Weekly Update: January 11 – 18
I hope you all had an amazing winter break and are set for a short race to Tet. This new year provides our community opportunities to reflect, adjust and even restart. Whether it’s a New Year’s Resolution, Whole Life Challenge, Tripod Survey Reflection, or other, we have a very unique set of circumstances in education. As educators, we have the chance to reflect and make mid course adjustments to benefit our students and our own personal lives. Most other professions do not afford these chances to reflect, adjust and/or restart. I hope you embrace this as we begin 2019.
Have a great weekend,
Jacob
Friday, January 11
Day 5 – CDAB
HS Staff Birthdays, Morning Break (HS Faculty Room)
Monday, January 14
Day 6 – GHEF
Advisory Schedule
Tuesday, January 15
Day 7 -DABC
HSLT Meeting, 3:15-4:45 (HS Conference Room) Agenda Here
HS Course Registration Night, 6:00pm (Auditorium)
Wednesday, January 16
Day 8 – HEFG
SSIS Staff Meeting – Faculty Xperience, 3:15 (Auditorium)
Thursday, January 17
Day 9 – ABCD
Advisory Schedule
Friday, January 18
Day 10 FGHE
HS Faculty Breakfast- World Language & Learning Support Dept, 7:30 (HS Faculty Room)
On the Horizon
- January 24, Early Release Day-PD with Warren Apel
- January 26-27, Vietnam Tech Conference
- January 31, Tet Dragon Dance at 2pm (special schedule)
- February 1, First Day of Tet Break
- February 18, Start of HS Wellness Week
- February 22, Wellness Week Workshops Afternoon (aprox. 60 minute classes)
- February 23, Faculty Follies
- March 2, Saigon International Teacher’s Social 3-8pm (location TBD)
Staff Action Needed
- Complete your RNR form for student course selection 2019-20 by 3pm Friday, January 25
- Talk to students that are not recommended for specific course by Tet Break (see below)
- Complete the HS Wellness Week Teacher Support Survey
- Nominate a colleague for great work via Kudos
Department Course Discussions– Next week (Jan 14-18) each teacher will be discussing the course offerings of their respective departments to best inform students of their options. As a department, you have created talking points for each grade level to ensure that students are getting a consistent message from the experts. Thank you in advance for taking the time with students.
RNR Form– As the counseling team discussed at our faculty meeting this week, teachers will be completing an RNR Google Sheet to help the counselors best place students in courses that are their “best fit”. We have updated this process for teacher ease. Please find your department Google Sheet below and complete the tab with your name on it by the end of the day on January 25. Each department will choose a unified approach to do this. This may be a list of courses for a particular student may struggle in (not recommended to take AP History or HL History) or courses that are the logical next step (recommend Spanish 4 or SL Spanish). Additionally, we expect that teachers are sharing these recommendations with their students when they complete this information.
Additionally, at any point between now and Tet break, please talk to your students about any specific courses that you did NOT recommend for them. It is essential that you have these conversations with students, so they understand why they are not recommended. When students meet with their counselors and choose classes they (counselors) will not have the experience and knowledge to articulate why they were NOT recommended for a given course. How you share this information with students is critical and should be couched in the positive. i.e. “After working with you in the 1st semester I believe you opportunities for growth and success are in most of the social science offerings. I did not recommend AP World History, AP US History and HL History due to the high level and quantity of reading.”
English R&R Sheet for 2019-2020
Fine Arts R&R Sheet for 2019-2020
Science R&R Sheet for 2019-2020
Social Studies R&R Sheet for 2019-2020
Tripod Survey Conferences- The results from the Tripod Surveys will be shared with you shortly. There are a few things that will be useful to you for when you review your feedback.  Tripod Reflection Protocol: This is created by Tripod and will be especially helpful for those who have never done a Tripod survey before. The information is valuable and there is a reflection worksheet you could use. Here is a shorter reflection form that we used last couple of years (you’ll need to make a copy). If you want to use this one, I recommend using it in conjunction with the information in the Tripod Reflection Protocol. Here are  2016-17, 2017-18 & 2018-19 Divisional Results for comparison.  As you can see our division results have held steady in every category. Great work all! Huyen will schedule a 20 minute meeting with each of you to talk about your analysis and reflection on the data in January before Tet break. Please review your data and complete the short reflection form before our scheduled meeting. We look forward to chatting with you in the coming weeks.
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