OUR CURRENT SIW INITIATIVE ON HOW’S
MORE Teacher Directed SIW’s: The District and Union have negotiated for 5 additional teacher directed SIW’s this year in response to teacher planning load and morale/burnout. We have revised our SIW planner so you can see where these additional 5 TD-SIW’s will land. It does mean we have fewer “school directed SIW’s” in which we can pursue some of our collaborative projects.
Our Current SIW Project around HOW’s: is around teaching and “reinforcing” HOW’s and is in progress. Currently, we have two teams working on both sides of the same HOW coin. One side of the coin is all about how we TEACH Habits of Work and the other side of the coin is all about how we “REINFORCE” the Habits of Work to the small number of students who are struggling to master the HOW skills we are teaching. I want to be clear that the TEACHING side of the HOW coin is, in many ways, equally if not more important than the “enforcing/reinforcing” side. We can’t just expect that all of our students have all the HOW skills they need to succeed… we must continue to teach these skills by naming, practicing, breaking down, modelling, discussing, applying, reflecting, and assessing in ways that are creative, experiential, rigorous, and engaging… just like our subject content!
- Team 1 – is looking at how to improve the TEACHING of HOW’s in our classrooms. Our Habits of Work (Particip, Determ, Resp.) encompass all the behavior and self management skills that students need to be successful in classrooms!
- Team 2 – is looking at how to improve our system for REINFORCING when students are struggling with HOW’s. In the past, we have called this system our “Reminder System”.
RELATED SIW SWITCH – PLS VOTE!!
Related to the note above, we were planning to have one more full SIW session (Jan 19th) to finish the work of the two teams above and then our 3rd SIW (Feb 2nd) was set aside for each team to “roll out” their work to the full staff. HOWEVER, with the newly revised SIW schedule we MAY need to delay our work on this project unless folks are up for a trade.
In the newly negotiated SIW agreement, we would have to change our last two HOW work sessions FROM Jan 19th and Feb 2nd TO Feb 2nd and Feb 23rd. Either is fine with me, however I have heard from a few folks that they might like to make headway on this initiative SOONER rather than LATER. I would be happy to TRADE a teacher directed SIW if the team wants to stick with our January 19th work session.
Can you please vote on this quick one question survey about your comfort level with trading Jan 19th Teacher Directed SIW for March 30th School Discretion SIW. The net effect is one giving up the teacher directed SIW on 1/19 and gaining a teacher directed SW on 3/30.
YOUTH TRUTH SURVEY FOR CREW AND STAFF
We need to get our YouthTruth Survey out to Crew classes ASAP!
- We HEAR that the survey itself takes between 20-25 minutes, though it could take more or less time than that. It is recommended that you expect it to take most of Crew in order to get students set up and in the right mindset to take the survey, AND to take their time and complete it thoughtfully.
- It is SUGGESTED that you put the survey into Canvas as an assignment and asking students to submit the last page as evidence of completion. This allows kids at home to take it as well! Feel free to make it count towards their crew grade. OUR GOAL IS 100% PARTICIPATION!
- I will be sending the link and instructions to the Seniors who do NOT have a Crew currently and asking them to complete it!
- Here is the LINK TO STUDENT SURVEY. (ytsurvey.org/rms22) and it is customized for OUR school!
- Pg 7 & 8 of this survey manual have more details about survey administration but they are not really needed… I have provided them just if you are interested (and it includes a link to the actual questions if you are. interested).
- Your main job is to get kids into the right headspace to take it seriously, then give them the link and time/support in completing the survey!
- the deadline for completion in January 28th, but I would like Crews to administer it the week of Jan 17!
ALSO – we would like all staff to please complete the staff survey this week coming up as well!! THANK YOU for the time it takes! Jan 28th is deadline.
7TH & 8TH GRADE “FIELDWORK SUMMIT” – NO Kid Fair!
Just an FYI that Eric and company have planned a mini “Presentation of Learning” for 7th and 8th grade revolving around their Fall fieldwork. It is all INTERNAL to the school day and is scheduled for January 26th during Period 3… no parents. We are not hosting a Kid Fair this year due to COVID.
It will involve roundtable discussions and presentations between 7th and 8th grade students. Most 6th grade teachers remain UNAFFECTED. Details of the event here.
7th and 8th grade students MAY have a slightly delayed lunch period (10 min?) and therefore a slightly shortened last period of the day (10 min shorter?) – stay tuned and ready for that possibility.
GRADING AND PLANNING DAY – FEB 4TH
Thursday Feb 3rd is the last day of the semester and Friday February 4th is a “no student” Grading and Planning day. Here is what you need to know:
- Final Progress Reports should be emailed out that day and grades would be POSTED by the end of the day Friday!
- Staff should plan to work on campus that day. You are also welcome to use time that day for 2nd semester curriculum planning, either individually or in small teams!
- Breakfast and Visioning Together With RHS Staff: I would LOVE to have the middle school team join the high school team for breakfast and a little “vision building” on Friday morning (likely 8:00 – 9:30). Because this day is really reserved (by contract) for your grading, I am making this breakfast and vision session over at the high school optional AND I will timesheet those who decide to attend an extra hour! Hope you can join us!
DOORS HAVE BEEN LEFT UNLOCKED – PLS HELP!
We have been noticing more classroom exterior doors being left unlocked at the end of the day lately. Please be sure you consistently check your doors before leaving for the day AND please put this in your sub notes!!
- Casa north door – Beck
- SSC west door – Delaney
- Town Hall – all doors – Ian
- East Main building double doors – to remain locked all day.
- Exterior classroom doors – these are the responsibility of that classroom’s “owning teacher” (or sub!)
- Main front doors – Kelly
- Cabin – to remain locked all day. Missy responsible on Tuesdays.
- This MAY mean that certain doors get locked BEFORE everyone is out of the building at the end of the day. SO… carry your keys with you at the end of the day and if you unlock a door, RE-LOCK IT!!