Early Release Wednesday

Early Release Wednesday is tomorrow.  We will begin our time in the library for work on technology.  My understanding is that this will be a brief discussion.  I would like us then to focus our attention on the topic of assessment.  We need to continue our conversation on how best to implement something meaningful and realistic.  Our goal continues to be piloting something of this nature at the semester exam time.

Additionally, I have posted on Google Docs the completed version of our ensemble curriculum maps.  At this time, the band side of things is complete on mapping.  Jesse, we will not be able to have one ensemble be part of two maps.  So, we need to pick and choose the pieces/parts of the maps that you want to go into each ensemble.  We can do this one of two ways - you print everything out and circle what you want to be in each ensemble.  Or, you create a new document and cut and paste what needs to go where and send that back to me. Either way is fine, I would just like to get this done ASAP so we can move on from here.  I will be meeting with Anne on Friday to go over all of this with her and I would like to be able to giver her some firm details on our timeline.  I also believe that this will help to keep us on track with all that is going on.

Department Chair Update

Here is an update from the Department Chair meeting on Thursday, December 13.

• All departments continue to work on curriculum map, assessments and rubrics.  Each area is in a different place in this process, so Anne is meeting one on one with each department chair to see where they are at.  I will meet with her on Friday, December 21 during 5th period.  At that time, I will share with her our maps and the specific courses that we are considering for OTES.  She continues to be concerned that we may be required to track data in all of our courses and wants an update on our progress.  I will of course update you on the meeting.
• By now you are aware that the dates for the seniors have changed.  There will be no exemptions for senior exams, so all seniors will be required to take their exams May 28-29.  The thinking right now is that a specific schedule will be followed on these dates in order to accommodate courses that have multiple grade levels.  (I will keep you updated on this as well.) 
• There was recently an incident that involved a teacher and technology being used inappropriately.  Please, please, please be sure that you are always keeping student information confidential.  Remarks like "that kid in third period is driving me over the edge" can be viewed as sharing information about a student.  
• The principals continue to work on the mid-term exam schedule.  The hope is to distribute that before we leave for break.
• Next Wednesday, we should be meeting to work on technology issues during Early Release.  Anne was unsure what the topic was going to be and if we were meeting all together in the library.  Be on the lookout for more information on this.

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

Happy Friday!!! :-)

Early Release Wednesday

Just a quick note about tomorrow.  We will start our Early Release Time in the library with the entire staff and view some web-based resources.  We will then move to my room to continue our discussion of the music curriculum.  I have posted our agenda as well as the final drafts of Level I and Level II on google docs.  Thanks! :-)

OTES, OTES and More OTES!

The topic of OTES continues to dominate many meetings and conversations.  Recently, OMEA published a few resources on its website related to OTES and the implementation for music teaching in the state.  You can find those resources here.  (You will have to log into the sight in order to view them.)  While the OMEA OTES Information Center doesn't contain a lot of information, what it does have is all relatively pertinent to music education and it does contain links to material on ODE about this process.  I strongly encourage everyone to take a look at this material and become somewhat familiar with it, as this will be our new reality in the very near future.

The administration continues to be concerned about the progress we are making in developing our maps and assessments for next school year.  Our goal is to complete the mapping of the performing ensembles by the end of November and then turn our attention to developing quarterly assessments and end of course exams for each of these groups.  I would like to believe that we will have some things in place so we can pilot them during the second semester of this school year.  It makes me extremely nervous to think that I am going to be giving as assessment for the first time and those results will be part of my evaluation.  I would like to be able to edit the tests after a real life group of students use them.

Finally, this is just a friendly reminder that we are all to be utilizing some form of goal setting activity with all of our students and that we need to complete one web-based project with one class each semester.  The Excel spread sheet to report that on is available on Google Docs

If you have any questions or concerns about any of this, please don't hesitate to ask.  

Happy Friday! :-)

Happy Friday!:-)

Here is an update from yesterdays department chair meeting.

• The Program of Studies is in the process of being formatted.  All changes have been reviewed and submitted.  The document will now include a section called "career clusters".  If students are interested in pursuing a career in a health care field, classes offered here at CFHS related to these jobs are included.  The clusters include careers such as hospitatliy/tourism, legal, medical, business, finance, marketing, arts, information technology, education . . . . .  you get the idea.  The hope is to have this document finalized and presented to the board of education for approval so scheduling can begin in January.  If you have questions or concerns about this, please let me know.
• At the staff meeting on Monday, 11/5/2012, we will be discussing goal sheets.  This is a district initiative that we will begin during this second quarter and each quarter for the remainder of the school year.  We will basically be asked to assist students in developing one academic goal and one behavioral goal for each class.  Students will complete a document, recording this information and the teacher and student should keep a copy.  At the end of the quarter, teachers will review this document with the student individually to discuss their progress at meeting their goals.  At our department chair meeting, we discussed the possibility of making a goal for the students or addressing a need department or grade level wide.  For example, we could create the goal of increasing individual practice time as the academic goal for the students.  Anne was fine with this idea, only wanting to ensure that students would be able to work on the goal in a way that was meaningful to them individually.  We will find out more details on Monday and I will set aside some time for us to discuss this on Wednesday during our Early Release Time.
• At this time, the school year is 25% completed.  Anne expressed concern over meeting all of our goals related to the mapping and assessment that needs to be completed by the end of the school year.  In short, we are being asked to create maps, some form of quarterly assessments, and end of course assessments for every class that we teach.  I myself feel terribly overwhelmed by the colossal amount of work in front of us.  To that end, please plan to arrive promptly in my room for our Wednesday time ready to discuss the maps for the performing ensembles.  It is my intense hope that we can complete these by the end of November (yes, this month!) so that we can move on to the assessment piece.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!  Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Hello!  Couple of updates to share with you . . . . .

• On Wednesday, we will be meeting as a department in my room.  In a previous post, I mistakenly wrote that we will be meeting as a building in the library to discuss OTES.  That will actually be next week (10/31/12).  We are back to curriculum work this week.
• I have uploaded several items to Google docs that we will discuss at our meeting.  You can find the agenda for the meeting there, as well as the vocabulary list that I developed.  Additionally, I will post the map for Level II ensembles as we have it now.  It needs quite a bit of work and I hope that we can complete that this week.
• I met with Teaching and Learning last Friday to discuss getting paid for writing the course of study for the singleton courses that we teach in the department.  I will have information to share with you on that    as well.  I am also working to develop a timeline for completing the work of the curriculum (mapping only) so we can better judge where we are and where we are going.  There is definitely a lot to do!

Hi all!

Couple of updates to be aware of . . . . .

• I have a meeting tomorrow with Teaching and Learning to discuss where we are at in the curriculum writing process.  I will let you know of any developments.
• I have updated the calendar to reflect the M&M performances.  Just a reminder, Charles is trying to put all of the rental information on here as well, so please check the Google calendar regularly, especially when trying to plan an event.  I will continue to add things as I become aware of them.
• I have put a document into Google Docs and shared it with all of you regarding the vocabulary portion of our curriculum writing.  Please take a look at it, comment if you would like.  We will be looking at this at our next Early Release Wednesday time together, which will not be until Wednesday, November 7.
• Next Wednesday (10/31/2012), our early release time will be spent in the library discussing OTES.  Looking for some awesome information about that?  Here is a link to the portion of the ODE website to visit.

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1230&ContentID=125739

Good afternoon - 

This is a reminder that we will be meeting as a full staff tomorrow during our Early Release time in the library for a brief presentation by Ellen Allerton.  After that, we will be working with Ellen and the phys ed department in the library computer lab for the remainder of the time.  The focus of our time will be developing one web-based project each semester to complete with our classes.  Hopefully, this will be clearer after tomorrow.

Department Chair Meeting Update


Hi guys!

Here is the update from the department chair meeting last Thursday (Oct. 11).

• During Early Release Wednesday next week, we will be meeting as a full staff in the library.  Ellen Allerton will be giving us information on some technology issues (I believe that this may be related to the surveys that we completed) and then we will be breaking up by department.  Ellen will be working with us and PE in the library during the remainder of that time.
• You may or may not remember that Dr. Nichols is requiring all teachers in the entire district to complete one web-based project with our students a minimum of one time each semester.  The work that we do on Wednesday will be related to this goal and Ellen will be sharing some resources with us to assist in completing this task.  
• Anne needs to receive any updates/changes to the Course of Study by the end of the grading period.  (This is the document that contains brief statements/requirements for every course at the high school.)  Jesse, you mentioned to me that you had some changes ready to go - can you email that to me?  Additionally, I will email you guys the band stuff so that you can look it over.  Again, we will need to discuss any changes and get that together so I can submit everything on time.

Additionally, I am still waiting to hear back from Teaching & Learning about the Wednesday after school time and the possibility of meeting with those folks to check in on our progress with the curriculum issues.  I will follow up on this early next week.