Quote to consider:
‘Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you have imagined.’ ~ Henry David Thoreau
To Dos:
ADVISOR FAMILY OUTREACH: Below are two links to templates to use for our advisory communication with our families. Please copy the document, make adjustments to the blanks to make these templates ‘yours’ and send out to your Advisory families. Be sure to adjust the sharing settings to ‘anyone with the link’ can view.
English: click here
Spanish: click here
Bits and Bobs:
GRADING IN CANVAS AND SYNERGY: The district’s tech department created a “cheat sheet” of the steps teachers need to take in both Synergy and Canvas in order to bring these grading systems up-to-date with the changes we’ve made this year (P/NG and “no zeros”). Here is that document. (Note: you may have already seen this document posted in Canvas.)
GRADE GUARDIAN UPDATE: The Equity Grading (no-zeros) adjustment has been applied in the district’s Grade Guardian account so that any assignment with a Missing Status will be included in the missing category and be applied correctly to the student risk calculation.
Teachers now have access to their own dashboards in Grade Guardian as of Monday, December 14th. As you know, Aspire EDU held a training for teachers this past Wednesday. For those who were unable to attend, additional trainings will be offered after the holiday break. A recording of the training will also be posted in the Canvas Grade Guardian 101 – Instructor Module. Teachers may self-register for this course through this link: https://bls.instructure.com/enroll/B4P3CF
WEBEX UPDATE: District techs still don’t have a definitive answer to what has been causing the increase in WebEx issues we have seen since Thanksgiving. However, through work with the company it has been determined that rolling back to a previous version of the app is helpful. As of Friday (12/11), this version will install automatically before you host your next WebEx meeting (you must start your meeting from the https://bls.webex.com/ website). It is our hope that teachers and students will see some stability return to their WebEx meetings with the implementation of this change. If you continue to experience problems with WebEx after this update, the district techs would appreciate it if you described them on this form.
How to check your WebEx Version:
- Start a Webex Meeting
- Go to “WebEx Meeting” in top menu bar by the apple
- Go to “About Webex Meeting”
- You should be on version 40.11.5.11
ATHLETICS: As you may have read/heard about, OSAA has moved back the start of HS competitions. Our district plan for MS athletics is that we’ll begin the first of our three seasons on Feb. 22, with the third season ending on June 11. Each of the seasons will run for five weeks. Each will end on a Friday and the next will begin on the following Monday – no break between seasons. We’ll see if this holds true or will need to be adjusted again based on our pandemic situation in the coming months. Glen, HDMS’s athletic director, also shared that “sports seasons could be practices and inter-squad competition and look more like a camp.”
SUPPORTING SECONDARY INSTRUCTION: This week’s post (Can We Live Without Zeros?) contains a session cut from Mountain View. Joel Clements, long-time English teacher and BEA rep at MVHS has used a no-zero grading policy for many years. He hosted two sessions to help educate and support field staff questions and support making the change. We have the best ten minutes of that session on the blog. Also, an annotated chart showing the different grade outcomes in a variety of scenarios. And finally, a couple of supplemental resources for those wanting more.
GIFT OF GRATITUDE: We’ve completed front porch deliveries this week for staff that selected this option. Everyone else’s gift is available for pickup from your desk at school; there is no rush to pick it up.
WINTER BREAK BUILDING SCHEDULE: The first week of winter break (Dec 21 – 25) is pretty straight forward. Michelle and Tim will be working a 6am to 2:30pm schedule Monday through Wednesday – off Thursday and Friday). The contractor will be taking care of the alarm during those days at roughly 4pm, but may set the alarm anytime after 2:30.
The second week of winter break (Dec 28 – Jan 1st) is where things get very uncertain. During this week they will be shutting down the existing boiler to do additional work for the new boiler to come online. The contractor himself is not certain of the exact day this will happen due to shipping of parts and things of that nature. Tim suggests to staff that they not come to the building during that week just to avoid freezing conditions. When the work is being done the building will have no heat. Michelle and Tim will be here working on Monday through Wednesday from 6am till 2:30pm (off Thursday and Friday), but when the heat is shut down, we may take a day of leave due to the cold work conditions. * * Again – The contractor will be taking care of the alarm during those days at roughly 4pm, but may set the alarm anytime after 2:30.
If staff enters the building during any of the times when there are no others here – they will have to assume alarm responsibility. Please see Wendy’s blog for a “hotlink” to the alarm operating procedures.
Reminders:
SEMESTER END DATE: The end of first semester is Feb. 4th; the is no school on Feb. 5th as this is a grading day.
High Desert Highlights:
