9-10-18

Good Afternoon Everyone!  Just a few things on this rainy Monday... 😞

• Department Meeting: scheduled for Sept 18th in FX 135

• Professional Development day:  Scheduled for Sept 21st (details TBA)

• All English I teachers...  ESL referrals - Please begin keeping a list of any students that you think need to be evaluated for possible placement in ESL.  Over the next few weeks, please give some kind of in-class writing sample so that you can evaluate their raw writing ability.  Also, it would be helpful to give them some kind of assignment that requires them to speak aloud in class so you can evaluate them in this regard as well.  I will ask for your recommendations by mid-October.

• Morning duties (8:00 – 8:10).

o   As always, anyone who has a homeroom should be at their doors during this period of time.  If you do not have a homeroom you were most likely assigned a hall duty.  Check the schedule to see if you were given a range of room locations for the duty.  The rationale for this is to cover the department.  You become familiar with the English teachers in your area.  The occasion may arise where someone calls in late or has an emergency that prevents them from calling the front office in time to arrange coverage.  There are also times when there are errors in coverages and a substitute does not arrive in the room to cover the class.  Our goal is to “cover that base” and call the office ASAP to see what the problem is – we can then cover the class for our colleagues until the coverage arrives.  

• Emergency Contact Forms
• We need to update the Emergency Contact Information for the department.  I will email the form out to you as soon as Liz revises it.  It should be submitted to Liz Garcia by 9/30.
• Grade-level Teams
• Schedules for All grade-level teams are being created – I will load them onto the department site when completed
• In the interim, I would ask that veteran teachers reach out to our new staff members for some guidance on curriculum or procedure concerns.  We also have those who are teaching new levels this year and they need our support as well.  Please be collegial and share what you can to help others.  
• SGO Pre-Assessments should be completed by 9-28.  Please assist colleagues with the sharing of grade-level folders, assessments, etc…  
• Book Requests – The google form on the department is live, please use it to make your requests.
• Sunshine Committee Contributions
• See Bob /Melissa D. / Melissa S.
• PD options are available to you through MyLearningPlan. Please feel free to continue to use this resource throughout the school year. Most of them are about an hour or less – When you have free time, it is easy to log in a few PD hours this way. 
• Lesson Plan Submission due for the week of 9-17-18.   Plans should be submitted by           Sunday 9-16-17.   GoogleClassroom access code — 6nlg3t
• Liaison committee – We can continue this practice this year since I need all the help I can get.  I would ask that everyone keeps a list of common issues that you feel we need to address in the department.  When we get the committee together, you can contact them regarding these issues and I can meet with them to discuss.   I would ask that this list be one that includes possible solutions or ideas to resolve issues rather than just a list of complaints.   
• I think 3-4 people should suffice - email me if you are interested.  I can offer PD hours for this so you will be responsible for the record keeping of the meeting times and dates for submission to MyLearningPlan at the end of the year.
• Sub-Folders  - As of today, we have not been instructed to complete “physical” subfolders.  I would ask that if you are absent, please note class instructions in AESOP for the substitute. Your sub-plan should be posted on Google Classroom or Canvas (whichever you prefer) and be simple and clear for the students to follow.  I would also suggest that you email one of your colleagues and ask them to put a note on the desk with instructions as well.  This is necessary in the event that a teacher is assigned to the coverage and not an official substitute (the covering teacher would not have seen the AESOP note and therefore could not instruct the students).
• Attendance reminders:  Attendance must be input within the first 10 minutes of class every day, for all classes.  New Procedure – teachers must enter “A” for absent or “P” for present.   We will no longer leave it blank for “present.”
• Power Teacher & Gradebook set-up:  Get this done ASAP.  Be sure weights are aligned with school policy. Kim Prinzo is on PowerTeacher duty during period 7 – contact her for help!

I hope your weekend was as good as mine!  Chuck scored his first touchdown and I cried like a baby...