only a spec on this earth, I do believe our impact is significant.  The relationships we build, the kindness we spread, the work we do can really change lives.  The investments we make in our communities help make our world a better place!   As an educator we have the awesome opportunity to make an impact on so many and I think sometimes we forget! 

From afar, our houses look tiny and our cars are micro-machines,  but the reality is that our local footprint is huge.  It takes all of us to pull together our strengths to make our school community great and our relationships with students strong.  I am so glad that I am on this earth with all of you! 

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!

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, Pam, Keith, Heidi, Melissa, Carol, Vanessa
   High School Teachers (January 23): Debbie, Bo, Adam, Mackenzie, Jennifer, Dana, Hilarie,  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.

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!


Important Dates: 

Monday, January 7 - 

Tuesday, January 8 -  Boys Varsity Basketball @ Cannelton 6:00 p.m. 

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

Thursday, January 10 -  Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Heritage Hills 6:00 p.m.

Friday, January 11 -  Homecoming Boys Varsity Basketball @ home vs. Southridge 5:30 p.m.