Miner Minutes
December 29, 2017
The Week Ahead
Tuesday: 1st day back at school; CLUB day; A day
Wednesday: PLCs
Thursday: during Miner Time - admin meetings with 6th and 7th grade and PBIS reward for 8th grade.
Friday: School leadership team meeting at 7:45am in the media center; welcome to our new ELA teacher, Whitney Torain!
New Miner Time Groups
Mid-year Student Expectations Talk
Administrative Transition
Ms. Davis's final day at CMS will be Thursday, January 11th. Please remember that it is only Ms. Davis who will inform her students of her resignation, and she will find an appropriate time to do so. Just like with any resignation, it is the responsibility of the person resigning to communicate to all needed stakeholders. As of January 12th, we will be down one administrator for a little while. We have submitted a recommendation to the CCS Board of Education, but that name will not go to the Board of Education until the January 16th meeting. Once that name is hopefully approved, we will be able to move forward more quickly. In the time being, our admin team will divide up Ms. Davis's responsibilities as best as possible. Mr. Lord will work with the math PLC; Mr. Lord and Mr. Mabry will split discipline for 7th grade; I will take all IEP meetings and observations assigned to Ms. Davis. If you have any questions about this, please ask me. Thank you!
FMLA
CCS has updated its FMLA policy. All info is on the website, but if you ever have any questions, please see this link.
SLT Meeting and Reminders
Since it's mid-year, this just serves as some reminders about the goals and purpose of our School Leadership Team. Remember, this team is made up of grade level coaches and instructional support coaches and administration. The goals of SLT include: to increase morale; to communicate; to advocate; to increase the understanding of why; to have a positive impact on school culture; to be consistent in our voice; to lead by example; to empower others; to be solution driven; to support students through the smooth operation of the school. We will be making a small adjustment to our "items from the floor" agenda items in our monthly meetings. Please submit your item from the floor to your SLT representative with at least one possible solution for the representative to bring it up at our meeting. This will ensure we are always maintaining our goal of being solution driven. We will always try to post the agenda before the meeting, and please remember the notes from the SLT meetings are ALWAYS available to you in a shared document in Office 365 (shared earlier in the school year).
Agenda for Friday
1. Good things
2. SLT norms and purpose
3. Silent lunch idea
4. Professional development days over the summer
5. Any survey follow up items
6. Items from the floor
Benchmark Training
Monday, January 8th - during planning periods - benchmark training (a day) room 350
9:15, 10:45, 1:30; 2:45
Still in need of your help...
We need a representative for each grade level to serve on the following 2 committees:
- CMS Parent Engagement Night
- CMS Student Expo
These are two very important events for our school and community, and this is a great way to move into the more "distinguished" realm on our continuing growth as educators as we focus on education not only inside the classroom but extending our reach into the community.Please send me your name if you're interested by Wednesday. Thanks to the teachers who have already responded!
Notes on Dispersal
To help in the dispersal process, please do the following by Friday, January 5th:
- Post your class dispersal lists on the outside of your classroom door
- Make sure your grade level coach has copies of your dispersal lists
- Grade level coach, please give all copies of dispersal lists to Ms. Foster. She will create a binder of these lists to always be available in the main office, as well as scan them and send them to staff in case they would ever be needed.
- If students are not in their assigned location for dispersal, please write a referral in Educator's Handbook for skipping so that administrators can appropriately assign consequences.
- Also, as FYI, if classes need to be dispersed, Ms. Wallace will send out an email each day of who is being dispersed just to ensure communication is clear as we know now everyone sees the marker board.
IB Information
- IB PD through IBO: If you are interested in online IB training in 2018, click here to express your interest here. Dates are March 14 - April 11 or May 9 - June 6.
IB Grades:
Please remember that summative assessments should be recorded in Powerschool traditional grades and also an IB grades. Here are the instructions for this.
By the end of the semester, our goal is to have at least four IB grades in each class (one grade per chosen Criterion).
Concord Scoop Announcement Submission
New Year Reminders - important
- Next round of benchmarks will start on January 11th. We will send an updated schedule by Wednesday morning. Because of benchmarks, the PBIS reward for 7th grade will need to change since we do not have Miner Time during benchmarks.
- Classroom walkthroughs are done via google form, and there's no official way to give feedback via google form anymore. Many of you have shared the desire to have feedback from walkthroughs, which is awesome! Therefore, as an admin team, we have pledged to send an individual email to you as much as possible while we are still in our classroom giving feedback as a summary of the walkthrough instrument. If you have questions, please always ask!
- Silent lunch - please remember that students serving silent lunch in Ms. Moore's room are students who have classroom tardies of which Ms. Moore or admin have assigned silent lunch. If you as the teacher assign silent lunch as a classroom consequence, it is your responsibility to monitor the silent lunch.
- Follow up on some survey items: We have made some adjustments to admin duty postings in the morning based on your feedback. Also, we will keep the warning bell for now based on your feedback. And finally, once students get to your homeroom in the morning, you must KEEP them there. Have something students can do or get to work on. Never should a homeroom teacher allow students to roam in and out of the classroom just b/c it's "homeroom." This is important for student supervision.
- Please note that encore teachers also have homerooms, so when giving out information for homerooms, be sure to get a list from Ms. Wallace on who all has a homeroom so that ALL students are receiving appropriate information.
- When writing objectives on your board or in your notes for class, please be sure that they are written in student friendly language, which is the format of "Students will be able to...". If you ever have a question on how simplified to make our standards so that students fully understand, just ask your PLC administrator.
- Concord Scoop should be played at the beginning of 3rd period now.
- Anytime students leave campus with school employees, whether it be a field trip or a small group special event, Nurse Lisa MUST be in the know. She needs at least a week's notice to collect all required info for ALL trips, even if our students are just walking to Irvin. Medications need to be sent with students (Epi pens, inhalers), and teachers need to be reminded of those students who have these medications as we are all responsible for our students at all times.
- A new morning and afternoon duty will be coming out very soon. Please use this as our guide for safety and supervision of students for before and after school.
- Please also remember some of our Fab 5 reminders: be sure to lead students OUT of your classroom at the end of class and to be at your doors during the class change.
- If you have a class at the end of the school day, after collecting all laptops, please walk with your students out to dismissal. They do not need to be in lines at this point, but your supervision of dismissal in the hallways is important for student safety.
- We no longer have access to a translator here available at the school level, so when you need one, please remember that each counselor and administrator and Ms. Carpenter ALL have access to our "phone a translator" service that the district has given to us (as they cannot currently afford a "real" translator.") Do not let language hold you back from proper and needed communication with ALL of our families.
Tablet's in Hill's classes
Hill's students working hard!
Hill's students making their tablets!
CCS Intent Information
All employees should complete and submit the intent form using the link below. If you wish to express interest in a transfer, you will complete both the intent form and the transfer request form using the link below and also notify your current principal of your transfer interest. The complete list of transfer requests will be sent to CCS principals by February 7, 2018. Transfer/Intent window open December 18, 2017 through January 31, 2018. Please contact Paige Gentry in HR with any questions: paige.gentry@cabarrus.k12.nc.us
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd39VoiKfUcybJJnq9KU6fQrpuLKQcl_YsnIc9J2XBNHVDWZw/viewform
Safe Schools - Next Round
Safe Schools
The first training module, Workplace Injury Prevention begins December 12, 2017 to February 16, 2018. This is a new course to SafeSchools that will provide simple strategies to avoid common workplace injuries.
Second training module, Communication Styles, will begin February 19, 2018 to April 13, 2018. This course will provide basic information on the types and styles of communication as well as a few ways to communicate more effectively to others. There is also an interactivity component that will help you assess your own communication style!
The last module is General Ethics, April 16, 2018 to June 8, 2018.