Tiger Tracks Inside Edition
Travis High School Faculty Newsletter - March 4, 2019
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Monday, March 4
5 days til Spring Break! We know EVERYONE is ready! Thank you in advance for your diligence in duty and supervision this week!
It's time to nominate February ROAR Awards! Deadline is Friday - use button below!
Tuesday, March 5
TIGER TUESDAY: Warm Up with the TIGERS! Stay warm in your best sweats!
Mardi Gras Treats in lounge courtesy of PTO!
2:15-3:15 - Mrs. Garcia in Library to collect TELPAS Writing Samples
Softball: @ Austin 4:30, 6:00
Boys Soccer: @ Clements 4:30, 6:00, 7:30
Girls Soccer: v Clements @THS 5:30, 7:30
Baseball: v Pearland @THS 6:00
Wednesday, March 6
College Wear Wednesday
Department Leader Meeting - 2:55 FOCR
Good Luck to Tennis and Track at competitions today!
Thursday, March 7
Good Luck Baseball at Tournaments!
2:15-3:15 - Mrs. Garcia in Library to collect TELPAS Writing Samples
Friday, March 8
It's FRIDAY, We Wear RED!!!
End of 3rd 9 weeks
Health Benefits Specialist in Library - 7:30 AM-1:30 PM
Boys Soccer: v KHS at THS 4:30, 6:00, 7:30
Girls Soccer: @ Kempner 5:30, 7:00
DEADLINE: Nominate a student for February ROAR Award!
DEADLINE: Nominate a 9th-11th Grade Student for Spring Underclassmen Awards - see below
Saturday, March 9
SAT
This week's Tiger Shout Out goes to Ms. Benson and Ms. Olivacce! They have worked diligently the last few Fridays to cover many uncovered teachers! We truly appreciate your hard work! Thank you!
Underclassmen Awards Nominations - Due Friday!
If you are a teacher of an underclassmen we need your assistance in nominating students for an award for Underclassmen Awards Night on Thursday, April 25. Below you will find a link to a form. Please fill the form out with your student nomination.
You may nominate any student that has shown improvement in an academic throughout the 2018-2019 school year. We want to highlight our students that don't often receive academic accolades and those students who have shown growth/progress this school year.
The window for teacher nominations is Friday, March 1-Friday March 8 at 4:00.
You can only nominate one student per course taught. For example, if you teach on level Algebra I and Pre AP Algebra I you may nominate one student from each course for a total of two nominations. Be sure to fill out a separate form for each student that is being nominated.
If you teach seniors please do not fill this form out. An email will be sent at a later date with the form for senior nominations.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let Ms. Johnson know.
This is the LAST week for AP Exam Registration! Students registering this week will have to pay a late registration fee. There will be NO registrations allowed after Thursday!
Donate to Decision Day! Wear Jeans!
Decision Day will be held on April 26th this year and we are working hard to get some fun donations for our seniors! If anyone has it in their heart to donate for Decision Day – we would LOVE it! Some ideas might be college dorm items, gift cards, coffee maker, food gift cards, gas gift cards, or laundry items (they may not realize they want this yet) lol
ANY donations are welcome and much appreciated!
PLUS – JEANS FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH for anyone who donates!
Bring donations to Mrs. Martinez in E138!
Use of Edgenuity for Grade Repair
If you are not yet taking advantage of Edgenuity for grade repair and would like additional information, please contact Mrs. Blake or Coach Lane. They can assist you with log in procedures and assigning lessons.
Don't forget to recognize your students with a POSITIVE OFFICE REFERRAL!!
Teacher Toolkit
Thank you, Mr. Pope for adding to our toolkit by keeping it positive in the classroom!
PLUSSES Vs. MINUSES
(aka The Effect of Positivity on Your Bowling Game)
Take a step back and ask yourself: do others view me as an overly positive or negative person? Do you ever reflect on this? You should. Your students do. Now, they don’t carry around “Positivity Meters” to get concrete data on which of their teachers are the most positive. I’m pretty sure there’s not an app for that, either……yet.
Now, there may be some who have read this far (thanks, guys – please keep going) and are thinking to themselves, “Pope, I just teach. I don’t really dig too dip into the contents of what I say.” Consider this message a call for each of you to be more introspective about the quantity of the positive feedback you give your students. In the 1990’s, John Gottman (University of Washington) researched positive vs. corrective feedback and found that the “magic ratio” is five parts positive against one part corrective. In other words, to be viewed as a decidedly positive feedback-giver, we should offer up five PLUSSES for every MINUS we put out there.
In 1982, researchers studied positive reinforcement by videoing two groups of amateur bowlers. The first group, after bowling several games, were shown replays of their bowling that highlighted only the mistakes they’d made. The second group, subsequent to their bowling sessions, were shown montages of their successes and highlights. After reviewing their respective videos, both groups showed improvement; however, the positively-reinforced group improved their scores at a scale that doubled those of the negatively-reinforced group. What’s the moral of this story? Clearly negative/corrective feedback can bring about improved performance, but POSTIVE reinforcement is WAYYY more impactful. It resonates with people.
Probably one of the most powerful quotes we’ve discussed as a group recently came from the Rita Pierson TED Talk in which she so wisely stated, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” Friends, PLEASE think about this. I beg you. In fact, take seven minutes and forty-five seconds to re-watch this excellent talk by CLICKING HERE. An extension of this thinking would be the notion that kids LIKE teachers who give them a POSITIVE feeling about themselves and their learning.
A 2007 study revealed that, on average, people say roughly 16,000 words per day. Let’s get more “bang” for our verbiage “buck” and make those 16,000 words decidedly more positive. The sky is the limit on how our kids would respond.
And lastly, you look amazing today.
Professional Growth Opportunity through Peer Observation!
To have your name added to the Tiger Board (volunteering to allow others into your classroom), please use this link or add your name to the Tiger Board in the front office behind the mailboxes: https://goo.gl/forms/7jK0Im7OS0bvqDSD2
If you or your PLC would like to observe classrooms, please use this request link: https://goo.gl/forms/qLZNDRfCTr4w4vOq2
Exemption Information
Clarifications/FAQ
- What absences count towards exemptions? All absences coded E and U will be counted towards exemption totals. T and L will also count - 3 tardies/lates equals 1 absence for exemption purposes.
Don't Forget to Sign Up for your Biometric Screening!
ROARING AHEAD
March 11-15
Spring Break
March 18
Club Photo Day
March 20
Department Meetings
March 27
Faculty Meetings
April 5
PR 7 Ends
April 9
STAAR EOC English 1
SAT School Day
TSI Testing
Campus Wide Testing Day - There will be NO regularly scheduled classes.
April 11
STAAR EOC English 2
April 19
Good Friday Holiday - No School
April 22
Student Holiday - Professional Development Day
ALL THINGS ADVISORY
9th grade Access Code: 9RPJK-MPNR7
10th grade Access Code: MTPC8-VJHXW
11th grade Access Code: 6P8DB-Q3QXP
12th grade Access Code: VWF3J-W62C3
Weekly Advisory Lesson Plans are located in the 3rd 9 weeks folder of your appropriate Schoology Course under the appropriate dated week. You MUST log in and JOIN the correct Schoology course to access the videos and materials for this week's lessons.
REMINDER! Power Points should be downloaded to computer from Schoology to view embedded videos and hear the voice overs!
Fridays We Wear RED - Tiger Pride Points Link
HAVING AN ISSUE WITH TECHNOLOGY?
How to Reset Your Network Password
Do you have news to share? Email THS Announcements! (THS.Announcements@fortbendisd.com)
Tiger Tracks Parent Newsletter
Frequently Used Links
Travis High School
Email: Lizzie.Herring@fortbendisd.com
Website: www.fortbendisd.com/ths
Location: 11111 Harlem Road, Richmond, TX, United States
Phone: 2816347000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBTravisHighSchool
Twitter: @ths_tigers