Weekly Bulletin for August 24, 2015

Congratulations and welcome to our new staff members!

Not every kid has the same experiences but every kid wants to be loved, accepted, affirmed and challenged. - Jeff Veal @Heffrey

Important Dates

August 18 - First Day of School

August 24 - Department Chair Meeting After School

August 24 - WGHS Marching Band Performance at the Lake County Captains Game

August 26 - Professional Learning Communities Begin

September 2 - Open House 7:00pm

September 4 - No School

September 7 - No School - Labor Day

September 11 - School Picture Day

September 22 - No Staff Meeting - Complete Public School Works Requirements

Important Information

Thank you! - I would like to give a big thank you to our office and custodial staff on a wonderful job getting the building ready for the new school year.  It is amazing how much work is accomplished in such a short amount of time.  The building was cleaned and organized for our students to attend on Tuesday. Great job!

Opening - It was a great first week of school!  Teachers, your classrooms look great and students are engaged in learning.   Thank you for all of your hard work preparing lessons and getting ready to make it an awesome school year.  Our students are very fortunate to have you as their teachers.

Student cuts- Page 34 of this year's parent student handbook notes that students will now receive 5 suspension points for cutting study hall or a class.  Please point out this change to the students when you meet with them during homeroom.

A.L.I.C.E. - Please review WGHS's ALICE procedures with your students.  West G's ALICE information can be found here.   Our first drill will be held this week and it will be a "tabletop" exercise where you will verbally walk through the steps you would take during the announced scenarios.

Morning Announcements - Send Westg.tv@westg.org an email with a message you want read on the morning announcements.  These announcements are also posted on our website and viewed regularly by our parents and students.  Use these announcements to get information and congratulatory messages out to the community.

Social Media - Did you start a new classroom, club or team Twitter account this summer?  Follow @WestGHigh and I will add you to the 38 members that are already on the West G High related list.  Use this media as a way to get out the great things going on in our building.

Emailing Students - Sean Whelan recently created email groups for each of our graduating classes.  Feel free to use these in moderation to contact students about upcoming club events, etc.  It is good practice to blind carbon copy (bcc) your contacts when sending a mass email. The group accounts are as follows:

wg.2016@westg.org
wg.2017@westg.org
wg.2018@westg.org
wg.2019@westg.org

Be sure to send these messages to West G TV (Westg.tv@westg.org) so they can also be broadcast on the morning announcements and on our high school website.

Emailing staff - Our HS staff has an email address, too.  Feel free to use it to get a message out to our entire staff.  The email address is hs.staff@westg.org

PLC - PLC work begins this week.  Please note that we will not be giving SLO tests this year; however, it is good practice to start the year off with a pre-assessment in order to identify what your students already know coming in to the class.  Your work this week should be to discuss your results from the pre-assessments and look to identify where students are in prior content knowledge acquisition and skill development.  This is also a good time to review your curriculum maps and pacing guides and manipulate documents as necessary.  Complete the PLC Feedback form at each meeting.

Duty to Report - School employees have a duty to report child abuse or neglect to the public children services agency or a municipal or county peace officer.  This is the law.  Please see me if you have any questions.

Opening Day Paperwork - Please return all staff opening day paperwork to Joyce as soon as possible. Click here to record your staff directory and School Messenger information.

Indians Tickets - Were you a ticket holder for the May 24th Cleveland Indians game and decided not to go?  If so, the Indians reissued tickets for the August 30th game against the Los Angeles Angels.  Please see  Lisa Porter in the main office to exchange your tickets.

Tech Trouble? - If you are experiencing any kind of technology trouble, please send an email to HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org and copy me on the message.  Sean, Ed and Don all receive this email when you send it to this email address.

Building Murals - Please see me if you are considering a mural in your classroom or hallway.

2016-2016 State Testing Updates -As part of the new state budget, the General Assembly has directed the Ohio Department of Education to reduce the amount of time students are required to sit for the standardized state tests.  Part of the new requirements eliminate PARCC tests in math and English.  Ohio used the American Institute for Research (AIR) for the 2014-2015 social studies and science tests and will contract with AIR to develop the new tests for math and English.  More updates and information regarding the new state tests can be found here.

Dear Principal - Here is the link to the letter that I referenced on Convocation Day from Dr. Justin Tarte.  Please take a moment to review the letter and know that I will work to create an environment that is supportive in your growth as an educator.  Below are my "Dear Teacher" thoughts as presented to the staff.  The entire presentation is found in your Opening Day Packet or by clicking here.

1. Innovative teachers continue to work to engage learners in order to reach desired outcomes.  Be innovative.
2. You will not always have the best ideas or answers to grow your students.  Continue to grow professionally by reaching out and reading what others are doing.
3. Students do not learn when all the feedback a student receives is a letter grade. Provide meaningful feedback to your students.
4. Textbooks are out of date and lack media-rich content.  Use multiple resources to provide instruction.
5. You can not always influence how much time a student spends on your class outside of your room.  Manipulate what you can control to influence teaching and learning and understand your impact.
6. I want to help you be the best teacher you can be.  Let me know what I can do to help you grow as an educator. 

Good Professional Reading (or Watching)

Why are so many of our teachers and schools so successful - John Hattie at TEDxNorrkoping
10 Things You Didn't Know About Formative Assessments
Dear Principal: A few things I'd like you to know...
State will replace PARCC tests with shorter tests from AIR