Week Ahead: December 8

What great fun at the Holiday Party!  I hope you all enjoyed yourselves … I can’t wait to see all the photo booth shots and pictures taken by Thiet.

Hard to believe but just two weeks left, and we are half way through the school year.  It’s a busy two weeks – let’s all make sure to lend a helping hand whenever we can.  And let’s all make sure that we are even more attuned to how students are reacting the stress of the end of semester as well as the stress of upcoming holidays.

Here’s this week:

Monday, Dec. 8
Day 2 EFGH
11:00 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, Bertioa, ?)
1-2:30 Admin Team Mtg

Tuesday, Dec. 9
Day 3 BCDA
Happy Birthday Steve Coffey!
10:30-11:30 HOS/MS Principal Mtg
2:00 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, Bertioa, ?)
3:15-4:30 MS Leadership Team
3:30ish B Girls Team Soccer @ SSIS

Wednesday, Dec. 10
Day 4 FGHE
9:45 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, ?)
11:00 SRT
1:00 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, ?)
3:15-4:30  Grades/Comments
3:15-4:30 AED Training for Admin
3:30ish A Soccer Teams with CIS @ SSIS

Thursday, Dec. 11
Day 5 CDAB
Happy Birthday Angela Cleeton!
8-9:30 Music Rehearsal (see Ada’s email for students who will not be in first block)
11:00 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, ?)
1:00 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, ?)

Friday, Dec. 12
Day 6 FHEF (HL Schedule)
7:30 Breakfast Club
9:00 Learning Support Plan Mtg (Flynn, Burger, Bertioa, ?)
7:00pm Winter Concert

Learning Support Plan Mtgs:
A huge congratulations to Amy Flynn for managing to get all Learning Support Plans written and meetings scheduled in the first semester.  To accomplish this goal, you’ll notice that this week is very full of meetings.  Please look at the meeting invitations and accept those that you can.  Participation of teachers is key to a successful and thorough meeting.  Thank you for joining in the process.

Grading and Reports:
Please review the following dates.  David Perkin reminded me about the verification reports.  You’ll see that we had to make a small adjustment so that verification reports could be in your hands for the last review on December 17th.

December 10 (Wednesday) – 3:15-4:30 work time set aside for comments/grades
December 17 (Wednesday) – 10:00 Verification Reports will be run; 3:15-4:30 work time set aside for peer comment review/corrections; (due at 8:00 AM on Dec. 18 – turn in signed verification reports to Molly)
December 18 (Thursday) – Date for report card printing
December 19 (Friday) – Date for report card distribution

Question about Comments:  I have been asked a few times for clarification about comments.  Comments need to be written in the Semester 1 comment bucket.  While some of what you write may be similar to 1st quarter, it is hard to imagine that any set of 1st quarter comments could simply be copied from 1st quarter to 1st semester.  For first quarter most of you wrote specific comments about each child’s progress on academic content from 1st quarter.  While some of that may still apply, I would imagine that you would have additional information to add based on the last 9 weeks of school.  Please see me if you have specific questions or would like suggestions on how to write comments in the most efficient way possible.

2nd Semester Schedules:
We need need to review 2nd semester schedules with students to make sure there are no errors.  By errors, we mean missing a core subject or being registered for two of the same classes.  This will NOT be a time for students to request different electives; nor can they request specific teachers (some 7th graders will be switching between teachers at the semester in certain core subjects).  Bonnie and I are hoping the review will happen by December 18th.  We will have 2nd semester schedules printed out for 7th and 8th graders because over 50% of them will have a shift in the order of classes as well as new electives.  I’m thinking 6th grade will be able to review theirs digitally via PowerSchool (they will only have 1 switch – new exploratory).  Since grades will be in – perhaps using Wednesday’s tutorial time would be possible.  Please let Bonnie know your team’s preference of date.

Cool Instruction and Assessment Tip of the Week:
Looking for a PD option for this year?  Check out the regional Middle School Teachers Conference being held in Tokyo April 10 and 11th.   From the conference organizers:  This video clip  highlights the focus and purpose of this conference. (By the way – the clip is AWESOME – even if you don’t want to attend the conference, check out the video.)  How do teachers best inspire, motivate, excite, generate passion, energize, engage, create meaning and impact commitment?  We have all seen the latest evolution of technology and methodology become a part of the expectations in our classrooms but have they brought the kinds of results hoped for?  How have they impacted what goes on in a student’s head?  Are they just one more way of transmitting information?  Is transmitting information our purpose as teachers?  What should be our primary role as teachers and how do we best design our classrooms and our teaching to reflect this?

The conference is being co-sponsored by St. Mary’s International School and Nishimachi International School.  St. Mary’s International School is located in one of the best areas of Tokyo with easy access to limitless numbers of restaurants and tourist attractions. We will also be including some cultural dimensions to the conference itself.  Monte Selby, David Gould and D.J. Condon will model motivation, inspiration, and passion with their collective expertise through keynote and breakout sessions and the expertise of middle school teachers in our region will be not only provide a wealth of ideas to influence your teaching but they will also expand your network of teacher and administrative contacts for the future.