October 30, 2015
Don't forget about having a PASS Plan for students at risk. The important part of that plan is having something the parents are responsible for. If you don't make the parents accountable for their child's success, then we are still the ones doing all the work. This should be about coming up with a plan that each person has a part in the success of the student. If a parent can't make it, see if they can do a conference call so that they can take part. Also, if the parent doesn't respond to the letter, you may have to call them. We need to keep the pressure on the parents and student that they need to take their education seriously.'
Also, just a reminder about our assembly on November 4. It will be in the auditorium and will start at 9:15. We will announce when to send students down. Please make sure you sit with the students and not stand in the back.
I haven't had a chance to get around to many rooms this week, I will make sure I get back into them next week. During Kristin's stay in the hospital I had a chance to read a few articles on school improvement and what effective schools are doing. (Here is the good news, we are doing many of the same things they are doing.) The biggest effect size on raised student achievement came when teachers collaborated with other teachers about their lessons and strategies that may increase student achievement for all students. We are getting closer to having these conversations during our PLC meetings, but we still want to discuss other items that are not going to have as great of an impact on student learning. As we become more comfortable with the data process and sharing with our department, these conversations will become easier.
We will have our next building in-service on November 4 in the Library. Students in grades 9-11 took the STAR Assessments this week and we will go over the data. As you create your SMART goals, think of ways you can incorporate strategies in your content that will improve the area you identified. This isn't something we only do once during the next nine weeks, but something we need to do many times if we want to see results. Remember you do not have to create something just to meet this requirement. Make sure what you do fits in with the essential learnings your are working on at the time.
Have A GREAT Weeekend!
Staff News
Kristin had a hysterectomy on Tuesday and is home doing well now. I may be in and out this next week to run home and check on her.Teachers as Leaders
Sherri Permeswaran, Rhonda Beach, Colleen Bortscheller, and Neal Utesch will be attending a formative assessment workshop on November 5 and 6 in Sioux City. They will be learning about formative assessments and then will bring that knowledge back for our district in-services.Joel Jentz attended the Iowa Business Education Association Fall Conference in Johnston on Oct. 25-26.
Sherri Permeswaran, Doug Martin, Mark Zeka, Mary Westhoff, and Cliff Collins have volunteered to serve on our grading committee. They will be researching and coming up with a building grading policy that they will present to the SIT team. They will be sending out a survey asking various questions about your grading policies/beliefs. The first answer they need to determine is what is the purpose of our grades. Is it to sort the haves from the have nots, or is it to show student learning? Once this question is answered, the rest of the process become clearer. Please take the time to fill out their survey as this input is important to what we want to do as a school. The SIT team will then look over the committees recommendation and suggest other input. The committee will also present this to DLIIT to gain community input. We want to be transparent in what we are doing. The committee has been instructed that everything is on the table, late work policy, PASS Plans, grading scales, weighted vs. total points, etc. The only thing that they will not change is the GPA and how the GPA is calculated.
Students as Leaders
Jonathon Hovden, Jacob Beyer, Gabe Jensen, Chloe Evans, and Jeff Ahlers presented their robot from the robotics club at Kiwanis on Tuesday.
Abraham Cerda was the top scoring freshmen/sophomore at the 24th Annual DMACC/Iowa Auto Dealers Association High School Automotive Skills Contest. Tyson Weiler finished second. Congratulations to Abraham and Tyson!
Student Council members accepted their Honor Council Award on Monday. Also Katrina Engebretson, Charlie Ellis, Danielle Martin, Madison Martin, and Cassidy Utesch presented a session on school spirit.
Congratulations to Kyle Dunn, Dominic Loutsh, Sarah Benton, and Kajsa Hallberg for being named to the All State Music groups. Also congratulations to Tessa Hansen, Sam Vacura, and Diana Loutsch for being named alternates.
Good luck to Maddie Hurt and Andrew Tonner Saturday when they run at the state cross country meet in Ft. Dodge.
Assistant Principal's Corner
Happy Halloween - hope that you found October to be great. You will find a treat in your mailbox from the student council kids to remind you about how important you are to our school and how much you mean to the students. Enjoy and keep doing great things!
This week the student council attended the Iowa Student Council Leadership Conference. We took 33 of our students with us to learn about new ideas to get your student's government more involved within the school. Our senior members presented their ideas on school spirit and how to involve students in the promotion of positive school support, and we were awarded our first ever Honor Council Award for the work we did last year with our school and community. The award is in the office on the counter with our portfolio if you care to glance at it.
The student council is finishing up their campaign for the Support Siouxland Soldiers organization and will be around to collect any food items that have been gathered in your classroom on Monday, Nov. 2nd during advisory time. We will also be packing our care packages the next day and prepare to ship them overseas to our local soldiers serving our country. Thank you to all who helped support our efforts this year. We are very excited about the participation and the extra exposure that came to our veteran's and soldiers during the past month. On November 10th we will be taking a select number of student council students to Sioux City to help out with at the Support Siouxland Soldiers home base. While we are there we will help to serve food to our veterans for Veteran's day from 11:00 - 1:30 pm. We are excited to bring the students down to show them the impact that they have had on this organization in Siouxland.
Librarian's Corner
Book Bash is an annual event librarians from NWAEA came up with a few years ago for an alternative to the Battle of the Books that is held only in Marshalltown. Librarians from NWAEA pick the books, order them and give students the opportunity to form teams of 2-6 students from the high school. Students read these and then compete in competition over them in mid-spring. We have just received the list, so, please, spread the word to your readers that this is a fun way to read books, make new friends, and get out of school for a half day to test over what they know!
Instructional Coaches' Corner
I was happy as a parent to sign up for Remind (text messaging service used by many teachers) notices for my high school and middle school aged children at the beginning of the school year. Little did I know that one of our high school staff members found a clever way to remind/help students prepare for their assessments using this tool. One evening I noticed I was receiving a high number of text messages. Then a pattern began to emerge. I was receiving a question about something on the upcoming assessment every 10 minutes for 2 and 1/2 hours. When the fourth message read Are you annoyed yet? #scheduledremindnotices I could hardly contain my laughter. It was a great way for my son to check over what he needed to know one last time and for me to check in with him about the material on the assessment.Did you know that when you share a Google Doc it is possible to not reveal the entire document? Using an add-on called Docsecret you can highlight portions of text that you would like to have "greyed out" and others won't be able to see those sections when you share the document with them. I wonder if it could also be used when some teachers make notesheets for students to take in class. https://youtu.be/HMADQhYBz4o
Articles/Resources Worth Reading
Flipping Instructions for Struggling Learners
Mindset is Key to Dealing With Troublesome Students
Upcoming Events
Friday, October 30 7:30 pm Indoor Marching Band ConcertSaturday, October 31 Noon - 3A State Girls Cross Country @ Ft. Dodge
12:30 pm - 3A State Boys Cross Country @ Ft. Dodge
Tuesday, November 3 7:00 pm DLIIT meeting
Thursday, November 5 5:00 - 8:30 pm Parent/Teacher Conferences
Saturday, November 7 NWI HS Honor Band Auditions, Storm Lake
8:30 am MOC-FV Quiz Bowl
Monday, November 9 5:00 - 8:30 pm Parent/Teacher Conferences
Tuesday, November 10 7:00 pm CTE Advisory Committee
Thursday, November 12 7:00 pm Fall Play - Little Theater
Friday, November 13 7:00 pm Fall Play - Little Theater
Saturday, November 14 7:00 pm Fall Play - Little Theater
Be Extraordinary
Mark
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