Ahead of the Curve
Jasper Weekly 10.12.15 to 10.18.15
Serve. Matter. Experience. Together.
Ehh, What's Up Block?
I hope everyone was able to get outside a bit this weekend and soak in the amazing weather. You never know how many more of these days we will get this year.
I thought I would take this opportunity to update everyone on block lunch. Based on observations, conversations, and feedback, it has been a success thus far. We are still evaluating block lunch every week as an admin team and I feel confident we will have a very good handle on the status and direction of block lunch by the end of the semester. Here are some examples of feedback I have received:
- Majority of students report liking the freedom, responsibility, and flexibility it gives them
- Majority of students report liking the time they have to do work with access to teachers and classmates
- Majority of students report liking the ability to participate in activities that were once difficult for them to work in their daily schedule
- Majority of parents report liking the reduced amount of homework students are doing at home
- Majority of parents report liking the time for students to relax a bit during the day
- Majority of teachers report liking the flexibility it gives them during the week to work with teammates and struggling students
- Majority of teachers report liking the opportunity it gives them at the end of the six weeks to help get kids caught up to eliminate as many incompletes as possible
The success of block lunch boils down to assessing if this experience can:
1. Maintain a safe and secure school environment
2. Keep the campus clean
3. Increase flexibility for teachers to collaborate
4. Increase flexibility for teachers to support students
5. Increase flexibility for students to be more involved
6. Increase flexibility for students to support their learning
We always support feedback and input to make block lunch at Jasper the most successful experience for teachers, students, and parents.
Staff Birthdays
Mark Sfikas-Wednesday, October 14th
Upcoming Weeks at Jasper
10/14-PSAT/CogAT
10/22-Progress Reports Distributed
10/23-Group Picture Day
10/28-Spirit Sales in the Foyer at Lunch
10/30-Friday before Halloween (just something to keep in mind)
11/5-End of the Second Six Weeks
11/23-11/27-Thanksgiving Break
EdNews
Arne Duncan to Step Down in December
One of the youngest members of the Cabinet will replace him.
Learning Bite
Coding
Why should students (and teachers) learn to code?
(2:22) Hour of Code
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC5FbmsH4fw
15+ Ways to Teach Coding in the Classroom
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/15-ways-teaching-students-coding-vicki-davis
The 411
Exciting Times for the Jags
Check out Jasper's Twitter to stay up to date with all the exciting Jasper news in real time.
General Announcements and Reminders
2. (NEW) Safe Schools Training
3. (NEW) Parent/Teacher Conferences & PD Opportunities
1. EOS Survey
The EOS Survey must be completed by October 31st by ALL STAFF.
- Please click on the Plano ISD staff survey link: Plano ISD Staff Survey
- Staff are logging in using their district email address. Participants are encouraged to complete the survey in one sitting, however, if they do not complete, the survey responses will be saved, and allow for a later completion.
- If a participant does not finish the survey and another participant uses the same computer to take the survey, the browser will take the second user back to the first person’s unfinished survey. There are 3 options to avoid this:
o Participants can take the survey on individual computers. If they are not sharing computers, the glitch will not occur.
o If participants are sharing computers, and they complete the survey before another participant uses that computer, the glitch will not occur.
o If a participant starts the survey but needs to complete it later, they can clear the browsing history on the computer and then the next user will be taken to the login page, not the first person’s incomplete survey.
*See Julie's e-mail to the staff on Monday, October 5th for more details.
2. Safe Schools Training
Before December 18:
- View 3 SafeSchool's training videos at http://pisd.tx.safeschools.com/ (you should have received an e-mail from SafeSchools with more details) (ALL STAFF)
- Sexual Misconduct: Staff to Student
- General Ethics in the Workplace - Texas Version
- Family Reunification
3. Parent/Teacher Conferences & PD Opportunities
8 conferences between the dates of 10/5 and 10/16
*Face-to-face is the preference
- If face-to-face was not an option, please be sure to have documentation about why it was not an option
- In the case of documented reasons why face-to-face was not an option, a phone call conversation will be the substitute
- No voice messages or e-mails will count as a conference
Link to parent/teacher conference form: https://docs.google.com/a/pisd.edu/forms/d/1mZ6flMdZRqZQl75CrH0u5-MU_P_lU4m76sEe-1DMkE4/viewform
We also have 6 professional learning opportunities available on Monday. Please visit this link for more information:http://tinyurl.com/http-tinyurl-PDSchedule
During the course of this school year, each staff member must select 3 professional learning opportunities from this list as a substitute for the 5 staff meetings removed from the staff calendar.
Important Bookmarks
Staff Google Folder:
Staff Handbook:
http://tinyurl.com/jasper-staff-folder
Block Lunch Meeting Request:
http://tinyurl.com/Block-Lunch
Social Media Input:
http://tinyurl.com/Jasper-club-social-media
Announcement Request (170 characters):
http://tinyurl.com/announce-request
Incompletes: