Happy Holidays

 

I hope this list of reasons to "marry a teacher" will make you smile.  They are all SO true and also reasons you should get extra gifts from Santa, too!  The last year and a half has been a roller coaster of ups and downs; difficult times in our field.  What I do know is that I wouldn't want to go through it with any other team.  All of you are resilient, hard working, kind and true heroes in my book.  

I hope all of you have a restful break.  You deserve every minute of it!   Happy Holidays!!!!  

Important Information: 

    Professional Development Day:  Our first day back from break will be January 4th and it will be a professional development day.  We do plan to take some time to work in our PLCs to prepare for second semester, dig into state assessments, and get back to deliberate practice with our teaching elements (the goals in you SFS.)  As always, we will provide lunch and it will be a great day to prepare for the next half of our school year.  I will send a specific agenda next week.    

Testing Dates:  Spring time brings more tests!  We are not scared of tests because we have been doing the work.  I did want to share the test dates with you for your planning.  Please let me know if you have any questions.   HERE is a link to the testing windows.  We will send specific details closer to the testing window. 

       ALSO NOTE:  The SAT test will be given all in one day.  The window is available for students with accommodations who need extra time and it takes more than one day.  Most students will sit for the test just like a normal PSAT exam - 8:00 - 12:00ish.  Lunch will be later in the day for these students.  

Final Exams: Just a reminder that finals will be Tuesday and Wednesday this week:  Tuesday - 2,4,6 and Wednesday - 1,3,5,7.  Please have meaningful work for your students.  Seniors will be reporting to internships on Wednesday, so please make a plan with them.  

Grades Due:  Grades will roll over at midnight on January 5th.  If you need to give a student an incomplete, please let Jody or Phil know and we can make changes in the gradebook as we need to for you!

Holiday Celebration Lunch - Our Holiday Lunch will be Wednesday, December 22nd.  Come Hungry!  I know some of you like to eat in your classrooms together.  The Health Lab will be open during that time as well.  Looking forward to a great day!

Also, to celebrate the last three days - I think JEANS are appropriate.  

I get to return on Tuesday!  Looking forward to seeing everyone!!  

       

Authentic = Genuine

This month, we have been focusing on the first dimension of teacher credibility: TRUST.  We know that trust among teacher/student, teacher/teacher and teacher/principal is necessary for the best learning to occur.  Annette Baier, a New Zealand philosopher, says there are 5 elements that are important to build trust in our culture: 

   Benevolence: Assurance that others will not exploit one's vulnerability or take advantage when they opportunity is available

   Honesty: People of character, integrity and authenticity

   Openness:  Openness signals reciprocal of trust

   Reliability: Consistency of behavior and knowing what to expect from others

   Competency:  The ability to perform as expected and according to standards appropriate to the task at hand

Trevor Muir posted this YouTube video on his Facebook page this week.  It is a PERFECT example of what authenticity and trust can bring to the culture of the classroom.

Don't forget to turn your BINGO card in by Wednesday for another round of drawings!!!    

Important Information:

Leaders of Learning - Thanks to those of you who were willing to be vulnerable and give the Leaders of Learning a try!  I think you will find it to be a great Professional Development Opportunity.  Just a reminder we will meet from 5:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. this Wednesday, December 15th in the high school library.  See you there!

Lunch and Learn - This Wednesday, December 15th from 11:00 - 1:30 we will be hosting a Lunch and Learn in the Engineering Department for several state and local government representatives.  We are excited about the opportunity to share the great work of our students and school.  I will send a list of students who are involved in the next day or so for attendance purposes. 

Faculty Meeting - We will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday morning at 7:25 a.m.  For this meetings, we will be debriefing the lockdown situation we had last week and having a little Holiday Team Building.  For this meeting, we are inviting assistants if they are interested.  It is voluntary for assistants, but if you want to listen to the debrief, you are welcome to come in and do that.  We will have breakfast!  

Holiday Cheer:  The student council developed a list of Dress-Up Days to help spread Holiday Cheer this week!  Phil is also planning to have hot chocolate available to students on Friday.  (He will send some details for this in the next few days.)  

       Monday:  Holiday Pajamas

       Tuesday: Santa Hats, Reindeer Ears and Christmas Socks

       Wednesday:  Red (for Ed) and Green (for PC)

       Thursday: Grinches vs. the Whoville Who's

       Friday:  Ugly Christmas Sweater/Hot Chocolate

Other Dates: 

        

         December 22nd - Christmas Lunch - Merry Christmas from the High School Office

                                     - House Competition 6th & 7th periods

         

Marble Jar Friends

Important Information: 

Early College Mentor Meeting - Reminder to those who have received an invitation (basically individuals who teach high school all day long) - December 7th 7:30 a.m. 

Vulnerability BINGO - Don't forget to work on your BINGO cards!  We will have our first drawing on Wednesday!

COVID Update - We are seeing an increase in positive COVID cases.  Just a reminder that seating charts are very important.  All of you have been so helpful in making our quarantine process easy.  HERE is the COVID exclusion list.  There will probably be a few more added after the weekend, so you may check it a little later in the morning as well. Most students are able to use an 8 day quarantine which limits the number of days they miss.  If you have students that are getting behind and you are worried about them, please let us know so we can help make an academic plan.  Please let us know if you have questions!

Faculty Meeting - We will have our December Faculty Meeting on December 14th at 7:25 a.m. - Mark your Calendars!  :-)  

College Students Return - Dana is pulling together a great presentation as some of our college freshmen will return and share their college experiences with our juniors and seniors.   The rule is that you don't share anything that you wouldn't share with your grandma!   Students will be here on December 20th.  Seniors will go to the presentation during 2nd period and juniors 3rd.  More details to come!

Finals - Just a reminder that Final Exam days will be December 21st (even periods), December 22nd (odd periods).  We know that finals do not have to be cumulative, but there should be a meaningful assessment/activity for every class.  It could be a final test for the unit you are on, presentations that will hold all students accountable, or other ways to assess learning.  Grades will not be due until January 5th. 

Winter Break Lunch - We will host our Winter Break Lunch on Wednesday, December 22nd.  Something to look forward to!!!

Candy Cane Carnival - The Candy Cane Carnival is this Wednesday along with the High School Band Concert in the high school gym.  Be on the look out for times (sorry, I couldn't find them tonight.)

Nothing better than dissecting frogs!  Mrs. Walsh's students were all fired up about learning about the anatomy and physiology of these creatures!  :-)  

Vivian Galey traveled to Jasper Engines and presented her project to their leadership team.  She reversed engineered a door panel for them and found the stress points where the door was struggling.  She also used her 3D printing skills to print the entire door and make all of the parts to scale and functional.  It was a great project.  We are proud of her!

Vulnerability

 

This month we will continue to strengthen our understanding of vulnerability and trust!  Our SIEC team has challenged us to build trust between students and adults/ adults and adults/ and adults and students and find ways to really deepen our understanding of vulnerability and the role it plays in our careers and relationships. 

 Brene reminds us that vulnerability takes courage.  One of her favorite quotes is from Theodore Roosevelt: 

      It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short                                                                     again and again. . .  who at the best knows the end the triumph                                                                  of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least                                                                          fails while daring greatly.   

To all of you: Dare Greatly this week!  

Important Information:

 House Morning Meeting - We are going to cancel our morning House Meeting for teachers this week.  Lauren will send the lesson like she normally does in an email.  We will be meeting soon to discuss our 2nd quarter competition soon!

Christmas Dance - Thanks to Mrs. Hagedorn and the student council for hosting the Christmas Dance.  The dance is this Saturday, December 4th!

Mental Health Coalition County Meeting - This Monday evening, November 29th, the county is hosting a Mental Health Townhall at the Perry County Courthouse to discuss the lagging resources in our community.  The meeting is open to the public from 5-7 p.m.  

Upcoming Dates:  December 8th - Candy Cane Carnival

                              December 22nd - End of the Quarter

                              December 21st - Finals for 2,4,6  (We will not block periods this year.)

                              December 22nd - Finals for 1,3,5,7

                              January 5th - Grades Due

Commodore Crew - The Commodore Crew showed up in full force Wednesday night as the Commodores took on the Marksmen.  We are proud of our kids and the support they give to each other.  Thanks to Ashley and Alyssa for leading them!  Go Commodores!  (Congrats to the basketball teams as well.)

Connect with Others - Thanks to Kelly Cash and the Key Club for raising money for the Isaiah House for Perry/Spencer Counties.  They raised over $100 for such a great cause. 

Create (Authentic) Learning Opportunities - Josh Craney and Michael Jarboe are looking forward to partnering with Habitat for Humanity in the near future.  The goal is to build a house out in the county for someone that could use a good home.  Habitat for Humanity has changed the income guidelines for a home.  It is often difficult for this organization to find someone to build for.  If you are interested let us know!

This group of young ladies are interning at the Perry County Health Department.  They worked on Wednesday at the vaccination clinic even though it was their day off.  They do a great job and we are excited about our partnership with Habitat for Humanity!

  

Vulnerability

At our faculty meeting last week, we brainstormed different ways that we can be vulnerable in the classroom, with the idea of bridging the trust gap between students and teacher and teachers and students.  Here are some of the responses: 

* Play a sport and fail miserably at my age!

* Sharing what is happening in life. 

*Sharing stories about my own problems through the years. 

*Tell students if they do certain things I will cry (not really) and then they get a laugh out of it while still trying to listen to me.  Tell the students you love them. 

* I let them know when things are going on that are hard for me. 

* I write in front of my students. 

* I play various instruments with my students. 

* A student asked for an example of "Is _____ always true?" and I had to admit that they have an inexperienced teacher who cannot come up with a counter example. 

* Admitting when something is not working and we do not have the answer yet, but we are trying. 

* I demonstrate activities from time to time to show my students that even sometimes I don't get it right. 

* A student asked me a question I didn't know.  I said, "I'm not sure, let's look it up!"

* I let my goofy personality come through.  I try new things that sometimes I fail at and admit when I do.

* I show them I am terrible at spelling and using google and ask the kids to help me! 

*I sing in front of my students. 

* Being able to admit when your wrong or when you don't know something. 

*I admit my weaknesses frequently!

What great ideas! I challenge all of you to take these next few weeks of the semester to take one more step to being vulnerable in the classroom! 

I look forward to growing in this area with all of you!   Here is a great article about trust from Brene Brown.  Hope you enjoy it!

Important Information: 

* Grateful - I am so grateful for all of you!  We have two days before Thanksgiving break.  I think we should wear jeans this week to help remind ourselves of the many reasons to give thanks. 

* Thanksgiving Pitch-In - Don't forget about the pitch-in on Tuesday!  Food will be in the elementary commons area. 

* Good Luck to the Boys Varsity Basketball team as they open the season Wednesday night at Tell City!  Go Commodores!  

Check out these entries from PC students to the American Legion Art contest.  Aren't they great!

Accountability Dashboard

The HEA 1549 has left Indiana with the goal of creating an Accountability Dashboard (now called Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed - GPS) as a way to provide a more robust view of student performance, so community members can see that our students are more than their test scores. (Yes, they are finally figuring this out!) 

The Indiana School Principal's Association has been reaching out to schools and allowing for feedback and an opportunity to learn more about this system, so I wanted to share what I know with you.  I think the easiest way to share is by giving you a few bullet points of information below.   I have also attached a power point that will dive into the potential dashboard in more details.  There are still a few things up in the air, but it is the beginning of a better use of data and a positive way to help schools improve.  

Dashboard Quick Facts: 

* The Graduates Prepared to Succeed Dashboard (GPS) will not replace the school letter grade at this time.  We will still receive a letter grade based on the same metrics:  test scores and college and career readiness scores.   (I am hopeful it will replace this in the future in some capacity.)  

* The GPS system is aimed to be learner-centered, future focused and prioritize individual student growth and opportunities. 

* There are 5 basic areas of growth: Academic Mastery, Career & Post-Secondary Readiness Credentials & Experiences, Communication & Collaboration, Work Ethic, Civic, Financial & Digital Literacy.  You can find examples of how each category may be measured in the power point below.  

            Overall, the goal of this data is to help communities understand what is happening in their local schools and provide a more transparent view of not only test scores but all of the work that goes into helping our students be more successful.  I would encourage you to take a look at this power point for more information.  I think they are hoping that this GPS Dashboard may be up for people to see by the end of this school year.  Please let me know if you have any questions/concerns about this or feedback you would like me to share with the School Principals Association. 

PowerPoint Presentation  

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting - We will have a faculty meeting Tuesday morning at 7:20 a.m. in the high school library.  A light breakfast will be served.  

Field Trip - Dana Harris has arranged some great college visits for all of our students grades 9-10 on Wednesday, November 17th.  She is sending out important information and it is important you take a look at it.  Thanks to all of the teachers who will be attending to help chaperone!  Here are the rosters for the 5 groups: Sellersburg,   Evansville,   VUJC

Assistant Lunch and Learn - Wednesday, November 17th we will have a Lunch and Learn opportunity for our assistants.  Lunch will be provided in the Health Lab.  Many of the students are out of the building on Friday and our junior high houses will be meeting, so we shouldn't need too much help for WIN.  I will send some emails to see if we can get some help covering WINs on this day. Lunch will be at 11:24!

Lunch & Learn Classroom Management - We will have our 2nd session of Lunch and Learn Classroom Management Conversations.  Anyone is encouraged to attend.  Information will be shared and bring your own ideas!  We will start in the Health Lab at 11:45 a.m.  Bring your lunch - desserts will be served! This will be on Tuesday, November 16th!  

Thanksgiving Pitch-In - Joyce Foury is organizing a pitch-in for Monday, November 22nd.  HERE is the sign-up sheet!    

Jr./Sr. High School Happenings: 

 

       Connect with Others - Carrie Guillaume has been working really hard to make positive phone calls to parents.  This has helped her develop good relationships with her students and when things are not going well, she has a good relationship with the parent, too!  Positive phone calls can make a world of difference and foster great relationships!

      

   

Celebrate Success - David Walters and Ray Niehaus have created a fun and sneaky way to increase engagement.  They have created an in-house competition among teams in their classroom.  The winning group gets 2 pizzas, 2nd place - 1 pizza, 3rd place - breadsticks and sauce, last place - cheese and marinara sauce.    The kids think it is funny and are excited about the competition.

   

    Collaborative Teams - Working across the classroom lines, Josh Craney and Nancy Poehlein had their students team up to create a couple entries in the Perry County Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser.  Josh's team printed out these beautiful trees and Nancy's students painted them.  Janet Lautner purchased one at the event and loves it!    What a great cross-curricular project!

Upstream Mindsets

 

This past Wednesday, Tara Bishop and I were asked to attend CELL's  (Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning - the organization that helps us with our Early College Model) 20th Anniversary Celebration in Indianapolis.  To kick off the celebration, we had the opportunity to listen to author Dan Heath.  He and his brother have written four New York Times Bestselling books and now have a new book called "Upstream, The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen".   He reminded us that so often we get stuck in the cycle of response, always putting out fires, dealing with emergencies and we stay downstream trying to save everyone.  While there are going to be times we have to be reactive, if we can take time to step away from the situation, identify our "problem blindness" think about how we can prevent the problem, we will be much more successful in our upstream mindset.  

This mentality made me reflect on our work at PC.  Sometimes it is hard to find the time to reflect and work together as a team, but when we do, we are able to fix problems more efficiently or prevent them from even happening.  I think about teams like MTSS, PLC, PBIS, Accelerated Learning that come together and think about issues, how we can teach students proper behaviors and try to get a head of situations before they even happen.  I also think about being an individual teacher and how you can think about the issues you are having in the classroom and get upstream about how to make learning better for students.  I think our recent Instructional Round opportunity could be a piece of that, taking time to reflect on your own practice and gaining ideas from others.  

As Dan Heath reminds us, so many times we are stuck saving kids who are drowning in the stream.  If we re-set our mindset to upstream thinking, we will realize if we don't let students jump in without a life jacket, maybe we shouldn't have so many to save!   I am so grateful for the reminder of this mindset and how it can change our perception of life.

Important Information: 

CELL Data - After the author's presentation, CELL had a reception for the group to attend.  Many dignitaries were asked to speak at the event, including the Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education, Indiana Secretary of Education and the President of University of Indianapolis.  They also asked Tara and I to share how CELL has helped us at Perry Central (we were the only school to present).  We were able to briefly share all of the success from the work of all of you.  Here is some data that we gave them: 

         80% of Class of 2021 eared 15 dual credits or more - many aligned to a college credential

         30% earned the Indiana College Core

         55% of the Class of 2019 attended a Public College

               - 49% met all Early College standards

               - 92% of students didn't need need remediation

               - 62% completed all courses they started

               - 75% persisted on to the second year of college

         9000 - Over the past 5 years students have earned an approximate 9000 dual credits

         1.3 Million - Over the past 5 years student have saved an approximate 1.3 million 

                                       This is something to CELEBRATE!

Veteran's Day - Thursday, November 11th is Veteran's Day.  Joyce Foury has put together a great program.  Students grades 9-12 will be called to the high school gym after attendance 2nd period.  We will have students sit on the bottom part of the bleachers on both sides of the gym.  11th & 12th Grade will sit on the north side and 9th & 10th grade on the south side of the gym.  Our friend, Levi Hilgenhold will be delivering the message to the students, along with performances from the band and other students.  

    After the presentation (end of 2nd period), we will make an announcement and ask that all students step in the hall.  We will have Levi and the other veterans from the community to do a walk-through so we can honor and celebrate them.     Please be watching your email closer to time for more details.  We are looking forward to a great event!

RECN Meeting - On Tuesday, you will notice some extra guests in the building.  Perry Central is a mentor school to three other schools in our region (Bedford, Paoli and Southridge) for our Early College program.  We will be hosting visitors from these school Tuesday from 8:00 - 1:30 in the high school library.  If you teach in the library, I will help you make a plan for the day.  Thanks to Dana, Vanessa and Ty for serving on our RECN Leadership team!

Classroom Management Session - I apologize for needing to reschedule our second classroom management session.  I have had some people ask, so I wanted to reschedule it.  This week is tough for me, so in order to help you for planning, we will go with Tuesday, November 16th  at 11:45 - 12:24.  Just bring your lunch and I will have deserts!  It is a Lunch and Learn session!  

** I haven't forgotten this!!!  I will have this together this week!  - Assistants, I will be reaching out to you this week about a learning opportunity.  I would like to continue our professional development series with you.  In the coming days, I will provide some opportunities to read some articles about Trauma Informed practices and classroom management techniques.  My goal is for us to be able to eat lunch together and discuss the articles and find time to talk about your roles.  You play a very important part in our day!  Please be watching for an email!

Important Dates: 

Thursday, November 11 - Veteran's Day Program (see above)       

Tuesday, November 16 - Faculty Meeting 7:20 a.m. 

Wednesday, November 17 - 9th and 10th Grade students all going on a college visit (Dana will be sharing details closer to this day.)

Thanks to Nancy and her art students for creating their window decorations for Ohio Valley Gas in Tell City.  They did an outstanding job!  It was a great authentic project!

       

Congrats to Michael Jarboe, Josh Craney and their students for putting together an outstanding presentation for Thermwood.  They are excited about furthering their partnership with us!

What is the Behavior Telling You?

 

"Chronic stress and unpredictability sensitizes and alters the developing brain and nervous system, and we misunderstand what is beneath the behavior! Trauma responsive practices begin with the adults and the autonomic nervous system states of both adult and student!"

             - Laurie Desautel

Perry Central made the decision to be a trauma informed school several years ago.  We have learned it is not easy work, BUT, what we do know is that it is the RIGHT work.  I always appreciate the information that Laurie Desautel shares. This is a post she shared on her Facebook page recently. So many of our students live in chronic stress and it alters the ways they behave and see the world.  Trauma informed approaches help us see our students in a different light and remind us that the way we respond is vital to helping our students be successful.  A student's behavior is communication.  What are they communicating with you?    #connectionsovercompliance

Important Information: 

* House Meeting - Just a reminder for House Leaders that Lauren would like to meet with us at 7:30 a.m. in the library on Monday morning - November 1st.  See you there. 

* Human Trafficking Training - This Friday, Levi Clark will lead Human Trafficking training for all of our 7th, 8th and 9th grade students.  We often do not think that Human Trafficking could affect our small, rural community - but that is not true.  We actually had a little bit of a situation a couple of weekends ago at one of our home football games!  Here is the schedule for the training on Friday, November 5th (all training will be in the library): 

                2nd Period - 7th Graders Students

                3rd Period -  8th Grade Students

                4th Period - 9th Grade Students

* Instructional Rounds - Be on the look out for Instructional Round papers in your mailboxes - it contains the instructions for the day and the three questions that we would love you to answer on your visit.  We have subs for Tuesday and Wednesday to cover the period you will be out with your partner.  I have attached a copy of the schedule HERE.   Looking forward to a great couple of days of learning!!

* 7th Grade Mini - This Friday, November 5th, is the last day of the 12 week mini classes.  Monday, November 8th, students will rotate to their new 12 week course.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks for helping students through this transition.  

* Veteran's Day - Thursday, November 11th is Veteran's Day.  Joyce Foury is working hard to put together a great program for our high school.  The program will be during 2nd period for students in grades 9-12 in the high school gym.  We are excited that Perry Central alumni and son of Pam Hilgenhold, Levi, will be our guest speaker!   More details will be coming next week!  

* CELL (Early College) Data -  It is that time of the year where we have to turn in our yearly data to CELL about our Early College program.  Thanks to our fantastic teachers and hard working students, for the class of 2021: 

      * 74% of the Class of 2021 earned 15 or more dual credits

      * 26% earned the Indiana College Core (first year of college for free)

      * Collectively, they earned 2159 credits for a savings of $323, 850

Whoop, Whoop!!!  Our data continues to be strong for students who actually enroll in college, persist to their second year and complete on time.  Our students continue to tell us they leave Perry Central prepared and ready to change the world.  Great job, team!

Assistant PD - Assistants, I will be reaching out to you this week about a learning opportunity.  I would like to continue our professional development series with you.  In the coming days, I will provide some opportunities to read some articles about Trauma Informed practices and classroom management techniques.  My goal is for us to be able to eat lunch together next Wednesday and discuss the articles and find time to talk about your roles.  You play a very important part in our day!  Please be watching for an email!

 Connect with Others:  Thanks to Ashley Hubert for organizing all of us for a Halloween Dress-Up Contest!  What a great way to connect with students and each other!  We also had a great time at Derby Community Center last week for the faculty gathering.  It is important to have fun and learn to trust each other!  

 Collaborative Teams:  Thanks for all of your work during our Professional Development Day!  It is a great time to work as a team - we appreciate all of your collaboration!  

 Creative (Authentic) Learning: Josh Craney and Michael Jarboe have been working with their students for their first tour on Monday.  Thermwood from Dale will be visiting.  Students in Commodore Manufacturing and a few engineering students will be presenting.  We love having authentic audiences to share our programs with!

 Nancy Poehlein and Andrea Clark are working together for their 3rd and 4th grade classes to compete in the Indianapolis Violin Competition.  Good luck to them!  

Celebrate Success:   In honor of Mr. Seth Gehlhausen and my husband - Go Braves!  Seth did reach out and he hopes to be home in the next few weeks and is looking forward to his return to our PC family!

   

Growth Mindset

 

We started Fall Break off with a bang last weekend as Purdue's Football team beat Number 2, Iowa at Iowa.  Pretty exciting!  I don't know about all of your households, but after the game we have to rehash the game several times and watch the coach interviews over and over again.  It was interesting to listen to the coaches.  Iowa's coach talked about how they really shouldn't have been ranked Number 2 before the game started and Purdue's coach talked about their strategy and how they first had to believe they could win!  In my mind, a perfect example of growth vs. fixed mindset.  The growth mindset came out on top this weekend.  

As we move into the 2nd quarter of the school year, it is important that we remain in a growth mindset as well and believe our students can learn.  Sometimes our students have many mountains to overcome before they can get to the learning, but if we believe they can learn and help them believe they can learn, then growth will occur.  

My dad used to make me stand at the free throw line without the ball and imagine the ball going up and over the rim, into the hoop.  He taught me to believe that I could make it and create a visual of what that would look like.  I encourage all of you to think about one or two of your students that struggle the most and focus your positive energy towards them - believe in them, build a relationship, catch them being good and know that they will be successful.  

Important Information: 

Monday's PD Schedule - HERE is a copy of the schedule for Monday for both teachers and assistants.  Looking forward to a great day!  Don't forget we would like to each lunch together from 11:45 - 12:30!  Look for some seating in the cafeteria for high school teachers and assistants.  

Classroom Management Ideas - Before break we asked teachers to take a quick survey so we could see the needs of our teachers.  We noticed that some teachers are struggling with classroom management, which isn't a surprise since our students are struggling with returning from the pandemic. We will host a Lunch and Learn in the high school Health Lab  on Friday October 29th and Tuesday November 2nd from 11:45 - 12:20. Both days will have the same information - (we wanted to give a two day option since you are helping cover WINS.)  Classroom management tips and learning ideas will be shared - and be prepared to bring your own ideas that work for you so we can learn from each other!   Bring your lunch and prepare to learn.  Dessert will be provided!

Instructional Rounds - November 2nd and 3rd will be Instruction Rounds Day!  HERE is a tentative schedule.  If you would like me to make changes, just ask.   I tried to make sure that we didn't take any of your prep time and took into consideration your own person requests from the survey we gave to you.  Please let me know if you have questions. 

Band Concert - The Perry Central Band will host their fall concert at school on Tuesday, October 26th at 6:30 p.m.  Our band does a great job - if you can attend, I would encourage you to!  Thanks to Andrea Clark for pulling it all together!

We have been making our vision of the school year come alive!  Here are some great examples:

         

 Connect with Others:  Thanks to all of our house leaders for a great team challenge the Friday before break.  It was a very competitive day of 4 way volleyball, good sportsmanship and awesome chants!  All of you are creating a since of belonging and team work for our students.  

         

Creative (Authentic) Learning: Carrie Guillaume's Ag Classes got to listen to Alexander from the Hoosier National Forest last week.  Thanks, Carrie for bringing opportunities for students to learn about careers and our National Forest!  

Engineering students attending the first Autonomous Car Race in the US at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past Saturday.  Students had the opportunity to talk to colleges, engineers and even our secretary of Education, Katie Jenner and the Governor of Indiana!  Students had a great time.  Thanks to Ray Niehaus and David Walters for their work in setting up the trip.   Also, thanks to Julie Berkhouse for driving the mini bus!

 

The Last Normal School Year

 

Last week, we were reminded about how heavy our work can be, especially coming out of a pandemic (or the pandemic that never seems to end.)  Our students are struggling with social skills and getting back into the routine of school.  We are not alone - there are articles all over twitter and Facebook about this same national struggle.  The picture to the left reminds us of how long it has been since our students have had a normal school year - it is staggering!

We are seeing our students struggle to interact appropriately with each other, finding it difficult to make it through a classroom setting all day long and feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of work and accountability that goes with it.  It makes teaching very stressful, too!  In situations like this, I think we have to stop, take a deep breath, and determine if we need to make some changes to our current activities or pace and remember that we may need to teach some executive functioning skills along the way.  I also think we can't forget that we are allowed to make learning fun!  All students are overwhelmed - but we can help them enjoy it!

At our faculty meeting on Tuesday, we are going to watch a clip that will get us thinking about the current situation our students are in and maybe some ideas for how to move forward in a way that is beneficial to the student and the teacher!  ;-)   

Here is an article that goes well with the Accelerating Learning article that we read last month to build your background knowledge.  I don't have the answers to this current puzzle, but I know we are a strong team and together we will create ways to find success!  

Article:  My Students haven't Lost Learning.  They have Lost Social/Emotional Learning.  

Important Information: 

*PSAT Testing - Dana has been working hard to organize our PSAT testing on Wednesday.  This year we will be testing students in grade 9 and 10 to provide us data for the new SAT exam that all students will take their junior year.  Testing will occur from 8:00  - 12:00 (possibly) on Wednesday.  Teachers who will be proctors have been notified and student rosters have been shared.  We will have a brief discussion at our faculty meeting on Tuesday morning - please let Dana know if you have any questions/concerns.  Thanks to Dana for all of her work! 

* Pep Session - We will have a pep session this Friday, October 15th on the football field.  Students will be released around 2:25 p.m.  We will have a map where students will be standing - I think we are going to have everyone circle up on the football field if the weather allows.   It will be a great time!  You may be asked to be on a relay team - winning team gets to put a pie in their bosses/coaches face!  (I hope you pick slow teachers!)  

* Spirit Days - This week we will celebrate our sectional teams with spirit wear:  Monday - Tie Die, Tuesday - Country vs. Country Club, Wednesday - Color Wars (Teachers - Red), Thursday - Throwback (Dress your favorite decade), Friday - Jersey Day       Teachers are allowed to wear jeans all week.  

* House Competition - This Friday we will have our first House Competition.  If the weather allows, we will have a kick-ball tourney outside and if it is raining we will play 4 way volleyball.  We will release students after they take attendance by intercom.  A bracket will be emailed out prior to Friday so you can gather your teams.  After the tourney, we will allow teams to gather together and process the activity - and enjoy a popsicle.  :-)  We will then walk over to the football field for the pep session.  Students may want to take their belongings with them so they can head to the bus after the pep session.  

* Faculty Meeting - Reminder, we will have a faculty meeting this Tuesday, October 12th at 7:20 a.m. in the high school library.  Several important things on the agenda:  Test Security Training from Jamie Guillaume, PSAT update,  PD Day details, Trevor Muir information and more! 

We have been making our vision of the school year come alive!  Here are some great examples:

          Connect with Others:  Who says you can't play Tug-Of-War in the cafeteria at lunch?  Lauren Blake and House Leaders led a quick house competition.  The students loved it and it was a great way to connect!  

          Collaborative Teams:  SIEC Accelerated Learning team met this week to make some plans for faculty collaboration.  The team is working on a teacher outing (information will come soon) and a fun lunch activity on our PD Day!  Thanks to Abe, Heidi, Brennan, Sean and Abbie for your work!

          Creative (Authentic) Learning: Michael Jarboe, David Walters, and Ray Niehaus invited a CAD expert to their classroom so students could learn some extended CAD skills.  Students loved the day and really gained a lot of knowledge!  They even got to put good use to the new smart board in the room!  Thanks to all of them for their leadership and creative (authentic) learning.  Now students will use these skills to help draw up designs for the Container Cabins being made in Construction class and more!  

          Celebrate Success:  Abbie Brockman's class celebrated writing memoirs last week!  All of the students did a great job!!  

Never Give Up!

 

I don't know about you, but sometimes our work feels heavy.  I have been really feeling a lot of weight the past two weeks just thinking about how we are going to be able to help some of our most struggling students; students who have parents that would rather be on drugs instead of taking care of them, others who have many emotional disorders due to life experiences and choices of their parents, and especially boys that just struggle to stay focused and connected.  Life is so hard for these kids and even when they may try to give us their best, it is still not good. The pandemic hasn't helped them and it isn't just our students who are struggling as schools across the nation are trying to figure this out.  Along with this, the pressures we have as educators to ensure they are all learning in the same environment as the other students make it even harder.  It is hard on the student, the teacher, the family and our community.  I have been stewing on it all weekend feeling kind of hopeless! 

 THEN, this Saturday afternoon, I had the pleasure of seeing two past graduates (separately) in the Walmart parking lot. It was almost like they were planted there just so I could see them!  One of them had a job at the prison, was in the military for a few months before being discharged due to a medical reason, married and working on a plan to add to their family.  The other was married with a child, a home owner, getting ready to leave for the police academy and thinking about finishing their career as a lawyer. They both seemed happy to see me and excited to tell me about their life.  As they spoke, I could feel myself filling up with pride for them - they were not only making it but they were successful.  These were two kids that I didn't know how in the world we would get them through high school and in fact, both finished with a very alternative path in the last hour.  

Talking to these two filled my heart with pride and joy for them and also filled me with hope. I told Jace as we were walking away, "That is why we can't give up on any student."  I am so grateful to work with people like you that never give up.  The work is so tough and sometimes it feels like we are trying to swim with a boulder tied to our leg, BUT, just like the picture says, connecting with our students is their lifeline and sometimes ours as well.  We have to remember that what we do makes a difference and the work is worth it!  

Accelerating Learning Refresher: 

* Determine between Nice to Know and Need to Know information

* Pre-Assess for pre-requisites for the unit you are getting ready to teach

* Pull small groups based on this pre-assessment.  Arrange for 7 minute small group session(s) prior to the unit to teach students who are missing those skills - so you can accelerate them through the lesson!  

          TIPS for small groups:  Be intentional, assessment driven and flexible. Random grouping and allowing students to choose their own groups will not be successful.  Take the time to think about what students need what kind of help.  Use classroom work time to pull a small group and help them fill in the learning gaps they may have.   

Important Information: 

Attendance Reminder - Just a friendly reminder to please be diligent about taking attendance.  Attendance has been very difficult to manage this year, but taking good attendance is important for our COVID situations.  Remember, you can take it on paper, have your students help you, whatever it takes!  Attendance TikTok

Brain Smart Start Idea of the Week:  This or That - Name two items or activities and ask students if they would rather have/do this or that.  (Patriots or Colts,  Cheeseburger or Tacos,  McDonalds or DQ, etc.)          Superman Breathing - Stand with your hands in the air like superman and stretch.  Breathe in and out deeply and slowly.

Grades:  The end of the 9 weeks is October 8th.  Grades will "dump" over to the report card on Wednesday, October 13th at midnight.  It will be important to have grades up-to-date by then.  

Faculty Meeting:   We will have our October Faculty Meeting on Tuesday October 12th at 7:25 a.m.  A light Breakfast will be served!  Jamie Guillaume will be there to help us with our mandatory ILEARN training that morning as well.  (She will be doing it on October 12th instead of October 5th)

Early College Meeting:  High School Teachers have been sent an email to attend an Early College Meeting on Tuesday, October 5th at 7:25 a.m. in the high school library.   We will be talking about our overall goals for the EC program and some ideas on how we can support students.  Looking forward to a great meeting.  

Sectional Week:  Cross Country will be in sectional action next Saturday, October 9th.  We will have Dress Up Days this week to cheer on the mighty Commodores.  The days are as follow:    (White Lie day is where you write a little white lie on a white shirt.  Ashley Hubert helped me understand this - so Chase and Caleb Hubert will have the opposite name on their shirt pretending to be the brother,  Ashley's shirt would say, "I am short." - My shirt could say, "I cheer on the Hoosiers."   Sounds like fun - hope you participate!)

House's Competition:  House's will have their first Tug-of-War during lunch this Wednesday, October 6th.  I believe it is Ty, Deann, Heidi and Stephanie's groups!  Thanks for participating and making school fun and memorable.  You are teaching students team building skills along the way!

Volleyball Sectional Draw is Below:  (Senior night for Cross Country and Volleyball will be Tuesday night, October 5)  Go Commodores!

Sectional 48 at South Spencer

Match 1: Mater Dei vs South Spencer

Match 2: Tell City vs North Posey

Match 3: Perry Central vs Match 1 winner

Match 4: Tecumseh vs Match 2 winner

Match 5: Championship

Accelerating Learning

 

We have been learning about how to shift our mindset to "Accelerating" learning instead of focusing on remediation.  This mindset shift is important as we work to come out of one of the toughest years in education.   Dr. Fry shares 5 ways to accelerate learning.  Today we will start with her first suggestion: 

1.  Identify skills and concepts that have yet to be learned.  

Fast Facts/Steps: 

       * 40% of what we teach, students already know (not all students know the same 40%) - BUT, if you play your cards right, instead of spending time on what students know, you can use that time to accelerate students forward. 

      * Determine NEED to know vs. NICE to know pre-requisites for the unit you are beginning to teach.  Only focus on NEED to know. 

     * Find a way to pretest students on these NEED to know pre-requisites.  Could be a pre-test, brainstorm of vocabulary or information they know about the topic, data review from last year, etc.  (Can be a quick check.)

    * Determine what students need a quick refresher of the NEED to know skills.  Pull a small group of students to work with you for as little as 7 minutes or so a day prior to starting the lesson or throughout the lesson.  Other students that may not need a refresher can be working on sharing more of what they know during those 7 minutes, reading or practicing skills together, etc.  Small group instruction is one of the most powerful ways students can learn in classrooms - so finding time to do this is imperative for accelerating students.   

This is one of the 5 quick ways we can work to accelerate learning.  I will continue to share ideas throughout the next month!

Important Information: 

SEL/Brain Smart Starts - It is always important to take time to prepare the brain for learning.    Here are a couple Brain Smart Start Idea for this week:  AIR Write - Call out vocabular words or definitions and have students to write the word in the air/ SNAKE SQUEEZE - Tense up your entire body and release one section at a time.  

Special Education Resource - Just a reminder of our special education excel file.  This may be a good, quick reference for you about student accommodations and notes.  Students with 504 Plans are also added to this document.  We need to update a few more students, but we will try keep it up-to-date.  Reaching out to your special education teachers is the most important thing to do!  HERE is the document.  

Coaches vs. Cancer Game - Tuesday, September 28th is our Coaches vs. Cancer Volleyball game.  On Tuesday, we will encourage everyone to wear pink or their Coaches vs. Cancer shirts - and of course, jeans for a donation to the Lasher and Hinton families.  If you would like to make a donation, you can do so in the high school office on Tuesday.  Thank you!  #LEO 

House Teacher Meeting - Reminder we will have a House Teacher meeting on Tuesday, September 28th at 7:30 in the high school library.  Lauren will help us with our lessons for the next month.  We are also getting closer to our first competition!  

Grading Period - End of the Grading Period is October 8th and Report Cards will come out October 15th! 

Indiana College Core Teachers - Teachers who teach a dual credit course that is an option for the Indiana College Core, please mark your calendars on October 5th.  We will have a short meeting at 7:25 a.m. in the library.  More information will be coming soon!

Perry Central Jr./Sr. High School Vision Statement

2021-2022 Vision:  Connect with others, Collaborate with Teams, Continuous Improvement, Create Authentic Learning Opportunities, Celebrate!    

Purpose:  Each student to show one year of growth. 

Goals:  

• Increase ILEARN Pass Rate by 10% Math/ELA  (10 more students)

• 20% of our students will earn an Industry Credential by the time they graduate (17 students) 

• Increase number of students performing at grade level on power standards by 10%  (10-12 students per grade level)

• 100% of our time will be spent loving these students until they learn.  

(You can find the Link to our Vision Story HERE.)  

#LEO

Last weekend, the Perry Central Band played at half time during the IU Football game.  (The poor kids had to learn the IU fight song!)  Regardless, it was a perfect evening, a lot of scoring by the Hoosiers and an enjoyable time.  At the game, someone had a shirt on sitting next to us that said, "LEO".   You could see those three letters everywhere.  After doing some research on twitter, I learned that LEO stands for "Love Each Other" and the IU Head Football Coach, Tom Allan, started the year with this one word in hopes to help his players fight through the pandemic and other losses that had occurred to their football family.  Coach Allen knew that he needed to get his team to lean on other and their own faith (something bigger than us) or the weight of the world can become to heavy.  

Like the Hoosiers, we too have been dealing with our own heaviness with the stresses of the pandemic in our own community.  Also, last week was an even tougher week for our own Commodore Nation.  The loss of Carson Lasher was a blow to our entire community. Luckily, our community embraces the word LEO as well. Like always, our community continues to come together and support each other;  students were leading prayer at our athletic events, our entire gym was painted in yellow for the volleyball game on Thursday night and we continue to hold each other up by checking in with each other and through good deeds.  

I feel so fortunate to live in a community that not only believes in caring for each other but continually
shows their love in many, many ways.  LEO not only goes for the IU Hoosiers, but also for our Commodore Family.   

 **  Tuesday, September 28th is our Coaches vs. Cancer Volleyball game.  On Tuesday, we will encourage everyone to wear pink or their Coaches vs. Cancer shirts - and of course, jeans for a donation to the Lasher and Hinton families.  If you would like to make a donation, you can do so in the high school office next Tuesday. 

Important Information: 

Grade Level Meetings (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGES BELOW) - This week (week of September 20th), we would like to shake our PLC time up a bit.  We are going to meet by grade level - this way our special education teachers can stop in and you can talk with your peers about students you have in your classes and brainstorm solutions.  Below is a schedule.  If you teach students in the grade level listed for the day, you are welcome to attend.  If you have special education students in the grade level, please attend so you can keep up-to-date on these students. We will meet 11:45 - 12:24 or as long as you can make it work in your schedule.  

PLC Grade Level AGENDA

       7th Grade - Monday, September 20th  Health Lab   (MOVED) to Friday, September 24th

       9th & 10th Grade - Wednesday, September 22nd   Health Lab

       8th Grade - Thursday, September 23rd   Health Lab

**  Due to the funeral on Monday, we are canceling all PLC meetings Monday.  We will start grade level meetings on Wednesday.  Please talk to your lunch partner for WIN coverages.  If you both need to attend, please let Jody know and she will find coverage for you!

Faculty Meeting Change:  Due to a training on the 21st, we would like to move the faculty meeting to Wednesday, September 22nd.  We will meet at 7:25 a.m.  Mark your calendars!  Breakfast will be served!

College Go! Week:  This week is College Go! Week and teachers are invited to wear jeans and their favorite college gear.  It is a great week to share your college experiences with your students and talk to them about opportunities they have beyond high school.  Thanks to Dana for putting together a fun week.  Students will also have an opportunity to get help filling out their college applications this week.  

     College Fair - Tuesday, September 21st (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) at Ivy Tech, Tell City -   We are very lucky to have a college fair, right here in Perry County!  Each year we try to send students so they can talk to college representatives and be thinking about their future.  This year we are focusing on 11th grade students and a few seniors.  Here is the list of students so far (more 11th graders will be joining pending the submission of permission slips).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LCt5Tfg8G2BGDL6s5a23RuBV1r6Atw0b/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102292190392160915858&rtpof=true&sd=true

After School Tutoring:  We are trying to increase the number of students who get tutoring after school.  Tutoring is a great idea, but takes a lot of coordination.  Typically a struggling student shows up to tutoring begrudgingly - and has no idea what they need to work on!  :-)  Michelle Duncan has offered to help us try to fill that gap by increasing communication between the student, the tutor and the teacher.  

      If you recommend a student for tutoring after school, please let families know that the student needs to check into CIA (sign-in) in the high school commons area and they will help them find the tutor.  Below is our tutoring schedule: 

           3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

       Monday - Abbie Brockman

       Tuesday - David Walters

       Wednesday - Emma Hanebutt

        Thursday - Grant Doyle

      

Perry Central Jr./Sr. High School Vision Statement

2021-2022 Vision:  Connect with others, Collaborate with Teams, Continuous Improvement, Create Authentic Learning Opportunities, Celebrate!    

Purpose:  Each student to show one year of growth. 

Goals:  

• Increase ILEARN Pass Rate by 10% Math/ELA  (10 more students)

• 20% of our students will earn an Industry Credential by the time they graduate (17 students) 

• Increase number of students performing at grade level on power standards by 10%  (10-12 students per grade level)

• 100% of our time will be spent loving these students until they learn.  

(You can find the Link to our Vision Story HERE.)