M A T A N Z A S H I G H S C H O O L

Happy Birthday!

Charlotte Dougherty 9/30Wendy Vidor 10/6

Captain’s BlogOctober 01, 2012

America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.Evan Esar American Humorist (1899 - 1995)

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULEOctober 1-October 6, 2012ACTIVITIES SCHEDULEOctober 1-October 6, 2012

ALL  WEEKFall  sports  aIer  school  prac'ceGirls/Boys  basketball  open  gymWinter/Spring  sports  weightliIing  condi'oningBelk's  Charity  Sale  Fundraiser,  ChorusChorus  Chocolate  (World's  Finest)  Fundraiser

Fall  sports  aIer  school  prac'ceGirls/Boys  basketball  open  gymWinter/Spring  sports  weightliIing  condi'oningBelk's  Charity  Sale  Fundraiser,  ChorusChorus  Chocolate  (World's  Finest)  Fundraiser

MONDAY,  OCTOBER  1,  20129:00  AM Volusia/Flagler  Boys  Golf  Tournament  AWAY

TUESDAY,  OCTOBER  2,  20123:30  PM Boys  golf  AWAY  vs.  Seabreeze/Atlan'c5:30  PM Girls  volleyball  AWAY  vs.  Atlan'c:

WEDNESDAY,  OCTOBER  3  ,  2012both  lunches Student  Voter  Registra'on,  Dining  Hall3:30  PM Boys  and  Girls  Bowling  AWAY  vs.  FPC3:30  PM Girls  golf  HOME  vs.  Ponte  Vedra5:30  PM Girls  volleyball  HOME  vs.  New  Smyrna6:30  PM Pirates  Touchdown  Club,  Media  Center

THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  4,  20123:30  PM Boys  and  Girls  Bowling  HOME  vs.  Atlan'c3:30  PM Boys  golf  AWAY  vs.  FPC4:30  PM Swim  team  AWAY  vs.  Palatka5:30  PM Girls  volleyball  AWAY  vs.  Ponte  Vedra6:00  PM JV  football  HOME  vs.  Ponte  Vedra

FRIDAY,  OCTOBER  5,  2012Hispanic  Heritage  Month  Day

8:00  AM Stetson  University  Honor  Choral  Clinic7:00  PM Boys  varsity  football  AWAY  vs.  Ponte  Vedra

SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  6,  2012Stetson  University  Honor  Choral  ClinicStetson  University  Honor  Choral  Clinic8:00  AM UCF  Camp-­‐Cheerleading,  MHS  Gym8:00  AM Cross  Country  AWAY:  FSU  Invita'onal-­‐varsity

SAC  Mee'ng  October  9th

We  will  have  a  SAC  mee'ng  on  October  9th  at  6:30pm  in  our  media  center.    We  will  be  presen'ng  the  SIP  as  the  focal  point  of  the   mee'ng,  as  well  as  the   having  a  discussion   about  the  possibility   of  A+  dollars.

September 28, 2012Memo: A Note from the Curriculum Desk…

Dear Teacher Family,

Instead of giving a best practice of the week, I would like to reflect on the practices we were taught on Thursday and Friday during Professional Development. A handful of people were wondering the answers to questions that have consumed them since Thursday afternoon: How will I have the time to go back and redo all of my plans? How can I make these templates fit my courses? When will I find the time to work all of these new strategies into my lessons? How will I rewrite all of my items to match the new ideas presented? How do these expectations fit my course? These are all great questions, and relevant at that…

The good news is there is no end time or due date for these strategies to be completed, embedded or mastered… as of yet. Many of these workshops were refresher courses on some of the best practices we used school wide the year we went from a “D” to an “A.” Learning Focused Acquisition Lessons and area strategies for such categories as Essential Question writing, Activation, Teaching Method, Summarizing, and Vocabulary were a school wide focus during school year 10. For those Pirates onboard at the time, how could forget the riveting Kudzu lesson and model we received? After our small group walkthroughs with administration, we did not make a return to the actual strategies that are research based and student centered. There are hundreds of strategies out there, and this particular workshop was a way to remind you that there are ways to use these strategies across the content areas.

Must I use a sole template for my plans? Absolutely not; but you do have to include all of the expected parts of the Acquisition model: Unit EQ/Lesson EQ’s, Vocabulary, Activating Strategies, Teaching Strategies, Summarizing Strategies, Assessment Prompts, etc. In addition to that, the expected Flagler County items would include standards being addressed in that lesson/unit, materials needed, time frames, and reflection practices.

The Skyward Assessment/Message Center workshop was to inform you of some of the tools we have in our grade book program. We have had access to this training before, but not many teachers use this option in their grade books. It reduces grading time and helps communicate with all parents and students. The assessment tool is quick and easy, and with the averages/breakdown results, you can help drive your instruction with the collected data. It saves paper, and saves the test in the system, so all you need to do over the years is go in and make any necessary edits. The message center is another great way of documenting your communication with parents and students.

While on the topic of data driven instruction, the Performance Matters workshop was developed to not only show you what data may be available, but how the access it, and use these areas to increase student achievement both inside and outside your own classes. The time set aside in the workshop should have given you the opportunity to begin looking at your student data and formulating ideas how it is relevant to your courses.

The ESOL and IEP workshop was more of a refresher course on what is expected of teachers when working with ESE students and ESOL students. Since we will be accredited AND ESOL audited this year, it was important to review this information.

The Test Item Writing workshop seems to have some people confused. Much of the feedback I received was about wanting to write items for the District. True, some people will be and have already been pulled to do item writing for our county, but the main reason for this workshop time was to let teachers know what the state and district will be doing with test items/how they are writing them, so that they can model the same expectations in their classrooms.

The Centers/Differentiation and Essential Six Reading Strategies workshops were to help everyone consider new practices or return to these best practices. Centers are a great way to differentiate and work more strategically with your students. The E6 was a school wide focus 3 years ago when we tried to “sink the D, hook the A…” and it worked… In addition, when Common Core Standards begin to roll into the classrooms, ALL content areas will have literacy standards they are expected to address and these strategies and skills will be important to students mastering these standards.

Please do not think the expectation is to implement everything you learned by a certain date and time. Majority of these workshops were to give people ideas to build on over time and pick and choose things to slowly implement during CC Team meetings and while Common Core starts rolling in. You are not expected to rewrite all of your current items, but you are expected to use this set time to look at what we have in place and what may need to change, moving our school from GOOD to GREAT or EFFECTIVE to HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.

I hope I alleviated some of your concerns a bit. During Wednesday’s CC meeting, you will begin to pick ONE area and think about how we do this well and what area we need to work on. More directions to come regarding that meeting…

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Sincerely,Kara Minn

A  Note  from  NahirnyI  just  want  to  let  my  Pirate  Family  know  that  I  am  doing  well  both  at  at  the  Davis  Cancer  Center  at  Shands  where  I  am  undergoing  daily  radia'on  treatments,      and  at  the  American  Cancer  Society  Winn  Dixie  Hope  Lodge,  where  Mike  and  I  are  staying.    So  far,  I  have  had  14  treatments,  and  have  28  leI.  I've  already  started  a  "countdown"  of  sorts.  The  Pirates  are  never  far  from  my  mind.  I  wear  a  different  team's  jersey  or  tee  to  the  radia'on  treatments  each  day,  so  everyone  in  radia'on  oncology    knows  about  MHS.  Addi'onally,  since  I  get  to  listen  to  whatever  CD  I  choose  during    treatment,  I  recently  brought  with  me  the  MHS  Chorus  CD  which  Mrs.  Frato  recorded  with  the  group  a  few  years  ago,  and  so  now  all  the  folks  there  know  how  wonderful  our  chorus  sounds,  too!     Some  MHS  seniors  came  out  to  visit  me  on  September  27  (Pablo  Torres,  Cheyenna  Espinoza,  Ariana  Bazzell  and  Emily  Goodwin)  and  they  brought  with  them  the  football  shirts  which  Coach  Lagocki  sent,  as  well  as      cards  and  gree'ngs  from  students  -­‐-­‐not  to  men'on  Mr.  Murphy's  famous  BBQ  ribs  (yum).  Thanks  to  those  of  you  who  have  kept  in  touch  with  phone  calls  and  emails.  It  definitely  makes  a  difference,  and  helps  keep  me  upbeat  and  posi've  as  I  go  through  this  whole  ordeal.  I  will  be  back  home  in  Crescent  City  in  late  October,  and  when  I  recover  from  the  treatments,  I'll  be  coming  back  to  Shands  for  surgery,  likely  in  November.  Thanks  for  thinking  of  me  during  this  'me.  

Computer  Assisted  Instruction  Utilizing  Assessments

Why  would  we  utilize  this  in  the  classroom?    One  of  the  bene8its  of  computer-­‐assisted  instruction  is  the  immediate  feedback.    If  you  have  a  quiz  or  test  online,  students  get  immediate  feedback  based  on  immediate  results.    Many  programs  today  allow  for  students  to  review  tests  and  quizzes  to  identify  the  correct  answers  for  questions  they  did  not  answer  correctly  once  they  have  completed  an  assessment.    In  addition,  the  software  generally  requires  all  questions  to  be  answered  before  a  test  is  submitted  or  reminds  the  user  of  incomplete  questions  before  submitting  an  assessment,  which  reduces  unanswered  questions.

Many  teachers  have  found  an  overall   increase  in  student  achievement  when  using  computer-­‐based  pre-­‐ assessments  for  two  reasons.    Students  can  see  their  own   weaknesses  prior  to  receiving  instruction,  while  teachers  can  focus   on  speci8ic  areas  of  weaknesses  for  large  group  and  small  group   instruction.

Finally,  data  analysis  is  less  time   consuming  for  teachers.      Most  testing  data  is  delivered  directly  to  a   teacher  8ile.    In  turn,  instructors  can  analyze  their  data  in  a  timely  manner   and  extend  the  lesson  if  necessary.

-­‐  Dr.  John  Shelby

Education NewsDigital textbook mandate creates a wrinkleThe state Legislature wants school districts to spend less money on printed textbooks and more on electronic versions, with the goal of at least a 50-50 ratio by 2015. But a Land O' Lakes High teacher says the shift might be happening a little too fast.Orange Co. wants to replace notepads with iPads in schools Orange County school leaders are talking about how to move into the new digital world of education.

TRANSPORTATION  NOTES:We  have  an  unusually  high  number  of  people  out  on  medical  leave,  this  fall,  and  we  are  experiencing  a  higher  than  normal  demand  for  field  trip  transporta;on.    For  the  next  two  months  we  will  be  limited  on  the  number  of  field  trips  that  we  will  be  able  to  support  during  the  school  day.    We  can  handle  most  field  trips  that  are  scheduled  for  a>er  4:00  PM  and  weekends.  We  have  spare  buses  available  if  you  want  to  u;lize  your  own  staff  -­‐  CDL  -­‐approved  drivers  or  if  you  want  to  contract  with  a  commercial  transporta;on  vendor,  you  may  contact  Tony  Conte  (586-­‐2145),  in  our  office,  for  a  list  of  commercial  vendors.  I  do  not  have  drivers  available  and  cannot  serve  any  new  requests  on  these  days:  October  1,5,15,16,17,19,  November  2,29,30.  Thank  you  for  your  coopera;on.  J.  Bruce  PreeceDirector  of  Transporta;on

Report Calls on Schools to Adopt Digital Media Within 5 Years

Out of Print: Reimagining the K-12 Textbook in a Digital Age, a new report from the State Education Technology Directors Association is calling on schools to make plans to transition from traditional textbooks to digital texts in the next five years. The paper looks at the benefits that districts might gain from using digital resources in the classroom and examines the progress made by states that have already taken steps to shift to the new medium - and the challenges and successes they've encountered along the way.

The report doesn't just focus on the academic benefits of using digital educational resources, but also lays out how switching away from printed texts could give schools both unprecedented flexibility and achieve real cost savings. Digital updates don't require a mass repurchase; therefore, a digital edition of a textbook can be used way past the time a real book had reached its end of life.

There's also a matter of portability and availability. Electronic materials are available any time and can be used in class without having to ask students to carry the extra weight, making the choice previously forced on teachers to either allow students to keep texts in school or at home obsolete.

It is the user experience, however, that excites the authors the most. Because digital media includes more than just words, including videos and animations, they are transformative. Instead of pictures to illustrate concepts, students can view simulations or experimental videos. Instead of a dry list of problems for homework, there are virtual labs, interactive lessons and online assessments.

Continue reading this Education News article here.

Congratulations  to  the  

2012-­‐13  Dell  Trayer  Grant  Recipients!Fran  LagockiWendy  VidorEric  Kassebaum

Melissa  FoxHala  LaquidaraKatie  Rushing

History  Bowl  Anyone?If  anyone  is  interested  in  

sponsoring  a  history  Bowl,  contact  Mimi  Graves  at  FPC.    

Also,  check  out  www.historybowl.com  and  

www.historybee.com

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