4/8/19

FACULTY MEETING REMINDER 

Faculty Meeting - Tuesday 4/9 in the auditorium (PARCC training session)

PLCs - Thursday - April 11th 

Mandatory PARCC training will be offered on April 9^{th -} at the faculty meeting...  If you miss that meeting, you still have 4 other opportunities.  

• April 10^th period 9 or 3:15pm - auditorium
• April 11^th period 9 or 3:15pm  - auditorium. 
• Everyone must attend one of these sessions - please adjust schedules around clubs and sports...

PARCC Assignments - this form lists the PARCC testing assignments

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LFEYPHHra-2nVbNeoXNcOYBY9efWFjLLCcLw_FWV6K4/edit?usp=sharing

PARCC Testing Days

There is no zero period on testing days.  The 25th is the actual half day for teachers...


ATTENTION ALL FRESHMEN INSTRUCTORS!

Please make sure you make it clear to all Grade 9 students that we WILL BE USING THE PARCC 9 scores for future placement.  

Please impress upon them that the test matters and that they should do their best.  

Please remind them every day if needed!




Graduation
Graduation is set for Friday, June 21. The volunteer form is now posted. All responses are due by May 30, 2019.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLnNeatAMf4oz80feNKI28koABl2q7N8tVvPwHPqeKAIed7g/viewform


Final Exams

Please submit final copies of Final Exams for all Grade Levels by May 15 for review.  Some slots were not filled in on the spreadsheet, so please coordinate with your teams to determine who is responsible for submitting the exam.  

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JaCZn1Wm2WPYeQgRHaMuc8edQboRn0MiZng2OTLMiAk/edit#gid=0



Important Reminders:

Important Phone numbers

▪ 311 for any emergency or security need
▪ 4260 for suspicion of a student being under the influence

Child Abuse Reporting

▪ You must call, not an administrator, nurse, SAC counselor or others.
▪ Jurisdiction police must be called and notified of the report.
▪ Reporting form must be handed into the Principal - Here is a link to the form"

https://sites.google.com/site/pctiprofessionalportal/emergency-information

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

DCPP (formerly known as DYFS)

1-877-NJABUSE

1-877-652-2873

Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office

Child Abuse Disclosure

Do's & Don'ts

PASSAIC COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE’S PROTOCOL

TO BE FOLLOWED WHERE ANY PERSON IN A SCHOOL

HAS REASONABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT A CHILD HAS BEEN ABUSED OR NEGLECTED

WHAT TO DO:

• CONTACT THE DIVISION OF CHILD PROTECTION AND PERMANENCY (DCPP) IMMEDIATELY ALWAYS AND WITHOUT EXCEPTION

DCPP State Central Registry

1-877-NJABUSE

1-877-652-2873

• DO Contact the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office (PCPO) Special Victims Unit (SVU) in addition to the legal requirement to contact DCPP. 
• Call (973) 837-7680. You must speak to an actual person to make a report. VOICEMAIL MESSAGES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE AS A REPORT. 
• You may also directly contact Bilingual Child Interview Specialist Giselle Henriquez (973) 837-7650, Joanne Hatt, R.N. (973) 837-7652, SVU Sergeant James Stolz (973) 837-7736 or Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher R. Freid (973) 837-7639.
• DO Comfort and reassure the child, if appropriate, that the child was correct to disclose the abuse.
• DO Arrange for immediate mental health intervention, if needed, in cases of extreme distress upon the disclosure of abuse.
• DO Make notes or otherwise memorialize the exact words the child used to disclose abuse or gave rise to a reasonable suspicion of abuse, including the child’s demeanor.
• DO Be prepared to provide all readily available information concerning the child’s pedigree, nature of abuse, and context of disclosure or reasonable suspicion.
• DO NOT DELAY REPORTING IF SUCH INFORMATION IS NOT READILY AVAILABLE.
• DO Secure emergency medical attention, if appropriate.
• DO Keep the child separated from the alleged offender, in relevant cases.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

• DO NOT Attempt to interview the child or investigate the allegation to determine its validity. Allow the child to explain. However, do not conduct an inquiry into the circumstances of the abuse. If it is a disclosure which gives rise to a reasonable suspicion the task of interviewing the child is for the appropriate investigating agency. It is only appropriate to ask additional questions if DCPP or Law Enforcement is requesting you to do so.
• DO NOT Contact the parent or caretaker until discussing the issue with DCPP or the PCPO.
• DO NOT Usher the child to other adults within the school to repeat the disclosure.
• For example, DO NOT bring the child to the Principal, School Nurse, School Psychologist, or other person to repeat the disclosure. 
• You may, however, report the disclosure to superiors out of the presence of the child, but such reporting shall follow your immediate duty to contact DCPP.
• DO NOT Inform the alleged offender of the accusation or the identity of the complaining or implicated child. Contact DCPP or the PCPO SVU for advice on dealing with the offender if he/she is within the school.
• DO NOT INFORM, ASK AND/OR CONFRONT THE ALLEGED OFFENDER ABOUT THE ALLEGATIONS.
• DO NOT Overreact, be judgmental, become emotional or angry in the presence of the child.

Student Obligations

Textbooks and Novels

• All academic textbook collections should be completed as of June 19.  
• Please return all academic textbooks to their appropriate storage locations.  
• All academic textbook obligations (replacement cost of text, fines assessed for damages, etc.) must be entered into PowerSchool by June 18.  For seniors, all entries must be made by June 15.  
• Each teacher must utilize the PowerSchool Obligation recording system when issuing an obligation:

1. Log on to Power Teacher.
2. Select the backpack for the appropriate class.
3. Select the student whom you wish to enter an obligation.
4. Select the “Obligation” option from the “Select screens” box.
5. Select “Add” and complete the necessary fields.
6. Select submit at the bottom of the page in order to record the obligation.
7. To select another student, click the student’s first name. This will bring you directly to that student’s obligation page.
8. The cost of the textbook, novel, or PE lock must be included in order to enter and validate the student’s obligation. Please see your supervisor for your textbook. Novel, or PE lock price list.  

FANTASTIC THINGS!

YouTube Channel

I am not sure how many of us know that we have a PCTI TV Production YouTube channel that features our students' work...  If you are interested, here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo-f_c2NXvAXg1FfEhX5uiA

Another Outstanding Achievement!

Our own Gen Wall was just named Big North Coach of the Year for swimming!  Congrats on this - thanks for making our department proud!

https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/high-school/2018/03/20/girls-swimming-all-passaic-county-teams/443690002/

4/1/19

IT'S SENIOR WEEK!  Good luck with that...

Monday: April 1st – April Fool’s Day (Opposite Day)
*Dress as the opposite for the day! This includes mix match, opposite age (dress as a senior citizen), or anything that represents the opposite of the student.

Tuesday: April 2nd
- Twin Tuesday (Dynamic Duo)
*Match with a friend or even a group and go through the day being their twin!

Wednesday: April 3rd – Culture Day
*Represent your heritage or culture with pride by wearing shirts, hoodies, flags, accessories, etc.

Thursday: April 4th
- Throwback Thursday (Retro Day)
*Let’s go back and celebrate the past! Create a costume that portrays an older time of your choice or wears a “retro” look.

Friday: April 5th – Character Day
*Dress up as a favorite character for the day! Get inspiration from movies, TV shows, games, vines, memes or celebrities.

If the students do not wish to participate, they must be in PCTI uniform. If the student does not comply with the dress code or adhere to the themes given, please send them to the Discipline Office.  Also, be aware that props are not allowed.


Julia Alvarez In Montclair! 

Open Book/ Open Mind: Julia Alvarez – Montclair Public Library

In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez will be in conversation with TBA Thursday, April 11th at 7 PM at Central Presbyterian Church, 46 Park St, Montclair, NJ 07042 Ticket purchase link. Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten.

Thank You Kebra for this!

http://www.montclairlibrary.org/news-events/open-book-open-mind-julia-alvarez/

APRIL MEETINGS

Department Meeting - Tuesday - 4/2 in the Lecture Hall
Faculty Meeting - Tuesday 4/9 in the auditorium (PARCC training session)
PLCs - Thursday - April 11th 


Mandatory PARCC training will be offered on April 9^{th -} at the faculty meeting...  If you miss that meeting, you still have 4 other opportunities.  

• April 10^th period 9 or 3:15pm - auditorium
• April 11^th period 9 or 3:15pm  - auditorium. 
• Everyone must attend one of these sessions - please adjust schedules around clubs and sports...

PARCC Assignments - this form lists the PARCC testing assignments

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LFEYPHHra-2nVbNeoXNcOYBY9efWFjLLCcLw_FWV6K4/edit?usp=sharing


Returning Novels

When collecting novels from students, please make sure to issue obligations for books that are so damaged that we cannot re-issue them.  Please separate these books and mark them "for disposal."

Please follow this procedure - Please separate these books. Mark each one with the following information:  Mark them for disposal, indicate your name and the student name.  Please state whether you issued an obligation for the book. You can put this info on a post-it and attach it to each book that needs to be taken out of circulation.

Here is an example of a book that was recently returned.  Things like this - water damage, pages missing or ripped, etc., should be marked for disposal.

Fantastic Things...

Our 2nd Annual "After Hours Faculty Talent Show" was a great success!  I was sitting too far away to get good shots, so send me your pics and I will post them here!  Congrats to Christine Sullivan for successfully organizing and staging this event!  Our department was represented so many talented teachers - They made us so proud! 

Our Spring Musical, Mamma Mia, was incredible!  Congrats to our own Christie Lotz on her first endeavor as assistant director!  

The Boys Of Summer

Chris and I started coaching our town's 5th & 6th-grade baseball team this week!  We are the Mets again this year!  I am glad to report that my pitching staff is stacked and I have one boy that throws "LIKE A MAN."  No joke, he is terrifying...  Chuck decided to wear shorts to practice (against the advice of his coach, and mother).  So, when we had "sliding" practice, he ended up with huge strawberries on the back of his leg!  Lesson learned, or not.   Maybe he will listen to mom next time, however, somehow, I don't think so...

AP/Honors Opera Trip

Bobby, Dave, and Stephanie took our senior AP and Honors students to a performance of La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus ) by Mozart at the Metropolitan Opera house on 3/26/19!

3/18/19

NoRedInk Webinars


This month only, NoRedInk experts will be offering three separate 15-minute webinars to help teachers learn how to integrate our writing features into one or more of their lesson plans.  For those of you who will be utilizing this platform (junior and senior instructors), it would be good to sign-up for one of these webinars.  If you need coverage, let me know and I will arrange it. The webinars are on 3/26, 3/27 and 3/28.

sign up here  

https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/469837191247348428

Here is a pre-recorded webinar that encompasses our Writing offering as a whole: Strong Writers Make Strong Choices. 

For a little more detail around specific Writing features, please see the following: 

1. Quick Writes
• What are Quick Writes and how do I use them in my classroom?
• Quick Writes Demo
2. Peer Review
• Tell me about NoRedInk Peer Reviews!
• Peer Review Demo
3. Guided Drafts
• Tell me about NoRedInk Guided Drafts!
• Guided Drafts Demo

Department and PLC Meetings

• The Next Department Meeting is scheduled for March 26th
• Next PLC Meetings are scheduled for March 28th 

Mandatory PARCC Training 

Training will be provided at the April 9th faculty meeting. 

If you miss that meeting there will still be 4 other opportunities. 

• April 10th - period 9 or 3:15pm in the auditorium.
• April 11th - period 9 or 3:15pm in the auditorium. 

You must attend one of the training sessions so plan accordingly.  They will not allow excuses for club meetings or sports.


Please review the following link from Mr. Laor for testing schedules, protocols, etc... 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nLr95BOGSJWhBd-7v5RK-Tvcx-0Hjxt8UGtLnrCnCV8/edit?usp=sharing

Please review the 3rd slide in the following link that details the common infractions recorded during the last testing cycles... 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QnNW3sk7Y6SxNKYVs_hZqBay7UD0D0zAzHAmPPyyAcc/edit?usp=sharing


3rd Trimester

As we move into trimester 3, please review your grades.  If you have a student that could be in danger of failing for the year, please request a meeting with parents/guardians and guidance.  If a student has ended up in this position, a parent/guardian should have been contacted in some way over the past 2 trimesters.  If you have never contacted the parent, then we would need to discuss that before asking guidance to arrange a meeting.  

If students are in danger of failing for the trimester, contact with a parent/guardian should be made by mid-trimester.  It is not helpful to alert the parent/guardian that the student is in danger of failing in the last 2 weeks of the trimester.  

If you have high-stakes grades (tests, projects) that will make or break a student's ability to pass the trimester, make those assignments due well before the end of the Trimester.  This way, we can avoid the problem of the student failing "last minute."  

Suggestion:  It is best not to assign a project right before Spring Break.  It is better to assign one a week or two before and make it due before the break.


Home Instruction Reminder...

As per another memo from Dr. Parent, we are still having some issues with the procedures for how to address students on home instruction:

When a student is placed on Home Instruction, Ms. Hannigan (our Home

Instruction Coordinator) sends out the following information to all affected teachers:


“While on Home Instruction, student's grade must be changed to INCOMPLETE.  Teachers must manually enter incompletes in their grade book. When a student returns to school, the classroom teacher will update grades based on assignments completed.”


The Grade Level Advisory Teams have been monitoring the students who are currently on Home Instruction. It is evident that not all teachers are abiding by this and need to enter "INCOMPLETE" as a grade. The issuing of an INCOMPLETE is important – students who are on home instruction are not able to fulfill all proficiencies in their courses. Simply completing homework assignments or projects from home is no parallel to time in class, missed discussions, missed lecture, missed feedback, and is not an ample measurement for demonstrating understanding. Also, holding students to a grade of INCOMPLETE until after the student returns to school acts as a motivator for some students to return sooner rather than later. Upon a student’s return to school, each teacher can accurately assess the student’s academic or CTE performance in due time. The rush to issue an accurate grade is non-existent – a reasonable amount of time is approximately within two weeks of a student’s return to school.



Student Scheduling Timetable Reminder

Here is the schedule for when students will choose their classes for next year...  Current Freshmen will be able to choose their Sophomore ELA class, however, their choice is not guaranteed because there will be another sweep to filter them into Concepts level and BSI based on criteria provided by our Freshmen instructors, APEX, and ELA 9 PARCC scores. 

March 25-29	Seniors
April 1 – 5	Juniors
April 8 - 12	Sophomores
April 15 - 22	Spring Break – Course portal will remain open
April 22 - May 3	Final Student Revisions before portal closes
May 6 - 10	No more student requests. Admin revisions only.

Document Logs

Just a reminder to keep on top of your doc logs and SGO spreadsheets...  

Only enter 3-4 Artifacts per strand.  These should be things that ARE NOT observable in your observations (this way you cover a range of bases). They should also be "high quality" artifacts.  The STRONGE evaluation rubric does not rate teachers as "highly effective" by the number of artifacts entered.  In the same way, entering artifacts that cover every performance indicator in a strand also does not denote "highly effective" on the rubric. Choose fewer artifacts but ones that pack a "big punch."  At the beginning of the year, Dr. Parent expressed to the newly appointed staff members that we are all striving for an effective rating.  Highly effective is "unusual" and "not the norm."  

In your doc logs, we will proceed with the same format as last year when entering artifacts into the strands.  Write a basic/generic statement about the artifacts you are including in the strand...  For example, "The artifacts in this standard reflect..."   Then give a specific description of the actual artifact when you enter it.   These can be written in brevity. 

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. 

Blank

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!

3/4/19

Going forward, I will add/post things to the blog as the week progresses.  If I add anything really important along the way, I will notify you.  I am finding that things come up during the week and it is better to have everything organized by the week so you can return to it when needed... 


OBSERVATIONS

Due to the snow day, some of my STEM interviews will need to be re-scheduled.  This will cause me to have to re-schedule some observations.  I will let you know when I receive notification of the new appointments. 

Department & PLC Meetings for March

Department meetings this month are scheduled for 3/12 and 3/26 so plan accordingly

PLC/Team meetings are scheduled for Thursday 3/28  -- I am going to try reserve the FX Conference room for us every Tuesday (for the entire day) so that you can meet or work in there at your convenience.   I will notify you when and if I can secure the room. 

AP Policy Change

Please be advised of the following board policy (policy#2321) for the 2020-21 school year...

All students enrolled in any Advanced Placement course offered by the district are required to take the course’s Advanced Placement exam. 

Students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes who do not take the Advanced

Placement exam for the course will only be awarded General weighting (see Regulation

2624).

Fees:  Students are now required to pay for the exam. The NJ Department of Education may use its APTF grant to pay a portion of the exam fee for low-income students.  “Low-income” shall be defined as an individual who is determined to be a child, age 5 through 19, from a low-income family, based on eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches under the National School Lunch Act. When the portion of the AP exam fee is determined for eligible (free and reduced lunch students) and non-eligible students, the Guidance Department shall notify students and their parents of the amount of fee which is their responsibility.   If students qualify for free/reduced lunch, the DOE will pay approx $30 of the test fee.  The student is responsible for the rest. 

Any student who takes an Advanced Placement Test without being enrolled in

an Advanced Placement class is not eligible for financial support.

Final Exams - IMPORTANT

Grade level teams need to begin to evaluate your final exams.  Revisions, changes, or tweaks need to be collectively agreed upon.  Communicate with each other and someone from each team, please "take the ball" and facilitate.  Each team needs to submit your final copy to me by May 15th.  As per Dr. Parent, all exams must be loaded on Canvas this year.   

Documentation Logs

Doc logs are due on May 1st.

PARCC TRAINING

PARCC training is mandatory and will be offered as follows:

Training will be offered at the Faculty Meeting on April 9th. If you are present that day, you can attend then.  If you are not present at the meeting, you must go for training on the 10th or the 11th.  Training sessions for those days will only be during period 9 and after school so plan accordingly. 

Mamma Mia

This year's musical is Mamma Mia.  The show dates are 3/22 and 3/23.  No tickets will be sold at the door.  Tickets will be sold by Mr. Castaneda in the main lobby before homeroom. If you would like to buy a ticket at any other time during the day, you can see Bill Vacca in his office in the lower lobby (by the bank).

Faculty/Staff Talent Show

Our "After Hours" faculty talent show will be held on March 29th at 7:00.  Contact Christine Sullivan for tickets. Last year's show was a great success so come out and support our ELA organizers!

WONDERFUL THINGS

If you have 15 minutes, and you enjoy podcasts, take a listen.  My husband found it and I find it fascinating and wonderful on so many levels.  You have to listen until the end however!  Enjoy...

Rosie’s Paradox

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/617/fermis-paradox/act-three-5

Ridiculous things

Gregg found this while driving...  I am hoping he was stopped at the time but he seems to be ok so... This validates how important it is to pay attention in English Class!  See if you can find the problem...