September 14, 2018
Happy Friday! It is a little weird to have a Friday in September with no high school football game tonight. Next week is homecoming, please remain patient with the students this week as they will have lots of distractions. We want to continue to push the students and keep increasing our expectations from them. Midterm is quickly approaching. It is on September 24, so grades will be due at 8:30 that morning. You should start to have a feel for if a student is going to be at risk of failing your class. Please do not wait until 2nd quarter to do PASS Plans. Send me an invite and I will try to make it to the meeting this year.
Thank you to the departments that have uploaded their PLC meeting forms. I have posted comments to some of them where there were questions or other comments that caught my attention. Please take the time to go back and see if I left any for your department. If you want me to come to your PLC meeting, please let me know. I like to leave this agenda up to you so your department can discuss strategies and student learning. Basically, everything you have been working on in PD comes down to these two aspects.
Tonight is the T and I Booster Club supper at the T and I building. They also have several items you can bid on and raffle tickets they are selling for a chance to win a TV.
Have a great weekend! And I'll see you all on Monday with your mismatch clothes.
Mark
Thank you to the departments that have uploaded their PLC meeting forms. I have posted comments to some of them where there were questions or other comments that caught my attention. Please take the time to go back and see if I left any for your department. If you want me to come to your PLC meeting, please let me know. I like to leave this agenda up to you so your department can discuss strategies and student learning. Basically, everything you have been working on in PD comes down to these two aspects.
Tonight is the T and I Booster Club supper at the T and I building. They also have several items you can bid on and raffle tickets they are selling for a chance to win a TV.
Have a great weekend! And I'll see you all on Monday with your mismatch clothes.
Mark
Students as Leaders
Mrs. Ohrlund is taking members of our set crew to Des Moines for a workshop. Students attending are: Michael Brennan, Xander Carver, Emma Jacobs, Brooke Loutsch, and Kylee Renken.Staff News
This past Monday, Sherri Permeswaran celebrated a birthday.
This past Wednesday, Susan Reed celebrated a birthday.
This coming Monday, Julie Theisen will be celebrating a birthday.
Happy Birthday to all three of you!
This past Wednesday, Susan Reed celebrated a birthday.
This coming Monday, Julie Theisen will be celebrating a birthday.
Happy Birthday to all three of you!
Assistant Principal's Happenings
"Bulldogs Got Game" is the theme for this year's Homecoming. We will play Storm Lake on September 21st with the homecoming dance to follow. Spirit Week Days are as follows: Monday - Scrabble (mismatch), Tuesday - Life (career/college choice), Wednesday - Battle Royale (class colors: 12th - black; 11th - blue; 10th - green; 9th - pink; teachers/administrators - purple or red; support staff - yellow or red); Thursday - Cranium (nerd), Friday - Checkers/Spirit Day. Battle Royale Wednesday will also include a challenge for all grade levels. We will be asking students to donate a new pair of socks for the Sioux City Gospel Mission. Donations will be accepted in 1st-period classrooms Monday through Wednesday the week of Homecoming. A tally of participation by class level's and the number of socks donated during the week will bring bragging rights to the class that does the most!
Reminder to sign up to help out with Homecoming the week of September 17th - 21st. Sign up sheet is in the teacher's lounge and signatures are due on September 14th.
Reminder to sign up to help out with Homecoming the week of September 17th - 21st. Sign up sheet is in the teacher's lounge and signatures are due on September 14th.
Librarian's News
Instructional Coaches Technology Tid Bits
This review by Matt Miller compares Kahoot, Quizizz, Quizlet Live and Gimkit (a new player to the game). He gives a summary of each and then lists out the pros and cons of each. The interesting thing abou Gimkit (besides that it isn't completely free) is that students cumulatively collect points that let them buy powerups (like they do in their regular video game experiences). I think Matt does a nice job comparing these different platforms.
This gamified approach to the first day syllabus information sharing by John Meehan might be a little daring for some. It is definitely a way to have students involved early and put an end to reading the class rules to everyone.
If you haven't had a chance to check out Flipgrid yet today is your lucky day. Here is a 5 minute read about how to set it up and use it. Flipgrid is growing in popularity quickly. In fact, a school district near ours actually has an administrator sharing feedback using Flipgrid.
GMAIL TWO-STEP VERIFICATION: LESS THAN 10% OF GOOGLE USERS HAVE ITS MOST IMPORTANT SECURITY FEATURE ENABLED--This article from January 2018 is definitely worth your time. It not only speaks briefly about what it is and why you should all be doing it but it contains this link in the article to set it up for your account as well. This is one way to make it more difficult for someone to hack your account.
The purpose for (or focus of) reading can be either efferent or aesthetic. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but the stance a reader takes toward a text influences the experience that reader has while reading. While texts can be read from either stance, to realize the potential of the text, readers should be given the opportunity to read from an aesthetic stance in order to create meaning and to make connections. In other words, reading first for the experience and having the opportunity to connect only deepens the student's background knowledge and ability to understand. THEN the referential elements (the metaphors, the structure, the vocabulary) have an anchor for understanding.
It made me really step back and look at how often I have had students read something only to answer a question or find a particular element without allowing the time for them to interact with or respond to the words on the page - to find meaning in the text. Am I teaching my students that the only reason to read is to look up a vocabulary word or answer a question? Are we missing the excitement that IS literature, or history, or science, or child development, or... And, since we always have to think about reading scores, what would shifting the focus a tiny bit from skimming through to answer a question, to reading to share meaning and respond with (to) others BEFORE we skim through to answer a question, do to our reading scores?? It's fascinating to consider!
This gamified approach to the first day syllabus information sharing by John Meehan might be a little daring for some. It is definitely a way to have students involved early and put an end to reading the class rules to everyone.
If you haven't had a chance to check out Flipgrid yet today is your lucky day. Here is a 5 minute read about how to set it up and use it. Flipgrid is growing in popularity quickly. In fact, a school district near ours actually has an administrator sharing feedback using Flipgrid.
GMAIL TWO-STEP VERIFICATION: LESS THAN 10% OF GOOGLE USERS HAVE ITS MOST IMPORTANT SECURITY FEATURE ENABLED--This article from January 2018 is definitely worth your time. It not only speaks briefly about what it is and why you should all be doing it but it contains this link in the article to set it up for your account as well. This is one way to make it more difficult for someone to hack your account.
Success Center Update
I read an interesting article this week on response-based instruction. Basically, the idea is that meaning is co-constructed by the reader and the text. In other words, a text is simply inert words until the reader brings knowledge, prior thoughts, and opinions to the page and interacts with the text to create meaning. (It's because of this transaction that we can all read the same piece of text and get very different interpretations.)The purpose for (or focus of) reading can be either efferent or aesthetic. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but the stance a reader takes toward a text influences the experience that reader has while reading. While texts can be read from either stance, to realize the potential of the text, readers should be given the opportunity to read from an aesthetic stance in order to create meaning and to make connections. In other words, reading first for the experience and having the opportunity to connect only deepens the student's background knowledge and ability to understand. THEN the referential elements (the metaphors, the structure, the vocabulary) have an anchor for understanding.
It made me really step back and look at how often I have had students read something only to answer a question or find a particular element without allowing the time for them to interact with or respond to the words on the page - to find meaning in the text. Am I teaching my students that the only reason to read is to look up a vocabulary word or answer a question? Are we missing the excitement that IS literature, or history, or science, or child development, or... And, since we always have to think about reading scores, what would shifting the focus a tiny bit from skimming through to answer a question, to reading to share meaning and respond with (to) others BEFORE we skim through to answer a question, do to our reading scores?? It's fascinating to consider!
Articles Worth Reading
Why Students Forget
Let's Switch Questioning Around
Let's Switch Questioning Around
Website Worth Bookmarking
ACT Academy: Free Resources for teachersUpcoming Activities
Friday, September 14
5:00-7:30 pm T and I Booster Club Supper
Saturday, September 15
9:00 am JV Volleyball @ Unity Christian Tournament
Monday, September 17
4:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Unity Christian Tournament
5:00 pm Freshmen Football @ Storm Lake
6:30 pm JV Football @ Storm Lake
Tuesday, September 18
4:30 pm Boy/Girl Cross Country @ Northwest Iowa Community College
5:30 pm Freshmen/JV Volleyball vs. Spencer
6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball vs. Spencer
Thursday, September 20
5:30 pm Freshmen/JV Volleyball @ Western Christian
6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Western Christian
Friday, September 21
1:00 pm Homecoming Coronation and Pep Rally
2:15 pm Homecoming Parade
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. Storm Lake
9:00 pm Homecoming Dance
Saturday, September 22
8:30 am JV Volleyball @ Western Christian Tournament
9:00 am Varsity Volleyball @ Unity Christian Tournament
Monday, September 24
5:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Hinton
6:15 pm JV Football @ Sioux Center
7:00 pm JV Volleyball @ Hinton
Tuesday, September 25
5:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball vs. Heelan
6:50 pm JV Volleyball vs. Heelan
Thursday, September 27
4:30 pm Boy/Girl Cross Country @ Covington Links Golf Course @ SSC
Friday, September 28
4:00 pm Freshmen Football @ SBL
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ SBL
Saturday, September 29
Starfest Marching Band Contest @ SC
8:00 am Varsity Volleyball @ Urbandale Tournament
Monday, October 1
4:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Western Christian Tournament
5:00 - 8:30 pm Parent Teacher Conferences
6:30 pm JV Football vs. MOC-Floyd Valley
Tuesday, October 2
4:30 pm Boy Cross Country @ Cherokee
5:30 pm JV/Freshmen Volleyball @ Spirit Lake
6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Spirit Lake
Thursday, October 4
4:45 pm Girl Cross Country @ Fort Dodge
5:00 - 8:30 pm Parent Teacher Conferences
5:30 pm JV/Freshmen Volleyball @ Cherokee
6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Cherokee
Friday, October 5
4:00 pm Freshmen Football vs. Heelan
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. Heelan
Friday, September 21
1:00 pm Homecoming Coronation and Pep Rally
2:15 pm Homecoming Parade
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. Storm Lake
9:00 pm Homecoming Dance
Saturday, September 22
8:30 am JV Volleyball @ Western Christian Tournament
9:00 am Varsity Volleyball @ Unity Christian Tournament
Monday, September 24
5:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Hinton
6:15 pm JV Football @ Sioux Center
7:00 pm JV Volleyball @ Hinton
Tuesday, September 25
5:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball vs. Heelan
6:50 pm JV Volleyball vs. Heelan
Thursday, September 27
4:30 pm Boy/Girl Cross Country @ Covington Links Golf Course @ SSC
Friday, September 28
4:00 pm Freshmen Football @ SBL
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ SBL
Saturday, September 29
Starfest Marching Band Contest @ SC
8:00 am Varsity Volleyball @ Urbandale Tournament
Monday, October 1
4:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Western Christian Tournament
5:00 - 8:30 pm Parent Teacher Conferences
6:30 pm JV Football vs. MOC-Floyd Valley
Tuesday, October 2
4:30 pm Boy Cross Country @ Cherokee
5:30 pm JV/Freshmen Volleyball @ Spirit Lake
6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Spirit Lake
Thursday, October 4
4:45 pm Girl Cross Country @ Fort Dodge
5:00 - 8:30 pm Parent Teacher Conferences
5:30 pm JV/Freshmen Volleyball @ Cherokee
6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Cherokee
Friday, October 5
4:00 pm Freshmen Football vs. Heelan
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. Heelan
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