Hawk Highlights

We are going to continue with Challenge #15 this week! Record things you are doing to have fun, decompress, and provide a positive environment at home to grow from the global struggle. Record your responses at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MgYmvxwkz-EQnjlSObpz9QphSYJSO7n4iaE0ASVIISc/edit?usp=sharing See several staff members' responses from last week below.

Morgan Alexander

• Taking every day slowly, enjoying the snuggles with my sweet baby and watching him learn and grow every day

• Keeping in touch! Video chatting with my family members (baby and I have self quarantined for 9 days now)

• Organizing and cleaning! Throwing things away makes me SO calm. I'm a minimalist at heart, so going through areas of my home that have been neglected for many many months and purging and very helpful for me.

• Getting fresh air, going on walks around my complex with the baby

Kat Lang

• I learned how to crochet last summer and haven’t been able to practice much with a busy school year so I have really enjoyed getting back to crocheting. I’ve learned a few new stitch types and I’ve already made two baby blankets in the time off so far!

• Each day I take some time to call or FaceTime extended family members that I haven’t caught up with in a while

Deb Mirto

• Taking walks w/our dog

• Exercising on the gazzell

• Baking and decorating cakes-Wednesday is one of my grandaughters birthday and she was specific on what cake she wanted.

• Making new recipes for dinners.

• Started spring cleaning, tearing one room apart every couple of days.

• Since my 5 yr old grandson is with us, I take 15-20 min. a day(or as long as he can sit) to work on numbers and alphabets and his Schoology work for kindergarten.

Dr. Jones and 3rd Marking Period Wrap-Up: Dr. Jones sent district-wide communication about our plans moving forward to wrap up the third marking period. Last Friday, follow-up meetings were held with staff members via Zoom to reiterate the information Dr. Jones provided along with giving staff members a platform to ask follow-up questions. Please see communication attachments below. Also, please see this document for a follow-up Q & A based on Friday's Zoom meetings. If you still have questions that were not answered, please contact your department/cluster leader or your immediate supervisor.

1st Period Teachers Follow-Up Calls: Based on Dr. Jones's letter, first period teachers need to contact each student in their first period class that has been unresponsive via Schoology during the past several weeks. Please make a COPY and complete the phone log at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jDQBSPeprXJWmw6PaAN7jUay-o4u37LlWMTtIrOg0T4/edit?usp=sharing and keep for your records. First period teachers have until the end of business April 2nd to make these phone calls and complete the phone log. The second step is first period teachers providing information for each student in their first period class that was contacted with still no or an unfavorable response. An unfavorable response means that the student has a barrier to completing online assignments (no internet, intermittent internet, device issues, or other). By the end of business, April 3rd, first period teachers need to complete the google form at https://forms.gle/TjCLkTD9sbhEuErS7 for every student that could not be contacted or gave an unfavorable response. Please provide as much information as possible. We will assign a staff member without a class roster to follow-up based on the information that you provide.

If you need to call a student/parent, please use the Jabber app on your laptop. See the following tutorial to operate jabber: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NBSfxLGzNiyAvHYgmtYPSxzIUfYo_XXI/view?usp=sharing. Please put in a work order with IT if you need to get connected to jabber: https://helpdesk.nccvt.k12.de.us/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/create/1.

If you want to use your phone, hit *67 (star 67). Dial the code before the phone number; the caller ID will display private number.

Working Papers and Co-Op:

• If a student wants to get working papers signed by Mr. Jermaine Williams the student must, first, completely have the first two sections of the working papers filled out. This includes the employer section. Next, the student scans and emails the scanned copy of the papers to Mr. Williams to be completed. Then, Mr. Williams will sign and reply email attaching the completed papers.

• If a student is attempting to have co-op approved, the student needs to email the completed co-op packet to Mr. Jermaine Williams. The packet is found on the Schoology course. Once Jermaine Williams receives the completed packet, he will discuss and seek written approval from the student's career instructor. Once written approval is obtained, Mr. Williams will go through the steps of the normal approval process and notify the student of the outcome.

IEP Meetings: Staff members are expected to virtually attend the IEP meetings that are scheduled to take place next week. We are legally mandated to attend, so please respond to the invites from Andrea and Katie for IEP Meetings. It is a part of our workday.

Class of 2020: The students in the Class of 2020 are on all of our minds especially their opportunities surrounding prom, senior recognition, and graduation. We are planning on having these events although the certainty and format still need to be determined. As soon as we have details, we will communicate and we look forward to having the same strong staff member participation as events in past years.

SkillsUSA Nationals: Due to world-wide health concerns, the SkillsUSA National event has been cancelled. We appreciate all of our students' efforts in preparing to represent SG at the national level and we look forward to honoring them at SG at a date to be determined.

District Assessments: The District has communicated that we will not be administering any district assessments for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. Additionally, we will not be utilizing district final exams at the end of the year. Administering both district assessments and final exams during a marking period characterized by unprecedented upheaval was determined to not be in the best interest of our students or teachers.

These are stressful times. Even when not experiencing a global pandemic, nearly half of all teachers say they have high levels of stress. Stress management is essential in education. We know how students' stress disrupts their ability to learn and problem solve. As a parent, spouse, and educator, we may feel the effect of stress on our own worlds. Although we can't permanently avoid stress, we can manage it with the right strategies. Without tools to manage these feelings, teacher burnout and turnover rates will continue to climb. What can make teaching more sustaining and less draining? Try approaches found at http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol15/num13/toc.aspx?utm_source=ascdexpress&utm_medium=email&utm_term=stress&utm_campaign=1513 to foster work–life balance, build networks of support, and cope with a unique set of stressors.

1. When my kid got on Zoom with his teacher today, I stood beside him and just repeatedly said his name.

Karma, friends.

Erica Garcia

@flyingmonkey13

2. Don’t look at problems in the world and allow them to get you down. Look inside yourself and look at your team and decide to change the world from the inside out.
Jon Gordon

@JonGordon11

3. This distance teaching thing is hard and frustrating and time-consuming. But to be in this time and have job security, structure, and meaningful work we can do from home means we are among the luckiest professionals. And also... we can use this time to make things better, to provide students with learning opportunities that are engaging and healing and understanding of their lives. We can work hard to not add stress to families and recognize the needs of those we serve.

Tom Rademacher

@MrTomRad

4. My Day 5 eLearning Reflection Of The Day (1/2): Using sports analogy. We did a great job playing defense this past week, getting our eLearning systems in place and teachers doing their thing. It's now time to take the offensive. #GCSstrong

Scott Rhymer

@GCS_HS_Rhymer

5. Happy Friday, Hawks! Stay positive and connected to one another. We will get through this together.
@St_GeorgesTHS.

Hope all is well!

I just wanted to share something fun that I’ve been able to collaborate on virtually with a couple of colleagues over the past few weeks. I’ve been creating a HyperDoc centered around a specific event that occurred in history on each day, along with some activities for my seniors to complete. Last week I was able to bring Ronney Bythwood on board to discuss Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and Sarah Schmid “stopped by” to talk about Walt Whitman and read some of his poetry. This week a collaboration between myself and Marty Cunningham – it’s about Typhoid Mary! Super fitting with the quarantine and asymptomatic carriers and all sorts of medical stuff. It’s been a lot of fun!

I’m loving this opportunity to stay connected not only with each our students, but each other – and I can’t wait to bring more people on board!

Here are a couple of links if you wanted to check them out:

Today in History (March 20th)-Einstein in the Theory of Relativity (Ronney Bythwood and his adorable assistant):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LHVb7hgh9qis2MRgm3hVOWFzaQgXScYgkmEqacFtCFo/view

Today in History (March 26th)-The Death of Walt Whitman (Sarah Schmid):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XZfBD32ngG32W5C4oB6LFz8Sew1ZHJs8OjytiI7Ex5g/view

Today in History (March 27th)-The Final Quarantine of “Typhoid” Mary Mallon (Marty Cunningham and Taco):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ozIhUOiS50uTu5uLvwJWx1o-IbjNIqFjNuJhTk1_y98/edit?usp=sharing

Hi All!

I hope you are doing well and safe with your families. I wanted to reach out about a free online training for trauma-informed care within schools. My instructor from WilmU shared it with my grad class and I just wanted to pass along. I know the district is sticking with only what is posted in Schoology for hours, but in case they are looking for additional resources, this is a great one.

I completed the course for hours towards my internship and have attached what the completion certificate looks like. Below is the message from my instructor and if you click the link, it gives you an overview of the course and the course objectives.

"You can sign up for a FREE course on Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools. It is normally $199 for the 6-hour course, but it is currently free when you type in the coupon code: TRAUMAINFORMED (in all caps). The great part is that you can complete the course at your own pace and have access to it for one year"

https://store.starr.org/Course/view/trauma-informed-resilient-schools

Thank you!

Hilary Rickner

Good Afternoon,

Thought I would share an update about Dani Snyder, Class of 2019. She was recently in the Hawk Highlights. She is currently in Italy as a Navy Corpsman, meaning she works in the hospitals. Since she played volleyball for me I keep in touch with her mom and this is the first update I have gotten since the outbreak and was very relieving. See image to the right and below.

Best,

Anna Mitchell

"I'm grateful for each administrator and instructor that virtually met via Zoom on Friday to discuss the wrap-up of the third marking period. I know that we all miss our students and that they are on our minds. I am grateful that although we will be doing it virtually for awhile our staff is committed to ensuring that our students learn and grow everyday!" ~Shanta Reynolds

"A special thanks to Jamie Williams for dreaming up several options to try to move forward with senior events. We all know Jamie always has a great Plan A. What you might not know is that Jamie always has a great Plan B and Plan C! Jamie, your passion and drive to make sure our students are celebrated is remarkable and truly appreciated." ~Shanta Reynolds

"A special thanks to Mark Robinson for staying in constant communication with DIAA and our coaches. Mark is working hard to establish a shortened season for Spring sports. Mark, I appreciate your contribution to this effort and your clear communication with the coaches. Your passion to provide our students and coaches with opportunities is commendable."
~Shanta Reynolds

"I'd like to recognize Early Childhood, Culinary Arts, and the Medical Cluster instructors for coming to St. Georges to gather materials and resources to help our medical community fight the coronavirus. Their valuable contributions were distributed to local hospitals that were in need (see pictures above). Salute to all of our heroes rising up to help Americans (see the videos below)." ~Shanta Reynolds & Chad Harrison