March 18, 2016

Happy Friday! It it the last day of the 3rd quarter. Reminder that grades will be due on Monday at 8:30, so Beth and Amy can run report cards and we can send them out before break. If you have a senior fail, please let myself and the guidance office know so we can check their graduation status.

We do have a building meeting next Wednesday at 7:00 am. We will meet in the library and will go over the data from the STAR assessment given this week. This will be our final push to the Iowa Assessments that will be given April 12-15. We will use the assessment schedule in the student handbook. The reading test will be given on the 12th, math on the 13th, and science on the 14th. The students will take the test in their advisory rooms.

I will be meeting with the Juniors during advisory on April 4 to go over our local assessments and to let them know who is in the random sample. The social studies and health tests will be on April 26, with the other tests on April 27.

If you are looking for something to do for supper tonight, come out to the Music Boosters spaghetti supper. It runs from 5:00-7:00 pm. As long as you are at it, you can bid on some very nice items. Bidding closes at 7:15.

STAFF NEWS

Congratulations to Mr. Johnson for being named AD of the Year by the ICCA (Iowa Cheer Coaches Association). He will be honored at their spring meeting in April.

STUDENTS AS LEADERS

Good Luck to Kelli Susemihl at the district National History Day competition at Sioux City AEA on March 23!

Congratulations to the 11 students from our IE Speech team named to the All-State team. They are Shannon Robins, Max Hardyk, Cole Berkenpas, Charlie Ellis, Caitlyn Niehus, Caden Washburn, Jeff Ahlers, Maria Renken, Madelyn Johnson, Diana Loutsch, and Megan Connor.

The following students will be going with Mr. Dalton to the Wayne State tech competition on March 23: Colton Webner, Luke Sudtelgte, Konner Koerselman, Keaton Candor, Jacob Beyer, Brady Ouradnick, and Justin Tyler. Good luck to them at the competition.

Crimson and Black have their last performance of the year on Saturday in Hinton. Good luck to them and Mr. Ewing!

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S CORNER

Reminder that it is that time of year when the weather is getting nice and the students are getting harder to reach.  Tempers are short and excuses are plentiful.  Please be patient with the students as they work toward a successful ending to the school year.  Communicate with parents, call them to get updates, meet with them about concerns, and e-mail them with quick questions.  The more you communicate now, the better success for your students at the end.  Discipline tends to peak about this time of year, so please be consistent and fair with the students in your room and when it is necessary or a situation is too difficult, then ask for help.  Enjoy your 4th quarter!

Successful co-teaching occurs when two or more professionals jointly deliver substantive instruction to a diverse, or blended, group or students in a single physical space.  This assignment should not be viewed as an opportunity to divide the labor, but a chance to work together in an effort to meet the needs of every child in the classroom.  It is important to remember that a successful collaboration can be achieved through mutual respect, understanding the curriculum, communication, and co-planning.  It is important to make time each week to sit down with your co-teacher to plan the week so that each instructor is on board with the expectations for students, so that accommodations can be pinpointed and dealt with proper to instruction, and alternate plans can be designed in the event that the lesson proves too difficult for all the students.

Successful collaboration commands both the general educator and special educator:

1. Believe all students can learn
2. Embrace a collaborative classroom approach
3. Are trained in or study the effective models of co-teaching
4. Implement the models with integrity and creativity
5. Are supported by administration
6. Collaborate during a common lesson-planning time
7. Build rapport and communicate with parents

Some common myths of co-teaching are:

1. The special education teacher is only responsible for classified students.
2. The workload is cut in half for the co-teachers, putting them at an advantage over their colleagues.
3. Lesson plans are created by only one teacher.
4. Non-classified students suffer since the content is "watered down" for the whole class.
5. It is a TREND!

Information on co-teaching can be found at the following link:

http://www.njea.org/news-and-publications/near-review/March-2012/co-teaching-strategies-for-successful-collaboration

LIBRARIAN'S CORNER

We have many students excited about reading and love to have the latest books as they are published. I try to keep up with ordering them, but if there is a book or series you think we should have, please let me know. This is true for fiction and nonfiction.

Need some new ways to provide test review? Here are a few game show style tools available online. Flipquiz uses the Jeopardy format and is completely free. There is a pro/paid level at a coast of $70/year if you want to upgrade to scoring options and share "boards" with other teachers who use Flipquiz. FLIPPITY is the other one that works with Google Spreadsheets. Options include flashcards, certificates, gameshow boards and more. It provides a template as well as step-by-step instructions.

Here is an interesting blog on why video games keep players engaged and how that can be applied to teaching: What can Video Games Teach us?

INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES' CORNER

Choice Eliminator 2 is an interesting Add-On for Google Forms. It eliminates options from a multiple choice, list, or checkbox type of question. I haven't had an opportunity to test this add-on yet to see if it is error free. There are some reports in the review section that say since the change to the new Google Forms there might be a glitch or two. This Add-On is one to keep an eye on. It has potential (for instance signing up for time slots or selecting a topic for a presentation).

Google Docs recently added an outline tool. See a brief video about it here.

The due date for Technology applications is almost here! They are due in Dr. Wendt's office by Friday, March 25 (the Friday of  Spring Break). 

Videos Worth Watching

Making Learning Personalized and Customized

Collaborative Lesson Planning

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, March 18 - 5:00 - 7:00 pm Music Boosters Spaghetti Supper

Saturday, March 19 - Hinton Show Choir Competition

Tuesday, March 22 - Boys and Girls Track @ The University of South Dakota
                                  6:30 pm NHS Induction Ceremony

Saturday, March 26 - 11:30 am Boys Track @ The University of South Dakota

Monday, March 28 - Boys and Girls Track @ The University of South Dakota

Thursday, March 31 - Boys and Girls Track @ Unity Christian

Saturday, April 2 - State Solo/Small Ensemble Contest

Monday, April 4 - All State IE Speech Festival @ Cedar Falls
                              4:00 pm Boys JV/Varsity Tennis vs. S.C. East

                           

Be extraordinary!
Mark