The Weekly Roar
Notes from Nick Novak: Sunday October 23, 2016
Kudos
...belatedly to the math and CTE departments for Feast Friday on the 14th. I neglected to include them in the kudos, but I wanted to correct the oversight. Thanks to everyone for providing us with such a delicious breakfast.
...to Allyson O'Neill for her collaboration with the Leadership Development office in planning this week's cluster-based Strengthsfinder activities. It was great to hear/see staff learning more about themselves and each other.
...to Gina Palermo and Brian Sackett for an awesome job with PSAT day testing. My call for shout outs for AM announcements resulted in numerous emails extolling the work they did in the weeks leading up to the test and on the exam day too. The entire staff was on point the whole morning (even with some sporadic power outages). Thanks a million!
...to John Arnold for organizing and hosting this weekend's BCFL Speech and Debate tournament. It was a huge undertaking, but he did an awesome job in putting it all together.
FYI
1) The next SIT Meeting is Monday 10/24 after school in the student services seminar room. We will be reviewing climate survey data from students, staff, and parents to identify areas to focus on and start developing strategies to address areas for improvement.
2) After a couple weeks without Lionstime, we are back in business. Please make sure that you encourage students to sign up on the Lionstime website by Tuesday at 4pm. The 2nd General Assembly will take place in the auditorium during this time.
3) We're closing out October, so it's time for another schoolwide PBIS Drawing. Each 4A teacher will receive 5 raffle tickets to give students to celebrate their positive behavior in class (maybe improving attendance or attitude/effort), to recognize their actions in being #HowardStrong, and to reward them for showing their PRIDE. Directions will be in mailboxes, but a reminder that A lunch teachers should distribute tickets on Wednesday.
4) The Staff Costume Contest is Friday 10/28. Although admin is participating, we aren't eligible to win since we are also judging. We'll have individual prizes, but also the highly coveted departmental prize (free lunch and bragging rights). I hope to see some great costumes out there on Friday!
Staff Birthdays
10/26 Stephanie Ghezzi
10/28 Lisa Veslany
"Instructional Tidbit"
In Defense of the SLO
I was talking with a couple of teachers from another school on Friday night and one of them mentioned how she hated SLOs. I was somewhat surprised by the comment since I thought that domain 1 and 4 artifacts would be a more natural object of derision. (But that's the topic of another conversation.)
I countered by saying that SLOs are (or at least should be) a natural part of what teachers do: assess student learning. The SLO tasks, rubrics, and student scores are a window into your classroom that show some pretty essential information:
1) What is a fundamental skill that students should learn in your class?
2) How will you know that students have progressed in this skill?
3) What will you do as part of your daily class activities to help students develop these skills (especially when you learn that they aren't)?
If SLOs seem tedious to you or like they are too much work, you might be doing them wrong. Work smarter, not harder by integrating the tasks into regularly scheduled activities and making "SLO assessment" just be assessment.
I've talked with folks who are truly excited about discussing their students' growth, but I know that some people may have lost their SLO Mo-Jo. If you need to find your way again, let me know. I'd be happy to help restore your faith in the process.
Things that Make You Go Hmmmm!
Be the Adult Who Cares
Teach to the Future
Teaching and Learning
Mission
In partnership with families and the community, it is the mission of Howard High School to cultivate an environment of collaboration, empowerment, and engagement that exhibits world-class support for staff and inspires students to thrive in a dynamic world.
Email: nnovak@hcpss.org
Website: http://hohs.hcpss.org/
Phone: 410-313-2867
Twitter: @PrincipalNovak