IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES!
- Wed April 28th: 9th – 11th grade forecasting due
- Fri April 30th: Intent to Return Forms Due
- Wed May 5th – Fri May 7th: “Spirit Week” at Realms HS
- Fri May 7th: “Decision Day” for Seniors (more info soon!)
- Mon May 10th: Midterm Progress Reports
- Mon May 10th: Final Senior Class Meeting 5:30PM (parents AND students)
- Mon May 17th: Junior Preview Night 5:30PM (parents AND students)
- Thurs May 27th All Day: “Disorientation” Day – team building fun all day at Pine Nursery (stay tuned for more info)
- Fri June 4th: Senior Celebration Day at RHS and “last day to turn in work” for Seniors
- Week of June 7th: “Finals Week” for Grades 9-11
- Wed June 9th: OUR FIRST EVER GRADUATION AT RHS!
IMPORTANT NOTE ON GRADES FOR SPRING
Please get your grade book as “up to date as you can” for this coming Monday! Updated grades will help us with the SOC process and more than that, they will help students and families KNOW HOW THEY ARE DOING! And, it will make your load prior to midterm grades much easier!
Friday June 4th is “Senior Grades Due” date. That is almost TWO WEEKS EARLIER than others, so BEWARE. If there are ANY seniors failing a class at midterm, I WANT TO KNOW IT! Ideally we want NO SURPRISES for seniors and no last minute scrambling. This midterm is their “final warning” with just 4 weeks between their midterm grade and their final grade.
I am asking you all to send out midterm progress reports (including Crew please) between Friday May 7th and Monday May 10th (one week away).
COVID RELATED UPDATES
We are seeing an uptick in both students who are entering a quarantine protocol due to a positive COVID result or an exposure to another person with a positive COVID result.
WHO IS AND IS NOT QUARANTINING: We are tracking these students on this spreadsheet designed to help YOU know who is and isn’t quarantining, and for how long! Remember to treat this information with confidentiality and do not share details with students!!
TEACHER EXPECTATIONS: During this time let’s support these students and families the best we can by:
- Letting them know we CARE about their well-being, and will support them through this challenging time. We have been compassionate, flexible and supportive all year long. Let’s finish what we started!
- Continuing to use Canvas to share class agendas, assignments and resources.
- Coordinating time to check-in with students via WebEx while they are out due to quarantine, (to the extent that this is doable and possible for you… this is not a requirement!).
- Limiting or excusing non-essential assignments that may be difficult to complete from home without direct classroom instruction.
- Allowing alternative assignments or assessments.
- Ensuring they know the best way to contact you during this time for support, questions etc.
- Allowing ample time and support once a student returns to get caught up / complete essential work etc.
Read This Short Letter (this week) From Lora Nordquist About Our Canvas Responsibilities:
COVID VACCINE LESSON TO DELIVER TO ALL 10TH – 12TH GRADERS ASAP
SHORT NOTICE HERE but our students can access the free vaccine clinic for their 1st shot on TUESDAY May 4th – NEXT WEEK! Can we please deliver this 10 minute mini lesson in Crew on Friday!!! We will EXCUSE students from class during the day as needed! I will send this info home to parents as well so they are in the know! Unfortunately, we do not have transportation!
PEER OBSERVATION INVITATION – NOW WE ARE ALL IN
OPTIONAL AND PAID…. the best kind of PD – I will timesheet 2 hrs for 1 period of observations! Woah! Double Bubble!
Spend a period checking out other teachers – enjoy, learn a few things and have a good conversation!!
Take a period and walk around, take notes, circle back with the teacher(s) you observed and have a chat about whatever comes up! Relate it to your SLGG’s (or don’t!)
INTENSIVES
On Monday and Tuesday of the last week of school (6/14-6/15) we are going to run Daylong Excursions in place of Intensives. The goal is to make these easy, fun, and repeatable across the two days!
Here is the plan so far: Staff will pair up and plan a Daylong Excursion that they will run Monday, then repeat Tuesday with a different group of students. Some examples might be…
- Ex1) Frisbee at Pine Nursery: Students learn and play both Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Golf at Pine Nursery, which is a 30-minute walk away.
- Ex2) Day Hike at (Dillon Falls/Riley Ranch/etc): Students would meet (arrange their own rides) at the trailhead and go on a hike, stopping along the way for picnicking. This could be combined with nature writing, drawing, photography, or other!
It would be awesome to get away from campus, and at the same time buses are HIGHLY UNLIKELY to be available. Academic Intensives will also be run for students trying to get out of the NG range, but one nice thing is that these students could theoretically join on a Tuesday Excursion if they complete the necessary work on Monday.
We will have some time set aside for excursion planning, but start thinking now about what kind of excursion you might want to take students on!
SLGG’s IN TALENT ED
We are going to use YouthTruth data this year as the “baseline data”. Based on the overall summary scores below I am asking us all to focus our SLGG’s on a specific indicator under EITHER Engagement OR Academic Challenge as these are our two weakest categories… see summary scores here:
You can dig into the indicators in the attached PDF. However, it is HUGE, so to make your life easier, I strongly suggest you simply focus in on one of the two indicators in one of the two buckets below. I have even selected the pages for you to look at and highlighted the pertininet data in yellow!
- ENGAGEMENT: Page 23/24 – I enjoy school most of the time OR I am able to create goals for my own learning (e.g. which skills to improve).
- ACADEMIC CHALLENGE: Page 39/40 – In order to receive a good grade, I have to work hard in my classes. OR My teachers give me assignments that help me to better understand the subject.
Once you have chosen the data you want to set a goal around… then you are on your way! I am providing you with MY TWO SLGG’s goals to use if you’d like. Goal # 1 was around “I enjoy school most of the time” and I set up “Tier 1 for 9th graders” and used Tier 2″ for 10th graders…. that simple. You can use mine or shape one of your own for a grade you teach.
MY SLGG’s COMPLETED FOR YOU TO USE OR “RIFF OFF OF”!
I DO encourage you to use the “Key Teaching and Learning Strategies” question to generate a small set of things YOU CAN TRY that make sense to you, your classes and the students you have in front of you. Ultimately, these SLGG”s are “required by the state” but by using YOUTH TRUTH data and questions as our assessment maybe we can use them as a force for goo!
I WOULD LIKE TO RE-ADMINISTER THESE 4 QUESTIONS ABOVE AT THE END OF THE YEAR IN A SIMPLE GOOGLE SURVEY TO SEE IF WE CAN MOVE THE NEEDLE ON ONE OR MORE OF THESE 4 INDICATORS!!!!
Both SLGG’s and Self Reflections are due May 14th!