Quote to consider:
“Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”
—Malala Yousafzai
To Dos:
OBSERVATIONS: Please complete this brief pre-observation survey by 3/12 to help guide our classroom observations and follow up conversations. As you know, the goal of High Desert’s observation process is to partner together to support teacher growth and reflection.
PBIS: Diamondbucks are back! We have developed a covid friendly method for Diamondbucks. On the staff side they are the same. When you see a student doing the right thing, you will hand them a Diamondbuck. Super simple! The new and improved Diamondbuck has a QR code and a unique id number. The students can then scan the QR code and enter their Diamondbuck into a form. Their Diamondbucks will be tracked via a spreadsheet on the back end. We will then use their entries for drawings. Coming soon, we will also be hosting a virtual PBIS store!
Advisors, you will find a starter set of Diamondbucks in your mailbox. We would like you to hand one to each student in your advisory on Monday and Tuesday. Please, then give the students time to use the QR code and try the new form out.
Reach out to your PBIS team if you have any questions.
SAFETY TEAM REQUESTS:
- Please adjust the end of the day staggered release times to: 4:06 (6th grade), 4:08 (7th grade), and 4:10 (8th grade)
- 6th and 7th grade teachers: considering the staggered release times, please support students in quickly and safely exiting the building by being in the halls after you release your students at the end of the day.
- To promote student distancing during passing periods, please remember to be in the halls per our duty schedule and whenever else possible within your schedule
- Please don’t send students to office/media center without connecting ahead of time with that staff person
CLASSIFIED STAFF: Please join me in passing along a HUGE thank you to all of our classified staff at HDMS! We know that our classified staff are often the unsung heroes who serve as the backbone of our public education system by supporting the smooth operation of our offices and resources, the safety and maintenance of our building and property, and healthy nutrition for our students. (And thanks to the Culture of Care team for their efforts in setting up our thank yous to our classified staff during classified school employees week.)
Bits and Bobs:
LEAD TEAM RESOURCE: HDMS is lucky to have two teachers on the district’s LEAD team! We are excited to share this video Julie created for teachers to see an example of the work LEAD is doing. In the video, Julie shares the set up for her lesson, resources she used, and what she learned and would change from her experience. We are inspired by Julie and the LEAD team’s work!! Please connect with her with questions/discussions on how you might use this example as a launching point in your classroom.
As you know, equity is a core value that drives all our work at HDMS. We’ve shared it before, but here again is HDMS’s equity statement for your reference.
EQUITY & RACE DISCUSSIONS: Dr. Lisa Birk (principal at Pacific Crest) has been hosting book clubs over the course of the last several months around the topics of equity and race. Lisa has shared her new opportunity to connect, discuss, and challenge one another … and I’m passing it along to you if you are interested in participating:The focus of our next two months together will be Oregon History as it relates to the topics of Equity and Race. We will be meeting every two weeks on Thursday evenings at 6 pm in Lisa’s WebEx room. The meeting lasts from 6-7. Each time we meet, we will talk about a passage, video, article, podcast, etc. that is identified the time before. Our meeting dates are 3/4, 3/18, 4/1, 4/15, and 4/29. If interested, please sign-up using this link.
WEB CONNECTIONS: Throughout our CDL experience and our current hybrid model, the WEB team has found unique ways to connect WEB leaders and 6th graders!!
We have 3 connections planned:
6TH GRADE ADVISORS, PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Wednesdays, March 17th, April 28th, and May 26th.
On the above dates, WEB leaders will join your Advisory Webex class and lead a lesson that will establish connection and be super fun! The leaders will know exactly what to do. All we ask is that you accept them into your Webex, and provide breakout rooms for their groups. All the group information will be shared to you by one of the WEB coordinators.
Thank you so much for your continued support of our HDMS WEB program!
IPAD CHECK-IN: Jill will be dropping into your advisory classes during the next two purple weeks to do a quick check-in with students’ iPads. She will look over the iPad, ask the student about their functionality, and then scan the barcode. She is thinking this will take about 5-10 mins per advisory class. Thanks for your flexibility in supporting Jill on this task.
OUT OF STATE TRAVEL UPDATE: Quarantine recommendations do not apply to individuals arriving to Oregon from other states or countries or Oregon residents returning from other states or countries if:
They have received both doses of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine (or one dose of a single-dose vaccine if it becomes available), AND it has been at least 14 days since their final dose of COVID-19 vaccine, AND they have no COVID-19 symptoms. Individuals should still monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms during the 14 days after travel and, if symptoms develop, they should self-isolate and seek testing. Here is the full document from OHA.
STATE TESTING: The federal “Education Department said Monday that it will not allow states to forgo federally required standardized testing in schools this year but will give them flexibility to delay testing or hold it online during the pandemic.” Read more in this AP article. We do not know – yet – what this means for Oregon (who had previously communicated that we would be pausing on state assessments this year), but we are sure to hear more about this as things begin to become unraveled.
HDMS ADMIN INTERNS: Many of you have already met Christina Kennedy (Lava Ridge) and Jessica Scott (Elk Meadow), both of whom continue to serve as admin interns at HDMS for their secondary site. You may see them drop in to some WebEx meetings (eg: staff meetings, EBISS, safety team, etc.) and joining us on campus from time to time. Thanks in advance for welcoming them and showing off all the great things happening at HDMS.
SUPPORTING SECONDARY INSTRUCTION: This week’s blog post continues the conversation about setting up great lessons from the start. Having really clear success criteria from the beginning of the lesson increases student engagement and success. When students know what success looks like they are more likely to achieve it!
Reminders:
ATTENDANCE INFO IN SYNERGY: Click here for details on health information in TeacherVue and click here for details on student absence codes.
SUB INFO & IDEAS: Thanks to the ICCL team for creating this resource to support teachers with different ideas and approaches when you have a sub during hybrid. Please see an ICCL with questions.
SAFETY FEEDBACK: Here is this week’s optional safety survey for staff to provide feedback to the safety team. And here are the results from our first week’s survey. (Thanks to Maria for her effort and hard work on this project).
High Desert Highlights:
