January 11, 2019

Happy Friday and last day of Semester 1! Thank you for all you dedication and work with our students. Here are just a few updates. Grades will be due on Monday morning at 8:30. I will also need any PASS plan summaries for students that did not pass your class. Any student that did not pass a class and doesn't have a PASS plan is given an incomplete and a deadline to make up missing work or retake tests. Also, just because the semester is over, doesn't mean you can't let a student retake a test. If you do this, let Mr. Utesch or myself know the new semester grade so we can enter it into historical grades. 

The sample tests are available on the ISASP website. This is the assessment that is replacing the Iowa Assessments. During the January 23rd meeting and February 6 meeting I would like you to take the practice assessments so you can see what the students will have to do. After you do this, you may want to schedule a time for the students to take the sample test. There is definitely a learning curve to the test. The test can be found here: http://iowa.pearsonaccessnext.com/test-prep/

During Advisory on Monday, students will need to complete the goal reflection sheet for semester 1 and create goals for semester 2. These forms should have been in your mailbox this week.  On 1/21 during advisory, Mrs. Isebrand and the prom committee will meet with all Juniors. More info to come on this.

Judd and Melissa are working on getting all the students registered for classes and then cleaning up some of the request. Once those are done, I'll schedule department meetings to go over numbers and class sections. 

Have a great weekend!
Mark

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Book Nook - notes from the Librarian

Catalogs are starting to arrive in our mailboxes, so it's time to start thinking about requisitions for the next school year. If there are books/materials you would like to have in the library for student use, please let me know titles (and the ISBN if possible) so I can add them to my orders. I also order books throughout the year, mainly to complete series or upon student request, so please remind your students to let me know if they think there is a title we should have. 

PROM notes - Prom is April 27. If you have seniors in your advisory, please make sure they have voted for the theme by the end of the day on Monday. The Google form will have been sent via email. For whatever reason, sometimes everyone in the Class of .... group does not receive the email (even if they are in there), so if you have a student that did not get the email, please have another student forward theirs to them. 

Instructional Coach's Technology Tid Bits

I was recently introduced to another way to remove backgrounds from photographs: Photoscissors online. My experience with it so far is that it was rather user friendly and did a decent job. It did require me to upload my image though.

If you are someone who like to know what "Big Brother" is up to, then this article is for you: How Google Tracks Your Personal Information.

I don't know about anyone else but I was recently targeted with this attack: Widespread Apple ID Phishing Attack Pretends to be App Store Receipts. I can fortunately report I did not fall victim to it.

Soon, people without Google accounts will be able to view, comment, suggest edits to, and directly edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files. Google is introducing a beta for an easy pincode identity verification process that will enable G Suite users to invite non-G Suite users to collaborate on files as visitors, using PINs (Personal Identification Numbers). Click here to read more.

Finally, this article titled, I Gave a Bounty Hunter $300. Then He Located Our Phone, is about how the phone companies (T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T) are selling access to their customers’ location data, and that data is ending up in the hands of bounty hunters and others not authorized to possess it, letting them track most phones in the country. It is interesting and frustrating and terrifying all at once.

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Upcoming Activities

Friday, January 11

4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Western
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Western
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Western

Saturday, January 12
Robotics League Tournament @ WITCC Sioux City
9:00 am Girl Freshmen Basketball @ Sioux City East
10:00 am JV/Varsity Wrestling Home Tournament
10:15 am Boy Freshmen Basketball vs. Sioux City East (A and B games)

Monday, January 14
NWI HS Honor Choir - Dordt
5:00 pm JV Wrestling @ Storm Lake
6:00 pm Girl Freshmen Basketball @ Western Christian
7:15 pm Boy Freshmen Basketball @ Western Christian

Tuesday, January 15
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ Spencer
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ Spencer
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball @ Spencer

Thursday, January 17
4:00 pm Varsity/JV Bowling @ Hawarden
6:00 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. Sheldon
6:00 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ ELC

Friday, January 18
Iowa Lake Jazz Festival
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Cherokee
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Cherokee
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Cherokee
9:00 pm Swinter Dance

Saturday, January 19
TBD - Varsity/JV Wrestling @ Heelan Duals
8:00 am IHSSA IE Speech @ Sheldon
9:00 am Girl Freshmen Basketball @ SBL
10:15 am Boy Freshmen Basketball @ SBL

Monday, January 21
State Jazz Band
3:30 pm Varisty/JV Bowling vs. SBL
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ ELC
6:00 pm Girl Freshmen Basketball vs. Storm Lake
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ ELC
7:15 pm Boy Freshmen Basketball vs. Storm Lake
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball @ ELC

Tuesday, January 22
6:00 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ Woodbury Central

Thursday, January 24
NWI MS/HS Honor Orchestra Festival @ Dordt
6:00 pm Girl Freshmen Basketball vs. Sioux City East
6:00 pm Boy Freshmen Basketball "B" game vs. Sioux City East - Carey Gym
7:30 pm Boy Freshmen Basketball "A" game vs. Sioux City East

Friday, January 25
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Sioux City North
5:00 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ Spencer
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City North
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City North

Saturday, January 26
9:00 am Boy Freshmen Basketball @ Storm Lake
9:30 am JV Wrestling @ Kingsley-Pierson
10:00 am Girl Freshmen Basketball @ Storm Lake
10:00 am Varsity/JV Bowling Le Mars Invite
12:00 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Sioux City East
1:30 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City East
3:15 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City East

Monday, January 28

State Show/Jazz Choir Contest
3:30 pm Varsity/JV Bowling @ Ida 
6:00 pm Girl Freshmen Basketball vs. Spencer
7:15 pm Boy Freshmen Basketball vs. Spencer

Tuesday, January 29
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Spirit Lake
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Spirit Lake
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Spirit Lake

Thursday, January 31
6:00 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ Sioux City North
6:30 pm Large Group Speech Showcase

Saturday, February 2
TBD - Boy Varsity Basketball @ Sioux Falls Pentagon
Robotics Super Regionals @ WITCC
8:00 am IHSSA Large Group Speech @ Spencer
9:00 am Girl Freshmen Basketball vs. Sioux City North