Week of October 31

Bus Duty: Smith and Levy

The slide show in the commons area looks amazing!  If you have a minute, let the leadership kids in Angie's fifth period class know how much we appreciate their efforts to inform our staff and student body.

Monday 10/31 - Freedom, sweet freedom.  We will experience the same freedom on 11/7 and cross district collaboration on 11/14.
Tuesday 11/1 -
Wednesday 11/2 - Kaiser, Chase, Smith - Thinking Strategies - all day
Thursday 11/3 -
Friday 11/4 - 

Breakfast in the Classroom
Remember the conversation we had at the beginning of the year about eating breakfast in class?  The milk and juice spill into the trash and leak out. It makes the room smell bad.  Kids are hanging out in the cafeteria until the bell rings, then they go get their breakfast. 
Please remind them to eat their breakfast in the cafeteria and finish before the bell rings.

Here is a guy with interesting ideas:

Week of October 24th

Week of October 24th 
Bus Duty: Ben and Lena

Monday 10/24- Collaboration Day
Tuesday 10/25 -
Wednesday 10/26 -
Thursday 10/27 -
Friday 10/28 - Activity schedule for Boo Boo Q:  Angie will follow with more information... Right, Angie?

Thank you, Angie, for the presentation in the commons.  Everyone is enjoying the fall flavor of the slide show and all the information it contains.

Monday Collaboration
7:00  - Cross disrict collaboration
8:30- 10:00 Faculty Collaboration
10:15 - 11:15 Dept. mtgs
11:30 SLT Meeting
12:15 - lunch
1:00 - 2:00 MTSS
2:00 - We will be excused at 2:00 because you did not get your duty free lunch on the PSAT day.

What if we all just talked less?
What did you think about this passage from page 81 of Visible Learning for Teachers... "This dominance of teacher talk leads to particular relationships being developed in classrooms - mainly aimed at facilitating teacher talk and controlling the transmission of knowledge:  'Keep quiet, behave, listen, and then react to my factual, closed questions when I ask you,'  Interaction means, "tell me what I have just said so that I can check that you were listening, and then I can continue talking."  

Here are some strategies to reduce teacher talk from this website:  https://classteaching.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/reducing-teacher-talk/

1. If a student asks a question, instead of answering it yourself, ask another student.
2. If a student makes a great contribution to a class discussion, don’t be tempted to add      to it yourself, ask another student to.
3. Student groups present their work, which is then critiqued by the rest of the class.  Give direction to the critique though e.g. each group focuses on a different aspect of the presentation and all students have to give feedback that is kind, specific and helpful.
4. Hidden resource – working in pairs/small groups, one student has a picture that is relevant to the learning, that they do not share with the other students.  The other students then have to question  them to find out what it is.
5. Snowballing – pose a question, then give students thinking time (individually) to come up with an answer.  Discuss their answers in pairs and come up with an agreed answer.  Then in fours – then each four shares with the class.
6. Phone a friend  – if students get stuck they can ‘phone a friend’ – literally by mimicking  a phone with their hand, and a ringtone!  Other students can ‘answer’ (again mimicking a phone with their hand) and offer support with their question.
7. Use visual symbols for anchors. 1 stick man = work alone, 2 = pairs, 3 = group, house = HW, open book = read quietly, pen=writing.
8. Give yourself a ration – say 10 mins in a lesson. Let one student time  and call stop when time is up. Even q&a sessions count.
9. Write a series of questions on post its. Students write their name and  answer on it and stick on the board.   Students then look at all of the post its and discuss the answers.
10. Think, pair, share – pose questions, give students thinking time to answer the questions, discuss it in a pair and then share their agreed  answer.
11. Diamond 9 – students have to discuss the relative importance of 9 statements (on card) and then agree their ranking by placing them in a diamond shape (1,2,3,2,1).
12. The perfect answer – have a number of exam questions around the room on A3 paper.  Groups of students then answer a question each.  They then rotate, look at the previous answer and improve it.  They keep doing this until all groups have contributed to all questions and you end up with…..the perfect answer!

Because I think it's funny:

Week of October 17

Week of October 17
Bus Duty: Angie and Whitney

Monday 10/17- No school
Tuesday 10/18 -
Wednesday 10/19 - College and Career Preparedness Day
Thursday 10/20 -
Friday 10/21 - Activity schedule to decorate for Halloween: refer to Angie's earlier email for more information.  Just to reiterate some important points: Please provide your own duct tape, masking tape, and mounting tacks.  Use the cork board strips as much as possible. 

Things to NOT USE include:  strobe lights, fog/smoke machines,  gel cling stickers, and blood in any form.  

Senior Project
Here is the Senior ppt. we didn't get to see during our faculty meeting.
Here are some key features:

• Meet once a week, or as needed
• Things to check
• Grades
• Attendance
• Environment (how are they doing with friends etc.)
• Communication
• Email
• Phone call
• Track in a folder

Here is a form for tracking contacts that Christy Smith has so kindly developed.

I predict this program will grow and improve over time. Let's discuss how things are going at our next faculty meeting and we can share ideas etc. at that time. In the meantime, if you have any issues or concerns, please drop me an email or stop by.

Week of October 10

For the Week of  October 10
Bus Duty: Susan Thomas p.m./ Anthony Hook a.m.

Professional Learning Plan and Career Ladder - A note from Kelly Ostrom

In summary, certificated staff need to begin their IPLP and portfolios this year 2016/2017, if they wish to be eligible for the premium at the end of the 2018/2019 school year. 

The first group to apply for the $4,000 premium will send their portfolios in to the Board of Education Committee after 7/1/2019.  Once their portfolio is approved from the Board of Education committee, they would receive a $4,000 stipend in 19//20, 20/21 and 21/22 which equates to a $12,000 stipend.

We don't have all the answers, but staff are free to call either:

  -   Blake Youde at 1-208-332-1591 or  - Tracy Bent at 1-208-332-1582  who are with the Idaho Board of Education.  We are working on getting them to come up for a workshop for interested staff.  They are also invited to call me and I can certainly work on finding the answers.  More to come on the workshop.

I will be putting all this information on the District website under HR/HR information with a "FAQ" section as we move forward. 

This is an individual certificated staff member's responsibility and is not part of their employment, contract, or evaluation.  This is an option offered by the Board of Education for those that are eligible and interested in applying

      Kelly Ostrom
For more information, click on Professional Learning Plan and Professional Career Ladder under Resources and Information ------>>>>>>>>

College/Career Day October 19
Reminder of upcoming college and career readiness day.

Monday Collaboration Oct. 10
7:00 - 8:00 - Cross district collaboration
8:15 -10:00 - Faculty Collaboration - including book study Agenda
10:00 - 11:00 Dept. meetings
11:00 - SLT Meeting
12:00- lunch
1:00- MTSS mtg

Tuesday
8:00 - 9:30 Safe Drive 3D Program Sponsored by Idaho Transportation Department.  Heidi will call students down when it's time.  Please remind them of polite behavior with guest speakers.