Clark High School
Monday Memo
The English department celebrated Blythe Wren-Barajas’s birthday this past Friday with Cake Pops made by Jerrod Kay!
This Week’s Birthdays:
Alan Klein-October 25th
Wanna Thank a Staff Member?
When you observe a staff member you want to recognize, please fill out a quick “Paws to Applause” note and pin it on the bulletin board in the copy room. From time to time, we will read these over the announcements and staff will be invited to come down to Sandi’s office to select some “school supplies kind of stuff” from the treasure basket. No, there’s no trip to the Bahamas, but it’s still nice to be recognized!!
Thank you in advance for celebrating your colleagues.
Don’t Forget to Nominate a Student
It is time again to nominate the Cougars of the Month. The criteria is at your discretion, but we would like to nominate kids that are good overall role models in terms of behavior and academics. Please email Nicole Vickerman with the name of one 9th and one 10th grade student AND their student id# whom you feel represents the best of Clark. We will compile a list of nominees, and at the end of next week, we will send out a ballot. You will be able to give your reasons for voting for each student on the ballot, so Nicole just needs names, grade level, and id # right now. The wonderful PALS will be creating posters for the winning students, and we will recognize them in various ways.
Please let Nicole know if you have any questions.
Clark Football
9th grade B team beat McMillen 12-0
10th grade team beat Shepton 34-0
9th grade B Team Shuts out McMillen!
10th grade Shuts out Shepton as well...34-0!
CHS Band Rules!
Clark High School students who will represent CHS in the Region 25 All-Region Choir
All-Region Mixed Choir (Advancing on to Area)
Shachar Albalancy
Cannon McClure (4th Chair Soprano 2)
Preston Patton
Sam Loeffler (1st Chair Tenor 2)
Sarah Loeffler
All-Region Treble Choir
Marlei Dismuke
Caroline Ross
Claire Fulton
Freshman Honor Choir
Megan Shepard
McKenna Johnson
Priya Jain
Gage Bridges
Blake Illiff
Lilian Knox-Seith
Guest Speaker
Didn’t like your Picture?
Baked Potato Bar-October 21st
Plano Santas Holiday Food Drive
Making Our Mark Visual Arts Staff Exhibition
I had the privilege on Monday to attend the PISD/RISD Library Expo at the Sockwell Center. One of the hot topics this year was teaching Digital Citizenship in High School. Digital Citizenship means we know and practice the norms of technology use.
At the secondary level we are faced with teaching the “application” and the “why” of digital citizenship. Our job is to get students to “think through” certain technology behaviors and see value in behaving as “good digital citizens.” Although many schools have access to technology and BOYD (Bring Your Own Device), there is often no single class where digital citizenship is taught. This is where the School Media Specialist and the Classroom Teacher come to the rescue.
How can regular (non-tech teaching) teachers bring Digital Citizenship into their classroom?
One technique our presenter used with us was Verbal Modeling. For instance, she began her presentation by asking if she could take a selfie with the class. After getting our permission she took our picture and showed it to us (yes there were a few that didn’t want a picture and moved out of the shot). Then she asked if it would be OK if she tweeted this picture out. We all agreed she could tweet it out and she did. This seemed like obvious courtesy to me, but do our students know this? We know our kids often take sneaky pictures of each other and maybe even (gulp) us. Do they actually know why this is wrong? Do they actually think through the consequences of sharing certain images? We know many of them don’t. Something as simple as demonstrating and talking through a technological act like a “selfie” can send a strong message. You can bet in the next few weeks, I’m going to be modeling the “selfie request” up in the library!
If you are interested in learning more about teaching Digital Citizenship I recommend checking out Common Sense Media . This site has a lot of valuable information including posters and toolkits.
This week’s Instructional Focus
Watch from 7:30-11:30 of the video below to better understand “Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition"
Other Reminders
- Just a quick reminder that all teachers are expected to update their grades each Monday by 5:00 p.m. Naturally, a lengthy essay, long project, or listening exam may take longer to grade, but all daily work and scantron type quizzes and tests should be recorded by 5:00 p.m. on Mondays for any work from the previous week.
- Progress reports for the 2nd 6 weeks will be run at 9:00 a.m on October 21st.
- We will have a lockdown drill at the beginning of 3rd period on October 22nd.
- Equal Opportunity Schools Staff Survey must be completed by Friday, October 30th.
- Amy Tang and her staff will be serving their yummy Thanksgiving Feast early this year. It will be in the cafeteria on Thursday, November 5th. Don’t miss it!!
- The deadline to complete the mandatory SafeSchool Videos is December 18th.
Clark High School Principal
Email: janis.williams@pisd.edu
Phone: 469-752-7210
Twitter: @janiswilliams13