Monday, November 30

Faculty Meeting:  
A general faculty meeting will take place in the auditorium on Tuesday at 2:30.  I'll be sending a separate email later today with some questions that I'd like you to answer and a link or two I hope you can review. Thanks.

Website Wednesdays:  
Looking to improve your website? Rob Hermanet is offering “Website Wednesday” support sessions after school from 2:30 until 3:10. Update the look of your website, add support material, and/or improve the interactivity of your communications. In-service funding is available.
This week will be Website Thursday (catchy huh?) because of a previous commitment for Rob. Please get in touch with Rob if you're interested. Thanks.

Observations: 
I'm scheduling many of my observations this week for the following several weeks. We're  a bit behind in this process, but I'm confident we can get everything done in a timely manner. Teachers should be getting emails from me, Melissa, Sue, or Cathy.

Revised restriction policy:
I'm just about done with a revised restriction policy.  It's broken up into various parts, which I believe to be an improvement over the old rules. I'm still working with science teachers to make the lab part simple and enforceable.  That should be taken care of this week.

Falcon Fliers (from Fran Copp):

   Falcon Flyers will be recognizing and celebrating the 1^st Quarter academic success of our students on Friday, December 4^th and Thursday, December 10^th (a half day).

   On Friday, December 4^th, 171 students who passed all their classes with no incompletes will receive a special dessert treat during their lunch period.  If you are able to help distribute the treats during periods 5, 6, 7, or 8 on December 4^th and/or bake some cupcakes beforehand to help reach our goal of 15 dozens, please let me know.

   On Thursday, December 10^th (a half day), 128 students who achieved honor roll status will be invited to go on a special field trip from 8:00 to 11:00 am.  If you would like to help chaperone the trip, please let me know.  
   Thank you, in advance, for helping to support the Falcon Flyers Academic Recognition Program and encouraging the continued success of our students!  Have a great Thanksgiving!  Fran

Middle School Honor Roll Ice Cream Social (Tina Bauder):

   We are all set for Ice cream on Dec. 2nd for the 6th Graders (33 students) and

Dec. 3rd for the 7th and 8th Graders (70 Students).

   6th Grade Honor Roll students will dismiss to the Upper Café on Dec. 2nd @ 2:10 pm for their ice cream treats.

   7th Grade Honor Roll students will dismiss to the Upper Café on Dec. 3rd @ 2:10 pm for their ice cream treats.

   It would also be great to have a few staff available to help on both days in the upper Café, especially on the Thursday when there will be 70 student there.  If you can help, please do. Thanks. 

Monday, November 20

Happy Monday, and happy Thanksgiving.  The break will be very nice.  Thanks for your continued hard work and school spirit.

FYI: I'm highlighting links since I don't like that links aren't standing out with this tool.

Parents MIA?  If you tried to schedule a conference but were unsuccessful, please let me know a student name and give me some information to try and share.  I will be happy to make the call and share any concerns.

New Student Opportunities blog: I'm liking this blogging stuff, so I'm making a few new ones.  I get a lot of info for student opportunities, so I'm sharing it in this fashion.  If anyone would like to send me info or even contribute as an author, let me know.  The blog is linked in the title to this paragraph and at the top left of this blog. I'll also link it from the school home pages.  As an example, here's a link to the Hour of Code post.

Regents reproducible materials:  Click on the title for a list of reproducible materials.

Summer Fellowships for Pre-K-12 Educators
Fund for Teachers       The Fund for Teachers awards fellowships to pre-K-12 classroom teachers throughout the United States so that they may participate in training and enriching activities that will improve their skills as teachers. Educators should propose a summer activity and explain how the endeavor will make the applicant a better teacher, how the applicant will implement his or her new improved skills in the classroom, and how these improved skills will benefit students, curricula, and the school. Teachers must have a minimum of three years of experience and be full-time teachers spending at least 50% of their time in the classroom. Eligible teachers may apply as individuals (funding limit of $5,000) or as a team (funding limit of $10,000). The application deadline is January 28, 2016. Visit the Fund’s website for detailed fellowship guidelines for each state.

School Librarian Report:  Beth McCheyne shared this report.  Fairly long, but the major points stand out pretty well.  Thanks to Jody Gale for a great start in the library.  Jody, you have an important job, so thank you very much for your efforts. 

BOCES Dignity Act Newsletter

Tax volunteers needed:  If you know anyone who would be willing to donate some time to help older individuals do their taxes, a volunteer or two is needed.  I learned this at the STEPS meeting last night.  Let me know if you need contact info. Click on this link for more info about STEPS. They are doing some great work in our area.

Click here for Jesse the Turkey Falcon, our turkey calling champ!

Thursday, November 19

Weight Room Availability:  Please check the master (weight room tab).  Ken and Anne aare initially staffing the weight room during a few periods.  I will get this info out to students on announcements, but feel free to share it. If a HS kid is not on restriction, this could be an option for the available periods.  We have some other teacher availability, but I'm going to make sure everyone is trained first for liability reasons.

BOCES newsletter.  This week's edition. Barry lists some great opportunities in this newsletter, especially for math and science teachers.

AXA documents:  The AXA rep asked me to share some information about their financial products. Being the budding Google nerd that I am, I made a folder for these types of things in the staff share folder:  Employee docs   If I get any other information form other vendors, I'll put them in this folder.

BOCES Dignity Act Newsletter
Interesting article:  Testing: Pencil-and-paper may give way to computers   Thanks Todd.

Monday, November 16

Happy Monday.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Kudos to our play organizers.  The play was very good, and our students showed off their many talents.  Thanks for everyone's hard work this fall; I really appreciate your effort and support.

Jared Campbell?  Adam has been in touch with Jared Campbell, the speaker from last year.  I have heard great things about last year, but I'm not familiar with his program personally. He can come May 2nd of 2016, the first day back from vacation (wow, that's a late vacation).  I'm assuming MS teachers would want to do this, but with Regents coming up, I want to make sure HS teachers would be comfortable with it.  Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Save a Life Tour:  I'm really hoping that this makes a difference.  Feel free to speak to your kids about the dangers of distracted or impaired driving.  At Bolivar, we lost one kid to an accident while I was there. It was devastating for students and community members.  The more we talk about this type of stuff, the better.

BOCES kids 4th period:  If you have an afternoon BOCES kid in a 4th period study hall, please let him/her go to lunch 5 minutes early.  This will help them get in line before the throngs of middle schoolers show up.  If the BOCES students in regular classes can get out 1 or 2 minutes early, that would help speed the line along a bit and get them on the bus.  It could be a daily decision based on what's happening in your class.  They are eating in plenty of time as long as they get to the front of the line (it's a big line for 5th period). Thanks.

State survey:  You still have the chance to give input on the state standards.  You can pick and choose whatever standards you'd like  to comment on.  Go to www.nysed.gov/aimhighny.

Table of Contents:  Some people would like a more detailed table of contents for the staff share folder than my A List file.  Melissa Butler is working on the file located here:  Table  of contents  It is located at the top of  the heap in the staff share folder.  All of the files will eventually be linked from this file.  Not much there yet, but we're working on it.  I'll let you know when it's completed.

Sounding Board:  I have a few takers for the new Sounding Board committee.  We'd love to have you!!  Just let me or Vince know if you're  interested.

BOCES weekly bulletin - posted Nov. 10.  There's a good looking PD opportunity listed for math teachers along with some other good stuff.

Faculty meeting Tuesday, December 1st:  We'll have a full faculty meeting on December 1. Melissa and I will be working on an agenda very soon and we'll put it out to you. Once you see the agenda, please send any questions to me so I can look into answers before the meeting. Thanks.

Thursday, November 12

Hi folks,

I've heard a few concerns, so it's time to address them.
   

BEDS entry:  It was mentioned to me that in the past, BEDS data was entered in a meeting where questions could be answered.  Last year with the new TAA site, I did it differently and teachers came to me or another data person for help.  I'd be happy to open up a few times in the next week where you could come in during a prep if you need help.  We can discuss doing it differently next year if you wish.
   

Portal: I'm trying to let parents know that transitioning to a portal will be a process, and it won't be perfect overnight. Portals are very common in schools and help parents and students gauge progress.  Implementation of a portal is part of my action plan for this year that was shared some time ago. When we transition to School Tool in the near future, a portal will be available, so it's good to get this process started.  I will continue to strive to have people like Steve Andrews in for training.
 
I fully realize that teachers grade at various rates based on what they teach and how they grade. You don't need to be concerned that I'm trying to make a "cookie cutter" style system where everyone grades exactly the same way and with the same quantities of grades. That would be ridiculous.  We can come up with a solution that's flexible enough for everyone.
   

January testing week (HS):  I originally wrote that I'd like everyone to have some sort of midterm during Regents week.  After speaking with Scott and some others, I realized that this would be tough for some people to do. Some people are having them and some are not, and that's fine.  Melissa Butler and I are working on a schedule for that week, and we're making a lot of progress with it. Scott told me that we're doing very well with our planning, which was music to my ears.  Please click here for the testing file.  I plan for this to by my one stop shop for all things testing. This plan still needs to be cleared with our Board.
   

Web pages:  One of my most recent weekly notes mentioned that I wish everyone to have a web presence of some sort.  That is still a desire of mine. I fully realize that some web pages/sites will be more detailed than others, but I think it's good to have something out there.  This won't happen overnight, but I'm asking people to think about sharing information through our school site.  Even if it's a link to a state curriculum doc for your Regents class, that's a start. I'd be more than happy to help personally and ask others to help.  I can also set up some PD about doing it.  The possibilities are nearly endless, from a simple Google doc to a fancy series of pages. Is this the biggest need we have? Heck no, but we can definitely be looking to enhance our communication with some simple web pages. 

Committee on building related discussions needed:  I was told that some people feel blindsided by some changes I'm attempting to make. I want to apologize if you feel that way about any of the above or other things.  Surprising you with all sorts of stuff is not my intention.  I'm trying to make some changes that will make us more efficient and sane, but I probably have pushed the envelope a few times.  I'd be happy to organize a committee that could meet once per month (or more if needed) to discuss topics of interest and/or possible change. Let's call it our building's Sounding Board. Please let me know if you're interested, and I'll work with Vince to set up a first meeting date.  I know he is interested, and I hope a few others are. 

Even if you're not on the new Sounding Board, feel free to talk with me directly at any time. If nothing else, I hope I've shown you that I'm always willing to listen to your concerns or ideas.
   

Thanks, and have a good day.

Monday, November 9

Happy Monday:
I hope everyone had a good weekend.  It's hard to believe that it's November already and we're almost to the Thanksgiving break.  Thanks for the good communication so far this year.  Please continue to let me know what's working and what's not.  We'll try to enhance what's working and fix what's not. Have a great week. 

Save a Life Tour:   
I’ve found an assembly that will be great for our high school students.  The Save a Life Tour warns of the dangers of texting or drinking and driving.  There is a 55 minute general assembly and then break out sessions.  We will do this on Monday, November 16.  Sorry for the short notice, but we just recently learned of this and the two available spring dates will not work.

The general assembly will be from 7:50 to 8:45. I'm planning on running the one hour delay schedule. If someone sees a problem with that plan, please let me know. BOCES kids will have to miss 4th period with that plan. The program has break out sessions for students to try driving simulators. We will do these during study halls or lunch periods. We will not allow students to miss regular classes to try the simulators. Melissa Butler is coordinating this event.  If you’d like more info on this, please go to www.savealifetour.com.  

Detention monitor needed:
We're looking for someone who can be available every day for after school detention.  If you're interested, please let me know. 

Shared Decision Meeting
This meeting is at 5:30 this evening in the library.  If you'd like to come and haven't before, you're more than welcome. Thanks. 

Observations:  
I'd like to get rolling on observations fairly soon. I will people to hopefully get a few started before Thanksgiving; first week in December is most realistic. I'm sure that other observers will do the same.

Free Web Seminars:  
District Administration, one of the admin sites I subscribe to, offers free web seminars. They are initially live, but recordings are available. Some topics are boring admin topics concerning finance and other things, but there are some teaching related topics you might be interested in. Click here if you'd like to take a look.

Friday, November 6

Latest BOCES Bulletin:  As always, some very good information.

Conference request form:  We have an updated conference request form in the staff share / forms folder.  Here is the link.  Make sure to fill one out and get it to Melissa Parish if you would like to have a conference.  Thanks.

Faculty Meetings:  Remember that if you came to the Sweethearts and Heroes workshop after school, that no faculty meetings would be required this month.  Thanks to those who came, and I hope you felt it was worth the time.  For those who did not come, I would really appreciate you taking some time to either create or update a web page or web site for your classes.  If you don't have a page or site, it doesn't have to be really detailed for starters.  A few things that would be good to have include:

• Courses - syllabus for each course
• Standards that have to do with your courses
• Grading procedures (how you grade and how often you update the gradebook)
• Career related links and resources that have to do with your discipline

I encourage you to look around at other teachers' sites. We have some very good ones.  My goal is for everyone to have some sort of web presence, which will enhance communication.  If you need any help, feel free to ask.  There are all sorts of ways to create a page or site.  You could do something as simple as a Google Doc that's very easy to update. Thanks.

“What I’m Thankful For This Year” (click to complete Google Form with submission)

• The Ithaca Journal would like to run short student essays on “What I’m Thankful For This Year”. Chosen essays will be featured in the Journal on Thanksgiving Day. Please use the form above to submit responses to the Journal.
• Details: Students can submit short essays detailing what they are thankful for this year. Please keep responses to 50 words max for elementary/middle school students, and 100 words max for high school students.  Deadline for responses is November 16, 2015.

Raising of America:  I received this from a parent. This movie will be shown next Tuesday, 11/10 at the Glen Theater in Watkins Glen.  She believes there will be a Forum afterwards. http://raisingofamerica.org/  It looks like you can access the whole thing from the website. 

Shared Decision Making Team Meeting:  This meeting will take place on Monday at  5:30 in the library.  Right now, the meetings are still HS and MS together.  I did that because that's what I saw on the calendar when I started here.  I might break them up into separate groups based on feedback I get on Monday.  Feel free to attend.  This  is one of your chances as a staff member to hear input from community members.

November 16 Save A Life Tour:  I've been able to secure financing for this, so it's a go for the 16th. This is a very important topic to share with our young drivers. 

Wednesday November 4

New Weekly Notes format:  I just started this wonderful blog, located on www.blogger.com. Once I get more entries in, you'll be able to search this with the tools on the left.  Hopefully this will be even easier than the single Google doc I've been  using.


Old weekly notes doc linked here. 

Grading memo:  Please read the memo linked here.  It gives instructions for quarter end procedures.

Restriction and privileges discussion:  Please read the document linked here.  If you have a concern about restrictions and privileges, you can comment on this. right on this page.  Follow the directions for commenting on the page. 


Observations, here we go:  Both Melissa and I have been getting some training on the Danielson Rubric and Teachscape.  I'm feeling pretty comfortable for starters with Teachscape, which is quite a bit different than the NYSUT rubric that I worked with before.  I will start to schedules some observations for the near future. Melissa, Sue, and Cathy will do the same. 

Monday, November 2

Lily Barlow benefit:  Adam sent me a flyer for a Lily Barlow benefit next month.  Lily is our elementary student stricken with Huntington’s Disease.  The organizers are hoping to raise enough money to purchase a walk-in tub for the family.  Thanks for taking a look. The event flyer is in a new folder titled as “events.”  

SBG Scale Score Chart: Please check this chart to make sure it’s accurate.  In the grading folder, I made a folder for standards based grading.  If there’s anything else I should add in there, please let me know.  

Melissa Butler:  Melissa is in full swing now.  I appreciate her efforts so far, and her expertise and organizational skills will provide us with real benefits. Melissa is starting to do some of the things that in the past I could only wish for since I only have so much time.  We will be able to get many more projects started (and completed) with Melissa aboard.  She has already started communicating with many of you.  Feel free to share your ideas and concerns. Thanks.

John Hind tech help:  John Hind will be here on Friday, probably splitting some time between here and Interlaken.  Feel free to email John if you’d like to work with him.  BOCES is expanding their instructional tech department, which means there’s a good chance John will be in the district once per week. Some of you have shared that John has been of great help to you.  That’s good news, so feel free to take advantage of his expertise.  John’s email is jhind@tstboces.org.  

BOCES Weekly Bulletin:  Please check out Barry Derfel’s latest newsletter, which is linked in the title to the left.  There is a message from our state education commissioner asking all teachers to access a survey.  Please take some time to give your input into the survey.  I understand that you can fill out just what applies to your subject or grade level.  I listened to our new commissioner a little over a week ago.  She seems like a very earnest and realistic person.

Latest News and Notes from State Ed  The survey mentioned above is also linked from this page.