Eagle Express
LHS Staff Newsletter--Year 18, Vol. 15, 12/3/2018
December 3 Staff Meeting Info
Our next Advisory block will be Wednesday, December 5. This lesson contains one of the Academic & Career lessons on creating goals, so students will need their Chromebooks and access to Schoology for most of it. All December 5 grade level lessons are ready to be copied into your own Advisory courses. Please make sure this is done prior to Advisory day; if you will be absent on Wednesday, it is EXTREMELY important to make sure the folder has been copied into your Advisory course ahead of time. Remember, folders are located in the LHS Advisory Schoology Group. Each folder begins with Teacher Notes, which you should read for an overview of the lesson as well as a link to a slideshow for an opening icebreaker activity. If you need a refresher on copying a folder from a group to a course, refer to this copy of the slideshow (beginning on slide 6) from our October Advisory after school meeting.
LHS Apparel Sale--Limited Time Only
I Make a Difference
From Chris Derochers
I pick Mrs. T'na Bell for the I Make a Difference award because she is always on the go like going to see or help a student or students.S he always has an upbeat attitude.
December Door Decorating
I’m signed up for a GREAT free online conference for teachers in December and wanted to tell you about it. It’s called the Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit. There are nine video presentations from awesome presenters on topics related to tech and solid teaching and learning. Get your free ticket at: DitchSummit.com.
HOW IT WORKS: New presentations are released every day from Dec. 14-22. They remain available until Dec. 31 so you can re-watch or catch up on any you’ve missed. They’re pre-recorded, so you can watch them whenever you want until Dec. 31. After that, the summit ends and the videos are unavailable to watch anymore.
FREE PD HOURS: You can get FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDITS for watching the videos. There’s a form to fill out after each presentation, and you’ll get an automatic PD certificate emailed to you. Sign up for the digital summit at DitchSummit.com.
The schedule looks like this:
December 14 (Fri) -- How Students Are Using Technology to Change the World (Ken Shelton, Disruptor, Keynote Speaker, Techquity Voice)
December 15 (Sat) -- Building Relationships and Communicating with Students (Kim Bearden, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Ron Clark Academy)
December 16 (Sun) -- Six Practical Ways to Amplify Learning with Technology (Matt Miller, Head Textbook Ditcher, Ditch That Textbook)
December 17 (Mon) -- Appsmashing Your Way to Redefinition (Jornea Erwin, Head of Educator Innovation, Flipgrid)
December 18 (Tue) -- Infusing Coding in Any Class (Bryan Miller, Co-Founder, TopTechEDU, Director of Education Strategy, Wonder Workshop)
December 19 (Wed) -- Fantastic Learning Activities with Google Drawings (Tony Vincent, 5th grade teacher / LearningInHand.com)
December 20 (Thur) -- Using Visual Thinking to Unlock Powerful Learning (Manuel Herrera, doodler and visual thinker)
December 21 (Fri) -- Sparking Student Creativity and Creation with Video (Claudio Zavala, video/creativity/storytelling enthusiast)
December 22 (Sat) -- Building Habits to Be the Most Efficient, Effective You (James Clear, author of Atomic Habits)
NPR Student Podcast Challenge
NPR is inviting students around the country to create a podcast, then--with the help of a teacher--compete for a chance to win the grand prize and have your work appear on NPR. Be a part of the first-ever NPR Student Podcast Challenge.Here's how it works: Have your students put together a podcast with a class or extracurricular group and submit it to NPR.
This contest is aimed at students between 5th and 12th grade. Each podcast should be between three and 12 minutes long. The Contest submission period begins at 12:00 a.m. EST on January 1, 2019, and ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2019. The winning podcast submissions will be featured in segments on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Visit the submission guide to find suggested prompts, guidelines for submissions, and a list of questions you might have. Sure, this is a competition, but it's also about learning new skills in a fun way.
Upcoming Events
Monday, 12/03 (B)
Staff Meeting, 2:20
Scholastic Bowl vs Salem, Library, 3:00
JV Basketball vs Kempsville, 5:30
Tuesday, 12/04 (A)
Basketball @ Kempsville, 5:30
Wednesday, 12/05 (B)
Advisory Day
VBEA Jeans Day
JV Basketball @ PAHS, 5:30
Wrestling vs Cox, 6:00
Thursday,12/06 (A)
ILT, Library, 1:00
JV Wrestling @ Green Run, 5:00
Orchestra Concert, 7:00
Friday, 12/07 (B)
Dive @ Great Neck Rec, 3:30
Swim vs FC @ PA Rec, 7:30
Saturday, 12/08
Wrestling @ Fauquier Tournament
Announcements & Reminders
School Store Request: The school store wants to get a spirit shirt together for our boys and girls basketball season to have a _____-out game and they want input from our faculty and staff. Please use this link to give your input on the color selection for these shirts.
Angel Tree Reminder: If you took one of the Angel Tree tags, remember that all gifts are due to Chelsea Brechtel by Tuesday, December 4!
Federal Cards: Thank you for everyone’s hard work with federal cards. We are still missing 160 federal cards, and we are responsible for every federal card that was issued to Landstown HS. All teachers should continue to call the parents of all students who have not returned their federal cards. Students can return their federal cards directly to Mrs. Mitchell in the main office.
Decorations Needed: Are you decorating your home for the holidays and have some items you are planning to throw out? Bring them to the MKT1 classroom instead. These students are doing projects on visual merchandising and need Christmas decorations for use in these projects.You can also email Ms. Ailstock at Jennifer.ailstock@vbschools.com and she will come get them from you if you prefer.
Progress Reports: The Quarter 2 Progress Report posting window opens on Monday, December 10. Quarter 2 Progress report grades are due by Wednesday, December 12 at 12:30.
Save the Dates: Our Distinguished Teacher/Teacher of the Year celebration will be held on Monday, December 17 after school. Wednesday, December 19 will be our annual holiday food extravaganza. More details on both of these events will be forthcoming.
Let's talk about student agency and collaborate with one another via a Twitter chat the week of December 10th. We will exchange ideas and insight with our colleagues at Landstown, but maybe teachers from other VB schools or even other states will join in with their knowledge of student agency and experiences, too.
A new student agency question will be posted at 4:30 pm every day. Search Ms. Chamber's Twitter handle @MsChambers8 to find the daily question. Respond to the student agency question each day, Monday-Friday, next week and you will earn 1 PL point for the whole week. Use #ltownlearns with each response. She will use the #ltownlearns to keep track of your daily participation and then submit your PL point. This Twitter chat is optional, but we hope to see you there! If you do not have a Twitter account yet, Krissy & Erik are available should you need assistance.
Kudos
Kudos to Kelli Bradshaw whose AP Euro Pirate activity was highlighted in the division's Joy newsletter from the Professional Growth & Innovation Office.
Kudos to all of our volunteers. They are doing a great job entering their hours. We are up 223% over last year! WOW! Please remind anyone who volunteers to log their hours here.
Congratulations to Ayinde Bradford, Catie Dansby, and David Petrulis who have been selected to represent LHS on the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council. Additionally, Jalen Pope has been selected to represent the Tech Center on this forum.
Kudos to our wonderful NHS students who volunteered at Green Run Elementary School for their Cookies with Santa event recently.
VBCPS is now using Securly to monitor students' browsing history. Administrators, teachers, ITS and counselors will be granted access to their students web browsing history. Similar to the access parents have, staff will be able to view web browsing history for individual students in our school. There is no requirement that staff use this tool, but you may find it helpful when working with some students and parents. Over a two week period beginning November 26, administrators, teachers, ITS and counselors will begin receiving individual emails from support@securly.com. This email provides a link to the Securly Portal. Instructions for accessing and creating the browsing history reports are included in the memo attached to the email. Questions about the Securly Portal can be directed to Shane Snedecor, information security manager (Shane.Snedecor@VBSchools.com; 263-6001).
12/4 Rae Ann Firoved, Science
12/6 Brandon Gardner, Counseling
12/7 Susan Livingston, English
New to the Nest
Calendar Shift
Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) will use February 18 (Presidents’ Day) to make up instructional time lost during Hurricane Michael. Given the length of time out of school thus far, the division will also extend the first semester from Monday, January 28 to Thursday, January 31. Consequently, the division’s previously scheduled staff day/virtual learning day will now be Friday, February 1 and the second semester will begin Monday, February 4.
Report cards for the second nine weeks/first semester will be sent home Monday, February 11.
The 2018-2019 school calendar has been updated to include the makeup day and semester changes. The updated calendar is available on www.vbschools.com. Updated 2018-19 Calendar
Principal's Advisory Committee
The Principal's Advisory Committee serves in an advisory capacity to address employee concerns as they relate to site conditions that negatively impact on high student achievement and high employee morale. The PAC is committed to resolving issues professionally and in a timely manner. The following staff members have been elected to serve on this year's PAC: Katie Bennett, Caroline Clark, Jae Clark, Terri Gayer, Woody Gehlert, Kay Gramling, Kathy Holbert, Suzette Johnson, Connie Martinez, Michael Robinson, Kelly Singer and Anne Marie Sprague. Use this form to submit concerns to the PAC.
The minutes from the November 27 meeting can be found here.
Quarter 2 Grading Dates
Beginning Date--November 6
Progress Reports Issued--December 14
Ending Date--January 31
Report Cards Issued--February 11
Our Guiding Questions
- How do students determine and engage with their learning targets?
- What is the evidence that students are exercising their voice and choice throughout the learning process?
- What evidence is there that the teacher has planned opportunities for students to choose from a variety of tools/structures during their learning?
- How are teachers using assessment tools as part of their assessment strategy?
- What evidence exists that supports student collaboration, exploration, and creation efforts?
Landstown High School
Email: cheryl.askew@vbschools.com
Website: http://www.landstownhs.vbschools.com/
Location: 2001 Concert Drive, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Phone: 757-648-5500
Twitter: @LandstownEagles