Wednesday, December 21

I hope you all have a great holiday break!

Thanks for working so hard for each and every student.

Statement of profit and loss for advisers
This form is in staff share / adviser info.

Going Beyond Motivation to Engagement
I'm meeting with some other principals for some professional development, and our leader shared this with us the other day.  It's worth the time if you can read through it.

NYSEG Energy Education
Click on the title for a letter I received from NYSEG concerning some programs available on their site.

BOCES Weekly Bulletin - Dec. 20

Scott Fitch - rescheduled presentation on February 3:

Scott Fitch is simply a great guy who has a powerful message.  He's also our Josten's rep.  He likes the Falcons so much, he had himself reassigned to our school. Scott gave a wonderful presentation for our athletes last year.  I was so impressed, I asked him to communicate with all of our students.

Scott will do two presentations - MS and HS.  I will use the same type of schedule as our last presenter with a possible variation. I'll post that later.

Here is Scott's bio. 


Products:

The Formative Five: Fostering Grit, Empathy, and Other Success Skills Every Student Needs, the new ASCD book by veteran school leader Thomas R. Hoerr, will show educators how to foster the "Formative Five" success skills that today's students need, including

• Empathy: learning to see the world through others' perspectives.
• Self-control: cultivating the abilities to focus and delay self-gratification.
• Integrity: recognizing right from wrong and practicing ethical behavior.
• Embracing diversity: recognizing and appreciating human differences.
• Grit: persevering in the face of challenge.

Articles:

Spotlight on School Solutions:  Top Education Tools for Powering the Learning Process
This if from District Admin Magazine.

Watchdog Report: Upstate Sinks in Flood of Illegal Opioids

NY Changes the way school violence is tracked

Tuesday, December 13

Tentative January Testing Schedule
Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. As of right now, I'm planning on two days of no HS classes.

New form for advisers:
Statement of profit/loss.  This form is in staff share/adviser info.

NYSED Office of Accountability E-Blast - December

Some New CPS Rules
I received an email about school district interactions with CPS, so I made a folder for CPS inside our procedures folder. The link to the file is above.

Khan Academy Now Offers Grammar
We’re excited to bring you our newest subject - Grammar! We created Grammar to help both native and non-native English speakers at all levels. In the new course, our resident grammarian, David, and our team of grammar experts explain punctuation, parts of speech, style and usage, and Standard American English conventions. As with our other subjects, your child can review topics and work on practice exercises at their own pace.

Check out Grammar 

English varies throughout the world. We focus on Standard American English in this course, but we acknowledge that it's not the only "correct" form of English. We want to help your child feel confident that the English they speak is great, whether they’re in Birmingham, Brooklyn, or Busan.

Onward,
Girish
Director of Special Content Initiatives

New Science Standards
New York State Board Of Regents P-12 Committee has approved new P-12 science learning standards.

Scholarship Opp for Students Entering Agriculture
Know a student who is pursuing a career in agriculture?  If so, lease share this with them. When I receive these types of messages, I'll put them in staff share / student opportunities / scholarships.

Articles

America’s math scores are getting worseWhen it comes to literacy in math, science and reading, American teens are far from top performers, according to new results from an international exam released Tuesday.

Friday, December 9

Thanks Felicia!

Thanks to our young tech dynamo, Felicia Woodard.  During our Board meeting Wednesday, Felicia completed a great presentation on how she integrates technology with Google Classroom. 

Well done.  

Latest HS News
Remember, if you have something you want me to share with the community, send it to me and I'll post it here. When I have a new post, I send it to all parent emails in grades 9 to 12. Thanks.


Latest IST video
Please watch this.  It concerns progress in the IST documents.

Student Research Awards
This is sponsored by the New York State Archives. Looks like a great opportunity.  The Archives site appears to have some great resources.

Integrating Tech Using the SAMR Model
Click on the title for a good presentation. I attended an hour long workshop on this method while at the Middle School conference in Watkins.  This method works for any age/grade level.

Natural High Info
I heard quite a few favorable comments about today's Natural High assemblies.  Matt's office manager sent me some info, so  I put it here:    Natural High Info
      
Please take a look at the linked document, which is basically the contents of the email. I've linked to a folder that contains some files that he sent.  Let me know if you need any help or if you have any questions/suggestions/comments. Thanks.

7 Valleys Writing Project
A professor from Cortland talked with my principal group about the 7 Valleys writing project.  This is open to any teacher of writing, and not just ELA teachers. You can get Masters credit for attending their summer conference.  Please let me know if you have any interest. 
http://sevenvalleyswritingproject.com


Articles

Latest TST BOCES News

These states allow teachers and staff to hit students

Monday, December 5

Remember - Assembly Monday with modified schedule:

 













Be very careful with addresses in emails
Just a reminder that everyone needs to make sure the addresses you're using in emails are what you intend.  I've made the mistake before myself. It's easy to start typing someone's name in and have some unintended name appear, even that of a student.  Double check every time. Thanks.

Good looking article on curriculum:
Rethinking school curriculum for a new world
An education thought leader says what we teach now has little relevance to the future

Youth Mental Health First Aid Training
Let's see if we can get several people to attend this valuable training.

HS teachers - talk to me about mid-terms soon.

CPR Class in Interlaken
I just received confirmation.  We will have a CPR class in Interlaken in the staff lounge- near the main office on Thursday, December 15 at 4:00 pm.  I will send a separate e-mail to those of you who have already responded to me.  If you don't get the separate e-mail, please e-mail me to sign up so there are enough instructors to accommodate everyone.

Thank you!
Dena Ganoung, RN
607-869-9636 ext 4162- phone
607-532-8540-  fax

Tuesday, November 29

Pre-observation form submission
Please watch the video linked in the title for help in getting your pre-observation meeting information into the MLP system.  Any questions? Call me or Missy.

Bells will be off on December 5 for the assembly. 

Testing Week in January
Please let me know if you would like to have a midterm exam in January.  We are currently planning the week. Cathy gave me a tally of students that are taking Regents, which isn't a big list. The amount of midterms will help me to determine the final schedule and class days. Thanks.

Corrective Action Plans:
The plan along with questions/answers
I've been struggling to find a way to make the board policy of corrective action plans a realizable goal.  Please check the latest list along with a new column and a link to a file that describes the plans.  I am currently meeting with kids failing 2 or more courses who are currently involved in extracurricular activities. I have put some questions and my answers into this file. Feel free to send me any other questions.  This will evolve as we go, but I believe we're on the right track. Thanks.


MLP notes - From Missy Butler:
The observation function of My Learning Plan requires that all the components be scheduled/in progress before anyone can upload materials for those parts if needed/desired. It is simpler to open them now rather than waiting for each individual observation. This gives access to everyone at the same time allowing each person to work in that program without waiting on us. I will finish opening the components today for any staff who didn't already get the scheduling email.  These are not the real pre, post or observation dates. The dates you set with Karen or Kim are the ones you should adhere to. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know.


TED Talk from Sal Khan

Would you build a house on an unfinished foundation? Of course not. So why do we often push students through their classes before they’ve grasped the foundational concepts? In my latest TED talk, I discuss why we should emphasize mastery to help students realize their full potential.

Watch my TED talk

In my latest TED talk, I discuss why we should emphasize mastery to help students realize their full potential.
Onward,
Sal, Founder & CEO, Khan Academy


State memos:

Changes in Allowable Testing Accommodations on the Grades 3-8 New York State English Language Arts Assessments
Summary:  Beginning with the 2017 administration of the Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) Assessments, students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or Section 504 Accommodations Plans (504 Plans) document that tests be read aloud (by way of human reader or technology) must be provided this testing accommodation in accordance with the specifications in the IEP/504 Plan. In previous years, only directions were to be read to students on the Grades 3-8 ELA Assessments; no other portion of the test was to be read aloud regardless of the circumstances. Additionally, this testing accommodation will be provided to students upon declassification with documentation indicating the accommodation will continue.

Computer based testing is coming.  Check this out if you'd like to:
CBT: Updated Computer-Based Question Sampler
·        This communication provides information about the release of the NYS 3-8 ELA and MA CBT Question Sampler for 2016-17 school year.
·        The updated Question Sampler can be accessed at https://ny-practice.nextera.questarai.com/.
·        School participation in operational computer-based testing and stand-alone field testing on computers will be voluntary for spring 2017 and can be selected through the NYSED’s online examination request system.
·        Details about “tech readiness” as well as other CBT resources are available under “Resources” on the CBT Support website: http://bit.ly/2fdm1dX.
·        See attached document titled Updated Question Sampler Memo.
·        Please send any questions or comments about the updated Question Sampler to cbtsupport@nysed.gov<mailto:cbtsupport@nysed.gov>.



Articles

AMLE Magazine - Nov/Dec  From the Association of Middle Level Education

A national push for well-rounded students
New grant will reward schools that improve access to music, social studies, environmental education and computer science.  As I get time (that's a good one!), I'll take a look at the grant requirements to see if we could qualify.  If anyone else would like to look, there are links in the article.

Here's a good one for discussion in science or social studies:
Bill Gates - Why I'm helping develop a fragrance to block toilet odors

Making STEM learning fun in the classroom
UBTECH Robotics, the company that created the cutting-edge Alpha Series of humanoid robots, today announced three California schools have integrated UBTECH robots into their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) curriculum.

Monday, November 21

Corrective Action Plans and the Academic Warning List

Please watch this video linked here.  This video will describe our noble attempt to implement an efficient and effective process for corrective action plans.  This process is required by Board policy, and it has been next to non-existent.  Please help me to implement this.  What I'm describing in the video should really help if we all pitch in.  This includes students.

Matt Bellace - December 5th Assemblies for MS - HS

With the help of BOCES and one other district, we've been able to get Matt Bellace here on December 5th. Matt's presentation in Ithaca was very well received by a few of our folks, so we decided to try and get him for our students. 

Please check his website here.  

You can click on the picture to enlarge if needed.

Matt will do 2 assemblies in the morning. 

To make this run as smoothly as possible, Cathy and I worked on a new schedule for morning assemblies.  



Observation Notes
A teacher had some concerns about domains 1 and 4, so I'm making some clarifications.  Here is the overall plan:

• 2 observations - 1 announced, 1 unannounced
• Domains 2 and 3 are covered during the actual observations.  No artifacts are necessary. 
• Domain 1 - evaluated via the pre-conference form, lesson plan, artifacts and pre-conference meeting.
• Domain 4 - we evaluate based on what the individual teacher does professionally.  No artifacts are required.  However, if a teacher feels they should receive a high score in a category, they can provide the necessary artifact(s) to prove the desire for a higher score.

Community Garden:
Building Day a Success

On Saturday, we had a small but great group help to get the garden off to a great start.  I hope that our kids can get involved in several ways by next spring.  Thanks to John Barkee for prepping boards for the boxes.

Melody Lateer showed up and worked as hard as anyone.  She's a great kid.
Sometime in December, John Wagner from Wagner Vineyards will donate his time and install fence posts. We appreciate his willingness to do so.






Tom Scolaro Seeing Progress with Khan Academy

Tom has started using Khan Academy with his 7th and 8th grade students. He's seeing some really good results, with some students already at 50% of Khan's 8th grade skill set.

I decided to sign up for his 8th grade class. So far in a couple days, I've mastered 6% of the 8th grade skills! Don't worry, I'll be up to 10% in a couple days. It's a cool way to brush up on some skills, and as I progress, I'll challenge his students to see how many can beat me to 100%.


State Education Commissioner Elia and A.G. Schneiderman Offer Guidance to Help Ensure Schools are Safe Havens for Learning

A short while ago, a news release was jointly issued by Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. At the end of the news release is a three-page letter intended to provide school leaders with resources for complying with the Dignity for All Students Act and for addressing hate-based actions.

In the letter, school districts are encouraged to review their respective systems in relation to Codes of Conduct, DASA, and Violent and Disruptive Incident Reporting (VADIR). The letter also includes numerous links to informational resources to help school staff, students, parents, and communities. In the concluding paragraph of the letter, those wishing to discuss local issues, topics, or materials are advised to contact the State Education Department's Office of Student Support Services by telephoning (518) 486-6090 or by emailing StudentSupportServices@nysed.gov.

Click here to view the news release.

Click here to view the letter.

Articles

Regionalization of school districts must be considered

Opinion: Teaching Life Skills through Arts Education

Monday, November 14

Grades due by Wednesday at 8 am; corrections by 2:30.

Some adjustments and one new term for grading

• INC - Use this for an incomplete grade at the end of the quarter.  INC has no numeric value, which is a change from one of my last messages. I decided not to give this a value since it could negatively affect a student's overall average, which wouldn't be good when a student's work is incomplete for a completely valid reason.
• *55 - If a student has less than a calculated average of 55, use this term.  The grade will calculate to a 55 in their overall average.  I'm hoping the * in front will grab some attention, and I will explain it to parents.

Community Garden Building Day this Saturday
We would love to have a few volunteers this Saturday morning at 9 for our Community Garden project.  We will be staking off the boundaries for the fence and raised beds.  Please let me know if you're interested. I'm confident that this will be a great collaboration for our kids and the community. Thanks.

Update on Lions Leos Club
You probably realize that I've been trying to get the Leos Club up and running. A local business man and Lions Member, Jeff Williams, has bee speaking with me about.  Jeff and I asked several students if they would like to attend a Lions meeting this week, and the students accepted.  I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a great partnership and a new Leos chapter.

For advisers or trip planners - Tour Companies
I received some info from the EFT Tours rep and one other company, so I put it in a file for your review.  It's in staff share / adviser info.



Articles

On The Lesson Plan: Make Stuff. Fail. Learn While You're At It

TST BOCES News

Thursday, November 10

Have a great long weekend.  

Thank a vet!

Semester 2 makeover for MS and some shared
We spent some time on the MS schedule to improve flow, and we've achieved that lofty goal.  These changes really help the flow of the schedule for 7th and 8th grade core subjects.  The new sem 2 and MS groups sheets are now on the master.  Please take a look since most changes are complete.  I wish that I could make similar changes for the second quarter, but that won't be possible.  We're making the schedule great again! OK, we're making it a bit better.

Observation notes
FYI - I just scheduled an observation using MLP.  I used the correct date for the observation, but I used today's date and time for the pre and post meetings.  This allows you access to the forms right away.  If we use the actual  times for the pre and post meetings, it limits access to those times, which is kind of strange in my opinion.  If we can fix this little snafu, we will, but it's not a huge deal.


Kahn Academy Works!
Check out my short little video linked in the title.  For those using it, thanks for your work with this great tool.  There's more than math to Kahn Academy, so check it out.


Articles

How arts education teaches kids to learn from failure

AMLE Magazine Nov/Dec

Latest BOCES School Improvement News

Monday, November 7

Planner for this week:

-->

Event	Monday, November 7, 2016		JV and Varsity Winter Sports Begin
School board	Wednesday, November 9, 2016	7:00 PM	Board Meeting - Interlaken
Marking periods	Thursday, November 10, 2016		End of 1st Quarter (22 days)

If I'm missing anything, please let me know.


Check the duty sheet in the master
We did some rearranging of names and places, so please check.

Student Access to the Portal
Student access to the portal is now possible!  I just posted this file:  portal passwords as of Nov 4
Only teachers have access to this file if you're logged in.  You can select your grade level and have students sign in to the portal using the temporary password.  Students can either sign in with their user ID number or their email.  Here is the link for the portal. 
Please coordinate this process in team meetings.  These temporary passwords will expire in 7 days. After that, I'll have to redo them.  Any questions, let me know.


Lunch duty reminder
If you have lunch duty, please make sure the students pick up their trash and take their tray to the dishwasher before they are dismissed.  Let's all be consistent on this.  If a student gives you a problem with a directive, you should contact Cathy Flanders, Melissa Butler, or me.  Thanks.
Additionally, if you have duty in the upper cafe, please take attendance. It happens in the lower cafe, but not consistently in the upper cafe. This was an area of concern mentioned by staff during our drill.

Shared Decision Making Team
Our next meeting is 11/14. We meet in the MS/HS Library at 5:30 and would love to see some new teacher faces. This year we are delving into work around communication.

Coming Soon
Look for Mrs. Butler's PD Blog to be posted bi-weekly.

2016-17 Evaluation process
This file was shared once before, but here it is again for your reading pleasure.

Let's Start a Leos Club
While in Olean, I was a member of the Olean Lions Club.  The Allegany Limestone had a local Leos club, a youth community service organization affiliated with our Lions club.  I would love to get one started here, possibly by partnering with class advisers, NHS, JNHS, etc.  

Please take a look at this link:  http://members.lionsclubs.org/EN/leos/index.php

I spoke with Scott Hawley about this, and he is eager to help get it off the ground.  This organization would allow a good number of our kids to interact with leaders in the community.  Please let me know if you'd be interested in talking with me about it. Thanks.
     
Clarinet Rectal - What's That???

The moral of this story:
Make sure to proofread your assignments and announcements!












Articles

Middle school suicides reach an all-time high
This is pretty scary.  If you ever notice something, please make sure you speak with Brooke or Jackie. Thanks.

Teach Peace

The ignored science that could help close the achievement gap

Webinars

District Administration Web Seminars   This includes previously recorded seminars.

Friday, November 4

Self Reflection Committee - Classroom visits
Please read this letter from Janie Nusser, our former superintendent. I will let you all know the day that we'll visit your room for 15 minutes or so. No worries, it will be fun!

A committee of grade 6-12 teachers and administrators has been working this year to assess where we are as a school in relation to characteristics deemed important by the State Education Department.

This is the same process the State will use if the school should become a Focus School.  The process includes self-reflection activities; interviews with teachers, parents, and students; and an examination of several school-based documents.  Another element consists of fifteen to twenty-minute visits to classrooms.

These visits are NOT observations.  These visits are NOT evaluations of individual teachers.  Data gathered during these visits will NOT be linked to any individual teacher.  Viewed in aggregate ONLY, data will be utilized as only one tool among six.

Teachers will be told the dates on which visits will take place.  Visitors will include one or more of the following:  Janie Nusser, Tim, Melissa, and Steve.

Teachers are encouraged to let their students know about these visits and that the visits are NOT tied to teacher evaluation.  

It would be most helpful for teachers to have some kind of lesson plan to give to visitors to provide some context for the visits.


If you have further questions, please contact one of these committee members:  Tim Houseknecht, Missy Butler, Stacey Clark, Becky Crane, Brad Cartwright, Chad Eastman, Cindy Brewer, Felicia Woodard, Fran Copp, Heather Mott, Jackie Bateman, Marie Scoles, Nina Redmond, and Tina Bauder.

Quarter End memo from Guidance:

IMPORTANT DATES

• November 10th  -End of the first marking period
• November 16th  –First quarter grades/comments are due in SIS.  Note- there will be NO MARK VERIFICATION SHEETS.  Please check your grades and comment codes in SIS and make any necessary changes before the end of the day.
• November 18th –Reports are printed

REMINDERS

• Students should receive numerical grades and comments for all courses.
• All incompletes must be made up by November 30th or they will automatically be changed to a 55.
• High School- to place a student on the restricted list, use comment codes 114-122 in any comment column.  Students with two or more failing classes will be put on the Academic Warning List.
• Comment code lists are the Grading folder in Staff Share on google.  Please use comment code #235 “see enclosed report for details” if you are adding a report to be mailed with the student’s report card.
• If you want to include any information or additional reports, we must receive it by Tuesday, November 15.

"INC" calculates as zero
In SIS, if you put in INC for a grade, it now calculates as a zero.  This will show the student what the average will be if the assignments don't get completed.

8 Examples of Transforming Lessons Through the SAMR Cycle

While at the Middle School conference, I attended a workshop using the SAMR Cycle, which is a process for using technology in your classroom.  Check out the link above for some good information.





AIS Procedures
Our procedures for AIS have been posted to both the middle and high school home pages. This is required by NYS.


New and Notable Case Studies 
From District Administration Magazine


Closeup.org

This site looks interesting.  Here's a screen shot:

Mathcon.org
An exciting online math competition for 5th through 12th graders.


Articles

Prohibiting insults of school workers is unconstitutional, ruling says         Wow.

Buffalo Public Schools approve new policy for transgender students
If you've been involved in our transgender discussions, you might want to take a look at this and other district policies you find.

Friday, October 28

Hi folks,
I'm sure you're all happy for the end of the week, as I am. Thanks for all you do for our kids. 


Master file change:
You can now bask in the glory of a rearranged master file. I moved the "links-files" tab to the left, which makes it the first thing you see.  There are directions on how to navigate this large file.  I did this because I've heard that some people weren't sure how to find other things than the schedule.  It's really easy to navigate.  Any problems, let me know.

Adviser training now on video
Go to the Adviser info folder linked above.  Please have any students who are charged with handling money in a class or club watch this video.

Observation notes
We will be meeting soon to divvy up observations.  we hope to get started very soon, so we'll be in touch.


Lolli Pop moments 
A video on leadership that's worth watching.  Thanks Heather.

Tony Collins had it right
Please remind kids that we are the sum of our choices.  Let's drive that message home.

Post Card Pick Me Ups - Sounds like a great idea
This might be a great project for some of our classes.

Dear School Administrator,

My name is Jason Garbarino. I am a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont in the Department of Nursing. Recently, I started a program called Postcard Pick-me-up in an effort to promote small, simple acts of kindness for individuals hospitalized or in a nursing home.

When you have a moment, please visit my website postcardpickmeup.org for all of the details. I am reaching out to every possible School Administrator in the State of New York in hopes that they can encourage students to participate. I believe this project will help educate students into the importance of helping those in need.

Please share my cause with your faculty and via the share links provided on the website.I have also let teachers know that instead of having to pay for postage for every postcard, they can send them in one package. They do not need to all be individually stamped.

Thanks for your consideration! Please contact me with any further questions.

Sincerely,

Jason Garbarino, DNP, RN-BC, CNL
Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Vermont
Department of Nursing
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
106 Carrigan Drive
Burlington, VT. 05405
(802) 656-3053
Jason.Garbarino@uvm.edu


United Way, from John Robertson:

This is the email that John sent the other day. Thanks to John for working with this:

Just a reminder that donation forms can be placed in my mailbox.  If you are receiving this message, did not get a donation form and would like one, please let me know.  If you did get a form in your mailbox and do not need it please return it to my mailbox so somebody else can use it.  Thank you to those of you who have already done this.

  FYI:  First-time donors who make a gift of $25 or more and donors who increase their payroll deduction by $1/pay period or more will be entered into a drawing to receive a gift card (ranging from $20-$50) from the following businesses:

Cafe XIX

Ciccino's Pizzeria & Restaurant

Dunkin' Donuts

Parker's Grille

Tops Markets

Gift card or not, your donations stay local.  Thanks again for your time.  Please let me know if you have questions, need a donation form, etc.

Tuesday, October 25

Tony Collins Notes for Wednesday  

Here are some notes for the Tony Collins presentations on Wednesday:

• 3rd period - Middle School.  Please have your students in the auditorium no later than 9:10 so we can get started by 9:15. 
• 4th period - High School. Please have your students in the auditorium by 9:52 so we can get started by 9:55. 
• If you have a class during that time, please sit with your students. 
• The Scott Fitch presentation is being rescheduled for sometime in November. 

Adviser meeting today in the aud

Remember that students can attend today.  For those that are not present, they will need to watch the video of the training.

Athletics Notes from Cathy Flanders:  

 We have several middle school athletes who wish to "try-out" for a JV or Varsity sport.  New York State has a process called the Athletic Placement Process that we must follow to determine if a student is invited to try out for a level of competition above their grade level.  The first part in that process is a determination if a student is socially, emotionally, academically, behaviorally and athletically above his/her age level peers.  If a parent contacts you regarding their child please do not give them any feedback or opinions.    Respond with, "I am referring you directly to Cathy Flanders or Heather Mott who oversee this process."

 Once a student is referred to us we will contact teachers, staff and administrators for a confidential assessment. Please let me or Heather know if you have any questions. Thank you!

This week's planner:

meeting	Tuesday, October 25, 2016	2:30 PM	Adviser meeting - auditorium
School board	Wednesday, October 26, 2016	7:00 PM	Board Meeting - Ovid
assembly	Wednesday, October 26, 2016	9:15 AM	Tony Collins - Middle School assembly
assembly	Wednesday, October 26, 2016	9:54 AM	Tony Collins - High School assembly
nurse	Wednesday, October 26, 2016		Physicals
trip	Thursday, October 27, 2016	8:00 AM	Grade 7/8 leadership summit in Waterloo
nurse	Thursday, October 27, 2016		Physicals
club	Saturday, October 29, 2016	9 am - 10 am	Yorkers Club Community Passport Day 12-1 in the library

Interesting ASCD Opportunities

Webinar - Lesson Imaging in Math and Science
Teaching in the STEM fields has recently shifted focus toward less direct instruction and more toward inquiry and investigative approaches. While moving to inquiry lessons sounds desirable, planning for exploratory units is difficult. It is much easier to plan a lecture than it is to create an investigation that relies on the diverse interpretations and solution methods of students.

Spotlight on Project-Based STEM Education
This generation of K-12 STEM students is the first to be born in the midst of the information age—and they expect their teachers to be connected and education to be relevant. Learn how you can teach your students crucial concepts and make them better citizens through project-based learning (PBL).

Latest ASCD Smartbrief


Kahn Academy Diplomas:
I've seen a lot of kids using Kahn Academy in our school.  Please see the idea from Sal Kahn, founder of Kahn Academy. 

We’re entering a competition called 100&Change for a $100 million MacArthur Foundation grant to help solve a critical problem of our time. Millions of people lack the skills and credentials to participate in the global economy. To address this, our long-term goal is to develop internationally-recognized diplomas that provide direct access to economic and educational opportunities. We also plan to create free content and tools to help people earn the diplomas. We’re excited about this vision and want to share it with you.

Watch our video proposal 

If we win the MacArthur Foundation grant, we’ll be able to accelerate the development of the diplomas, content, and tools. We want to connect people to real economic opportunity and unlock human potential for generations to come. Please share our video if you think this idea could change the world!

Articles and State Memos

NYSED News and Notes 
ELA and Math Learning Standards Public Comment Open Through November 14

School Newspaper Anyone?

We have an approved club for running a school newspaper.  I would like this to be something where most articles are being written by students. If you would be interested in this stipend position, please let me know. 

Thursday, October 20

Hi folks,
I will be out of the building on Thursday and Friday. I'll be checking my email. 
You can also call my cell at 607-793-7846. 

Friday's Middle School Conference:
Friday's sessions start at 7:30 am and go until 3:30 pm (see finalized agenda here). 
I would really like to see a bunch of us go to the following presentation:

• Implementing the NYS Essential Elements To Increase Student Achievement.  
• Ravo Root, the superintendent of Fillmore Central School, is the former principal at Pioneer Middle School in Arcade.  I've known Ravo for quite some time.  He's a very knowledgeable leader, and Pioneer Middle School is highly regarded for their quality programs.

I will allow you to flex your schedule one way or the other. You can go early and leave before the last (2:30-3:30) session (or vice versa), or stay for the whole shindig. Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll do your best to learn valuable skills.

Please try to carpool where possible.  If anyone would like to use a school van, please get with Lance.

Map for Watkins Glen HS

** If you haven't registered through My Learning Plan, please do so.  This will not register you for the conference, but it will get your hours in the system for record keeping purposes. 
 

Friday's HS PD:
Please check the PD schedule.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Please communicate with me on individual projects you will be working on in addition to scheduled things.



BEDS

From Kevin Webster, Oct. 18: The application is open and running.  Teachers should start by going to https://eservices.nysed.gov/taa/  Also, please let them know they must select a 'building' location.

The 'Professional Development' box will say 'no' on all teachers.  That information still need to be uploaded from 'My Learning Plan'.

Board presentation
I'm looking for a innovative and brave soul to present at our next Board meeting in Ovid next week.  If you have something innovative that you'd like to share, please let me know.

Tony Collins October 26:
Brooke Habberfield has been able to get Tony Collins here next week the 26th, which is a B day.  He will give a 30 minute presentation for MS'ers during 3rd period, and the plan is to have HS'ers 4th period.  I know it's fairly short notice, but Tony is a popular speaker with a great message.  Instead of running some sort of hour delay schedule, I think it would work better to cut the 3/4 block in half for that day.  If anyone has a major issue with that, please let me know.

Here is Tony's website:  http://www.tonycollinsfoundation.com


Scott Fitch presentation:
I am rescheduling the Scott Fitch presentation to sometime in November. I'll keep you posted.

New BOCES School Improvement Newsletter
Some great stuff in this week's newsletter.


December Music Notes:

Please DO NOT plan any field trips or any rewards trips/activities (Falcon Flyers) that will ruin my only (2) opportunities to have a full band in the auditorium before the concerts for MS and HS on December 12-15

Since Kyla and I have overlapping schedules with band and chorus ensembles it is so much more difficult to plan moving into the auditorium and coordinating dress rehearsals.  Way more difficult than last year when we had no over laps with ensembles and the mater schedule.  So the success depends on help moving any major filed trips or activates that take large amount of Sr. High Kids from school during those dates.

I appreciate your help in keeping these dates as free as possible and working with other staff to understand out concerns to avoid trips or reward activities December 12-15

Monday, October 17

Great Ideas - Share 'Em
Have a great idea you'd like to share with others.  Please send it to me and I'll post it in our
Great Ideas folder.  For example, check out what Patty Parsons is doing with Google Classroom.

PD pretty much set for Friday
Check on the link to see where we have you.  Any problems, let me or Missy know.  One note on the sessions with Justin from BOCES:  He has made an on-line class that will take you through everything related to Google Drive (docs, sheets, etc.) and Classroom.  He can show you how to get into the class and/or help you with other things.

Latest Memo from NYS Commissioner
Subject: Public Comment Period for United States Department of Education’s (USDE) Negotiated Rulemaking related to the supplement, not supplant requirement within the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

Video worth watching
Please click on the video link above from the Gates Foundation.  There are some good resources for educators on the Gates site, so please check it out after you watch the video. You can also sign up for their newsletter.


Newsletters:

Office of Special Education News and Notes – August 2016



Articles

Social-emotional learning sets stage for school success

Why The Art of Speaking Should Be Taught Alongside Math and Literacy

School Leaders' Guide: 45 Ways to Support Struggling Readers


United Way reminder from John Robertson:
Hello all,
  Once again I am the South Seneca MS/HS point person for the United Way's 2017 campaign for donations.  I will be placing donation forms in mailboxes.  I was given a limited number of forms. Please let me know if I miss you and I will get more.  Anybody who would like to donate can return their form to me between now and November 1st.  I am happy to say that last year we donated $623!  It would be great to increase that number this year.   In the interest of saving paper and avoiding clutter, here are some examples of what our donations have done in Seneca County:
-  200,000 meals were provided to those in need
-  $1.4 million in tax credits and refunds were secured for free to our community members who were connected to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program
-  250 children received books of their own to read or have family members read to them.
  Please consider donating to the United Way. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Sincerely,
John Robertson

Friday, October 14

October 14 -- I hope you all have a great weekend!

Student Access to the Portal
Several teachers have asked me about making the portal available to students, and I've been able to work this out.  Steve Andrews from CNYRIC took our student names, emails, and student numbers.  He will add temporary passwords whenever I want him to.  Let's do this grade by grade.  We would need to have students go into the system and change the temporary passwords, which last about 7 days.  Team members, please discuss this and let me know.

Adviser Training 10/25
Please invite your class and club officers.  The live training would be best, and kids could get the 3:00 bus if they ride.

4 Whitepapers that I just downloaded
I have yet to review these. Feel free to use these personally or with teams/departments:

• Shifting the Culture of Mathematics in Your District
• The Shift to Digital Education: 4 Hallmarks of Digital Learning Success
• Using Multiple Measures to Redefine Success
• A Roadmap to Improved Writing As A Key to Success

Observations
Missy and I will be reviewing observations soon.  There's a good chance that we will both observe most teachers and split up the announced / unannounced observations. 

Inmates of Willard
I saw this on my Facebook feed yesterday. Some good local history notes. 

Four weeks left to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards!


MS conference program for October 21
If this isn't live yet, check again in a few days:



Articles:

Five Education Strategies to Reach the "Touchscreen" Generation

The new 3 Rs—respect, responsibility, and relationships

Tuesday, October 11

Planner for this week below. Please let me know if I'm missing anything.

assembly	Tuesday, October 11, 2016	8:45 AM	Red Cross training for 9th and 10th
assembly	Wednesday, October 12, 2016	8:45 AM	Red Cross training for 11th and 12th
Marking periods	Wednesday, October 12, 2016		5 week grade due by 8 am
School board	Wednesday, October 12, 2016	7:00 PM	Board Meeting - Interlaken
Marking periods	Friday, October 14, 2016		Five week reports mailed

Get me some stories for the HS News site:
Got something cool to share?  Please send the info to me.  I'm working on getting the HS News blog to become an electronic school newspaper run by an adviser. I'll keep you up to date. 

Check the meeting schedule for Tuesday the 11th:
Remember, there's a meeting tab on the master schedule file.

• Math dept - meets with Missy
• Industrial Arts - meets with Tim
• Health/PE - meets with Cathy Flanders

Adviser meeting Tuesday Oct. 25
A financial expert will be in the building to speak with advisers.  The presentation concerns the proper handling of class and club funds. This is a mandatory meeting which will take place in the aud at 2:30 sharp.

Middle School Conference Draft of Events for Oct. 21
See this file for the workshops that will take place on Friday, October 21.

IST/RTI Flowchart 2016-1017

This file is now in staff share / IST-RTI.

Weatherbug Experiential STEM Program  
Looks interesting!  Click here for the Weatherbug site.  Let me know if it looks good to you.  We can try to bring their stuff here.

From WeatherBug:
We are ready to bring you the WeatherBug Experience. We recently developed K-12 lessons and activities that will advance your school initiatives including meeting various standards.  In addition, you will become the WeatherBug Hub for the community.

Interested in joining? I can setup a brief consultation at your convenience. Let's talk soon and make it happen! This generation of students needs it to happen.

Mark Hyer  Director of Education Sales
O: 301-250-4123
mhyer@weatherbug.com
WeatherBug Schools Program

A story from a WeatherBug School
"I don't really have story, but I can tell you how it has affected some of my "overlooked" students. I choose 2 students each week to look up the weather daily by using the weather bug site. They prepare a weather report to give during announcements each day. I choose the students that sometimes get overlooked.  They are not athletic, in advance classes etc... Being allowed to do the weather report each day during announcements makes them feel special. Teachers and students are listening to them. Teachers and students will also ask these kids in the hall, lunch and other places "Hey, what is the weather going to be like today (or tomorrow?") It gives them recognition that they may not get otherwise. They feel important. I choose a select number of students and we rotate weekly. Sometimes we need to look beyond academics and teach our students that YES, you are important. YES, You can do important things and YES, you are needed. Everyone has something to offer. That is why I choose the students that the are "different, quite and overlooked. Lets give them a moment to "shine" and feel wanted, needed and to know they can contribute to their school and classmates information that everyone needs.

National Bullying Prevention Month

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and NYSUT and its national affiliates — the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association — have made available an
array of online resources to raise awareness about this important issue and to provide valuable tools for educators, students and parents. 

Articles:

Does the classroom of the future look more like a coffee shop?

Unlocking the Power of Inquiry Based Learning

What Germany Can Teach the U.S. About Vocational Education

Almost all education research takes place in the US — but Finland is using it better