LCHS Friday Focus

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. This will be the last Friday Focus of 2021. Just a reminder grades are due by 2:30 on Tuesday, December 21. Any student that failed will need a PASS Plan summary turned in also by that time. If you didn't have a PASS Plan, please fill out the incomplete form. Give me a copy and mail a copy home.  First off, I would like to thank everyone for their work in developing our skills using the PLC process. This semester we have focused on a common skill in each of your areas. For some, this was really easy to do. Other areas had a difficult time coming up with a common skill that led to good, meaningful, conversations/feedback.  I would like to thank everyone for their work in developing our skills using the PLC process. This semester we have focused on a common skill in each of your areas. For some, this was really easy to do. Other areas had a difficult time coming up with a common skill that led to good, meaningful, conversations/fee...

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. Reminder, I will not be in today as I am taking Tyler to a football visit at Morningside.  Earlier this week, Mr. Wingert approached me about a grade he thought was calculating wrong. We both calculated and what we came up with was different than what was on PowerSchool We figured the grade by taking the average of the formative percentages times .2 and the average of the summative percentages times .8. So I opened up a support case in PowerSchool. This is what I learned. PowerTeacher calculates the grades by taking the total points earned divided by the total possible points. So if a student has earned a total of 70 out of a 100 formative points and a 80 our of a 100 summative points, the grade will calculate like this: ((70%*.2)+(80%*.8))=Quarter Grade.  Something to make you all aware of:  New Law- Hotels (for stays in Iowa only) Iowa public money can’t pay for rooms at non-certified hotels The Iowa Department of Public S...

Happy Friday! Wow, this week went really fast. I don't know if it was because Mr. Formanek was gone for 3 days or what it was.  We are quickly approaching the end of semester 1. Only 13 days including today. If you take out semester test days, that leaves us with only 10. If a student does not pass your class and you have not done a PASS Plan, I will need you to fill out an incomplete form. This is new and will be shared with you. On this form, you will need to document what needs to be done and when it is due. This will need to be mailed/emailed home to the parents and a copy given to me. If you are giving any other student an incomplete because they were gone or you want to extend time for them to raise their grade from one passing grade to another, this form will not be needed. Semester tests will be on Dec 17 - Periods 1, 3, 5, & 7 and December 20 - Periods 2, 4, 6, & 8. December 21 will be the make up date. Students will report to all classes except study hall. They ma...

     Happy Friday! Only 2 more teaching days to go (not including today) before our break for Thanksgiving. I won't be writing a Friday Focus for next week, so I hope you are able to rest and relax during the break. When we come back, we will only have 14 days of instruction and 3 days of semester test.  Hopefully you all have seen the email from Mr. Ludwig regarding toner and copies. Please plan accordingly for semester tests. If you can give it using Schoology, I am sure it would be appreciated. Now that we are pass our 2nd quarter midterm, I will be meeting with Seniors that are in jeopardy for graduation. Mr. Formanek is also pulling opens from seniors who are failing classes.  We will start our registration process for next school year in January. I do not want to take away first semester days since it is shorter. The plan is to do our 8th grade career day mid-January and the 8th grade parent's night around that same time. Mrs. Hill and Mr. Kopperud will co...

    Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. You still have tonight or tomorrow to catch the production, "Once Upon a Pandora's Box". Performances are at 7:00 pm each night.  Midterm is on November 17, which is also the last day of Trimester 1. Trimester 1 grades are due on November 22. We will mail Trimester report cards home that day. Midterms will be handed out on November 17 in 8th period. Thank you for your work during in-service on Wednesday. As we continue along our PLC journey and become more familiar with the process, we will be able to focus on more skills and interventions for those that need it. Reminder that the 4 PLC questions will guide us in what we do. 1. What do we want students to know or be able to do? 2. How will we know if they learned it? 3. How will we respond when some students do not learn? 4. How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient? PASS Plans need to be completed by the 17. Right now I show we have 162 kid...

   Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. I had a good discussion with one of our peers regarding some of our students and lack of work ethic. I know many of you have had the student who will take the test not prepared and will just say I'll take the retake. How do we help students develop that work ethic? Where has the "grit" gone in our students?  Unfortunately, this is not something that is unique to our school or to our students. And not every student is this way. But we are seeing more and more students struggle with school. Some of the struggle comes from gaps in skills and others come from a lack of effort or what I call "stick withitness". How do we emphasize the work ethic students need, not only in school, but in life? Not only are some students missing this key trait, we are also seeing a rise in anxiety. I think these two things could be related. Think about your experiences growing up, for some of you this isn't that far back, but for m...