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| Photo credit: Rob Silveira |
When is the last time you felt like you just won a state championship? Do you jump out of bed ready for the new day? I feel very fortunate that on most days, I still do. Right now, with grades due, the second quarter beginning and the change in seasons it is a very busy school. Add to that the pressures of our students (college apps, fitting in, anxiety, vaping, social media and depression) and it is clear why Edweek published a report indicating that school teachers are more stressed than the average worker. There are more resources coming to help as the spotlight beams on these issues. Stay the course, be kind to one another and remember why you teach. It is your passion.
Community in Action
Possible Professional Development Opportunities
If you are thinking of how to complete the 3 hours of PD outside the classroom perhaps one of the following may interest you:
Opportunity #1
Joining Donna and Barbara as they facilitate the next iteration of our School Improvement Plan. This is the document that is used when we look for the direction our school is heading and it informs all decisions both big and small. New this year, we will be aligning our plan to match the NEASC newly redesigned accreditation standards that will be used in 2020 accreditations and beyond. One reason to begin this work now is the districts who do will be able to use their School Improvement Plans as a basis for their self-study. Pretty ingenious while also being an effective way to set up our own plan.
Come trade in your PD hours and be a voice at the table as we plan for the future of NKHS. All are welcome.
Information on the new standards can be found by pressing the link below:
Opportunity #2
“Why conversations about race matter” at the Gordon School, November 9
As part of its ongoing educational series for parents and caregivers, the Gordon School will host author Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, former president of Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and author of ‘Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria,’ for a night of discussion on how to effectively create meaningful dialogue about race in the United States. The event will take place on Thursday, November 9, 2017, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Tatum is a psychologist, scholar and researcher who served as president of Spelman College for thirteen years. She has met with Gordon students, faculty and parents several times over the past twenty years, and spoke at Gordon as part of the school’s centennial celebrations in 2010. An updated twentieth-anniversary edition of her classic 1997 book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race was published in September.
The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated via the Gordon School website. Check out the Facebook event!
Questions? Please email Geoff Griffin at ggriffin@gordonschool.org.
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November 3, 2017
Health & Wellness.
From Jonathan Quinn and Julie Maguire
Health & Wellness
This past Wednesday (11/1) was National Stress Awareness Day. If you missed out (or not), then take some time to identify and reduce the stress factors in your life. Develop a routine to help you lessen your tension. Go for a walk, do some deep breathing, get some exercise or a massage or take a long, relaxing bath.
Yoga for Educators
FREE classes for teachers & administrators across RI. This program is proudly sponsored by Shri Service Corps, a non-profit organization that provides free yoga outreach programs. No experience or equipment required. No limit to attendance. Just bring your school ID and de-stress from the school day.
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Wednesdays at 3:30 pm
172 Exchange Street, Suite 101, Pawtucket
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Mondays at 4:30
Reservoir Avenue, 2nd Floor, Cranston
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Mondays at 4:00 pm
39 Putnam Pike, Johnston
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Upcoming Events/Important Dates
November--Accountability
7 Parents, Are You Sure? 6:30 pm, SEL presentation. Auditorium and breakout rooms
8 Career and Tech Education Open House, 6:30-8 pm, Auditorium, followed by tours in the Spine and presentations in Pre-engineering Robotics, Finance and Computer Science Academies.
9 PTSO 7pm
Jazz Concert 7pm
10 No School - Veteran’s Day Observance
14 School Committee Meeting
15 No School - PD Day
16 Report Cards posted
17 Blood Drive
22 Alumni Day - 3rd hour
23 No School - Thanksgiving Day
NKHS vs SKHS football game@ URI 10am
24 No School - Thanksgiving break
Teaching and Learning
What is the ACN anyway?
Advanced Coursework Network
Districts and schools have the option of joining the Network as Network Members, in which they allow their students to enroll in coursework offered by the Network. Coursework are offered by Rhode Island LEAs, Community-Based Organizations, Institutions of Higher Education and approved Department of Labor and Training course providers.
Registration for Spring 2017 has opened on ride.gosignmeup.com. Some course details are still being updated and there are additional courses under review that may be added over the next week.
The schedule for Spring registration is:
· November 1: Registration Open
· December 15: Courses are confirmed, courses not meeting their minimum enrollment will be canceled.
· December 15- January 10: Registration open for confirmed courses. Some providers may close their enrollment during this period depending on their orientation/onboarding procedures. It is highly recommended that students register prior to December 15.
Please be in touch with any questions.
Thank you,
Nicole Smith
Office of College and Career Readiness
Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Email: Nicole.Smith@RIDE.RI.gov
Social Emotional Learning
One more Opportunity!
The SEL competencies have been endorsed as standards.
On November 16, from 4-6 pm, there will be a workshop at Save the Bay for general and special educators, psychologists, social workers, administrators and students in pre-service programs.
Register at:Online Registration
Tech Tip
From Mark DeLucia
Week Ending November 3, 2017
Easy Rubrics with Forms and docAppender
I have often toyed with how I can use technology to create simple, self-tabulating rubrics that will allow me to spend more time listening to a student’s presentation and less time tabulating scores on the rubric. In the past, I’ve simply created a spreadsheet (using Sheets, Numbers, or Excel) and inputted the formulas. Recently, I’ve found that Forms can also be used for this purpose, especially when paired with an add-on called docAppender.
As you know, when you create an assignment in Google Classroom, it creates a folder in your Drive that collects student work, with the title of that assignment. Once you’ve assessed student work on the Form, docAppender will automatically add the rubric with scores and feedback to each student’s assignment. This takes a bit of initial set-up, but once it’s done, it’s terrific and very easy to use.
First, create a Form that will serve as your rubric. Click responses and the green Sheets icon. Enter your SUM or AVERAGE formulas where necessary to calculate the grades. This may require a bit of experience with Excel / Sheets. On your form, be sure to create a student name multiple choice question. You’ll see why in a moment. You can see an example HERE. Next, if you haven’t already, click the three dots and “Get Add-ons”. Search for docAppender and install it (you only need to do this once). Once installed, click the 
“puzzle piece”, docAppender and “Open Sidebar”
“puzzle piece”, docAppender and “Open Sidebar”
Step 1 asks for the “Target Folder”. Choose the folder that collected your assignment in Classroom.
Step 2 asks for a “doc picker question”. Now, choose your student name question. This will tell the add-on to which student’s work to append the rubric scores. Click “save and populate selected question”. You should see your student’s names populate in the form so that you can simply choose.
Steps 3 and 4 will ask you which form values you want to appear on the student document, and in what format. Click “Save Changes” when done.
Now, go to the viewable Form. When you go to grade the assignment, simply fill out the form for each student. The rubric will populate, calculate, and be appended to the student work. Click "submit this form again" and you're on to grading the next student. This also works nicely on a mobile device or tablet!
Videos worth watching
Sorry to steal your phrase, Denise! Today I’m including a TED Talk which came to me courtesy of Leslie Holcroft on the subject of the Flipped Classroom. I’ve spoken about this ad nauseam, and many of you attended my session on the topic, but the video discusses something I feel is at the very heart of this movement: making the classroom more personalized and humanizing the classroom experience.
Articles Worth Reading
From Barbara Morse:
Here a link to an interesting blog post by the current RI Teacher of the Year. You have to scroll down the page to see it. It is about an exercise in valuing other's perspectives.
Food for Thought
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius
Until next time, Think, Create, Innovate...Denise
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