Clif Notes 9/9/19
50 Years Of Equipping The State & Now Global Workforce!
DATES TO REMEMBER
This Week
Monday - 8am Start for Extra Help
Tuesday - CTE PLCs; 4:30pm Extra Help Bus
Wednesday - Academic PLCs
Thursday - Academic PLCs; 4:30 Extra Help Bus
Friday - RTI & Master Schedule Committee Meetings
Upcoming:
17 - Faculty Meeting in Auditorium
19 - 6:30 p.m. PARENT NIGHT!
20 - School Spirit & ROAR Committee Meetings
23 - Governor's Construction Career Expo at Chase Center-Riverfront
Farmer & The Chef - James
Grade Book Reminder
St. Georges Bridge Closes
Air Conditioning Report
"Here are my concerns, as you know we only have air conditioning in the classrooms, the hallways are not conditioned neither are (some of the) shops. Keeping classroom doors closed will help tremendously. As I walked around this morning before kids were in class, and after, I found a majority of classroom doors were open. This will only compound the problem, I also found the gym and weight room doors propped open as well. The gym is not a conditioned space, the gym units are heating and ventilation only. When ventilating, if the doors to the gym are open and the doors to the classrooms are also open we are creating a vacuum within the building and sucking all of the cold air out. This is the main reason why the cafeteria never feels cool.
All units minus the few I noted are in normal operation. I think there is more we can do from a preventative maintenance standpoint that will help in the future but for now, I feel like most of our cooling issues are due to extreme outdoor air temps, older units, and honestly, doors being left open."
I am going to ask staff to continue to fill out facility work orders even though you may have spoken to someone by phone. This will assist with documenting all of the issues that are occurring. The system will be assessed again on Monday and Tuesday morning prior to the start of school and throughout the day, especially around lunchtime when the temperatures begin to rise.
Focus
Teaching the Core Skills of Listening & Speaking - By Erik Palmer
The Most Fundamental Skills for Success
Listening and Speaking in Life Beyond School
Business leaders have long recognized the need for effective communication in the workforce. Figure 1.1 shows employers' ratings of their "most-valued" skills, as identified on a 2012 survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Notice how many involve listening and speaking. Facility with written language barely makes the top 10.
Figure 1.1. The Top 10 Candidate Skills and Qualities Employers Seek
- Ability to verbally communicate with persons inside and outside the organization
- Ability to work in a team structure
- Ability to make decisions and solve problems
- Ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work
- Ability to obtain and process information
- Ability to analyze quantitative data
- Technical knowledge related to the job
- Proficiency with computer software programs
- Ability to create and/or edit written reports
- Ability to sell or influence others
Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers (2012).
According to a Stanford Business School study, our students will graduate into a business world in which verbal fluency and sociability are the two most important predictors of success. (Cain, 2012). A senior manager at Eastman Kodak puts it this way: "It's not enough to be able to sit at your computer excited about a fantastic regression analysis if you're squeamish about presenting those results to an executive group" (Cain, 2012, p. 31). And, to be clear, we aren't talking about fear of large-group presentation only. Presenting those results may involve a small group and may not be in person but online. Success is likely to depend on being comfortable communicating orally in many different modes—in large-group presentations but also in small-group meetings, in person but also online.
Students graduate to civic responsibilities as well. I finished my teaching career as a civics teacher. Civics is a subject that naturally leads to many discussions of polarizing topics: the national debt, entitlements, gay rights, gun control, use of drones, and climate change to name a few. It is difficult to find models for civil and collaborative discussions of these issues. What we tend to see on television are less discussion than they are virulent attacks, which make for great theater and seem to attract viewers, but do nothing to move participants toward understanding and solution. Somewhere, this trend has to be reversed, and that somewhere may be your class as you teach listening and speaking skills: how to identify key points, how to construct counterarguments, how to reach evidence-supported conclusions, and so on.
In conclusion, listening and speaking are the water that surrounds everything in our classes and upon which instruction depends. We do a disservice to our students if we assume they can somehow become effective listeners and communicators without direct instruction.
We have all noticed the problem. Few teachers would say, "Not my kids! They have mastered listening and speaking!" We have all noticed the problem; now we need to respond to it. Effort is involved. Changing our teaching is involved. You may be tempted to view the next chapters as "More Work for Me." To some extent, they are. But I hope you also see what follows as "Essential Instruction That All Children Need." Let's get to it!
Technology Conference Opportunity
As part of BRINC, we work to support the other BRINC districts when they hold Tech Conferences around the State. As you can see, some of our own present year after year (Ry Culver is on their front page). I am inviting some of them to attend ours on 10/5. - Villa
Don't miss out on the premier educational technology conference in our area!
Register today!
Topics Include:
- Enhancing your communications with Google Forms
- BBC MicroBit - Micro What?!?!
- Technology Supports for ELs (and ALL)
- Read to Feed with Tech Integration
- iRobot, Terminator, Nao, Watson, ST Math, Aleks. What do things all have in common
- Incorporate Virtual Reality into your Educational Environments 2.
- Get Hyped with Hyperdocs!
- Second Grade Start UP
- Be a Screen-Star-- Screencastify!
- YouTube Live for You-nique Video Creation!
- Are you bored with 5 paragraph essays?
- Making Makerspace Magic
- and much more!
Registration is only $25
Students and Student-Teachers: Only $5
Includes breakfast, lunch, t-shirt, other cool swag, and of course a day of connecting and learning!