LHS Monday Memo
Week of 1/27-1/31
Good evening LHS family,
Tuesday is Career Speaker Day and there will be many visitors in our buildings throughout selected classrooms where they will kindly share their experiences and knowledge with our students. Some of our visitors include alumni, business people, community members, educators and more. Over 60 classrooms of students will have an opportunity to be inspired and motivated by what they hear.
As a reminder, we hope to see everyone this Friday at the 2nd Schoolhouse Breakfast of the school year hosted by E House starting at 7:15 in the teachout room (3rd floor of Coburn Hall).
Some things we are working on ...
- Review of semester 1 failures
- New credit recovery options for students (March through May)
- MCAS prep offerings - after school
- Dept Chair, Counselor and 8th grade counselor meetings
- School Building Project and scheduling information session for parents 2/4
- Student course request window opens 2/3
New school stream posting - all interested teachers, please apply
Three teachers per session: 1 Humanities, 1 Science, 1 Math ELA or Social Studies educators needed to teach after-school Credit Recovery sessions. Sessions in each core subject will be offered in three cycles during Spring 2020 (one in each month: March, April, May). Teachers will prepare and run 6 hours of credit recovery sessions per cycle. Department Chairs will create and grade all assignments
Important notes:
- Food sales either to students, or by students are restricted during the school day. If clubs and activities need to raise money, items can only be sold before or after school. If you have any questions about this, please see me. Thanks for your attention to this important reminder.
- Administration will be out the building on Wednesday or Thursday this week to attend Leadership Professional Development.
- If you have copy machine concerns, please make sure these have been communicated through your house office and then onto Judy Geoffroy. If we don't know about it, we can attempt to get it fixed.
What's ahead:
Jan. 28
Career Speaker Day
Jan. 31
Schoolhouse Breakfast - all staff 7:15-7:45am Teachout room (hosted by E House)
Feb. 4, 5, 6
8th grade students will be coming to visit the Freshman Academy each morning
Feb. 4
Winter Concert 7:00pm Auditorium
Feb. 4
LHS School Building Project review and 2020-2021 Scheduling Info. Session 6-7pm LT
Feb. 5 & 6
MCAS Biology re-test
Feb. 6
Instructional Rounds 11-2pm
Feb. 7
Honors Scholarship Applications Due
2020-2021 Course Scheduling Timeline
1/6
Teachers will begin to complete student course recommendations for the next school year✅
1/24
Teachers will complete student course recommendations ✅
2/3
Student on-line request window opens (course planning worksheets will be given to all students through advisory),
2/4
Parent Meeting - students are also invited (6-7:30pm Little Theatre),
2/7
Student on-line request window closes (course planning worksheets require parent signature), students will use the worksheets to complete required on-line requests,
2/10
Guidance will begin to review course requests and hold student group meetings,
3/20
Guidance review of student schedules and group meetings finished,
4/3
The magic of scheduling teachers, classrooms, courses, and students begins.
"Our Town"
Mock Trial - 1st trial of the season
The members of the Defense Team included lawyers Stacia Lally, Nathalie Kim, Protitee Paromita, Katherine Aristizabal, Jheovanie Mikouanya and Emme Prum along with witnesses Amariah Amarantes, Kevin Truong, Andy Zheng.
Mock trial team
Change of Command!
On Thursday, Lowell High School, MA-771 AFJROTC Wing conducted a “Change of Command” ceremony. The Change of Command is an honored military tradition, were the unit flag and command of the Wing is passed from the outgoing commander to the incoming commander as she assumes command of the troops.
Thursday, Cadet Col Nyckole Lazaro relinquished command of MA-771 and Cadet Col Kathyana Falcon assumed command of Lowell High School’s AFJROTC program.
Promotion Ceremony
School Improvement Plan - Turnaround work
Some ILT members hard at work last week...
Congratulations!
Instructional Rounds on Thursday, 2/6 11-2pm
What do you need to know?
- We will be doing rounds in groups of two or three. One central office administrator with one or two LHS administrators.
- Each group will visit three classrooms for a period of 20 mins each in each area of the school except the Freshman Academy. The last instructional rounds were focused more in the FA.
More to information to come next week...
New Lowell High School Facebook Account
What the Tech!
Have you had a chance to work with Malinda, our Technology Integration Specialist? If not, there are lots of things I can show you. We are a “Google Apps for Education” district, so Google products are considered the primary resource for all computer work. Since there are tons of Google apps, where should you begin developing your skills? Our administrative team would like the staff to begin by focusing on Google Drive, Google Classroom, and Google Forms. If you would like to schedule time with me, please use a help desk request, type: training. Why use Help Desk? Help desk keeps all the email communications and notes in one place. Not only does this make me more efficient, but it also creates a personalized reference library for when you get stuck. You’ll have the ability to add notes to a ticket about important things you don’t want to forget.
The following are some questions to consider:
GOOGLE DRIVE:
Am I properly signed into Google Chrome to make accessing My Drive fast and easy?
Am I using the Chrome Extension “Quick Create Plus” to easily start new Google files?
Do I know if all my files are being backed up to Drive?
Sometimes I like to use non-Google applications such as Word or PowerPoint, but do I know how to use Google File Stream to make backing up these files automatic?
Do I know the difference between “My Drive” and “Shared with Me?”
Do I know how to add items Shared with Me to My Drive?
Do I have a system for organizing my files in Drive?
GOOGLE CLASSROOM:
Am I using Classroom to organize resources for my students and to easily communicate with them?
Am I using Classroom to collect and organize digital assignments? (Note: this is much easier than having students share work directly with your Drive!)
Am I organizing my Classroom so that it can be copied and reused for next year?
GOOGLE FORMS:
Do I know how to use Forms for both Formative and Summative assessments?
Do I know how to use Forms to survey and collect information from my students?
Do I know how to use Forms to analyze student progress?
Advanced:
Do I know how to create a Form assessment that will automatically differentiate based on student answers?
Do I know how to create a Form that will automatically produce a document (example: common planning form created by department heads).
Need help? Enter a help desk request for Technology Training/ITS or email helpdesk@lowell.k12.ma.us and I will set up a tutoring session with you.
Community in your classroom is so important!
Have an extraordinary week everyone,
RIP KOBE and GIGI❤️
Head of Lowell High School
Email: mbusteed@lowell.k12.ma.us
Website: lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us
Location: 50 Father Morissette Boulevard, Lowell, MA, USA
Phone: (978)937-8900
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LowellLHS/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Twitter: @lowellhighHOS