January 25, 2019

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a good week. Thankfully we have missed some of the recent snow events. Last week I asked for input on taking semester exams before break. I have only heard from a couple of you, so please give me your input/insights on potential issues, especially those of you who teach semester classes. We would not end 1st semester officially until after break because our concurrent enrollment semester classes need the seat time to meet the WITCC requirements. So if you teach a semester class, how would you cover the days after break? 

Looking ahead at the calendar, January 28 is the annual Board Retreat. Thank you to the Le Mars Gaming Club, Art Club, Spanish Club, and Lead Dog group for agreeing to present at the board retreat. We have our extra hour meetings on February 6 and 20. February 13 is the district in-service day. February 6 is also our final shelter drill of the year. That will happen at 2:10 pm. 

This year we will be giving the ISASP (formally Iowa Assessments) differently than in the past. On April 8 and 9 we will run a block schedule. 

Monday, April 8 will be:
1st: 8:30-10:00
3rd: 10:04-11:34
Lunch: 11:34-12:22
5th: 12:26-1:56
7th: 2:00-3:30

Tuesday, April 9 will be:
2nd: 8:30-10:00
4th: 10:04-11:34
Lunch: 11:34-12:22
6th: 12:26-1:56
8th: 2:00-3:30

Both of these days will be "A" days. We will then run "B" days on Wednesday-Friday.

The students in grades 9-11 will take the reading and math tests in their core class (English and math). Sophomores will take the science exam during Biology. This leaves us with the writing tests. Students in grades 9-11 have to take this one. The ISASP guidance on this test is that it will take 2 hours. During advisory, between now and the end of February, please have your students take the practice language and writing test. This is important for those that have Ipads. I need to know if students are able to do this and that they feel comfortable. The plan right now is for everyone to take the writing test on Wednesday in their advisory room. However, if the students are not comfortable with the Ipads and we don't have enough devices, we will have to split up this 2 hour test and spread it out over April 10-12. Students testing will be in designated rooms and the rest of the school would operate as normal. 

If we can take it all at one time, this is what the schedule will look like that day. That day is also a 2 hour early out.

Wednesday, April 9

7th: 8:30-8:58
Assessment: 9:04-11:06
8th: 11:10-11:42
Period 5
1st class: 11:46-12:31
2nd lunch: 12:31-1:03
1st lunch: 11:50-12:20
2nd class: 12:24-1:03
6th: 1:07-1:30

As we get into second semester, please do not wait too long to meet with parents for PASS Plans, especially seniors. If you have a senior struggling, please keep me in the loop of communication so I can also be talking to parents.

I will be heading to Spencer today for our principal's meeting. If you need something, please see Mr. Utesch.

Have a great weekend!
Mark

Students at Leaders

Congrats to Josie Matgen - 4th place, Jecenta Sargisson - 1st place, and Claire Ohlrichs - 4th place at the first ever Girls State Wrestling Tournament!

Congrats to the Large Groups performances that moved on to the State Competition.

Congrats to Auden Anderson, Anna Vacura, and Faith Laske for having artwork selected for the 2019 Youth Art Month Exhibition in Sioux City. The works will be on display in the Art Center Gallery from Feb. 16 - April 14. An open reception and awards ceremony will be held Sunday, Feb. 17 from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. Auden Anderson placed 3rd!

Staff News

Congrats to Bill Dalton for being named the Boy's Tennis Coach of the Year. He will be honored at half-time of the boys basketball game tonight.

Staff as Learners

Assistant Principal's Happenings

Book Nook - notes from the Librarian

The news has had numerous articles about the incident at the Lincoln Memorial involving the boys from Covington High. A journalism teacher in CA discussed the issue with her students and they came up with some interesting story ideas that could develop from this. One that many of you may find interesting is the topic of bystander behavior and/or coaching courage. Two resources (plus an activity) may be helpful: 

* An easy-to-follow cartoon illustration of how to be an ally when someone is being harassed on a train or in the street etc:  http://maeril.tumblr.com/post/149669302551/hi-everyone-this-is-an-illustrated-guide-i-made

* A YouTube post "5 Tips for Being an Ally" is from comedian and activist Franchesca Ramsey -- easy to understand, funny, and makes the point of what privilege is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dg86g-QlM0

* An awkward "put yourselves in the shoes of..." activity: in response to the "I was just standing there" defense given not just here but in many aggressive situations, have students in pairs walk towards each other slowly until they are no more than 12 inches away from each other. And then have them stand still in that position for 2-3 minutes, or until they can't stand it. Then discuss whether that was "just standing there" or "aggression" or other words they come up with. 

Instructional Coach's Technology Tid Bits

Do you remember the movie Minority Report and the "futuristic" interactions that Tom Cruise had with the things around him? Well brace yourself because that might just be Google's plan for the future. How Google plans to reinvent the user interface

For those ipad / iphone users out there.....if you long press on the space bar until the key labels disappear and then drag your cursor you can move the cursor around on the screen to where you want it. This does require iOS 12 or greater though.

CuePrompter.com is a free online teleprompter. There’s no login required–just type or paste your script. Click a number at the top of the screen to adjust the speed.

teleprompt.me is another online teleprompter that is voice activated. 

We need to constantly be vigilant while we are online. Click here to see if you can tell when you’re being phished? (If you don't know what "phished" means, it would be a good idea for you to click the link :-) )

Success Center

Anyone who really knows me can attest that one of my strongest "soap box" passions (when it comes to students) is the importance of skill-building.  I think that too often we assume students know more than they really do, especially when it comes to basic skills.  Then, when we try to teach new content or make connections to prior material, it can be very frustrating, both for them and for us.  I'm not talking about content skills; rather, performance skills - how to do something.  Most students, but especially our struggling learners, don't naturally have the tools they need to make connections in their learning.  As teachers, we need skill-building strategies that can easily be incorporated into what we are doing every day in the classroom.

Think about inferencing, for example.  At some point, all of us ask students to make inferences, but many (many) students don't even know what the word means, much less what to do.  Here are some quick and easy strategies we can teach, model, and incorporate that will give students the tools they need to make inferences in classroom content and text:

1.  Watch for structural clues in the text: underlining, bold print, italics, headings and subheadings, etc.  Students often skip these very important clues unless they are intentionally looking for them.

2.  Look for signal words that indicate sequence, similarities, differences, etc.  I love this list of words to look for in different situations.

3.  Look for patterns in the text and ask questions like how and why.

4.  Watch for pronouns and figure out what they connect to in the text.

5.  Teach students to read a piece of text multiple times.  Give students a text or piece of text with a specific purpose in mind.  Students need to know that it is not necessary to try to find all the answers the first time through.

If there are skills you would like more information about incorporating in your classroom, please send me a note.  I will gladly do the legwork to find strategies that will help us all become more effective.

Article Worth Reading

Helping Ease Student Anxiety

Upcoming Activities

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
11:00 am  Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Hamlin @ Sioux Falls Pentagon
Robotics Super Regionals @ WITCC
8:00 am IHSSA Large Group Speech @ Spencer
9:00 am Freshmen Girl Basketball vs. Sioux City North

Monday, February 4
3:30 pm Varsity/JV Bowling vs. MMCRU and West Sioux
6:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball vs. SBL
7:15 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. SBL

Tuesday, February 5
4:45 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball @ Western Christian
6:15 pm Varsity Girl Basketball @ Western Christian
7:45 pm Varsity Boy Basketball @ Western Chrisitian

Thursday, February 7
7:30 pm HS Band Winter Concert @ MS Auditorium

Friday, February 8
4:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball vs. Vermillion
4:45 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball vs. Vermillion
5:15 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. Vermillion
6:15 pm Varsity Girl Basketball vs. Vermillion
7:45 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Vermillion

Saturday, February 9
10:15 am Freshmen Boy/Girl Basketball vs. Sioux City West
12:00 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball vs. Sioux City West
1:45 pm Varsity Girl Basketball vs. Sioux City West
3:15 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Sioux City West

Monday, February 11
TBD Freshmen Girl Basketball @ TBD Sioux City, City Tournament
TBD Freshmen Boy Basketball @ TBD Sioux City, City Tournament

Tuesday, February 12
TBD Freshmen Girl Basketball @ TBD Sioux City, City Tournament

TBD Freshmen Boy Basketball @ TBD Sioux City, City Tournament

TBD Varsity Bowling State Qualifying

5:30 pm JV Boy Basketball @ Sioux City North

7:00 pm Varsity Boy Basketball @ Sioux City North

Thursday, February 14

TBD Freshmen Girl Basketball @ TBD Sioux City, City Tournament

TBD Freshmen Boy Basketball @ TBD Sioux City, City Tournament

Friday, February 15

6:30 pm Dance Exhibition

Saturday, February 16

8:00 am Large Group Speech All-State Festival @ Ames

Monday, February 18

TBD State Bowling

NWI Jazz Festival

Thursday, February 21

State Robotics @ Coralville

Friday, February 22

State Robotics @ Coralville

HS Show Choir Home Performance

Saturday, February 23

Show Choir @ Bishop Heelan Show Choir Invite

State Robotics @ Coralville

8:00 am District IE Speech contest @ Whiting

Monday, February 25

7:30 pm Orchestra Winter Concert - MS Auditorium

Saturday, March 2

Show Choir @ Lewis Central Show Choir Contest

Tuesday, March 5

6:30 pm Spanish Club Field Trip

Saturday, March 9

8:00 am State IE Speech Contest @ Woodbury Central

Tuesday, March 12

4:30 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ Buena Vista University

Saturday, March 16

Show Choir @ Hinton Show Choir Invitational

Sunday, March 17

Show Choir Banquet

Monday, March 18

7:45 am NHS Induction practice

6:30 pm NHS Induction Ceremony

Tuesday, March 19

7:30 pm HS Vocal Recital

Saturday, March 23

State Solo/Small Ensemble Contest

12:00 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ SDSU

Monday, March 25

8:00 am IE Speech All-State Festival @ Cedar Falls

Tuesday, March 26

5:00 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ Unity Christian