Bulldog Bytes
A Newsletter for Employees of the Mexico59 09/23/15
Bulldog Bytes
Email: jdiffenderfer@mexico.k12.mo.us
Website: www.MexicoSchools.net
Location: 2101 Lakeview Road, Mexico, MO, United States
Phone: 573.581.3773
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mexico-School-District-59/692521830775778
Twitter: @MexicoMoSchools
Use Bulldog Bytes for District Wide Communication
BUS DRIVERS NEEDED
In case you did not know, we need certified teachers as bus drivers. This would be extra money for you and it will also help you when you retire, if you keep it up, as it logs more income for you when reported to PSRS. For more information about becoming a bus driver, contact Curt Jackson x2424.
Mexico School District Calendar
Wednesday, September 23
McM Fall Pictures
FFA - Farm Safety College at Mizzou
8:00am - Teacher Academy - Board Room
10:00am - MHS Girls Golf - NCMC
10:00am - Key Club American Red Cross Blood Drive @ MHS Sports Complex Lobby
10:15am - ECC Mrs. Miller the Science Thriller w/Lehnen, Quinlan
2:15pm - ECC Mrs. Miller the Science Thriller w/Lehnen, Quinlan
4:00pm - MHS Girls Tennis @ St Dominic
Thursday, September 24
STAM - Jellybeans Perform
8:00am - MHS Girls Golf - Brookfield Golf Invitational
10:15am - ECC Mrs. Miller the Science Thriller w/Lehnen, Quinlan
2:15pm - ECC Mrs. Miller the Science Thriller w/Lehnen, Quinlan
4:30pm - MHS Girls Tennis @ Moberly
5:00pm - MHS Softball V/JV vs Moberly
5:00pm - MHS Boys Soccer @ Missouri Military Academy
Friday, September 25
STAM - Jellybeans Perform
10:00am - Missouri State University College Visit - Jrs & Srs
10:15am - ECC Library Lady Visits
10:45am - EF 4th Grade Walk Back In Time Field Trip
2:15pm - ECC Library Lady Visits
7:00pm - MHS Football Varsity @ Centralia
Saturday, September 26
HS Marching Competition @ Wright City
8:00am - Trap Shoot Centralia/Paris
9:00am - MHS Softball Varsity @ Centralia Tournament
9:00am - MHS Volleyball - JV @ Hannibal Tournament
9:00am - MHS Volleyball - Varsity - @ Rolla Tournament
Monday, September 28
9:00am - MHS Girls Golf - Districts
5:00pm - MHS Softball V/JV vs Boonville (Senior Night)
6:00pm - MHS Football JV vs Hallsville
6:00pm - MMS 7/8 Volleyball vs Kirksville
Tuesday, September 29
HS Choir Fundraiser Kick Off Day
9:00am - Drake University College Visit - Jrs & Srs
3:00pm - Area Trap Shoot
3:30pm - High School Parent Teacher Conferences - Sports Complex
4:00pm - MMS XC @ Warrenton MS Invitational
5:00pm - MHS Boys Soccer @ Marshall
5:00pm - MMS 7/8 Football @ Kirksville
6:30pm - MMS 7/8 Volleyball vs Fulton
Wednesday, September 30
EF Basketball Show PTO Fundraiser Kick-Off
3:30pm - High School Parent Teacher Conferences - Sports Complex
5:00pm - MHS Softball V/JV @ Kirksville
5:30pm - MHS Volleyball @ North Callaway
Click here for the most up-to-date calendar http://www.mexicoschools.net/calendar-google.php
Mexico School District 59 Position Openings 2015-2016
CERTIFIED
Part-Time Evening welding
Speech Pathologist (4)
SUPPORT STAFF
Bus Drivers & Substitute Bus Drivers
Bus Mechanic
Substitute Food Service Workers
Substitute Nurses
Substitute Teachers
The following coaching/extra-duty positions are available for the 2015-2016 school year. Please contact Jeff Anderson x3008 at Mexico High School for additional information.
MHS
Assistant Track Coach - MHS
School Reach is now School Messenger
We have a new calling alert system at Mexico School District. It is called School Messenger and replaces the former School Reach. Calls about early dismissal or changes due to weather will come out as before.
We have automated calls which are going out for attendance. These calls are made daily if parents haven't called into to tell the school that their student is absent.
Parents may also receive an automated negative lunch balance call once a week.
Parent information is gleaned from SISK12 and the Parent/Student portal. If you have an update to your phone number, be sure you sign in to your account and make the changes there.
This is a new system and as with anything new, there can, and will, be some kinks to work out. If you experience something out of the ordinary, please call Jo Ann Diffenderfer 581-3773 x2425. We appreciate your patience and know that we will work to solve issues as quickly as we can.
MHS Theater Cookbooks ready to be purchased....Get yours NOW!
From Sara Given - MHS Theater Department---It is a great honor to be selected to represent not only our school and community but the state of Missouri at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland August 2016.
We are in need of your support.
“Dramatically Delicious” is our new cookbook. The entries look AMAZINGLY scrumptious! $15 per cookbook with a 75% kickback to our group traveling abroad.
We will be hosting the Children's Tent at Walk Back in Time. So, stop by with your kids next week and pick up a cookbook while you are there!
If you are interested in donating to our group, please contact Sara Given at MHS or Bethany Collins at Central Office.
Email: sgiven@mexico.k12.mo.us
Location: 639 North Wade Street, Mexico, MO, United States
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MHS-Theatre-Department/1648271075419981?fref=ts
UNITED WAY: We have reached a contribution of 8% toward our district goal of $7,400.
Mr. Freeman read to each first grade class at Hawthorne Elementary
Congratulations Robert Cortez-- Important updates from the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education
New Staff At the Alliance--Part 2
Robert Cortez has taken on the job of Show-Me Arts Coordinator. He is working with our student leaders and advocates to create another memorable and outstanding Show-Me Arts Summit. Robert has been a band instructor for a number of years and currently works in Mexico, Missouri. He has been active in Missouri Music Education and is one of those "kid magnets" who have such a positive impact on students.
Instructional Technology Facilitator Casey Echelmeier's Blog
Sue Nixon offers topics for reading instructional help
Elaine Hansett offers topics for math instructional help
Student Health Screenings to be held at YMCA
Students in grades 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th will travel to the Mexico YMCA for health screenings. The dates are:
Oct. 8 Eugene Field
If you have any questions about this, please contact your school's nurse or Angie Anderson, Head Nurse at x2802.
MHS Key Club to host Red Cross Blood Drive - TODAY
*Coaches (note from Mrs. Galloway): If you would consider letting athletes participate, they could perhaps be excused from practices that day. If it is a game day I understand them not participating.
Thanks everyone for helping with a good cause!
CPI Training Reminder - TODAY
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2015, 03:30 PM
Mexico Middle School, West Boulevard Street, Mexico, MO, United States
A+ for Mexico Grant Applications due!
A+ for Mexico Grant Applications need be turned in ASAP. The deadline is September 25th.
Information can be found at http://goo.gl/yjtO44
The application can be found at https://goo.gl/7TDCqz
From this week's Marshall Memo
3. Handling Confrontations with Particularly Challenging Students
In his AMLE Magazine article, consultant Grace Dearborn list some qualities exhibited
by teachers who still love their work after 15-20 years in the classroom:
- They use effective tools for handling student misbehavior.
- They empathize with negative experiences students may be having outside the
classroom that cause disruptive school behaviors.
- They aren’t discouraged by occasional bad days or bad moments.
- They don’t see themselves as failures when a student doesn’t succeed or change.
“Still,” says Dearborn, “managing difficult student behaviors eventually sucks the energy from most teachers, no matter how talented or experienced… So how can we help our most challenging students without completely depleting ourselves?”
Students with serious behavior problems have learned the hard way that adults are not
trustworthy – in fact, will eventually abandon or abuse them, physically or psychologically.
Deep inside, these kids hope to find an exception – a genuinely trustworthy grown-up – so they act out, putting teachers through multiple tests to see if they might be the one. “We are only human,” says Dearborn, “and in the face of such a protracted onslaught of negative behaviors that gets worse over time no matter how safe, structured, and consistent we are, no matter what consequences we use, we eventually give up. Eventually we get exhausted… And now we are just another statistic in their growing body of evidence against adults.”
When teachers are on the verge of giving up, Dearborn suggests an unusual strategy:
“Imagine that all your students have an invisible subtitle running along in front of them that is communicating to the adults in their lives what they really need. Everything else – the nonsense that comes out of their mouths and bodies during difficult interactions – is just noise, interference meant to get in the way of our reading and responding to their subtitle.” For example, what the student says is, “This is stupid! Why we gotta do this?” The subtitle reads, This is hard for me. Help me to succeed and let me save face, too. Responding to the subtitle, a teacher might say, “Yes. I know this is hard and sometimes hard things feel unnecessary and we want to avoid them. But I’m here to help. Let’s work it out.”
Dearborn admits that students’ outbursts and resistance often tax our patience. “When
that happens,” she says, “it’s harder for me to stay calm enough to remember to look for the subtitle, especially if I feel personally attacked.” At such times, she conjures up several default subtitles:
- Please help me!
- Don’t give up on me!
- What can I do right now to behave better?
“Any one of these helps me stay calm and respond productively to their misbehavior instead of unintentionally escalating the confrontation,” she says. “Remember, my baseline assumption is that student outbursts are tests to pass, not a show of disrespect. Consequently, it’s not personal; it’s a cry for help.”
Dearborn recommends a six-step process when a student irrationally resists a request to
do something (or stop doing something):
• Assume the best. “I can pass the test by being safe, structured, and consistent,” she says. “The student wants me to pass the test.”
• Soft eyes, soft voice. Be calm, Dearborn advises. “I need that calm to be expressed in
both my verbal and body language. If I concentrate on keeping the muscles around my eyes soft, or neutral, my voice will naturally follow.”
• Offer a choice. Kids need to know that they can comply or continue to resist, and
whatever they choose, there will be a consequence.
• Respect the choice made. This is not personal, says Dearborn. “I am not being attacked
or disrespected. It is just a test.”
• Give the consequence. This can be positive or negative, depending on the choice the
student makes.
• Escalate the choice. If the student chooses not to comply, another more uncomfortable consequence is calmly proffered. This continues until the student complies – or is temporarily removed from the interaction or class.
“Struggling teachers sometimes hold the belief that respect is something that should
automatically be afforded them because they are the adult authority figure in the room,” says Dearborn, “rather than something they must earn through a series of interactions over time. Or, from the student’s perspective, a series of tests being passed over time… [J]ust because students don’t change on the outside (behavior), that doesn’t mean they aren’t changing on the inside (belief). Some kids are battling a lifetime of not being able to trust adults. Some kids need to experience more than one year of consistent, loving accountability in order to
internalize trust.”
“Compassionate Discipline: Dealing with Difficult Students” by Grace Dearborn in AMLE
Magazine, September 2015 (Vol. 3, #2, p. 8-11), www.amle.org; Dearborn can be reached at grace@consciousteaching.com.
Walk/Bike to School Day - OCTOBER 7, 2015
Nominations are now being accepted for Pioneer in Education Awards
During the Annual Christmas Reception we will present the Pioneer in Education Awards. Employees are encouraged to nominate a retired staff member or former Board of Education member. Nominees must have been retired at least three years.
If you wish to nominate someone, please complete the form below and return to the Board Secretary at Central Office not later than November 15.
These two documents are what you need to submit an application. The nomination form. The list of eligible retirees.
Contact Bethany Collins for more information. x2401