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Weekly Update: August 20 – 24

| August 17, 2018 | Weekly Update | No Comments

What a great start of the year!  Tim and I have had the opportunity to stop into all of your classrooms in the last week.  We are so impressed with how you are building those intellectual and personal connections with your students.  The key to our work developing our student’s potential and our school’s mission is “AND”.  It has been truly amazing seeing your intentional work in this area.  Our students are so lucky to have your as teachers, role models, coaches and mentors.

Have a great weekend,

Jacob

Friday, August 17th
Day 10- FGHE
PTA Welcome Coffee 8:00am

Saturday, August 18th
Ben Tre Trip House Handover Ceremony

Monday, August 20
Day 1- ABCD
Advisory Schedule

Tuesday, August 21
Day 2- EFGH

Wednesday, August 22
Day 3- BCDA
HS Faculty Meeting, 3:15-4:30 (MPR)

Thursday, August 23
Day 4- FGHE
Advisory Schedule

Friday, August 24
Day 5- CDAB

Saturday, August 25
Saigon International Teacher’s Social, 3-6pm (Saigon Outcast, D2)

On the Horizon

  • Saigon International Teacher Social: August 25, 3-6pm (Saigon Outcast, D2)
  • HS Curriculum Night: August 30
  • HS Sunshine Plastic Chair Event: Friday, September 7, 4-8pm (TBD)
  • Grades 9 and 10 WWW September 16 – 22, 2018
    Grade 11 Retreat September 20 – 22, 2018
  • HS Block Party, November 9, 4-9pm (Jacob’s House)

Staff Action Needed

August 22 HS Faculty Meeting– Katie and Jeff from marketing will be coming to the first part of the meeting to discuss ways as HS teachers we can notify them of the amazing things that are happening in our division, so we can publisize them.  Then we will spend some more time highlighting key items like Curriculum Night, health and safety protocols, etc.  We also understand that we have not had a lot of time to clarify other procedures and upcoming events.  Please complete this Google Form by Monday, August 20 at 3pm to share a question(s) you may have about the start of the year.  The admin team and the HSLT will review and organize these into themes to ensure questions/concerns are being answered/addressed.

Saigon International Teacher’s Social, August 25– Come out and meet your international school teaching colleagues from around HCMC.  We connected D2 and D7 faculty last spring and now we are connecting you all.  This takes place at Saigon Outcast in D2 on Saturday, August 25 from 3-6pm.  Please RSVP here so we can get an idea for numbers and transportation.

HS Sunshine Plastic Chair Event Returns, September 7– Please save the the September 7 date for our annual and much loved Plastic Chair event.  It will start after school around 4pm and end around 8pm.  The location will be shared next week.  Your Sunshine dues help pay for this.  All you need to do is show up to have some great food, beverages and conversation with an amazing HS staff.  This is an adult only event and we encourage you to bring your significant other employed or not at SSIS.  Please RSVP by Friday, August 31 so we can organize food and seating.

Dragon’s Lair Kudos–  We have heard from a few staff members that it would be great to include more teacher voice in the kudos section of the Dragon‘s Lair.  We will send out a Kudos reminder each week and also link it in the Dragon‘s Lair to get more voice from a larger variety of people.  We appreciate the suggestion from teachers in regards to this. Please complete the following form to give a quick shout out to a colleague that you would like to recognize for doing something special.
HS Reader Boards– Most of you have probably noticed the LED message boards that have been placed around campus.  There are two in the HS now (at the ground floor entrance and HS Kiosk).  We will be using these to publicize upcoming events (clubs, sports, service, deadlines, etc) in the HS.  If you have anything that you wish to put on the message boards please email Jacob and Tim the information by Wednesday each week.  We will need the name of the event, date, time and location.  You can also send us a picture if you have one.  This is brand new, so we are still developing the procedure for staff to best share this info with Jacob and Tim now.  Something more formalized will come in the near future.
HS Curriculum Night– Our HS Curriculum Night  will on Thursday, August 3oth.  Our grade 9, 10 and 11 parents arrive starting at 5pm in the auditorium (9), HS gym (10), MPR (11) for information on the WWW and grade 11 retreat programs.  Only grade level deans (9/10/11) and trip leaders need attend this session.  Curriculum Night officially starts at 6pm in the auditorium.  After a 10 minute opening, parents will start coming to your classes according to the bell schedule at 6:20pm for A block.  You can see our schedule on this link.  Some of you will not be able to return home after school, but stay here for the evening.  We have ordered a few pizzas to be in the HS faculty room at 4:15pm.  Be in your classrooms by 6pm.

You only have 10 minutes with each class, so highlight at least:

  • Introduction of yourself and background
  • Share an overview of the course curriculum
  • Share grading/marking guidelines
  • Share the sylabus
  • Let them know the best ways to contact you about their child’s progress

If you have any questions about your 10 minutes of fame, please talk to your department head, Jacob or Tim.

Observations are Coming: What You Need to Know–  Tim and I are starting our staff evaluations this coming week.  During the week of observation we will have a pre conference, a full block observation, and a post conference.  Huyen has scheduled these and will invite you the week before.  There are two observation tracks: returning teachers and new staff.  We use the Charlotte Danielson Professional Practice Framework for all teachers.

Returning Teachers (Focused Evaluation)

  • Will choose 2-3 total components from domains 1-3 (Planning & Preparation, Classroom Environment, Instruction) i.e. 1b, 2d, and 3a for a focused evaluation.
  • Meet for a pre-conference to determine the 2-3 components together with administrator
  • Full block observation
  • Post-conference meeting

New Teachers to SSIS (Full Danielson Framework)

  • Meet for a pre-conference and determine main growth goals for the year
  • Full block observation
  • Post-conference meeting

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About The Author

Jacob Hendrickson

Jacob's 20 plus years in education have taken him from California to Seattle, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam as an educational leader. He is currently the high school principal at Saigon South International School.

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