LCHS Friday Focus

              Happy Friday! We have made it to the end of the semester. I know when we began this school year, I didn't think we would make it this long back with everyone here. This is a testament to the dedication and follow through by the staff. I am very proud of how you have all handled the situation this year. I know the stress levels are still high, and that some days we are doing everything we can to keep it together, but students are learning. Please don't focus on what you didn't get covered this semester compared to others. This semester was stacked against you. When we started, students hadn't been in the classroom since March 13, I shortened first semester by 8 days to get it done before break, students were gone due to quarantine and isolation, and you had to do lots of reteaching during the semester. Instead focus on what the students and you did accomplish this semester. Sometimes, as secondary teachers, we get too focused on our conten...

            Happy Friday! I want to start out by wishing Courtney Gerdes good luck in her new position. Today will be her last day with us. Thank you for helping out the students at LCHS.  I would also like to give a BIG Thank You to Jill Brown for organizing our staff holiday trivia and providing snacks. It was very nice! The wrapping paper I won, for getting 1st place , will come in handy. We are quickly nearing the end of the first semester. If you have not given me copies of any PASS plans, please make sure I get them. I add them to the spreadsheet that is shared with you so you can see if I have it or not. We have 47 students that have been put on a PASS Plan. PASS Plans are required for any student that fails the semester.  Final semester grades will be due at 2:30 pm on 12/22. I will be storing grades before I leave for the break that day. I will also need the PASS Plan summaries before you leave on the 22nd for any student that failed a cl...

          Happy Friday! As we are officially in December, we only have 2 Fridays of school in 2020. As we close out this first semester we will administer semester tests on the 18th and 21st. The odd periods will be on Friday, while the even periods will be on Monday. Grades will be due before you leave on the 22nd. That is an early out day.  On Tuesday, Kyle and I met with the MTSS committee and we discussed interventions. The MTSS committee consists of Tracey Sadoski, Ashley Ludwig, Jill Bomgaars, and Tami Dunn. I am asking that we still run interventions inside of our normal class. I know this year has been difficult with the number of students missing for Covid and then they don't do any work when they are gone. If you need to, you may have to let the students that are current or understand the material a study hall day while you work with those who are behind. I am not asking you to create more enrichments or give the students additional work, hopefull...

          Happy Friday! With only two days next week, I won't be putting out a Friday Focus. I will either be recovering from my first attempt to make a Thanksgiving meal or in the hospital for food poisoning. Before you say anything to Kristin, I am the one making the Turkey, I am sure the green bean casserole will be safe.  Hopefully you had the chance to watch the stream of the play last week. Mrs. Ohrlund and crew put on another fabulous production.  I know there is lots of frustration on students not doing any work when they are home quarantined or in isolation. The MTSS committee presented me with a couple of plans on how to try and get those students who are behind additional help during the school day. I want to remind you that we do need to take time to build in interventions into our normal class time like last year. Again, you are under no pressure to get to a certain point in the curriculum. It is better to go slow and make sure students un...

        Happy Friday the 13th! I hope everyone has had a good week. With midterm quickly approaching, it is next week, please make sure you are wrapping up any PASS Plans and any first quarter incompletes that are still outstanding. With our high COVID rate in our county and zip code, I will allow you to do PASS Plans through Google Meet or by conference call.  Also next week we have our second screener date. We will give the Star Assessments on November 18, please plan accordingly.  The end of the trimester is also next week. I plan on storing those grades on Monday, November 23.  With our county's high Covid rate, we will continue to limit school access to visitors during the day. If you are scheduled to have a guest speaker, (Officer Vickery is ok to talk to your class) it will need to be done via Google Meet. The front office will be stopping the visitors in the office when they try to check in and to let them know that we can't allow them any furt...

          Happy Friday! I hope everyone has had a good week. Thank you for your patience with the students with the quarantine and those put in isolation. I know it is difficult and frustrating when the student is gone for an extended amount of time and then doesn't do the work while they are gone. It is not ideal to be trying to catch them up while moving the other students forward. I would recommend that those students who do not do the work while they are absent be assigned times to come in before or after school to get caught up. This may help motivate them to do more work if they have to be gone for extended amount of time. Even the students that do the work at home may still have gaps in their learning. Online learning is not the same as learning in class, and we know not every student is going to be successful in this method of learning. Again, I want to stress that you do not have a set point to get to in the curriculum. We can only do so much in the day...

        Happy Friday! As we wind down the month of October, we begin the part of the school year I always thinks flies. It always seems November and December are gone in a blink. Looking ahead to some dates to make sure you have on your calendar. End of the 1st trimester is on November 17. Midterm for 2nd quarter is on November 18. We have an extra hour meeting on November 4, this is the only one for November. District In-service is on November 11. We have an evac drill scheduled for November 5 at 10:10.  We are short several subs today, if Beth asks you to cover the class, we really need you to do this. I know she hates asking you to give up preps and that is our last resort. I am sending some kids to study hall today because we are short 3 subs.  With midterm coming up on November 18, you should be wrapping up PASS plan meetings. Please make sure I get a copy of the PASS plan so I can enter it into my spreadsheet. The last time I ran the at risk report we...