Week ending October 30, 2015

We currently live and work in an adaptive culture. No where is this more prevalent than it is in the North Kingstown School Department, and for this blog specifically, the high school, as we collectively work with technology to prepare for the student roll-out of 1:1 for next fall. We are fortunate to have this year to tinker, play, work, learn and adapt. No user is expected to know how to do everything, as the skill level for each falls all along the continuum. At the same time, no technician or administrator can foresee all scenarios that may go right or wrong. This is a learning year for all of us. I look forward to the meeting next Wednesday to hear about the technology use thus far, what is going well, and what we may need to tweak or improve.

Teachers as Learners

Thank you to the Algebra 1 teachers for working with me to collect data for what I hope is the first step in a collegial process among the middle and high schools to assist our students to be Algebra 1 ready. Using item analysis of a unit test the Critical Friends Group made up of Charter and Public, administrators, deans and teachers, used the ATLAS protocol to look at data. It confirmed some assumptions and highlighted some surprises. I left the meeting with great suggestions to move forward. I would be happy to assist any other group of teachers. I know teachers will have ongoing discussions with these protocols during CPTs and I enjoy this type of work. Feel free to call on me.

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Students as Learners

(from l to r: are the senior business club officers:
Katie Mancieri, co-president, Jay Patel, co-president,
 Michael Allen, Sr. Vice President

Greg Allen, Katie Mancieri and Jay Patel, senior officers for the Business Club attended the DECA Leadership Conference at the Radisson Hotel in Warwick. with their advisor, Rich Garland.

Recently, NK was accepted into DECA as the 12th chapter in the state of Rhode Island.  NK was invited to the state's Leadership Conference this past Thursday, attended by over 100 students.  The conference was geared towards preparing the chapter for state competitions in various business and entrepreneurship areas.  Winners of the regional competitions move on to the nationals, this year in Nashville, Tennessee. NK plans to compete in March, however, the Business Club's focus is first on the Bryant 'Survival Start-up Challenge' on November 21st - where 6-7 teams from NK will compete against other New England high schools.  We hope to bring home our third win!

NK's Personal Finance and Investment students are participating in SIFMA's Stock Market Game as part of the course's curriculum.  SIFMA is the most popular tool for teaching investments of all the Internet-based games, sponsored by corporations in the financial sector.  Of the roughly 19 teams competing against other high schools in Rhode Island, NK's Josh Remington and Andrew Uber are in first place in the state with $106,955.86 in equity in investments to include cash, with 3.4% return on investments.  Their team name is the MIGHTY MORPHIN STOCK EXCHANGERS.  Wish them luck in sustaining that rank!

Health and Wellness

OCTOBER 30 2015    Happy Halloween -   Fall Back, by Karen D'Abrosca

Enjoy the Halloween festivities!  And remember to set clocks back one hour SATURDAY 10/31 at

bedtime.  I recently came across an interesting story in a health magazine that I’ll share with you today.  November 1 is “Extra Mile Day”. In 2009, Shawn Anderson pedaled across the US and interviewed people who had gone the extra mile to overcome setbacks.  (ExtraMileAmerica.org).  He encourages us to answer the question “Why live a life that is unfulfilling?” and reminds us that we all have the power to create positive changes in family, organizations and communities when we go the Extra Mile!!

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

November 5th – Career Fair – 6:30pm

November 6th – Professional Development Day - No school

November 10th – School Committee Meeting – 7 pm

November 10th – PTSO Meeting – 7pm

November 11th – Veteran’s Day - No School

November 18th – STEAM Workshop 6 – 9 pm

November 20th – Blood Drive

November 20th – Drama Production – “The Bluebird” – 7 pm

              21st -- Drama Production – “The Bluebird” – 7 pm

          22nd – Drama Production – “The Bluebird” – 1 pm

                                  

Community-School Culture

Congratulations to Paula Calitri who applied for and received a $200 Clothesline Project Grant from the Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund. Our school was one of 10 RI Schools to receive funding. This student project will serve to raise school-wide awareness of dating violence during the month of February, 2016, National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.

Student artist, Amalia Attias, created the wolf

Visiting the Fine Arts wing on Friday I was fortunate to see Mrs. Harrington’s students in ceramics working from scratch to make the clay, roll it out, create the tiles, ornaments, or hand design larger sculptures to paint and later be set in the kiln. What an eye opening and fun experience to see our students hard at work and engaged in their art.

At the same time students from the band were

gearing up for the Veterans Day Parade two weeks away. They are practicing on their form and getting ready to entertain the town. It is not part of the NK curriculum but a community expectation that Mrs. Toni Silveira and her students strive to meet each year. I caught these drummers on their way out to the track to simulate walking and playing on the parade route. Be sure to support them at the Veteran's Day Parade in Wickford, Wednesday, November 11, 2015.

 

The Unified Volleyball team traveled during the school day for a playoff game against East Greenwich High School this past Wednesday. There was a very quick turn around time for our school to decide if the students can participate and if so, would we have any fans to support them. I would like to thank Sydney Culbertson, Briand LaCroix, all the TAs: Stephanie, Joyce, Jill, Sandie, and Debbie, Keith Higgins, Amy Messerlian, Linda Twardowski, Howie Hague, Michele McNally and Donna Sweet for teaming up to be sure all of the students in the Life Skills Program had an opportunity to cheer on the NK team. Skipper spirit is alive and well in NK.

Please scroll to the bottom to see additional photos from the ceramics, band and unified students.

Videos Worth Watching

This Harvard Business Review 3 minute video is based upon Toyota’s 5 Whys, it is easily transferable to our careers when a dilemma or problem arises. It succinctly suggests on how finding the root cause of every problem is important. Most often there is a human element in most tech problems. Find the human problem and then make small changes that yield big results. You may have to watch it a couple of times to catch all of the information chock full in this quick video.

https://hbr.org/video/2189146765001/5-whys

Articles Worth Reading

Declining Student Resiliance: A Serious Problem for Colleges

15 Things every teacher should try this year. (May want to try 1 or 2 from the list?)

Student Services Office/Deans

Kris Anderson is smiling at the productive week the advisories had regarding collecting can goods to join forces with other North Kingstown schools to support the North Kingstown pantry and our fellow North families in need. Congratulations to Sean Lane’s advisory; they brought in the most cans and will receive a breakfast to celebrate their good deeds.

Food for Thought

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

~Stephen Hawking

Until next time, Think Create, Innovate...Denise

Week Ending October 23, 2015

One of my favorite weeks of the year. Spirit Week. I am not sure if I am seeing things or if this year our students in all grades 9-12 seem to have an inordinate amount of spirit and good sense all wrapped into one great package. The hallways have been filled with teachers, students and staff alike supporting the themes of the day. While academics do come first you can clearly see that a positive school culture adds to the recipe of a high performing comprehensive high school. Enjoy the game tonight, the dance tomorrow night or your family if you choose to sit this one out. You deserve it.

Small addendum: I obviously wrote this before the Pep Rally. We will gather students in the PBIS meetings to work on future Pep Rallies. It's exciting, I know, and they forget where they are but that is no excuse to be unkind to the freshmen.

Teachers as Learners

Thank you to the faculty for our meeting on Monday. Going through the process together allows for all

Matt Blaser in full golf, banjo, dress for
Geeks v. Jocks Day

of us to see the ATLAS--Learning From Student Work Protocol in action. In my group during the debrief the idea came up that having teachers from different content areas helped because they had no preconceived notions of what to expect from the student work. Others may prefer to work with like content teachers. With this protocol there is room for both. The Instructional Leadership Team will discuss logistics for our professional development day to continue this focused work

Students as Learners

Chelsea Kuiper won Artsonia’s weekly student artist for the 10-12th grade. She will receive a $50 gift certificate from Blick and the Art Department will receive a $100 gift certificate.

This year in PE class students have choices at the beginning of class on how they would like to work on cardio. There are areas of the gym for students to play basketball, four square, even jump rope. Here, you see Matty Vergun doing his best at the double dutch.

Health and Wellness

OCTOBER 23 2015    Eastern Standard Time

What will you do with this one precious, last week of Daylight Savings Time?  Farmer’s markets will begin to move indoors.  Nature really slows down for the long winter nap.  How about buying or resurrecting the “Slow Cooker” / Crock-Pot?  So many easy recipes to try – one pot and done!!

Done cooking the easy way? …  try one of the many walking trails right here in town – Calf Pasture Point, Rome Point (Chaffee Preserve) or Ryan Park .

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

Oct 23 – Homecoming Game – vs Chariho 7pm

Oct 24 – Homecoming Dance – 7pm

October 27th – Chorus Concert - 7 pm

October 27th – School Committee Meeting – 7:00 pm at DAVISVILLE ACADEMY, 30 East Court.

October 29th – Band Concert - 7pm

November 5th – Career Night

November 6th – Professional Development Day.  No school for students.

Student Services Office

ADVISORY CHALLENGE Next week, 10/26-10/30

In an effort to help North Kingstown families in need we have been asked by the North Kingstown Food Pantry to donate pasta sauce.   Every school has been assigned a different item.  However, we are accepting any canned food or dry goods donation for the pantry.  

-The advisory that donates the most canned goods/dry foods/tomato sauce will be rewarded with a full pancake breakfast!!  Courtesy of the Deans!

Advisors are encouraged to either collect in their own room and the deans will tally on the 30th or if space is limited, a representative from each advisory can bring items to the Student Services Office daily.

Food collection needs to be completed by 10/30.

Community-School Culture

The Interact club raised $175 dollars at the NK vs EG football

game last Friday. Pictures attached are kids frosting cupcakes (pink frosting -breast cancer awareness) and a pic of them selling the cupcakes. 7 gas cards were purchased and will be given to the social worker at Woman and Infant's who will distribute them to those in need.

We are placing an order for NK apparel for our faculty/staff.  This will be discounted off retail Under Armour polo shirts long/short, 1/4 zips, pullovers.  There will be a sizing kit in the main office starting on Monday so you can get the correct size.  There will not be every item but the sizes are transferable.  If you are a large in a short sleeve polo, you will be a large in the long sleeve, etc...  Orders and checks only will be collected by Howie in the athletics office.  If he is not there place your order form with a check in the privacy mailbox on his door or mailbox in the mail room. We will be closing the offer on November 13th. Let’s get your spirit on!

Take a chance to win an iRobot vacuum. Tonight students representing the STEAM program for Janice Strain at NKHS will be selling raffle tickets at the Homecoming Game tonight: $1 each or 7 for $5, to win. Proceeds will go to adding the Arts into our STEM program at NKHS. Just imagine, no more manually vacuuming your floors. Nice!

Food for Thought

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Until next time, Think Create, Innovate...Denise

Week ending October 16, 2015

A four day work week may go by quickly but there is always plenty of good things happening at NKHS. The “Beginning of the Year” meetings with teachers to discuss goals both academic and professional were very productive. While I have been in and out of classrooms, I am excited to begin formal observations to see the good work in action.In preparation for the faculty meeting, please watch the brief video this week. It is a great reminder of what can happen to any of us if we allow data that we observe to form beliefs and actions based on our assumptions. Being mindful of this improves workplace communication and increases the likelihood of productive co-worker relationships. (From Vialogs, October 1, 2015)

Community as Learners

After school on Tuesday, Jess Wolke, Kathy Yeager, the students from RAADD and volunteers from NKHS and the community planted red tulip bulbs in the courtyard in honor of Red Ribbon Week which runs from October 23-30. The Red Ribbon Campaign message is one of commitment for safe, healthy, and drug free children. Thank you to the students from Mr. Jim Simmons’ Landscaping class who prepped many of the areas in the courtyard to make the planting a bit easier. Everyone is working together!

 Walmart Grant for teachers--Last year the PTSO assisted the science department in applying for a $2500 grant to obtain lab equipment. This year they are willing to do it again. If you have an idea and are interested in requesting PTSO help, please go to the website to see the Community Grant Guidelines:

http://foundation.walmart.com/apply-for-grants/local-giving-guidelines

Students as Learners

We had 10 female students: Brianna Ball, Caitlin Brown, Haley Ahlborg, Tyffany Cole, Abigale Byrnes, Katy Brayman, Sara Merrell, Caroline Rocchio, Hallie Hussey, Amanda Lessard attend the Making IT Real Manufacturing Conference in Connecticut on Friday with Donna Hutson and Joy Tavano. They heard from and met very smart, powerful, passionate women who are leaders in the manufacturing industry. They also spoke to female engineering students from UCONN who are also dedicated to change the image of manufacturing jobs and who want to spark young girls' interest in engineering careers.

(Left) Caitlin Brown rode the human sized hover craft that some cool girls from UCONN designed and built.

Key takeaways from Ms. Tavano -- there are many employment opportunities in manufacturing in RI and New England; this mostly male field needs women who can bring a different perspective to the job; to succeed in STEM fields you don't necessarily have to be great at Math and Science - you just need to work hard (there's that grit thing again); Engineering careers are about changing people's lives and making a difference in the world  - sounds like teaching :)

NKHS students also attended the RIDE Technology Integration Conference in Providence on Saturday. Mr. Garland and Mr. Thomas provided ambassadors from NK: Jonathan Andrade, Matthew Chase, Kyle Sullivan and Victoria DeBlois (Tori from Comm III)  to the Tech Conference to showcase their work to the public. Mr. Garland worked with the students and their booth and had the following to say, “We had quite a few visitors to our booth and a great deal of compliments from visitors regarding our projects, and more importantly, our representative students.  In fact a few attendees came up and asked, "are these yours [students]",...very impressive.”

Health and Wellness

From Karen D’Abrosca

Spirit Week   

When was the last time you connected with that “child” inside?  Life doesn’t have to be serious all the time.  Join our students (one or all days) this coming week in their Spirit Week Dress Up days.

Tuesday “PINK OUT” DAY would be great.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we all have a personal connection to someone affected with this disease. The dates and themes are listed below:

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

October:

19 – PJ Day – wear your favorite groutfit

20 – PINK OUT Day – Got Pink?

21 – Geeks VS Jocks Day

21 – Powder Puff Game – 6pm

22 – Hippie Day – Groovy Baby!

23 – Class Colors Day – Go NK!

23 – Pep Rally – during 5th period

23 – Homecoming Game – vs Chariho 7pm (Come join the fun)

24 – Homecoming Dance – 7pm (Let Heather or Jordan know if you are interested in chaperoning)

Teaching and Learning

The second Aspen update was completed this Friday by 2 pm. Parents and students should be able to see their updated grades. This is what we use when we are having “at-risk” meetings with students and their parents. Thank you for keeping to this schedule. The final update for this quarter will be first quarter grades..

Videos Worth Watching

For those who would like to prepare for the faculty meeting. This video will help with keeping our assumptions in check.

Food for Thought

It is always better to ask then to make an assumption.
~Don Miguel Ruiz

Until next time, Think Create, Innovate...Denise

Week ending October 9, 2015

Many would not relay the story I am about to tell, however, most of you know I always feel compelled to explain "why" a decision has been made. Last week, I missed my annual doctor's appointment. Yes, the one scheduled 18 months in advance. I did not think twice about it, I will reschedule. I missed it because the NKFD was in our building determining that the air quality was safe for our students, staff, and guests to be present in the building.

Fast forward to last Thursday night, I left school earlier than usual to stop home before my meeting at Rhode Island Foundation from 5-6:30 pm. I had confirmed my space on Monday. Once home, I looked up the email to get the address for the building in Providence and to print the agenda. As I scanned the email from Monday, I was mortified. The meeting was October 7, not 8. On Monday, I had responded that I was looking forward to it.

After my initial embarrassment and apologetic email to the facilitator at RIF, came reflection. If I do not have balance as the leader of the building then how can I effectively lead?

This morning (Friday) as I write this, I am laser focused. Our big goal is improving student learning. Looking at student work with your colleagues and learning from one another throughout the year is our collective goal. All of our work will revolve around this idea.

In my attempt to balance, I decided to be kind to myself and enjoy the weekend. That is why this is posted on Monday evening. Enjoy.

Teachers as Learners

For our October faculty meeting we will complete a whole-school protocol to prepare each department for the good work you will do on the Professional Development Day on November 6, 2015. The name of the protocol is ATLAS--Learning From Student Work Protocol. It will focus on student work in response to a relatively open-ended assignment. Its function is to get a fresh perspective on a student’s work in the absence of much contextual information. Good for situations where the presenter is wondering about the student’s work and the implications of that work for teaching/learning. This is the one protocol where it is possible to use work nobody in the group “owns,” or work from students everyone in the group shares, since the teacher is relatively anonymous.

The person who brings the work gives a minimal, one-sentence overview of the student and the assignment before the group begins. If the person who brought the work is also the teacher of the student, she/he must be willing to sit back and listen, and must want to know what new sets of eyes see that the student is working on before joining the conversation. Otherwise, the person who brought the work joins the conversation from the very beginning. (Adapted from School Reform Initiative, Inc)

We will have 3-4 groups of approximately 12 teachers completing this protocol in a fishbowl style where all of the faculty that are not part of the protocol can observe one of the groups and participate in their debrief. If you have an assignment you think may work for this protocol please let me know. I will finalize over the next two days.

Students as Learners

Students in Sydney Culbertson’s class were testing their map skills, including using grids, to find locations in the building. Here they are pictured in the main office. They were to find Ms. Taylor’s desk and ask her for a joke. In Ms. Taylor’s absence, Mrs. Andrew was happy to fill in.

Joe is on the right and Brandon is next to him. Mrs. Mongeon is in the back and Mrs. Culbertson is on the left. While Sydney is not a new teacher in this district she is new to our building this year. Her hands on approach with the students is paying dividends. The students, TAs and teacher are all very happy with the atmosphere in the room. Thanks Syd!

Mrs. Judi O’Brien created quite a stir this past week with her Banned book display in the Media Center. One student was so upset that it was against his views as a Libertarian he sent me a very detailed op-ed piece through student email. I assured him it was to celebrate our “Freedom to Read” and to highlight the week of September 27- October 3 where we celebrate free and open access to information. As you can see Mrs. O’Brien’s display was very realistic. I encouraged Josh to go see Mrs. O’Brien to discuss the importance of our freedom.

Student Services Office

Ah, the cell phone, ironically named because we are sometimes "jailed" by this little device.

The Student Services office is handling cell phones a little differently this year.  We had a little turnover during the summer, so the details may have not been properly communicated.  My apologies for that.  I wanted to share the decision and the rationale.

When a student is asked for their phone, cooperative students get detention and can pick up the phone at the end of the day.  Multiple infractions build to higher discipline interventions.  If you confiscate a phone, call our clerks, we will come get the phone and save you a trip to the office.

Uncooperative students will have their device confiscated and parents will need to pick it up in addition to a consequence of detention ranging to ISS depending on the severity. Failure to relinquish is usually handled by the deans and we can send the student home for the day.  We do not want teachers to have this battle, please report it to a dean via Aspen.

The rationale for the cell phone change has three parts:

1.  At the thought of not getting their phone at the end of the day, students often escalate to a higher level quickly, resulting in more severe consequences, ISS instead of detention for example. There are many battles the deans fight, and in the interest of keeping the school safe and creating a positive cultural shift, this was not the battle to die for.  

2.  The second rationale was that we were also angering/punishing parents by making them come in for a device that is socially and widely acceptable in other parts of the world.  Like it or not, kids and parents are dependent on their devices for other tasks.  

3.  We (SSO) no longer wanted the liability of storing devices because of their value and potential damage while in our possession.  I'll also add as an observer, the level of tolerance for devices varies in the building therefore making it somewhat cloudy.  I know specific teachers are very clear, but others allow the devices as part of instruction, we don't want to get caught up in our design.

Check out this brief article on the subject, it's a national dilemma:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-manage-cell-phones-classroom-ben-johnson

Health and Wellness

We discussed balance already at the top :-)

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

Tues, Oct 13th - School Committee Meeting, 7 pm, Auditorium

Wed, Oct 14th - PSATs (in-school)

Mon-Fri, Oct  19th-23rd - Spirit Week

Videos Worth Watching (only 4 minutes)

From Cindy Zito:

Over the last few years we have had assemblies for our students dealing with empathy, anti-bullying campaigns, etc. The link below is a video entitled Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care.  I volunteer at South County Hospital and part of my training was to view this short piece;  although the setting is in a hospital, it relates to what we do with our students, on a daily basis, especially our most at-risk  students returning to our school, after being out-of-school for a various of reasons.

Worth watching

Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care

Food for Thought

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
~Mother Theresa

Until next time, Think, Create, Innovate...Denise