Providence Hall Junior High
5/02/22- 5/06/22
Sixth Time Is The Charm
Good Evening Patriots and Welcome to MAY!!!
If you are new to Utah, I am so excited for you to get to experience a Utah Spring. It is the most glorious, deliciously warm weather. The white blanket of snow starts to give way to green-carpeted mountains, brightly colored tulips, and happy little daffodils peppered all over the city. Gahhhh it is the BEST!!!
As many of you may or may not know, this next week is a BIG week here at PHJH as we get the opportunity to show off what we know, and what we have worked so hard for, as we start to power our way through RISE testing.
This year we have collectively worked really hard to reframe our mindset around assessment from something to be scared of or anxious about, to something that we use as a tool to help us know where we are and where we need to go. The kids have been been given the steering wheels, having had honest conversations about where they are at with their math and reading scores, and have worked as a team to develop personal growth goals. It has been incredible to hear students articulate what their scores mean, and share with us where they would like their scores to be by the end of the year. We have had students that have had reading scores that were so low, that they couldn't even get a score to register, finally get scores!!! Watching their faces light up is one of the best perks of being in education.
As we head into testing, I thought this would be a good place to share with you my both hilarious and hard-fought journey to claw my way through college to get where I am today. For those of you that don't know, I was one might call a "late bloomer" into the college circuit. Before my career in education, I was a floral designer for 18 years, and during that time owned a couple of successful small mom-and-pop floral businesses. With four of our own kids and at least two foster kiddos at any given time, it worked out well for our family, and I loved what I did. That is until our only daughter contracted Bacterial Spinal Meningitis.
Without going into too many details, some of the clients that I designed for were unhappy with the fact that I needed to take some time to take care of my daughter and decided to stop using me as their florist. While this didn't by any means crush my business, it did make me angry. I would never have anyone dictate to me when I could and couldn't be a mom. In a fit of rage, fueled by donkey-level stubbornness, I called my husband and told him I was shutting down the business and going back to school to become a Special Education teacher. This was something I had always wanted to do but was too afraid to pursue due to the "small" requirement of having to get not one, but two degrees.
For those of you that have not had the glorious experience of going back to college as a more "mature" student, allow me to share with you the joys that accompany the University determining which math and English classes you are placed in. In full an effort to have complete transparency, I feel I should disclose, that I was the student that tried really hard in math, but in the end, almost always ended up getting a passing grade only because the teachers took pity on my poor, math skill lacking soul.
Here I was, 30 years old, sitting in a tiny, poorly lit office at Salt Lake Community College scanning the room for all possible exit routes as they explained the directions for me to take the placement test to determine what math class I would start in. As soon as I came to terms with fact that I was just going to have to rip the bandaid and take the test, I clicked start on the computer screen and was immediately greeted with a question about how many movie seats at a certain price would have to be sold for a company to make a profit. My first thought was, well if they are actually real business owners, the only correct answer was they should just do enough marketing to sell all the seats.
To my dismay, this was not the answer they were fishing for, and I had zero ideas on how to construct any sort of equation to correctly solve this. So I did what any logical person would do, and started drawing theater seats and giving each one a price. While I can say my drawings were straight-fire, the solution to the problem was nowhere to be found. At that moment, I did what any self-respecting, panicked person would do, and happily guess-clicked my way through the remainder of the test. Just a few seconds later, I was greeted with a score that landed me square in Math 950, which I thought was pretty close to 1000, so I was fairly certain I had nailed this test.
Sadly, my inexperience with college class coding and thinking I had aced the test, was entirely, and heartbreaking incorrect.
Being placed in Math 950, meant that I had to take not one, not two, not three, but FOUR remedial math classes to get to the one that I needed to be able to transfer to the University of Utah. None of which would count toward credit for my Associate's degree. Long story short, I buckled down and ugly-cried my way through all of the math classes. Then, like someone walking the plank on a pirate ship, I found myself stuck squarely in Math 1050, being taught by a professor that assured us that only 50% of this class would pass this class the first time around.
Determined to prove this awful human wrong, I found myself a tutor, and every Saturday for an entire semester, I spent no less than four hours a week trying to figure out this foreign language known to the rest of the world as math. I was at Mcdonald's with my tutor for so many hours that the staff knew my breakfast and lunch order by heart, along with my name, and preferred soda of choice.
After an obscene amount of tutoring and studying on my own, it was time to take the final and finally escape the math prison I had been in every semester for the last two years. When I opened the test, I immediately felt the color drain from my face, and as hard as I tried, could not hold the tears back, as I realized that despite my best efforts, I could not remember ANYTHING that I had studied. Everything looked like it was written in German, and there I was, stranded without a translator.
I completed the test and walked it up to the professor, who was kind enough to grade it immediately. To be able to transfer the credit for my degree at the University of Utah, I was required to have no less than a "B" in the class. It didn't take long to see an ocean amount of red pen splashed aggressively across my paper, and in no time at all, I was greeted with a giant 60% at the top of my exam. It was enough to pass the class, but not enough to transfer to the U of U.
Like a balloon that had lost its air, I walked, completely defeated, to my car trying to figure out what I was going to tell my tutor and what I was going to do about this class that would not put me an entire semester behind being able to graduate.
While I have to say it was not my proudest moment, it was and is one of the best grit-building experiences of my life. I called and broke the news to my tutor, who responded with, "Well we will just try again, and again, and again if we have to. You are GOING to pass this class." After I shared the defeat with Mr. Summers, I immediately got on the computer and signed up for the Summer Math 1050 class, which I PASSED with a B by ONE point on my final.
Patriots, for the remainder of your life, you are going to be greeted with tests that you will have to pass to get the things you want. For many of you, your next big test after RISE is your Drivers License test, then the ACT, and all of the tests in between in the classes that you will need to take to graduate. You and your teachers have all worked so incredibly hard this year, and I have no doubt that all of that work is going to translate into us collectively as a school making huge gains on our end-of-year assessments. If you don't get the score you want, but you make growth, I want you to host a confetti-filled party in your head celebrating the fact that YOU made growth, and growth is the first step to mastery.
Let's do this Patriots!!!
As always, remember, you are LOVED!
Mrs. Summers
Mrs. Turley
Mr. Hawkins
Save The Dates For The Rest Of The Year
Happenings From Our AMAZING PTO
Click on the link below for all of the HUGE carnival details
Cultural Night At Providence Hall Has Been Canceled.
Information for joining the virtual meeting
Time: May 3, 2022 06:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97956348528?pwd=OGFaQjlxWCs1U0l6ZW5aQXlvejVKUT09
Meeting ID: 979 5634 8528
Passcode: ebC983
Some Important Information From Our Spectacular School Nurse Mrs. Ponce
ATTENTION PARENTS OF 6TH GRADERS
This is just a friendly reminder that your 6th-grade students will need to receive some updated immunizations prior to entering the 7th grade. So as you are making your way to their well-child checks with their doctors, just be aware they will need 2 or 3 immunizations. They will need a dose of Tdap (tetanus-diptheria-pertussis), and Meningococcal. And if they haven't already received it, they'll need a 2nd dose of Varicella (chickenpox). They will not be able to attend classes next year until their immunizations are updated. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks so much!!
Hi Parents,
This is just a reminder that we no longer do scoliosis screenings in the school, but do recommend that you screen your child/children each year in 6th, 7th, AND 8th grade. The attached letter provides a little bit of information on scoliosis and how to properly conduct a screening. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
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Utah Parents Center Classes and Resources
Click on Link Below To Check Out All Of The AMAZING Resources Offered By The Utah Parent Center
Did Your PH Enrollment Change For Next Year?
Told us your student wasn’t returning to attend PH for 22-23, but your plans have changed and now you want your student to return to PH instead?
Told us your student was returning to attend PH for 22-23, but your plans have changed and now your student will not be returning to PH?
If either of these applies to you anytime between now and the 22-23 school year starting, then you need to inform us of the change of enrollment plans by completing the proper form below.
Did your 22-23 enrollment plans change for a current PH student who will be in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th grade for the 22-23 school year? Click here to complete the Elementary Enrollment Intent Google Form to let us know of the change of plans.
· Did your 22-23 enrollment plans change for a current PH student who will be in 6th, 7th or 8th grade for the 22-23 school year? Click here to complete the Junior High Enrollment Intent Google Form to let us know of the change of plans.
· Did your 22-23 enrollment plans change for a current PH student who will be in 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade for the 22-23 school year? Click here to complete the High School Enrollment Intent Google Form to let us know of the change of plans.
Code Phrase For The Week
It is very important that our Patriots stay informed about the happenings of the school, so for those of you that have read this far, please email the code phrase to Mrs. Summers, from your student email account, for an opportunity to be put in a drawing for front of the lunch line pass, or a free dress down day!
PH Families, we have been having an increase of students being late to their first period because they choose to get breakfast right when the bell rings.
We are going to start closing breakfast 5 minutes earlier than normal at 7:40 am, to be able to give students enough time to get breakfast, eat it, and make it to class on time.
This adjustment will begin when we return from Spring Break, Tuesday, April 26.
NEW BREAKFAST HOURS ARE 7:15-7:40 AM