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 CycleWhile 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.
