Week Ending November 17, 2017

Reflecting

The first quarter has passed. Report cards printed. Professional Development Day out of this world work completed. Motoring through the last of our sports championship opportunities. It's been a heck of a first quarter. Next week delicious turkey and giving thanks. Before you know it, we will have laughed with Monty Python, and enjoyed our winter holiday concerts. Enjoy!

Good News

Congratulations goes out to Rob Silveira who received the Shining Star Award from Drs. Auger and Humbyrd for his continuous contributions to not only North Kingstown High School but to the School District, as well. Students in his photography class gave him a round of applause when Dr. Auger presented the award and fortunately for Rob, he had plenty of students in class to take his picture for a change. Thank you, Rob, for making NKHS a better place to work and go to school.

Community in Action  

Huge thank you goes out to Tracy Wilkinson and Deb Gotthelf, NKHS PTSO members who authored a Champlin Foundation Grant on behalf of NKHS and informed me this afternoon that the NKHS PTSO received an award of $99,310 in support of the school STEAM program. I am sure there is more to come but the news is too exciting to keep to myself.

Health & Wellness.   

From Jonathan Quinn and Julie Maguire

November, in contrast to the quiet and darkness nature is demonstrating, ushers in the holiday season with its busy-ness and activity.    While the festivities are enjoyable they can be overwhelming at times.  This month we’ll focus on staying balanced with the “Four Pillars of Health”.  They are:  1. Move your body (exercise)  2. Eat good “real” food   3. Quiet your mind  and  4.  Be in community with like-minded friends.

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

November--Accountability

20 Faculty meeting

21 Skipper block advisory (Freshmen/Sophomores)

22 Skipper block advisory (Juniors/Seniors)

22 Alumni Day - 3rd hour

23 No School - Thanksgiving Day

NKHS vs SKHS football game@ URI 10am

24 No School - Thanksgiving break
27 Shakespeare Monologue Competition, 2 pm Auditorium

December
2 Art & Craft Show (NKHS Art Club) 3 Football Superbowl, 3:30 pm Cranston 8 & 9 NorTheatre - “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” 7pm 12 School Committee Meeting 14 PTSO Meeting 19 Winter Chorus Concert 7pm 20 Winter Band Concert 7pm 22 - 31 Holiday Break

Social Emotional Learning

From Leslie Holcroft, English Dept and Senior Project Coordinator:

Last Thursday night Mark Comolli, Christina Lawrence and I attended an event at the Gordon School in East Providence called, "Why Conversations About Race Matter," where Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum spoke to students, parents, and educators about how changes in race relations and current events in the United States affect our schools, including topics that she addresses in her book entitled, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race.

The spirit of the discussion was about how to help students expand their ideas about race identity and move beyond stereotypes while also recognizing that we have work to do, ourselves. Dr. Tatum reminded us that, "conversations about race are often shut down because they trigger our own discomfort as teachers and parents. We spend a lot of psychological energy trying not to talk about race." She encourages schools to purposefully engage in these conversations and work with students and teachers to give them the language to talk about race in a prolonged, meaningful way. One suggestion she has for adults is to begin the conversation by reflecting on the simple question: "What is your first race-related memory?"

It was great to debrief with Mark and Christina afterward and share experiences that have left us with questions about how to address stereotypes and examples of insensitivity that have cropped up in our own classrooms. All three of us were so impressed with the students from other schools in attendance who asked questions and spoke eloquently about what is happening to address racial isolation and insensitivity in their own schools.

Tech Tip

From Mark DeLucia

Week Ending November 17, 2017

50 Favorite Classroom Apps

As I always say during Professional Developments and other trainings, the most difficult part of integrating Blended Learning for teachers is finding the time to research apps and methods.  I also usually advise teachers to always start with the learning goal and then search for apps to help you achieve it.  If you begin searching for apps and wondering, “how can I use this?”, you will become overwhelmed very quickly, as there are many apps that can help you accomplish the same goal.  Here is something to help get you started.  It is a list of 50 favorite classroom apps, and all of the apps that made the list have been repeatedly recommended over a period of time.  For me, this indicates that these are also sustainable apps rather than simply a passing fad.  Additionally, they’re also organized by learning goal: “apps to acquire information”, and so on.  Have a look, and give one of them a try in your class this week!

Did you know?

You can print Google Forms.  Click the three dots in the upper right and print.  In the preview, you can clearly see that it creates a perfectly usable print version of your Form, complete with circles for students to fill-in and instructions.  This is useful in any number of scenarios:  

• For those of you giving online quizzes, but have students who, for whatever reason, cannot have too much screen time, or just need the pen and paper version, this will allow you to maintain a blended classroom but still accommodate these needs.  
• For those of you trying last week’s post about putting rubrics on Forms, you can fill out the form for each student, and simply print the results to easily hand back their results.  
• Lastly, if you’re creating a common assessment for the course, but one or two teachers are still not yet comfortable with the technology, this will enable teachers to easily give the same assessment, but in different formats.

Videos Worth Watching

We will have a Skipper Block this week coming for all of our classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will show a video from The Harbor series to help our students deal with the pressures of high school.

If you would like another opportunity to talk to your students over the next couple of weeks I have an additional 4 minute clip (separate topic-Skate for a Change) and critical thinking questions to foster a student-led discussion on making a change by using your passion. It is too large for this format. Email me and I will send it to you with the thought-provoking questions.

Food for Thought  

“To get real diversity of thought, you need to find the people who genuinely hold different views and invite them into the conversation.” Adam Grant

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