Weekly Update: November 13
Friday, November 13
Day 3- BCDA
Jacob Out of the Building
HS Drama Production “One Woman, Two Guvnors”, 6:30 (Black Box Theater)
Monday, November 16
Day 4- FGHE
Group Meeting Schedule
Jacob at Taipei American School
Dragon’s Lair Survey Due by 4pm (All HS Staff)
Tuesday, November 17
Day 5- CDAB
Jacob at Taipei American School
10th Grade SOC Meeting, Lunch (HS Counseling Conference Room)
Wednesday, November 18
Day 6- GHEF
Early Dismissal Schedule
Jacob at Taipei American School (Returning for AS Meeting)
AS Full Faculty Meeting: Assessment for Learning, 1-5:30pm (Auditorium)
Thursday, November 19
Day 7- DABC
Group Meeting Schedule
Friday, November 20
Day 8- HEFG
PTA Teacher Appreciation Luncheon (Auditorium)
StuCo Lock-in, 8pm-8am (Gym)
On the Horizon
PTA Teacher Appreciation Luncheon, November 20 (Lunch)
StuCo Lock-in: November 20 & 21 (8pm-8am)
HS Winter Concert: November 26, 7-9pm (Auditorium)
PTA Social: November 27, 7-9 (Auditorium)
Staff Thanksgiving Celebration: November 28, 4-7pm (Auditorium)
HS Drama Production: December 3 & 4, 6:30pm (Black Box Theater)
Staff Star Wars Marathon: December 5, 2-9pm (Auditorium)
SSIS Staff Party: December 12, 6-11pm (Cham Charm)
Staff Action Needed
- All HS staff complete the Dragon’s Lair Survey by Monday, November 16th at 4pm
- This survey is confidential/anonymous, as we want to collect accurate data about our publication.
- Review final exam schedule and look for any last potential issues before we publish to students and parents.
- Review this document about students on academic probation and take attendance for those students on the list starting on Monday, November 16.
Academic Probation Accountability– The counseling team has spent countless hours devoted to our students on academic probation (1 F or 2 D’s). Â This includes parent meetings, student check-ins and more. Â We require students on academic probation to attend 3 days of office hours with teachers in an effort to improve their grade. Â Students can also meet with teachers at lunch (if teacher is available) for a 30 minute session instead of after school. Â The issue has been accountability, since we have not been able to determine if they attend or not. Â Starting on Monday, November 16 this problem will be solved with your assistance. Â We approached the HSLT with this issue and have the best solution possible at this point. Â Starting Monday, take attendance of those students on academic probation using this document. Â All you need to do is type your last name and minutes spent in class on the appropriate date, “Crawford (30)” for example. Â This student was in Andrew Crawford’s class for 30 minutes. Â For those students that do not attend their assigned sessions, we will be collecting them at the end of their last block class and delivering them to office hours.
Jacob Gone– I will be gone on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to visit the Taipei American School with Molly and Tina. Â I will return by our all faculty meeting early release meeting on Wednesday. Â In my absence, Thao and the counseling department will handle most of the issues. Â If any immediate administrative assistance is needed, Mark Sylte will be available to support the high school.
Learning 2 Comes to SSIS– Learning 2 comes to SSIS October 7-8, 2016. It will take a team effort to pull this off, with 300+ participants expected from all over SE Asia. Look out for an email from Tina on Monday for your opportunity to sign up to help organize this conference. Go Dragons!
Final Exam Schedule– Here is the final exam schedule for the fall 2015 semester. Â The high school leadership team decided to do the testing in the gymnasium according to the schedule. Â Some testing will take place in smaller environments for some of our learning support and EAL students. Â More information to follow. Â This schedule has been vetted through department heads on a couple of occasions, so we hope this to be accurate. Â Please give it one more final glance before we share this with parents and students next week. Â Any issues please share them with your department head, Thao or Jacob.
Staff Video for Students– There has been a longstanding tradition on the last day of school after final exams to show a staff created video to students. Dan Le and William Medina have shared some information about this.  This year, the video will be to a very popular song in the US titled Downtown by Macklemore.  Yes, we will be using the “clean” version to this song.  Here are some examples from year’s past.
HSLT Update– Here are the notes to our most recent High School Leadership Team meeting. Â Thanks Nomer for taking them.
Study Guides for Final Exams– Final exams can be a stressful time for students.  Preparation can make the difference for most students.  Many of you provide your students with an overview of the concepts to review before their exam.  They will have more exams in a semester in high school than they will see when they arrive at their chosen university.  Providing clear guidance is one of our duties for students.  Talk to your department head or Jacob if you have questions about how to best prepare students for final exams.
Education Survey– (email sent by Mark)
Dear Faculty –
Over the past twelve months we have spoke to you about the Education Surveys which are planned for the week of 23-27 November 2015.
The Education Surveys are part of a series of annual surveys we started last year. At that time we asked for your participation in surveys of the senior administrative team at SSIS, believing that feedback from you to the team would allow us to reflect on our performances, be encouraged by what was going well and what was appreciated, and reflect on areas where you felt our performance was in need of improvement. Your enthusiastic participation was greatly appreciated, and I hope you have seen in each member of the admin team a desire to take your observations and suggestions to heart. We will repeat these surveys later this year, spreading them out over time so as not to tax your goodwill.
The Education Surveys will be given to our students later this month, asking them to reflect upon the education they are receiving in our classrooms and asking that they offer feedback as to what they believe is going well and what is in need of improvement. The surveys will be administered to all students in Grades 3-12, a single survey for elementary school students and in each of their classes for middle and high school students.
There are several steps left for us in preparation for the administration of these surveys and we ask for you assistance:
- Please follow this link to the survey instrument. We ask that you:
- Take the survey, clicking on the selection for your division.
- If you are a MS or HS teacher, check the classes listed under your name to ensure that they are complete and accurate.
- Click on one of those classes and look over the exact questions that are asked on the survey. Though the language is modified between elementary and secondary, the number of questions and the questions themselves are the same.
- If immediate questions or concerns arise, please take those to your divisional principal as soon as possible.
We have an all-school faculty meeting planned for Wednesday, 18 November 2015. At that meeting we will go over again the purpose, form, and uses of the surveys. We ask that you use the link provided so that you check your classes, are familiar with the instrument, and can raise any questions or concerns you might have before the meeting. You will have a final opportunity to share any questions or suggestions at the all-school faculty meeting on 18 November 2015. Your feedback is valued and will be considered before the surveys are distributed to students the week of 23-27 November 2015.
Sincerely yours,
Mark
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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.