Weekly Update March 8 – 15th

Tim Chute | March 6, 2019 | Weekly Update | No Comments

I like the “Eyes of March” because I think it means that someone is watching me. We are all role models for our students. They watch us.

It’s going to be another busy month with International Day activities next Friday, report cards going home on March 20th, Parent Teacher Conferences on March 21st-22nd, and Spring Break starting on March 29th. We also have lots of assessments happening too this month including the IB Y2 Mock Exams.

Please be sure to contact parents if you notice a significant grade drop in any of your students. Please don’t wait until PTC and hope that the student’s parents attend.

THE PTC parent sign-up form is going well. As of March 6th we have had 100+ parents sign-up for PTC appointments.

Tim

Friday, March 8
Day 10 – FGHE
IB Mock Exams
Sunshine Happy Hour, 3:30-4:30 (HS Faculty Room)
ES Drama Production at 6:00pm

Saturday, March 9th
SAT Exam at 7:30am

Sunday, March 10th
Pest Control Outside at SSIS

Monday, March 11th
Day 1 ABC Adv D
Advisory Schedule
IB Mock Exams

Tuesday, March 12th
Day 2 EFGH
Grade 9 PSAT in the HS Gymnasium at 8:00am – 11:30am
IB Mock Exams

Wednesday, March 13th
Day 3 BCDA
IB Mock Exams
HS Principal’s Coffee 8:15am in C407
HS Divisional Time – Comment Writing

Thursday, March 14th
Day 4 FGH Adv E
Advisory Schedule

Friday, March 15th. International Day (non-uniform day)
Day 5 – CDAB

EARLY DISMISSAL SCHEDULETIME

BLOCK C 8:00 – 8:55am
BLOCK D          9:00 – 9:55am
BREAK 9:55 – 10:15am
BLOCK 3          10:20 – 11:15am
BLOCK 4          11:20 – 12:15pm
Lunch 12:15pm – 12:50pm
Internaitonal Day Celebration 1:00pm – 2:15pm Auditorium
International Day Fashion Show 2:25pm – 3:00pm MS Gym

8 and 10 Day Schedules Pros and Cons March 6 2019 Feedback

On the Horizon

Comment Writing Time, March 13th 3:15-4:30pm
International Day, Friday, March 15 (Special Schedule Here)
Exchange Quarter 3 Comments with a colleague by Friday, March 15 for review
Finalized Quarter 3 grades & comments due, March 19 by 3pm
Quarter 3 Report Cards sent out on March 20th
Parent-Teacher Conferences, March 21st (4-8pm) and 22 (8am-1pm)
Project X Teacher Support, March 25-28th
Pink My School Day, March 29th (dress in pink)
Spring Break, March 30-April 7
AP Mock Exams, April 9-25
AP Exam Student Registration, 2:30pm April 18. All AP students released from classes early.

Staff Action Needed

Send at least 5 emails to different families that you would like to attend PTC’s. Use email template here.
Choose your T-shirt Size for Project X to support the school and initiative
Please be sure to read the IBDP Blog for information Mock Exam Invigilation and Procedures.
Nominate a colleague for great work via Kudos
Meet the new HS staff for 2019-20

Parent-Teacher Conferences– We will be doing PTC’s differently this spring semester. They will be held in the privacy of your classroom. Parents will book 10 minute time slots with you via schoolbookings.net. Directions for teacher use are below.

Parent-Teacher Conferences School Bookings Website Directions for Teachers– Go to www.schoolbookings.net. Click the “Admin login” button at the top right corner. In the next window, enter the username “ssishs” and the password “ssisteacher“. Everyone uses the same username and password. Find and click your name in the alphabetical list of teachers that appears after login. You will see your bookings in the next window. These live update as soon as a new booking is made. There is an option to print your appointments scheduled at the top if you wish. If you accept any walk-in bookings during a free 10-minute block, please click and do the “Book for a parent” option above your schedule. Please check the room in which you will do your conferences, as well, especially if you share rooms with others. Signs will be printed and placed on doors for parent reference. If you have any questions about the booking system, please see Thomas Galvez.

Special Parent Invitations to PTC’s– Below are the directions to send these on Friday, March 1.

Pick a total of at least 5 students from ALL of your classes that are struggling academically and send them an email on Friday, March 1 personally inviting them to book time with you for conferences.
- Here is the link to the email for you to copy and paste.
- You can get parent email addresses and languages from PowerSchool. Please copy and paste the English portion, as the first portion of the email then copy the secondary language afterwards. i.e English first then Vietnamese second for a Vietnamese speaking parent.
- For each email, make sure to input the parent’s name, name of the course and your name in the appropriate sections of the email in BOTH English and secondary language.

Project X Schedule– As David Rynne mentioned at this week’s all faculty meeting a specific schedule for HS teachers would be available sometime next week. In summary, your role as part time facilitator will take place during the week of March 25. You will be assigned a classroom to support students in the MS building for one block over two days of the week. For example, you may be assigned to a classroom during your A block prep period on Monday and Wednesday or E block on Tuesday and Thursday.

International Day Activities– HS students have been trying to find ways to meaningfully engage in International Week since I arrived at SSIS 4 years ago. The National Honor Society has taken the lead this year in the creation of HS focused activities that will take place the afternoon of Friday, March 15. Classes will be 55 minutes in length on this day (schedule here). Lunch will end at 12:50 and an international day assembly will take place from 1-2:15 pm in the auditorium. After a brief break an international day fashion show will take place in the Plaza from 2:30-3pm.

IB Mock and AP Mock Exam Clarifications– Please make sure you follow the guidelines below in regards to how we report scores in PowerSchool for Mock Exams. The HSLT has agreed to the guidelines below. Additionally, it has already begun to evaluate possible changes to these for the 2019-20 school year.

AP Mock Exams- These will be designated in PowerSchool as summative marks with a total weight of 10-20% of the semester total.
IB Mock Exams- These will be designated in PowerSchool as formative marks that do not impact the overall percentage of a student.

Cassie Moving Offices after Mock Exams– Most of you know that we have finalized our hiring for next year with the 4th counselor. Julia Bui will join us as the 2nd social/emotional counselor in the 2019-20 school year. The plan was to move Cassie’s office next to the Admin side of the building next year. She needs a larger office and one with closer access to the conference room for the large amounts of exam materials in May. As a result, we have determined that the move will happen right after IB Mock Exams.

March 13 HS Faculty Meeting Time – The March 13th HS Faculty meeting is designated a time for comment writing for quarter 3.