Focus on the Positive

 

This weekend, I ran across this post on Facebook.  Reading this and thinking, "that is nice" is a lot easier than actually being in this mindset daily.  My Grandma Miller and mom are always good at this.  I will call my mom to vent to her and she is always flipping the story on me, making it positive.  It is SO ANNOYING sometimes!  :-)

But, what I have learned about my mom and grandma is they are always happy as they see the world through a lens where the glass is always full.  They know how to create their own happiness by choosing to focus on what is positive.  

Last week, Stephanie shared some SEL activities for teachers to help us flip our script.  She taught us the importance of focusing on things we can control and not on what we can't.  Just like this Facebook post, this work is very powerful and necessary to help us manage our stress.  

All of you have made it through some of the toughest years in education and I know the kids are still struggling, making your jobs stressful.  Thank you for your continued work and care for our students.  We are lucky to have all of you.  I hope you can find all of the positives this week and create your own happiness! (Even if it is annoying!)  

Important Information: 

RECN Survey - Please, please, please fill out this RECN survey.  They have extended the due date to April 5th, so you can take some time on the 4th to do it if you need to.  If we get 3/4 of our teaching staff to take the survey - we get $400 to spend on all of you!   If you have any questions, please let me know.  

https://uncg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0qbzVEZ6744zdY2?=t1&sc=1886

Professional Development Schedule:  Attached HERE is a copy of the tentative Professional Development Schedule on April 4th.  We will make a few updates this week, but it will give you an idea!  Assistants, like the past few times, you are welcome to come in for training in the morning and eat lunch with us.   Remember there will be no students on April 4th!  

8th Grade Dessert and Learn - 8th Grade teachers are invited to join us for cookies and brainstorm ways we can possibly incorporate SEL into the school day.  We are only taking this one step at a time!  You should have received an email as well.  We will meet on Tuesday, March 29th from 11:45 - 12:24 in the Health Science Room.

Reflection Meetings - Thanks to all of you who have met with me so far for our reflection meetings.  They have been so helpful.  I appreciate everyone's honest feedback.  Looking forward to the rest of the meetings!

Spring Dates - HERE is a link to important dates this spring.  We will continue to add to it as we move forward. 

Commodore Pride - Thanks to everyone who met last Friday to discuss Commodore Pride. There will be another meeting this Friday morning in Vanessa Johnson's room.

Special Thank You - A special thank you to all of the assistants for their work everyday and specifically for their help last week covering so many classes.  They all worked together through last minute changes and my mistakes to get it all taken care of.  Our building wouldn't run without them - so please give the an extra high-five this week!

Noticing the Best in our Kids

 

As our students return this week, remember that many of them didn't really enjoy their week away from all of you. Some of the kids that are the toughest, need you the most.

Thanks for being a place where students can feel loved and safe! 

I hope you had a great week that allowed you to rest and be ready to conquer the last 8 weeks!

Important Information: 

* Faculty Meeting - We will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday, March 22 at 7:25 a.m. in the library.  A light breakfast will be served.  

*Reflection Meetings - I would love to meet with all of you over the next few weeks to get your feedback about how I can support you and ideas for making learning opportunities better, ideas for the master schedule, etc.  I am thinking we could have a 15-20 minute individual conversations and use these questions to guide our conversation: 

             * What are your reflections for the year?  Good things?  Struggles?  

             * Your goals moving forward. 

             * What do I need to keep doing, stop doing or change to help you do your job better?  

     Please sign up for a time that works for you.  I know that time is an issue, but we will do our very best.  I have created a google sheet for you to sign up on with times that work for me for now.  If any of these times do not work, please let me know and I will work with you individually.  I know that your feedback will help our school grow and continue to be a better place for our teachers and our students.    Sign Up HERE

* Dual Credit Teachers - Please remember you will need to do your REQUIRED Ivy Tech on-line training by April 1st.  The training will take you some time to complete (it has taken some teachers a couple of hours).  Please see Dana if you need help with this.

* NHS Induction - NHS induction is Tuesday, March 22 at 6:00 p.m.  

* WIN/Lunch Assignments - Thank you for talking to your students about tightening WIN.  I had several students stop and ask great questions and I know they were because you were preparing students for this change.  Reminder that we are working to tighten WIN/lunch.  Please use WIN for remediation/learning - coding out 10-12 students that need academic help.  I appreciate some of you want to eat lunch with students - please do this in the cafeteria or make special arrangements.  Please do your best to take good attendance.  We are printing WIN documents daily and looking at attendance daily to follow up with students in the wrong locations.  Please let us know if you have questions!

* Professional Development Day:  Our next Professional Development day will be Monday, April 4th.  Students will not have class on this Monday, but we will have PD.  A schedule of events will be sent out soon. 

* Professional Development Resources:  The Central Education Center (Keep Indiana Learning) has posted many great resources for teachers.  You can sign up for what you are interested in.  I have participated in many of their events and they have been worth my time.  Please see a list/link below.  I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities!

OnDemand Learning with SAT Prep in Mind

Analysis of Information and Ideas in the Literacy Classroom Close reading. Questioning. Feedback. Independent writing. There is much going on in literacy classrooms. How do we combine it all to have students thinking deeply and critically? Learn More >>

What Does A Good Question Do? Explore the power of a good question and how to tap into deeper thinking with Erik Francis. Learn More >>

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Legislative Update: Please find an update on the legislative process below.  This information is from the Indiana Association of Secondary Principals!

    Bills that DID NOT Pass (the work you did connecting with our legislators made a difference!):

* Partisan School Board Elections - The idea that school board members would have to declare their parties or run in a primary showed up in at least 7 bills - none of them made it out of committee.

* Special Education Conflict Resolutions  (HB 1107)  would have not allowed schools to defend themselves in public - was defeated 0-50 (even the person that wrote the bill ended up voting against it)

* Materials Harmful to Minors (SB17) -  Did not advance.  This would have allowed parents to have control the types of books and resources we provide to students.  

* SB 67/HB1134 - CRT Bill - Bill would have made us post our curriculum on-line and run all of it through a committee of parents, not allowed schools to help students with mental health issues, etc.  - Didn't get a third reading and none of the tenants of the bill made it into other bills, which was amazing!

      Bills that DID pass: 

* Participation in School Sports Bill - Prohibits a biological male (trans females) to participate in female sports (This will be challenged in court.) 

* HEA1093 - No letter grade this year, authorizes DOE to study machine scoring, requires teachers to discuss student state test data at school parent conferences, new e-learning language (virtual student instructional days) which would only allow schools to have 3 virtual days that are asynchronous  

* HEA 1130 - requires testimony at public board meetings (we have always done this)/ allows school boards to set time limits and take measures to ensure that meetings are safe

*HEA1031 - DOE must apply for assessment flexibility waiver with US Department of Ed that would allow us to only test in 3,5,8,11 grades moving forward, DOE must have research study in standards and how they can be streamlined and created the adjunct teacher permit (no education degree or bachelor degree), 

*SEA 2 - Allows for schools to receive 100% funding for virtual students, requires DOE to collect and conduct a study on early graduates (could affect funding in the future)

*SEA 82 - FAFSA Bill - only requires schools to send information to families about the FAFSA/most of the burden ended up on the Commission for Higher Ed and not our counselors, so it is a win!

*SEA 290 - DOE Career Coaching Pilot program/ null of school letter grade for 2022-2023 school year

Power of Tiny Gains

 This weekend was full of college basketball memories, including Duke University's, Mike Kryzyzewski's, last home basketball game.  As I filtered through on-line articles, I found a video clip of the coach talking about some of his best players and how they always wanted to be "coached hard".  He described how they not only had unbelievable talent, but were always asking for feedback and finding ways to get better!

His remarks reminded me of an article I read at from a training this week.  The article is around continuous improvement and how important it is to always be finding ways to move forward and the difference that a 1% change for the better can make.  If you get 1% better each day, by the end of the year, you will end up 37 times better than when you started.  That statistic is phenomenal!  

As we continue to move through the school year, I think this mindset is a powerful way to help us work to continuing to find powerful gains for student learning in a manageable way.  The article was a great reminder to me that even though being "coached hard" is not always easy, the mindset of continuous improvement is powerful and worth it.   

I would encourage you to read the article!  It is a great 3 minute read!  Continuous Improvement Article

Important Information: 

* Grades - The gradebook will dump this Wednesday night at midnight!  Please make sure you have your grades updated at that time.  If you need to issue incompletes, please see Jody or Phil and we can help you with that.  It is also a great time to check your reporting topics for 4th quarter to make sure you are ready!

* Spring Break Week - This is always the week that our students get to be a little squirrely as Spring Break approaches.  It is important to continue teaching bell to bell and providing students with highly engaging lessons.  Please do not allow students to stay by the doorway at the end of the period and hold your high level of expectations like you do all year!  

* Lunch and Learn - High School Assistants, we will be hosting a Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, March 9th.  We will announce the location of the meeting in an email soon!  Please keep a look out for it!  The meeting will be from 11:24-12:24.

* House Competition - We will have our House Competition on Friday, March 11 during 6th and 7th periods.  Students will report to 6th period and we will release them by intercom.  If you are a house leader and have a high school group 6th or 7th periods, please let Jody know so she can find coverage. 

Surprise and Delight - Stop in for a Surprise and Delight in the morning as we celebrate "Rolling" through this week!  We are also looking at a possible Surprise and Delight for students in 2nd WIN on Thursday.  We will determine that tomorrow based on the weather.  

I hope all of you have a restful Spring Break!  We will be back in school on March 21st for the sprint to the end!!!  

That's Outside My Boat

 In the book, That's Outside My Boat, veteran television announcer Charlie Jones tells the story of when he was getting ready to report on the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.  

When he arrived in Atlanta a week before the Games, he began interviewing Olympic rowers from all over the world.  He asked them a basic question, "What if it's raining?"  The answer would always be, "That's outside my boat."  Then he would ask, "What if the wind blows you off course?" The reply would be, "That's outside my boat."  "What if one of your oars breaks?" "That's outside my boat."

By the end of the Games, he learned invaluable lessons.  He came to understand that that Olympic rowers were only interested in and focused on what they could control.  They let the outside circumstances go.  Another way to say it is the team only concentrated what was inside their circle of influence and they were determined not to waste any mental energy on thigs that could distract them from the real world.  

So remember, keep your focus and full attention inside your boat.  Don't become distracted by things you cannot control - students will gain one year of academic learning if you do!  And THAT is our purpose!  

Important Information: 

SAT Testing This Week:  Just a reminder that all juniors will be participating in the in-school SAT exam on Wednesday, March 2nd.  The test will take periods 1-4 and through part of WIN/Lunch.   Also, students will participate in pre-administration exams on Monday (Feb 28) during 1st Period.  

    Attached HERE is the room assignment for test takers.  If you have juniors, please make sure they know the location they should attend.  

    Thanks to Dana for all of her hard work.  Be nice to her this week - this is the first time we have given the SAT and it has been a bit stressful!  She has done a great job.

Activity of the Week:  Here is a protocol for Reading for Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary.  This is a great activity for disciplinary literacy (reading across all curriculum).  Hope it is helpful!  Let me know if you try it!!!

MTSS Meeting - Thanks to those of you who have shared student names with us!  Our MTSS meeting is Thursday, March 3rd.  Please let us know if you have any students that are struggling.  

Grading Period:  This Friday, March 4th is the end of the grading period!  Grades will dump on Wednesday, March 9th.  Please remember to check your reporting topics and make sure they are correct in standards based grade books!!

Pep Session:  We will have a Pep Session this week for the Boys Basketball Sectional.  Below is the pep session schedule. High School (grades 9-12 will sit on the bottom section on the south side of the gym - side with band), 8th grade will sit on the top bleachers by the band and Grades 5,6,7 will sit on the lower bleachers on the north side of the gym.  Cheerleaders, band members and Pep Club Leaders will be released a few minutes early. Our boys play Friday Night at 5:30 p.m. against Eastern Pekin @ Tell City's Gym!           

Pep Session Schedule

12:28-1:08 5th Period

1:12-1:52 6th Period

1:56-2:29 7th Period

2:30-3:00 Pep Session

  Spirit Week: Spirit week activities are as follows: 

       Monday:  Anything But A Backpack  (We are not sure what we will get tomorrow - please know we will be asking students to keep larger items up by the office.  We will play it by ear.)

       Tuesday: Beach Day

        Wednesday: Pajama Day

       Thursday: Jersey Day

       Friday:  Crazy Green/Seniors - Black Out

Upcoming Dates: 

Wednesday, March 9:  Assistant Lunch & Training

Friday, March 11: House Competition - 6th and 7th periods

Congratulations Seniors!!!  

Relationships

I ran across this post this week on Laurie Desautel's Facebook page this week (posted below.)  It was a good reminder for me.  Students can be very frustrating at times and it is easy to get pulled into a back and forth with them.  I often have to stop myself when I feel myself entering my downstairs brain (same feeling I get when I tell my boys to do something for the 100th time).  I have learned that when I feel that feeling it is time for me to stop, take a deep breath and ask more questions so I can try to really listen to what the problem is.  Even though it is difficult at times, I have found that both parties leave in a better place and we are actually able to solve the problem that is really at hand - even though I may point how how I felt disrespected in the moment.  One of the things that helps me be okay doing this really comes from this quote.  Students are not doing these disrespectful things TO me, but IN FRONT of me.  It helps me not take their behaviors personally.  

So, just a reminder.  Sometimes the toughest kids that we encounter need the strongest relationships as we know that forcing compliance does not work.  Below are a few ways to build relationships - they are not new, but just quick reminders!  I hope you have a great week!

* 2x10 Strategy - Talk to your tough students 2 minutes (about the weather) for ten days in a row

* Greeting students at the door when the period begins. 

* Develop interest in their interest.

* Develop a sense of humor.

Important Information: 

* FFA WEEK - Just a reminder that FFA members will have breakfast for faculty/staff Monday morning at 7:20 a.m. in the high school library.  It is a great way to celebrate our production of our food and fiber and all of the work all of you do!    There will be chili for sale on Wednesday during lunch if you would like to participate in that.  All money raised will go to a scholarship fund.  

      Dress Up Days:   Monday - America/  Tuesday - Carhartt/ Wednesday - Farm Day/ Thursday - Blue and Gold Day/ Friday - Flannel       (Teachers, I think you should celebrate with jeans this week!)

* 2-22-22 (TUESday) - We will have a few fun activities on Tuesday!  There will be a matching game for students to find matching cards throughout the day and we have a great line-up of 2-year-old photos for everyone to identify!   Also, on 2-22, we will have several subs in the building for PD activities, so please keep all students busy and in class that day and thanks for helping your fellow substitute!

* MTSS meeting - The MTSS team will meet next week on March 3rd.  Please send names of students you are struggling with to Jody before this date so we can brainstorm solutions as a team.  

* SAT Testing - We are getting closer to our SAT test date, March 2nd.  Just a reminder that all 11th grade students will be testing that morning from 8:00 - 12:00ish.   We will have a pre-test time of February 28th during 1st period.  More details will follow soon!

* Tutoring - Just a reminder we are always looking for after school tutors!  We would love to have you! See Jody or Michelle Duncan for details.  It is exciting to see so many students stay after school and get the extra help they need!

Our Purpose:  One Year of Growth or More!

Utilizing Data - Our junior high math teachers put their standards based grading data to work this week.  They identified a standard that students struggled with and made a list of students that could use retesting to try to get them up to that "3" level (grade level).  Our new REACH coordinator contacted the list of students and 18 students stayed after school for three days.  They practiced for two days with teachers (Jamie Guillaume, Deann Anson, Emma Hanebutt) and then retested on the third day.  It is a great way to use data and promote LEARNING!  We all don't get it at the same time!  :-)  

* Engineering Students - Mr. Walter's Engineering students will be traveling to U of E on Tuesday in honor of it being Engineering Week.  In partnership with U of E and Harper Elementary School, our very own engineering students created air filters out of fans and lumber for the elementary school to help purify the air in the room.  U of E students created the filters out of cardboard, but our awesome students took them a step further and created them into very nice looking units.  Our students will get to go on U of E's campus, see their engineering school and present the air filters to Harper Elementary.  I believe news media will be there as well!  Great job, Mr. Walters!

* Computer Science - Mr. Walsh's students set up a display at the basketball game Saturday night.  It was SO impressive.  Students brought out their computers they built on their own and showed some of the coding elements they are learning about in Computer Science.  They all reported they loved the Cybersecurity class as well and plan to have a career in this lucrative field.  Thanks to Mr. Walsh for his leadership with this class!  

Executive Functioning - Memory Skills

 "Kirk is having the same type of problem in the 9th grade as he did in junior high.  He seems to understand the math lesson when his teacher asks him a question that day, but by the next day things are fuzzy.  In fact, he sometimes skips entire rows of problems, especially under testing conditions.  If the work is too demanding, he generally gives up instead of asking for help.  Kirk's teacher things that if Kirk would just slow down and recheck his work he would be able to replace the D on his report card.  Instead he is just relying on a "guess and go".  Really, the problem may have more to do with his lack of deep understanding because of an inability to see and remember patterns." 

We all may have students like Kirk that really struggle with poor memory.  Memory issues can be difficult to understand for both students and teachers.  Students who can't master skills often feel that it is impossible to succeed and when they try and try and still do not see benefits, they start to not care and it looks like a lack of effort and motivation. 

Margaret Searle takes a chapter in her book, Causes and Cures, to talk to us about working memory.  If you are interested in learning more, you can find a copy of the chapter HERE.   I think memory issues may be on the of the hardest deficits to overcome - but having some idea of what students are really struggling with helps us not to take their learning struggles personally.  Here are a few things that help students that struggle with memory: 

WHAT WORKS: Adjusting work that is too challenging by breaking it down into manageable pieces; visuals; encouraging verbalization of thinking and teaching students ways to ask for help; praising students for their efforts; helping them see mistakes as opportunities to learn; not giving up on students, even though they have given up on themselves; apply gradual release of responsibility.  Success builds motivation for positive change. 

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:  Acting different towards students when they appear to be unmotivated; moving on when they don't understand the basics; not including guided practice and specific feedback; making students feel that low grades are what they deserve; being impatient or sarcastic

Classroom Protocol Idea:  "Say Something" (Could be a great disciplinary literacy strategy!) 

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting - We will have a Faculty Meeting on Tuesday, February 15th at 7:25 a.m. in the high school library.  Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Day of Love - Because we love all of you, Janet and Sheila have arranged for us to have some sweet treats on 2/14/22!  Be sure to visit the office for some fun!  

SAT Testing - Dana has been sharing the SAT schedule for March 2nd.  Please be on the look for this 11th grade test.  It is our first year for this test and many details.  We appreciate your help in making it a smooth success!! 

Scheduling - The Guidance Department is in the middle of scheduling!  They are sharing their plan to reach out to students.  We appreciate your flexibility with this. If you have questions or concerns, please let us know. 

2-22-22 - Don't forget to turn in a picture of your Two-Year old self for a fun game on this special day!  You can email your pictures to Dana and Phil.  We are getting a lot of great pictures!

Planning to Problem Solve

 Continuing our learning about executive functioning skills, we are going to dig into the 6 skills that students typically have deficits in as their brains are developing.  These skills can be frustrating because they seem so easy and are not directly related to the content but sometimes have everything to do with students struggling to do well in your classes.  But we know that digging in and finding the root cause of student struggles is critical to helping students.  We also know students do not fully develop these skills until they are 25 years old!

Skill Deficit Number 1:  Planning to Problem Solve - Failing to Launch and Follow Through

     What does it look like?   

   

* Faith - Looks like she has a "laziness" issue - especially for tasks that are scary, boring, or difficult.  Her executive brain has a tendency to freeze when faced with taking initiative, like asking for help.    

* Shawn - Looks like a "procrastinator" - typically does okay on a short assignment but cannot get started for a longer assignment. 

* Justin -  He is a student that wants to do well, but gets lost in the time. He always promises that he will finish his work after his TV show is over,  but the executive function part of his brain looses track or misjudges the time. 

Any of these students sound familiar?  These students struggle to Plan and Launch, so how can we help them get started and stay on task? 

Help Students Make a Plan: 

Steps	What Order	How Long	What Materials
Brainstorm interesting topics	Today	3 min.
Find 2 articles on selected topic	Today	15 min	Journals in Media Center
Read Articles and take notes	Tomorrow	30 min	Note Cards or computer
Decide what other information I need	Tomorrow	5 min	Teacher and Media Specialist help on this
Start my outline	Thursday	30 min	Ge my graphic organizer

What Works: Helping students set clear goals, visualizing an action play with small steps and detailed timelines; anticipating trouble spots and develop a back-up plan with the student; identifying resources and way to access them,; using checklists, rubrics; replaying experiences and analyzing why things happened the way they did; providing feedback and checking it with their perceptions. 

What Doesn't work:  Challenging students' excuses for actions rather than redirecting their efforts; assuming they are repeating mistakes to be obstinate or lazy; assigning work that is too difficult or too easy; waiting too long to provide corrective feedback; not providing modeling ; doing planning for them rather than planning with them.  

* What to learn more, I can share Chapter 2 in Causes and Cures in the Classroom book by Margaret Searle. 

Important Information: 

We are going to celebrate this once in a lifetime day!  We will have some fun activities for students AND, we want to have fun with you!!!  Please send us a picture of you when you were 2 years old!  We will see if our students can guess who you are!  Please send the pictures to Dana and Phil by Friday, Feb. 11th!

Girls Sectional Pep Session Activities - With all of the snow this semester, scheduling a pep session has been difficult.  Monday, February 7th, we will have a competition between teachers, boy basketball team, girls basketball team, cheerleaders and the band during lunch.  Team will be competing in a minute to win it game, mystery food challenge and dance competition!  It will be a great day to cheer on the lady Commodores!  Don't forget to wear your crazy green!!!    Sectional Game Time:  5:30 p.m. @ Forest Park High School.  

8th Grade Scheduling Night - This Tuesday, February 8th, Dana will be hosting all of our 8th grade families and talking about their high school schedules!  This causes a lot of excitement and anxiety for our students and their families!  Thanks to all of you for helping answer student questions!!!

Faculty Meeting - Mark you Calendars!  We will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday, February 15th at 7:25 a.m.  

   OUR PURPOSE:  One Year or More of Student Learning!     

  Our Vision: 

      * Connect with Others     Don't forget to send in a picture of your 2 year old self by Friday for our 2-22-22 celebration!!!  Also, if you want to participate in the pep session activities during lunch, please see Alyssa Howe! 

      * Collaborative Teams/Continuous Improvement  - Thanks to all of our PLC teams that met on Thursday.  We made some great plans and found ways to move forward!  We will continue to refine our practice.  

      * Creative/Authentic Learning Opportunities  - CM students will be presenting to the American Society of Quality membership this Tuesday via zoom.  They will share how they embed quality into their learning opportunities and student-led business.  

     * Perry Central Alumni, Sam Rennie, will be representing Ohio Valley Gas on Tuesday as he is bringing a presentation to our construction, manufacturing students.  They are looking for great employees and wanted to talk to our students!  We are excited to have Sam come back and share with us!

 

   * Nancy Poehlein took her art students to Boston International in French Lick to learn about the world of Graphic Design.  Students had a great experience and were excite about what they learned.  Nancy is going to stretch out of her comfort zone and offer digital art next year as a class option.  She is excited about the new opportunity.  

      * Celebrate Success  -