This past week at school we had an incident that involved racism. The people involved do not consider themselves to be racist. The person on the receiving end would like it to stop. There is no room for racism in our school--ever. But I would have my head in the sand to think that it does not exist. My question to our school is, If students and perhaps adults in our learning community and the NK community at large do not understand what racism is or what words fall under that heading then how are we to educate our students to what is acceptable and unacceptable in our school? Donna Sweet did some research and I have included articles further down in the Blog. If you only have time for one, please see the website on Casual Racism It Stops with Me. It certainly resonates here. We need to begin the conversation if we would like to change the culture.
Health & Wellness
From Karen D’Abrosca
May 19, 2017
The poster on my wall says “ACHIEVEMENT”: Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” How true.
We see this in our students - our senior class - as they completed the project presentations for graduation this week. Let’s not forget to look at our own accomplishments. Those of us on “full evaluation” will be asked the question “How did you grow this year?” Look at the baby steps we’ve taken toward goals or toward learning something new. Every part of the journey is important. Let’s remember our successes as we speed along these next few weeks!!
Upcoming Events/Important Dates
May--Reflection
22 Senior Departmental Awards, auditorium during advisory
23 Chorus Concert 7pm
School Committee Meeting 7pm
24 Band Concert 7pm
25 Senior Athlete Night 6pm
29 No School - Memorial Day
June - Pride
1 Honors Night
2 Class Day
5 Senior Banquet
6 Graduation Rehearsal
Senior Prom
8 Dialogues in Democracy
11 Graduation (12pm Ryan Center)
13 School Committee Meeting
Good News!
The Skipper Pride winner is Cindy Normand, who was chosen from the last winner, Melissa Waterman
From Missy to Cindy:
Cindy,
I nominate you for the Skipper Award for Excellence. You and I have been coworkers and friends for as long as I can remember. Those who work closely with you know that your efforts are limitless. I’ve sat through numerous parent meetings with you, and in the modern day of education, where so often teachers can sometimes feel misunderstood and not fully supported, you are not afraid to back the faculty when trying to find a middle ground. You haven’t forgotten your role as an educator, and you are the first to support the teacher during these times
.
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This year, in particular, your support has helped me beyond my role as a teacher. As a new department head, the process of scheduling became a bear to tackle. You sat by my side, for numerous hours, both to guide me and to support the English Department, throughout this endeavor. I was blown away at the work that goes into scheduling, and I looked to you for your “guidance” and advice. How you never lost your patience with me, or others in the room, is a testament to your calm demeanor and professionalism.
You have also been a motivating force behind me going back to graduate school. Even though I may not finish in time to fill your shoes, I still plan on continuing down this path. It hasn’t been an easy process, but your encouragement has helped me through some tiring and tough times.
On a personal note, you are a woman I admire greatly; our relationship goes beyond the walls of NK. We discuss titles we’re reading, recipes we like, and our families. Your energy and love of life is contagious, and I am grateful to have you as part of my world.
Much Love!
Missy
Scheduling News
Cindy Normand and Leslie Buckley have met with all of the department chairs to review and read back each scheduled class so that all will be checked and double-checked before Leslie presses the button on ASPEN to run the schedule.
Thank you to Liz Parvo-Brown in Guidance for the tremendous work you did in taking the ideas of personalization for our rising seniors and creating the contracts for those seniors who would like to come in late or leave early. Additional thanks to Cheryl, Cindy and Liz. As they visit the British Literature classrooms to go over junior summer items they will also share the contracts our students must fill out if they would like to opt for these senior privileges. The visits begin midweek and your department chairs will be sharing the documents with you after our ILT Meeting on Wednesday.
Finally, Cindy Normand is working with Ryan Jones, AP Art student on designing a brochure to market the choices for our students during Personalized Learning Time (PLT), formerly known as Learning Centers.
As you can see the work on what needs to happen before the schedule is ready has not slowed. The assistance from faculty and staff has been wonderful and it has made this stressful work a bit easier knowing the commitment from all. Stay tuned we are very close to seeing how our planning and development has paid off.
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Tech Tip
From Mark DeLucia:
Week Ending May 19, 2017
Formative
Formative functions a lot like using Forms with Flubaroo. It enables you to assess students electronically and shows results in real-time. Here is what makes it different and, in my opinion, a complete game-changer-- it allows you to upload PDFs and Word documents you've already created, then click where you'd like students to answer. That means.... wait for it... YES-- you can use all of your old quizzes that you've made on word or simply scan your hard copies (this can easily be done at our copy machines) and turn existing quizzes into electronic ones. Boom. See the video tutorial and learn it in 5 minutes!
Articles Worth Reading
From Australia:
The reality of 2017:
Videos Worth Watching
Food for Thought
“Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike” ~Ban Ki-moon
Until next time, Think, Create, Innovate...Denise
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