BCHS Staff Newsletter
January 10, 2016
Week in Review
Great first week back from break! I saw a lot of excellent instruction, and there were a lot of staff members incorporating the Ipads and some trying out their new Apple TV's. Please let me know if I can help you in any way with either of these.
Our Robotics Team, DevilBots, is up and running full-steam ahead. They attended their FIRST Kick-Off at Capac on Saturday, and we found out what this year competition will be. The theme this year is FIRST Stonghold, and the competition can be viewed at this link:
The students are very excited about this opportunity, and it has created a bit of a buzz around the community. Many people have been curious as to exactly what we are doing with it and when competitions are.
The students will now have exactly 6 weeks to make their robot. At the end of the 6 weeks we will bag it for competition. They will be working 5-6 days a week after school and on weekends for the next 6 weeks to create/make the best robot they can for this year's game. The team has two competitions (they run Thursday-Saturday). The first will be at Kettering University on March 10-12, and the second is at Marysville High School on March 24-26.
Anthony helped host a great day of youth basketball on Saturday. We had teams from several different cities in both of our buildings. There were games in both gyms from 9am until about 6pm. Thank you to all that helped make this day a success!
End of Semester/Marking Period & Exams
Also, last week I asked for you number of devices needed during exams (each hour). I have not heard back from very many of you at this point. My plan is to borrow some from the elementary (if needed), and I have already talked to Sean about this. I would like to know how many you need by the end of the day on Wednesday, so I can start marking arrangements of who needs what. Thanks.
Evaluations
I am hoping to complete about 1-2 evaluations a week from now until spring break. If you have something coming up that you would like me see let me know. If I don't hear from you, I will just let you know the week when I will be into your room for this.
I am in most of your rooms on a fairly regular basis, so understand I take all of that into account when looking into evaluations.
Student Learning Objectives
Friday Early Dismissal and PD
PD Agenda
Grades
--Do I have enough grades in Skyward to give an accurate representation of that students' work in my class?
--Are my assignment titles in Skyward clear as to what I am grading? Just putting the date or a general title doesn't always offer much help to a parent or student. Some of you have participation grades (which is fine), however, just make sure the parents and students know what you are looking for in this grade.
--Do my grades include some assessments (quizzes/tests)? If not, they should.
--Have I shared with my students the "weighting" of their exam? If you haven't, this is something that should be discussed in the next couple of weeks.
This Week's M-STEP Meetings
Those that are attending the M-STEP meeting, I emailed you the necessary data on Friday. Use this time to find our strengths/weaknesses and use it to help you come up with a plan for the remainder of the year's instruction. Also a reminder that all meetings will be in the Elementary Conference Room (this located in the elementary office).
PSAT Data
Corinne has done an amazing job of getting the 11th grade data broken down to help Audrey and her focus on low areas between now and the SAT (April 12th). I plan to have Corinne share some of her findings and data break-down process at Friday's PD.
I will be sending invitation codes (to view results) out to some of you, so you can do the same for the grades you teach.
Remember the state test for 11th grade is SAT, for 10th is PSAT 10, and for 9th is PSAT 9. So all three of those grades need to use our Fall data to help improve instruction in our low areas.
I will also be getting into the 11th and 10th grade classes this week to help make sure their PSAT score is properly linked to their Khan Academy accounts. English 10/11 teachers, please check with your students to see that they all have received results (and let me know when you would like to link accounts).
Upcoming Events/Reminders
- January 11-15--Rayba Bus Duty
- January 11--Student of the Week VanBuskirk (8th)
- January 11--M-STEP Data Breakdown--English (Jarrod half day with Tammy/Joanne) & Social Studies (Jesse half day with Jan/Mike)
- January 13--M-STEP Data Breakdown--Math (Lou/Lori half day with Jenna/Mike) & Science (Lesley/Maria half day with Cindy/Sharron)
- January 13--Directed Study 4th Hour
- January 15--Early Dismissal & Staff PD from 1-3
- January 18-22--Troshak Bus Duty
- January 18--Student of the Week Troshak (9th)
- January 18--Board Meeting @ 6:00
- January 20--Direct Study 1st Hour
- Week of January 25th--First Semester Exams
- January 25-29--VanBuskirk Bus Duty
- January 25--Student of the Week Grabowski (10th)
- January 27--No Directed Study (Exam Week)
- January 29--End of 1st Semester, students half day. HS staff able to leave for half day if participating in graduation.
- February 1--Start 2nd Semester and 3rd Marking Period
- February 1-5--SnowComing Week
Homework Help Lab
Tuesday/Thursday Mornings in Lori's new room. 7:15-8:00 am
This will cause some students to be past the double doors, but Jesse is there monitoring this and will let them up if needed. Also, any other teachers that have students coming for help in the morning, just have them let Jesse know when they ask to go up early. This will not be an issue, and I encourage you to work with your struggling students.
Tuesday/Thursday Afternoons in Library. 3:15-4:00 pm
Jarrod will be running the morning sessions and Lou will be running the afternoon sessions. Any other teachers are also welcome to help with this. Thanks.
Magic Club--Tuesdays and Thursdays
Super Smash Bros Club--Fridays
Parting Toughts
3 Things High School Teachers Plan to Work on in 2016