September 11 - Flex Time begins!

Keep 'em Coming....the Tree is BLOOMING

Hi all,

First, let me say the first few weeks (including in-service) have been impressive and busssssssy. You are balancing a lot and doing it gracefully. Thank you!

Second, I'm keeping the notes short and to the point the next few weeks. I realize you are getting hit with tons of information from a variety of sources. With that in mind, much of this week's notes is just repeated from last week, in case you didn't have time to get to it yet. Any new information will be indicated by a BOLD RED TITLE. 

Hang in there and keep up the great work.

Open House

On September 28th there we are hosting an 'Open House' at PA from 5:30-7pm. Simultaneously, PAML is also hosting an Open House. We did this on purpose for a variety of reasons I can explain later if you would like. We'll go into more details later: the short version of what you need to know is:

1. Please do everything in your power to be here.
2. Unless otherwise requested: expect to be in your classroom and prepared to speak with parents about your class
3. We will provide you with a list of things to be prepared to speak to if questioned by parents, such as, your targets for the semester, how they can contact you, etc.
4. We will provide parents with information before the event on topics they can expect to hear about and topics that they will hear about later.
5. This is a link to a working document that shows how the night is shaping up.
6. There is a small group helping to plan the event - your support is welcome. Let me know if you want to join in on the planning.

TA Update: 

TA this week focuses on individual culture building and academic check in - NO Scripts - it is your time with your TA.

Schoology Gradebook Update: 

Pease remember when setting up your schoology gradebook:

• Make sure that you are aligning proficiencies (what schoology calls a learning objective) to your mastery assignments in schoology. - For the mastery tracking view to work, Proficiencies should only be selected from the LSSU Proficiencies, not copied into resources or using another set of objectives built into schoology.
• When assessing more than one proficiency, use a schoology rubric (what we call a learning scale) and align the rubric with the LSSU Proficiencies.
• Make sure that grade books and mastery settings are set up and follow the directions that were sent to teachers by myself and Val.
• PROGRESS REPORTS: You can soon expect an update on the how and when we will be doing progress reports. I know many of your are waiting for this, hand in there.

Schoology School: 

Maura and others will be available on an ongoing basis to support your Schoology and other tech supports. I will be publishing and update and schedule for who to contact for what and when people will be at PA to help you soon. In the short term, feel absolutely free to email Maura directly with your questions and needs on Schoology as it applies to your grading, reporting, curriculum integration, and other classroom strategies. She will do her best to answer your questions, point you in the right direction, and even come to your classroom. But, please be patient with her, lots of us are trying to get her help.

Upcoming Events:

9/11- M3 all day training for students
9/12 - Picture Day
9/18 - Best Practice - Flex Time and TA
9/22 - M3 all day training for students
9/ 25- Spirit Week
9/29 - Pep rally of sorts....Bon Fire
9/25 - Best Practice - M3 roll out with students
9/25 & 28 TA focus on Spirit Week and Open House
9/28 - Open House 5:30-7pm
9/ - Best Practice Flextime, TA, PBL
10/18 - Data Day (1/2 day with students) LSSU data focused training
10/19 - CONFERENCES!!!!
10/20 - FREE

FYI - TA CALENDAR

*Where is Phil??? - This week I"ll be at MIA on:
    Monday - at central office most of the day for M3
    Tuesday - at central office most of the day for Curr Council
    Wednesday - guidance conference room with several of area principals in the AM

This week's Link:

Teaching the children of White Supremacists - This short blurb comes from a Vermont High School Principal (Randolph) who writes regularly for Huffington Post. I'm sharing it partly because it's interesting (Especially his call for educators to respond strongly), but also this author often writes about current issues facing Vermont high schools and communities and some of you may want to follow his blog.

Schoolwide happenings: 

Students in 'Local History' look behind the clock for clues to 'where is the 1930 Bell? 

Celebrations

The more things change, the more they stay the same - both boys and girls soccer teams are undefeated!!

Long overdue: Congrats to Averill who recently completed her Masters in Arts Education from St. Michael's College.....I hope your show went well on Friday!

Happy Birthday: Annalease Beach (9/12), Bill Socum (9,15)