The Reds Tale
October 12, 2017
Newark High School
Email: thomas.roote@newarkcsd.org
Website: http://newarkcsd.org/Domain/84
Location: 625 Peirson Avenue, Newark, NY, United States
Phone: 315-332-3240
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nhsreds
Twitter: @Newark_HS
From the Desk of Mr. Roote
This Friday, Kyra will end a short, but highly successful term of employment at Newark High School. Her reason for leaving is noble and cannot be questioned as an opportunity came knocking that was best for her family. I am especially grateful for Kyra, not due to what she has done for me, but because of what she has done for you! She has fielded hundreds of requests to cover classrooms, track down invoices, requisition items and to coordinate spring awards. She managed the hiring process for over a dozen new staff and she has transitioned the main office from its lowest moments when a copy machine was running all day every day with a ceiling high pile of packages sitting unaccounted for in the background. As Friday approaches, please take a moment to fill her bucket! Literally, fill her bucket, as I will place a Halloween basket at her desk for your tokens of appreciation. No worries, if you give her candy, I am sure that Chad, Cooper, and crew will take what she doesn’t want!
Also, this Friday, Rene will end her time with us. Like Kyra, she is making a good decision for Harrison and here amply bearded husband James. Rene has been an incredible force behind so many of our kids. Mostly, she is a strong advocate for the underdog, often leveling out perspectives that can overly slant an opinion. I can best describe Rene as a marigold! To that end, I will place a basket in the counseling office so that you can consider sharing one of your marigolds or a similar token of appreciation.
Kyra and Rene, we love you with our Reds-hearts and will miss you!
From the Desk of Mr. Wagner
Newark, being a culturally diverse community, requires us as educators to create culturally responsive classrooms to effectively help students develop greater cultural awareness. As assistant principal, I sometimes work with students on issues stemming from a lack of cultural sensitivity or cultural awareness. This typically results in a teaching opportunity that opens the door for student growth. With a tense political climate regarding immigration and race relations, it is particularly important for us to be responsive. The two links below have some valuable resources that could support our work.
Mash Up
Ms. Hallahan and I recently attend a NAME (National Association for Multicultural Education) meeting in Irondequoit. Despite unknowingly attending a business meeting of the Board and sub-committees, we took away quite a bit. Here are a few topics referenced at the meeting:
We look forward to bringing you more from this group!
Thank you for your continued work helping to manage the overall tone of our large group SELF time together in the auditorium. I thought that we improved a bit. I would still encourage you to sit among the students. You should know that students at or nearing college/career readiness are embracing our efforts. How validating is this thought from a student with an eye on raising her voice with SELF as her venue: "Hey Mr. Roote, I know you’re probably tired of hearing from me all the time. But I’ve been talking to some of the other students in my classes, we all like the idea of the SELF meeting but we feel like we can make them better. If we, the students and seniors take the time and talk to our school as a whole we feel that we could really get some messages across to the others in our school. Sometimes [...] we see adults as out of touch and think what do they know since people aren’t in our shoes. You may or may not like the idea, just a thought. I’d really like to talk about this at some point if possible. Thanks for your time." I am happy to report that the easy response was "yes" as we have a venue (SAC) for raising student voice!
REPRINT: If you have collected our new field trip permission form please turn them in to the main office to be logged into a database that will track them for the year and be shared with all staff. The idea is to not ask a student to turn in multiple forms in a year.
REPRINT: Our Prevention Committee is offering a community-wide door decorating contest for our students, businesses, and residences in Newark. The contest is associated with our celebration of Red Ribbon Week and will also bring awareness to underage drinking and drug use. The details about the contest are listed on the poster. Door entries are due October 30. Please email a picture of your completed door with school and class name. All entries will have a chance to win prizes!! Happy Decorating! Contact: N. Reinholtz
SchoolTool Disciplinary Referrals: If you have submitted a SchoolTool disciplinary referral and have not seen a response, please email Mr. Wagner to make sure the referral was received.
I recently finished a data dive as I was surprised at how few class cuts I am addressing among seniors. Mr. Wagner is feeling the same lull. Surprisingly, students are cutting class at a pace that is worthy of our attention, Unfortunately, we are not addressing the issue. Case in point as illustrated in the screen shot below. This student cut four classes and I only received one referral. This rate of responsive corresponds with the markedly lower referral production rate. Specifically, we are seeing that only 1 in 5 class cuts or skipped classes are resulting in disciplinary referrals. While a 1/5 hit rate may be fine for Aaron Judge, it is not ok when considering the appropriate interventions for students missing classes. Please be responsive when Ms. Acquista inquires about class absenteeism. This includes producing a disciplinary referral for a "Skipped Class."
Social Emotional Learning and the Plan for Excellence
Parents: Please consider attending our SELF program. You are always welcome! See you at 9:18 am on October 25?
I have created an Office 365 group titled SELF. All co-teaching pairs should get accustomed to the group as that will be the venue for accessing lessons and rosters. In fact, the October 25 lesson is currently there along with the roster (recently tweaked). You can also use the group it to "dump" resources that you believe may be useful for planning future SELF lessons.
Calendar Share
Thursday, October 12 from 5:30-7:20 pm. Open House: A Celebration of Teaching and Learning. Contact: T Roote.
Thursday, October 12 at 2:00 pm. Young Americans Assembly. Contact: K Flock
Thursday, October 12-Saturday, October 14. Young Americans. Contact: K Flock.
Tuesday, October 17. Transforming Stigma An Empowering Conversation with Mike Veny at Penfield High School. Contact: N. Reinholtz
Thursday, October 19. Domestic Violence Awareness Day WEAR PURPLE.
October 23-29. Red Ribbon Week.
Tuesday, October 24; Thursday, November 30; Thursday, January 4; Thursday, February 8, Tuesday, March 20; and Thursday, May 3. Below 65 Progress. Contact: T Roote.
3:00-4:00 pm on October 24; November 30; January 17; February 27; March 22; April 25; and May 14. PD Hours. Contact: Robin Uveges
Tuesday, October 24. Apple Crunch Day. Contact: T Roote.
Tuesday, October 24 from 2:30-3:00 pm in the main office. SELF Lesson Review. Contact: T Roote.
Wednesday, November 1 from 3:00-5:00 pm in our LGI. Newark School District Flu Clinic. Contact: Wayne County Public Health.
Monday, November 6 during all lunches. Finger Lakes Community Health. Contact: N. Reinholtz
Tuesday, November 7 at 7:30 pm in the high school auditorium. Band/Chorus Concert. Contact: C Briggs.
Wednesday, November 15 during all lunches. Wayne County Public Health. Contact: N. Reinholtz
Thursday, November 16. The Great American Smokeout. Contact: N. Reinholtz
Monday, November 16. Victim Resource Center will be in Health classes. Contact: N. Reinholtz
The Instructional Corner
For this week’s Reds Tale, we felt it was important to highlight the three learning target sessions from Fridays Superintendent’s Conference Day.
- Students do need to know the purpose of the lesson and understand the target they’re aiming for. But most students won’t get that from an instructional objective. They will, however, get it from a learning target. We must mine the instructional objective for the essential knowledge and reasoning for the lesson and think about the potential learning trajectory in which the lesson is situated.
- Sharing learning targets with student means more than simply writing the target statement on the board or stating the target at the beginning of the lesson. The four-step verbal framework allows teachers to unpack the learning target, performance of understanding, and success criteria from the student’s point of view.
- Success criteria provides a positive impact on students being able to determine how well they are learning in relation to the target. To be useful, success criteria must be specific to the learning target, observable, and measurable.
For more information or handouts/materials from these sessions, please follow the link to the Instructional Corner. The instructional corner is now even easier to access, Click on Staff Tools from the district homepage and then click on the Instructional Corner link!
Close Up (send me a picture)
Miscellaneous
The Newark High School Mission, Vision and Values
The Newark High School Mission: We are a school community with deeply held hometown pride, committed to readying young people to be life-long learners with experiences aimed at continuously motivating us to hone our skills in the complex tasks of teaching and learning. Our community is devoted to providing supports for the aspirations of our adolescents as they mature into adults with ambitious plans for college and careers.
The Newark High School Vision: Staff embody the school values and impart confidence while providing an inviting classroom environment with clear expectations and specific academic and behavioral goals. Students embody the school values through intellectual and emotional perseverance. Families embody the school values while remaining actively involved as advocates for their children and supporters of the school programs and staff.
The Newark High School Values: Safe, Responsible, Trustworthy, and Respectful.
Email: thomas.roote@newarkcsd.org
Website: http://newarkcsd.org/Domain/84
Location: 625 Peirson Avenue, Newark, NY, United States
Phone: 315-332-3240
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nhsreds
Twitter: @Newark_HS