The Cardinal Way

It is early September in Indiana and the grass is still growing. There has been an unusual amount and rain and sun that has kept it that way. As I drive home from work each day, I notice how some lawns that are still kept in immaculate condition and others are starting to look a little worse. Weeds are starting to go untrimmed around houses and trees and the regularity of mowing is decreasing putting more time between cuts.

But, it is evident that some are putting a little more effort into keeping things looking nice even in late summer. So, you may be thinking at this point - what does this have to do with education or the improvement topics I have posted about in the past. Well, I believe this relates to a much bigger topic; I feel this relates to our daily work and lives. There are two types of ways to do a job, you can work to just get the task done, or you can do it right. The attention to detail and effort put into doing something the right way is vital to success. Anything in life that is worth doing is worth doing well. My parents will tell you that I have not always been that type of person. Growing up, I was much more concerned with just getting things done so I could do what I want, rather than making sure I gave my best effort. My first-grade teacher would also agree as I tended to color the entire picture one color so it would be done. Nothing looked better than a coloring book picture of Superman saving the world colored entirely in green. But, as I have gained some age, maturity, and perspective, I have found the joy in putting everything you have into what you do. I have learned that success and winning take detail and effort. Rarely in life, will you stumble into greatness. If you want to achieve greatness; if you want to be successful at work; if you want to create an engaging lesson for your students; if you want good grades; if you want to win the next game you must be willing to do what it takes. These things do not come easy and they will not happen by just getting things done. You must be willing to give your best at everything you do. I am not saying it must be perfect, but it must be done right. I know this year has been difficult for many reasons, but we must continue to do things the right way every day. I believe that if we stay at it, we will get everything back on track. It will not be tomorrow, but it will come. Do things right every day, every time and there is a world of possibilities out there waiting for us!

Be a Cardinal; Change Lives; Put a Mission into Motion

Thank you to:

• everyone for dealing with power outages and random fire alarms this week.

A special thank you to our cafeteria staff for working around the power outage on Monday to still get lunch ready on time!

Week 8: Grateful Friday Challenge

Next week brings the Autumn Equinox (Wednesday). So that means that today is officially the last Friday of summer… cue music…. Soak Up the Sun. It won’t be long now until we are dealing with the frigid temps of winter, but currently, all we can think of is the random fluctuations of temperature here in mid-September.

We have a lot to celebrate as we wrap up another week and we notice that Fall Break is only 15 school days away from the end of this one. We often get so caught up in the what’s next that we forget to live in the what’s now. Today we have to make this day -- the last Friday of summer -- the last day of the week -- the best day we have had yet! We need to look for the positive and celebrate the little things. We need to live today like it is the most important day of the school year.

Today let’s live it up, celebrate the end of summer with your classes, take a moment to reflect on where you need to go and how all the things that you are doing now are leading to that place. Pat a colleague on the back for a job well done, or give one to yourself! You deserve it.

Celebrate on! With banners flying as we go! #FlyAsONE

Hope you enjoy this weeks 180 Days of Learning Posts

Mrs. Peddie's EL students are working on a presentation thinking from the perspective of being the teacher for the day. The students had recently read a book and are preparing a presentation to share aspects of what they have read and teach that information to the rest of the class. Students worked collaboratively in Jamboard and used the 7 Habits of Good Readers to prepare their presentations for the class.

Music concerts are back in the auditorium. Mr. Maupin put on a great show on Tuesday night. The Concert Band, which is a combined band, and the Jazz Band both performed a couple of songs for the audience. It was great to have music back in the auditorium. Mr. Maupin has done great work getting the students' performance ready in a few short weeks!

Mrs. Schnepp's Biology students are preparing for a visit to the Perry Township Pre-school. Mrs. Schnepp's students have been working on projects that bring awareness to an environmental issue that they can teach to pre-schoolers. Each project has a short presentation and a game to help teach the students about the environment. Mrs. Schnepp along with Ms. Frantz's students will be visiting the pre-school next week to share this information with Perry Township's youngest students.

Mrs. Ellis and her English students are reading The Emporer's New Clothes in class today. The students participated in a read-aloud with a video. Throughout the story, Mrs. Ellis would stop and talk about key vocabulary and the students would discuss what had happened in the story and what they think was going to happen next.

Mrs. Kown's Algebra students are improving their graphing skills during class today. The students worked in groups to turn number sets for x and y points into a graph. The students had to first decide if the points represented a function and they used graph paper to graph the sets that they determined represented functions.

Website: http://websites.msdpt.k12.in.us/sh/
Location: 971 E Banta Rd, Indianapolis, IN, United States
Phone: 317-789-4800
Twitter: @SHS_Cardinals