Mustang Round-Up
October 13, 2019 Volume 11
Reflections From the Principal
Last school year, we were able to schedule Sergeant Terry Hall to visit the Southeast Fountain School Corporation to present "The Body Safety Program". This is an educational body safety program that is designed to empower children grades K-12.
Terry Hall is a 38 year veteran of the Indianapolis Police Department who has
worked the administrative, operations and investigative areas of law enforcement
during his career.
Sergeant Hall spent seven years in the IPD Sex Offense Branch and was the
former director of the “Good Touch Bad-Touch Program” for prevention of child
abuse and neglect. Sergeant Hall has attended training at the FBI Academy and is
a certified law enforcement instructor for the State of Indiana. He was named IPD
Officer of the Year and was also chosen IPD Investigative Officer of the Year for
having the highest arrest & conviction rate for five consecutive years. He also
received the local and state Social Services Award for his work with children.
Sergeant Hall was the unit supervisor for several years in the Intelligence Unit,
doing dignitary protection for the President, Vice President and other dignitaries
visiting Indianapolis while working as a liaison with the Secret Service.
In the last twenty years, his passion and dedication for protecting children has led
to his training of over 40,000 prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officers at
the local, state, and federal levels, in regards to children’s issues. Sergeant Hall
also has been actively involved with training for universities, law enforcement
academies, national judicial conferences, department in-service training, and was
recently requested to instruct the Department of Human Services Employees.
He also has trained military investigators out of the country, in Korea and
Afghanistan.
As of January 2007 he has talked to over 600,000 people including children and
adults while conducting a program he developed called Body Safety.
Sergeant Hall has appeared as an expert analyst on many television talk shows
and his work has been chronicled in many law enforcement related magazines.
His course has been certified by the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board.
The Body Safety Program will entail a presentation for parents, teachers, and other adults on November 4th at 6 pm in the HS cafeteria. This presentation is for adults only. The following day, November 5th, we will have two presentations at the high school. Students in grades 7 and 8 will have an assembly from 12:35-1:05 pm and grades 9-12 will have an assembly from 1:20 - 1:50 pm. I understand this is the same week as our Veteran's Day program, but we feel that it is vital information for our students, parents, staff, and community members. Please mark your calendars!
Again, I thank each one of you for a fantastic 10 weeks of school. Enjoy your break and I will look forward to seeing you on October 21st!
Ashley
Great Things I Saw This Week
On Wedneday, Melissa Blossom, Assistant Director of the Office of School Improvement for the Indiana Department of Education visited our PLC's. She spent time with Mr. Horlacher and Mr. Wolfe to create an instructional calendar with their high priority standards. It's always refreshing when we can take time to look at our curriculum, reflect on our teaching, and collaborate together. Way to go, Mr. Horlacher and Mr. Wolfe! Along with our PLC's, as I was walking through Mrs. Britton's classroom, I happened to notice that she has created "norms" with her AP US History class and they are hanging on her wall. What a great idea! The entire class has set "non-negotiables" for their class discussions, just as we did for each PLC group. Love it, Mrs. Britton!
If you haven't been by the nurses station lately, Mrs. Fishero has the neatest display for students in her office! She has created a "Be Kind" bulletin board, complete with each month of the school year and a picture of the students who won the "Be Kind" award for August and September! Mrs. Fishero goes above and beyond her role as a school nurse. Thank you, Mrs. Fishero!
Mr. Acton's building trades class has officially completed Mr. Rice's garage! This has been an ongoing project for Mr. Acton's class and they had a celebration this week! To say thanks, Mr. Rice had treats for the building trades students. Thank you, Mr. Acton, for your hard work and dedication to our students. This real-life experience for our students will take them far!
Last but not least, I wanted to take a minute to thank Amanda Froedge and our corporation voluteers (staff and students) for the work they do with our backpack program. In the picture below, you can see the bags that were created specifically for Fall Break. Our students are so fortunate to have such hard working and caring individuals, who do whatever it takes to make sure they have food to eat when school is not in session. Thank you to everyone who has participated!
New Wabash River Special Services Cooperative - Special Education Consultant
Feature a Teacher, Week 5
Mrs. Lucy Johnson
Years served in Corporation: 2 years
Currently Teaching: Tier 7th & 8th Grade English and English 11 Honors
“She is nice and she cares about her students.”
-Erin Sillery
“She always has her students as her main priority. Overall, she was a fantastic teacher all year.”
-Chase Witsman
Nuts and Bolts
- Fall Break - October 16th-18th
- Faculty Meeting - Monday, October 21st @ 7:15 am or 3:15 pm (this will be held)
- COMPASS Teacher AND Student meeting - October 22nd @ 7:15 am
- October 24th - After prom "soup bar" lunch in the teacher's lounge - free-will donation
- October 30th - No VOCATIONAL!
- PSAT Assessment - 10th grade, October 30th @ 9 am
- November 4th - The Body Safety Program Parent/Community Night @ 6 pm
- November 5th - No PM Vocational
- November 5th - The Body Safety Program - 7/8 @ 12:35 pm and 9-12 @ 1:20 pm
- November 8th - Veteran's Day Program @ 9 am
#MustangMindset, SEL Coordinator
Recently I was at a conference and one of the speakers, Annette Breaux, argued that incorporating simple SEL strategies in our classrooms would help with behavior issues. I think that we all have seen a change in our students and their behaviors at every grade level. I thought that I would share some of her SEL classroom management techniques (see list below) to help with student behavior. Also, I will be including one of her poems (tied to a management skill) in the next few newsletters! If you ever want to talk about SEL and classroom management or if you ever want to unpack any of these ideas, let me know!
Also, there was a TEDTalk on students with challenging behaviors that was truly good. I am attaching the link HERE. It is long (19 minutes), but I think it provides a great deal of insight into students with challenging behaviors. One of the best takeaways from this TEDTalk for me was that, in the same way that our students who lack academic skills are given interventions, we need to provide interventions and strategies for our students who lack SEL skills. The speaker puts it this way, “Challenging students do not lack the will to behave well-they lack the skill to behave well.” A great deal of student behavior and classroom management struggles is caused by a lack of skills.
These are just some resources/ideas for you to try to help teach the students you have in your room. If you ever want more ideas or to discuss anything, please don’t hesitate to ask!
How to Impact Student Achievement and Behavior
By: Annette Breaux
Remember that you are a role model and that your actions speak louder than your words.
Be an excellent classroom manager. (organize your time, have clear rules-but only a few, have a lot of procedures-make sure you know the difference between a rule and a procedure, when you make big deals out of things-they become big deals!)
Treat all students with dignity and know how to defuse almost any situation.
Teach enthusiastically, even when you may not feel like it. Smile. Your attitude determines the classroom temperature.
Relate all lessons to real life.
Tip 1: Avoid “power struggles” with students at all costs. They’re pointless, they’re futile, and they make you appear unprofessional.
If I could
If I could, then I would
Whether or not you think I should
I wouldn’t because I couldn’t
Not because you think I shouldn’t
But I can’t so I won’t
And since I won’t then I don’t
Now should you feel confused
Or should you feel amused?
Since you won’t tell me what I should
Then I won’t tell you-but I could!