Focusing on the Positive

This week, I came across the quote above from Trevor Muir.  It was a reminder to me about the importance of "catching people being good".   I don't know about you, but when someone comes up to me and just says, "thanks" or "I really appreciate . . . ", etc. it makes me want to work harder and grows my own self-confidence - even as an almost 44 year old!  

In our busy roles and lives, it is very hard to remember to take time to focus on the positive and make sure we share those positive thoughts with others, especially our students.  But, taking the time to catch and share the positive vibes can make a huge difference in all of our lives.  

I found this great article from Edutopia on the power of positive phone calls home.  I hope it is helpful to you.  I am going to set a goal to reach out 5 times a week to someone in a positive way!  I challenge you to do the same!

Why a Positive Phone Call Home is Worth the Effort   (Edutopia Article)

Important Information: 

Special Visitor:  On Wednesday, August 31st, Secretary of Education, Katie Jenner, will be visiting Perry Central around 1:00 p.m.  She will be visiting the new STEM lab and Science of Reading strategies in the elementary and getting a peek at the new CTE building and talking to students about their opportunities in the Early College program in the high school.   Please be sure to dress professionally on this day!  We appreciate Dr. Jenner stopping by to see us!

News 14 Sunrise Pep Session:  We had a great first meeting to plan for the Sunrise Pep Session!  The main thing is bringing in the FOOD - please highly encourage your students to participate as we need to beat our goal of over 9,000 food items!  Also, please see the rough agenda for the Pep Session HERE.  Obviously, this is not mandatory, but the more people that are here the more fun we have!!  The Pep Session is set for September 9th.   If you want to learn the school song and cheer with the cheerleaders (surprise the kids) we will be practicing on the 6th in the afternoon!

MIT Project:   Eli Underhill, Aaron Pruett, Matthew McKeehan, and Max Donovan are competing in a competitive grant program through MIT.  The students were challenged to come up with a new product that will help solve a problem in the world.  They decided to focus on trying to solve access to clean water for people that are enduring natural disasters, homeless and for those in high poverty locations.  This week, they are finishing their application by hosting a community presentation.  Best wishes to this team.  If they win, they will get a free trip to MIT and some funding to support the development of their product!

U of E/Toyota Project:  University of Evansville and Toyota are working on a project to convert a mini-van into a traveling STEM lab.  We are grateful they asked our engineering department and manufacturing to design and fabricate the inside of their van!  Students will gain such great experiences with this project!  The van will be here Monday - we can't wait to see the changes they make!

Professional Development Day:  Tuesday, September 6th will be our first professional development day.  Students will not have school, but faculty and staff will attend for Professional Development.  Please find the rough draft of the day HERE.  Teachers should expect to work from 8:00 - 3:00 and assistants from 8:00 - 12:00.  

Teaching Tip of the Week:  Setting Learning Goals for each day is a powerful tool to help students know what they are expected to learn and be able to do by the end of your lesson.  It helps students know what/why they are doing the work AND it helps teachers know what to focus on in formative assessments.  Below is a quick review from Robert Marzano on how to set a learning goal for your classroom!  I look forward to seeing Learning Goals Posted this week!

Clearly Articulating Learning Goals

The teacher clarifies learning goals that state what students will know or be able to do at the end of a lesson, unit, or semester. As part of this strategy, the teacher must be careful not to confuse learning goals with activities and assignments. Activities and assignments are the tasks that the teacher asks students to do in order to achieve the learning goals. For example, the following statement is an activity: students will preview the chapter on the adverse effects of smoking before reading it. A related learning goal would be: students will understand the adverse effects of smoking. To create a learning goal, the teacher translates general statements from standards documents into the following learning goal formats:

• Declarative knowledge: Students will understand _______.
• Procedural knowledge: Students will be able to _______.