Week 3/9/20

An Important directive from the Superintendent

As per Mrs. Lobosco, the following is to be announced every day in all ELA classes beginning tomorrow.  This should be done during the "Do Now" time slot.

"Remember to wash your hands throughout the day and use hand sanitizers.  Also, use a cleaning wipe on your laptop keyboard and phone and do not share earbuds or earphones."

We will be meeting in small groups with Ms. Rodriguez on Friday, March 13^th in our FX2 PLC Room to provide ITC support for instructors in preparing for continuity of instructional delivery, use of district resources and learning management systems.  Please refer to the schedule below for your assigned time and please be on time for your meeting​.  You must attend, this is mandatory. 

*If you are out for any reason, you must contact Julissa and arrange to meet with her.  Please email me the time and location of your make-up meeting. 

PERIOD 1

Christina Alexander

Michelle DeVincentis

Bernadette Mavrikos

Christian McFarland

Melissa Ramos

Fatima Ramirez

PERIOD 2

Melissa DeLucca

Vincenza Kafaf

Jenna Meek

Christine Sullivan

Ashley White

PERIOD 3

Eman Halimeh

Jacklyn Kennek

Carl Lauricella

Brian Lawshe

Thais Vargas

PERIOD 4

Rosybel Abreu

Lisa Karaisaridis

Renee Michaud

Kebra Rettenberg

Melissa Smithling

Cayleen Sternhagen

Meghan Carey

Bob Defilippis

PERIOD 7

Gregg Getherall

Kim Prinzo

Jim Kenyon

Dave Ritchie

Alexis Rodriguez

PERIOD 8

Patrick Bennett

Stephanie Messina

Francisco Ocasio

Frank Santora

PERIOD 9

Joanna Alemany

Nicole Kolankowski

Nicole Shema

Genevieve Wall

Anthony Giusto

SUSPICION OF DRUG USE/POSSESSION STEPS ACTIONS - If you suspect that a student is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you must do the following (do not wait for the class period to end, do not let the student leave your class, react quickly):

STEPS
1. Call 4260 and say, “I NEED AN ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL TO ___”

2. Principal/designee will respond

3. Answer the Principal/designee’s questions

4. Principal/designee will begin the referral process


Verbally Confrontational Student - Any situation that may occur in the school, or on school grounds, which is life-threatening for a student, staff member or other person, the following action steps are to be implemented immediately:

STEPS

1. Remove any students in the area to a safe place away from the confrontational person.
2. Call 311
3. Do not argue
4. Do not use threatening gestures
5. Do not attempt to defuse the situation alone

Important - Bedside Grading Instructions

Dr. Parent is finding that we (PCTI) is not in complete compliance with the bedside grading policy - please check your gradebooks.  When a student is on bedside instruction, assignment grades can continue to be entered for the student but we must force an "incomplete" into the trimester grade field.  So, for this trimester, for example, you would enter "incomplete" into the R2 field.  The "I" will stay there until the student returns.  If the student returns before the end of the trimester, click on the R2 grade and hit the reverse arrow to the right of the pencil and the "X" (see the picture below). The grade will change back to the "calculated form."  If the student does not return before the end of the trimester, leave the "I" in the field until they return and issue a grade change request when needed.  If you have any questions, please call me or you can call Maxiel for assistance as well. 

Being at your door

As per Ms. Paterson... You must be at your door between 8:00-8:10 and in between classes (if you have class in the same room back to back) to greet the students.  Please make sure you are doing this, especially in the lower F-wing in the morning.    I will need to be address with you if you do not comply.  Please comply.

Issues with Frontline/AESOP

There have been some issues with Frontline/AESOP lately so I would suggest installing the Frontline App on your phone.  The app seems to be more reliable these days.   In the meantime, if you need to enter an absence and cannot get into AESOP, text or email me and I may be able to put it in for you...

Also, it seems that Chrome has been blocking access to Frontline/AESOP.  If you use the Safari browser, you should have better results...

1-27-20

Just a review of things discussed at the last department meeting, and some new things too... I may add things as the week goes on, so check back every now and then...


New Item:  Clorox Wipes

The flu is spreading these days.  There are canisters of Clorox Wipes in the PLC room in the black cabinet under the window.  Grab some and pass them around for the kids to wipe down the desks (or you can wipe them if you are so inclined).   If we run out, let me know and we can get more.  I have a few cans in my office as well.
Phone Pockets and Pocket Calendars

Phone Pockets are here.  If you originally requested one, come pick it up in my office.  They are in a box in the back by my bookcases.

Also, pocket calendars from the administration (we usually get them around the holidays) are also here in my office.  Feel free to grab one if you wish!

Media Center copiers...  Just a reminder that the copiers in the media centers are for limited copying only.  They are not for class sets of student worksheets or notes.  These copiers are not designed for high capacity copying and therefore we do not have service contracts for repairs from damage caused by over-use.  Please use the teacher workrooms for bulk copying.

Google/Canvas Class Codes - please share your class codes with a trusted colleague or two.  In the case of an emergency where you are not able to post anything, at least someone will be able to go onto your class pages and communicate with the students on your behalf.  Relying on the subs is not always the best option. 

Educational Platforms

Please increase the practice you are assigning via IXL and NoRedInk in preparation for the upcoming NJSLA tests.  You should be assigning skill exercises using these programs every week.   

NoRedInk - Use the diagnostic test to see what units your students are weakest in and assign units based off of that data.  There are some new things on the site worth checking into: 

a) go to curriculum tabs, then writing tab,  New rhetorical and literary analysis stuff there
b)  Check out things under the “featured” tab – new “quick” assignments for do nows, etc…



Parent Contact

I know that 2 preps per day (and sometimes one if you have a 6th period) is not enough time for us to plan, grade, log, etc...  Thank you all for your diligence in emailing parents with updates and concerns.  You are really doing a great job here.  PLEASE REMEMBER TO COPY ME ON THOSE EMAILS!  I keep them all in a folder and can address issues that may arise without even needed to contact you if I have the info I need and can speak on your behalf.  Remember to always suggest SES (and post the link) or AAP.  

AAP is on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 3:15 to -4:15.  Bennett and Kennek run these sessions and the students do not have to pre-register or maintain attendance at these sessions.

SES runs on Mondays and Thursdays from 3:00 - 4:30 and they sign up online.  The link can be found on the PCTI website under either the Parent and Student tabs -  Link to SES

Because the Assistant Principals do not see the parent emails, they may not know that you are on top of an issue.  So, the remedy would be the teacher's log.  I know that after emailing 10 parents in one fell swoop takes more than a prep, and then entering a separate narrative into the log only doubles that time.  My suggestion would be to either copy and paste the email (as is) into the log or just write a stock comment in the log that parent was contacted so that there is something the Assistant Principals can see that tells them you are on top of things.   I know we are overwhelmed with things, and I understand, so I would suggest focusing on documenting the most concerning issues first and go from there...

12-9-19

The End of the Trimester is upon us!

The trimester officially ends Tuesday, December 10th.   Grades are due on Tuesday, December 17th.

Department meetings for December

Thursday 12/12 - 3:00 FX Lecture Hall
Thursday 12/19 - 3:00  C-Wing Media Center


Supply Requests

Please use the Google Form on our department page to order supplies.  I need a record of what I will need to order from year to year, so please remember to use the form listed under "department requests" on the department page instead of emailing Frank.  The link to our page is:

ELA Department Page


 “We Care” Scholarship
On December 13, 2019, PCTVS is raising funds for our Annual “We Care” Scholarship.  The proceeds go to a deserving PCTVS student.   Your $5.00 donation will entitle you to wear blue jeans to school on this special day!

Please see one of the volunteers listed here to participate:
• Silvia Favaro / General Office • Maria Gomez – Guidance Office • Sally Belmont / Central Office • Gail McGeady / Rocco Office • Desirae Feliciano / STEM Office • Chaz Wozney / Business Office • Fred Dieckmann / Custodial/Maintenance...


Reminder - Field Trip Procedures:

To ensure the medical safety of our students participating in school-sponsored field trips, please follow this guideline.

An alphabetical list of students scheduled to attend a field trip must be submitted to the Nurses’ e-mail group at least two weeks prior to the outing. Be sure to include the students’ ID numbers. This will allow ample time for the Health Office to determine if students with medical dependencies will require a Nurse to accompany them on the field trip.

I would save the responses from the nurses in your files so that you have documentation of any concerns.

PBLs

If you are doing anything out of the ordinary or have assigned interesting PBLs, take pictures and send them to me along the way.  Let me know when your kids are doing presentations or activities and I will try to come.  I can't always get away, but I miss the classroom and if I can swing it, I would love to come see them!


Observations

Cycle one observations are now complete.  Please make sure you have acknowledged them.


Digital Platforms
The NJSLA is fast approaching...  In order to remediate some of the skill sets that students will be assessed on in the Spring, you must be using either IXL (freshmen instructors) or NoRedInk for skills practice in your weekly assignments. These assignments should be entered into your grade books as homework/classwork grades in the next month or so.  Assign units for homework or for classwork at least once per week (you can also use NewsEla for this).  I can have Mr. Pettinneo come to a freshmen PLC to talk about practical ways to use IXL assignments as homework/classwork grades in Powerschool... One to two grades in Powerschool per week (that you didn't actually have to "grade" yourself) if a gift...


Parental Contact and Failures

We cannot fail a student if we have not contacted the parent/guardian at some point in the trimester.   If you have made contact with the parent/guardian via a phone call, please make sure you have documented the time and date and the content of the discussion in the teacher's log in PowerSchool. If you have emailed the parent/guardian, please make sure you have copied me on that email.

If you had a student fail this trimester, you should consider submitting an I&RS form...

You should also email the student and parent and suggest SES if they are not currently attending.  

*Tell the parent that there is a new session starting up in January and make sure to post this link in the email https://www.pcti.tec.nj.us/students/ses-program

FANTASTIC THINGS!

It's Tiffany's Last Week!

Brian's student teacher, Tiffany Rodriguez, will be completing her student teaching assignment this week.  Please wish her well when you see her!

I'm not sure how to title this one so...

Rosie and Francisco captured this moment as Stephanie celebrated her return to work after motherhood.  They asked her to reenact what a great day is supposed to look like at PCTI.   It may cross your mind that some of your colleagues may need mental or emotional counseling or at least an evaluation of some kind, and you are probably correct, however, you have to admit that living in "this world" is a lot more fun than the alternative!   

Week of 10/21/19

Department Meeting this Thursday - Oct 24th in the FX Lecture Hall

Julissa will be joining us.  She will review some "current events" in the tech world for us but if you have any specific requests that you want her to address, please email me ahead of time and I will coordinate this with her!

Progress Notes

The mid-point of R1 is tomorrow - Tuesday, October 22nd.  Progress Report Comments for R1 are due  Friday, October 25th, 2019 @ 3pm. You’ll receive email notification of any students missing progress report comments at 3pm.

 Important Notes:

• Comments are required for students who have a C- or below, HOWEVER, MY ELA POLICY IS THAT YOU ENTER A COMMENT FOR ANY STUDENTS WHO HAS BEEN INCONSISTENT, STRUGGLING AND/OR FAILING AT ANY TIME DURING THER FIRST HALF OF TRIMESTER ONE (EVEN IF THEY HAVE ABOVE A C- ON FRIDAY).   
• There’s been a new update to the comment bank. You can now create your own personalized comments! See the pdf attached or use this link
• MAKE SURE YOU ARE UNDER THE CORRECT TERM (R1) WHEN ENTERING THE COMMENTS.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT TERM BEFORE YOU ENTER!  If you enter them in the wrong term you will have to re-enter them in the correct term manually again.



FOB Access To Our ELA Conference Room

Javier Artega has given FOB access to everyone in the English Dept. for our ELA conference room.  If your FOB does not work, please email Javier in the IT department and he will address it.

NoRedInk

Kudos to Alexis, Brian, Jenna, Joanna, Meg, Eman and Kebra for getting the ball rolling on using NoRedInk with their students!  The more we use these tools, the more "skills" practice our students will get, and in turn, the better our scores will be.  It also helps us to add authentic assignments into our coursework without adding to our grading load! 

Sophomore, Junior and Senior teachers - set up your accounts and start exploring!  By January, everyone must be using one of our educational platforms on a regular basis. 


Absentee Notes in AESOP

If you have something important that you need to be addressed when you are out - for example, if your classes are supposed to meet in the Media Center, enter it in comments in AESOP but please either text me or email me early that morning so that I can make sure Judith prints the comments and directs the sub.  Also, in the event that you are supposed to meet your classes in the media center, I would rather have them assign a dedicated substitute to you that day instead of assigning teacher coverages, so I need time to re-arrange things with the front office, so contact me as early as possible.  


Gradebook Assignment Sweep

Dr. Parent will be conducting a sweep of all assignments in our grade books.  Any assignments that are related to handing in a form, handing in a signed syllabus, safety forms, contracts, or parent-signed letters will be deleted the week of November 1.  You have until then to remove any type of assignment like that. 


As per Dr. Parent, issuing grades for signed forms, contracts, syllabi, and other compliance items does not even remotely demonstrate an understanding of information, synthesis or analysis of topics, and has no relationship to the NJSLS.

You can keep these items in Powerschool as long as they are only entered for "housekeeping" records and should NOT be factored in as a grade.  If these types of things are entered for "housekeeping" records, they should only show a green checkmark, no grade. 


New PD courses in MLP

There are some new in-house PD offerings listed in MLP that begin November 1st.  Check out the catalog to see if anything appeals to you.  Ms. Shema is teaching Wakelet, Flipgrid and  "Google for Education" courses!


New Rules for Outside Speakers

Any guests (CTE speakers, visitors to classrooms, college recruiters, college admissions people, evening speakers, military presenters, industry personnel, PD presenters) must be approved by Mrs. Lobosco. 

If you plan on having anyone in for your CTE program, class, or to present to students in any way, you must send me a memorandum that includes:

1. The speaker/guests’ name
2. The organization they represent
3. A synopsis of their presentation
4. Periods and groups they will be speaking to
5. Purpose and rationale for the guest and how it aligns with the curriculum

Our memorandum must be submitted two weeks prior to your planned visit.  I will send Dr. Parent the information and he will send a recommendation for approval.  We need to await her approval before booking any guest(s).

IMPORTANT - Updating Your Cell Phone Number

In an effort to provide the staff with immediate information via text messaging regarding occurrences (ie: school closings, emergencies, etc.), we would like to update/confirm every employees’ cell phone number.  This number will only be utilized for school-related purposes. 

Please log on to your Payroll Portal to confirm, change, or add your cell phone number to our employee records system. If you have not created an account or forgotten your password, attached you may find a PDF with instructions. 

Please note that due to the sensitive information, this portal can ONLY be used while on campus using the PCTVS Network.  The deadline to make these changes is Friday, October 25th.

If you experience any technical issues accessing your portal, please contact Christine Stieve @ cpotenza@pcti.tec.nj.us - here are the instructions:

1. Navigate to https://payroll.pcti.tec.nj.us

2. When you reach the login screen you must create an account by following the below steps: 

                   a. Click Forgot Password / New User Registration 

                              i. Enter the email address where you receive your PCTI paystubs ii. You will 

                                 receive an email with a temporary password from payroll-

                                  noreply@pcti.tec.nj.us 

                            iii. Go Back or reenter the URL in your browser to bring you back to the login 

                                  screen 

                            iv. Once back to the Login screen, enter your email address and new password that 

                                 was just emailed to you 

                             v. When you log in, click on the ‘Change Password’ button on the top right and 

                                 change your password 

3. Click on the different tabs to view your personal information. If anything does not look correct, you can contact Human Resources to get your information updated.

The following are found in the faculty handbook posted on the professional portal:

SUSPICION OF DRUG USE/POSSESSION STEPS ACTIONS - If you suspect that a student is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you must:

1. Call 4260 and say, “I NEED AN ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL TO ___”
2. Principal/designee will respond
3. Answer the Principal/designee’s questions
4. Principal/designee will begin the referral process

SUICIDAL THREAT (WRITTEN, VERBALIZED, PUBLICIZED) -STEPS/ACTIONS

In-School:

• Report the information to the building principal/designee immediately.
• Do not leave the individual alone. Talk peacefully and calmly with the person and provide continuous support.

Out of School: (Social Networking / Email/ Text indicating suicide or suicidal thoughts)

• Call 911
• Report the information to the building principal/designee immediately
• Defer actions to trained personnel. The parents will be notified and the family will be referred at once to an appropriate resource.

Week 10-14-19

Department Meeting
Our next department meeting is 10/24 - Julissa will be joining us to review some tech things so if you have anything in particular that you would like her to address, please email me.

It's Spirit Week - see info posted on the student site regarding this week's activities... Here is the link...

Spirit Week

Important - Muslim students Prayer permission

As has been our practice in the past, Muslim students are permitted to pray in the Board of Education conference room during their lunchtime.  Student are not permitted to leave classes to pray.  This information should be provided to all Muslim students who seek guidance for prayer time. 

For more information about our Board policy, please visit this link

PGP - Common Goal –  we have collectively decided that our "Common PGP Goal" for the year will be the following (please copy and paste into your PGP doc in MLP):

Through grade-level team meetings, teachers will collaborate to build a consistent framework for writing and assessing writing and standards-based literacy skills that will seek to enhance student performance on RST and Literary Analysis Responses. This includes creating and revising writing rubrics and assessments which correlate to NJSLS Anchor Standards.

You need at least 2 goals (including the common goal) so make sure you choose at least one more.  PGP submission is due by October 31st. 


File cabinets in the "old F-Wing"  Remove anything in them and email a request to Silvia Favaro to put in a work order to remove them.

IXL is up and running!  Please contact Kenneisha if you need assistance. Start running the continuous diagnostic!  Pettineo, McGorty or Christina Alexander can help as well.  We can also have someone come to the conference room to meet with you and/or your PLC group and help you – let me know and I will arrange it.

NJSLA Data Review – Sophomore teachers - review the Shared Google Sheet and note your current students who scored below 750 or "those on the cusp" on the 9th grade NJSLA test.  Be mindful of those scores as compared to your classroom grades.  If they are not correlating, you may need to re-evaluate your tests, quizzes, and assignments.  Here is a link to the spreadsheet.  
9th grade NJSLA scores

Sophomore, Junior, and Senior teachers -  NoRedInk - An easy way to address Grammar instruction and remediation is by using NoRedInk.  I would like all teachers to start incorporating more grammar-related assignments into their coursework.  This program is easy to use and offers performance data to guide your instruction. 

If you have an existing account at noredink.com or, if you are new to NoRedInk, create an account following these directions.  If you see the "Training" button at the top of the screen, you are good to go! If not, you need to enter the code lime-5559 on your "Settings" page.  

Mr. Lawshe is available to help you get started.  Email him or contact me and I can arrange for him to meet with you.  The suggested course of action is to issue a "planned diagnostic" and use the data to choose the skills that you will focus on with your students.  Then, you assign practice units that eventually culminate in a quiz (that NoRedInk grades for you).  


Referrals 

IMPORTANT!  - Students who are currently failing 

or on the cusp of failing:  

• THE SES PROGRAM - Begins Oct 17th!  It runs on Mondays and Thursdays.  Refer struggling students and email parent/guardian.  Copy me and the guidance counselor on that email.  If you have students who are currently failing, you must send an email to the parent and student directing where to go to sign up for tutoring.  

THIS IN NON-NEGOTIABLE - If a student is failing, you must have suggested tutoring to the student and parent/guardian via email - copy me and the guidance counselor.

The registration link is on the "Student" or the "Parent" tab on our Website.  If a student is reluctant to attend, please contact the guidance counselor and parent and suggest that they urge the student to sign up.

• AAP - Academic Assistance Program -  You can also refer students to AAP (Academic Assistance Program).  Sessions are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Pat runs his sessions in room F123 and Jaclyn runs hers in room F118.  The student do not have to pre-register for this, they can just show up.  

• I & RS Referrals – please refer to the requirements that teachers must fulfill prior to submitting a referral… Here is the link I & RS. Also, document all interventions in the PowerSchool log.

• Reading referrals for Penny – start emailing Penny with your concerns – she will test them.  Also, make kids read aloud in class – every student.  You need to see for yourself if there are issues…

Grammarly  - Please check-in with your classes to make sure that your students are logged into Grammarly.  We have a site license and the log-in changed in the past year.  Please post these instructions for them on your Canvas or Google pages and review it with them

Grammarly Premium - To Create Your Account:

1. Go to grammarly.com/enterprise/signup

2. Provide your PCTI email and set up a password. 

3. Check your inbox for a Grammarly email and click on the activation link.

4. Apply the access code xtEJ2fLzE6na5nPS – the code is case sensitive…

Important

If you already had a free account, you would need to log out and log in again at grammarly.com/enterprise/signin.

Download the Apps

To make sure you get the most out of Grammarly, there are some additional helpful features for Microsoft Word, Internet browsers, emails, and the desktop! You can find all Grammarly products listed at https://gram.ly/HSJ9

Tips & Tutorials - https://gram.ly/HSKb