The Pulse of the Nation
Week of February 8
Principal's Corner
Hi Nagel Nation!
It is time to CELEBRATE Nagel and YOU!
We want to celebrate the fantastic year we have had so far at Nagel Nation! On February 19th, teachers will have the opportunity to take an hour lunch and travel to Silver Laddle, which is providing lunch deals for you!
While you are away enjoying great food and time with your colleagues, your students will be treated to a pep rally in the gym after their lunch.
Please see the Celebration Lunch Google doc for teacher schedules, student schedules, 7th grade shortened encore schedule, and lunch duty.
Item #1 - Intent Form
Thank you to so many of you who have already returned your Intent Form. Please try your best to turn in to me by Friday the 12th.
Item #1A - We need you to complete this QUESTIONNAIRE for Nagel Intent by Friday, February 12th. Thank you as well to those of you who have already done so.
Item #2 - Welcome Back Kayla!! We know baby Caroline will miss you tons today too!
Item #3 - Professional Development Day @ NMS
Friday, the Elementary staff will be here for their PD. The following rooms will be used. If you will please have your projector, speakers and screen AND any power strips your team has ready for them it would be greatly appreciated.
RM 115
RM 114
RM 131
RM 144
RM 139
RM 138
RM 128
RM 118
243/245 - OPEN
237/239 - OPEN
142/140 - OPEN
130/132 - OPEN
134/136 - OPEN
Cafetorium
Learning Commons
Item #4 - OTM Begins This Week
OTM (Organizational Time Management class) will begin meeting this week. Typically students will meet with their teacher on Monday and Friday but this week they will meet on Thursday.
The following students were selected to participate:
7th Grade
Caleb Samaan (71-Black)
Seth Williams (72-Shaw)
Riley Marquez (74-Hardman)
Greg Colson (75-Moore)
Devin Hair (73-Ervin)
8th Grade
Zoe Glenn-Walker (81-Clark)
Anna Hoffard (81-Varner)
Paige Stephens (82-Groene)
Zane Brinker (85-Thaxton)
Nick Raymond (84-Edwards)
The above named students will be called to the NightHawk Express Cafe' on Thursday morning where we will meet to explain OTM and the expectations of the class. Jimmy Byrnes (rm 133) and Jamie Verdin (rm 128) will be working with these students from 7-7:40 each Monday and Friday. As part of the class, students will be taught mini lessons to help develop executive functioning skills as well as have time to complete work, check progress and Schoology. Thank you all for all your help in getting this organized.
Item #5 - 8th Grade Visits with High Schools during Core on 2/10
AHS/THS counselors discuss high school scheduling with 8th grade students. Teachers, if possible, please try to be in the Learning Commons during presentations AHS/THS counselors/administrators will meet with students as follows;
Team Time Location
8-1 10:00-10:30am LC
8-2 10:35-11:05am LC
8-3 12:40-1:10pm LC
8-4 11:30-12:00pm LC
8-5 12:05-12:35pm LC
Item #7 - Conferences
My Conference Time will be open for staff to begin scheduling high priority conferences from February 1st-11th. My Conference Time will be open from 2/12-2/25 for parents.
Item #8 - CandyGrams
LOVE is in the air at Nagel Middle School! Students can send candy grams for $.50 to friends and/or teachers by purchasing a candy gram at lunch on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of this week. Candy gram notes will be in advisor mailboxes after school on Wednesday to pass out in advisory on Thursday. It is very important to do this on Thursday so students can redeem their sucker by bringing each of their candy grams to lunch. Please instruct students to do so on Thursday in advisory.
Item #9 - Digital Safety Evening
Please encourage your parents through your weekly communication or team schoology page to attend the safe technology night, "Staying Safe in a Digitally Connected World" on February 18th at 7:00 pmin the cafetorium.
Use the PDF flyer to help get the word out on this imperative event!
Item #10 - PD Day for Nagel Staff
February 12th -- Click this link for times, sessions and room numbers at Anderson. If you are a Nagel staff member who has PD @ Nagel, please be aware after your FHTA vote (which you will do at Nagel) you will need to get to AHS Media Center by 11:00 for our Aspire session.
Item #11 - Extended Team Time
We will have Extended Team during the week of February 8th. Please see Extended Team schedule linked here for information on who you need to cover. More information on the topic to be covered during Extended Team Time to come.
Item #12 - Super Severance
It is that time of year for anyone who is eligible to let the district know you are interested in taking the Super Severance option. Please see the link below for specifics.
Item #13 - Yearbooks
FINAL day to order YEARBOOKS is today! Please remind your kids during your last class today! They can order online. See our webpage for the link.
Item #14- Safety Training
Did you complete your safety training videos?
Item #15 - Activity Pictures
Please note the dates have changed for the pictures due to celebration of teachers and Para's. Feb. 17th - will be pictures for all NExt Clubs and Feb. 18th will be pictures for all Music classes and WEB. Pics will be on the stage, except WEB will be in the gym.
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UPCOMING EVENTS - FEBRUARY
FEBRUARY
8 - Extended Team Time
9 - NO CAT
9 - BLT Meeting @ 2:30 - Room 114
10 - HS Counselors & Admin Team Visits
10 - Achievers Meeting @ 2:30 - Room 115
11 - Winter Athletic Recognition Night - @ 7:00
11 - Extended Team Time
12 - NO School - kids - Professional Development Day
15 - NO School - Happy Birthday George, Abe and the others
17 - Activity Pictures - Clubs
18 - Activity Pictures - Music and WEB
18 - Digital Safety Evening with Cincinnati Bell and UC - 7:00 PM
19 - Celebrate Teachers and Paras!
23 - Extended Cat - Math/Science
24 - Staff Meeting @ 2:30
25 - Conferences - Final one
26 - NO School
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Tech Bytes
Looking for Interested Teachers for a Respondus Pilot:
Online assessment is extremely convenient but it comes with one major flaw: Students can use their browsers to search information to aid them while completing their test. Depending on the type and purpose of the assessment this might be something that would be encouraged but most of the time this sort of vulnerability would disrupt the validity of the assessment.
Schoology is now offering a LockDown browser option for tests and quizzes. The product is backed by Respondus, which is a company that has been around for some time now. The service is not free and it may come with some glitches, so we would like to pilot the use of this feature with only a small group of teachers.
In the next few days all teachers will notice the option to require a LockDown browser when creating or editing their test or quizzes in Schoology. Please do not use this feature unless you have been accepted into the pilot. The test feature will require support and any unauthorized use may cause problems for our pilot program.
To apply for consideration to become a pilot member please email Kyle Mack by Wednesday of this week (Feb. 10th).
Schoology Non-negotiable Resources:
To this point, many of you have reviewed the Schoology Non-Negotiables presentation. Kyle has received requests to break down each non-negotiable into a checklist format. In response he has created a Schoology Non-Negotiables Assessment Checklist which will help you to self-assess or ask another colleague to assist you in assessing your use of Schoology. Administrators will also use this tool to help you better understand what you need to work on (if anything) as it relates to our Non-Negotiables. If you have several several items to work on, it is suggested that you work on it in steps rather than trying to fix everything all at once. This process will be explain in several upcoming PD opportunities.
Schoology Non-Negotiables PD:
Kyle will be explaining the non-negotiables and describe the use of the two resources referenced above during several optional PD opportunities. The first PD opportunity will be on February 12th during our in-service day. Please look for Kyle’s Schoology Non-negotiables in the list of available sessions and sign up if interested. This session will focus on understanding each non-negotiable requirement. You may also choose to attend one of two available PD Thursday sessions during your personal plan time. The two dates for these PD Thursdays are February 25th and March 3rd. On February 25th, we will focus on Step 1 - Step 2a while on March 3rd, we will focus on Step 2b - Step 3.
Nagel Nation
Email: johnvandermeer@foresthills.edu
Website: foresthills.edu/nagel
Location: 1500 Nagel Road, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Phone: 513.474.5407
Facebook: facebook.com/NagelMiddleSchool-HomeoftheNagelNation
Twitter: @NagelNighthawks