The Common, Edition #17

National History Day® (NHD) is an educational nonproft organization that engages teachers and students in historical research. The mission of NHD is to improve the teaching and learning of history in middle and high school through an innovative framework of historical inquiry and research. Students learn history by selecting topics of interest, launching into research projects, and presenting their fndings through creative approaches and media.

Annually, National History Day selects a theme of study. This theme serves as a framework for students to investigate historical context and significance of a selected topic ranging from local to global history. The 2023 National History Day theme is: Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas. National History Day articulates the framework for the learning of this theme as follows:

• To understand the historical importance of their topics, students must ask questions of time and place, cause and efect, change over time, and impact and signifcance.
• What factors contributed to the development of a frontier? Why did it emerge, and how did it change? When did it cease to be a frontier? What impact did it have on the people who experienced it, and how did they affect it?

On Monday, NRHS history students showcased their topics, research, understanding, and conclusions as a culmination of learning within the National History Day framework . The level of engagement and depth of thought represented by this showcase of learning from our high school students was, simply put, outstanding. Topics explored by the students were not only expansive but thought-provoking in conception in terms of the lens of frontiers. Topics ranged from medical breakthroughs to artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, exploration of physical and methaphorical landscape and art, female suffrage, the Moon Landing, and the U.S. Constitution. Impressive indeed.

A nod of respect and appreciation to our entire Nashoba Regional High School History Department, including Department Chair, Mr. Jonathan French, for the obvious instructional leadership and support of our students leading to the level of deep learning demonstrated this week.

The Department of Teaching and Learning is currently seeking to connect with Nashoba alumni

to hear from graduates about what they are up to and what skills and competencies they learned at Nashoba that have carried them forward into the postgraduate world. Alumni are encouraged to complete the Portrait of a Nashoba Graduate: Voices from Alumni form to share their perspectives about the top Portrait of a Nashoba Graduate competencies our current students need to flourish in future educational pursuits and as members of the workforce.

To date, we have received 59 Portrait of a Nashoba Graduate responses!

We are SO appreciative of our graduate respondents, and, yet, we want to hear from more, so we have extended the deadline until January 25th! Graduates, please take a few minutes to complete the form linked above. Information gleaned from “Voices from Alumni” will help inform our curriculum revision work currently underway and will be showcased in a culminating video montage to be launched as part of the keynote message during the district's full day of professional development on March 17th.

Recently a question came forward about the professional development opportunities that we offer faculty and staff. We have planned varied professional development opportunities during early release days throughout the school year. We thought we would share some of the professional opportunities that we are embarking upon this year. This is a sample of what we are offering. We have worked to ensure that faculty and staff have different opportunities based upon their unique roles with our students.

Here is a small sample of what we are offering:

Marlene Robbins-The Pyramid Model is a social and emotional learning framework that promotes young children's healthy development, and prevents challenging behaviors. The core work in the Model focuses on building adults' skills so that they can support children's social and emotional health.

Dr. Ann Filer-Beyond the Verbal Prompt-This professional development is focused on enhancing ways to fade support and build student independence using a variety of techniques.

Dr. Deni Howley-Grounding Techniques-Grounding is a set of strategies to use with students to focus upon something other than than the difficult emotions they may be experiencing. There are three types of grounding: Mental (focusing your mind), Physical (focusing your senses), and Soothing (talking to yourself in a very kind way)

Dr. Larry Epstein Calm, Compassionate Teaching-This professional development provides Practical Strategies for helping children with social emotional skill struggles, identifying antecedents and triggers, teaching strategies and to support social competence.

Amanda Willand, New England Center for Children- Aligning the curriculum standards to the MCAS Alternative Portfolio

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support-Designing activities and interventions for the general education classroom- Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Pathologists, Physical Therapist

District BCBA’s - Conducting Functional Behavioral Assessments and Developing Positive Behavioral Support Plans

Please consider completing our IEP exit survey. After each annual, initial or reevaluation, every family is sent a survey by Ms. Dumas (edumas@nrsd.net) or Ms. Milton (lmilton@nrsd.net). Please consider taking a few minutes to provide us with feedback. It allows us to fully understand your experience with our district process and improve our professional practice.

The most recent events of an NFL player experiencing sudden cardiac arrest in the national spotlight reminds all of us the critical importance of life-saving medical interventions such as CPR. To that end, we are happy to announce that the Nashoba Regional High School EMT Cadets will be offering a hands-only CPR training to ALL middle and high school students and staff. What is Hands-Only CPR? Click here: Hands-Only CPR .

The kick off will begin with Hale Middle School on Jan. 25th. Florence Sawyer School training will follow on Jan. 31st and Luther Burbank Middle School on Feb. 8th. All training for the middle schools will be optional and offered after school. Training for Nashoba Regional High School is scheduled for the week of Feb. 13th and will be offered during the school day.

February is American #HeartMonth! Join the CDC this month in raising awareness about cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. There’s work to be done across all age groups, not just among older adults. cdc.gov/heartmonth

Registration/sign up is required and information will be provided by each school.

Celebrating everyday greatness! Is there a Nashoba teacher or staff member out there who you think deserves some special recognition? Send a Nashoba Notable Award their way! Fill out the form below and thank a Nashoba employee today!

Nashoba Notable Awards thank Nashoba employees for supporting students, families, and their school communities in all ways great and small.

Employees will receive a certificate that includes a brief explanation from the nominator of why they are Nashoba Notable. This form is open to everyone. Students, families, staff and community members can send a Nashoba Notable Award to any Nashoba employee.

There is no limit to the number of Nashoba Notable Awards someone may receive. Thank a Nashoba employee today!

Click here to tell someone they are Nashoba Notable!

Luther Burbank Award Winners, Trimester 1

Way to go, students!

On the job at Bolton Bean, problem solving and teamwork!

Nashoba DECA competed at the District 5 Competition this week at UMass Lowell.

110 of our 210 members qualified to compete at the State Competition in Boston on March 9-11.