North High School
Staff Bulletin - February 10, 2020
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Literacy Goal: North High School will raise the percent of students proficient on the Open Response from fall to spring by 10% in 2019-2020.
Actions Being Taken to Improve Literacy
- Daily Writing - Writing activities every day to boost our student writing
- Departments with different responsibilities in teaching areas of the OR Rubric
- Advisory students tracking their progress on OR
- Working on quality task creation and examining student work from those tasks
Math Goal: North High School will raise the percent of students proficient on the High School Math Assessment from fall to spring by 10% in 2019-2020.
- Understanding and applying the Common Core's 8 Mathematical Practices in all classrooms
- Advisory students tracking their progress on the BME Assessment
- Develop an auxiliary leadership team to focus on math data assessments
- Working on quality task creation and examining student work from those tasks
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Parent Teacher Conference Information
We will be following the same format as the Fall:
Staff will provide grade reports to parents at the front doors. Teachers will be in their classrooms and meet with parents as they visit. Here is what teachers need to do over the following week to prepare:
Grades – Monday, February 24 at 4:00 PM grades will need to be in Canvas. We are going to print grade reports this Spring.
Advisory – Call up each student, one-by-one to call or text a parent to invite them to conferences.
Freshman and Sophomore Teams – Target high needs parents for personal invites. Possibly even schedule a few “team” problem solving meetings with appropriate people.
Conference Day Information:
Teachers need to be in their rooms, ready to go at 3:05 on Wednesday and 8:00 AM Thursday.
- Meals and Personal Needs – We have scheduled times, and informed parents, that you will be unavailable between 11:00-11:45 AM for Lunch (on your own) and 4:30-5:00 PM for Supper (provided).
Conferences end at 5:45 PM on Tuesday and 8:00 PM on Thursday. We will stop handing out grade reports at 7:45 PM. The doors will also close at that time. Administration will announce to inform parents that conference will be ending soon and when they end.
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Parent Walkthrough Information
Purpose: With public education taking hits both nationally and locally, it is important for us to ensure our parents understand our work. The goal of inviting parents in for walkthroughs is to show them the "behind the scenes" work of teaching and learning. North High School is one of the largest, most diverse high schools in the State of Iowa. What our students achieve and teachers accomplish defy statistics on schools with similar demographics. Our greatest outcome is for the visiting parents to share with their friends and community our accomplishments.
Plan: We will be reviewing our goals with the parents and focusing them on what we will be looking for in walk throughs. We will focus on literacy (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). We will point out content and language targets, identify moments within the lesson where students were practicing literacy components. We will have 6-7 groups of 3-4 adults. We expect to have each group visit three classrooms and spend around 10-12 minutes in each room. When we transition to the next rooms, we will discuss what was seen in regard to literacy and elaborated communication. We will be asking the parents two questions: What did you like? What did you wonder?
8:15-8:30 am North High School Building Goals and Plan
What are walkthroughs and what do we look for in the observation?
8:30-9:15 am Classroom Walkthroughs
9:15-9:35 am Debrief Walkthroughs and Closing
Picture: When we visit classrooms, it will look like CIP or Administrative Walkthroughs. We will spread out around the room and watch. We will coach parents to ask, "What are you learning today?" with the ideal answer derived from the posted learning target. We know that the answers will vary depending on which student is asked. As employees, we know the kids better and understand the difference in answers. We will watch for the elements that a non-educator would miss.
Part: Our education system should be built on this: leaders lead, teachers teach, students learn. A teacher's part is to plan quality teaching and learning activities. An ideal situation will be for our visitors to witness your tried and true activities. Since we are looking for literacy components, students should be engaged in reading, writing, and/or speaking. We aren't requiring a "dog and pony" we ask that you be intentional with all planning to incorporate construction of knowledge and elaborated communication activities Whether you are testing or not, we will conduct the walkthrough as it is part of the high school experience.
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Last Week's Average Daily Attendance: 91.01% (-0.05% from last week)
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CPR in Advisory is Resuming this Week
Week of -JPL (S209)
3-Feb Hubert-JPL (S209); Embrock-AW (Rm 335)
17-Feb Schriener-JPL (S209); Nieman-AW (Rm 335)
2-Mar Olorundami-JPL (S209); T. Clark-AW (Rm 335)
16-Mar Monk-AW (Rm 335); Malone-Mason/Banks/Bush-Hanson (A-L)-JPL (S209)
30-Mar Malone-Mason/Banks/Bush-Hanson (M-Z)-JPL (S209); Malone-Mason/Banks/Bush-Hanson (A-L)-AW (Rm 335)
13-Apr Malone-Mason/Banks/Bush-Hanson (M-Z)-JPL (S209); Seniors-AW (Rm 335)
27-Apr Seniors/ELL-JPL (S209); Seniors/ELL-AW (Rm 335)
11-May Seniors/ELL-JPL (S209); Seniors/ELL-AW (Rm 335)
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Weekly Strategy Challenge - Practice This Strategy In Class!
Expectation for Inappropriate Language - %$^&* Off!
The video above talks about "Hidden Rules". All schools have these types of rules. Below, is information to ensure one expectation is not hidden
Student Use of Inappropriate Language
Purpose (Why?):
Student language choice has had a noticable uptick over the past few years. Our goal is to prepare students to be college and career ready. Students must understand that language choice - whether in casual conversation or in the academic setting - must be appropriate while at school or at school functions.
Plan (How is this done?):
What does a staff member do if a student uses inappropriate language that could be described as a slip of the tongue or in conversation with a friend?
- Common Space (Unknown Student): Student should be redirected by saying, "Excuse me. We do not use that type of language here. Thank you."
- Classroom (Known Student): "Excuse me. We do not use that type of language here. Thank you." Minor Written. If a pattern exists, a call home should be made.
What does a staff member do if a student directs inappropriate language at a fellow student?
- Common Space (Unknown Student): "Excuse me. We do not use that type of language here. Thank you." Note location, time, student description and email Oscar Sanchez and Bobby Geissinger.
- Classroom (Known Student): "Excuse me. Please visit with me in the hallway." This separates a potential issue. Teachers should use their best judgement on whether the student should be allowed back into the classroom. The student should be informed that a major referral must be written for the behavior. The teacher should call home and inform the parent of the situation and a referral was written.
What does a staff member do if a student directions inappropriate language at an adult?
- Common Space (Unknown Student): "Excuse me. We do not use that type of language here. We will not tolerate disrespect. Please come with me to the office. Thank you." Note location, time, student description and email Oscar Sanchez and Bobby Geissinger if student does not comply.
- Classroom (Known Student): "Excuse me. Please visit with me in the hallway." Once in the hallway, "We do not tolerate student to adult disrespect. I am going to inform the office that you are on your way to the office. Please go straight there." At that time, use the "all-call button" to inform the office a student is en-route that needs to see a principal. If the all-call button is not working, please call one of the administrators. (We know this stops class. However, other students need to see what will happen if they choose to be disrespectful.)
Picture (What does it look like?):
We need to curb and correct inappropriate language. Here are consequences for these student behaviors:
Language Use that result in Minors: Data will be monitored by Tier I for potential school wide review of expectations. Individual student data will be monitored by the Tier II team for potential individual intervention.
Language Use that result in Majors: Data will be monitored by Tier I for potential school wide review of expectations. Individual student data will be monitored by the Tier II team for potential individual intervention. Administration will assess the situation. At minimum administration will call parents, review expectations, and inform students that additional incidents will result in a detention for second offense and In-School Suspension for a Third.
Language Use that result in Classroom Removal: Data will be monitored by Tier I for potential school wide review of expectations. Individual student data will be monitored by the Tier II team for potential individual intervention. Administration will call home and the student will receive, at minimum, one day of in-school suspension. Every effort should be made for the teacher, administrator, and student to meet to restore the relationship prior to the student returning to class. (This is not current practice and is best practice)
Part (What is the teacher's role?):
A teachers role in this strategy is consistency. If a student uses inappropriate language in a manner that requires redirection, do so immediately. If the language is escalated and requires administrative intervention, there must be follow through. If teachers follow the expectations above and feel there is a lack of follow through, please ask Ryan.
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Department and Safety Meeting Notes
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Advisory Calendar of Events
Tuesday:
Advisories will continue the "Know Your Learner Interview"
Students can also update their Raise.Me scholarship information
Parent-Teacher Conference Invitation
Wednesday:
Junior Advisories meet for registration
Advisories will continue the "Know Your Learner Interview"
Parent-Teacher Conference Invitation
Thursday:
Junior Advisories meet for registration
Advisories will continue the "Know Your Learner Interview"
Parent-Teacher Conference Invitation
Friday:
MVP Lesson - Freshman Advisories
Final Junior Advisories meet for registration information (Missing students or homerooms)
Advisories will continue the "Know Your Learner Interview"
Parent-Teacher Conference Invitation
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Upcoming Dates
Below are currently scheduled events that will take place during the school day. These will interrupt academic work.
- Tuesday, February 18 - Parent Open House and Walkthroughs (1st and 2nd Blocks)
- Tuesday, April 21 - ACT for Juniors - No other students in attendance
- Tuesday, April 28 - ISASP Testing - Writing and Language Tests - The ISASP testing dates will have alternative schedules. It will be similar to last years with a testing block in the morning and shortened blocks in the afternoon.
- Wednesday, April 29 - ISASP Testing - Math, Reading, and Science
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Monday Morning Music
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Reminders and Checklists
All Staff:
- Safe School Training is released. Here is the link: https://siouxcityschools-ia.safeschools.com/ There are five training's on this year's module. Total time indicated is 129 minutes. Due dates are varied.
- All New Course - ACES
Certified Staff:
- Sign up for duties with Chris. If you sign up now, you will have a choice. If you wait, you will be assigned to an open duty.