Hello Au Gres-Sims Families,
When I joined Facebook in 2008 I did so because I lived out of state and I wanted my family to have the chance to see pictures of my daughter. I found it be a great way to connect with relatives that I saw too infrequently and to share parts of our lives together. I then added Twitter to my profile, followed a short while later by LinkedIn, both to build a professional learning network of peers around the country and world who I could learn from. This was back at the time when social media was more of an authentic experience, and not the virtual escape world that it has been since. Over time, I have become less enchanted with the social media world and more aware of the negativity and fakeness that it represents. I am fortunate to have experienced life before social media and a time when social media was purely intentioned. I am fortunate in that I have the perspective to discern what it has turned into compared to what it was intended to do. Our students do not have that perspective as they have been born into social media at its most devious, deceptive, and negative state.
There is still a lot of power in social media platforms, the power to motivate movements, and the power to motivate destruction. What was once designed to bring people closer together has now morphed into something that more frequently drives us apart. It is up to the adults in this community, inside the school walls and outside of them, to speak with and educate our students about the perils of blindly following the anonymous encouragement of ill-intentioned influencers. Our children will pay the price, literally, socially, physically, and emotionally if we fail to set a better example with our own posts and usage of these platforms.
To encourage impressionable teenagers to vandalize the very same school that this community invested in with their 2018 bond approval is irresponsible. To invoke students into striking educators is a travesty. The hard work of teaching and learning in schools is difficult enough, but it is a task that we all accept willingly. To have a movement encourage physically assaulting educators is preposterous. Education is difficult enough and this behavior, motivated through social media is appalling. Let's get back to using social media for what it was meant to do, spreading laughter and happiness in the world, and bringing us closer together.
Have a great weekend AGS. #WolverinesLead #NewTomorrow
Mr. Ming
K-12 Principal's Update
With school pictures arriving shortly (retakes on November 1), MS/HS students will also notice something else on the backside of the their ID tags, a phone number for students to access a suicide prevention hotline. Recently, the Michigan Legislature passed the “Save Our Students Act” which mandates that school districts in grades 6-12 display a 24/7 local, state, or national suicide prevention hotline number on the back of each ID card/badge. This is just one more resource that students will have available at their fingertips.
Social media can be a great thing, and sometimes it cannot. Following a recent Tik Tok trend encouraging the destruction of school property, there are other planned upcoming months encouraging negative behaviors that could carry severe legal and disciplinary consequences. A letter was sent home to all MS/HS families at the beginning of this week in this regard. This is a good opportunity for all of us to have conversations with our kids about making responsible decisions and being a positive and influential leader.
Congratulations to our first class for the AGS Athletic Hall of Fame! This first class represents over 70 years of athletics and comprises 30 individuals and 2 teams. Individuals can be inducted based on three categories: Athlete, Coach, and Distinguished Service. Athletic teams are also eligible. Accolades (and some pictures) are located on the scrolling TV in the Events Lobby entering the HS.
This year’s class is:
-Kenny Byard- Athlete
-Lili Chartier (Markey)- Athlete
-Amy Dittenber (Dehner)- Athlete
-Adrianne Fitzgerald (Burlison)- Athlete
-Donna Freehling (Dawson)- Athlete
-Nick Garvie- Athlete
-Tom Heinrich- Distinguished Service
-Dean Kauffman- Athlete/Coach
-Brandon Kelly- Athlete
-Brian Kelly- Athlete
-Mike Kenneally- Athlete
-Raymond Kolhagen- Athlete
-Tom Milan- Athlete
-Otis McKinley- Athlete
-Kenny McFarland- Athlete
-Randy Miller- Athlete
-Bill Morgan- Athlete/Distinguished Service
-Den Morgan- Coach
-Chuck Nowak- Coach/Athlete
-Tom Pawlaczyk- Coach
-Connor Pendred- Athlete
-Dick Smith- Coach/Distinguished Service
-Len Tyler- Coach/Distinguished Service
-Greg Walker- Athlete/Coach
-Jeff Walker- Athlete/Coach
-Sheree Walker (Wiltse)- Athlete
-Cindy Warner- Athlete
-Connie Kern (Whyte)- Coach
-Mike Whyte- Distinguished Service
From the Desk of Mrs. Socha
The teaching staff at AGS have been working hard over the past 2 years to identify what we call our “Essential Standards.” There are standards that the teaching staff has determined to be the most critical for students to master in order to be successful throughout their school career. Both teachers and students have important responsibilities around these Essential Standards. Teachers and staff members commit to providing support and intervention to ALL students who have not yet mastered an essential standard after instruction and assessment. Teachers will meet on a regular basis in PLC groups to discuss student data and progress on these standards and collaborate to determine the most effective strategies and interventions to move each student to mastery. The students will be responsible for their own process towards mastery with each standard. They will need to reflect on their own level of understanding with each standard and use that reflection to identify what questions they still have regarding the standard and what areas they are struggling with. These important collaborations with students and teachers will help to ensure that each student is moving to the next grade level with the most important skills needed. This helps us to prioritize and focus our interventions within the classroom in the best interest of the student.
In elementary this year, we have a new standards-based grading scale that teachers will use to report out on student growth in some of the most critical standards. The grading scale was sent out at the end of last year, and again at the start of the year, but I am also including it below for your reference. This will give a better understanding of where students are in individual skills as opposed to an entire content area, such as math, which covers a large number of individual skills that can be very different from one another. This grading scale will also be used with secondary teachers when they are analyzing student data for the essential standards. This scale goes deeper than how many questions they got correct on a test. Instead, it looks at the level of understanding that a student does have, and what specific things they need to get to mastery.
Here is a copy of the standards-based grading scale that elementary students will see on their report cards in a few weeks. Starting 2nd marking period, elementary students will also receive a progress report on just the essential standards, so that parents are aware of their student’s progress on these important standards. They are also included on the regular report card.
Standards-Based Grading Scale
4=Advanced
3=Meets Expectations for Target
2=Partial Mastery of Target. Demonstrates partial understanding, or can perform portions of the target with assistance.
1=Little or no mastery. Cannot demonstrate mastery, even with instructor assistance.
Update
Week of October 4th Newsletter:
Talking to Your Children About Bullying
Starting this school year there has been an upward trend in students experiencing possibly bullying and/or unwanted and unwarranted comments from other students. We are working diligently to deal with the issues that are brought to our attention here at school and encourage you to talk with your students about what is happening throughout their day both at school and on social media.
Starting with prevention:
How can I help prevent bullying in my child’s school?
The first step to keeping your child safe, whether in-person or online, is making sure they know the issue.
Educate your children about bullying. Once they know what bullying is, your children will be able to identify it more easily, whether it is happening to them or someone else. You can usually identify bullying through the following three characteristics: intent, repetition, and power. A bully intends to cause pain, either through physical harm or hurtful words or behaviour, and does so repeatedly. Boys are more likely to experience physical bullying, while girls are more likely to experience psychological bullying.
Talk openly and frequently to your children. The more you talk to your children about bullying, the more comfortable they will be telling you if they see or experience it. Check in with your children daily and ask about their time at school and their activities online, inquiring not only about their classes and activities, but also about their feelings.
Help your child be a positive role model. There are three parties to bullying: the victim, the perpetrator, and the bystander. Even if children are not victims of bullying, they can prevent bullying by being inclusive, respectful and kind to their peers. If they witness bullying, they can stick up for the victim, offer support, and/or question bullying behaviours.
Help build your child’s self confidence. Encourage your child to enrol in classes or join activities they love in your community. This will also help build confidence as well as a group of friends with shared interests.
Be a role model. Show your child how to treat other children and adults with kindness and respect by doing the same to the people around you, including speaking up when others are being mistreated. Children look to their parents as examples of how to behave, including what to post online.
Be part of their online experience. Familiarize yourself with the platforms your child uses, explain to your child how the online and the offline world are connected, and warn them about the different risks they’ll face online.
Athletics Update
We are sad to announce that the Varsity Football Game vs. Charlton Heston Academy, scheduled for Saturday, October 9, has been cancelled. Our Hall of Fame Induction lunch and ceremony will still take place as scheduled.
Next Week's Game Schedule
- Mon. 10/11: MS Girls Basketball AWAY at Oscoda vs. Alcona, 6pm
- Tues. 10/12: JV/V Volleyball HOME vs. Mio, 6pm
- Wed. 10/13: JV Football AWAY at Mio, 6:30pm
- Wed. 10/13: MS Football AWAY at Charlton Heston Academy, 6pm
- Thur. 10/14: MS Girls Basketball AWAY at Posen, 6pm
- Thur. 10/14: JV/V Volleyball AWAY at SASA, 5:30pm
- Fri. 10/15: V Football AWAY at Central Lake, 7pm
- Sat. 10/16: V Volleyball AWAY at Tawas Invite, 9am
Au Gres-Sims School District
Email: web@ags-schools.org
Website: www.ags-schools.org
Location: 310 South Court Street, Au Gres, MI, USA
Phone: (989) 876-7150
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuGresSims/?ref=br_rs
Twitter: @agsschools
