Merrill Minute
September 18, 2020
Thank you!
Thank you for your feedback and partnership again this week as we continued to learn more and improve upon our instructional practices in the virtual world. Great ideas from students, teachers, families, and support staff continue to surface and we appreciate the all hands on deck approach to making this adventure the best possible experience for Merrill students. We will continue to develop mini-lessons around technology skills and provide opportunities for students to practice navigating the virtual classroom.
Thank you, Students! We are so impressed with your ideas, resilience, and your determination. Continue to settle into the learning, share your ideas, and ask questions.
Thank you, Teachers and Staff! I was able to Team into a few virtual classrooms this week and want to thank the Merrill teachers and support staff for your ingenuity, creativity, and hard work in ensuring that Merrill students are served at the highest possible level and that questions are answered in a timely fashion.
Thank you, PTA! A huge thank you to the Merrill PTA for advocating for safety and high quality instruction, communicating via Facebook, volunteering at technology and material distribution, supplying clear masks for all the teachers, and purchasing new banners that will be hung soon from the rooftop at Merrill. Thank you!
Thank you, Merrill Families! And finally, thank you to all of you for your grace, your ideas, your voice, your sharing of resources, and your positive approach to each day. You are juggling a lot right now and we know that this is not an ideal situation for any of you. Thank you for pressing on and reaching out to us for support.
As a reminder, here are a few of your "go to" staff at Merrill:
Student Last Name A-L:
- Associate Principal - Kristen Kennedy Anderson
- School Counselor - Kimber Foshe
Student Last Name M-Z:
- Associate Principal - Brian Tate
- School Counselor - Cait Denning
Yours in appreciation of our remarkable learning community,
Kate
Kathryn Panek, Principal
Merrill Middle School
ELA Materials
Math Print Materials
T-Mobile Hot Spots
Merrill School Counseling Department
Lunch Bunch!
Social-Emotional Learning
Link to Merrill Counseling Office
DMPS Community Legislative Action Team
Join us for a Zoom conversation to learn more about the DMPS Board's Legislative Education and Advocacy Committee and the Community Legislative Action Team (CLAT). In addition to learning about us, we want to hear from you. Tell us your story, your experiences with DMPS, and what legislative change you’re willing to fight for. Help us strengthen our message to legislators and take action!
In order to receive access to the meeting, please click on the date to pre-register.
Band Instruments
A few band students have requested to rent a Merrill Band instrument, or rented one last year and are enrolled again this year. There will be two opportunities for you to collect the instrument at Merrill. This Friday -Sept. 18th from 4:00 - 6:00 pm or Saturday - Sept. 19th from 8:00 - 10:00 am. The instrument will be handed to you from the far northeast door of the east parking lot. You will sign the rental document, take your instrument, and be on your way. If you have any questions, please email john.morgan@dmschools.org.
New Computer - Camera?
Some of the new laptops we received in August, HP Probook x360 11 G5 EE DMPS) have a sliding button at the top of the screen right above the camera which can slide over to block the camera. Just in case you think the camera is not working, try sliding the button over.
Time to Organize the Computer!
Add Programs & Tools to Toolbar
Students can easily and quickly access a program while on Teams, as well as, have quick access to programs they use all the time. Suggested icons: Search bar, Edge, Chrome, Word, PowerPoint, Camera. There is also a Folder icon on the bottom. Clicking on this will take them to their files where they can access OneDrive – Des Moines Public Schools.
- Add search bar. Right click on empty space on toolbar. Click on:
“Search”
“Show Search Bar”
(You may need to click on the carrot v to expand the menu.)
- In search bar, type “Word.” Click on “Pin to Taskbar”
- In search bar, type “PowerPoint.” Click on “Pin to Taskbar”
- In search bar, type “camera.” Click on “Pin to Taskbar”
Add Folders to your "OneDrive - DMPS"
- Click on the FOLDER icon in the bottom taskbar
- Click on “OneDrive – Des Moines Public Schools”
- Click on “New”
- Click on “Folder”
- Name your folder
- First add a folder for past work you want to save. For example, if your work is from Hanawalt, make a folder named Hanawalt. Or Last Year, 2019-20, 7th Grade, Elementary…
- If you want to keep your old work, drag it into the folder. Tip: Click on first document. Hold the SHIFT key down, and click on a document lower in the list. All of the documents will highlight. You can then move them as one item, by dragging to the folder.
- Create a folder for each of your classes. Suggested folder names:
0-Advisory
1-Math Teachername
2- Art Teachername
.
.
.
Add Favorites to Microsoft Edge
- Click on “Edge” (the blue swirl)
- In the address bar, “type dmschools.org”
- Click on “Canvas” (explain where that is in the list & the big icon on the right)
- Click on the STAR. Name your favorite “Canvas”.
- When you want to go on to Canvas, click on the STAR with the 3 lines.
- Add other places you visit often.
- If you do not have a toolbar at the top showing your “Favorites,” and you would like one:
- Right click on address bar.
- Right click on the Favorites list star – the star with 3 little lines.
- Click on “Customize toolbar”
- On the right side of the screen, go to “Show favorites bar”
- Select “Always” in the box.
Attendance/Participation
Participation and Non-Participation
DMPS has made a change to our attendance/participation system in which the default for attendance is to non-participation when attendance isn't submitted by the teacher by 5:00 each evening. Typically, this would not be an issue. This wasn't a typical week.
While teachers work hard to take attendance period-by-period, this was difficult this first week as we navigated new systems and helped students find their way to their virtual classrooms. As a result teachers may have gone back to record attendance later in the day, but not soon enough. Many of you had already received a notification that your student was marked as "non-participation", when your student actually "participated".
Thank you for your patience as we learn what this all looks like and as we settle into routines that allow us take attendance efficiently in the virtual world. We will get attendance records cleaned up and hopefully avoid this issue next week.
Infinite Campus Update at 5:00 PM
Another change is that last year Infinite Campus updated immediately, so you knew if your student was absent or tardy period-by-period. This year Infinite Campus will update at 5:00 each evening.
Appointments, Internet Issues, Etc.
Please let us know if your student will not be able to participate in live instruction by emailing joyce.grace@dmschools.org or calling the school at (515) 242-8448. Students who are unable to join synchronously are encouraged to make other plans with the teacher to participate via video recording, Canvas materials, or a 1:1 meeting with the teacher.
Music Requests
As a reminder, all students have been rostered into a course titled Music Appreciation. DAILY, during that period, students check in for a 5-10-minute, musical learning engagement with the teacher listed on the student’s schedule. An example of this short, musical learning engagement is “What are you listening to Wednesday?”, during which time students may share popular music, what is on their playlists, or a beat or pattern that they’ve noticed across musical genres.
Students are also rostered into small group sectionals/performing ensembles/lesson groups for band, orchestra, or vocal music on a WEEKLY basis according to the student’s performing arts request.
Merrill IB Grading Updates
What is the International Baccalaureate?
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end, the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment. These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
How is the grading system changing?
This year, Merrill's PE, Visual Arts and Spanish departments are piloting an IB Middle Years Program gradebook that blends standards-referenced grading (SRG) with the IB criteria. Instead of grading on a four-point SRG scale, students will be graded on an eight-point IB rubric in these specific courses. Teachers and curriculum leaders worked throughout the summer to blend the SRG district scales and IB criterion into a singular format that will articulate student learning goals and achievement. While IB rubrics are not new to Merrill teachers or students, they have traditionally only been used to measure achievement on individual assessments and then converted into an SRG score, using a standard conversion scale. In these classes, teachers and students will use IB rubrics exclusively to track their progress toward their understanding of the content (SRG) and application of that understanding (IB).
The Two Systems:
1. IB MYP Criteria
Each subject area uses four criteria to describe the learning expectations (qualitative measurement of achievement) for students as they move through the IB Middle Years Program. The four criteria are evaluated using age appropriate rubrics provided by the IB, with "8" as the highest achievement level.
2. SRG: Standards-Referenced Grading
Iowa state/national standards and benchmarks (quantitative measurement of achievement) are aligned with all written, taught and assessed curriculum through the district curriculum office. These have been organized into units and topics that are measured with "4" as the highest achievement level.
MYP/SRG Integration
Teachers have worked collaboratively to design rigorous assessments that align the knowledge and skills of the Core Standards with the IB MYP criteria for each of the subject areas. Together, these objectives and standards set the instructional outcomes for each course. Teachers have integrated all of the SRG learning goals into the four IB criterion for each of these subject groups, allowing for assessment that covers both DMPS and IB achievement expectations.
What will I see on the grade report?
Students will be graded in PE, Visual Arts and Spanish, exclusively on the 8-point rubrics and these scores are what will appear in their grade report on Infinite Campus. Both individual pieces of evidence as well as topic scores will be reported on a scale of 0-8. Infinite Campus will then convert the final achievement to a letter grade.
For more information please contact Danielle Taylor, Merrill International Baccalaureate Coordinator.
Canvas Parent/Family Access
Directions for Internet Access (Computer):
First, go to https://dmschools.instructure.com/login/canvas. (You might want to bookmark this URL on your web browser). Then follow the steps in the video below:
To find a student pairing code:
- The student should log into their Canvas account.
- Click “Account” then “Settings”
- On the right hand side of the screen they will see “Pair with Observer”
- The Pairing code will appear.
Directions for App Access (Phone or Tablet):
- Install the Canvas Parent app on your phone or tablet.
- Once you open the app, you will click “Find my school.”
- Under the search bar “Find your school or district” enter “Des Moines Independent Schools – Parent”
- Canvas automatically filters results as you begin typing
- Choose “Des Moines Independent Schools -Parent”
Then complete the following steps:
- Login or click “Create Account”
- Fill in your name, email, and create your own password.
- Canvas will require a pairing code, which your student should look up inside of their Canvas account (directions above).
- Once you retrieve the pairing code, type the pairing code into your phone/tablet to gain access. (After your account is created, you can link additional students to your account in the Parent app.)
- To complete your registration, agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
- Tap the Start Participating button to view student information.
Canvas: Parent/Family Observer Video Directions
Virtual Learning Support - Boys & Girls Club
Kristina Cox
Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa
Gregory & Suzie Glazer Burt Club
2500 Forest Ave I Des Moines, IA 50310
o. 515-271-4608 l c. 515-577-7160
kcox@bgcci.org l www.bgcci.org l find us on Facebook
Merrill Middle School
Email: jane.schumann@dmschools.org
Website: merrill.dmschools.org
Location: 5301 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA, USA
Phone: 515-242-8448
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merrillpta
Twitter: @MerrillMustangs