November 13, 2015

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Happy Friday the Thirteenth! I hope everyone has had an excellent week. Now that we have had parent/teacher conferences, I hope you will take the time to reach out to the parents that were unable to make it. Especially those of students who are risk. These are the parents that we really need to reach to help make a difference in their children's education. Don't forget about PASS Plans. We should have these completed by December 4. After December 4, it will be difficult for a us and the parent to help the student succeed. Midterm for 2nd quarter is December 4, we will send out midterms on that date.

Our next building professional development meeting will be on November 24. This will be in your department PLC groups. It is important that we use this time to discuss the SMART goal you created on November 4 and what you have done to reach that SMART goal.

In the next couple of weeks Nicki and Barry will be starting their classroom presentations for registration. We will be registering current high school students on December 16 & 17 in the Library. We will follow the same method as previous years as having them schedule during study hall. We will be meeting with 8th grade parents on December 10 and 16, with those students scheduling then.

In our fall Plymouth County WITCC meeting this week, we found out they are going through another change as Katy Karrer is leaving the department. Her last day is November 30. At the meeting, they discussed the new requirement to teach the "transfer courses". The changes that will go in effect will be that those teachers must have their masters with at least 18 credit hours in the discipline teaching.

Next week the winter activities will be in full swing. Please remind your students about the make up work policy for school activities.

Have a Great Weekend!

Students as Leaders

Monday night, Keaton Koerelman, Cody Laughton, and Brandon Neyens presented to the School Board the results of this years FFA Test Plot. Thank you to Brett Oetken for helping the boys prep for the presentation. They did an excellent job and the Board was very impressed.

Congratulations to the cheerleaders and Coach Megan Mortiz on their 9th place finish at State Cheer this past Saturday.


Job well done goes out to our Student Council members and Advisers Nancy Isebrand and Neal Utesch for their work on the Support Siouxland Soldiers project. Student Council members delivered what we donated and presented them with a check. They also helped serve meals to Siouxland veterans.

Staff as Leaders

CTE Teachers: Brett Oetken, Paul Fischer, Bill Dalton, Joann Johnson, Rosemary Cronin, Joel Jentz, and Dave Irwin had their annual CTE Advisory Meeting on Tuesday night. At the advisory meeting they met with their committees to go over their courses, program of study, course demographics, and a whole bunch more info that we need to get from the group for Perkins. Thank you to these teachers for organizing their group's agenda and running these meetings.


Assistant Principal's Corner

As we know, cyber-bullying is not new, but in ways to deal with it, it can be confusing and challenging.  Regardless of whether or not a school district decides that is is appropriate and legal to discipline a cyberbully, there are important steps that can be taken to address the situation and to help the targets cope.

1. Have an educational discussion with the cyberbully and with cyber-bystanders - it will be important to point out that this is not discipline, but an educational discussion about the dangers of cyber-bullying.  Discussing legal problems the student may incur if they continue these behaviors and letting them know that adults are aware of the situation.
2. Immediately inform cyberbullies and cyber-bystanders about the consequences for bullying in school - it is important to note that most incidents can occur in school, so it is important to address the issue and follow through with consequences.
3. Be sure that a victim has a Safety & Comfort Plan - this should include a safe person and staff may be told to permit the student to see their safe person at anytime.  The philosophy behind this plan is to focus on the students sense of safety and comfort within the school building.
4. Inform all relevant adults - keeping all personal informed about situations is helpful so that all staff can help supervise students who may find themselves targeted.
5. Have a plan for less structured areas - this helps the victim feel safe and like they are never left alone.  Seats in common areas such as lunch room or buses should be reserved in advance near friends for those students being victimized.
6. Follow up with parents, especially parents of victims - if you witness a situation, please do not hesitate to call home and keep parents informed.

In my training this summer I developed a plan for student safety that will be implemented if we ever encounter a reported case of harassment or bullying.  This plan will involve many different aspects of staff who have the student who is being targeted and the one engaging in bullying behaviors.  This safety plan will encompass all aspect of the students day and will help to provide safety within the building as the allegations are investigated.  Once a finding is made in relation to the allegations, then a post safety plan will be developed and followed until a solution is created.  The most important thing you can do as staff is continue to shut down bad behavior and let students in the halls, outside, in classrooms, at sporting events, at music/band events, etc... that we expect responsible and respectful behavior from our students.

Congratulations to Mrs. Ohrlund and the students involved in the play, "Cooking can be Murder".  I was able to attend the play last night and it was excellent!  A great comedy for all and a fun evening to spend with family and friends.  If you get a chance, I highly encourage you to attend!

Happy Friday :)

Librarian's Corner  

Makerspaces are the rage now for libraries across the country. Why? They want to give students a chance to be creative in their thinking and to learn from failing. Self-evaluation is an important step in learning in any environment. Here is a link to a worksheet that you could possibly use in your classroom: notice the acronym for FAIL. https://sites.google.com/a/lemarscsd.org/lcs-libraries/useful-links/fail

Articles Worth Reading

The 7 C's of Meaningful Learning Begin with Citizenship
6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2015
7 Tips for Getting Started with Video in your Classroom

Video Worth Watching

Collaborative Digital Presentations Enrich Projects


Up Coming Events

Friday, November 13             7:00 pm Fall Play - Little Theater

Saturday, November 14         7:00 pm Fall Play - Little Theater

Monday, November 16          7:00 pm Music Booster Meeting
                                               11:40 am Winter Sportsmanship Meeting

Wednesday, November 18     7:00 pm Athletic Booster Meeting
                                                Opus Honor Choir

Thursday, November 19         All-State Music Festival
                                                Opus Honor Choir

Friday, November 20              All-State Music Festival
                                                6:00 pm Girls Freshmen/JV Basketball @ Okoboji (Hall of Pride                                                                     Scrimmage)
                                                7:45 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Okoboji (Hall of Pride Scrimmage)

Saturday, November 21         All-State Music Festival


Monday, November 23          3:30 pm B/G Bowling vs. Sioux Central
                                               6:00 pm Career & College Planing Night
                                               7:15 pm Financial Aid Night
                                               7:30 pm School Board meeting

Tuesday, November 24          1 hour early out
                                                6:00 pm Girls JV Basketball vs. Hinton
                                                7:30 pm Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Hinton



Be Extraordinary!
Mark


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