3/11/19

I will be posting to the blog throughout the week so check back in at the end of the week to view any additions...


Department Meeting 

Tuesday 3/12 at 3:00 in the FX Lecture Hall.   If you are not present, please stop by my office sometime this week and I will fill you in...


End of Trimester Concerns

R2 ends today Tuesday, March 12th. Grades due will be the following Tuesday, March 19th @ 3pm

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ: 

1. Grades due Tuesday, March 19^th @ 3pm.  

2. No term grade can be lower than a 50 % per school policy. Override the final R2 grade accordingly after you’ve updated all of your grades.

3. You don’t have to fill out comments or assign citizenship grades.

4. When you leave an assignment with no score, PowerSchool doesn’t factor that into a student’s grade. It exempts it. If you intended to put a zero you MUST put a zero. This can drastically change a student’s average in the course so be aware of this. 

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Zero

New Policy
A new transgender policy has been posted in the portal - please review.   Here is a link - It is listed under the "legal updates" section.

https://sites.google.com/site/pctiprofessionalportal/documents


Book Displays

We have received a donation of these metal novel display stands - they are currently up for grabs!  They are a bit wide to place on top of a regular bookcase, but if you are interested, stop by my office and take a look.  Thank you to Lauri Dewar for arranging this donation!

NewsEla

We have secured a site license for next year for the PRO version of Newsela.  Some of you have received the pro version to pilot already.  Newsela sent you an email with the log-on information. Check your emails... It was sent on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.  Check your spam file if you can't find it.  If you have not received anything, let me know.  If you have received the information, start experimenting with the PRO version as soon as you can.  The following teachers should have received Newsela Pro:

Yvonne Watson 
Laurie Dewar
Vincenzia Kafaf
Jenna Semeraro
Kim Prinzo
Christine Sullivan
Frank Santora
Genevieve Wall
Meghan Carey
Fatima Ramirez
Rosybel Abreu
Gregg Getherall
Nicole Fluellen
Susan Schreiber
Ashley White
Brian Lawshe

"Formative" Writing Assessments in PowerSchool

There needs to be at least 3 "formative writing assignments" per trimester entered in your grade books. This is the "blue" category.  Some of you are entering these types of assignments in the "assignments" or "quiz" categories, but if it is a writing assessment, it needs to be recorded in "formative writing."  This way I can quickly see that we are working on including smaller and more frequent writing assignments into our classes.   Some of us have many and some of us are not using that category at all. 


SGO Spreadsheets

Everyone should have a spreadsheet loaded into their doc log that includes pre-assessment and benchmark scores thus far.  If you have not uploaded one, it must be done immediately. You can add benchmarks to it along the way, however, one should have been entered already...


AP Meetings and Concerns

The scheduling window for Juniors will be March 25-29.  Start planning your meetings.  The following things should be considered:

• Pick a day after the window closes for the meeting - I would wait at least a week.  
• Investigate some dates and locations for your meetings.  
• Check the facilities schedule to find open dates and locations (I usually held them during period 9)
• Submit facilities requests as soon as possible
• Plan a quick sample assessment (suggestion: use a google form and Flubaroo the assessment on the spot and review the students' results at the meeting)
• Plan on discussing the new AP policy for test fees and requirements/penalties for taking the test or opting out
• Invite a few current students to discuss the rigor and pacing of the course

Also, begin reviewing/revising your summer assignments and plan for your final meeting where you assign the summer work and discuss specific expectations.  You can have that meeting in June...

Final Exams

Please communicate with your grade level teams on editing/revising your final exams.  They will all need to be administered via Canvas this year, so if you are not sure how to upload them, start networking with your colleagues so you will be ready when you need to load them in June.

I will be asking for one person on each team to serve as the lead writer for each grade level exam.  This person will be responsible for making the formal edits to the test and for emailing me the final copy when requested.  If you would like to volunteer, email me and I will add you to the list, otherwise I will send a formal request for volunteers in the near future.

WONDERFUL THINGS...

This is the February wine selection that you sent me as a Christmas gift.  It was delicious and much appreciated!  Thank you again for being lovely!  

If you have any wonderful things you would like to pass along, please send them to me! Remember, the beatings will continue until morale improves! Or I will begin posting pictures of Ned Flanders again - and no one wants that!