WGHS Staff Bulletin

Weekly Bulletin for November 11, 2013

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher ... is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” -- Maria Montessori

Important Dates

November 12 - Staff Meeting after school.

November 13 - PLAN Test - All 10th Graders

November 14 - Club/Group Activity Pictures

November 15 - National Blue Ribbon Day at West Geauga High School. 

Important Information 

Fall Athletic Season - It is hard to believe but our 2013 Fall Sports Season is in the books. Congratulations to all of our coaches and advisers and the work you to for the students at West G.  Your dedication is definitely noticed by the entire community.  Thank you!


Email Accounts- (This is copied and pasted from an email I sent out on Nov. 5.  No new information added.)  Many of you have been asking about keeping your emails from Outlook. After speaking with Ed, I found that we will have the opportunity to retain our messages through a couple of different methods.

1. Our A-site, LGCA, will create a file with all of your individual emails and you will be able to access these emails using the Microsoft Outlook program that is installed on your PC. This is not the same as the Outlook Web Access that we use to pull up our Outlook email today. This program will reside on your computer and you will not be able to send messages to or from this account. It will be used to merely store your old emails after Ed places them on your machine. 
2. Another option will be to have Ed migrate your Outlook email to Google; however, this is a long process. 

I am being told that either option should provide you with your current folders and contacts that you use in Outlook Web Access. Please let me know if you would like to use either of the options?


Please note that testing has been conducted to make sure this will be successful but can not guarantee files will not be corrupted during the process.

Field Trips -Our school nurse, Brenda Swanson, needs to know if you are taking a school trip as soon as possible.  She will have all of the medication ready for those needing it on your trip.  Remember, you will need to go through the medication administration training if you are planning an off campus activity with your students.  Also, students using their own vehicles for field trips is being discouraged.  Please complete a bus request when applying for a field trip.

Increase Rigor Every Day - One way to increase rigor in the classroom is to reduce the amount of low level questions and increase high order thinking questions.

• Ask open-ended questions- “What evidence do you have…”, “How would you explain…”, “Why do you think…” Probe responses
• Ask questions that raise questions
• Ask hypothetical and complex questions

HQT - We will go over you HQT sheet during Tuesday's staff meeting.  We are spending time during a staff meeting to accomplish this because it has been reported that there are many errors on your forms.  Be sure you can explain how you are Highly Qualified to teach each subject you teach.  For more information and where I received the exert below, click here.

All teachers of core academic subjects* must meet the Highly Qualified Teacher requirement. If these teachers are not currently required to report their HQT status in EMIS, they should have their HQT documentation available for audit purposes.

There are 3 parts to meeting the HQT requirement:
1. Teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree;
2. Teachers must have a certificate/license that is appropriate to the grade and subject they are teaching; AND
3. Teachers must be able to demonstrate their subject area expertise in the *core academic subject(s) they teach.

*Core academic subjects are defined in Section 9101 of NCLB as English, language arts, reading, science, mathematics, arts (including music, visual arts, dance and drama), foreign language, government and civics, history, economics and geography.

Shared Curriculum Maps and Assessments - Congratulations on the work you are accomplishing to get the CCSS Curriculum Maps online.  I know it is time consuming and not easy.  Your work is appreciated by me and will eventually be appreciated by your students.  It is my belief that all of this will make us better educators!  As always, don't hesitate to ask if you have a question during the process.  Sean Whelan is in the process of sharing your curriculum maps with each department head for their reference and review.  If you haven't done so already, please share your quarterly assessments with your department head, Nancy B. and me.  Thanks!

Math and PARCC - The PARCC website has been updated with new example test items.  Click here.


Good Professional Reading (or Watching)
How Student Centered Learning Changed My Life (Video)
Jay McTighe on Critical Transformation (Video)