The Raider ACE!
What's Going On In Raider Nation Vol. 2 Issue 39
Going the extra mile for students who need to do their best to finish out the year strong is crucial for several reasons. When teachers show that they care about their students' success and are willing to go above and beyond to help them, it can boost their confidence and motivation. This is especially important when it comes to studying, homework, and turning in assignments. By providing additional resources, feedback, and support, teachers can help students develop the skills they need to excel academically. For example, teachers can offer extra study sessions or provide additional materials to help students better understand the content. They can also provide constructive feedback on homework assignments, helping students to identify areas where they need to improve and providing guidance on how to do so. Additionally, teachers can work with students to ensure that they are turning in assignments on time and to the best of their abilities. By going the extra mile in these ways, teachers can help to create a positive and productive learning environment that benefits everyone involved.
Let's communicate to our young people the importance of finishing strong and putting in the work required. We are in the first quarter, and it's important to focus and do our very best.
We are W.J. Keenan High School. Home of the Champion Raiders!
There are a few things that we will need to make sure we are doing to keep the natural order and flow of our school:
- School starts at 8:00 a.m. Remind students they need to report to class before then to avoid a tardy.
- Stand at your door during the change of each class.
- You must not leave your students unsupervised for any reason.
- Please do not allow students into the hallway without a pass.
- Please do not allow students that are not on your roster in your classroom. Students need to be in their scheduled classroom to receive credit. You are accountable for every student in your room.
- You may only sign out to leave on your planning period and/or with administrator approval in an emergency circumstance if you do not have a scheduled absence.
- If you are absent from school, it is your professional responsibility to input the appropriate information in Frontline in a timely manner. Substitutes are limited. Please check Munis prior to doing this so you are aware of your available days for an absence.
Monday, October 2, 2023
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ―Aristotle
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
- Faculty Meeting in the lecture hall @ 3:30 p.m.
- “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” ―Michael Jordan
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
- ASVAB Testing in the Lecture Hall @ 9:00 a.m.
- “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ―Vincent Van Gogh
Thursday, October 5, 2023
- “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” ―Lou Holtz
Friday, October 6, 2023
- WJ Keenan Varsity Football VS. Columbia (At Bolden Stadium) @ 7:30 p.m.
- “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.” ―Sheryl Sandberg
Hello Raiders,
My teacher highlight for the week is in the social studies department once again. This time, it is Mrs. Bradley! Mrs. Bradley is using a great instructional tool in her classroom called Nearpod. While I visited, Mrs. Bradley shared her learning intentions to start her lesson and took her students on a journey of what they would learn and why it was important to learn it. She used a flipped learning style that allowed her to embed her student responses into the lesson and as she guided them through the learning, she applied an exceptional amount of formative assessment techniques.
Checking for understanding was phenomenal during this lesson. She didn't just present the information but made sure that the students stayed with her while she presented it. She did not wait until the end to see if they remembered, she checked all along the way.
When the students saw their answer on the board, they were very aware of her expectations. They stood up and responded or read aloud and expanded on their response. She explained that this was how they would become more comfortable with public speaking. It was a very safe space for sharing and you could tell she spent some time developing the expectation for this. Finally, she showed evidence of taking her students through the four stages of Teacher Clarity: Clarity of organization, clarity of explanation, clarity of examples and guided practice and clarity of assessment of student learning. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her and her students in action. NearPod is a great tool to build your lessons.
I look forward to featuring your name as my new teacher highlight soon!
Dates to Remember:
October 18 - End of First Nine Weeks/Grade verification is due to Ms. Sims
October 19 - Teacher Workday
October 20 - Student/Staff Holiday (Fall Break)
October 26 - Report cards
October 27- Early Release Day/Parent-Teacher Conferences
November 10 - Early Release/PD
November 22-24 - Thanksgiving break
November 28-29 - English 2 End of Course testing
We have two more weeks before grades are due for 1st quarter. Grades are due to Ms. Sims on October 18th. If you have plans to be absent, grades are still due on this day. Please plan accordingly. Grades should be finalized in PS and grade verification sheets should be printed and submitted to her office prior to 3:00 pm. There should be no student failures without proper documentation of parent communication and a student plan for in-quarter recovery. If you need assistance with in-quarter recovery, please see Ms. Jeter to help you with steps to set this up.
Things to remember:
Teacher CLARITY is our instructional focus this year. According to John Hattie's meta-analysis, teacher clarity has an effect size of .75 which doubles student gains in learning. Again, the clearer things appear for the learning community (all stakeholders) the better the student outcomes. Here are the questions your students should be able to answer in each class that we visit.
- What am I learning? (Learning Intentions/Targets)
Why am I learning it? (Clarity & Motivation)
How will I know that I have learned it? (Success Criteria)
Each of these are non-negotiables and should be written on your board each day and referred to for student understanding. Students should be able to answer these questions if called upon by the teacher.
SCLead:
The fall evaluation cycle dates: Sept. 19 - Dec. 1.
Posting Work:
If you are posting work outside your door, the standard used should accompany that along with the learning outcome for that lesson.
Grading Practice:
Please be sure to access the Raiders Chest in One Drive for important information regarding the Secondary Grading Manual. Be sure to follow the guidelines for grading this year that I reviewed with you during our Professional Learning (Round Robin session).Please make sure that you are updating your gradebooks weekly.
Mastery Connect:
You should be using Mastery Connect for formative assessments. Department Leaders will be able to assist you with setting up trackers if you need help. If you are having issues with logging into Mastery Connect or delivering assessments through Mastery Connect, please submit to a 1 to 1 ticket and add Cerissa Allen as the collaborator. If you run into any other issues, send me an email.
Certified Staff Certification/Recertification:
Renewal teachers/staff should have signed up for Read to Succeed if you have not taken the class. Information regarding this was sent out through District Announcements. Anyone that is renewing this year, has been placed on an informal (continuing formative) evaluation this year. Your evaluator is listed in SCLead. You will also need to complete 120 hours to renew your certificate. If you have taken the Read to Succeed class and you need to have it added to your certificate, please sign into your educator portal on the SC state department of education website and upload it there.
https://ed.sc.gov/educators/certification/certification-forms/forms/renewal-matrix/
https://ed.sc.gov/educators/certification/professional/renewal-credit-options/
Schoology:
Download a List of Parent Access Codes
- Within a course, click Members.
- On the right side of the Members area, click Parent Access Codes.
- Click Download to automatically download a CSV file containing the students' names and the corresponding Parent Access Codes for the instructor to distribute accordingly.
Once parents register for Schoology using the code, their account will automatically be associated with their child’s account. Parents will be able to view all of their child’s activities, courses, groups, calendars, updates, attendance, and grades, depending on the permissions and privacy settings you put in place by System Admin (District IT).
Meeting Calendar:
First Tuesday: Faculty
Second Tuesday: Department Leaders
Third Tuesday: Freshman Academy
Fourth Tuesday: PLC
I hope you enjoy your week!
Congratulations to Michael Swinton and Mary Feko!! Michael and Mary are the winners of the 2023 Mr. and Ms. Sportsarama. These two students have worked hard and we are proud of their accomplishments.
The WJ Keenan Swim Team competed in a swim meet on Wednesday, September 20th, versus A.C. Flora High School, Dreher High School, and Ben Lippen High School. Takiyah Abernathy had her best swim meet of the season by swimming her best time and dropping eight seconds in the Girl's 50 freestyle. Mark Meadow joined the W.J. Keenan Swim Team able to swim one full lap. Mark swam in his first High School swim meet of the season in the Boys 50 Freestyle and finished first in his heat.
The W.J. Keenan Swim Team saw D'Quan Mitchell, Mark Medow, and Takiayh Abernathy with little to no swimming skills and the support of Coach Kyra Thompson and watched these students develop their swimming skills.
Volleyball - our volleyball team was off during the week of Sept. 18-23. They will return next week to take on the Columbia Capitals on Tuesday and Thursday. Thursday's match will be a home contest. Be sure to catch the volleyball team in action.
Football - the fighting Raider football team displayed a championship effort against Newberry but came up short. We are proud of the effort displayed by our students. Next week, the team is off but will return on Oct. 6 against Columbia High School.
We are officially half way through the 1st Quarter of the 2023-2024 school year! As autumn begins, with it comes cooler temperatures and changing of the leaves which reminds us to stop and enjoy the beautiful changes occurring around us. During our Freshman Academy Team meeting last week, I asked our teachers to share a “win” with the group. I hope it was a refreshing exercise for all. As we are often overwhelmed with the things not going well or constantly reflecting on strategies or practices to make lessons more relatable and engaging, it is imperative to stop and “smell the roses”.
Just a few reminders:
September 25-28 :Benchmark Assessments - Algebra I, Biology I & English 2
Evaluate Raider Watch data shared with you during September 19 Team Meeting
Seek Admin assistance with students who may need additional support and/resources.
As always, thank you to each of you for all you do for our students.
School Photos
Please note the following dates for school photos:
- October 9—Fall Individuals (students in grades 9-11 AND faculty/staff
- November 30—Fall Individuals makeup
Graduation 2024 Date Announced
This year’s Raider Graduation ceremony will be held Friday, May 31 at 11:00 am at the Colonial Life Arena. Seniors need to ensure they have met all requirements for graduation, pay any outstanding debts or fees and not have excessive discipline issues in order to participate.
Raider graduates are expected to conduct themselves with dignity, honor, and class. Inappropriate/disrespectful actions during the commencement ceremony WILL NOT be tolerated.
Keeping Seniors on Track
Class of 2024 students are meeting with school leaders to help them stay on track and be successful. Seniors are meeting with the Graduation Coach (Mrs. DuBard), School Counselors (Mrs. Hasinger, Ms. Humphrey and Mr. Oliver), and Mr. Hankins (Senior Class Administrator) to discuss their progress, requirements, future college/career goals, and plans for the year. All conferences are aimed at helping students be prepared to successfully graduate and meet their future goals.
Raider Community Student Support
Teachers and staff, we need your assistance in providing support for our young Raider students. Through our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework, we are aiming to give our students the tools they need to be successful.
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a school-wide, data driven, proactive framework for improving both learning and behavioral outcomes for all students. MTSS uses the problem-solving process to meet the academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs of each student. (https://www.richlandone.org/Domain/1736)
You may be asked to sit in on MTSS meetings as a classroom teacher, serve as a mentor, advocate or content expert for students. The goal is to surround students with as many caring adults and resources as possible to allow students to thrive. Thank you in advance for your assistance and cooperation.
- Seniors, please join the "2023 - 2024 Seniors" Schoology group for daily Scholarships and information updates.
- The Deadline for Parking decals has been extended to " Oct 16th". Warnings and Tickets will be issued Oct. 17th.
- Senior Make Up Pictures will be Sept 27th by appointment 9am - 1pm in the Auditorium
- The Gates, Coco-Cola, and The Ron Brown Scholarships are now open! Check the 2023-2024 Senior group on Schoology for details.
- ASVAB is scheduled for Oct. 4 at 9:00am please sign up on Schoology by September 29th
- The Raider Ready afterschool tutoring program has begun. If you need extra assistance, please sign up using the QR code in the flyer below.
- Seniors, please join the "2023 - 2024 Seniors" Schoology group for daily Scholarships and information updates.
- The Gates, Coco-Cola, and The Ron Brown Scholarships are now open! Check the 2023-2024 Senior group on Schoology for details.
Quote "Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
The Giving Season is upon us! Our 2023 United Way Campaign officially begins Monday, September 11 and it will run through Friday, September 29. Turn-in dates will be Thursday and Friday, October 5-6.
Last year’s campaign was a great success at WJ Keenan High School with so many of our phenomenal faculty and staff members contributing to help make positive impacts in our community.
Again, this year, our goal is 100 percent employee participation in the campaign. While we do not focus on how much employees give, we do encourage our faculty and staff to consider giving through payroll deduction. If every employee gives even just one dollar per pay period, that would go a long way in helping to support the United Way of the Midlands.
What is United Way of The Midlands? They are a local charitable organization creating generational change in the Midlands. Unlike smaller nonprofits who often have a very defined focus, they take a multifaceted approach to some of the biggest problems facing our society. Problems like homelessness, children's literacy, and lack of access to healthcare. By addressing these core issues, they work to the break cycles of crisis and empower people to build their own paths to success. Below is a link for how United Way is directly impacting our community.
We look forward to another great week at WJ Keenan High School, home of The Champion Raiders!
Start Strong, Finish Stronger
We have had an exciting and different start to the school year. We are transitioning from a Magnet School to a School within a School. The Raider Academy is a new approach to college and career readiness designed to give students the foundation to make a difference in the world!
The Raider Academy at W. J. Keenan High School provides five houses through which students may choose. Students will have multiple opportunities to prepare for careers that are in high demand and require advanced skills. We offer a leadership curriculum that includes a rigorous project-based classroom experience that challenges students to gain future-ready competencies. The Raider Academy students will have advantages that include the opportunity to receive college credit, state and nationally recognized industry certifications, work-based learning opportunities and internships.
The W.J. Keenan High School Raider Academy offers five unique pathways aimed at engaging learners.
• Project Lead the Way Engineering
• Business Management and Administration
• Hospitality and Tourism Management
• Government and Public Administration
• Agriculture and Animal Science
Meet the Raider Academy Teachers
Mrs Young: PLTW Engineering & Math Department Chair
Ms. Davis: PLTW Engineering
Mrs. King: PLTW Engineering, Business Management, & CTE Department Chair
Mrs. Thompson: Hospitality& Tourism/Family and Consumer Science
Mrs. Bradley: Government & Public Administration
Ms. Ausburn: Agriculture and Animal Science
We are almost half way through the quarter please check grades on parent portal. We have afterschool tutoring starting now
The next Student Raider Academy meetings will be held on the following dates:
10/20/2023
11/17/2023
12/14/2023
Please note that this meeting is not mandatory. If students have work to complete, I urge them to stay in their classes and complete it.
The next Raider Academy parent meeting will be held virtually on
10/18/2023
11/15/2023
12/13/3023
Magnet Expectations
- 70 or above in ALL classes
- No behavior issues
- No attendance issues
We will have to do fundraising please share any fundraising ideas with Mrs. Wine or the Raider Academy teacher.
Transportation is NOW provided for the Raider Academy. If you have any questions, please direct them to Mrs. Wine at Shalise.wine@richlandone.org
Notes for Raider Teachers!
Feedback From Observations: Focus on engaging students and having them do the work. Rather than standing up and writing on the smartboard as you are explaining, have students come up to the board and share what they know. Put students in groups and give meaningful activities. Use balls and other manipulatives to identify students for a response. Make these engaging strategies apart of your daily routine.
Handling Conflict: Please talk with our students about how to properly handle conflict. Encourage them to reach out to adults in the building to get help with situations that can potentially get them in trouble. Please convey the importance of working together resolve problems before they become bigger issues. It takes a village!
Student Work: Please start posting your best student work inside and outside your classroom in the hallways. You may also share by tagging WJK on social media.
Ask Yourself: What is the hook for today’s lesson that will keep them engaged? Is there an opportunity for my students to get up and move around with my lesson? How am I going to check for understanding? Am I giving students the opportunity to show me they have a grasp of the content? Am I using the DLE to enhance the lesson or am I simply giving electronic skill sheets?
Signing In and Out: If you need to leave campus for an emergency, please get approval from an administrator, and sign out in the main office. We are professionals.
PTSO: Please consider joining our Parent Teacher Student Association. It is a big part of communicating to our parents that we want to build a stronger partnership this year. The application is in the main office with Ms. Golston.
W.J. Keenan High School
Our Mission
The mission of W. J. Keenan High School is to provide engaging educational opportunities through a rigorous curriculum, cutting edge technology, and partnerships to extend to our diverse community and produce first class citizens who will contribute to the present and excel in the future. WE ARE KEENAN!
Our Vision
Our vision is to create a nationally known high school that is highly regarded for its academic excellence, leadership in cutting edge technology, science, environmental, and career based programs. A high school that builds strong relationships with all stakeholders and continues a culture where the expectation is to lead, set the example, and raise standards for all to follow.
Email: vondre.whaley@richlandone.org
Website: http://keenan.richlandone.org/
Location: 361 Pisgah Church Road, Columbia, SC, USA
Phone: 803-714-2500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keenanraiders/
Twitter: @wjkeenan