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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
Don’t forget to send in your good news to be posted in the Blog!