Week Ending March 17, 2017

Health and Wellness

From Karen D’Abrosca:

MAR 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Spring!  If you are one of the 2-3% of the population who experiences SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder due in part to the decreased light of the past few months and its effect on brain chemistry) have no fear, spring is here!  Monday March 20 @ 6:29AM EDTis the official arrival.

The Vernal Equinox … the balance  (about 12 hours each of daylight/darkness) reminds us that brighter days are to follow.  Keep an eye out to the NKHS stadium – when do you predict you’ll see the first osprey return to the nest?

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

March - Creativity

20 First Day of Spring

23 Band Concert 7 pm

28 School Committee Meeting, 7 pm

Good News!

The Skipper Pride winner is Brian McDonald who was chosen from the last winner, Barbara Seeley.

From Barbara to Brian:

Over the years, I have listened to many students sing his praises and shine brightly as they have told me of how much he has helped them succeed in Math.  "If it wasn't for Mr. McDonald I would not have passed."  " Mr. McDonald, understands how to help me."  "Mr McDonald is a great teacher"

As a Dean, his caring, compassionate manner helps kids who are struggling with so many issues. He listens, They respect him. He is fair, but firm.  "Mr. Mac is the best". As a colleague, he is always positive, caring and approachable. His smile first thing in the morning is a great way to start the day!  Brian McDonald is a wonderful example of what a recipient of a Skipper Award looks like.

Thank you for the opportunity to share in this great idea.

NK Competes at the State Academic Decathlon

From Tom Doran and Chris Fronce:
This past Sunday (March 12th) at CCRI, students from North Kingstown High School took part in the

State of RI Academic Decathlon competition. The topic theme for the competition this year was World War II.  

The students that competed in the competition are:

Erin Brophy

Kimberly Cameron

Sophia Chang

Sophie Cleland

David Coderre

Elsa Kincaid

Stephen Landry

Nathaniel Manock

Emma McDonald

As well as those students that competed, NKHS students, Allison Campbell and Elise Hance, volunteered several hours of their time to help with various aspects of the competition.

At the end of the competition during the awards ceremony, Sophia Chang (grade 11, pictured left) was awarded a gold medal for the Essay portion of the competition and a silver medal for the Speech portion.

All of the students that competed this year are underclassmen, and for all it was their first time taking part in this competition.  It is hoped that when they join us again next year they can build off of what they learned and accomplished, not just as individuals but as a team.

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Tech Tip

From Mark DeLucia:

Using Keep for Grading Comments

Google’s much-maligned “Google Keep” (Google’s answer to Evernote) has recently undergone some major updates, one of which is particularly handy for teachers.  For those of you who always wondered what the app with the little yellow light bulb was for on your Chromebook this is Google Keep, a note-taking app that allows the user to make lists and create reminders using text, images and more.  For those of you who have made the move to grading within Google Docs, you’ll really like this update.  Keep now integrates with Docs, which means rather than incessantly writing “revise”, “spelling”, or other comments, you can make a list of your most commonly used comments in Keep.  Then, when grading a student’s paper in Docs, go to Tools > Keep Notepad.  Find your list of comments and simply copy/paste where necessary!  I’ve tried it myself and it really is a great time-saver!  I’ve included screenshots on how to do it and there is also a tutorial video here.  Enjoy.

To use Keep with Docs:

Go to the TOOLS menu

Select “Keep Notepad”

Your notes from Keep will appear on the right.  Then simply copy and paste into comments, rather than reiterate the same comments multiple times!

Teaching and Learning

Scheduling Update:

Next week we will begin scheduling incoming freshmen and any students from the other classes who have not yet scheduled for school year 17-18.

Student Services

On Thursday we began stopping students in the hallway to ask for passes. Many students knew and were complying. Overall a great job. For those who did not have a pass we sent them back to get one. By Friday the halls were significantly more orderly. This is definitely a team effort.

Next week, let's continue the trend. We agreed at the faculty meeting to use the yellow pass books, the laminated bathroom passes, and if students prefer to use their planner, as was the original rule, that is great. Some students were using scrap pieces of paper. If you need a yellow pass book, you may pick one up at the Student Services Office if you did not take one at the faculty meeting. Please make sure students fill out the pass before they leave your room and that it is signed. That way if students are asked they will have the proper pass. It will not be effective if the students can use any piece of paper. Thanks for your commitment.

Videos Worth Watching

March From Selma to Montgomery

Food for Thought

“Study the past if you would define the future.” ~ Confucius

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