April 8, 2016

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Happy Friday! I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend a workshop on John Maxwell's 21 Laws of Leadership on Tuesday presented by Cheryl and Mike Wells. This was a good refresher to remind me about why I wanted to become a principal. As a classroom teacher, you have a chance to impact the lives of the students you have in class. In administration, you have a chance to impact the lives of the entire school. At our first teacher meeting of the year you are reminded of all the legal and necessary information. I also take the time to go over the expectations. I do this for two reasons, one, so you are aware of what is expected and second, for you to hold me accountable to these expectations also. For us to truly make a difference and impact our students we need to be working toward the same goals.

In the last couple of years, we have been working on becoming a school that is more responsive rather than reactive. You may have heard the comparison between what we do as a school with a doctor doing a check up or a medical examiner doing an autopsy. If we are doing check ups, then we are using formative assessment data to guide our lesson planning and instruction. If we are doing the autopsy, we are just teaching the material and left wondering what happened to our patient after we have given the final test. If we truly believe that all students can learn and learn at high levels, then we cannot afford to do autopsies.

The tasks we have focused on is getting us to a position where we can diagnose student learning difficulties and then prescribe strategies to help them learn the material better. The next steps in our process is writing common assessments over the essential learnings. This will give you the data needed to do a "check up" on a student. This is where the PLC's fit in. The team can assist with strategies that may help the student or students. The team will also serve as a sounding board for you as you try new strategies. As you lesson plan, you will fit in MTSS or RTI supports to go along with the lessons. As we become more and more comfortable with this process, we will come closer to reaching our goal of seeing all students learn at high levels.

Just a couple reminders for next week:

Next Wednesday we have an extra-hour meeting at 7:00 am. This will be in your department PLC groups and you will work off the protocol.

Also next week, make sure you mark either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights down on your calendar to attend the spring play. This year our students are performing the play titled, The Election.

Have a great weekend!
Mark

Staff News

Congrats to Seniora Horan for being named April Employee of the Month by the Foundation. It is a well deserved honor.




Congrats to Mr. Borchers for being named the District Bowling Coach of the Year!

Staff as Leaders

Congrats to Mr. Hallberg, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Ohrlund, and Mr. Nagel on the great job their musicians did at the small group contest.

Mr. Dalton, Mr. Fischer, and Mr. Wichers are taking a group of students to the WITCC Skills Competition. Good luck to their students.

Students as Leaders

Congrats to the musicians who received the best of center award!

Band Students:
Sarah Benton - Horn Solo, Diana Loutsch - Flute Solo, and Dominic Loutsch - Timpani Solo.

Choir Students:
Madrigal B - Sarah Adams, Sarah Benton, Megan Connor, Kajsa Hallberg, Andrea Barrett, Amy Isebrand, Madisen Parker, Erica Urban, Jacob Burrell, Kyle Dunn, Dominic Loutsch, Max Hardyk, Noah Watson, and Caden Washburn.
Men's Triple Quartet:
Jacob Burrell, Kyle Dunn, Dominic Loutsch, Caden Washburn, Noah Watson, Cole Berkenpas, Jesus Diaz, Charlie Ellis, Alex Betsworth, Max Hardyk, and Colton Webner.

Orchestra Students:
Violin  - Dominic Loutsch, Kajsa Hallberg, Hannah McDougall, and Kitty Wattanakul.


Assistant Principal's Corner

The LCHS student council is sponsoring a dodge ball tournament on Sunday, April 10th starting at 2:00 pm in Carey Gym.  If you are looking for something to do this weekend, we can use help refereeing and would greatly appreciate it.

Student Council/Class Officer election sign-ups will begin on Monday, April 11th and run through Wednesday, April 20th.  We will vote electronically on Monday, April 25th for the results of our election.  If a student ask you to sign their form, please write under the comments area your recommendation for them and indicate if you believe they would do a good job or not.

Managing students in the classroom with Spring Fever:

1. Advocate against lax lesson plans - remember that the school year ends on the last scheduled day of class.  Try to maintain the honor of the profession by sticking to high standards as the end of the school year approaches.

2. Lost the bad attitude - we as adults can be infected with spring fever too.  Look at your own attitude and make sure that you remind yourself to not be snippy or impatient, stay centered and set a good example, no matter what mood your in.

3. Get outside - outdoor activities can happen when work is done and you should be planned and have a purpose for your time outside of school.

4. Keep reinforcing classroom rules and expectations - help your students understand classroom rules and expectations are still a priority - it is ok to revisit the rules at the beginning of the class and to clearly state the lesson expectations.

4. Be mindful and raise your awareness of why good weather causes bad behavior, and you can bring some sensitivity to the spring season in the classroom.

Librarian's Corner

Mr. Utesch and I attended the Iowa Association of Student Council Leader's conference Monday, April 4. Speaker Patrick Mauer presented a number of team builders, leadership activities, and motivating exercises. One that stuck out to me was a simple one involving a balloon. Here are the instructions:
  • Blow up balloon and twist (not tie) the end
  • Ask group to brainstorm activities/outcomes they hope to achieve -- or what they had planned to achieve during the year (or a specific time designated)
  • Write the brainstormed ideas on the balloon
  • Then deflate the balloon - point out that all the text remain
  • Discuss the difficulty it would be to write the same ideas on the deflated balloon. - "In order to accomplish the goals, we need to spend effort and energy planning and preparing so that each can be a success."  = A flat effort will not achieve great things!
This is a visual way for students, and, for us, to evaluate how much energy and effort we really put into our tasks. It's a great reminder that we need to keep applying ourselves to all of our goals and tasks, no matter the class or time of the year! Only 38 days left! Keep it inflated! 

Instructional Coaches Corner



Many teachers use YouTube in their classroom. If you weren't aware here are 26 keyboard shortcuts for YouTube that allow you to start/stop the video, jump around the video, sound options, and video options.

Last year Google announced a Reminders option in the Google calendar app for iOS and Android. Reminders are now coming as an option for the Google calendar on the web. Click here to read more.

Articles Worth Reading

The Secret of Effective Feedback
Depression in the Home Can Significantly Impact Kids' Grades
Kids Aren't Tired of Learning, They Are Tired of School

Upcoming Events

Friday, April 8
  • 5:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Track @ Cherokee
Saturday, April 9
  • ACT Testing
  • 4:30 pm FFA 75th Reunion Social
  • 6:00 pm FFA 75th Reunion Supper
Sunday, April 10
  • 2:00 pm Student Council Dodgeball Tournament
Monday, April 11
  • 4:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Tennis @ Cherokee
  • 4:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Cherokee
  • 5:00 pm Boys'/Girl's Varsity/JV Track - Shilling Invite
Tuesday, April 12
  • 4:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Golf @ Estherville
  • 4:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Golf @ Lake Creek Country Club, Storm Lake
Wednesday, April 13
  • 7:00 am Building In-service Meeting
Thursday, April 14
  • 4:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Spirit Lake
  • 4:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Tennis @ Spirit Lake
  • 4:30 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Track @ Sioux Center
  • 7:00 pm Spring Play
Friday, April 15
  • 7:00 pm Spring Play
Saturday, April 16
  • 8:00 am Boys' Varsity/JV Golf @ Spencer Country Club
  • 8:00 am Girls'/Boys' Varsity Track @ Sioux City Relays
  • 7:00 pm Spring Play
Monday, April 18
  • 4:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Spencer
  • 4:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Tennis @ Spencer
  • 4:30 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Track @ Sheldon
  • 5:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Track @ Unity Christian
  • 7:00 pm Music Boosters Meeting
Tuesday, April 19
  • 4:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Golf vs. Western Christian
  • 4:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Golf @ Western Christian @ The Ridge
  • 4:00 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Storm Lake
  • 4:00 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Tennis @ Storm Lake 
Wednesday, April 20
  • 1:30 pm Early Dismissal
  • 7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club Meeting
Thursday, April 21
  • 4:30 pm Girls' Varsity/JV Track @ Sergeant Bluff
  • 4:30 pm Boys' Varsity/JV Track @ Sheldon
Friday, April 22
  • Midterm
  • 7:00 pm Festival of Orchestras



Be Extraordinary!
Mark





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