Life Long Learners

One of the things all of us have in common as educators is the love of learning!  Not only do we like to learn about our own subject areas, but we love to learn to learn!  Life Long Learning is described as a way to focus on self-improvement.  According to Oskar Nowik @Lifehack, learners find joy in growth and are always seeking for self-improvement opportunities.   Life Learners will typically have the follow habits or qualities:

 * Read on a daily basis

 * Believe it is never too late to start something
 * Actively seek opportunities to grow
 * Embrace Change
 * Take care of their bodies
 * Challenge themselves
 * Have diverse passions
 * Love making progress

I see many of these qualities in all of you and it is refreshing and exciting to be among such exceptional individuals!  It is so great to work with a team that is always looking for ways to instill their love for learning in our students daily.  I look forward growing and progressing with all of you! 

(By the way, thanks for participating in Monday's PD session and Instructional Rounds this week!  We had a great week!) 

Important Information:

Speaking of Reading Daily: Do not forget to sign up for our fun book study, "Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind!" by Eric Jensen.  I promise to make this a light and enjoyable opportunity for all of us to learn together!  Thank you to those who have signed up all ready!  Please fill out this quick link if you are interested:  https://forms.gle/DuUKnUiZ1kbQ5erx7

Surprise and Delight Challenge -  Many of you are familiar with Buddy Berry and the "Surprise and Delight" opportunities he encourages.  February 3-7 will be Surprise and Delight (SAD) week!  He encourages all of us to provide an opportunity in our classroom for our students and make sure to share it on social media!  You can find great ideas for how to incorporate SAD activities into student learning by searching #surpriseanddelight or following @BuddyBerry.   Looking forward to some great activities for our students!!!  (Those of you who participate may receive your own Surprise and Delight!  ;-)

Growth Party - Thanks to the 7th and 8th grade math teachers who celebrated their student's growth on IReady last week!  Students that were consistently performing at grade level or who grew 100% or more were given a breakfast sandwich from McDonalds!  Learning is about growing and believing you have the ability to do so!  More fun activities will be forthcoming for students!

Commodore Day of Caring - Junior High Houses are working on developing a plan to participate in Community Service activities in our community.  As teams they are determining the work they want to do and formulating a plan of action.  Tentatively, students will be out in the community on March 13th - day before Spring Break - to show others acts of kindness and compassion.  Looking forward to their ideas and work!

Testing Schedule:  Below is just an update to the testing schedule for this spring.  You will notice that I have added high school re-testers and a few dates (who knew they had their own window!  Yikes!)  Thank you for your flexibility around these times and to all of you for working hard to prepare our students!

ISTEP 10 Retesters: (11th & 12th grade)
ELA Test (Part 1 & Part 2)
Feb. 12 - 15


Math Test (Part 1 & Part 2)
Feb. 18-20


ISTEP Grade 10:

ELA Testing: 

Part 1 - February 25, 26

Part 2 - April 21, 22

Math Testing

Part 1 - March 3,4

Part 2 - April 28, 29

ILEARN 7th & 8th  - and Biology:

April 27, 28, 29 - English 

May 4,5,2 - Math 

May 11, 12 - Biology

Getting Buy-In

Excerpt from Engaging Students with Poverty In Mind by Eric Jensen: 

Rule #3 (5 Rules for Engagement) - Get Buy-In

        One of the most critical skills teachers can learn is never taught to them.  The skill of Salesmanship. For many students, school is an obligation, not a joy and a privilege.  This means you need to "sell" learning to them.  When you step into the classroom of a high-performing teacher, several things will likely jump out at you.  The first is that the teacher is so strongly committed to engaging students that there's a palpable "whatever it takes" attitude in the air.  Passionate, committed teachers do not accept failure as an option.  They are constantly"selling" students on themselves, the content, and the learning process.  Students motivation counts for a strong .48 effect size toward student achievement (Hattie,2008).  Highly effective teachers raise their odds of success by ensuring that students want to participate, will engage, and choose to learn.  The results speak for themselves.

Solutions you can use: 

* Issue a challenge - "I am not sure if you can do this, but let's give it a try."
* Offer an incentive - "Listen, I could use some help.  I'll trade you a free homework pass for your help on this."  
* Pique students' curiosity - "I shouldn't be telling you this," or "I don't know if anyone has done this experiment before;it might not work.  Are you willing to give it a try?"
* Start a competition - "The team with all of the questions right gets one free homework pass next week."  or "We'll work in small teams and see which one gets the solution first."
* Lower the stakes - Have students find partners, then give each pair two minutes to solve a math problem that is missing one part.  Students afraid of failure or embarrassment are less likely to lose their inhibitions and fully immerse themselves in the lesson. 

As you can see this book is full of great reminders about how we can make the classroom experience even better for our students and ourselves!! 

Book Study!
I hope you will want to join us for a low-pressure, fun book study!  Please sign up HERE if you are interested in reading "Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind" by Eric Jensen!!
 

Important Information: 

Kudos!  - Congratulations to Commodore Manufacturing, Waupaca Foundry, Jasper Engines and Conexus for being recognized as an "Award of Excellence in Community Partnerships" by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development!   Along with this award, Chase James was recognized as an "Award for Excellence" for Secondary Students.  Both Commodore Manufacturing and Chase will be awarded at a banquet in Indianapolis on February 18th. 

Instructional Rounds - Reminder we will have Instructional Rounds on Tuesday, January 21st andWednesday, January 22nd.  Please find the schedule HERE and reflection sheet HERE.  (Updates were made as of this evening.)

Reporting Topics:  Thank you to everyone who turned in Reporting Topics.  This is just a reminder in case there are others that need to update the system.  This is an important step to ensuring our grades are calculating correctly.  If you would like to know what the system currently has down for you, please let Jody know and she can get it to you.  This is only for standards-based grade books. 

Testing Dates:  For your planning, here are some important test dates for you to mark your calendar with! 

ISTEP Grade 10:

ELA Testing: 

Part 1 - February 25, 26

Part 2 - April 21, 22

Math Testing

Part 1 - March 3,4

Part 2 - April 28, 29

ILEARN 7th & 8th  - and Biology:

April 27, 28, 29 - English 

May 4,5,2 - Math 

May 11, 12 - Biology

RTI Meeting -  Please send names of students you are struggling with to Jody ASAP.  We will be having an RTI meeting this Thursday morning at 7:20 a.m. in the high school library.  

Life Changing Profession

Over break, I had the opportunity to pick up a book that had been sitting on my night stand for months.  The Eric Jensen book, Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind, ended up being a great read (at least for the first few chapters I have engaged in so far.)  As a school with over 40% free and reduce lunches, I was interested in its contents.

The first page in chapter one stated that the engagement gap between low economic students, in both private and public schools alike, are generally blamed on ineffective local, state and federal policies. . . BUT,  evidence of this litany of adverse factors had a few missing pieces.  The honest truth is that over 50% of the academic outcomes of school-age children stem not from public policy but from what the teacher does in the classroom.  The TEACHER mattered more than any other factor in a student's school years. . .  talk about pressure!  Research actually shows that 5 years of adequate yearly progress in student learning could entirely close the gap between the performance of students in poverty and higher-income students.  When we look at helping close this gap, we don't have to look for a miracle anymore - we (the teachers) are the answer. 

As I first reflected on the first page of this book, it was easy to get defensive and start thinking about all of the things that are out of our control when students enter our building. But after taking some time to stew about it, I totally changed my frame of mind; what a privilege it is to work in our profession!  There are no other professions that get to say they can impact the lives of a single student like ours.   Is teaching hard work?  Yes.  It is mentally exhausting at times?  Yes   Is it worth all of the extra hours and intentional planning?  Absolutely! 

Sometimes the field of education gets a negative image in the public's eye.  We cannot allow this to waiver our focus.  Collectively, we are changing lives - there isn't anyone else that gets to say they do that on a daily basis.  I am so grateful I get to do it with all of you! 

Words from a babe - "What Makes a Good Teacher" by Tough, First Grader at Eminence Schools.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1215905432503377920

Important Information:

Reporting Topics - Just a reminder to please update your reporting topics by giving me a list.  If you would like to have a copy of what is currently in the system, I am happy to send them to you!  If you could possibly provide your reporting topics for 3rd and 4th quarters and then make small changes later, that is best practice! 

Virtual/PD Day - Next Monday, January 20th, we will have a teacher Professional Development day from 8:00 - 3:00 and students will work from home (this is a snow make-up day from November) with virtual homework.  Here are some important reminders/schedules:
   
  For Students - * Please make sure to assign all work by Friday - students will have at least  day to complete the work (January 21) to help accommodate students without Internet or help. 
                            * If you can remind students how to download assignments if they do not have
                               Internet at home so they can do their work (If you need help showing students,
                               please let us know.)
                            * Assignments should be about 30 minutes in length.  Uploading videos with your
                               instruction, etc. is a great way to ensure students have the supports they need to be
                               successful on assignments at home.

 For Instructional Assistants - We will have training from 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. on Conscious
                                                    Discipline Strategies/Reminders

   For Teachers: This is a rough agenda - a final agenda will be provided later this week
                                  (lunch will be provided on Monday for teachers) 
                            8:00 - 9:30 a.m. - High School Library/Faculty Meeting
                            9:30 - 2:00 p.m.   PLC/Work time (Agendas for your team will be worked on this
                                                          week and approved)
                            2:00 - 3:00 p.m.   Corporation Panorama Data Training


Book Study - We would like to invite you to be a part of a book study that will be starting soon!  "Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind" by Eric Jensen.   Mr. Jensen digs into engagement as a key factor in the academic success of economically disadvantaged students.  Our book study will meet occasionally during lunch (we will provide Marcy's lunch and other small incentives) for those who are interested in participating.   Looking forward to a GREAT conversation! 

Instructional Rounds - We will be conducting Instructional Rounds on January 21 and 22.  Be looking for an email with a few details and we will finalize the plan on the 20th during our faculty meeting. 

CELL Grant - As you are aware, Perry Central was honored to be a part of a Federal Grant written by CELL to continue to support our Early College goals.  This Wednesday, our school leadership team will attend the first meeting.  This grant is going to allow us to help with funding many initiatives - more information to come soon! 


   

Growth Mindset for 2020

2020. . . . not only do we get to begin the year with a New Year's Resolution, we also get to begin a new decade! As we begin 2020, I think it is important to think about what mindset we are bringing to the table.   In Eric Jensen's book, Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind, he mentions mind-set as his 4th factor of engagement, noting that lower socioeconomic status often correlates with a negative view of the future and developing a culture of positive attitudes towards their own learning capacity can lead to an increase in student engagement.  Likewise, as adults, when we take on an attitude of growth mindset for ourselves, many great things can come our way.

Forbes magazine shares with us 5 ways we can control our mental attitudes: 

1.  Embrace Failure - When we think about a failure as a positive way to learn and make better decisions in the future, we are affecting our mindset.  Most people fail their way to success!
2.  Become a Lifelong Learner - Be curious about everything!
3.  Seek out a Challenge - C.S. Lewis says that "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny!"  Magic will happen outside of your comfort zone.
4.  Go Beyond your Limits - When you push yourself, you can surpass even your own expectations.
5.  Ask for Feedback - People who want to grow personally and professionally ask for feedback and grow from it!

Research shows that your mindset predicts achievement - whether that is our own student achievement or personal goals.  It is my hope for you in 2020 that you can find ways to achieve a growth mindset - it is not how good your are but more importantly, how good you want to be that matters!

Important Information: 

New Semester Reminders - As we begin a new semester, I think it is always important to be reminded of our goals and beliefs we shared at the beginning of the school year!  Here are a few reminders:

         Our Three Areas of Focus for the 2019-2020 School Year: 
            * Brain Aligned Strategies/Trauma Informed Care
                       - Restorative Practices
                       - Brain Smart Starts/Junior High Houses
            * Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
                       - English & Social Studies - Read FOCUS by Mike                              Schmoker last summer/working on their curriculum
                       - Math - IReady Curriculum
                       - Science & Math will be reading Mike's book soon!
            * Formative Assessment Practices/Writing Clear Learning Objectives
     
          Professional Reminders: 
 * Please read your email at least once a day (more if possible)
 * Make sure to keep grade books updated at least weekly (daily if possible) - I have had parents asking why they are not sure about their child's grade until the end of the 9 weeks.  It is important that we are clearly communicating grades
  * Remember to dress for success!  (On jean day or other days, please refrain from wearing hoodies, etc. that may not give              off  a level of professionalism.)

Semester Grades - Please remember that grades are due by midnight on Tuesday, January 7th.  It is important to look down your grade book and make sure the semester grades looks accurate to you.  We had some issues before break, but thanks to Phil those have been fixed!  Also, please make sure you do not have any incomplete grades as well.  Those will need to be fixed through the office. Thank you!

New Students - New Year! - We are expecting a small influx of new students the first day back.  Students should be reflected in your roster on Skyward.  We will do our best to communicate with everyone and make sure new students get their Chromebooks, etc. in a timely fashion.  We appreciate your flexibility.  If you have questions about any of the new students, please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks for helping them feel welcome!

Important Testing Windows - State Testing is around the corner!!
     *  ISTEP 10 1st Round - Feb. 24 - March 20/  2nd Round - April 16-May 1
     * ILEARN - April 20 - May 15
     * ILEARN Biology - April 20 - May 22
     * AP Exams:   May 5 - Calculus/ May 6 - English Lit/ May 11 - Biology/ May 13 - AP Language

Career Day - Our Annual Career Day will be January 24th during 3rd & 4th periods.  More details will be shared soon!

Teacher PD Day - January 20th will be utilized as a snow make up day.  Students will have a virtual day and teachers will come in for professional development!  Looking forward to a great day!