Wildcat Weekly

Time and place. I appreciate that you all have been setting expectations in affirming ways as it applies to cell phone use. Emphasizing time and place for cell phones is a great first step in helping them learn to regulate. Monitoring and holding them accountable to those expectations is important in establishing that we are all in this together.

Throughout the school year we will discussing how we help our students monitor and guide their own digital citizenship decisions. Recently I took part in this online training which I found to be common sense, but also helped me understand a bit more about digital citizenship. In the light of professional growth I challenge each of you to become Common Sense Educators. I am currently working on a microcredential system for leading professional development activities. This will be a badge that you can earn. There are some activities to choose from, for now, I would ask that you look the requirements over on the Common Sense website. My hope is that we all take part in learning more! We can discuss details in the weeks to come. Who's in?

9/17 - Teacher Work Session - Culturize Chapter 1

9/24 - Board Work Session in Library @2:45

10/1 - Edcamp Style PD

Average...are we average?

Though I believe that we are in no way shape or form average, I know we have all been able to recognize these past couple of years, the high level of commitment and energy it takes to overcome average. I believe the work we all do as a group to meet kids' needs is what separates us from average! We are headed down the right path!

I have been reading one of my hacking leadership books, and it starts out with a question: Would you want to work for you? I have to admit, some days I am not so sure. This made me reflect a bit more on how my interactions and choices impact those around me. Do I lift them up, or do I push them down? Do I accept average?

So if we are focusing on our kids' needs and trying to provide them with a supportive, nurturing environment in which to learn skills they need to be successful, I ask you the same question. Would you want to work with you or be taught by you?

Hard work comes before excellence. We are not average. We do great things. Let's be a support system for each other to do the best job we can for kids to keep our school moving toward great!

I probably don't need to point out that we are seeing more and more students who haven't learned the skills required to be kind and compassionate, let alone, ready, responsible and respectful. I am excited to be moving toward a plan to meet our social emotional and character development needs of our students. We have identified a rich resource called Character Strong that we will begin using to guide our work. We look forward to bringing our staff on board with ideas to move our District Promise forward.

"People will forget what you say, people will forget what you do, but people will never forget the way you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou

I look forward to our discussion during Monday's PLC, here are a few questions to ponder:

How do we want our students to FEEL?

How do we want our staff to FEEL?

How do we want our school to FEEL?

PLC for teachers on Monday 2:45 in the library.

Release for religious education,Tuesday and Wednesdays.
Tuesday - 9/18 - A Exploratory Group
2nd period - 8th
4th period - 6th
5th period - 7th

Wednesday 9/19 - B Exploratory Group
2nd period - 8th
4th period - 6th
5th period - 7th

This will be the last time I post this, just wanted us to remember that this schedule rotates periods each week. Please pay attention as this impacts more than Exploratory Wheel. We'll do our best!

Thursday - 9/20 - Fire Drill - 1:00

Friday - 9/21 - Extended Advisory Schedule, more info to come:)

Friday - 9/21 - Activity NIght 7:00 - 8:30

To help solidify our connection with our kids, I would like to try dedicating specific days in which we have time to slow down and focus on relationships with our kids. Our first extended time will be a morning session this Friday. The schedule will be our morning assembly schedule which we will make sure you all have. The topics will parallel our work in PLC and will have some guidance for activities during this time. This will be great!

Many of you probably have seen this through your email and may have not been able to take time to look it over. This is a great resource either to spice up lessons or to help us get started with problem/project based learning in our classrooms. The quick video gives a great overview of available resources.

Quick 3 Minute PBL Resource Overview

To access the PBL site

username: your email

password: pbl

Brenda will be taking a position at Whitworth as their new ERC teacher. We appreciate her commitment to LaCreole these past years. Thank-you Brenda, you will be missed!

What a week!

Last week I witnessed a wonderful example of how incredible our teachers are. I had Mrs. Jackson in the office and Mr. Moran came in to talk to her about a student he has. He talked about how the student had drawn a picture of the 2 faces associated with theater and how the student talked about how he loved anything to do with drama, but was not involved in it. Mr. Moran encouraged the student to consider auditioning for the upcoming play, but the student is very shy. Mr. Moran reached out to Mrs. Jackson to help figure out a way for this student to become involved. It really warmed my heart to see a teacher take the opportunity to collaborate with another teacher to make life at school a better place for someone...during their prep! - Joelle

I just took a call from Kyle Boggs and he wanted to let us know how awesome Shelly Barber is. She's been volunteering her time and signing on the football field for Javonte. Kyle wanted all of us to know how wonderful Shelly has been and how grateful they to have her help. The coaches are also impressed with how much "heart" Javonte has and they're excited to see him grow in the sport. - Heather

September 10, 2018