Friday Focus
November 7, 2014
Rachel's Challenge
I cannot share enough gratitude for Stacey Ramsey, the students in the FAB (Friends Against Bullying) Club, and all the community sponsors that supported the program. What we experienced on Wednesday was the culmination of months and months of planning for this event. It's an incredible story and one that has power to transform lives. I look forward to seeing the way Rachel's Challenge continues to have a positive impact on our school.
Liberator Time Accountability Week
We won't have Liberator Time on Monday because of the Veterans Assembly. However, on Tuesday, we will have some changes to LT. Your will find your rosters in SIS instead of on the Google doc. LT accountability continues to be imperfect at best. We appreciate all of your efforts to email staff, talk to students, and follow-up on your students who are no-shows. Next week, we are planning to raise the level of accountability to demonstrate to students that we are paying attention and we do expect all students to report to their assignments.
Since your students will be included in SIS, you will easily be able to notice who has been absent all day and who is skipping your LT. I will send an email each day next week reminding you to reply to all with any students you believe are skipping. We are going to use 'all hands on deck' to immediately locate those students, give them a vigorous pep talk and warning, and then swiftly send them on to their LT placement.
In the future we hope to be able to take attendance in SIS just like for any other class. However, making that change has proven challenging in the middle of the semester and there may be additional hurdles beyond that. But at least your roster will be in SIS, so you won't have to use a totally separate system to access your list of students. In addition, you will receive instructions from Teresa Holt on how to record your absences and turn them in weekly.
After this week of shock and awe, we will continue to monitor halls and the commons. We will also discipline students for skipping after you have addressed it with a classroom consequence. If you have addressed a skipping behavior and the same student skips again, you must submit a discipline referral. Every teacher must work to hold high and clear expectations for attendance in LT every day.
Since your students will be included in SIS, you will easily be able to notice who has been absent all day and who is skipping your LT. I will send an email each day next week reminding you to reply to all with any students you believe are skipping. We are going to use 'all hands on deck' to immediately locate those students, give them a vigorous pep talk and warning, and then swiftly send them on to their LT placement.
In the future we hope to be able to take attendance in SIS just like for any other class. However, making that change has proven challenging in the middle of the semester and there may be additional hurdles beyond that. But at least your roster will be in SIS, so you won't have to use a totally separate system to access your list of students. In addition, you will receive instructions from Teresa Holt on how to record your absences and turn them in weekly.
After this week of shock and awe, we will continue to monitor halls and the commons. We will also discipline students for skipping after you have addressed it with a classroom consequence. If you have addressed a skipping behavior and the same student skips again, you must submit a discipline referral. Every teacher must work to hold high and clear expectations for attendance in LT every day.
Cross Country STATE BOUND!!!
Best wishes to our Cross Country team at state on Saturday!
Supervision of Assemblies
Our Veteran's Assembly is Monday at 10:30AM. Gina Lawson sent a detailed email with instructions for the event. I just want to reiterate how important it is for EVERY teacher to stay with his or her class when attending an assembly. We had students giving the Rachel's Challenge workers trouble on Wednesday because the teacher was not around to help.
When the STUCO workers arrive on Monday, drop everything and help get your class to the auditorium and seated. I recently read a section related to this in Todd Whitaker's book What Great Teachers Do Differently.
When the STUCO workers arrive on Monday, drop everything and help get your class to the auditorium and seated. I recently read a section related to this in Todd Whitaker's book What Great Teachers Do Differently.