October 29

Room of the week:
John Barkee
John is pictured giving instructions to his students.  He reviews safety and setup with each student on every tool before they're allowed to use it.  Great job John! 




‘I Didn’t Know It Had a Name’: Secondary Traumatic Stress and Educators
Thanks to Brooke for sending this out last week.  Please click the title to read the article.

Speaker on December 3
Just getting out in front of this one:  We have a speaker coming in on December 3rd, which is our half day.  We'll have to get a bit creative with scheduling.  More to follow.   I'm working on another program to come in just before the holiday break.  It's a very timely anti-vaping program.


State Education Department Releases draft NYS K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards for Stakeholder Feedback

The New York State Education Department has released a draft of the NYS K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards for stakeholder feedback. The draft standards were developed and reviewed by committees consisting of NYS educators, parents, curriculum specialists, school administrators, and college professors. Work on the new revised standards reflects the collaborative efforts and expertise of all the above constituents.

NYSED is accepting feedback on the draft standards through November 15.
Visit the NYS K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards Review web page to review the standards and submit feedback.

For more information, contact the Office of Educational Design and Technology at (518) 474-5461 or edtech@nysed.gov.


Supporting All Students: Resource Guides for Scaffolding Instruction of English Language Arts and Mathematics
  • Resource guides aimed to provide teachers with examples of scaffolds and strategies to supplement their instruction of English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics curricula were designed through collaboration between the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and partners in the field. 
  • Their purpose is to give teachers ideas on how they can supplement their instruction when teaching students who need additional support to learn academic content and be successful in meeting grade-level expectations. 
  • The guides use lessons from the EngageNY ELA and mathematics curricula modules as exemplars since this is a free and open source curriculum available for all New York State educators. 
  • The scaffolds in these guides can be adapted for use in any lesson and across content areas and are intended to be customized in any lesson teachers deem appropriate to best meet the needs of their students.
  • More information can be found on the NYSED’s Supporting All Students Resource Guides webpage.
  • Questions can be directed to the Office of Curriculum and Instruction at (518) 474-5922 or EMSCURRIC@nysed.gov. 


Free Online Resource Now Available for Educators to Recognize, Respond to, and Reduce Cyberbullying

A new free online resource is available on the Department’s website to assist school counseling and other staff in recognizing the signs of cyberbullying and how to respond and reduce it.

The resource is available at: CYBERBULLYING Response and Prevention.  Additional resources regarding preventing bullying and cyberbullying, and the Dignity for All Students Act is available on the New York State Center for School Safety’s web page at: New York State Center for School Safety.
Questions about the resources may be directed to SSEC@nysed.gov.


SEL Poster Campaign - Raising Adult Awareness

Increasing capacity and raising awareness is imperative to our success in implementing Social Emotional Learning.
In 2019, NYSED launched a year-long poster campaign designed primarily to increase the social and emotional competencies (and happiness) of Departmental staff and secondarily, to raise awareness around the role of social and emotional learning in our Agency’s work.
Download the posters and read more about the project on our website.
Questions can be directed to the Office of Student Support Services at (518) 486-6090.


October 23, 2019


Classroom of the Week


Rose Tirrito

Rose's middle school kids are doing some great work! 
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PD file
Please check this.  We're getting close to being done.  Missy and I will be finishing it up today.  We're the walking wounded this week, but we're getting it done.


Red Flag Law
Please see the memo linked above from NYS.


Vaping report
Please see the report linked above about vaping.  Thanks.


Win a share of $3 million in classroom technology
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow | 10th Anniversary:
Are you a public school teacher in grades 6–12? Then this contest is for you!  Show us how you and your students will build a better tomorrow with STEM, and you could win up to $100,000 for your school! It's easy. Apply now by entering your idea. From there we'll select 300 state finalists to compete for the big money. Simple as that. Act now before contest ends on October 23rd.



Lock down shades

I just received a sample of a lock down shade.  It looks like a quality item, so I'll be ordering some.  I'll get some measurements soon.
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Six Flags Great Escape Field Trips
I received some info from Six Flags.  Click the link above for specifics.  It looks like a very reasonable deal for anyone planning student trips.


Wow - those library folks making it happen! 




October 15, 2019


Room of the week:
Megan Brunkhorst

Megan is using all sorts of games to get kids engaged. 
Thanks Megan!



TST Tribune - 3 SS students of the month
Three of our students are students of the month at TST BOCES.  Now that's great news.

I just sent out the Restricted list for the first 5 weeks.  There are often questions about what this means (especially with new staff) so if any come up, I will refer them to you and the student code of conduct.

Please check the PD file.  Missy is just about done with it.  Locations still need to be put in, but if there's an issue with your section, please get in touch with either of us. 


Super 6th grade trip!

Thanks to Donna Mosher for organizing a great trip on the Erie Canal.  It was a great trip for the kids.  We have so many opportunities within 50 miles of school. 

Great job on cases
Thanks to Bev Wyckoff for the super work on the Middle School side of the library!





New York State Teacher Retirement Seminars
I just received the seminar schedule. It's posted in the mail room. 







October 7, 2019

Room of the week

Chad Eastman


When Chad moved into this room last year, he took some old scientific tools and put them on the walls.  The room looks great. 

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Thanks for a successful homecoming week!
A big thank you to everyone who made our homecoming week a big success.  A special thanks to our coaches and class advisers. A super huge thank you to Tera Stagg and Jessica Northrup.

Batman (our Grand Marshall) flew in from Gotham City!

Fabulous Freshmen

Swell Sophomores
Jovial Juniors
Super Seniors

Faculty Meeting on Tuesday
We'll meet in the library at 2:30.


Don't "click here" if you don't know where it's coming from!
I just received the email pictured below.  Just a friendly reminder to be very careful.  If you don't know the source, don't click the link.




Navigate Prepared Notes
There have been some questions/concerns about how we will use the Navigate Prepared program.  I don't have all the answers, so I emailed Dan Leakey, the Navigate rep.  Please check the file. You can comment or email me. Thanks.


National Geographic GeoChallenge
Click the link above if you'd like to know more about the National Geographic Geochallenge.  This might be a great project that coincides with our new "Green Team" that we started last year.  The Green Team is a collaborative effort between our school and interested community members. We'll soon be getting the results from the Impact Earth waste study that was done in coordination with the Green Team. Who knows, with the help of Impact Earth and a healthy grant award from Geochallenge, maybe we could make our school more green and tie it in with various classes.

From the Geochallenge page at National Geographic

New Staff & Student Opportunities section in the Master file
I get a lot of event notices, so I'm starting a new section of the links page on the master to store links to those.  Just click on the link pictured at the top, or simply scroll down while on that sheet.  I only have a few things in there now, but I'll add more as I get them.



Sexual Harassment Training

Below is the link for anyone who hasn't taken the training yet.  Please get it done soon if you haven't.

Here is the link for any staff person to take the NYS required Sexual Harassment Training. I am sending it to you and you can forward to staff in your departments.

Just a reminder that staff must take this training within 30 days of hire including substitutes.

https://southseneca-ny.safeschools.com/register/0f71ed8d

Steps to follow:
1- Send link to employee.
2- Employee then registers as self.
3- Employee will then take the training and print a certificate as proof of training.
4- Certificate is then forwarded to Supervisor then to Shelley Reynolds.

Regards,
Naomi Zuckerman
Business Administrator



Trauma Informed Education - show on PBS

A colleague shared this with me last week.  It aired on WCNY, and it's available on their website.  Please click on the title to find it.

This is airing on pbs now. It’s very good. The focus is on trauma and focusing on what happened to these students instead of the behaviors or symptoms. The trauma effects the students perceptions. They have trouble getting around the trauma and graduating.

Just wanted to share this short Connect NY broadcast, "Trauma Informed Education." I watched this last night and find it very interesting because it's something I've though about for some time. I'm particularly interested in pathways for success for these students. The Superintendent of  Rochester schools, appears in the video and was very compelling that this exists on many levels, including with himself, and that students can still find success.

Last week I heard a news broadcast that said 50% of students in the Syracuse district meet the definition of living in poverty. Poverty is among the contributors to family stress and repetitive trauma.


Cool Music Department website area:
Thanks to the music teachers for jazzing up the Music department section of the site!