Weekly Update: October 6 – 11

What a whirlwind!!! Can anything else be going on in our division? Tim and I are so appreciative of you all as you finalize grades and comments, write letters of recommendation, prepare for an IB visit and mid term WASC report, hire a HS principal, being present and engaged during our Positive Education PD, and host Parent-teacher conferences. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to support you and also know there is an end in sight. Hang on tightly, but fall break is just around the corner.

Jacob

Thursday, October 3
Day 6- GHEF
Advisory Schedule
Principal Candidate’s Schedule
HS Faculty Meet with Brett Stousland, 3:10-3:55 (MPR)
HS Faculty Meet with Jennifer Mendes, 4:00-4:45 (MPR)

Friday, October 4
Day 7- DABC
Last Day of Quarter 1
Principal Candidate’s Schedule
HS Movie Night (Animal Welfare Club), 6pm (Auditorium)

Monday, October 7
Day 8- HEFG
Quarter 2 Starts
Advisory Schedule
All Grades & Comments Finalized by 3pm

Tuesday, October 8
Day 1- ABCD
Verification Reports Provided to Teachers by end of A block
Teachers review and sign verification reports and return to HS Office by end of lunch
WASC Report to the Community, 3:15-4pm (Auditorium)

Wednesday, October 9
Day 2- EFGH
Full Faculty Meeting/Strategic Planning, 3:15-4:30 (Auditorium)
Quarter 1 Report Cards emailed to parents by 4pm

Thursday, October 10
Day 3- BCDA
Early Release Schedule
Parent-Teacher Conferences, 2-7pm (HS Classrooms)
Ganesh For Dinner, starting at 4pm during your department break time (HS Faculty Room)

Friday, October 11
Non-student day
Parent-Teacher Conferences, 9am-1pm (HS Classrooms)
Sandwich and Wraps, starting at 10am during your department break time (HS Faculty Room)
Start Fall Break at 1pm

October 12-20 Fall Break

On the Horizon

• Fall Break!!!!!!
• Cognitive Coaching Training, October 24-26
• HS Block Party, November 22 (Save the date!!!!)

Staff Action Needed

• Review the HS Principal Candidates Schedule for Oct 3 & 4
• Review Check important dates that impact instruction here
• Check out what your colleagues are doing for PBL & Inquiry
• Finalize grades and comments
• Share comments with a colleague

Principal Candidate Visits– Brett Stousland and Jennifer Mendes ar on campus on October 3 and 4. They will meet many stakeholders and may drop into classrooms to meet you or students. Here is the schedule: HS Principal Candidates Schedule for Oct 3 & 4

Parent-Teacher Conference Reminders–  Please review about how to log into the system to see how how your bookings are going. 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.

Review of Comment Expectations– Here is a reminder about the comment writing expectations that I shared with the faculty last week.

Teachers will only write comments for students that are receiving a C- or below at quarter.

• If you have already written comments for students for Q1 please save and reference these for use during Q2.  You will need to make some adjustments, but you will have a foundation to build upon.  All is not lost.
• If you are using a standards/criterion based reporting system in your classes you are encouraged to submit comments for all of your students receiving A-F.
• If you are a support teacher in EAL, LS or Academic Writing you are still required to provide comments that will illuminate the rationale of their pass/fail mark.
• Please check your gradebooks on October 7 to see if any new students have dropped below the C- threshold.  If they have you will need to add an additional comment for those students.

PBL/Inquiry Support and Ideas– Many of you have started the planning of your PBL/Inquiry experiences for students. Here is a list of what some of your colleagues are initially planning to do over the course of the year. You might use this to get some ideas or chat with a colleague about what they are planning to do. Please remember that Thomas and Evan are here to support you along the way in any capacity that you need.

AP/HL Hours Noise Complaints– Our Student Council has shared with us that sometimes there is some excessive noise in the hallways between 1:10 and 1:40 (lunch for non AP/HL students) that sometimes disrupts learning. Teachers, please chat with students and inform Tim and Jacob if this is happening , so we can address the concerns directly. We will also chat with the teachers on Roving duty to check the hallways on the 3rd and 4th floor more regularly.