How Are The Passengers Doing?!

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Hey Team,

George leading the new board games club! Thanks Jennifer and Paul!

Seems like a topic this week for many of you revolved around how our students (the passengers on this plane!?!) are doing in class… their level of engagement, their “behavior”, their work completion, attendance etc.

I want to encourage all of you to keep looking at the bright spots and recognizing that there are MANY OF THEM and the work you all are doing is making it happen!! Here are just a few of the many…

  • When I check in with our newer students who have joined mid-year (Anna, Luna, Steven, Hoss etc.) they ALL say that they are much happier here than where they were before!

 

  • We have some academically strong students, and I have NOT had a visit from them or a call or email from their parents to say they are frustrated with lack of challenge. That is HUGE for a new school with such a big SPED population – thanks for continuing to give these motivated and capable students your energy and attention!

 

  • We have a strong cadre of 9th and 10th graders who are invested in student leadership at the school through things like GSA, Leadership Group, Art Club, and even board games club (go George!!)

 

GALLUP SURVEY IN CREW THIS MONDAY OR TUESDAY PLEASE!

Each year Bend LaPine collects data to help support the movement towards “thriving citizens” which is one of the school board’s goals. The District uses the Gallup Survey which measures hope & engagement. It is a 10 minute survey. Can you please have students take it, and preface it with the notion that we want them to take it seriously… it helps us get a baseline for how well our school encourages students to feel hopeful, connected, and engaged in school! The deadline is this Thursday, and we have no Crew Thursday due to fieldwork… so Monday or Tuesday it is.

Students should take it privately. It might be interesting afterwards to use some of the items in the survey as part of a discussion or activity…. but not required!!

SHARE THIS SURVEY LINK WITH STUDENTS

If you want to see the actual questions as part of planning an activity for crew after or before the survey click here. The sections on hope and engagement are the two that are most useful/interesting (in my opinion!).

 

GRADE BOOKS – A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER!

We are at the time of the semester when we need/want to be directing students and parents to StudentVue OFTEN to build a sense of urgency around assignment completion, effort and quality work! We all know that grades are NOT the best motivator of student effort, however for many students who are struggling with motivation, organization etc. grades ARE a cue to the parent and/or the student to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! So, to that end, please…

  1. Realize (and inform students) that we will be turning on letter grades in the grade book next week
  2. Share with students that we are only about a week away from the quarter, and that we will be emailing out a snapshot of the grade book (aka midterm progress report) to students/parents on Friday November 2nd
    1. this is my suggestion so that students have three days of school after midterms to check in with teachers before a 5 day weekend during which they can do some catch up!
  3. Be sure to enter tasks/assessments, standards and scores in your grade book in as timely a way as possible… we are almost halfway through the semester!
  4. Be sure to start attaching one or more of our HOSS standards (growth mindset, collaboration, independent learner) to some or all of your tasks/assessments in the grade book so that we build students’ awareness of these standards and the role they play in how we assess student performance
  5. Consider taking some class time to have students go into StudentVue together with you and making sure everyone in your class understands how you are using the grade book,  how they can use the grade book, and what your expectations are when something is missing etc!

 

PUMP & STRETCH – SESSION 3

Thanks to Heidi (was it Heidi?! or someone else?!) for getting the sign up ready and pushed out to the announcements! The lists are here, and a few kids actually had to get their 2nd choice this time… no big deal!

I suggest that ping pong and juggling are full. I have added a couple more slots for students in Circuit Training (4), Mindful Movement (3) and Walk/Talk (6) for students who have not yet signed up – there are about 10 of them.

I will post the attendance lists on Monday morning – if you want to change your meeting location, do so on the lists themselves! Pump & Stretch Session 3 Attendance Lists

 

SARAH PURDY VISIT WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY THIS WEEK

Just a reminder here! Sarah and I will probably join in on the 9th grade Fired Up fieldwork on Thursday as I think there is a need for parent helpers.

On Wednesday afternoon we’ll likely dig into a PD session on Student Led Conferences that will help you build the knowledge and toolkit you need to support students in this work.