May 11 - Happy Mother's Day

End of Year Celebration Meeting 

I, like many, was holding onto some hope that we could pull off an outdoor and in-person graduation. This is not going to be the case. If you have not seen the update from Tracy or the guidance from the AOE, you can read it here. Basically, we will not be hosting any in-person celebrations this school year. This news will definately be hard for our students, especially the seniors. Now, it's time to focus on designing new and creative ways to celebrate our seniors and the rest of our school community.

You have likely seen an invite to a meeting on Tuesday at 2pm to begin thinking about end of year celebrations. This in an optional meeting and there will be more. (Link to MEET) The focus for this 1st meeting will be to collect ideas and split into to organizational teams. I'm going to need a lot of help and creativity to do this well. Once we develop small teams,who will be in charge different tasks, we'll reach out to students (and eventually the community) to support us. There are lots of good ideas swirling out there and people ready to help. 

Senior Awards: 

During Best Practice on Monday, I will review the process for determining Faculty Senior Awards. The process will be done online this year. After the review you will receive a short survey that asks you, if so moved, to nominate seniors for certain awards. 

Grading Guidelines For Dismissal: 
I know that a number of you have fielded questions and talked with students about the grading guidelines that were released on Thursday night. I am fielding questions, too. The administration is formulating more communication to the main themes coming from students questions and concerns. At the moment, the questions I'm hearing the most are: why is there no GPA for year long classes, and why can't I choose between a grade (GPA) or a pass/incomplete?  If you are getting different questions, please let me know. 
I will be available for your questions after I do the announcement/update part of Best Practice on Monday. In the meantime, this FAQ was designed to support you when talking with students and parents about the new grading guidelines. 

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This week's (other) link:

'The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times... The best moments usually occur if a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.' - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi  The Pursuit of Happiness

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Tech Updates: 

Teachers helping Teachers: 
Across the supervisory district, we are trying to compile a list of teachers who can help others with specific remote learning tools. This would be a 'teacher helping teachers' type of tool. In order to do this, we need to know where you feel comfortable helping others learn how to use a tool that you have found to be useful and successful in your remote learning classroom. Thus, could you please review the following form (don't put your name on this form). This form lists technology tools that are available to you to support your remote learning. Then, add you name to this form if you can and want to help others. If you are using another tool that is not on the list, please also let us know about it. 

Tech Drop in Session continue....

Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 Middle/high school open drop-in session

Thursdays 3:00-4:00 Topic specific drop-in session

To join any of these use the link in the LSUU Calendar event. If you join during an open session and there is no one there, please leave a note in the chat, we may be using a breakout meet to help with individual questions and will follow up with you shortly. 

LSUU Tech Playbook- Tech resources are posted here

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TA this week: 

Tuesday (9:15): 

Announcements, prompt and complete the puzzle challenge

Friday (10:45): 
Announcements & TA Takedown TBA

Other days - Reach out 1:1 or small group 

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Calendar:

5/11 - Best Practice 2:45pm    LINK TO MEET

5/12 - Senior/Year End celebration meeting  2pm
          (Link to MEET)
5/12-26 - AP Exams - 2pm
5/22 - Memorial Day Observance as part of TA
5/25 - No School
5/29 - This is a Friday with a Monday A Day Schedule
6/9(ish)-  Final week of school - focus on recovery - NO FINAL EXAMS
6/? - TBD - Last Day of School for Students

WEEKENDS like they used to be...
(I encourage you to not assign work during the weekend)

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Class Schedule: 

I know that it is very difficult to know how long a lesson, discussion, or explanation will take when done remotely. I also know that you are working hard and creatively to support learning in this new format.  With that in mind, please do your best to not run your google meets later than the scheduled times. I have received a number of emails and calls about classes running late and this causing frustration for students and families for a variety of reasons. 

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Celebrations: 

A ray of sunshine: Avery Dianna Jones  
Congratulations Sheila and Family

Happy Birthday: Mary Bell (5/7) Sorry, I missed this one last week. Michele Walker (5/10) 

And Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mommas out there! 
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