August 30, 2019

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Happy Friday! We made it through the first whole week. Enjoy your three day weekend. Just a reminder that we will have advisory on Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week. After this, advisory will be back to the normal schedule. We will need to do class meetings on September 9 during advisory. Class sponsors please be ready to discuss homecoming and floats. Classes will need to decide if they are building a float or if they will use a pickup with the plywood signs. 

It always amazes me on how quickly everyone gets back into the normal routine. We have had a great start to the school year. Keep pushing the students to reach higher than they think they can. We do believe all students can learn at high levels.  

I just want to take a moment to go over some of the reminders that we skimmed over at the staff meeting on Monday. Don't forget grades need to be updated every Monday at 8:30 am for the previous week. Obviously, if you have a large project, I don't expect you to spend all weekend grading them so the grades can be updated. But timely feedback is important for student learning. You should also make sure you update the assignment page on the website. This needs to be done Friday before you leave for the weekend. 

 I want to reinforce the emphasis on if you see students doing something they shouldn't, please address it right then and there. Quite a few students commented on the lack of consistency on how rules were enforced by the staff. When we turn our back on something we send the message that the behavior is acceptable to the others that observed it. This will only cause an increase in the behaviors we don't want. Once you have addressed the behavior, you can always follow up with an email to Kyle or myself and we can talk with the student as well to reinforce our expectations. 

I did email out some instructions on how to sign up for our PD class. If you have difficulties, please see me and I will do my best to help. Remember by just attending and working at our district inservices you are getting the hours needed for credit renewal. 

With homecoming quickly approaching, I want to encourage you to participate in the dress up days. The students always enjoy having the staff participate. Speaking of homecoming, Mr. Formanek and I always enjoy the extra help at the dance. It is also a great way to work off an activity for your comp pass. 

 Finally, remember that I need to have your Tier 2 plans today. Please get those turned in if you have not. 

Have a great weekend!
Mark


Assistant Principal's Happenings

I've had a great first full work working with all of you and the students!  I am hopeful most students continue to keep high standards of behavior but if you have some that are slipping please let me know!  

 Attendance: I am keeping a close eye on attendance and am hopeful everyone makes sure it is updated.  If students are arriving late to class please have them check into the office so we can verify where they were at.  If you had marked them as absent please make sure you make that change.  I know it disrupts class time but parents can see that and we want to make sure we know where each student is located.  

 Homecoming update: I sent out an email on this to students but please make sure students understand if they have a date from another school district they need to complete the out-of-town guest form the Wednesday before Homecoming in order to be allowed to come to the dance.  If they show up that night with an out of town guest without being previously approved, those out-of-town guests will not be allowed into the dance.  Students also should be reminded it is a "Semi-Formal" dance and need to be dressed up if they plan on attending.  Specifics are in the handbook on that.
I will also be sending out a sign-up for helping out during Homecoming next week.  We have had some people in the same positions for a long time and they are hoping to make some switches.  Please be willing to help out so I don't have to assign people to jobs they don't want.  

Notes from the Librarian

The library system was updated this summer to a much newer version. With that, I have the option to create "collections" which can include all the books we have on a topic, great web articles, great websites, and links to databases. The freshmen were able to see how it works Tuesday. For practice, I created a collection for the world history Middle Ages project and one for History to Hollywood that college English students often do. If there is a project of which you want to students to utilize books (fiction or non-fiction), please let me know and I can create a collection for your class. This way, students can log in and have access to reliable resources instead of just Googling everything. If you would like me to demonstrate this for you and/or your class, please contact me to set up a time! 

Success Center Update

The Value of Silence
We are all going to spend a lot of time over the next week (or more) talking to (at) students; there are so many rules and expectations to cover!  I read this quote this summer.  It fits right in with our APL training, and it really made me think...

 "Always keep in mind silence is of tremendous value to connecting and generating constructive, productive conversations with students. In fact, it's your silence when interacting with students that actually helps you create understanding, appreciation, and a meaning to your relationships.  And you'll seldom learn very much about students that will help you reach and influence them when you are doing all the talking.  To create a positive, constructive, and productive relationship with students, know your talking alone won't get the job done, but your listening can help make students want to talk and interact with you" (The Master Teacher, 2019).

 Have a great weekend!

Tracy's Technology Tidbits

I thought I would start the year with a recent article titled How To Spot if Gmail Has Been Hacked And What To Do Next. It's always a good idea to be vigilant when it comes to your information.

 If you are in iphone user, an update was recently released that you might want to install. Apple patches previously fixed security bug that allowed iPhone jailbreak

 Some new features will available in the coming weeks in Google Slides. Switch to a blank screen and set advanced time options for presentations in Google Slides. 

 New fonts intended to help improve reading speed now available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

 Have a wonderful weekend and please contact me if there is a project, a technology idea, or another facet that I can help your students reach their learning goals!


Article Worth Reading

8 Proactive Classroom Management Tips

Upcoming Activities

Friday, August 30
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Sioux Center

 Monday, September 2 - No School

 Tuesday, September 3
10:00 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf @ Fort Dodge
4:15 pm Freshmen Volleyball Tournament @ Sioux Center
4:30 pm JV Volleyball Tournament @ MOC
4:30 pm Varsity Volleyball Tournament @ MOC
5:00 pm Freshmen Football @ Central Lyon
6:30 pm JV Football @ Central Lyon

 Thursday, September 5
5:00 pm Freshmen Volleyball vs. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln
5:30 pm Show Choir Auditions
6:00 pm JV Volleyball vs. Council Bluffs AL
7:00 pm Varsity Volleyball vs. Council Bluffs AL
7:000 pm Varsity Football @ MOC

 Saturday, September 7
8:45 am Varsity Cross Country @ Iowa Western Community College

 Monday, September 9
5:00 pm Freshmen Football @ Western Christian
6:30 pm JV Football @ Western Christian

 Tuesday, September 10
10:00 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf - Le Mars Invite
4:30 pm JV/Varsity Cross Country - Le Mars @ Prairie Rose Golf Course

 Thursday, September 12
10:00 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf @ Sioux City
4:00 pm Freshmen/JV Volleyball @ Sioux City East
5:00 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Sioux City East
5:00 pm T & I Booster Club Supper

 Friday, September 13
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Sheldon

 Saturday, September 14
8:00 am Varsity Volleyball - Le Mars Invite

 Monday, September 16
6:00 pm JV Football @ Sergeant Bluff

 Tuesday, September 17
10:00 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf @ Green Valley Golf Course
5:00 pm Cross Country @ Storm Lake
5:00 pm Freshmen Volleyball vs. Sioux City North
6:00 pm JV Volleyball vs. Sioux City North
7:00 pm Varsity Volleyball vs. Sioux City North

 Thursday, September 19
10:00 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf - Le Mars
5:30 pm Freshmen Football @ Sioux City North

 Friday, September 20 - Homecoming
11:42 Dismissal
1:00 pm Pep Rally/Coronation
2:15 pm Parade
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. Sioux City North
9:00 pm Homecoming Dance

 Saturday, September 21
9:00 am JV Volleyball @ Unity Christian
9:00 am Varsity Volleyball @ Cherokee

 Monday, September 23
4:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Unity Christian
5:00 pm Freshmen Football vs. Storm Lake
6:30 pm JV Football vs. Storm Lake

 Tuesday, September 24
5:00 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Sioux City West
6:00 pm JV Volleyball @ Sioux City West
7:00 pm Varsity Volleyball @ Sioux City West

 Thursday, September 26
9:30 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf @ Lewis Central
5:00 pm Cross Country @ Sioux Center

 Friday, September 27
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Storm Lake

 Saturday, September 28
Star Fest Marching Band @ Sioux City
8:30 am JV Volleyball @ Western Christian

 Monday, September 30
5:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball vs. Hinton
6:30 pm JV Football vs Sioux Center
7:00 pm JV Volleyball vs. Hinton

 Tuesday, October 1
10:00 am Boys JV/Varsity Golf - Le Mars
5:00 pm Freshmen Volleyball vs. SBL
6:00 pm JV Volleyball vs. SBL
7:00 pm Varsity Volleyball vs. SBL

 Thursday, October 3
4:00 pm Cross Country @ South Sioux City
5:00 pm Parent Teacher Conferences

 Friday, October 4
4:00 pm Freshmen Football vs. SBL
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. SBL

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