Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: to create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
3rd year Commitment Ceremony
An exciting tradition continues on Wednesday, December 18th, 9:30-10:30am with our Class of 2021 Commitment Ceremony! (Formerly Ring Ceremony)
Dress is business professional attire.
Please contact Robin Fletcher if you have questions, robin.fletcher@pisd.edu.
Counselor's Corner
Seniors
If you are planning on attending college next fall, and have completed your applications, it is time begin applying for scholarships!
You can find many scholarships listed in Naviance and scholarship resources can also be found in your academic conference booklet which you have in print or can access from our webpage.
PSAT Scores
Sophomores and Juniors who took the PSAT in October are able to access their scores online.
Find out more information from Collegeboard:
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/scores/getting-scores
ALL CALL FOR SENIOR ACCEPTANCE LETTERS: Please bring a copy of your letter(s) to Mrs. Madding.
Empower Learning Login Information
Empower Learning is the platform used at Academy High School for blended learning and for progress reporting (grades). As a parent, you are able to access you learner’s progress at any time using this platform. There are videos on our website which provide support for logging in and navigating the platform.
The video for login support can be found here.
The video for platform navigation can be found here.
For your first login this year, you will enter:
Login: FirstnameLastname
Password: changeme
If you have login challenges or need support with Empower Learning, please email Mrs. Brar at Gurpreet.Brar@pisd.edu.
Navigating the Progress Report:
When you login as your learner, you should see the screen below. For quick access to learner progress, we recommend you choose the “Progress Report” button in the upper right hand corner.
If you are interested in understanding more about a specific assignment, you can click on the activity. You will be taken to a screen like the one below. In this view you are able to navigate what your learner sees.
The “Goals” tab provides a description of the activity. It may also include information about the scale to which the learner is demonstrating evidence of learning.
The “Action” tab provides the learner with specific steps related to learning. This may be actions on the part of the learner, it may be resources and information.
The “My Locker” tab is where the learner submits evidence of learning. If there is nothing in the locker or the evidence does not have a green circle with a check mark in it, you may ask three questions:
Did my learner forget/choose not to submit?
Was the assessment turned in during a mod on paper?
Did my learner upload evidence to his/her/their locker but forget to click the large circle to formally submit the activity to the facilitator for review?
The “Feedback” tab is where you are able to see communication between the facilitator and your lerner regarding the work submitted. If the submission was done in class or on paper, it is possible that feedback was shared in person or on the physically submitted evidence
2nd Years
Change the Game is ramping up, as guilds and departments began producing assets, marketing ideas, story development, and brushing up on their programming skills. I sat down with Tate Sedwick, project manager to ask him about the game his guild is developing, Coral Cove.
What has been the focus this week?
The focus this week has been working as a team, working towards team dynamic. Making sure everyone is on task, and that everyone knows what they are doing. Getting the team dynamics up and running is important for a project like this, because there is a lot going on.
Right now our animation department is working really hard to finish the sprites for Coral Cove. This includes fish, plants, coral, and everything else. Our design team is also working really hard towards finishing the development of our story and gameplay.
Marketing is working towards our website and finishing booth design proposals, including where our booth will be located and what we will need for it.
What have been some successes?
Our success has come from our ability to be organized. WE have been really productive this last week. We also have a lot of really hard workers, good team players. It’s important for a big project like this that people do not hesitate to help or ask for help.
What are some areas of growth?
Right now some of our areas of growth is time management. It is taking a while to produce the sprites, each one should take about 30-40 minutes to produce, but we are currently spending more than that.
How are you feeling overall about where y’all are at?
Overall we feel like we are ahead of the game, pun intended. Most of our sprites are done, as is our storyboard, and conclusion.
Be sure to add our annual Acadecon to your calendar, where Second Years will showcase their game on February 6th, from 5:30-7:00 PM.
4th Years
This has proved to be an exciting week for the 4th year learners. A project team had the opportunity to return to Toyota Headquarters to present their solutions to a group of company executives. They did a great job representing the knowledge and skills that Titans possess! As an Adulting 101 session, a number of students were able to attend an etiquette course at PESH. The class not only included learning about the conventions of etiquette, but they also received a meal prepared by PESH students. Finally, the Research Phase of Capstone concluded with presentations to a panel of district Instructional Specialists.
Canned Food Drive
National Honor Society is collected non-perishable food items now through December 20.
There are collection boxes in the lobby labeled by grade and the grade level with the most cans will win a prize.
Early Release Reminders
Learners will eat lunch at 1:00 PM and be released at 1:30.
Buses will provide their regular transportation.