Week Ahead: Oct. 6

One Quarter down … 3 to go.  How the time flies when we are having fun!  This busy week ends with a very well timed, happy holiday.  I hope all your travel or stay-cation plans are sorted.

Here is what’s to come this week:

Monday, Oct. 6
Day 4 FGHE
11:00  SRT Mtg
1:30-3  Admin Mtg
4:00 Boys and Girls B Basketball teams @ SSIS

Tuesday, Oct. 7
Day 5 CDAB
10:30-11:30  HOS/MS Admin Mtg
4:00 Boys B Basketball game @ SSIS
4:00  Swim Meet @ SSIS

Wednesday, Oct. 8
Early Dismissal, Day 6 GHEF
1:15-4:30 Teachers Teaching Teachers  (if you haven’t signed up, click the link)

Thursday, Oct. 9
Day 7 DABC
8-4  Strategic Planning (M Crowell, L Featherstone, M Burger off campus)
3:30  Girls B Basketball game @ SSIS

Friday, Oct. 10
Day 8 HEFG; HL Schedule (Advisory/HL at end rather than after lunch)
End of 1st Quarter
7:30-8  Birthday Breakfast!
8-4  Strategic Planning (M Crowell, L Featherstone, M Burger off campus)
3:00 Grade/Comment window closes
4:01 Fall Break begins (because of ASA … if you don’t have ASA, yours begins a wee-bit earlier)

End of Quarter Comments
Comments are to be entered into the Q1 bucket (not the S1 bucket) by 3:00 on Friday, Oct. 10th.  Why not after break?  Because we want you to spend your break free of this responsibility … and so I can read through them during break 🙂   The entry window will close at 3:00 on Friday.   If you have questions about this, please email me ASAP.

ASA Update on Study Zone
After a bit of miscommunication on my part, I think we have finally confirmed Study Zone for Thursdays.  Bonnie Bertoia has also volunteered to do Study Zone on Tuesdays.  This is a drop in service for students who are looking for a supportive place to complete their work.  Study Zone will only be running during ASA times (this is a bussing issue; so please be very aware of this when you are recommending students attend).  This information will also be in the student announcements.

International Week, Oct. 20-23
Here is the basic schedule of activities for this week:

• Monday, Oct. 20:  Finalize door decorations (if needed) and illustrated stories in Advisory
• Tuesday, Oct. 21:  Begin sharing stories with Elementary School students in Advisory (Grd 7 and 8); International Pot Luck 5-7 PM
• Wednesday, Oct. 22:  Finish sharing stories with Elementary School students in Advisory (Gr 6)
• Thursday, Oct. 23:  All school International dress and parade, 8:15 -8:45 (estimated)

Thank you for your work on getting International Week to be a more collaborative event across divisions.  The students are eagerly working on the stories that they will be sharing with ES students.  Be on the look out for an email from Andy Coffey for additional information and reminders about the stories.

If you want to sign up for the International Potluck, please sign up HERE.

WWW Trip Meetings with Teams
Asia Motion will be here on Oct. 20 to meet with teams (during Team Mtg time) about the upcoming WWW trips.  This is the time for us to see the most recent trip plans, clarify the agendas, ask all our questions, and solidify time schedules and details.

Going to be Absent?  Include Duty in your Lesson Plans
With PD requests coming in; and illnesses going around, I wanted to give a friendly reminder to include duty responsibilities in your lesson plans / day descriptions when you are going to be absent.  For the most part, substitutes are expected to attend to these duties just the same as you.  Also, if you know you have a leave coming (even a few months in advance), turn in those leave requests ASAP.  There is a short list of great subs … and if we can book them for the MS, we want a jump start 🙂

New Practice for Tardies
Hopefully your Leadership Team rep has had an opportunity to review changes we’ve made to how we handle regular class tardies.  (If not, grace is certainly extended as we have all been “meeting out” due to new student parent meetings)

• Change:  Only mark tardies to class (other than 1st block) in PowerSchool.  Please do not send them to the office to sign the log book.
• Remains Same:  If a student is tardy to 1st block, please send the student to sign the log book.  (Although please note that we are attempting to find a way to simplify this process as well and to minimize the amount of class missed for a student tardy to school)  Consequences for tardy behaviour also remain the same – as a Level 1 offence, the first step is to talk with the student and to contact the parents to alert them to the problem.  If that doesn’t correct the behaviour, you are welcome to assign alternative consequences such as minutes at break or lunch (beware of minutes after class as that impacts their ability to be on time for the next class).  You also may refer the student with a log entry in PowerSchool if you would like administrator attention to the issue.
• Rationale:  This practice creates an even longer delay for the student to return to class.  Tracking tardies in PS is efficient and can be reviewed by teachers and administration to detect patterns.  The goal is to minimize the amount of time out of class and missing instruction.

Questions and feedback should be given to your Leadership Team representative as we work on this practice.

Update on Strategic Planning
This week we are welcoming John Ritter to SSIS as our Strategic Planning consultant.  Mark Sylte sent out a detailed email updating staff about this important work.  Please refer to Mark’s email for all the details on work done in preparation for this visit – reaffirming our understanding of the mission and Core Values … summed up with this eloquent statement:

What I’m pleased to say is that we feel a real harmony in the way we view the Core Values. We affirm them as the heart of SSIS and its Mission, unchanging now and in the future.

Mark further explained that this week’s work is to focus on developing the Vision of what SSIS will be come in the next 5-10 years.  Thank you to all who volunteered to be a part of this process!  The numbers are a clear indication of how much we all value the special place SSIS has in this community and in our hearts.  On Thursday and Friday this week, Mark Crowell and Lisa Featherstone will be representing the middle school (along with me).

After this week?  Sharing of the work on visioning, seeking input and the expertise of our SSIS community, leading to “an articulated vision and strategic plan by the spring of 2015.”

Cool Instruction/Assessment Tip of the Week:
Collaborative groups … excellent strategy that pays off big!  How do you ensure that group work is productive?  Blogger Andrew Miller has these suggestions:  1) ensure outcomes are clear to all; 2) intentional grouping of children rather than the “select your own” route; 3) clear routines and procedures to guide how students work together; 4) remember to teach skills like consensus building and ability to critique each other’s ideas; 5) provide for individual accountability.  For more detail, check out his article (it’s a quick read that reminds us of what makes group work great work).