Monday, September 26

Planner this week:

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

Observation process

We will be starting up observations in the next couple of weeks.  We will have 2 observations - 1 announced and 1 unannounced during the school year.

Please remember that observations will be conducted on My Learning Plan (MLP) this year.  I encourage you to sign on and play around so you can identify any questions sooner than later.

There is a pre-conference form built into MLP, but here is a blank copy of the pre-conference form that many teachers have used in the past. This form is in staff share / appr.  It is completely up to you which form you complete.  You simply have to fill out the MLP on line and click submit or fill this out and add it as an attachment.

Finally, I have been told that using Google Chrome is the best way to access and is most compatible with MLP.

Scott Fitch - presentation on October 28:

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.  

• Are they comfortable with their social media?
• Sexting
• Cyberbullying
• Caring for others online (helping each other in a case of someone considering causing themselves bodily harm)
• Challenge them with who they are
• Setting goals 
• Trying to achieve them

He wouldn't mind giving this presentation to all grade 6 to 12.  MS teaches, please let me know what you think.  Should we have him give two separate presentations? Right now, I'm planning on running a one hour delay schedule for this event. 

Here is Scott's bio. 

Meetings scheduled:
Missy has filled in meetings through February (meetings tab in the master). Please take a look. Remember, links to department classrooms are on the right.

Homecoming Info

This is Homecoming week!  This year, the theme is A DAY AT THE MOVIES.  The Dress Up days are as follows:

Monday - Avenge the Dead (Marvel)

Tuesday - Finding Houseknecht (Disney)

Wednesday - Run Fast with Flash (DC Comics)

Thursday - Nature Exploration (Animal Planet)

Friday - Gotta Catch 'Em All (Pokemon Black&Gold)

Each day, staff are welcomed to join in the Dress Up Fun!!!  If you are dressed up for the day, you can add a point to whichever Class you would like, but you have to let Lisa or I know which class you would like to be counted for.  

In addition, there will be a Spirit Stick hidden somewhere in the High School.  Each class has donated $25 toward the pool.  ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND FACULTY MAY LOOK FOR THE SPIRIT STICK.  If a student finds the stick, the $100 will go toward their class.  If a faculty finds the stick, that person will choose which class to donate the $100 to.  If no one finds the stick, the pool will be held for next year (to create a $200 pool next year).  Let's have fun with this and boost the school spirit within the High School. 

STUDENTS ARE TO LOOK FOR THE STICK DURING LUNCH OR LEARNING LAB ONLY!  

A Pep Rally Schedule will be run on Friday, September 30th.  I will send out a seating chart by Wednesday in order to take your classes to the right area.  I am sorry to shorten another day of classes, but let's take Homecoming out with a bang! 

The Homecoming parade will take place Friday, September 30th at 5:30 PM beginning at the Ovid Federated Church.  Please join us in celebrating with the community.  The parade will end at the school and lead right to the football game!  

Finally, I have attached the flyer that will be in the paper in order for you to see when ALL of the Homecoming games will occur next week.  

If you have ANY questions, please let Lisa or I know! 

Thank you,

Felicia & Lisa 

HS Student Government Advisors


BEDS day October 5:
I'll be giving you more info on this soon.
I made a folder for this stuff in staff share / teacher files / BEDS. 

Friday, September 23

Agendas and notes for your departments in G Classroom
For any older notes that I could find in my drive, I moved them into your departments' classrooms. Instead of using a Google doc, let's use an assignment for each meeting agenda.  That way, we can add info or comment directly from the assignment, and we won't have to click into a document. files I might have found are now in your classroom folder if you'd like to refer to them.

Video about the meetings tab in the master schedule
A wonderfully produced video, worthy of an Emmy.

Volunteers Needed for Wine Country Dog Show
Our local Lions Club is looking for volunteers on October 1 and 2.  This is taking place
2 shifts - 7am to noon, noon to 6 or so.
Call Paul McPherson or Deb Bush at 227-8993.
http://www.winecountrycabins.com/winecountrycircuit/
The Lions Club gets paid per volunteer, and that money goes into Lions activities.  This represents almost 40% of the Lions budget.  Any help would be appreciated.


Draft Standards
Today, from noon to almost 1:00, Commissioner Elia held a press conference to announced the release of new DRAFT State Standards for English and Mathematics. Educators and the general public may comment on the DRAFT Standards, now through November 4. The new draft learning standards for ELA and mathematics are available on SED's AIMHighNY website for public review and comment.

State Memo
Memo concerning expired certificates

Tech Tip from Denny:
Removing Type-ahead names from the e-mail address line
New to me solution for removing the names that come up in the address field automaticcaly that we may not want.

If you've ever sent a message to a wrong address, the wrong address then starts appearing in your To: list when you use the "Type-ahead" feature.  Same thing when a name changes, or a person's e-mail address changes.

This can be corrected in iNotes (webmail) Preferences => Basic => TypeAhead by selecting the address(es) you don't want and clicking Remove.

Pictures are here:
https://docs.google.com/a/southseneca.org/document/d/12YepcgbGTc84pyYe_J4kjHzDPzP5bQXFZVxzogYinVM/edit?usp=sharing

One could choose to check the box to "disable Type-ahead for all name fields."  Most users probably won't choose to do that, although names that are in the South Seneca directory would still be found with just a few letters.

From Tim:
Another thing to avoid the issue (happens to me a lot) is to start by typing in the last name.  That way, when I want to send something to Karen Sanchez vs. Karen Denmark, I won't have the problem.

Note on tech tips like the one above:
I put several labels on this post, one being "tech tips."  As I post more, you can search this wonderful blog by tech tips or any other label I've made.

BOCES Newsletters

Articles:

Crowdfunding the Classroom

Wednesday, September 21

16-17 Evaluation Process     Click on the title.  This file is in staff share / appr.

Browser Tip:  Have more than one home page
Watch this video I just made to have more than one home page.  They will all open every time you open your browser. This option was just made available from our friends in the CTS department.

Action Plan Covered in Tuesday's Meetings
This file is in staff share / meetings.  If you'd like to review and even comment, please click on the title.  Your input is welcome and vital.

Some new files in the Special Ed folder. 

Google Hangouts
Paul has turned on Access to Google Hangouts for teachers only.  If you need training with this, please contact Justin from BOCES.


PD Opportunity - Google Hangouts
This is the same opportunity that Patty Parsons shared a few days ago:

Google Hangouts for Collaboration is being offered on mylearningplan.com on September 22 from 3:45-4:45.  This is an ONLINE course, so you won't have to travel to BOCES.  Here is the event description from MLP:

This 1-hour online workshop will introduce teachers and administrators to a free, powerful, and easy to use tool for collaboration. 

Why use Google Hangouts? 
You can easily collaborate with colleagues from near and far. Collaborate with Instructional Specialists from BOCES, create learning opportunities with teachers across the globe, share resources with colleagues in other buildings, and enhance student learning experiences. 

How can I use Hangouts in the classroom? 
Connect with other classrooms from across the country or the globe. Meet with families who cannot make it to campus for a conference. Conduct help sessions for students and guardians. Coordinate with experts to virtually visit your classroom and share their expertise. Give student presentations an authentic audience. 

What is Google Hangouts? 
Hangouts is a video conferencing tool that allows 2 to 25 people to collaborate online. Similar to Skype or Facetime in concept, Hangouts has additional functionality, allowing seamless real-time screen sharing, text-based chats, and video meetings. It is free, easy to use, and works across all platforms and on all devices. No login is required to participate! The link needed for the workshop will be emailed to you prior to the start of the event.

Monday, September 19

BOCES Newsletters

High School Web Page Updates
The HS student/parent handbook is updated and linked from the top of the home page.  Do I need any more links from the HS  home page? Let me know.

PD Schedule for Tuesday
We're pretty much all set.  Please click on the title.

Half day schedule tomorrow
We will run the regular half day schedule on Tuesday, which is the same as last year.  Unfortunately, no morning break, so get your bagel early.  I don't love this schedule, but I'd be happy to brainstorm some ideas with folks.

Learning Labs
A few teachers asked about access to the LMC from learning labs.
The paragraph below is in our student handbook, so let's examine it:

O. Learning Lab:  Students will use the learning lab to complete homework, work on remedial assignments, or work on enrichment activities.  Students must have a pre-signed pass, or an honor pass to leave a learning lab.  Students must sign out of the learning lab indicating their destination. All learning labs are to be quiet so as not to interfere with the opportunity for other students to work.

1. Just as the first sentence states, let's make sure that students are doing their work. I'll leave it up to individual staff members whether well behaved students can listen to music during learning labs, but they need to be using the time to complete work.
2. Sentence #2 states that students must have a pre-signed pass or honor pass to leave a learning lab for another location. I think it's safe to say that if a student had an honor pass at the end of 15-16, that student can start the year as if they had one. Jody and I can work on a list of some sort that will possibly disallow students who are not doing anything in the LMC. Please provide students with passes to go to other locations such as the LMC.
3. Please make sure that all students sign into a learning lab. They should not be allowed into the LMC or any other place without a pass. 
4. Let's all work together to ensure students are using the time wisely. Thanks. 

NYS Middle  School Association Conference in Watkins Glen
This year's conference is in Watkins Glen on October 21st. Because of the close proximity of this year's conference, I would like our shared teachers to attend. Last year's conference had some very good programs, and I'm sure you'll be impressed this year.  Please  click the link in the title above.

Let's sign up for Promethean Classflow:
If we get 25 teachers interested in Promethean Classflow online lessons, we'll get a free on-site training.  Please check it out here.  Don't sign up on this link.  I'll do it so that we get credit for the 25. I guess I could just sign everyone up, but I'd rather gauge your interest first. Please let me know if you're interested. Thanks.

Please show video this to your students
Especially those who drive. I hired this girl a couple years ago, and it was a powerful presentation. I'll try to bring her here.

Chromebooks for those kids whose parents don't want them:
There are several students whose parents do not want them to have a Chromebook, but the parents have agreed for their children to use something while in school. The best way to handle this is to get an extra laptop from the library to keep in your room.  Please speak with Jody.  We're going to try and deplete the inventory of one laptop cart to handle  this.  It would be best for the kid to leave the room without a computer since we don't want the wrath of the parents to fall upon us.

Attendance reminder:

Please remember that your Period 1 attendance is your homeroom/daily attendance.  If a student arrives late to Period 1 class and you have already updated your attendance, that student must come to the office to sign in.  They will be marked tardy.  This is very important.  

Autism Videos:
I recently received a very nice email from a parent whose child has autism. She stated:
I realize he is only one student out of possibly 150-200 you may see on a daily basis. Remembering tips for success for one student is not realistic, and I understand that. Since most of my son's academic issues revolve around his executive dysfunction, and I imagine you have multiple students with the same, (to varying degrees); this year I thought I would share 2 helpful videos from adults on the spectrum with executive dysfunction. The first video is 11 minutes and the second is 8. I would like to encourage you to take 20 minutes to watch these videos, and also to share them with your colleagues if you find them to be of value.   Executive functioning delays don't just affect those on the autism spectrum, but those with ADHD and ADD. These are the links for the videos:
Ask An Autistic - What is Executive Functioning? 
Executive Function (a response to Ask an Autistic)

Articles:
NYS Middle School Association - several great looking articles

Thursday, September 15

PD schedule set for next Tuesday:
Please check the PD schedule.  I have descriptions at the bottom of this list.  I moved aides below teachers since they will be doing a few different things.

Composting presentation:

Interested in getting involved with the community garden? At least one Cornell official will present how to start a composting project here in collaboration with the cafeteria.  The presentation will be on 9/20 at noon in the upper caf.  Please let me know if you're interested.  We'd like to run something similar to Waterloo. Waterloo also has a garden that is run by the school. 

Student meetings are now linked from the HS home page. 

Lunch duties
Please check the Duties tab on the master.  I've been making some adjustments.  Don't worry about the 2nd semester lunch duty area.  I know that one is not correct, but I'll get to it as the dust settles.

Picture day on Friday
Here's how we'll handle picture day: The middle school students do it during forum and the high school students do it during Lunch or Learning Labs. This allows the least amount of disruption with students classes. This year we are doing the pictures in the wrestling room to allow the flow of students in and out easier for the photographers and the students.

Open House Notes:
If you have any time related conflicts, please let me know asap if you haven't already. If you're one of the few with a conflict, please leave a big note with nice and big font on your door with any relevant info you can share. Thanks for your work on this.  I will give a short presentation for all parents in the aud at 6.  After that, I'll turn 'em loose. 

Saturday, September 10

Hi,
I hope your first week went well.  With the exception of some self inflicted schedule gaffes, it went OK for me.  I hope the A-D rotation is working out well for you.  The biggest challenge is the middle school art rotation.  But as Falcons, we love challenges! Let me know how I can help you as the year progresses. Thanks. 

Student Meeting File
Having a student meeting after school or during the morning break?  Please put it here.  
This file is in staff share / a-schedules-calendars. I've also linked it from the master "links" tab. The file will help us to coordinate meetings.  Everyone has edit rights, so please be careful not to write over other stuff. Any questions, let me know. 

Chromebooks:
Please remind your students to turn in their signed Chromebook permission forms by Tuesday (to the Main Office) or they will not receive a Chromebook on Wednesday Period 1 with the rest of the students.  Knowing how important this is to many classes in the high school, we could use your help.  Please speak with your students about this in class.

Castle Learning Info
Let's use this program to its potential.  It's great for review.  All of the files here are posted in staff share / tech / Castle Learning files. 

Teacher directions       Student List with ID numbers       Students' Access Guide

Google Classroom - Guardian Email Summaries
Please check this video to see how  you can include parents in Google Classroom. This is a really nice feature. While I'm thinking about videos, I found this video pretty quickly.  You don't really need to create your own videos if you don't have the time/inclination to do so. There are so many good things out there.  Just  search and include them in some Google Classroom lessons. 

Click on pic to enlarge.

Events:
September 16 - Free Cornell Bird Science Event


Articles:
Using the SAT as a High School Graduation Exam

Early September Notes

Have a great week and a great year!  As always, let me know  how  I can help.

Wednesday morning in the HS:
HS folks, please take a look at how things are running on Wednesday and let me know of any issues you see that need adjusting. Thanks. 

Have you accepted your invitations to various teams in Google Drive?
Good Curriculum Map Example:

Please check out Fran Copp's new Creative Crafts map.  It's set up by month.  This format is bit different than a multi-column document that you might have seen or the learning targets docs that I started to make last year.   That's ok; it has essential info concerning the course in a format that works. Remember, I'm trying to get all curriculum documents into
staff share / curriculum. 


Modified AIS Rules
Please read the memo linked here.  FYI: For any state memos I receive, I put them in Staff Share / News / State Memos. 

Can Your Cayuga??
Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Sign up for "Can You Cayuga." It's a fun paddling event starting and ending from Stewart Park in Ithaca. I signed up myself. Let's see if we can get some Falcons over there! http://www.cayugalake.org/64.html

Community Garden Training Opportunity

The note below if from Ave Bauder.  See the links I've placed here for applications and info. 

Please pass this information along to anyone you think will be interested.  Seems relevant for school gardens, Farm to School, and community gardens.

W. Averell H. Bauder, Executive Director

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Seneca County

(315) 539-9251, Bauder@Cornell.edu

Articles:
Scholastic Spotlight of the month:  Celebrate Our Constitution
Can We Make the Teaching Profession Noble Again?


Poster Vendor Info Below.  You might also want to check with BOCES
New for the 2016 school year is our Depth of Knowledge (DOK) poster. We are a registered vendor with most school districts for wall posters of the Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core (including College and Career Readiness) and various other classroom resource/inspirational posters.

The full color wall posters are 39 x 27 inches, UV gloss coated, and are dry erase friendly.  Wall posters are $7.00 each with discount pricing of $6.00 each on 100 plus posters in any mix/match combination.  Also available in common core standards are 8.5 x 11 inch handouts which are in color and printed on heavyweight gloss text stock, priced at .50 cents per sheet.  

All posters may be viewed by visiting our website:   http://www.kressdesign2.com/
Order forms are available to print from our website or I can provide one via email by request. Orders can also be placed directly on-line.  We accept purchase orders.  

Cindy Kress, Kress Design 2