Unplug

 

Here we are again, another winter break!  It is hard to believe that time flies so quickly.  

I hope all of you get to truly unplug and spend time with those who mean the most to you.  

Thanks for all you do for our students and community each day.  You make a difference.

See you back on January 3rd!

Last Few Days:  Well, mother nature is knocking on our door and Thrusday's weather is up in the air. Because of the forecast, we are going to let teachers decide when they are going to give their final exams - either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  Here are a few stipulations: 

1.  If you give your finals early, you just need to have an educational activity planned for Thursday.  You could play an educational game, go over your exams, have a fun activity that builds on relationships, etc.  (No movies)    We want to make sure all of their time is valuable at school.

2.  Please know that grades have to be finished by the 4th at midnight.  We will not be changing this due date.  

3.  Please be mindful of students to ensure they do not have too many exams on one day and that your exam schedule is clear to them.  Ideally, you would move your Thursday exams to Tuesday (if you want to test early).

Finals:  It is important that all classes have some type of assessment or activity during their final period.  If you feel you need to do something different than this, please let us know.  Grades need to be finalized by January 4th at midnight.  Report cards will be distributed on January 6th. 

PD Day - Just a reminder we will have a Professional Develoment day on January 3rd.  Attached HERE is a rough agenda.  Please let us know if you have any questions. 

12 Days of Christmas -  

     * Monday - In your mailboxes, you have a little bag of candy to share with your students.  Holidays is a time of sharing and we wanted you to be able to offer a suprise and delight to your favorite people!  We will have you pass them out 2nd period to give everyone time to gather their bags. 

      * Tuesday - Our Christmas meal will be Tuesday, catered from Bill and Dave's.  Hope you enjoy.  

Early College Meetings: 

          * Monday, December 19th - College Freshmen will be returning to speak to 11th and 12th graders.   12th Grade:  3rd Period     11th Grade:  4th Period        ICC Teachers - Lunch with college freshmen to learn about college rigor and trends they are seeing  (11:24 - 12:24  High School Library)

          * Tuesday, December 20th - Early College Mentor Meeting with students - during first WIN (Teachers involved in this will have a detailed email from Dana.)

Faculty Meeting:  Tuesday, December 20th, we will have our faculty meeting at 7:25 a.m.  We will have a light breakfast, special guests presenting and more. See you then!  

PSAT Data:  High School Math and English teachers will meet first WIN on Wednesday, December 21st to look at PSAT data.  Dana Harris has created an outstanding document that will help us see our strengths and weaknesses!  We will meet in Jason Barnett's Room.

Junior High House Competition - Last two periods on Thursday!  (Competition is close!  Thanks to Mrs. Blake and all of the teachers for making this fun and meaninful for students!)

Hot Chocolate - Phil and Dana will have hot chocolate available for students on Tuesday during 2nd and 3rd periods.  Details will be forthcoming.

Why I Hate Christmas

  

 I wanted to share the above video where Trevor Muir shares his experience with a student, not being excited about Christmas Break.  I feel like the video is a good reminder about the reality some of our students are faced with duringt his time of year and the positive impact that each of you have on our students each and everyday.  The video is less than 4 minutes, I hope you take time to listen!

Important Information: 

Last Few Days:  Please remember to keep students busy the last few days of the semester.  The final exam schedule will be as follows:  December 21 - 2,4,6       December 22 - 1,3,5,7    Students should have normal days all of the way up to this point.  Playing educational games, reading engaging text and other purposeful learning activites are important!  

Finals:  It is important that all classes have some type of assessment or activity during their final period.  If you feel you need to do something different than this, please let us know.  Grades need to be finalized by January 4th at midnight.  

PD Day - Just a reminder we will have a Professional Develoment day on January 3rd.  An agenda will follow next week.  

12 Days of Christmas -   “Two Scoops, sir? Two?  Make it three!  I am not driving!”   Ice Cream Sandwiches on Monday!!! Also, as a bonus, feel free to wear jeans the rest of this semester!

Early College Meeting - Dana is arranging for current college freshmen to come back and speak to our juniors and seniors on Monday, December 19th.  She will be sending a schedule.  Also, teachers who teach courses in the Indiana College Core will be invited to eat lunch with our college friends on this same day.  Our goal is to ask them about rigor and their experiences and how we can embed better practices that will help our students continue to be successful in college.  

Faculty Meeting:  Tuesday, December 20th, we will have our faculty meeting at 7:25 a.m.  We will have a light breakfast, special guests presenting and more. See you then!  (Also this day is our 12 days of Christmas feast!  Come hungry on the 20th!)  

Socratic Seminar

 

This week, I was honored to visit Jennifer Ball's classroom as she was teaching socratic seminar strategies to her Honors English 10 students.  They were reading the book, Farenheit 451, and they will use this strategy to deepen student understanding through active thinking along with learning how to listen and communicate with each other, which are the golden nuggests of this protocol.    

Jennifer had students run a practice seminar and she videoed the experience of her students.  She then provided students a rubric for how to communicate and allowed them to watch the video of themselves and pick out what good looked like and areas they needed to improve in.  She really took time to use students to model the experience she wanted all students to have!  I have no doubt that all students will participate in a meaningful manner this week when they run their seminar for her!

If any of you are interested in running a Socratic Seminar in your class, Jennifer is a our expert!  I hope to have an opportunity at our next PD day to learn from Jennifer about this great teaching tool! She has great rubrics that I am sure she will share! 

Important Information: 

Tis the Season - Please find our "Home Alone" Version of 12 days of Christmas in your mailboxes!  Something fun for the last few days before break!  Monday we will have Auntie Anne pretzels as a bonus day - delivered to the high school office around 12:00 p.m.

Early College Mentor Meeting:  Dana is leading us in an Early College Mentor meeting on Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. in the high school library.  She sent an email to the teachers it will affect.  We look forward to seeing all of you there!  

CTE Open House - Thursday, December 8th will be a BIG day!  Perry Central will be hosting a lunch and learn for all of our community partners along with a ribbon cutting for our CTE building.  Many students and teachers will be involved:  Mrs. Howe's Honors English 12 class is developing an advocacy presentation and Carrie Guillaume, Josh Craney, Tim Ball, Michael Jarboe, and Kris Walsh will have students participate as well.  Our goal is to show our community the great things happening at Perry Central and find more ways to create partnerships that benefit our students and community.  

  ** By the way, as next year's legislative session gets closer to starting, you are going to hear a lot about High School Redesign and Diploma Flexibility.  Tara Bishop was asked to sit on a panel at the Superintendent's Association Conference with Indiana Superintendent of Education, Katie Jenner, so she could talk about the work at Perry Central and how we are already working in this "Redesign" space.  The work we are doing to increase STEM opportunities, connecgting to industry partners and credentials of currency through our Early College High School and Industry Certifications is helping us stay ahead of the game!  It will be an interesting legislative year, but one that will help us move forward with the work we are doing.  Kudos to all of you for helping make it happen!

Assistant Lunch and Learn:  Friday, December 9th, we will have an Assistant Lunch and Learn.  The Office will be providing pizza on this day.  Special Education teachers have been working to develop this training opportunity.  We hope to make it a monthly event!  I know some of you eat lunch 5th period.  If you can please email me if this is the case, we can make arrangements for one of your WIN classes to be covered so you can attend.  Unless you hear differently, we will meet in the high school library.  This will be during both lunches - so only come during your lunch time.  

Resources: 

PBL Resources:  As we continue on this journey to authentic learning opportunities, I want to share resources with you!  I found this information from Trevor Muir.  He has a lot of great ideas and a book that talks about how to set your room up for collaboration!  HERE are some resources I thought may be helpful as you think about moving forward in the PBL/Workplace Challenge World! 

Unite and Connect:   PASSWORD is a fun game to play with students, especially around vocabulary you are working on for your subject!  Thought I would share this resource - could be a fun Unite and Connect activity or a game to fill some time in a meaninful way!