It's Been Awhile . . . . . .

Hi all!

Yes, it sure has been awhile since I posted anything here.  Since we are not able to have regular department meetings, I am going to try and get back into the habit of posting an update every week or two.

Here is an update from the last department chair meeting on Tuesday, March 11.

• Mike Miller is putting together a proposal for next school year to go to the administration for approval.  The plan is to have first semester exams on Tuesday, December 16 through Friday, December 19, 2014.  We will return from break on Monday, January 5 and have four days of school before having the Records Day for the high school only on Friday, January 9, 2015.  Those four days could include work on new material that would be counted for a grade for the third quarter or material for inclusion on the second grading period.  The new semester would begin on Monday, January 12, 2015 (this is when second semester classes would begin) and the rest of the district will observe Records Day on Friday, January 16, 2015.  This plan would be in place for only one year and the plan is for the school year to begin one week earlier for the 2015/2016 school year.
• Because of the change in the calendar proposed for next year, there will be no holiday assembly.  Per Alli, I am going to look into the possibility of hosting something similar to the holiday assembly as part of one of our regularly scheduled concert events.
• All of the calendar dates we have discussed and planned for the 2014/2015 school year are on the google calendar.  I will now begin the process of scheduling the building for these dates.  We will need to improve the way we communicate our rehearsal schedules to the building and the custodians.  The custodians use the building calendar to determine how they use their time each evening.  We do not do a very good job at all in terms of letting people outside of our hallway know what is going on.  I would like to be put all the rehearsal times and dates on the calendar on a monthly basis as soon as possible. Please let me know the rehearsal schedules for your extra curricular ensembles for the month of April as soon as possible.
• The following is the proposed schedule for the seniors at the end of the school year:
• 5/21 - 5/23:  Senior exams - all seniors will be required to take an exam in every class;  exams will be given over those three days during the regular class period
• 5/27 - 5/29:  Senior activities throughout the day - no classes for seniors(senior executive committee is working with administration to develop these activities)
• 5/30:  Senior recognition and senior picnic
• 6/3:  Commencement
• Everyone should receive the date and time for their mini-conference and OTES rap up before they leave for spring break.  At these conferences, you must bring your SLO data for your two SLOs - pre/post test and playing/singing assessment.  You will have time during ERW on 4/16 and 4/23 to work on these items.
• I will be attending the den meeting for the Arts, Media and Design den on Tuesday, 3/18.  I will give you an update on what is going on following the meeting.
• This week, for ERW, we will again meet vertically with our peers.  Everyone will be at Roberts.  I will be floating between the work of the back directors and our choir friends.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. :-)

Bits and Pieces for the Week

Good morning!

There was no department chair meeting this week, so I just have a few items to forward to you.

• I have spoken with Alli about the field trip situation in our department.  At this time, the plan is to do what we have always done.  This means the district will continue to support our performances at venues outside of the district.  However, we need to maintain the number of performances we have historically committed to.  For example, if M&Ms have always gone to three competitions, they can continue to go to three competitions.  They don't necessarily need to be the same three as last year, but don't increase the number of performances.  If you have any questions about this, please come and see me so we can be certain of the policies for the year.
• At this time, there is a plan to have the high school used as a polling place for election day in November.  This plan includes using the back hallway as the location for voting.  If this does occur, we will need to accommodate this event as best as possible.  I emphasize we are still in the planning phases of this, so I will keep you posted.   
• The last two Wednesdays in October are being planned as department meeting dates.  I will be meeting with Mike Miller in the next week or so to set the agenda for these meetings as well as the goals for our department for this school year.  Stay tuned for more details on that in the coming weeks.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  You know where to find me. :-)

Department Chair Meeting Update

Good morning!

Here is an update from the department chair meeting today.

• Count week is next week.  If anyone has someone in their class who only occasionally attends school, please make an effort to speak to that student and encourage them to have great attendance next week.  You can also refer names to the unit principal for them to speak to.  Additionally, there will very few out of school suspensions in order to have the highest rate of attendance possible.  All of our funding for the school year is tied to the attendance for next week, so please do anything and everything you can to cut down on absences.
• Per Board of Education policy, all teachers are required to complete one web-based project each semester.  This year, you will need to turn your information in to the department chair and I will submit all of our materials together.  This is all of the information I have at this time, so I will continue to update you as this evolves.
• The discussion regarding field trips continues.  (If you recall, field trips must be cost neutral.)  I am setting up an appointment to meet with Alli and discuss how this will affect our department.
• Conferences are coming up next week on Thursday, October 10.  Conferences will be scheduled by teachers from 5:00 - 7:30, followed by a period of open conferences from 7:30 - 8:30.  (The main office will forward any requests by parents to set up a conference to you directly.)  There are volleyball games here that night as well as an event in the auditorium at 7:00.  The auditorium event is sponsored by Summit Racing and involves someone who is trying to break the land speed record.  This event is expected to be well attended and they are planning to have overflow in the cafeteria.  Consequently, parking should be a bit troublesome, so please plan accordingly.  Alli is going to share all of these details in an email with the staff and an all-call to parents.
• For the Friday Homecoming assembly, we are going to follow the same procedure we followed for the 'Roar' video.  Students will be dismissed to I/E at the end of third period.  From their, students will be dismissed to the assembly by grade level and alphabet.  This will allow for many things to happen, the least of which is a seating chart that will work in the auditorium, students can sit by their classes and the seniors can be in the front of the auditorium.  

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. :-)

Department Chair Meeting Update

Hi all!

Here is an update from the department chair meeting on Tuesday, September 24.

• Count week will be October 7 - 11.  This is an important week as our funding for the year is tied to attendance this week.  Please do anything you can to encourage student attendance this week.
• ERW #1:  This week will be our final week of work on our SLOs.  Both of your SLOs and all supporting documents (i.e. pre/post test, performance rubric, etc) are due to Judy no later than OCTOBER 1st.  Alli is asking all materials to be turned in as hard copies to best facilitate this process.  
• ERW #2:  If you are following the schedule for the ERW, the first two weeks in October are going to change.  For Wednesday,  October 2, all of the dens will be meeting separately to share and discuss the work done during the September meetings.  On Wednesday, October 9, the entire staff will meet together and hear presentations from each of the dens.  
• On Thursday, September 26, the entire school, faculty and staff are being asked to participate in a project.  We will be creating a video during I/E to enter into a contest to win a Katy Perry concert here at our school.  Please check your email to keep up with these evolving plans.
• The scantron machine in the main office has passed on to greener pastures.  So, I am working on investigating what options are available to us.  I know many of us utilize this for exams.
• Field Trips:  (Please take a deep breath before you read this . . . . . . )  Okay, now that you are calm, cool and collected . . . . . Alli has been informed by the transportation department that field trips can be approved BUT they must be "cost neutral".  Alli followed that up by saying we are not allowed to charge the students for transportation costs (i.e. building the cost into the cost of the field trip).  So, at this time, things are pretty up in the air with field trips and I am not sure how this impacts us.  I am talking with Alli about this situation and will let you know as updates develop.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  

What's Up?

Hi all!

Because of the den meetings this week, there was no department chair meeting today.  We will resume our regular Tuesday meetings during third period next week.

We should all continue to develop our SLOs.  This Wednesday, our time will focus on developing growth targets for our students.

As always, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or concerns. :-)

Department Chair Meeting Update

Good morning!

Here are the highlights of the department chair meeting on Tuesday, 9/10/13.

• This Early Release Wednesday, we will be continuing the work on our SLOs.  The focus of our time will be on writing about the standards and content portion for each of our SLOs.  Teachers are asked to stay on target with this work so we can address questions and concerns as they arise.
• Alli is requesting a list of current technology for every department.  Therefore, I will be putting this together and asking each of you to proof read it for accuracy.  Additionally, I will submit a request for our technology needs.  Please be on the lookout for this email later in the week.  Your assistance is very much appreciated.
• There was a discussion about Open House.  Alli would like to make this event as inviting, positive and worthwhile as possible for our school families.  Some suggestions for improving open house included creating an event out of it (i.e. science classrooms doing labs for parents to try, etc), creating something separate for the freshmen, or holding open house before a football game to encourage school spirit and attendance.  Alli will also be discussing this issue with the BLT.  Please let her know if you have any thoughts about this topic.   
• Department chair meetings will be held every Tuesday.  The agenda is very flexible and open, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns to bring to this group.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Have a great day! :-)

Department Chair Meeting Update

Yep, it's back - the department blog!

 I will again be using this as a tool to share and store information about the weekly department chair meetings and what is going on in the building from that perspective.  Here are the highlights of today's meeting!

• The administrative team is expecting department chairs and their colleagues to hold monthly meetings.  Principals and Amy Hayward are to be invited to be a part of these conversations.  The goal is to create better communication in the building and foster a professional community among staff.  Early Release Wednesday times may or may not be available for this purpose, so we may need to be creative with setting these up.  I will let you know what the plan is as soon as I figure one out.  :-)
• The department chairs decided today to discontinue the use of quarterly assessments in the core as a means of communicating student growth to the district administration and board of education.  Remember, the district has a goal of showing one years growth for every student in reading and math.  Alli would like to see us move to something more encompassing for measuring growth that includes all the courses a student is taking.  The concept she shared today was something along the lines of "Bachelor of Science" curriculum and "Bachelor of Arts" curriculum and reporting growth along these lines.  I am not sure I understand how exactly this works or where precisely we are going with this, but I will keep you posted.  I suspect we are going to become more involved in this process.
• We are going to continue to have students of the month here at the high school.  Please let me know if you have anyone deserving of this honor and I can submit their name.  Additionally, if you would like to nominate someone for Top Tiger, I can pass that along as well.  (Remember, Top Tiger can only be awarded once in a student's career here in Cuyahoga Falls.)

In addition to the above topics, we had a lengthy discussion about where we are in each department with OTES.  I am proud to say we are one of the few departments that has already administered both assessments and are on our way to analyzing student data.  If you have any questions or concerns about any of the OTES stuff, please let me know.  The district OTES committee is meeting tomorrow and there are many questions on the agenda.  Specifically for us, we need to notate any problems/concerns we have with our materials so we can update them for next year.  

So what should you be doing right now?  Here are some things to keep moving forward with!

• Keep working on those SLOs!  Remember you need to create two separate documents, one for the pre/post and one for the performance assessment.  The information about students and interval of instruction should be exactly the same.  The details about the baseline and trend data should be different.  Next week, we are going to focus on writing the SLO area covered by the standards the assessments cover and what the assessments are.  If you can stay on top of this, you should be able to write your entire SLO in the ERW time.  Please let me know if you need any help or have any questions!
• As we move through the SLO process (and once our SLOs are complete), we will again revisit the work of mapping and assessments.  At this time, the thought process is we will be expanding OTES to cover additional courses. More details about what that specifically means for use to come.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! :-)