September 28 - October 2, 2015

WEST DELAWARE HAWKS

Relationships, Challenging Academics, 21st Century Skills

 

Youth Frontiers - The Character Challenge

 https://vimeo.com/139737662

Random Thoughts....THANK YOU!!!

Tuesday the High School Building Leadership Team met to review previous and plan for upcoming Professional Development.  As a principal, I believe in the power of BLT's to carry out the implementation of professional learning and growth of teachers.  Only great outcomes can occur when teachers have a vested stake in the direction of their practice.

Words and phrases used by BLT members this week....

reflection

       don't ask teachers to jump through hoops

                  have a purpose for our actions

                             what will students be doing differently because of this?

                                        students need to feel safe, cared for, and respected

THANK YOU BLT members for the deep, meaningful conversations this past week.  THANK YOU for the thought and candid opinions you share.  THANK YOU for helping guide the High School to great things now and even better outcomes in the future.  THANK YOU Seth Harms, Bev Hermsen, Mike Morrison, Tammy Philipp, Joan Salow, Shari Soppe and Instructional Coaches Megan Jack and Scott Litterer!

Shelter in Place Procedures

Shelter-in-Place Procedures will be used to place or keep students indoors in order to promote greater levels of protection and awareness in the possible event of an emergency.

General procedures for teachers:

- Lock room doors

- Carry on with regular instruction

- Do not allow students to exit the classroom

- Please await further instructions via intercom or other communication methods

  

Why High School Transition Matters

Freshmen are the largest at risk population in schools. 

More students fail 9th grade than any other grade. (National High School Center, 2007)

Promotion rates between 9th and 10th grade are significantly lower than rates between all other grades (Wheelock & Miao, 2005).

Most high school dropouts fail at least 25% of their ninth grade courses, while 8% of high school completers experienced the same difficulty (Letgers & Kerr, 2001)

Low attendance during the first 30 days of the 9th grade year is a stronger indicator that a student will drop out than any other 8th grade predictor, including test scores, other academic achievement, and age (Jerald, 2006)

Technology Tip of the Week

Verify the Sender’s Identity Before Responding to a Request to Provide Personal Information Over the Internet.
Phishing is a method of fraudulently obtaining information about a computer user by posing as a trusted entity, like a bank. The most common form of phishing involves contacting users by email and asking them to verify an account by providing information to a false website that looks legitimate. Avoid phishing schemes by contacting the purported sender of the email message to confirm that this organization actually sent the message. It’s also good practice to manually enter the genuine URL into your browser’s address bar, rather than clicking on the link in a suspicious message. 

Tweet of the Week