The Knight Times

Thomas Dale Faculty and Staff,

Over the past few months, a few of our staff members have shared resources with me that are relevant to our focus this year and the focus of our direction. I have thought over-and-over the best way to share these, and I feel it is best to share these as a packaged deal, following our faculty meeting on Monday regarding the vision for Thomas Dale. Please enjoy, engage each other in dialogue, send me an email with your thoughts, or save them for later. They are all valuable as we build a shared vision for how we will get to our destination of personalized learning for #EveryKnightEveryDay!

Articles:

• https://www.boredteachers.com/inspiring/best-part-students-day
• https://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/guest-columnists/kirk-cox-column-build-a-bridge-from-schools-to-jobs/article_9059378b-ed47-5984-8958-4d4de6bb4fcb.html
• https://www.hmhco.com/blog/politics-in-the-classroom-teach-empathy-in-turbulent-times?elq_extcampid=&utm_source=WF683172&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=
  
• http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/12/12/the-five-success-skills-every-student-should.html
  
• https://rewardingeducation.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/learning-mindsets-and-the-whole-child-the-fixed-growth-and-benefit-mindset/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
  

Videos:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU
  
• https://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to?language=en
  

Up-Front Summary (by day):

Wednesday

• Continue Pilot Testing the Proposed Bell Schedule

Thursday

• Normal Day

Friday

• Normal Day

Links shared in this issue:

• KUDOS
• January 25th Pot Luck Form
• Tech Integrator - Janice Skipwith
  
• Bell Schedule Pilot Feedback
  
• Bell Schedule for January 2-4 (Piloting new schedule with Enrichment every day)
  
• Proposed Bell Schedule for 2nd Semester
• Knight's Cafe Order Form

#EveryKnightEveryDay

Each week, I will include writing from our students. This started as an idea to include student voice in our newsletter, and I think has the potential to be so much more. If you are interested in having your students write about their Thomas Dale experience for inclusion in The Knight Times, simply submit them to me...and I will include them.

Here are a few to enjoy over break:

• Only 198 days until we walk the stage and say goodbye. After 4 years, I should be prepared to spread my wings and fly. So many opportunities are arising, and I’m thankful I have my family to help me decide which ones I should accept. High school hasn’t taught me how to do my taxes or cook, but it has taught me patience and the importance of friends and family.
  Happy Thanksgiving, McKenzie Kubicki
  

• It is amazing how many teachers are here for us while we’re applying to colleges. They go out of their way to help us understand the process and improve our applications. Our teachers are amazing and the whole journey of getting into college would be so much more difficult without them. --Briana Brown

• Thanksgiving is a time of year to reflect on all that you are thankful for. I am thankful for my family, my friends, the readily accessible education, and everything that my life has provided me with. I am grateful for my family. The people that formed me into who I am and who I continue to grow to be. I am grateful for my friends. The people I always turn to when I need to smile. I am grateful for my education. Thomas Dale High School has provided me with so many opportunities that I will always be grateful for and relationships that will never be broken. And I am grateful for everything in my life. I have been provided with so much that I will be eternally thankful for. --Kamryn Goode

The I Make A Difference award is a weekly recognition for a staff member going above and beyond the requirements of the job. Each week, the previous I Make A Difference award winner will select one member of the faculty/staff who displays excellence, goes the extra mile, and makes a difference and "pass" it on.

From Kevin Goode:

I have worked in many settings during my teaching career, and I am very

thankful to be here at Thomas Dale because of people like Natalie Noland. Ms.

Noland stands out to me for many reasons. She is caring, friendly, and provides a

learning environment for her students which encourages them to excel. Her

classroom is structured and students know exactly what is expected of them. She

consistently goes above and beyond for her students and the school. She has a

natural inherent ability to interact with her students and to see them where they

are as they are. Students know that are getting valuable information not only on

health and fitness but life lessons they will take with them into adulthood.

Last year my first year at Thomas Dale High School I would look in on her class

which served students with special needs especially those challenged by autism.

She did so many creative things with them and gave them opportunities like a

Taekwondo class. As a parent of two that are challenged by autism I was touched

seeing the connection she had (has) with these students. She has allowed me a

number of times to bring students (my caseload) to her room when they were

having a difficult day. Students ….just feel safe there. Natalie Noland is a teacher

that makes a difference at this school every single day and represents the very

best of what it means to be an educator. Hoorrraahh (that’s military speak).

The purpose of our weekly KUDOS is to give public affirmation to a faculty/staff member for a job well done. Anytime you witness something that you think deserves KUDOS, you are invited to fill out THIS FORM with the staff member's name and a little about why he/she deserves KUDOS. You will notice a difference in the form. We have added a layer that will send each individual recipient an email with attachment shortly after the KUDOS has been submitted! The list of teacher names and valiant acts will be published in The Knight Times. At each faculty meeting, those nominated for KUDOS will be entered into a drawing for a special prize! Be alert to the wonderful actions of your colleagues and give a shout out when you see something awesome!

Please enjoy this week's KUDOS by clicking HERE!

Each month, we will celebrate and recognize one teacher as the Teacher of the Month and one staff member as the Staff Member of the Month. We were so excited to celebrate our Teacher and Staff Member of the Month recipients so far!

• September: Jamie Barrack and Michelle Kimenhour
• October: Rachel Langston and Steve Davies
• November: James Thompson and Bridget Lehman
• December: Heather Walker and Lisa Neal

Submit your nomination for January's Teacher and Staff Member of the Month by clicking HERE.

Each month, we will celebrate and recognize one student from each grade level as the Student of the Month. This student will be publicly recognized in front of classmates and on social media. Additionally, we will place a yard sign at each student's place of residency indicating that they are a Student of the Month for the appropriate grade level. Each student will be able to keep the yard sign. Each student who is nominated but not selected will also be recognized publicly.

Please think of a student you feel is deserving of January's Student of the Month and submit that student's name HERE.

The Culture by Design team has come up with several ways for us to celebrate our awesome knight students, as they exemplify the pillars of the Knight Code. Please take a moment to read through the awards and methods of nomination.

Additionally, we would like to ask that all Homeroom teachers encourage their students to come up with spirit-oriented Genius hour sessions. Ideas to jump start the conversation include: poster painting, face painting, relay races or candid photos... but we'd love to make their ideas come into reality.

• Half-Over Luncheon (Action). We will host our Pot Luck Luncheon (originally planned for December 18) on January 25 at 12:30pm. Please invite the student you identified during the November faculty meeting to join us! Please sign up HERE and ask your supervising administrator if you have any questions.
  
• New Nurse at Main (Information). Please join me in welcoming Jeannie O'Sullivan to Thomas Dale! I will include her picture in the next issue.
• Tech Integrator (Information). Janice Skipwith is a wonderful resource for high-quality instruction. Please see her weekly newsletter HERE.
• (Re-Print) Big Knights, Little Knights (Information). Shana Little and Meg Bryant are creating a program to support at-risk underclassman called, Big Knights, Little Knights. Students who have been selected as Big Knights will receive a letter through their first period teacher. Letters will be in first period teachers boxes by Wednesday morning of next week (12/12). We would appreciate if you make sure these letters get to the addressed students. Thanks for your help! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Meg or Shana.

Our public-facing image is important to me. First, it is important that we tell the Thomas Dale story and not wait for our story to be spun and told by someone else. Second, we are a first-class school, and I want to appear that way. During this week, and into next, our department web site curators (with Chris Kelly's assistance) have given our school web site a serious face lift. I am grateful for their work to get our public-facing image to the next level. I have yet to see a school website (nationwide) that is as AWESOME as ours!

I want to take the next step in the improvement of our public-facing image, and it involves each of you tending to your email settings. Uniformity is a clear sign of unity, team, and cohesion. There are two things I need all staff members to adjust before January 28, 2019. This will provide you with more than a month to make this happen.

• I need all staff members to have a picture of themselves as their email icon. I am happy to come around to take a picture of you and assist you with adding the image to your email photo settings.
• I also need all staff members to align their signature lines in their email with the standard outlined below. The easiest way to do this is to use my signature line as a template; you are welcome to simply copy/paste (use any email from me) into your auto-signature block, and then change the necessary lines to match your information. I've hyperlinked our school and division to the corresponding websites for others to access in lieu of direct contact information. This standard also applies to all devices, including changing any other auto-signatures (e.g. "Sent from my iPhone"). The components you will need to include are:
• Name
• Position
• School (contact information optional)
• Division
• Professional Social Media or Web Site, if applicable
• Imagine Tomorrow Goals (integrity, equity, teamwork, ingenuity)

You have plenty of time to make this change, and it can be done in less than 5 minutes. I appreciate your attention to this expectation.

Key points for faculty:

• WIDA Access is a federally mandated test and will need to take precedence during the testing window.
• The anticipated testing window (to be confirmed by Brenda Russ by January 5th) is Feb 8-14.
• Teachers can give students work to complete on days they are doing the speaking test, as we can only take small groups at a time and students will have some time to work on other things. However, we want to ask that they be mindful not to overload students with work.
  
• Students who are normally at Main will be at West on testing days. (Dr. Grabham suggested we keep all ELs who are testing at West on an in-school field trip for those who are usually at Main, so that it is an excused absence and that we can manage students' whereabouts most effectively. Each student will generally be testing for two days. See the calendar Alexis sent for more details, found here.)

On our end, Alexis and I will work to make sure that all relevant information is available to staff on our website as well as reminders in the Knight Times. Once we have the testing schedule finalized, we will share the calendar with staff who is testing when.

Here is information to be shared from our website as of now. Alexis and I would like all ELs to come to the West auditorium during Enrichment on January 15 to explain the testing schedule, how to prepare, and to download the necessary app on their Chromebooks to take the test. We will also send home letters to parents that day after the meeting with students.

We thank you, as always, for your support!

This year's Deck the Hall Winners are....

Best Overall--Erin Cammer, Tina Possumato, Kim Young, Annett Gilchrist, Natalie Noland, and Carrie May

Traditional Holiday—Shelly Armstrong, Maureen McCamey, and Bianca LaPierre

Wacky Tacky—Christ Holtry

Best Wrapping—Rebecca Alexander

Winter Wonderland—Alexandra Jolly

Token Effort—Candy MacLauchlan and Chris Rose

The Jill Cammer Award—Brittany Gifford

Vinny Ferraiolo Memorial Lance Armstrong Award—Jennifer Ray

It’s a Major Award!—Adam Diehl

Thomas Dale Spirit—Andrea Martin-Williams

Kids/Cartoon—Andrew Boydoh

Most Tranquil—Logan Mason

Most Hands-On—Stephen Pohl, Carrie Horton, Gayle Murmon, and Marthanna Moss

Ghost of Christmas Past—Steve Nigro

Department Theme—Mike Hanley

Best Continuation of a Theme (…again)—Dave Duncan

Best Wreath—Les Harper

Your Door is as Loud as you are!I—Luis Diaz-Diaz

Meltiest Door—Barbara Cox

Punniest Door—Scott Young

Best Door for Another Department—Jeffrey Kreibel

Most Competitive—Justin Frashure

Best Dad Joke—Kara Watts

Best Vinyl—Kirk Leppert

Door-a de los Muretos—Laura Neff

Best Use of Lights—Patricia Harris

A big thank you to everyone who participated! Everyone's door looks great! Check out the slideshow to see all the doors!

We will continue to pilot our new bell schedule on the three days we return from Winter Break. In the meantime, if you are ready to give feedback, click HERE. There will be another opportunity to provide feedback in the next issue of The Knight Times.

From January 2-4, we will continue to pilot the new bell schedule that incorporates Enrichment every day.

HERE is the schedule we will use for three days we come back from Winter Break.

Please click HERE for the proposed bell schedule for the remainder of the school year beginning on January 28, 2019.

Is there a book that changed your life, made you think in a different way, or is like a best friend? Starting in January, students will nominate their favorite books for The Great Chesterfield Read! The Great Chesterfield Read is a riff on The Great American Read on PBS where the best loved novel of America was chosen. At Thomas Dale HS we will be suggesting books for the best loved novel of Chesterfield County. Students will start nominating their favorites through English classes this month.

We encourage you to create a Flipgrid for your favorite book at the link below. You will need to login with Google. We will be asking students to do the same. Check out the book nominations so far. We would love for all teachers to participate in the Flipgrid and help get students excited about reading!

https://flipgrid.com/62443211

Thank you for helping with this reading initiative!

This week the Knights Cafe is offering Cinnamon Streusel Muffins, Banana Nut Muffins and Brownies. Click HERE for the order form.

• The next Genius Hour will be January 28th. The catalog will be created December 10th-January 3rd, so please start thinking about potential sessions to host or to help students host.

• Also, please give me (Elizabeth_Clark@ccpsnet.net) feedback on any part of Genius Hour to let me know ways to improve it!! Next time, all Genius Hour links will be in ONE document for you on the TD Dashboard and they will each have an explanation, so hopefully it will be easier to locate what you need.

As part of our intentionality to strengthen trust, communication, and relationships, we will include agendas and minutes from our meetings in this section of the newsletter.

• Admin Team: December 18
  
• ILT: December 7
  
• Instructional Admin: November 27
  
• Community Partners Meeting: December 18 (Notes forthcoming)
• Principal's Advisory Council: November 14
• Student Advisory Council: December 6
• ACTS Notes (from Cindy Waters): November
• English: November 19
• Math: Minutes Folder

Krista DeVauld - December 21

Megan Bryant - December 23

Libby Faulkner - December 28

Melody Vaughn - December 31

German Garavito - January 1

Rachael Smith - January 2

Rachel Langston - January 3

Jeanine Grabham - January 5

Enjoy your day!!!

Stay connected to OUR CALENDAR and mark yours!

Click HERE for our 2018-2019 meeting dates.

December 20-January 1 - Winter Break

January 2-4 - Pilot Test of New Bell Schedule (HERE is the schedule)

January 7 - VDOE Survey Window Opens (more information to follow)

January 8 - PTSA Meeting

January 15 - Student Exchange Day with LC Bird

Click below to access previous issues of The Knight Times, our weekly staff newsletter:

• Week of August 13
• Week of August 20
• Week of August 27
• Week of September 3
• Week of September 10
• Week of September 17
• Week of September 24
• Week of October 1
• Week October 8
• Week of October 15
• Week of October 22
• Week of October 29
• Week of November 5
• Week of November 12
• Weeks of November 19 and 26
• Week of December 3
• Week of December 10

Click below to access previous issues of From the Castle, our monthly parent and community newsletter:

• August 2018
• September 2018
• October 2018
• November 2018
• December 2018

If you have information you need to share, input you seek, or dates you need to communicate, please send it to me. As we improve our communication structure, The Knight Times will become an increasingly collaborative document.

Please email me what you'd like to share - just ensure you have The Knight Times as part of your subject line. I will just need a title, body of text to include, and a picture attachment (if you have one to add to your piece).

Email: christopherm_jones@ccpsnet.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/ccpsnet.net/tdhs/
Location: 3626 W. Hundred Rd. Chester, VA 23831
Phone: (804) 768-6245
Facebook: facebook.com/ThomasDale
Twitter: @GoTDKnights