Week of October 30

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Cooley and Doering

Monday 10/30:  Non work day
Tuesday 10/31:  
Wednesday 11/1: Kaiser, Smith, Fehling, Gaynor at workshop
Thursday 11/2:   Kaiser, Smith, Fehling, Gaynor at workshop
Friday 11/3: 


Bus/Parking lot duty:  Fehling  

Monday 11/6:  Collaboration Day
Tuesday 11/7:  3:30 Mandatory Training for all Special Ed staff
Wednesday 11/8: IMEN VISIT.  
Thursday 11/9:   
Friday 11/10: 

IMEN Visit
On Wednesday, Nov. 8, IMEN will be visiting Venture High School.  They will be asking us about how our grading, delivery of instruction, instructional activities etc. reflect the the work we've done using the IMEN grant.  I will be pulling some progress reports randomly (names whited out) to show them how every teacher is using a mastery-based approach toward assessing and grading students.  We will talk about this more on our collaboration day, but it would be helpful if you could reflect on how your own practices have changed so we can share the progress we've made.  Also, if you have any questions or areas where you'd like more help, please email them to me so I can give them ideas for how they can support us as we continue this work.

Danielson Model Domain 3b
Possibly the two most important components of a classroom where students learn the material the teacher is hoping they will learn are high quality questioning and discussion strategies.  High quality questions and discussions promote quality thinking and higher levels of understanding in students.  My own anecdotal observations have led me to believe that these components are possibly the most significant indicators of high levels of learning.  And yet, these strategies are too often (way too often) missing from classroom instruction.  Here is a link that has some ideas for promoting quality discussions:

Week of October 23

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Beck and Clark

Monday 10/23:  7:00 cross district department meetings  9:00 Staff Meeting followed by department meetings

Tuesday 10/24: Title Monitoring Dept. of Ed
Wednesday 10/25:  Kaiser: Conference
Thursday 10/26:  Kaiser: Conference
Friday 10/27: Boo BQ

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Cooley and Doering

Monday 10/30:  Non work day
Tuesday 10/31:  
Wednesday 11/1: 
Thursday 11/2:   
Friday 11/3: 

New Baby!
Welcome Jace Hamill!

Grants Awarded!
The EXCEL Foundation has awarded two grants to Venture High School.  Angie Beck and her Leadership students requested and received $4494 to fund their "Courtyard Connections" project.
Connie Drager and Matt Flieger requested and received $5,000 to fund the Cope 2 Thrive classes.
Thank you for writing these grants, Angie, Connie, and Matt.  These projects will make a difference for students, staff and the community.

Fisheye Teaching
Do you know what Fisheye teaching is? If you're not using some kind of system to ensure that all students are really participating, you might be a Fisheye teacher. Read this post and think about how you KNOW that all of your students are participating.

Gallery walk is a strategy for increasing student participation.  Here are some short videos describing the Gallery Walk strategy and how to use it. 

This video is another way using gallery walk.  This video can be shown to students to explain the process:

Week of October 16

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Smith and Gaynor

Monday 10/16:  Non work day
Tuesday 10/17:  
Wednesday 10/18: 
Thursday 10/19:   Kaiser, Doering, Smith, Gaynor: IMEN conference
Friday 10/20:  Kaiser, Doering, Smith, Gaynor: IMEN conference

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Beck and Clark

Monday 10/23:  9:00 Staff Meeting followed by department meetings
Tuesday 10/24: 
Wednesday 10/25:  Kaiser: Conference
Thursday 10/26:  Kaiser: Conference
Friday 10/27: Boo BQ and Picture retakes

Classroom Discussions:  Hearing every voice
Next to lecture, classroom conversations is the most frequently used learning strategy.  However, this powerful learning tool is rarely used to its full potential.  This article discusses strategies for effectively using academic conversations as a learning tool in your classroom.

IMEN Strategic Planning:

Here is a link to the PPT from our collaboration last Monday  As we discussed, we have made quite a bit of progress in our efforts to transition to mastery-based learning.  While there is still more work to do (there is ALWAYS more work to do) let's not lose sight of the progress we've made or the benefits we already see from those efforts.

Video Inspiration....
This video could give you some ideas for your 21st Century Skills class.  Not a video to show kids, but has ideas for teachers.

Week of October 9, 2017

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Meeks and Patterson

Monday 10/9:  8:15 Staff Meeting followed by department meetings
Tuesday 10/10: 
Wednesday 10/11:  PSAT day
Thursday 10/12:
Friday 10/13:

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Smith and Gaynor

Monday 10/16:  Non work day
Tuesday 10/17:  
Wednesday 10/18: 
Thursday 10/19:   Kaiser, Doering, Smith, Gaynor: IMEN conference
Friday 10/20:  Kaiser, Doering, Smith, Gaynor: IMEN conference


Cell Phones:
Please... Please... Please make sure your students are not using phones during class.  Our commitment at the beginning of the year is to take phones if you see or hear them.  You can return them at the end of the period.  You can bring them to the office.  If they come to the office, we keep them till the end of the day.  On the third offense, a parent has to pick them up.  Kids are reporting that they are allowed to use phones in some classes.
This policy is truly in the best of students and we all need to support it.

Another  Video on Cell Phone Addiction.  
This might be a good option for your 21st century class.   He has a powerful message and it could be an option for your class.  The end is especially powerful so if you show it, be sure you show all of it.

Week of October 2

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Levy and Mahoney

Monday 10/2:  Non work day
Tuesday 10/3:  
Wednesday 10/4: Minds on Math (Kaiser and math teachers)
Thursday 10/5:   Minds on Math (Kaiser and math teachers)
Friday 10/6:  No School for Kids or Teachers

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Meeks and Patterson

Monday 10/9:  8:00 Staff Meeting followed by department meetings
Tuesday 10/10: 
Wednesday 10/11:  PSAT day
Thursday 10/12:
Friday 10/13:

Social-Emotional Learning

The School-Connect books aren't here, but the good news is that everyone has full access to the iPortal now so  you can start using and reviewing the lessons before the hard copies arrive.  If you go to http://www.school-connect.net/iportal/set-up-code.php and enter this code: Mods1-4-forVHCDA you will be able to start using the iPortal with all the PowerPoints, student handouts, and lesson extensions.

My  hope is that, with the training we all received, you won't need to have every day of the program laid out for you, but that you'll feel confident to dig into the materials a bit and pull out resources to make this a rich learning experience for you and the kids.

Here is the program I would recommend:  Tuesday and Wednesday are given over to School-Connect lessons and Thursday and Friday are for academic support.  We can discuss this more thoroughly during our staff meeting on October 9th.  The important, essential, 

More SEL...

• This website: http://www.casel.org/ has a wealth of information about SEL.  It is a strong possibility that you will be too busy to dig into the resource; however, I wanted to share the following clip as it helps clarify why this is a worthwhile investment of our time and resources:

• SEL Impact on Academic Outcomes

  According to a 2011 meta-analysis of 213 studies involving more than 270,000 students, those who participated in evidence-based SEL programs showed an 11 percentile-point gain in academic achievement compared to students who did not participate in SEL programs. Compared to students who did not participate in SEL programs, students participating in SEL programs also showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school.

Here is another article from the Atlantic that is worth a quick perusal:
Here is an article to follow up with our SEL training with Keeth Matheney.  

Week of September18

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Adam and Whitney

Monday 9/18:  Non work day
Tuesday 9/19:   8:00 -11:00 More "Fun with Data" (Kaiser)
Wednesday 9/20: 9:00 - 4:00 Data Summit (Kaiser)
Thursday 9/21:  1:00 - 4:00 CTEMS training (Kaiser)
Friday 9/22:  8:00 - 3:30  ASCA model training (Kaiser, Flieger)

Monday 9/25:  7:00 Secondary Cross-District Collaboration (all Venture staff at Venture)
Tuesday 9/26: 
Wednesday 9/27:
Thursday 9/28:
Friday 9/29:

School-Connect Training
Keith Matheny from School-Connect will be training Venture staff  on 9/25 from 7:00 - 3:00 in the library.  We will provide QDoba in Angie's room at 11:00.
Visit the School-Connect website for more information.


October 6
Originally, October 6 was scheduled as a work day for Venture. However, since we had the Sound-Discipline Resilience day in August, we don't need to work Oct. 6

Video... The Impact of Cell Phones on Relationships.  Consider showing this in an advisory class:

Week of September 11

For the Week of September 11
Bus/Parking Lot Duty: Lena and Donal

Monday 9/11:  Non work day
Tuesday 9/12: 
Wednesday 9/13:
Thursday 9/14:
Friday 9/15:

Monday 9/18:  Non work day
Tuesday 9/19: 
Wednesday 9/20: 
Thursday 9/21: 
Friday 9/22:

THANK YOU FOR AN OUTSTANDING FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!!
Thank you for your commitment to a school culture that supports academic, social, and emotional learning.  Thank you for the many, many ways you show the kids (and each other) that you care and that Venture is a safe place to learn and grow.

Teacher Individualized Learning Plan
In the coming week, I will be setting appointments with each certified staff member to talk about your own professional goals for the coming year and set times for your observations.  This year, we will all use this form:  Professional Learning Plan.  Note that it asks you to set at least one goal in at least two of the four domains. I think the form is self explanatory, but let me know if you have any questions.

Here is a short video of Tara Brown (she was our keynote speaker for our district Kick off day)