Principal's Page
South Central Jr-Sr High School Weekly Update 10/14/16
This Week in PLCs and Faculty Meetings
Don't forget that there will be a corporation-wide faculty meeting on Monday at 3:00 in the Media Center.
On Tuesday, we will have our regular October faculty meeting. We will meet at 3:00 in H19 (Cortny Barnes's room). Please plan on this meeting lasting about 45 minutes. Our focus will be classroom management with 1:1 technology. You will complete a follow up activity during PLC time on Wednesday that connects with our topic of discussion from the faculty meeting.
On Tuesday, we will have our regular October faculty meeting. We will meet at 3:00 in H19 (Cortny Barnes's room). Please plan on this meeting lasting about 45 minutes. Our focus will be classroom management with 1:1 technology. You will complete a follow up activity during PLC time on Wednesday that connects with our topic of discussion from the faculty meeting.
Announcements
After having received several suggestions to move the time that announcements are shown back to SST, I conducted a survey of the staff to identify what the preference is of the whole staff. 55% of the faculty voted to move the announcements from 4th period to SST time. So, starting Monday, all teachers should show the video announcements during SST instead of 4th period (on Wednesdays we will continue to show them during 4th period). Please be diligent about showing the announcements during this time; Mr. Bailey's Intro to Communication class works very hard to record and broadcast these announcements and their hard work deserves to be recognized!
Bus Drills
We have one more bus drill left! We will do our best to run this as efficiently as possible, but most likely students who ride the bus will be a few minutes late to 1st hour on Monday. Thank you for your flexibility.
Tech Tip of the Week
One of the very first things you might think about when adjusting your classroom management techniques to accommodate 1:1 technology is the set up of your room. We have talked in the past about moving your teaching station to the back of the room, so that you are actually spending most of your time behind your students instead of in front of them. This feels odd (especially when doing short lectures or explaining directions), but it is actually one of the best ways to really see what your kids are doing on their devices while you are talking to them.
Your desks should also be arranged in a way that makes it very easy for you to move among the students and to get behind them quickly and efficiently so that you can easily monitor what they are doing. One of the simplest classroom management strategies is teacher proximity, which simply means standing near a student who is off-task, misbehaving, or disruptive. 90% of the time, this simple technique will work to redirect the problem behavior. In order to make this work, you will need to be able to move freely within your students. This might mean a change from the traditional set up of desks in rows! Try experimenting with different seating arrangements until you find one that works for you.
Your desks should also be arranged in a way that makes it very easy for you to move among the students and to get behind them quickly and efficiently so that you can easily monitor what they are doing. One of the simplest classroom management strategies is teacher proximity, which simply means standing near a student who is off-task, misbehaving, or disruptive. 90% of the time, this simple technique will work to redirect the problem behavior. In order to make this work, you will need to be able to move freely within your students. This might mean a change from the traditional set up of desks in rows! Try experimenting with different seating arrangements until you find one that works for you.
This Week's Committee Meetings
This week, the following committee is meeting:
- Safety Committee, Wednesday 3pm (Dave Horn, Dan Siford, Matt Spagna, Emma Walter, Kyle McCallum)
Something to Make you SMILE!!! :)
Congratulations to Mr. Scheck and Mrs. Richmond for putting together a fantastic Band and Choir Fall Concert last night! Both groups were phenomenal! If you haven't been to a concert, you should definitely try to check one out this year!
Have A Suggestion?
Do you ever come up with an idea, but you're not sure if it's any good? Have you had an idea about a way something could be improved, but you're not sure how to suggest it? I have created an online ANONYMOUS suggestion box for anyone to use to make a suggestion, offer an idea, or voice a concern.
Use this link to submit your idea:
https://www.suggestionox.com/r/J3WIbk
Please note that all suggestions will be read and considered, but circumstances may prevent implementation of some ideas.
Use this link to submit your idea:
https://www.suggestionox.com/r/J3WIbk
Please note that all suggestions will be read and considered, but circumstances may prevent implementation of some ideas.