Connecting to Students

This week, Tara Bishop reminded us about the importance of building connections with our students, especially during this time of high stress.  Strong relationships help students feel safe, provide confidence, encourage risk-taking and provide motivation.  As a trauma informed school, we have been working on building connections/relationships for many years.  We know that humans are hard-wired for connections and our brain aligned studies show us that connections can heal trauma ridden brains.  

Building relationships with our student is not new to us.  In the junior-senior high school building I see connection building daily:  Adam Stowe eating lunch occasionally with students, Abbie Brockman creating fun get-to-know you activities in her classroom, Carol Schwoeppe greeting her students at her door daily, Brennan Malone playing the Chicago Bulls Introduction while announcing each student's name in class, Deann Anson doing daily check-ins with students, Heidi Zellers playing a fun Kahoot game in her class, and the list goes on and on!  

An Edutopia article listed several great ways to make connections with students: 

    * Call all of your students by their names

    * Smile and say hello/engage in small talk often

    * 2x10 strategy - spend two minutes daily for 10 days talking about a student's interests

    * Demonstrate an act of empathy for a student (Do a favor for them)

    * Me Bag - as students to bring in 2-3 items in a bag that represents who they are

John Hattie reminds us that learning is a risky business.  A positive student-teacher relationships helps building trust for making mistakes, helps students feel safe in a very uncertain time, and creates a more engaging classroom.    Thanks to all of you for creating connection joy juice for our students each day!

Important Information: 

Virtual Day:  Monday is our first virtual day.  Our main goal for this day is to help you find time to reach out to your on-line students, meet in your PLC teams for team planning/grading, allow yourself to breathe.   We do have a few learning opportunities for you: 

     9:00 - 9:30 a.m. - Dual Credit teachers who need to complete the Ivy Tech orientation quiz and upload your Ivy Tech syllabus please meet in the high school library during this time.  We can help you get this work completed quickly.   It is important for ALL Dual Credit teachers who teach for Ivy Tech to complete these steps.

  9:30 - 10:00 a.m. - AP Teachers please meet with Dana in this high school library during this time.  She will quickly help you connect to many great on-line resources for our AP classes.  

10:00 - 10:30 a.m. - Anyone who would like more help with Google Classroom or any other technology can meet in the high school library.  Phil will be available during this time to help you with any questions you may have.  If you are new to the Google Suite products, it could be a great time to learn!  

Lunch will be provided!  

 Assistants were given a schedule on Friday.  Please let us know if you have questions.  You can find an electronic copy of the schedule for assistants HERE.

Welcome New Assistants: 

We are pleased to welcome Kareasa Robbins and Stephanie Merry to Perry Central!  Stephanie will be taking Bill Dickerson's place as an assistant (Bill has decided he would like to be a substitute for more flexibility) and Kareasa will be a floating substitute for the corporation.  They will start on Monday!

Important Dates: 

Monday, August 31st - Scope and Sequence due in the 2020-2021 Shared Folder

Friday, September 4th - Mid-Term (first 4 weeks completed)/ Senior Night for Football/Band/Cheerleaders 

Monday, September 7th - Labor Day (No School)

Tuesday, September 8th - Senior Night for Volleyball and Cross Country

Tuesday, September 15 - Lunch and Learn  

Self-Care

This week, I purchased a book called "The Distance Learning Playbook" by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie.  Intuition told me this would be a much needed resource. Amazon Prime made good to their quick delivery promise and I was able to start reading it this week.  I realized this book was going to be our new best friend as the title of Chapter 1 was,  "Take Care of Yourself".   How did they know this school year was so stressful?!? 

In Chapter 1, the authors talk about the importance of self-care during this stressful time, reminding us if we burn out that we are no good to our students, family and friends. Fischer, Frey and Hatti suggests the following strategies to promoting a healthy work/life balance- even through distance learning: 

* Create a Routine- this helps us organize, plan and predict.  Establish morning and evening routines that allow you to spend time with your family and have some personal time to yourself.   Scheduling breaks and maintaining regular hours of work can be helpful!

 * Weekly check-ins with your colleagues are productive if you share common challenges and generate new ideas!  Take time to reach out to your teacher friends!  This is a great time to be innovative!

* Exercise - At least 40 minutes three days a week - take a walk, participate in yoga, jog, play with your kids!  

* Love Yourself - Do something for just you one day a week! 

* Demonstrate Thankfulness - Research shows that focusing on gratitude will help us keep our mindsets positive.  Find something you are grateful for daily and reflect on it! 

I have never been good at self-care, but I am starting to realize the importance of this work.  This year, I have committed to either walking or going out on the farm with my family for 40 minutes 3 days a week.  I am also working hard to create time for a daily devotional or gratefulness reflection.  It isn't easy to make this happen, but practicing self-care is imperative for everyone and must take priority!

It is no secret that this year is tough.  Self-Care will be an important first step to a successful and happy school year! 

Important Information: 

Floating Subs:  After doing some digging this weekend, we were able to find some individuals who are willing to be floating subs for us this week!  Yeah!  If you would like to sign up for an extra prep period this week to get caught up on your on-line instruction, please sign up on this link.    Thanks to Trista Sparks and Ryann Lynch for their willingness to help!  

Classroom Visits:  We hope to make it around the building this week to see your classrooms.  Please know that we are purely visiting right now to get an idea about how things are going!  We also love to see the awesome lessons you are preparing for your students.  We are going to hold off on our evaluative walk-through/evaluations, etc. until everyone gets into a better routine.  We are here to help!

Sub Folders - When school started this year, each of you had a red folder in your mailbox.  This is your substitute folder.  It is important that all teachers and assistants have a folder in the office in case you are out of the building.  Please get these to the office ladies by Wednesday this week.    Here is what is helpful to have in the folder:

         For Teachers:  An emergency lesson plan in case you have to miss and do not have time to leave any plans for your students for a day, class rosters, seating charts, other helpful notes for the substitute.

        For Assistants:  A schedule of when and where you are helping throughout the day, if you cover a lunch please provide the seating chart, and any other helpful notes.  

Readable English - Thanks to Melissa, Deann and Heidi for attending a Readable English workshop last week.  They are implementing this new reading program to our junior high and 9th grade students who consistently have data that shows they are a struggling reader.  Readable English is a program that is showing much promise to helping students build their word volume and find success in reading!  Thanks to the ladies for their work!

On-Line Attendance:  At our faculty meeting last week, we determined that on-line student attendance would need to be updated to the attendance sheet every Tuesday by the end of the day.   The office will be monitoring the entries every Wednesday morning, first thing!  If you need help with this process, please let us know.    Here is another link to the attendance sheet if you need it.  

Virtual Day:  Just a reminder that we will have a virtual day on Monday, August 31st!

On-Line Best Practices:  Few of you have shared some great ideas for how to manage your on-line classes.  I just thought I would share a few items I heard at our faculty meetings: 

      * One Google Classroom per class - teachers are not hosting a separate google classroom for on-line students.  If the on-line students have to have a separate activity it is just marked in the classroom.  

     * Video Tape Lessons - We do have two Swivl's in the building that can be checked out.  You can see Abbie and Bo if you have questions about them.  Also, there are several ipads in my office and we do have ipad stands if you are interested.  Debbie Dauby seems to be a pro at this! 

     * Live Lessons - If you would like to stream your class live, many are doing this.  You can ask students to log-in during their class time.  Many teachers are starting to use Google Meets.  It is a quick and easy way to add students and you can record the lesson.  Once you are finished recording, Google Meets will automatically send a link to your lesson to your Google Drive for easy access.

Times of Uncertainty

 Congratulations!  You made it through your first four days of teaching during a pandemic!  We had a few bugs to work out, but together, you provided an environment where our students felt safe and cared for - allowing them to be ready to learn.  

If you are like me, there have been moments where the weight of the school year made it hard to breathe.  Navigating this time of uncertainty can be difficult for all of us, including our students, their parents, our families and friends.  Let's face it, there is just more work to do and uncertainty about what school will look like from day to day!  But, what I have realized is that I am not alone in these feelings and while it is difficult at times, I can find strength in those around me.  

All of us are leaders in some capacity - we lead classrooms, small groups, households, athletic teams, community organizations and more.  During a time of uncertainty is when people need our leadership.  They need someone to take them through the journey.  Andy Stanley reminds us that sometimes (most times) when we are leading, we are traveling through uncharted waters and do not have all of the answers; a pandemic for example!  Even though leading others through unprecedented times can feel paralyzing, when we support each other we can find the way.     

To help us find the way this school year, I believe the following four items can help us lead others:   

1.  Remember we are not in this alone.  We have a strong team and we can figure anything out together. 

2.  Communication and clarity are key.  When things are not going well, we need to talk to each other about it so we can arrive at solutions that will work.  We also need to be clear and kind about our expectations.  

3.  Vulnerability is courage!  Brene Brown states that vulnerability is not a weakness but a strength.  Vulnerability is the courage to show up and speak up, even when you are not sure of the outcome.  So even during times of uncertainty, take a leap and allow yourself to be heard.

4.  Self-Care is a must!  Brene Brown also talks in her book, "Dare to Lead", about the importance of being mentally, physically and spiritually in-shape to make it through tough times.  Making time for yourself is a necessity.

The only thing in life that is certain is uncertainty.  We are definitely living in some tough times.  All of us are leaders and if we are committed to stick together, serve our constituents, and make time to take care of ourselves we will be successful.  What a blessing it is to work with all of you daily!

Have a great week!!

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting - Due to our new pandemic schedule, meeting as a whole faculty is difficult.  We will have the opportunity for teachers to participate in a Lunch and Learn this Wednesday, August 19th,  during your lunch period.  This meeting is for teacher's only this month.  Lunch will be provided for teachers who opt to participate!  

Lunch & Learn Locations for Teachers: 

     Junior High Lunch Period - Stephanie Walsh's Room

     High School Lunch Period  (Come during the period you usually eat lunch) - Teacher's Lounge 

Early College Meeting - Teachers who are teaching dual credit academic courses for Ivy Tech will be invited to a Google Meet meeting at 7:25 a.m. on Tuesday morning.  We will be discussing options for providing 50% asynchronous learning opportunities for students along with other Early College Updates.   Please be looking for calendar invite with the google meet link attached. 

On-Line Attendance  Sheet - Many of you have filled out the On-Line attendance sheet.  Phil and I will be reaching out to families that are struggling this week.  We appreciate your work with this.  If you haven't had a chance to report students that are not completing the work, please find the link HERE.  

Virtual Pep Session - This Friday, we will be hosting our first ever virtual pep session!  We will have a surprise video and some words from our coaches and school song!  We hope to have this ready by 2nd period on Friday!  More information follow!  Athletics open up this week and we are all excited!  There will be some restrictions for the number of guests we can have at football games.   Please be looking for this information to be shared soon.  Friday will be green day - so let's fill the halls with Commodore Green!

Classroom Coverage -  Due to the changes in the master schedule and the number of lunches and individual study halls and prep periods that must be covered, it is very difficult (not impossible, just hard) to just pull someone to cover for a class.  I just encourage you to use WillSub if you are going to be out of the building for a half-day or more.  If you have concerns about getting something covered, please see me as soon as you know you need help.  We will all have to work together to do our best. 

School Pictures:   School Pictures will be this week.  Mrs. Hagedorn has a plan to release students from their classrooms in smaller groups at a time.  We are going to work hard not to interrupt class through the intercom if we can help it.  7th - 12th grade pictures will be Thursday, August 19th and Friday, August 20th.  Please do not forget to get your picture taken! 

  

  

Welcome Back!

The first day of school is always exciting; for both students and faculty/staff.  This is my 20th year in the field (yes, I am that old) and even though I have had 20 first days - I still have a nightmare every year as the first day approaches!  Some years it is as simple as asking my students to have a seat and they just pretend I am not even in the room, other years I have forgotten to wear some article of clothing and everyone is laughing at me and this year I have already had a dream that no one came to school with a mask and we couldn't find any on Amazon!  

 As we embark on the first week of school, one of the best things we can do for our students is take time to connect with our students.  There are many great quotes that remind us of the importance and strength of a strong relationship: 

 "Classroom Management is not about having the right rules. . . it is about having the right relationships."  

"People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

"Great teachers create a positive atmosphere in their classrooms and schools.  They treat every person with respect and understand the power of praise!"  - Todd Whitaker

Our students are so lucky to have such teachers who love and care for them so much.  Thanks for taking time this week to be present and take time to connect and learn about your students.  Know that no matter what kind of nightmare you may have before school starts, you can count on the power of developing positive relationships with students!  

Have a great week!

Important Information: 

Teacher Resource Folder:  A reminder that many  of the documents referring to scheduling/coverage and the beginning of the school year can be found in the Teacher Resource Folder on Google.  

PBIS Lesson:  In your mailboxes on Monday will be a small bag of candy.  This is our Surprise and Delight for this week!    Please pass out the candy in your 6th period class when they learn about tools in the Google "Sweet"!   Thanks to Bo Gibson for the great idea!  Enjoy!

Seclusion and Restraint -  All teachers need to take the Seclusion and Restraint training per state mandate.   You will watch a quick power point and then answer a few questions at the end.  The training can be found at:

Slides:

https://dspcoop.k12.in.us/wp-content/uploads/Documents/sec-and-res-training.pdf 

Assessment:

https://form.jotform.com/43275840566966 

Athletic Update - Good luck to High School Volleyball, Football and Cross Country as they start their seasons this week.  We hope that the pandemic will take a seat on the sideline so we can continue to watch our students excel in athletics.  You can find athletic schedules in Event Link!  

Masks- If you are looking for a new mask to match your shoes, Billie Sue has been working hard to provide cute masks for anyone that is interested. You can find her assortment of masks on the back counter where the Book Lady usually leaves their materials!  Thanks Billie Sue for all of your work!

Commodore Manufacturing - This summer the Commodore Manufacturing program was up and running in the month of July!  Josh Craney led a team of 30 students.  They mainly produced parts for Waupaca Foundry, but also learned how to use their new laser cutter machine, plasma CNC table and more.  Josh Rogier and Vivian Galey also utilize their engineering and 3D Printing skills to make these face shields for ball caps!  We are proud of their work!  Thanks to Josh for leading this effort!