Friday Focus #9: 10.19.12

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

The Lorax (Dr. Suess)

Levy Information
We are in need of some help as we gear up for the final push for the levy.  Here are some things each of you can do to help pass the levy:

• Door Hangers: We will be distributing door hangers next weekend.  If you are able to distribute to a section of the community, please sign-up in the office.  We are staying within the city limits for the most part, and we are trying to get as many volunteers as possible.  
• Get a sign for your yard... there are still a couple left in the office. 
• Talk to people.  This can be the most influential method of getting YES votes.  Voters need to know what the issues are and why they need to vote yes.  If you have questions about the levy or any of the specifics, please feel free to ask.  I know it can be uncomfortable sometimes to talk to people about political issues, but make an attempt to promote our levy whenever possible. 

Report Card Data
Under the 'Destination Data' tab above, you will find a link to the spreadsheet from ODE with report card data.  Individual schools can be found under the 'Traditional Schools' tab in the document.  As indicated earlier, we hit all of our indicators and are EXCELLENT again!


Tech Tuesday
Next week's Tech Tuesday will be Digital Footprint.  Carol Bader & Chris Sutter will be leading this session on Tuesday morning and afternoon.  Come learn about their research on 'Digital Footprints' and what they are teaching their freshmen about online etiquette.

Also, don't forget that you can request or offer to present a Tech Tuesday topic here or you can see upcoming topics here.   These links can ALWAYS be found under the Tech Tuesday tab at the top of the blog.



Hometown Opportunities
The Mercer County Community Development Group in conjunction with the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce has started an initiative called 'Hometown Opportunities'.  Essentially, they are making an effort to attract our own high school graduates from Mercer County to come back and work.  Members of the group include business owners, community members, and school officials.  More to come soon...

In the meantime, they are sponsoring a video contest.  Video submissions are eligible to win an iPad.  If anyone is interested in sharing this with students, either for them to do independently, through a class, or maybe even during advisory, here is the information: http://goo.gl/V4mHq.

To sign up, they must first go to http://www.hometownopportunity.com/ and enter their name and email address.


Changing High School
The department chairs recently had a discussion regarding some changes that are on the way.  The discussion centered on 'online learning' and its appropriate place in high school.  We have several different options and possible avenues for bringing online learning to Celina High School and I laid out 3 of those options for our department chairs.  One of those is to develop some online courses within our own staff.

Hopefully your department chairs have initiated a meeting for your department to discuss this and some other ideas that came up during our last meeting.  The bottom line here is that online learning is happening all around us... We all know a college student that has gone through an online course (or we have done so ourselves).  I don't perceive online courses as a replacement for the traditional brick and mortar classroom or a replacement for human teachers -- but instead, see it as a supplement to these things!

On Tuesday, October 30th, we will  host an online learning discussion in place of Tech Tuesday.  This optional session will focus on the reasoning behind offering online courses, ways we can offer online courses, and the positives/negatives of such an initiative.


In addition to a discussion about online learning, some other ideas for alternative course offerings were discussed.  Any ideas individuals have should be brought to Jason for discussion.

We must continue to evolve in order to meet the needs of our diverse learning population.



Calendar of Events
Remember that Calendar Info can be found on the right hand sidebar of the blog... updated regularly...



Happy Birthday
10/20   Erika Draiss
10/21   Lynne Ray
10/22   CJ Puthoff
10/22   Toma Hainline
10/26   Rose Post

Friday Focus #26: 4.4.12

Academic Awards
The Academic Awards night is Monday, April 30th.  It is time to start entering award recipients... department chairs and anyone else responsible for academic awards, please enter your award recipients using this form.  Have all recipients entered by Wednesday, April 11th.  For a look at awards distributed last year, click here.

Jeans Day Thursday

Thursday will be a special Jeans Day...  since it is Opening Day for Major League Baseball, sport your favorite baseball shirt!  Donations go to Service Learning Day.

Character Counts
Each school year, CHAMP (Celina High Academic and Motivational Promoters) teams up with Bill Montgomery, president and CEO of Celina Insurance Group, to sponsor Character Counts to recognize Celina High School students who show exceptional character. Students are nominated by their teachers for the award, which includes a $50 prize to each individual. Teachers, please think back over the school year; are there students whom you could nominate for this award? If so, send their name(s) and a brief description of why you are nominating them to CHAMP officers Jean Giesige (mjgiesige@frontier.com) or Amy Wade (wader@bright.net).

We’ll need your nominations by April 19. Thanks in advance for participating in this great program!

 

Teacher Evaluation System Update
It might be worth at least perusing the update from ODE on the new Teacher Evaluation System.  I have only started looking over the information, but there are certainly some significant changes included.  Here is the note from Stan Heffner (Ohio's Superintendent of Public Instruction) this week:

I encourage you to visit the Educator Evaluation Systems in Ohio Web page to stay current on the latest developments in the process. Some of the recent additions to the page provide details about the student growth measures component of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, including: [A] Student Growth Measures overview, [B] ODE Approved List of Assessments, [C] Student Learning Objectives information, and [D] Steps for Designing Local Student Growth Measures.

Click here to check out the items listed above.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

4/3     Betty Clouse
4/5     Chris Bihn
4/11   Lynne Moeller

Upcoming Events

4/5    Registration Day
4/6    NO SCHOOL
4/9    NO SCHOOL
4/10  PAY DAY
         GRADES UPDATED IN PROGRESSBOOK!
4/12  Mock Crash -- Juniors and Seniors -- Leave during 2nd period
4/13  Prom -- Juniors and Seniors released after 3rd period (10:50)
        Promenade @ 5:30 -- Fieldhouse
4/14  ACT

Friday Focus #25: 3.21.12

OGT Week Summary
Thanks to everyone for helping to make this past week a successful one!  As I mentioned in our faculty meetings, we could not make OGT week as smooth as we do without a lot of help from EVERYONE involved!

Almost all testing data from the FRESHMEN PRACTICE TEST has been entered.  We should have scores available by the end of April.  Note to English, Math, Science and S. Studies teachers: make up tests will be given to department chairs later today... there are about 8 - 10 short answers that need to be graded by the same graders...  please do so and return to your department chair ASAP!

SOPHOMORE (and junior/senior) test results will come out in late May.


Registration

Counselors will hold pre-registration meetings on Wednesday, March 28 during advisory period.  The meetings will be held for current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors via video.  Advisory teachers will have registration materials for students by Wednesday morning (maybe before).  Please distribute these materials prior to playing the video.
Students will have access to the course description book online only.  Each teacher will receive a hard copy of the book.
Registration day is Thursday, April 5th.

High School 101
Remember that High School 101 is on Wednesday, March 28 from 6 - 8:30 PM.
Schedule of events:
6:00 - 6:20 Introduction to parents in the lecture hall
6:20 - 8:00 Tours and Meetings with Departments
8:00 - 8:30 Activity Fair in the Gymnasium

Activity Fair Info: All activities advisors should plan to have a table with information about their group/organization/team in the gym from 8 - 8:30 PM on High School 101 night.  Please email Megan if you plan to set up a table!

Advisory
Please remember some of the basic rules and expectations for advisory period as we reconvene advisory classes this week:

1. Students are ONLY allowed to leave if they have a pass.  The student needs to obtain the pass prior to arriving at advisory. 
2. While it is OK to allow students to talk or work together, try to keep them on task.  I have many students that tell me they want to work on homework, but it is often too noisy. 
3. Continue to do grade checks on students.  This is a great help in monitoring student grades and keeping them accountable. 

Faculty Meeting
We will be having a short faculty meeting on Tuesday @ 7 AM to review evacuation procedures.  Meeting should be short!
  

Hunger Games 
The English Department has been reading the Hunger Games with their English 9 classes this year.  Since the movie version of this hit young adult novel premieres next Friday on the big screen, we are going to take the Freshmen class to see the movie at the Celina Movie Theater on Monday, March 26 in the morning.  The freshmen will be leaving at the beginning of the school day and will return prior to the start of 4th period.  Please plan accordingly.

The English department will be chaperoning this trip and we will need help covering classes.  If you have a freshmen class 1st - 3rd period, you may be asked to cover one of the English teachers classes while they are on the field trip.  We will let you know who/when!

On Monday, all freshmen advisory teachers passed out permission slips during advisory (they will be in your mailbox later today).  We are also asking all freshmen to pay $5 to their advisory teacher to cover the cost of the movie.  Both the permission slip and the money is due TODAY: Wednesday, March 21.  Please turn money and permission slips to the office by the end of the day on Wednesday.


We will also be taking a small group of Seniors on Monday...
A list of Freshmen not attending and a list of Seniors that are attending will be emailed Friday afternoon.  These students will also show up in your DASL attendance on Monday as 'Field Trip'.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

3/23     Jetta Mutter
3/26     Phil Metz
3/26     Rich Nuding
3/27     Amy Sutter
3/28     Lisa Burgoon
3/31     Hallie Craven

Upcoming Events

3/19-22  OGT Make-up Testing
3/27       Faculty Meeting @ 7 AM in the lecture hall 
3/28       Pre-Registration Meetings during Advisory (pre-recorded)
3/28       High School 101, 6 - 8:30 PM

Friday Focus #20: 2.10.12

Attendance Policy
Just a quick written reminder of our discussion from Wednesday's faculty meeting.  The only change in our attendance policy is that students going over 7 days of non-medically excused absences will lose credit only for the days missed beyond the 7 instead of completely losing credit for the course.  You can find these unexcused absences in Progressbook.  Donna will be updating these on the 5th & 20th of every month.  Remember... students are to receive zeros for work due or tests/quizzes missed on unexcused days.  Thanks for your help and understanding with this policy update.


Other Faculty Meeting Notes: 

• MTV's Made will be making an episode featuring CHS Junior Elizabeth Hogg.  Filming will start sometime next week. 
• Attendance Policy update (see above)
• St. Marys visit...  feedback was great from visiting teachers.  They appreciated the honest feedback from the staff and students.  Thanks for your help!
• Remember to help monitor hallways in-between classes as much as possible.  This really does help cut down on hallway problems!
• Student cell phone use needs to be appropriate and timely.  Students are not to make phone calls during the school day from their cell phones.  If a student is using the phone inappropriately or fails to follow your instructions to put the phone away, refer them to us as you would any other disciplinary problem.  
• Confidentiality: students should not be retrieving a teacher's mail.  If a student worker needs to make copies for a teacher, send them to the office to speak with the office personnel.  We can ensure that the copy machine is clear of any confidential information before the student uses the machine. 

Scheduling for 2012-2013
We are currently planning for next year's courses right now.  Any new ideas for courses should be discussed with your department chair and/or Jason by the end of next week!  Course Description books will be out soon!


Week in 3 Words

Over the course of the last year, the week in 3 words has been a popular addition to the announcements.  Recently, we had an issue with a couple of somewhat inappropriate inside jokes.  This week's version of the week in 3 words has a very positive message -- that is the overriding concept & intent behind the production.  Thanks to those involved this week.
I am looking for more ways to incorporate themes into the week in 3 words... i.e. feature a department a week to highlight your students, your content area, etc.  Let me know if you have an idea or would like to participate with one of your classes.


HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

2/14     June Scott

Upcoming Events

2/13-15  eTech Conference, Columbus, various teachers out of building
2/16   2nd Trimester 'early' grad meeting, 7:30 AM, LH
2/20   No School -- President's Day
2/24   Pep Assembly
2/24   PAY DAY & GRADES UPDATED IN PROGRESSBOOK

Assembly Schedule & Tech Tuesday

The assembly schedule was posted under Friday Focus #8 on the staff blog last Thursday afternoon.  It is accurate.  I will also be linking a Google Doc under the Schedules menu across the top of the staff blog later today.

Also, Tech Tuesday for this afternoon will be postponed and rescheduled for NEXT MONDAY after school.  Please vote on the NEW poll on the right sidebar for the next Tech Tuesday topic for next Tuesday.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Friday Focus #2: 9.2.11

Here goes round 2 of the Friday Focus.  You can easily find archives of the Friday Focus by looking at the 'Labels' section of the blog found under the advisory calendar on the right hand side.  Click on the label 'Friday Focus' and it will bring up all of the Friday Focus posts (English teachers -- help me figure out how to make Friday Focus plural please!).

• What a great start to the school year.  There seems to be such a positive energy and focus in this building... one that has always existed, but seems even more prevalent this year.  Thanks for your individual contributions to this culture.  I continue to hear great things from the students about our teachers and their class time!  Keep up the great work!  

• On that note, I also heard some really great feedback from parents about Open House.  Thanks to everyone for meeting with parents and investing time in the process!  My only wish is that we could get more parents to attend.  If anyone has ideas, please let me know!

• If you haven't already (and as of 11:30 AM on Thursday, that would be everyone), please sign the card in the office for the May family.  We were able to purchase $200 in gas cards from last week's Jeans Fund donations.  Remember that Matt is a teacher at the Middle School (see Friday Focus #1 for more info).  The card will be with the Jeans Fund envelope on Friday. 

• Next Wednesday, we will have a a faculty meeting @ 7 AM in the Lecture Hall to review our Safety (lockdown) Drill procedures.  The meeting will end by 7:20 AM and is mandatory.  Please make arrangements to attend (refreshments will be provided). 

• Tech Tuesday next week will cover 'World Client' and will be hosted by Keith Gudorf.  Keith will go over how to navigate the new email program, including notification of new messages, creating distribution lists, and other tips & tricks.  Tech Tuesday is open to everyone and is held from 7:00 - 7:20 AM or 2:20 - 2:50 PM in room 119.  As always, TT is optional and CEUs are available. 

• Teachers... please turn in a set of your classroom rules and/or expectations to Phil by the end of next week.  This will aide us in dealing with disciplinary incidents from your classroom.  

• We are always looking for teachers/advisories to participate in the Week in 3 Words.  If you, your advisory, or your class would like to film clips for Week in 3 Words, let Megan or Jason know and we will come record. 

• Remember, we are still looking for teachers to read Project Wisdom announcements.  Stop down anytime to see Megan...

• The 'Healing Fields' are back in the area.  About 5 years ago the Healing Fields were organized in Maria Stein in honor of the 9/11 tragedy.  The Healing Fields will be hosted this year in Bryant, Indiana at Bearcreek Farms.  For more information, click on the links below.  If anyone would like to take a group of students, please see Jason.  We will not be taking large groups like we did last time. 

About the Healing FieldsHealing Fields Schedule of EventsHealing Fields Pamphlet

Stay cool today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...
Lisa Sorrell   (9/7)


Upcoming Events...
9/2   Spirit March
9/5   NO SCHOOL
9/6   Tech Tuesday -- "World Client"
9/7   Faculty Meeting -- 7 AM in the LH
9/9   Pep Assembly

Interesting Video from The Daily Show (with Jon Stewart)

This interview with Educational Historian (and author) Diane Ravitch is interesting and well worth the 8 minutes it takes to watch.  Good to know we have Jon Stewart in our corner!

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook