Engaging Students

    Twitter can such a great way to network with other great educators across the country.  Tyler Rablin posted a great thread about the importance of  working with students, instilling confidence, promoting engagement, understanding their fears and treating them with respect and dignity each day.  Can we get an AMEN?

"Today I sat down with a student who hasn't done anything in class so far (7 days in).  All I told him was that I will give him feedback and another shot on it no matter what.     Guess who turned something in today?  It highlighted something important for me.

To everyone who's going to be like, "So we don't expect kids to try?!  We just let them do whatever they want and get as many chances as they want?! How's that going to help them in life?!" . . .  you are missing an absolutely crucial piece of what's happening here.  

Are some students prioritizing other things and often doing a really bad job at it?  Yes.  There are a thousand other things kids may want to do instead of trying to learn.  But, I've found that " "laziness"  is rarely the real reason kids aren't willing to engage in an assignment.  I've found two major reasons why students are afraid to even start an assignment (which is different than not finishing an assignment).  

The first is this: If a student is worried they might not be successful on the task, then not attempting it allows them to hold onto hope that they could have been successful on it.  If I don't attempt something, I don't have any evidence to support the fact that I am "not good enough," and for students who lack academic confidence, they are so afraid of confronting that reality that they attempt to preserve their own ego, their identity, their hope (or however you want to phrase it) by not attempting it at all.  In this case, not attempting to try is a defense mechanism.  

The other reason I see for not even starting an assignment is that they already feel like they've lost the ability to be successful.  This typically comes down to grading practices that don't value growth.  If my goal is an A and my teacher is averaging my assignments over time, if I get an irreversible D on an assignment, I might have already lost the ability to reach my goal.  (Let's ignore the problematic aspect of using a measure as a goal for now.)  While we would like kids to see growth as the goal, that's not the educational culture we exist in.  when the possibility of meeting a goal gets taken away, it shouldn't surprise us that someone doesn't want to work towards the goal.  

Does this mean we don't also include consequences?  Sure, at some point, yes.  But, I don't think we need to sacrifice the humanity of what we do with kids to get them to comply.  There's a balance.  There has to be a balance, but in that balance, humanity has to come first.  If we can help a student course correct and develop different habits early, we have to try.  Promising them that they will get feedback and another shot is one of the best ways I have found to help a student be willing to attempt something in our classes when they've lost the drive, desire, or ability to even begin." 

                                                                                    - Tyler Rablin @Mr_Rablin, ELA Teacher

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting:  We will have our first faculty meeting on Tuesday, September 20th at 7:25 a.m. in the high school library.  We will have a few updates and our counselors will be sharing some classroom management tips/tricks.  A light breakfast will be served.

Assistant Swop - The elementary had a handful of assistants already decide to do something else and move out of our school family, causing some changes for our building.  Brandi Devillez is going to move to the elementary and we will welcome Charlie Baumeister on Monday to take her place.  Charlie will actually work from 6:45 - 12:45 daily.  There are a few other small changes that have taken place as well.  You can find the assistant schedules on the table titled "assistant schedules" on the document HERE.  This document is also a great quick glance of students with IEPs and 504 plans.  Please remember it is confidential.  If you have an assistant at any time of the day, you may check this document to make sure there are no changes!  Thanks!

For your planning:  To help you think ahead, I wanted you to know that our next PD day, October 24th, you will have a majority of the time to work in your PLC team on your curriculum (scope and sequence, assessments, table grading - whatever your team needs).  You can use this time to plan for quarter 2.  More details will be forthcoming, but thought it may be helpful to know.

            * 1st Quarter Scope and Sequence and Power Standard assessments will be due to Jody the last Friday of October.  (This is after you will have time to finalize everything at the PD day)

            * Marzano Elements - reminder your personal growth goal is due in SFS by October 7th (this is what we worked on during our PD day last time, so hopefully you are finished already or have a good start!)  All of the documents you need to track your progress can be found in the Teacher Resource folder under Marzano Elements!

            * WIN Changes - reminder about our WIN changes and priority days:  Monday - English, Tuesday - Math, Wednesday - Island, Thursday - Social Studies, Friday - Science     Looking forward to hearing how you worked out two days a week to focus on reteaching bubble students!

Vocabulary Strategy - Emma Bettag has been working hard to build vocabulary in her math classes!  She started a word wall for students and she adds to it as she teaches them the core content!  Robert Marzano, educational researcher, talks a lot about the importance of building vocabulary for students in order to promote learning!  HERE is a link to Marzano's 6 step process!  Remember, you only do this process for the 20-25 words you are focusing on for the year!!  Thanks, Emma, for sharing a best practice!

 

Word Wall Wisdom - 

Power of Education

 Each year, the Commission for Higher Education releases a College Readiness Report and recommendations for what Indiana should do to increase education attainment for students.  This year's report, after the pandemic, is an interesting one.  I wanted to share their research with you: 

Findings State Wide: 

* Drop in number of students attending college, significantly after the pandemic

* 62% of students earning dual credits went to college in 2020 (Early College Matters)

* 86% of students who earned Academic Honors Diploma attended college after high school (Diploma types matters)

* Equity gaps worsened during the pandemic - students on free and reduced lunch have a greater chance not to attend college and black high school graduates saw the largest decline between 2019-2020 (Remediation Matters)

* State and national research continues to clearly show education beyond high school is valuable based on wages earned, civic participation and quality of life.  Students who have more education are likely to out-live their uneducated peers.  (Early College/CTE Matter)

* Indiana is a most at risk state of job loss due to automation and artificial intelligence as nearly 2 million working-age Hoosiers do not have postsecondary credentials that are needed for this future of work. (Post-Secondary Education Matters)

Helping students continue their education beyond a high school diploma is essential for our students, community and state.  Our Early College High School Program and extensive CTE pathways are leading the state and helping us ensure that all students have the opportunity to gain vital skills beyond high school.  All of you are making a positive impact on our future - you should be proud!

Remember, the definition of College for All is:  4 year degree, 2 year degree, Apprenticeships, Industry Certifications, Military Training!  Don't confuse it with University for All!  

If you want to read the full report, you can find it below.  Thanks for all you do for our students each and everyday.  It matters.                  College Readiness Report/Recommendations

Important Information: 

* Updates for WIN/Scope & Sequence Requirements:   Phil and I made some changes to WIN based on the feedback we received at the PD Day last week.  Please find a list of changes and procedures HERE.  Your PLC Facilitators will be sharing this at your meetings this week as well.   Also, on this document you will find a requirement to turn in your first quarter scope and sequence/power standard assessments the last Friday of October to Jody.  We will continue to talk about this in the coming days.

 * Evaluations - We have been working hard to get a long observation in for all of our teachers by October 7th.  Just a reminder that you can find our notes from long/short or walk-throughs by logging into your SFS system!  After each long observation, we will meet with you - it is always great to be able to see all of the great things happening in our building! 

* STEM Certification - Dana, Vanessa and Debbie are helping us prepare paperwork and documentation to be recognized as a STEM Certified school.  This designation shows that we continue to provide project based learning, work place challenges, dual credits, certifications and collaborative approach to learning up front!  The process is a little overwhelming, but we hope the certification will show others the work all of you do daily!  We have a preliminary application meeting this Friday, virtually.

*THANK YOU - It was so great seeing all of you at the Sunrise Pep Session.  The students had a great time and they always look forward to their teachers/coaches participating.  I know it was an early morning, but I think the culture it builds is amazing!!  Who doesn't want to wake up to Jackson Allen playing Metallica!  Seriously, all of you make PC special!

Important Dates: 

* October 7 - Professional Goals Due in SFS

* September 12 - School Board Meeting, 6:30 p.m. - Library

* September 15 - RECN Network Meeting in Plainfield (Dana, Ty, Vanessa, Jody)

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 _______.

High School Redesign

Last week, I had the opportunity to be a part of the education committee for the Governor's Workforce Cabinet.  It was a very interesting meeting as prominent state leaders from the DOE,  State Board of Education, Commission for Higher Education and other school leaders were all at the table talking about how we can redesign high schools in the state of Indiana.  The goal is to start "blurring the lines" (Katie Jenner quote) between high school, post-secondary education and employment for all graduating Indiana Hoosiers by increasing the focus on Work-Base Learning, Career Advising and Academic Rigor.  The timeline is short as this team only has two more years to get work accomplished under our current Governor and with it being a budget year, some of this important change for our high schools will come fast!

 

It is exciting to hear our friends at the state level be so student-centered and teacher friendly in these meetings.  The new accountability system, Graduation Prepared to Succeed (GPS), is the driving force behind this change.  The GPS accountability system no longer focuses on one test on one day to measure student success, instead it is built on the following 5 pillars: Academic Mastery, Career & Post-Secondary Readiness, Communication/Collaboration, Work Ethic and civic, financial & digital literacy.  Basically, they are working to help us measure the timeless view of education: Relationships, Relevance and Rigor (I believe they must be in this order to work the best!)  

Perry Central continues to position itself to be a leader in this redesign work that allows students to lean into their interests and strengths and shows them that life long learning can be fun and rewarding! 

More great things to come at PC and in the state of Indiana!  #good2bgreen  

Important Information: 

Question-Prompt-Cue-Reteach Strategy -   Click HERE to see this visible learning strategy and other re-teaching ideas from John Hatti (presented by Carrie Rosebrock).  This article will provide your PLC with some tools for the "What do we do if students didn't learn" question.

Evening Classes Beginning:  This Wednesday night, we will have two evening courses beginning:  Speech with Matt Childress and Welding 100 with Ronnie Drew.   Welding students will start staying after from 3-7 each Wednesday evening in the new CTE building and speech students will meet from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30p.m. Both opportunities are dual credit opportunities.  We are excited to offer this expansion of courses to our students!

CIA Enterprises:  Adam Stowe is recruiting junior high students for an after school student-led business.  Students will start by manufacturing yard signs and hope to expand their business as they move forward.  Just like Commodore Manufacturing, students will get paid through profits from the program.  Thanks to Adam for starting this!

#Good2BGreen:  A strong start to our athletics this week!  Congrats to Volleyball for their first conference win, boys Cross Country won their meet at Boonville and the football team beat the Marksmen in a nail biter!  Great job students and coaches!

Important Dates: 

PLC Meetings:  Keep up the great work this week!  (Special Education Meeting Thursday, Sept.1)

College Go! Night for grades 10-12:  August 30, 6:00 p.m.

Professional Development Day: September 6th  8-3

Homecoming: September 2nd

News 14 Sunrise Pep Session:  September 9th 6:00 a.m.

#Good2BGreen

 What a great start to the 22-23 school year!  I stopped by many classes the first week and saw so many reasons why it is #Good2BGreen: 

* Jason Barnett had students working in teams to stack cups without using their hands!  What a great
way to build a collaborative culture!

* Brennan Malone had students brainstorming in teams what they could do in their class to create the best opportunity to learn.  They were sharing what a good teacher and student looked like - with the ultimate goal of creating non-negotiables.  Students were determining what they wanted their successful classroom to look and feel like!

* Sean Schaefer had student teams building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows.  They were discussing the importance of failure and how that leads to learning.  They also discussed the 1% rule of improvement!  

*Emma Bettag spoke to students about her classroom jobs and how students can earn Commodore Cash.  (They were really excited about Commodore Cash and House Competitions!)

I also loved seeing Heidi Zellers playing board games, Stephanie Walsh - Human BINGO, Ty Guillaume's funny video of the day and favorite things list and Debbie Dauby starting her lesson with a very engaging interest approach for mid-point that really got the kids thinking and reviewing content.  These were just a few of the many things going on in classrooms this past week.

Thanks for working so hard to develop relationships and start diving into the rich content that you have to share with students.  The first days of school are when students are the most excited about diving into new routines, new relationships and new content.  

So far. . . We have having the best first few days ever!  

Important Information: 

PLC Team Meetings:  PLC Team meetings will occur this week.  Team meeting dates are the following:  Math - Monday, Science - Tuesday, ELA - Thursday, Social Studies - Friday.  PLC facilitators will have agenda's prepared!  Looking forward to great meetings!

Project Aware Site Visit:  This Tuesday there will be guests in the building for a Project Aware Site Visit.  We want to thank Tara and our counselors for leading this grant opportunity!  The grant is helping us develop a sustainable school-based mental health infrastructure that will serve our students for many years to come. 

Evaluations:  Phil and I have been able to finish all of our evaluations in the SFS system.  You should have received an email from SFS inviting you to review and sign-off on the form.  If you have any questions/concerns about your evaluation or the process, please let us know.  Our doors are always open!

    2022-2023 Evaluation Plan - Here is a link to our evaluation plan for the 22-23 school year.  You can see who your official evaluator will be in this document.  Please let us know if you have questions.  Like anything else, we want to work together and just continue to focus on being 1% better!  

   * We will set SLO goals again this year.  Details about this process will be outlined at our PD Day on September 6th.  

Purdue Bound - I will be out of the office on Friday for a personal day to take Jace to God's Country!  :-)  I will be available by phone or email all day long.  I will try not to cry in your ear!  

Have a great week!  Good luck to volleyball, cross country, football and band this week!  

The Best First Week EVER!

 Trevor Muir - The Epic Classroom

One of the best people I follow on Facebook is Trevor Muir.  I like him because he is full of energy, really encourages us all to create innovative/collaborative classrooms that prepare students for the 21st century AND, most importantly highly supportive of teachers! 

I wanted to share his video about the first days of school.  He encourages us to be innovative, teach students how to work together, and even throw in a surprise and delight!  Setting the culture of your classroom is so important in the beginning.  Developing relationships, setting clear and kind guidelines and procedures, along with engaging lessons to really start the year out right are most important.  When students start school, they are never more ready to learn and and be engaged!  Taking advantage of precious time is important!  

In the video, Mr. Muir mentions that he has a resource called, "Best First Week of School Ever!"  I was a sucker and purchased the ideas.  Some are a little more focused on the elementary, but I think you may be able to gain an idea or two!  HERE is the document!

I hope all of you have THE BEST FIRST WEEK EVER!

**Trevor has a book called the Collaborative Classroom that is a practical way to teach 21st Century Collaboration skills in the classroom.  It is a very helpful resource.  Please see me if you are interested in the book!  I can get you a copy!

Important Information: 

First Teacher Day - Wednesday, August 10th will be our first teacher day!  Tara sent out an email with the corporation agenda.  I copied her agenda and added some details for our day.  You can find the updated High School Agenda HERE.  Please bring your computer to the building level meeting.

Assistants - Assistants will work from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (right after lunch) on Wednesday.  We will have chrome books for everyone, along with your schedules, updates for the school year, etc.  Please meet us in the cafeteria for the corporation meeting at 8:00 a.m.!   

Important Dates: 

        * Junior High House Choosing Ceremony - Friday, August 12th during 7th period

        * PBIS Celebration for grades 9-12/ Along with Club Sign-Up - Friday, August 19th 

        * MTSS Tier 3 Behavior Meeting (counselors) - August 18th,  9:30 - 10:30 

       * PD Day (no school for students) - September 6th 

       * News 14 Sunrise Pep Session - September 9th   (The fun is back!)  

       * First Faculty Meeting - September 20th

First Days of School

 

   It is about that time again!  The first days of school are upon us. It is always an exciting time to think about a fresh start but at the same time, hard to come back from the flexibility of summer break!  

The first few days of school are some of the most important times for us as we work to set the culture for the entire school year.  As we know, first impressions are always the most important, so being ready for the first few days is always imperative!  

Jennifer Mitchell shared a study with me last week.  (You can find a copy of the study HERE.)  The title of the research project is, "The First Days of School in the Classroom of Two More Effective and Four Less Effective Teachers."  The study was focused on primary and middle grade levels, but as I read through the research, I found a lot of great reminders that would fit for all of us, as well!  Here are some highlights for highly effective classrooms: 

    * Take time to establish a classroom atmosphere: Be enthusiastic, Be organized on the first day, Have students participate in team activities to develop a family culture, Share community values - such as respect, being trust worthy, etc.  Model what that behavior looks like, Show kindness and Compassion, Talk to them about the importance of taking ownership of their behaviors  

   * Use Praise - Ensure to provide specific feedback to students and praise them.  Catch them being good! Always use positive intent - tell them, "You are the best class I have ever had!",  "I know you are going to make great choices this year!", Everyday should be a fresh start.

   * Student Choices - Highly effective classrooms provide student choices where ever they can, Allow students to think about what they want their classroom to feel, Set expectations together 

   * Model Behaviors - When introducing procedures, practice those procedures with students/ role play certain procedures like how to request to use the restroom, what does your phone policy look like, what does a tardy look like.  Notice when students are following procedures and behaviors and tell them how much you appreciate their work!

* Build Relationships - Take time to know students by name, find out their interest, be curious (If a student is not following a procedure ask them why instead of getting mad first)

The first days of school are always exciting.  I am looking forward to sharing them with you!  

Important Information: 

New Family Member:  We are excited to have Payton Malone (many of you know her by Payton Emmons) joining our teaching team.  She will be teaching Biology, ICP and Biology II.  We are excited
to have her!  

         * Also, we hired someone to take Melissa Toothman's place, but they backed out on us a few days ago.  Kris Walsh was willing to help rescue us.  Kris will be moving from his current special education position and transitioning into the Life Skills Room.  Kris has taught in this space before.  It was a very last minute change and he did it with a very happy heart - he even drove to a week long training in Indy at the last minute for professional development.  We appreciate his willingness to be so flexible.  He will continue to teach computer science. 

      * Along with the special education move, Jane Goffinet also took a leap of faith.  She is going to return to our building and teach special education students and our Education Profession class.  We appreciate her being willing to help us out and we look forward to having her in our building daily.

Back to School Retreat:  Our Back To School Retreat will be Wednesday, August 3rd from 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  I have attached a rough agenda for the day HERE.  We are looking forward to a great day of learning together!  (This is for teachers and counselors)

7th Grade Orientation:  Our guidance department will be hosting 7th grade orientation on Wednesday, August 3rd at 6:00 p.m.  If you are a 7th grade teacher and would be willing to be at the training and meet our new 7th graders, that would be amazing!  It is always an exciting evening! 

Class Rosters:  If you log into Skyward, you should be able to set up your gradebooks and then see your class lists.  We are still working through some details and we know there will be many changes from now to the beginning of school.  If you look at your lists and have questions or concerns, please let Dana or I know.  We are sure there are mistakes, so there are not any dumb questions!

Construction:  If you haven't been to school for awhile, there are many changes for the school year.  The basement of the dome has been renovated and we hope the band classes will begin the year down there.  The expansion of the vocational building is coming along nicely and they are getting ready to install a new playground in the elementary!  It is an exciting time of year and everyone is working hard to get things ready for school!

Early College goes to 4th Grade:  During the Back to School Night, we will be hosting Early College sessions for 4th grade families.  Our hope is to share our strong Early College Data, help families understand the vast definition of what college is and talk to them about the importance of education beyond a high school diploma!  We can never start too early.  Fourth graders (their families) that attend the session will receive a cool t-shirt designed by Dana Harris herself!

(You can't see the shirt - but it will be the definition of college - noun  "an education beyond a high school diploma" also see: certification, apprenticeship, bachelor degree, associate degree, military training, etc."    Future Early College Graduate Class of 2031)

Important Dates: 

July 27 - Social Studies Team Meeting 9-2  

July 28 - CTE PLC Team Meeting, led by Lisa Deck  1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

August 1 - Certified Restraint Training   8:00 - 2:00 @ PC 

August 3 - Back to School Retreat  8:00 - 3:00/  7th Grade Orientation  6:00 - 7:30 

August 4 - Back to School Night  5:00 - 7:00

August 10 - Teacher Day  8:00 - 3:00  (Teaching Assistants will join us on this day)

August 11 - First Student Day