February 19, 2016
Midterms went out yesterday. This would be an excellent time to contact at-risk parents and hold a PASS Plan. It also would be a good time to talk to parents of students who have shown improvement and let them hear good news also.
Wednesday next week we have our extra-hour building meeting. This time you will meet in your mixed groups and use the same protocol as before. Make sure you bring data from your strategy to share with your group. Give your group members a little time to look at your data and then ask questions you may have or answer questions they may have.
During advisory this week, WIT will be meeting with the students that signed up for the CNA classes for next year. They need to have an orientation meeting to give them the required paper work and supply list. This will only take away 13 students. We will still do the week 6 reflection this Monday also.
Our last STAR Assessment will be given during the week of March 7. We will meet on March 23 to go over that data and to start our final SMART goal before Iowa Assessments.
I will be out of the building for most of the day today, if you need something fast, please talk to Neal.
On a final note, I have been asked about the when the last day of school will be. As of right now, nothing is official and may change if we have more days we miss. If we have no more missed days, the plan is to recommend to the board to have June 2 be the last day of school with kids and June 3 the teacher checkout day. The board does have the option to have us go until June 6 with kids and June 7 as the checkout. So, please don't be planning on early June vacations right now.
Have a great weekend,
Mark
Staff News
Neal Utesch will be attending the IGNITE 16 Conference. He will be leaving Wednesday and will get back on Sunday.Staff as Leaders
Tracy Wingert, Nancy Isebrand, and myself will be traveling to Harrisburg to look at their Makerspace. This is something we are looking at setting up in the library. If you don't know what a Makerspace is it is a place where students can learn through inquiry. Depending on what is available, it could be coding, designing, learning how different technologies work, etc. There really is no limit on what we can do with this. This would be something that would be available for students during their free time.Students as Leaders
Congratulations to Donny Allaway for a great senior season.
Congrats to the Jazz Band for qualifying for the Iowa Jazz Championships held in Des Moines.
Congrats to Team 9967 on qualifying for the state tournament in Iowa City.
Congrats and good luck to the bowling teams as they qualified for state on Monday!
Good luck to the Lady Bulldogs basketball team as they play Spencer in the next round of the playoffs on Saturday at Spencer.
Good luck the Bulldog basketball team as they play MOC-FV in the first round of districts on Monday at MOC-FV.
Good luck to the Large Group Speech groups performing at the state festival on Saturday in Ames.
Assistant Principal's Corner
Reminder that the annual SWINTER dance is tonight. It is in Carey Gym from 8-11 pm. This is a great opportunity for your students to see you in a fun setting and for you to get to know them outside the classroom. The first 100 guest will get a free "glow necklace". Please consider coming to the dance to help out.As an educator in our district it is important to remember how your leadership can directly affect the culture of our school and the attitude of our students. Becoming involved in your students lives outside the classroom whether it be at a concert, athletic event, drama event, or even a school dance, can have a positive impact on the students. As stated in an article that I read concerning improvement of student' relationships with teachers, the authors, Sara Rimm-Kaufmanj and Lia Sandilos, state, "Improving students' relationships with teachers has important, positive and long-lasting implications for both students' academic and social development. Solely improving students' relationships with their teachers will not produce gains in achievement; however, those students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with their teachers will attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflict in their relationships". With this in mind, I encourage you to be involved as much as you can with your students outside the classroom setting and to show up to events that are important to them.
Articles of Interest:
1. How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways
www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students
2. The Importance of Educators Involvement in Extracurricular Activities (This is a blog entry with good points)
mostateteachers.typepad.com/missouri_state_teachers_a/2011/06/
3. Motivating Students - SERC
serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/motivation.html
Instructional Coaches' Corner
Are you someone that uses Microsoft product's keyboard shortcut keys? Did you know that Gmail has keyboard shortcut keys as well?SimpleUndoClose is a Google Extension that I am liking more and more. When enabled it allows you to quickly reopen tabs that you have recently closed. Try it. I think you will like it.
Attachment Icons for Gmail is another Google Extension that I am really enjoying. When you open your gmail and someone has sent you an attachment you currently see a paperclip icon. When this extension is installed and enabled it allows you to see an icon that allows you to know what kind of file has been attached to the email. For example, a PDF file would have the Adobe PDF image versus a paperclip.
Did you know that Google rolled out updates to Google Forms last week? Here are 4 of the updates that you might find useful: templates, add-ons, track survey progress and send reminders to those who haven't completed the forms, receive email notifications and status updates.
The Timer app by timer-tab.com allows you to have a stopwatch, an alarm clock, or a countdown timer. What I really enjoy about this timer is when time is up, it allows you to select a youtube video that you would like to use as your audio notification.
The Brightbytes Survey is open! Please take the time to fill it out and share your views as a high school teacher. Also, if you have children in the school district you are asked to fill it out for each building your children attend.
Don't forget the Technology Applications (if you are applying) are due March 25 to Dr. Wendt's office. If you would like some assistance or just want to bounce an idea off of me send me an email and we'll get together ASAP!
Tracy
Articles Worth Reading
Paper vs. Computer TestWhy Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn
Upcoming Events
Friday, February 19 8:00 pm SWINTERSaturday, February 20 8:00 am All State Speech Festival - Ames
7:00 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Spencer
Monday, February 22 State Bowling @ Plaza Lanes Des Moines
Lewis and Clark Jazz Festival - Sioux City
7:00 pm Music Boosters Meeting
8:00 pm Boys Varsity Basketball Districts @ MOC
Tuesday, February 23 7:00 pm Girls Varsity Basketball TBA
Wednesday, February 24 7:00 pm Athletic Boosters Meeting
7:30 Choir Concert @ MS Auditorium
Friday, February 26 6:00 pm Dance Exhibition
Saturday, February 27 8:00 am District IE Speech
Crimson and Black @ Bishop Heelan Show Choir Invite
Tuesday, March 1 7:30 pm Orchestra Concert
Thursday, March 3 Dance Team All Iowa
Be Extraordinary!
Mark
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