Hawk Highlights

Although we will not be collecting responses this week to enable you to focus on exams and grading, I want to preview the next challenge to give you an opportunity to start thinking about the new students that will be in your content area classrooms next week. Having new students in your classroom is a new beginning. In an effort to connect with the social-emotional needs and build relationships with your new students its important to listen and talk with them. Challenge #10 is a re-issue of the second challenge. Use the 2x10 strategy which works like this: every day for 10 school days, engage a student that you are just meeting in a two-minute conversation that has nothing to do with academics. After the start of the semester, we will launch a google doc that will give you the opportunity to report back what you learned about that student and how that conversation strengthened your relationship with the student and how that relationship will help that student achieve success in your classroom. CTE instructors and support staff, I ask you to conduct this challenge with students you feel you need to reconnect with.

• CTSO Competitions: Preparation for our CTSO statewide competitions are in full swing. CTSOs are an important part of our CTE curriculum and our goal every year is to send our students into competition feeling prepared and supported by their CTE instructors and our St. Georges staff. Please feel free to approach our CTE instructors or Jamie Williams to see how you can support our CTSO efforts.

• The New Van for CTE has Arrived! CTE instructors will have primary use of our new van to transport students and resources. The van can be checked out in the principal's office.

• Positive Office Referrals- As content area classes are changing at the start of the second semester, don't forget to recognize students that are exemplifying our core values by submitting a positive office referral. A new student in your classroom will appreciate your acknowledgment of their contributions to the St. Georges Way.

• ACE/Faculty Meetings: Tuesday's ACE meeting and Friday's faculty meeting have been cancelled to allow teachers additional time to prepare grades and exam administration. The January 28th meeting has been changed to a face to face A meeting. The 14th and 28th agendas will be combined and items will be completed at the January 28th face to face A meeting.

• Exam Schedule: January's exam schedule and exam protocols can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BQV8G0DY-bYFszJcON8xH8zM88vFhAVOZX0UXAtklyY/edit?usp=sharing Please remember that students should not be sent to other classes during this time.

• Grading: Please remember proper grading protocols along with semester exams taking place on January 16th-17th:

• Make sure that your course is set up correctly for exams and semester grades.
  
• Exams (midterms for CTE courses OR finals for semester courses) should NOT be entered as regular assessments.
  
• For career programs (full-year), midterm exams are set at 10% and finals at 10%. For semester courses, final exams are set at 20%.
  
• After you click on the Load from Gradebook icon to upload the 2nd marking period grades, manually put the exam grades and comments in the correct columns.
  
• Do NOT put anything in the FIN column.
  
• Attendance is automatically uploaded when Guidance runs the grade calculations. Teachers do not manually enter attendance numbers.
  
• Remember to click on SAVE when working in the RC screen.
  
• Grades are due Friday, January 24th by 3:00 P.M. Report cards are ready January 31st.
• Calling Parents for D’s and F’s: Teachers are required to contact the parents when a student receives a D or F for the marking period and/or final grade. Please make every effort to contact parents before report cards are distributed. Parent contact should be by telephone. If you leave a message because the parent doesn’t answer, please follow up with an email letting families know that you left a voicemail and that you would like for them to call you back. We need to ensure that parents are fully aware of the D or F their children will be receiving. It also covers you in the long run if you have tried multiple ways to let the families know. If you have any questions, feel free to contact your direct supervisor. Thanks for all of your help.

• Student Request For Finals Early: We just want to remind everyone that there is a process that we have for when students request to take their finals early. We do not allow students to take their finals before the final days; however, we work with the students to get them to take it after they return (in either 2ndsemester of January or after school ends in June). Please see the attached document in regards to this. If you have a student who asks for this request, please direct them to the guidance office so that the student’s counselor and the family can create a plan for making up their finals after they return. Thanks for your cooperation.

• Turnaround Day/Site Visits: Tuesday, January 21st is scheduled as a turnaround day for all teachers. This time is set aside to finalize grading and prepare for the second semester. Academic and support staff need to swipe-in by 7:30. CTE instructors may use this time to conduct site visits. This is a great opportunity to discuss current co-op students or network and farm next year's co-op opportunities. Dr. Harrison will send out additional information to CTE instructors before the turnaround day.

The instructional focus for the 2019-2020 school year is writing. As a staff, we will continue to look at the problems our students exhibit in their own writing and implement best practices that address our students' needs. This week, ACE participants were asked to bring samples from the writing strategy or activity they completed during the month of December. The “B Group” is designed to allow participants to work with a more homogenous group of teachers (similar content/grade level) than the “A Group” is, and staff members used this morning meeting to share what they attempted, what went well, and what areas we as teachers need to actively address to help our students grow in their writing proficiency. Some reflections can be seen below:

K. Wilson- When I ask them to demonstrate or apply a strategy, it requires them to use an example.

Dr. Ferrell -They focus on teacher provided resources and not outside resources. Fail to fully elaborate how evidence relates to or supports their position.

Valerie Davis- Explanations lack depth, and often start with “What this quote means is ……”

Culver - Students struggle with Micro organization -internal transitions, topic sentences, and thesis connection sentences. They do well with Macro organization -skeleton method is effective.

Espadas - Students struggle with including appropriate details sometimes. I ended up using the "brainstorming questions", learned in the video. I had them write on the dry erase board and discuss as a class a question for each section in the lab report guidelines. I found this to improve their lab reports.

Jordan Eldridge, an Athletic Health Care graduate is returning to St. Georges. Jordan approached Dr. Reynolds and our athletic department to discuss his passion for sports photography. Jordan will be a familiar face with a camera in his hands as he photographs our students in action. Please see samples of Jordan's work above.

Take a look back at several positive office referrals from the first semester.

Core Values Exemplified- Be Positive, Be Supportive

"Eddie participates in class with a high degree of enthusiasm. He is very supportive of his classmates. He works well with his classmates during game activities. This past week Eddie's group scored the highest on each activity." ~Fran Mancini

Core Values Exemplified- Be Innovative

"Noah and Jaden finished so far ahead of the other students learning wiring that they asked for advanced work. I asked them to wire a complete HVAC system. They said they weren't sure if they could but they would try. They worked together without asking any questions to the instructor and successfully wired the whole system on their first attempt." ~Jason Hoard

Core Values Exemplified- Be Supportive, Be Leaders with Integrity

"Ny'Keh took part in a presentation with Mrs. Rickner that was delivered to a class of freshmen students. During the presentation, Ny'Keh facilitated a small-group discussion with 9th grade students to help make their transition to high school smoother. The 9th grade students were so grateful for the opportunity. Thank you for making a difference, Ny'Keh!" ~Mrs. Rickner

A special thanks to Jamie Williams and Linda Wirt for facilitating a HOSA Spelling Bee for our medical students. The competition was exciting to watch and it was evident that our students take pride in their career area learning and achievement. ~Shanta Reynolds & Chad Harrison

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Hi Chef,

I just had to take this moment to tell you how delicious lunch has been this week and last week. Although I am typically a salad person, the dressings and salad choices have been perfect! Thanks for bringing back the buffalo chicken salad today. It is my favorite, and I have been missing it. Also, one of the administrators from Hodgson accompanied me today at lunch, and she was extremely impressed with our choices. She had the Chicken Picata (sp) with Risotto entrée and dessert, and she is still talking about it. She started to put salt on her meal, and I told her to hold off until she tasted the meal. I shared that I believe that your students season very well. When she tried it, she was extremely surprised at how flavorful the food was without her salt and pepper added.

Finally, the service that we receive from the 10th graders is superb. They are so eager to help staff members, and they seem like they are extremely engaged and loving Culinary Arts. So well done.

So I just had to give you a shout out! Please share with the students.

Keep up the great work with the students.

Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend.

~Adrianne Quarles

Tuesday, January 14th

• Due to final exam week the ACE: A Meeting is cancelled

Thursday, January 16th

• Exams periods 1/2 and 5/6
• Throwback Turtleneck Thursday Committee Picture (7:35 a.m. in front of Hawk Cafe)

Friday, January 17th

• Due to final exam week, the faculty meeting is cancelled.
• Exams periods 3/4 and 7/8