The Cardinal Way

“Own the Cardinal” is simply a metaphor that expresses that each person in our school has a sphere of influence. It expresses the reality that the way we behave personally – the way each of us “Own the Cardinal” – is what determines our culture.

While our culture and mission aligns everyone in the school around a common set of beliefs and behaviors, your personal actions are at the center of our culture. How each of us behaves defines what we believe. Therefore, how you behave determines the culture and strategies you use in your classroom or office. How the collective group behaves determines the culture and strategies we can implement as a school. These collective beliefs and behaviors define who we are as a school. Written belief statements are important, but those beliefs are no more important than the paper they are written on if they are not acted upon on a consistent, daily basis.

Thank you to:

• Everyone for their efforts to make the first week of school a success!
• Our School Counseling Office and especially Kim Bova. If you have walked by that office this week, there has been a constant flow of people in and out. We have had an extreme number of new enrollees and withdraws this school year. Thank you to our School Counseling Team for working with these families to help get them started!

Week 1: Grateful Friday Challenge

This has been quite a week. Not only did we kick off the start of another great school year, but there is a fleet of some of the best athletes in our great land competing across the sea in this little event called the Olympics. I have to tell you, I can’t get enough. I think I have watched more TV in the last week than I did all summer. If there are people ready to compete I am ready to watch. This year, you might have heard they introduced some new events to the line-up. Surfing and Skateboarding! If you have had a chance to watch these two new events, or even if you get to watch a sport you aren’t really up on - listening to the announcers try to keep us all up to date on what is going on and what we are looking at is a thing of hilarity. I am always laughing as I watch someone who has poured years of their life into perfecting a specific move or a particular stunt, or just pushed themselves to the point of exhaustion- and the commentators point out the smallest mistakes and make cringing noises like they just blew it, if you watch for an hour or so, you might find yourself becoming an expert and cringing right along with them. I have seen a few tweets over the years that the Olympics should put in a regular “Joe” into the events to compete alongside the athletes so you can see just how freakishly good these athletes are. Let’s face it- it is a dream to be good enough to even compete in any event and, medal or no, is simply awe-inspiring to get to watch them put it all on the line.

We are kind of like those athletes. We have trained for years to stand in front of the kids, orchestrate phenomenal lessons, and do amazing things with our classes. We, day in and day out, could say that we are put to the test in a number of competitions.

So the #SHSGFC for today is to come up with an event for the teaching Olympics and then share it with your colleagues. You can receive bonus points for DoD (degree of difficulty) if you compete in these events in the hallways during passing periods.

Ideas for the Teacher Olympics:

Who can drink a cup of coffee and then be the last to use the restroom.

Who can unjam the copier the fastest… this, of course, is hinging on the fact that they are jammed.

Who can get the most student acknowledgments in a passing period.

What will you come up with?

Have fun, get creative, and as always- compete! With banners flying as we go! #FlyAsONE

Hope you enjoy this weeks 180 Days of Learning Posts

It is the start of the first full week of school! It was great to get ALL our students back in the building. The hallways were crowded again. The cafeteria was full. Our classrooms have students in most if not all the seats! Hoping for a more normal school year!

Ms. Frantz's Integrated Chemistry and Physics students are getting to know each other on their first day of class. Students moved to the hallway for the portion of the class. Students had to name a character trait on an item that students might poses. Each student that matched that trait had to move to a different seat. The student left in the middle who could not find a seat would choose the trait.

Mrs. Grehn's Child Development students spent time in class today discussing how their attitude can impact their lives. Mrs. Grehn gave the students different examples of real-life situations, and students had to decide how they could respond positively. Students in the class also shared personal examples, and the class discussed what decisions could be made that would help create the most positive outcome for the students.

Mrs. Rettig, the newest member of the SHS staff, is working with her Intro to Business to help them get to know themselves a little better. Students took a quiz on 16 Personalities. The quiz helped students understand personality traits to help them understand why they make decisions and how they like to interact with each other. After taking this quiz, the students shared their personality information and some additional items with Mrs. Rettig to better understand her students.

Mr. Sandvold's Health students are looking at aspects of personal wellness today in class. Students completed a survey around emotional, intellectual, social, and physical health. Students discussed the survey results to identify areas of their health that were strong and areas of health that they needed to focus on improving throughout the semester.

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