Week of December 11, 2017

Bus/Parking lot duty:   Smith and Gaynor

Monday 12/11: 8:00 Faculty Meeting (nuts and bolts and 21st Century check in) 8:30;  9:00 Department meetings
Tuesday 12/12: 
Wednesday 12/13 
Thursday 12/14:   Holiday Dinner for students
Friday 12/15:  

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Beck and Clark
Monday 1/1 New Year's Day
Tuesday 1/2: 
Wednesday 1/3 
Thursday 1/4:  
Friday 1/5:  

Week of December 4, 2017

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Meeks 

Monday 12/4  Kaiser at PBEC
Tuesday 12/5:  Kaiser at PBEC
Wednesday 12/6 Kaiser at PBEC
Thursday 12/7:   Kaiser at PBEC  Holiday dine-in and conferences  3:00 - 7:00
Friday 12/8:  Celebration Assembly 11:15

Bus/Parking lot duty:   Smith and Gaynor

Monday 12/11 Faculty Meeting 8:00
Tuesday 12/12: 
Wednesday 12/13 
Thursday 12/14:   Holiday Dinner for students
Friday 12/15:  

Conferences
Conferences will be December 7th from 3:00 -7:00 PM.  I will not be here, so I'm asking for everyone to take personal responsibility for being in the commons to greet parents as they come in, if you aren't conferencing in your room.

Celebration Assembly
Please talk to your students about the celebration assembly this week in your 21st Century Skills classes.  Some things to teach to... Parents/families will be in attendance, please be gracious hosts, listen politely, enter and exit the gym calmly, clap appropriately, show respect for all the students and speakers.  Anything else...

Volunteer Opportunity
Skyway Elementary is putting together a pretty large community event that will take place on the evening of December 15th.  They have already reached out to Skyway staff and parents as well as Lake City Church for volunteers.  The links to view details about the event and to sign up are below.
I am signed up to volunteer on the evening of December 14th.  If you would like to volunteer either on your own or with some students, here is the link to sign up:  http://lakecity.church/feedchildren/

Week of November 27, 2017

I feel so blessed and fortunate to be part of Venture High School and the amazing work that happens here.  The work you all do is so much more than teaching. You care about kids, their families and their lives and the power of that caring opens up possibilities that might otherwise be impossible.  We all, individually and collectively, maintain a hopeful vision for each of our kids through times when they struggle to see potential in themselves.  I am so thankful for each of you!   I wish for you a Thanksgiving break that renews your strength and refreshes your spirit.
Happy Thanksgiving! 


Bus/Parking lot duty:  Levy and Mahoney

Monday 11/27:  8:00: Staff meeting- bring your School-Connect curriculum  9:00 - 12:00:   Resiliency III Training with Teresa Hurliman; 12:30 Math meeting
Tuesday 11/28:  
Wednesday 11/29:
Thursday 11/30:   
Friday 12/1: Last Day of Trimester

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Meeks 

Monday 12/4  Kaiser at PBEC
Tuesday 12/5:  Kaiser at PBEC
Wednesday 12/6 Kaiser at PBEC
Thursday 12/7:   Kaiser at PBEC  Holiday dine-in and conferences  3:00 - 7:00
Friday 12/8:  Celebration Assembly

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Meeks 

Monday 12/11 Faculty Meeting 8:00
Tuesday 12/12: 
Wednesday 12/13 
Thursday 12/14:   Holiday Dinner for students
Friday 12/15:  

Welcome Miller Gregory Meeks

Week of November 13, 2017

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Higgs and Hook
Monday 11/13: 7:00 Library Cross district Collaboration - Bring concerns, thoughts, suggestions for our 21st Century skills class.  This is a school day!
Tuesday 11/14:  
Wednesday 11/15:  Kaiser out - Data Summit II
Thursday 11/16:   
Friday 11/17: 

Week of November 20 - Thanksgiving Break

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Levy and Mahoney
Monday 11/27: Resiliency III Training 9:00   Please be ready to begin at 9:00
Tuesday 11/28:  
Wednesday 11/29:
Thursday 11/30:   
Friday 12/1: Last Day of Trimester

Holidays
It's time for my annual reminder that the holidays are often stressful and not fun for our students.  As families reach the limits of their emotional and physical resources, kids can become the casualties of dysfunctional coping mechanisms.  Hence, the unhappy memories.  Mix in the teenage tendency to believe everyone else has a better life than they do, add a sprinkle of unstructured time and a smattering of disrupted routines, and teachers become the collateral damage of 140 hijacked amygdalas.  

A few things to remember:

1. Don't make assignments based on the assumption that holidays are fun for all.  Don't ask them to reflect on, refer to, or tell stories about past holidays, plans for current holidays etc.  
2. This doesn't mean that you have to avoid festivity.  However, focus on themes that are non religious and common to most cultures.  Please don't add to anxiety with gift exchanges etc.
3. Keep your schedules as normal as possible.  Giving anxiety-ridden, stressed-out students free time is not helpful.  Unstructured time is not a teacher's friend.  Consistent and predictable routines serve to calm the amygdala and free up the frontal cortex for learning and decision making.
4. We already have reduced time at school.  It's really important to use every minute to learning advantage.  We can't show movies in their entirety (copyright laws, or something like that)  Activities should be tied to standards and learning objectives.

Lock Down Drill

The lock down drill went really well.  We rattle doors, opened some doors to make sure kids were hunkered down and quiet.  And it went pretty well.  

IMEN Visit

I wish I would have video'd the IMEN student interviews.  Five students were interviewed and they RAVED about how helpful their teachers were and how much they loved their classes.  When asked what they would change about the school, ALL of the kids said they would change nothing - everything is working well for them.  Kudos to all of you for creating a safe and accepting learning environment for all of our kids.  You guys are the BEST!!!

Week of November 6

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Fehling
Monday 11/6:  8:00 Staff Meeting, 9:30 Department meetings (if necessary) Senior projects
Tuesday 11/7:  3:30 Mandatory Training for all Special Ed staff
Wednesday 11/8: IMEN VISIT.  
Thursday 11/9:   
Friday 11/10: 

Bus/Parking lot duty:  Higgs and Hook
Monday 11/13: 7:00 Library Cross district Collaboration - Bring concerns, thoughts, suggestions for our 21st Century skills class.  This is a school day!
Tuesday 11/14:  
Wednesday 11/15:  
Thursday 11/16:   
Friday 11/17: 

Monday November 13 is a student day.... Everything that morning is exactly one hour later.  They catch the bus one hour later, come to school one hour later, eat breakfast one hour later...

Kids in the Office
Just a reminder... when kids are in the office, they are generally being managed by me, Connie, Matt, or Bryan. We're working with a broader network of community resources than we've had in the past and we have some students with a high level of needs.  Please don't send them back to class or ask them why they're in the office.  Sometimes students exhibit a range of behaviors that are counter intuitive and difficult to interpret, especially if we don't have all the information.  If you have any concerns, please feel free to come talk to me.

IMEN Visit
Reminder:  Kelly Brady et. al from IMEN will be visiting Wednesday morning from 8:00 - 11:00

21st Century Skills
The bouncy balls have arrived (remember - bouncy ball = resilience, egg = no resilience)
If you would like to do that lesson/demonstration with your class, come get a bouncy ball.

Eight Strategies for More Kid Talk/Less Teacher Talk

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: