January 29, 2016
We will only be successful if we do this together and not in isolated classrooms. It is important that you hold each other accountable for this effort. We are a little over 2 months away from Iowa Assessments, so we really need to make a push now.
I also want to remind you to make use of our model teachers. Keep in mind, when you are observing you are not going for the classroom content, but the how they teach their content. Good teaching strategies can be adapted to any content. All three of our models do an excellent job of mixing up their lessons and keep the students moving. They also use APL strategies effectively. So far this year, we haven't had any high school teachers observe any models. This is a little disheartening to me that we can't take the time to check out what our peers are doing and how can we use it in our class. If you want to observe a model, please let me know and either Mr. Utesch or myself will be happy to sub for you. The only way I would have to use another teacher to cover is if we had more than 2 people who want to observe at one time.
Staff as Leaders
CIA members, Doug Martin, Judy Zeka, Adam Moss, Rhonda Beach, Sherri Permeswarn, and Colleen Bortscheller will be attending a workshop on the RTI process on Feb. 4 & 5 in Sioux City.Students as Leaders
Congrats to all the students and coaches on the Large Group Speech team. They qualified 23 entries for State Large Group Speech, which we host on Feb. 6Congrats to the LCHS Jazz Band for their performance at State Jazz Band Wednesday evening. They earned all Division 1 ratings!
Good luck to the wrestling team as they compete at the Lakes Conference Meet today.
Good luck to Crimson and Black as they compete at the state show choir contest Monday in Sioux Center.
Assistant Principal's Corner
A safe and supportive school climate can help prevent bullying. Safety starts in the classroom. Students should also feel and be safe everywhere on campus - in the cafeteria, in the library, in the rest rooms, on the bus, and in the parking lot. Everyone of us can work together to create a climate where bullying is not acceptable.1. Create a culture of inclusion and respect that welcomes all students. Reward students when they show thoughtfulness and respect for peers, adults, and the school.
2. Make sure students interact safely. Monitor bullying "hot spots" in and around the building. Be aware of your duty schedule and make sure that you are showing up for your duty to help prevent bad behaviors from occurring.
3. Enlist the help of all school staff. All staff can keep an eye out for bullying and can step in to correct behaviors that are not acceptable. You do not need to just send them to the office, teach them on the spot about correct behaviors and respect for others as well as the school.
4. Set a tone of respect in the classroom. This means managing student behavior in the classroom well. Well-managed classrooms are the least likely to have bullying. Enforce the rules and let them know the expectations!
Librarian's Corner
Social media in the classroom has been the discussion in my "corner" all month. Here is a short video from a teacher in Johnston, IA, who has students text what they know so the messages pop up on the screen. A great way to do a "ticket" out the door and immediate assessment. The video is less than 2 minutes, so give it a quick glimpse! This video ties in completely what Tracy mentions in the instructional coaches corner (and really, we didn't collaborate -- this time!) Texting in the classroomSpeaking of collaboration with Tracy, we worked together to write a grant proposal for 3D printers. I received the email Friday confirming that we will be receiving 5 3D printers! They are the Cube2. They will be arriving shortly, and while we are not sure where we will set them up, be thinking about how you could possibly have students use these in your curriculum. Cartridges are rather expensive, but that doesn't mean we will not encourage students and teachers to use them. Cube2 printer
Have a great weekend. Nancy
Instructional Coaches Corner
Create video based polls using Clip Choose--You are able to select from 2 up to 8 videos and then have your students select a video based on your prompt regarding those videos.Use AnswerGarden to create a word cloud. It is available to use on your computer and there is also an ipad app for it. AnswerGarden is designed as a 20 - 40 character response to a short question. Answers are recorded anonymously. The teacher does have the option to either allow all answers to be displayed immediately as they are received or can select which answers are accepted and which are rejected. If a student hovers over an answer he/she can see how many people responded with that answer.
Studystack is an interesting "flash card" type site. It allows you to input your information to create study cards for your students. The interesting part is that once you have the data entered, it allows your information to now be used in other study methods such as matching, hangman, crosswords, or studytables.
If any of you collect data through Google Forms and would like to see your data in a Google Doc versus a Google Sheet, I might be able to help. Mark Walz and I wrote a script this week to do just that. We might have to do some modifications to make it look like you want but it appears that might now be a possibility for you!
If you have any tech PD requests OR you would like assistance in your classroom for an activity OR you are interested in writing a tech grant and would like some assistance OR want to bounce a tech idea off of me OR some other instance that I can help you do what you do just send me an email and we'll get together ASAP!
Tracy
Articles Worth Reading
5 Tips for Creating Real Rapport with Your Students
Nurturing Intrinsic Motivation and Growth Mindset in Writing
22 Powerful Closure Activities
Upcoming Events
Friday, January 29 4:45 pm Girls JV Basketball vs. ELC4:45 pm Boys JV Basketball vs. ELC
5:00 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ Lakes Conference Meet Spencer
6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball vs. ELC
7:45 pm Boys Varsity Basketball vs. ELC
Saturday, January 30 9:30 am Girls Freshmen Basketball @ Sheldon
10:00 am Varsity/JV Bowling - Le Mars Invite
10:45 am Boys Freshmen Basketball @ Sheldon
7:30 pm Show Choir Clinic Performance @ MS Auditorium
Monday, February 1 3:30 pm Varsity/JV Bowling vs. OA-BCIG and West Sioux
6:00 pm Girls JV Basketball vs. Heelan
6:30 pm Girls Freshmen Basketball @ Spencer
7:30 pm Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Heelan
7:45 pm Boys Freshmen Basketball @ Spencer
9:15 pm State Show Choir Contest @ Sioux Center
Tuesday, February 2 4:45 pm Girls JV Basketball @ Storm Lake
4:45 pm Boys JV Basketball @ Storm Lake
6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Storm Lake
7:45 pm Boys Varsity Basketball @ Storm Lake
Thursday, February 4 6:00 pm Boys Varsity Wrestling vs SC. North
Friday, February 5 11:30 am Morningside Jazz Festival
4:45 pm Girls JV Basketball @ Spirit Lake
4:45 pm Boys JV Basketball @ Spirit Lake
6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Spirit Lake
7:45 pm Boys Varsity Basketball @ Spirit Lake
Saturday, February 6 8:00 am State Large Group Speech in Le Mars
6:30 pm Boys Varsity Basketball vs. SBL @ Sioux Falls Pentagon
Be Extraordinary,
Mark
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