October 11, 2019

Happy Friday! What a week! We knocked out the second day of conferences and school pictures. A big thank you for your flexibility with the extra kids in the building on Thursday. We were lucky enough to be able to host a remote site for the Ed Thomas Leadership Academy. This allowed our students in the Lead Dog group to all attend the workshop and not have to travel to Parkersburg or Des Moines. A thanks to Gabe Davis for setting this up and working through all the logistics of making this happen. 

I will be gone Monday to a workshop in Orange City. If you need a sub Monday morning please call Mr. Formanek. 

The Big Red Band will be performing this weekend in Sheldon at the State Marching Band Festival at 2:00 pm. They will also be performing at the Dutchman Field Championships in Orange City at 6:00 pm. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and warm up for them. 

We do have in-service on Wednesday. Everyone will report to the library and CIA will finish up going over elements of effective lesson design. Thank you to CIA members Adam Moss, Sherri Permeswaran, Judy Zeka, Lori Carter, and Micheal Bahr for leading our professional development this year.

Have a great weekend!
Mark

Students as Leaders

Kiley Allan will be attending the Global Youth Institute in Des Moines. This will take place October 16-19. Ms. James will be attending with her.

Staff as Learners

Assistant Principal's Happenings

Thank you, everyone, for a couple great nights of Conferences.  Please reach out to parents that you would have liked to have seen but did not make it.  Having that contact with them often helps motivate students and it helps give your side of the story when their son or daughter might be saying something different at home.  

Last week, I started giving out notices for detentions due to tardies.  Please make sure you are calling parents when they reach number 6 in your class and give me a head's up as well.  Also, I had a couple teachers talk to me about students using inappropriate language in the hallways.  Please address that language with students and if they are repeat offenders, send them my way.  

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Notes from the Librarian

FYI, the school now has a BMI music license for classes, teams, and performing groups to legally use over 4,000,000 songs. However, I discovered, and had to have an intense conversation with my video media students, that does not mean those songs, especially if they are popular tunes that are still sold on iTunes, etc, can be synced to video. This requires a synchronization license. The license is PER song used, and when I looked up AC/DC's "Back in Black," I found it would cost about $1200. (Thus, you will not hear parts of that song to any of our football hype videos anymore! However, I can play the song on another device at the same time -- I will do that for some of the displays, but not a hype video which requires various clips). That led to the discussion of where and how to find free music. Soundzabound, sponsored by the Iowa AEA, is an excellent source to locate music and sound effects. iClipart also has many sound effects. These sites do require the Iowa AEA log in which I am not allowed to publish, but I can email it to you if you need it. Please encourage your students to 

Success Center Update

I am currently reading In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School by Mehta and Fine.  I am only about half way through, but the book is an interesting look at different approaches to the organization of high schools across the nation - charter schools, traditional, project-based-learning, student-centered, teacher-led, etc.  In addition, it explores how each of these approaches addresses the standards and expectations we have for students, and it looks at key elements that are present in the very best schools and in the very best teachers.  The final section of the book offers examples and a structure for change to encourage deeper learning (thus, the title of the book) in all of our students.  This ties right into the discussion we are having this year about teaching with the belief that all students can learn at a high level.  I am looking forward to reading what they have to offer.

My point in bringing this into the Friday Focus is a statement that was made in the opening chapter.  Mehta and Fine (2019) state that, "Data consistently demonstrate that the longer students are in school, the less engaged they feel: 75 percent of fifth graders feel engaged by school, but only 32 percent of eleventh graders feel similarly" (p. 3,4).  In addition, the educational practices of even 15 years ago will no longer prepare students for today's global workforce.  As we continue our deep-dive next week at in-service into effective teaching practices, I invite you to think about how these two considerations impact your classroom, not only how, but also what you teach.  (and if you want to borrow the book when I'm done, I'm happy to share!)

Mehta, J., & Fine, S. (2019). In search of deeper learning: The quest to remake          the American high school. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Tracy's Technology Tidbits.

1 -- As someone who always seems to be using random lightning cables to charge my phone this is somewhat scary to me. There’s a scary new reason not to borrow a stranger’s iPhone cable While this security threat is not officially available for purchase yet, it will soon be on its way to a hacker near you. Oh, and if you are an Android user, don't worry, they will be applying this technology to other cables soon :-(

2 -- This tip is for spreadsheet loving data crunchers. How to Import Data from Another Google Sheet

3 -- The Bracket Challenge -- This tip doesn't really have a technology focus. It's a fun way to have students research something and present it to the class.  The premise is simple: Assign a person or a term or event or classification of something to a student or pair of students. Give them some time to research and develop claims as to why their assigned term (or whatever) is the best, the most influential, the most unforgettable, or whatever.

Then, a tournament begins. Create a bracket of all the terms or people or events. For each match, students will compete against each other in friendly competition. One student (or pair of students) states the case about why their person/term/event is the best. The other student (or pair of students) will counter those arguments and make their own case. Then the class votes on which team was most convincing. That team will advance in the bracket. Eventually, a winner will be named.

Which President was most influential? Which historical event most determined the outcome of a war? Which family of elements on the periodic table is the coolest? Which part of speech is the most important? Which musical genre best represents the US? Which algebraic property is most important? All these questions and more can be answered with a Bracket Challenge.

Video Worth Watching

Vaping Devices

Upcoming Activities

Friday, October 11
4:15 pm Freshmen Football @ Heelan
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Heelan

Saturday, October 12
TBD - Big Red Band @ Dutchman Field Competition
TBD - Big Red Band @ State Marching Band @ Sheldon
8:30 am - Varsity Volleyball @ Western Christian

Monday, October 14
6:30 pm JV Football vs. BHRV

Tuesday, October 15
5:00 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ CB Thomas Jefferson
6:00 pm JV Volleyball @ CB Thomas Jefferson
7:00 pm Varsity Volleyball @ CB Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, October 16
8:30 am PSAT
2:00 pm ASVAB

Thursday, October 17
4:00 pm Cross Country @ Brunsville - MRAC Conference Meet
5:00 pm Large Group/ IE Speech Kick Off Meeting

Friday, October 18
4:15 pm Freshmen Football @ Spencer
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Spencer

Saturday, October 19
8:00 am Robotics at Sioux Center HS
8:30 am Freshmen Volleyball Tournament
9:00 am Varsity Volleyball Tournament @ SC North

Monday, October 21
4:30 pm JV Volleyball Tournament
6:30 pm JV Football @ Spencer

Tuesday, October 22
7:30 pm High School Fall Vocal Concert

Friday, October 25
4:00 pm Freshmen Football vs Denison
4:00 pm Soup and Pie Supper - HS Commons
7:00 pm Varsity Football vs Denison
Halftime - Mass Band Show

Saturday, October 26
All State Music Auditions
9:00 am Wrestling Cheer Camp @ Clark

Monday, October 28
7:30 pm Orchestra Concert

Friday, November 1
7:30 pm Indoor Marching Band - Competition Gym

Saturday November 9

NWI HS Honor Band Auditions

Thursday, November 14

7:00 pm Fall Play

Friday, November 15

TBD - Robotics

7:00 pm Fall Play

Saturday, November 16

TBD - Robotics

7:00 pm Fall Play

Monday November 18

7:00 pm Music Boosters Meeting

Wednesday November 20

7:00 pm Athletic Boosters Meeting

Thursday, November 21

All State Music Festival @ Ames

Friday, November 22

All State Music Festival @ Ames

6:00 pm JV Girls Basketball - Hall of Pride Scrimmage

7:30 pm Varsity Girls Basketball - Hall of Pride Scrimmage

Saturday, November 23

All State Music Festival @ Ames

Monday, November 25

3:30 pm JV/Varsity Bowling vs. Sioux Central

6:00 pm JV Girls Basketball @ Spencer

7:30 pm Varsity Girls Basketball @ Spencer

Monday, December 2

1:00 pm JV/Varsity Bowling @ Sioux City North

6:00 pm Freshmen Girls Basketball @ Sioux Center

7:15 pm Freshmen Boys Basketball @ Sioux Center

Tuesday, December 3

6:00 pm Spanish Club Party

Thursday, December 5

4:00 pm JV Boys and Girls Basketball @ SBL

5:30 pm Varsity Girls Basketball @ SBL

5:30 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Heelan

6:00 pm Freshmen Girls Basketball vs. Sioux City North

7:00 pm Varsity Boys Basketball vs. SBL

7:15 pm Freshmen Boys Basketball vs. Sioux City North

Friday, December 6

4:30 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Hinton

6:30 pm Madrigal Dinner