Tis the Season

Welcome back.  I hope you all had a restful week and are ready for a very busy few weeks.  Do not slack in your expectations.  There is a tendency to get off track during the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but you will regret it when the end of the trimester comes and you only have 1 or 2 summatives.  Keep the students focused on their learning and there will be less stress.  And...... If you missed Black Friday there's always a chance to grab some deals with Cyber Monday!  

Here are some happenings this week:

• PTCO will begin decorating for Christmas
• Please send your Honor Roll list to Karen and Charles before you leave on Monday.  This is for Grades 5-8 only.  Please see the Parent/Student Handbook if you are unsure of what the requirements are for the two honor rolls.  Also, be sure you are looking at the revised report cards from Friday, Nov. 17.  
• Arthur Carapella from Pre-K 4 will be Principal for the Morning on Wednesday, Nov. 29.  He will attend Mass with me and then we will give out honor roll certificates.  We will spend some time in classrooms and then he will have lunch with me in the office with 2 of his friends.
• Charles and I will be out on Friday at an Administrator's retreat.
• Friday is Marvelous Mustang day.  Please be sure you contact the parents of the student you give a certificate to.  Every teacher must contact parents themselves, not just the homeroom teachers.  
• Friday is set-up day for the St. Nicholas shop which will take place next week Mon-Thurs. 
• I have two observations to complete and will send out a sign up to go over your observations.  

Have a wonderful week!

What are you thankful for?

It's the time of year when we recall all the things we are thankful for.  I am thankful that I've done most of my elementary observations so I don't have to sit through another Pilgrim lesson.  I'm thankful for everyone who played a part in making our Angel's event a memorable evening.  I'm thankful for each and every one of you who go beyond minimum and make things happen for our students and our school.  I am thankful to work with some of the most amazing people in Catholic education.  Be sure to take some time this week and let your students know the things they do that make you thankful they are a part of your life.  

Once we return from Thanksgiving break things will move quickly and many things are happening.  1st grade share boxes, Santa shop, Advent retreat, Christmas program, and more.  This year we are breaking from tradition.  We will not be having a staff Christmas party on the half day of the Christmas program which was the original plan.  Fr. Dermot has the vision that a Christmas party should be during the Christmas season, not Advent.  I think it's a great idea because sometimes things are so hectic just before Christmas break.  The plan is to do something on Friday, January 5 in the evening.  It will be in the FLC and families will be invited to join us so please keep that date open.  More details to follow.  Enjoy the week and the much needed break that will be here soon.

If you want a laugh, watch WKRP in Cincinnati's "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3mgmEdfwg

Reflection time

This will be a short but busy week.  It's also a good time to reflect back on the first Trimester (grades in particular) and decide what went well and what could have been done better.  Some will feel that it was hard to get in the minimum number of grades since it's the start of school and it takes a while to get in the swing of things.  We also had an Irma disruption.  Trimester 2 will also come with its challenges with Thanksgiving and Christmas break.  The final Trimester will have the after Easter break slump.  Conclusion... there is no perfect trimester. 

At my principal's meeting on Friday there was a heated discussion among principals (while the superintendent and assistant superintendent left the room) about the grading policy.  The topic was - Grading Policy 5 years later, what have we accomplished.  As a group we concluded that we have a better understanding of what grades should truly represent and that we are better at assessing students.  Everyone believes that Understanding By Design makes us better educators and that our overall philosophy has changed for the better.  Everyone also very much likes separate ATL grades where you can separate knowledge from behavior.  In general, it was not a waste of time.  It was a work in process and as it went along, things were learned and discovered and adjustments were made.  There was a long explanation as to why we did not go to standards-based report cards in the end.  Basically, it was because the time it would take for teachers to do it properly was not going to be worth the outcome.  If a student received a B in math and a 2 in the geometry strand, what does that really tell anyone?  Not much.  What is more useful is diagnostic tools like iReady and formative assessments that can pinpoint weaknesses and then conferencing with parents to say Johnny needs to practice area and perimeter in IXL.  It's about having faith in teachers without bombarding with more work.  Here were some of the "cons":

• Not all schools cooperated and we are each at different levels of standardized practices
• This was never meant for high schools and no one is sure why they joined in
• Many agree that 50% is ok if best effort is given, but 50% for no work is a difficult pill to swallow
• Many disagree with the retake policy for summatives, the feeling is formatives are your retakes - keep trying until you have mastered and are ready for the summative.  If formatives are done right, no one should ever fail a summative.

Nothing really changes for us.  Know that we are not the only school that sits back and says, why isn't everyone else doing this?  I also think it's what makes us better and the reason why our students do so well in high school.  I did feel for new principals who want to cooperate and are in schools that never did any of the suggested practices and now are finding it a struggle to catch up.  But is also means that there is a movement for more and more schools to do what is suggested. 

Since Thursday is a half day, the new electives for middle school will not begin until next week.  I will work on your rosters this week and get that information out to you.  Have a wonderful week.