Weekly Bulletin for October 20, 2014

Congratulations to our senior volleyball players on a nice season.

"Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." —Kurt Vonnegut

Important Dates

Our Excel Tecc construction crew
getting ready to build a house!

October 21 - Professional Development- Google Classroom III - Share and Clarify

October 22 - School Picture Retake.

October 22 - Fall Chamber Recital

October 23 - Professional Development- Online Testing III - Share and Clarify

October 24 - 1st Qtr. Ends

Owen Tollon demonstrating his
Photoshop skills during his
Interactive Media class at Excel Tecc.

October 24 - Staff Photo with Vicki Shirts

October 27 (Week) - OGT - 11th and 12 Graders

October 29 - Grades Due by the end of the day

October 31- Report Card Distribution

November 3 - Dept Head Meeting

Important Information

Mitch Owens works shows outstanding
work in his Excel Tecc IT program

Parent Teacher Conferences - Thank you to the entire staff for making our 2014-2015 Parent Teacher conferences a success. I heard MANY positive comments from parents about the quality of work you are doing in the classroom. I couldn't be more proud to have such quality people in our building that care about kids. Great job!

Lockdown - You did an outstanding job with our first official ALICE Lockdown drill of the year. Thank you to those of you that provided feedback regarding the drill. This information will be used to better prepare our students and staff in the event of an actual event. All reported speaker outages have now been addressed and corrected. If you are ever asked to open a classroom door for a substitute, please make sure you keep it locked after the substitute has entered the room.

Shirts for Vicki - If you ordered a shirt from Vicki Vlah's fundraiser, please wear it on Friday, October 24th.  We will plan to take a picture immediately after school in the gym.

Horticulture Plant Sale - I know Excel Tecc's Horticulture plant sale is a time when many of you support the program and get some beautiful plants for holidays. Click on the links to access more information about additional programs our students offer.

• Plant of the Month
• Dates to Remember

PARCC - If you haven't clicked on this PARCC link yet, please do soon.  This link will will help you understand and prepare your students for the upcoming PARCC assessments.  This site contains resources that may be useful for schools and districts as they prepare to administer the PARCC assessments for the spring 2014 Field Test. These resources will allow educators in all PARCC states to:

• Begin reviewing schools’ device and network readiness for administration of PARCC assessments
• Explore training and support materials designed specifically for the spring 2014 Field Test
• Try out sample test questions on the technology platform that students will use when taking the Field Test
• Gain familiarity with the computer based tools and features that will appear on the PARCC assessments
• Try out a full length practice test

NGA Resources - This week professional development presented various resources that can be found on the district's Curriculum/Technology website. One resource from his site is extremely useful in assisting teachers prepare for Ohio's Next Generation Assessments. Click here to access this site and to learn how to use Chromebooks during these high stakes tests.

NGA Session Times - ODE recently released the time allotment for this year's Next Generation Assessments. Please note that Ohio's Social Studies and Science Next Generation Assessments are now referred to as AIR. Here is the link.

Academic Referrals - Continue to enter Academic Referral's for students that are struggling in your class.

Public School Works - If you haven't finished your Public School Works training, please do so by the end of the month. See me if you have questions.

Rating Scales - Our school psychologist, Suzanne Fletcher, will often send you rating scales via email for you to complete. Please make sure those scales are complete and returned to her by the due date. Please get any outstanding forms in asap.

Relay for Life - I am soliciting your help in raising money for our Relay for Life event in June. As you know, we have a large goal of raising $30,000. Please see me if you can assist by selling candy bars through an organization you advise. Thank you.

Reach Each One - What will you do this week to reach each of your students?

Engaging Students in Tests- Have you thought about this?  How do you engage students in test taking and how do you make tests relevant to your students?

Good Professional Reading (or Watching)

Ten Tips for Becoming a Connected Educator
How to Build Online Assessments
PARCC - Equation Editor Quick Reference Guide