Week Ending February 12, 2016

Big week this week and it ended with Valentine’s Day. Hope you all had a great 3-day weekend. Our Peer Partners in the Best Buddies stayed after school to create Valentine’s for their special people in their lives. One of the Best Buddies, Kevin Barry, (pictured far back left) will be honored at a Rotary Luncheon this Tuesday at noon. More on Kevin, Mr. Boutcher and the Rotary Luncheon in next week’s blog.

There is a great amount of work going on as we prepare for the next school year. The Guidance Department planned and met each day during exams to work on student schedules for second semester, Edgenuity credits, at-risk students who have below the number of credits to be on track for graduation, and updating the FAQ document. This coming week through March there will be much activity regarding scheduling for next year. Thank you to the Social Studies Department; this is the second year the history teachers are welcoming the counselors into their classrooms to schedule students for the sy 16-17. For those of you in the building not as familiar with the student scheduling process here is an overview:

o Feb. 16th-teachers make course/level recommendations. Guidance will work with departments that week in their CPT

o Feb. 22nd-students receive Program of Study (POS), letter from Dr. Morse and worksheet.

o Feb. 24th-students can view teacher course recommendations and comments

o March 4th-last day for students to hand in course sheet to their history teacher

o March 7th-11th--Grade 11 visits History classes

o March 14th-18th-Grade 9 visits History classes

o March 21st-24th-Grade 10 visits History classes

o March 28th-31st-Clean up, and visit to Jamestown

Good News!

 Benjamin Paul Smith

Lynn Pinch (World Language Dept and Special Education Dept) had her baby:

Benjamin Paul Smith was born weighing 7lbs 5oz, 19 inches 2/11/16, 2:25 pm. He is pictured at the right.

So, too, did Rich Polseno (English Department):

Maxwell Michael Polseno was born at 1:32 am on 2/13/16. He weighs 6lbs 7oz and is wonderful. Sorry no picture yet.

I am sure Carole will be sending along addresses this week for anyone wishing to send a card.

Teachers as Learners

Before I recap the exciting activities and many directions the faculty encountered on Friday, it could not have been done without the support and planning from a number of areas in the building: Food Service and Catering-- Barbara Hammick and the capable chefs in the kitchen at NK. Thank you.

Custodians--Tholerme, head of the night GSA custodial staff, and JD, day custodian, Thank you.

Linda, Carole and Jean--Linda for taking the lead on all secretarial support that I needed; and Carole and Jean for assisting. Thank you.

Our Friday PD was full of opportunity for all. The majority of the faculty was in attendance for our guest speaker, Rachel Legend, pictured here. Her interactive presentation on “Becoming Visible” was exactly what we needed for this topic on LGBT. Thanks to Julie Maguire and Kris Graham for introducing me to Rachel Legend’s presentation idea. Additionally, I would also like to thank Christina Lawrence and Courtney Greer for their role as advisors to the SOGI (Sexual Orientation Gender Identification, formerly GSA) and guiding our youth through their journey at the school. There are so many areas of importance in this district that some teachers were in different locations learning together. A list of some of the examples is below. This will give everyone an idea of all the work going on in our building/district simultaneously:

• English Department along with the Middle School English teachers participated in PARCC Calibration Exercises at the Administration Building with RIDE
• Amy Messerlian created an agenda to work with the Middle School Special Educators on Secondary Transition IEP knowledge
• Chemistry Teachers writing new curriculum for School Committee approval
• PE Department updated 9th grade Health Curriculum after participating in the morning PD that respects the diversity and differences of all students focusing on gender identity
• Careers teachers completing a “Fast Track” application approval for their Career and Technical Education bid
• Other areas of focus are mentioned throughout this blog.

Students as Learners

Opening the Friday morning professional development with our own students, Rachel and Justice, sharing their stories and what they perceive as the reality of the NK Community through their lens was also an advantage for us as we seek to understand what it is like to walk in their shoes at the high school. As we stated on Friday we have work to do in several areas. My key takeaway: The NKHS staff is open and willing to create a safe, supportive environment for all.

Health and Wellness

 The PE Department set up a Circuit this past Friday for faculty to take part in two rounds of training before lunch. We received a preview of the entire circuit so we would all know how to approach each area of the circuit. The music began and each interval was approximately 30-45 seconds. On to the next...All PE teachers made themselves available to ensure that we were properly using the equipment and our posture was such that we were using the correct muscles to lift, jump, squat, you get the point. Here are some pictures to showcase the event. Yet another example of the staff coming together to promote wellness to stay healthy this year.

The math teachers, Dave, Shelley, Cassie, and Alicia working out the kinks from our morning session and gearing up for a productive afternoon; most of which would be working with the middle schools, including Jamestown, to vertically articulate classes with the high school.

Sherri, Rich and Syd about to use their core.

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

February 16 -- School Committee Meeting -- High School

February 16 – PTSO Meeting – Carriage Inn 7pm -- Teachers are welcome!

February 18 - Last day to add/drop semester electives (Adjusted for snow days)

February 23 – School Committee Meeting 7pm

February 26 -- Winter Pep Rally (rescheduled due to snow day) Fifth Period

February 27 -- Rewind Dance

March 3 -- RI Student Survey (During extended advisory)

Student Services Office

Congratulations to Kathy Whaley for being nominated for this week's Skipper Pride for Excellence Award by last week's winner Cindy Zito.  From Cindy to Kathy:

"For many years I have observed firsthand your caring attitude towards your students and your strong sense of teamwork! I was one of the lucky teachers that got to co-teach with you; you always made this collaboration easy. Co-teaching with you to meet the needs of our students was always a success because of your philosophy and shared responsibility of implementing lessons.”

Congratulations Kathy. Looking forward to see who you will pick next week.

From Donna Sweet: Thank you to everyone who attended the Student Handbook meeting on Friday.  A few teachers asked to attend another session, I will have one planned in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned.

I will be scheduling the Rhode Island Student Survey that is required by the RI Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals.  The survey takes about 30 minutes, so I will extend the survey during advisory into period 3 on March 2nd.  I will send out a link with instructions.  Students can take the survey from their phones.  Otherwise, I know many of you have technology in the classroom.  

Community

Thank you to Ms. Mason for providing the photographs from the Social Studies Department’s tour to the new and improved SeaBee Museum. From what I read from Ms. Mason, “the department gained a lot of valuable information to enhance our teaching and learning in the US History II, History Through Film, Democracy, and RI History classes. All and all, it was an afternoon well spent locally here in town with peers and our very knowledgeable Korean War Seabee Veteran guide.  I hope we can do something similar again and are afforded the opportunity to continue to explore History right in our backyard and region."

Fortunately for Ms. Mason she is perfectly timed in her WWII unit and she “can't wait until next week when I can share in real time with my student all the Seabee efforts during WWII.”

School Culture

Morgan Sherburne's Senior Project, a Winter Pep Rally will be scheduled on February 26th during 5th hour.  In the next few days, I will be sending out a modified schedule for that week so there are no instructional minutes lost that week.  The Winter Rewind Dance has been postponed until February 27th.

Videos Worth Watching

This month is Black History Month. While I normally try to keep these videos short, I unapologetically include this video. Outside of the English and History departments I am not sure how many people know James Baldwin. I did not…

As a school we thought it important for our students to complete .5 credits in civics, our Democracy class. It is this humble writer's opinion that since the inclusion of this class and the “inquiry tasks” in our science department our students have become better equipped at asking, researching, and presenting “Why?” In any healthy democracy there are a fair amount of debates--both formal and informal. It is through this forum that many students find their voice. This video takes us back to 1965, Baldwin had just published an American novel and is a participant, along with William F. Buckley, the conservative editor of The National Review, at the University of Cambridge in England. The question, “Has the American Dream been achieved at the expense of the American Negro?” Over 50 years have passed since this moment in time and wherever you fall on this debate, it is a challenging conversation that still resonates today.

Articles Worth Reading

Solutions for Stressed-Out High School Students

Food for Thought

“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.”

~Thurgood Marshall, first African American U.S. Supreme Court member

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