As a follow up to our rigor and relationships in-service on September 14th, we used our Faculty meeting to continue to examine what rigor means and looks like at NAHS. We have and will continue to maintain high expectations for students and Staffulty (staff and faculty) in regards to academic standards, effort, and professionalism. We are coming to understand that rigor in the classroom is based on a continuum of low to high levels of critical thinking. When examining the International Center for Leadership in Education Rigor/Relevance Framework, we understand that one quadrant is not better than the others because all quadrants are necessary for student learning. However, the overall goal is to create more Quadrant D learning experiences for students where they do the work, the thinking, and are asking questions.
English teacher Lynette Turner shared this one page article that provides more clarity. I forwarded this to Staffulty (staff and faculty) over the weekend to review. Our next steps include further examination of rigor by looking at it through the lens of thoughtful work, high leveling questioning, and academic work.
Staff News
Intervention Specialist Lori Cheney is currently mentoring one of her former students who is now teaching English to students in Japan. He is struggling with some behavior issues with his students, and also how to give constructive feedback. Lori shared how she and English teacher Katie Roberts uses “First Five” with their classes, discussing their and the students’ lives outside of school each day at the start of class for five or so minutes. He has implemented this in his class with great results. She also shared with him the list of relationship strategies generated from our in-service! So, not only are we adding to our own teaching repertoire, we are helping an alum and a teacher halfway around the world!
Several teachers continue to tell our story by posting classroom updates on Twitter or Instagram using our hashtag, #NAHSCommUNITY. Please click here to see week 6 at a glance!
Students As Learners
NHS member M. Pine painted faces for free at the home football game last Friday. She collected $30 in donations to benefit an NHS charity of their choice! It was a wonderful community building opportunity as she interacted with several elementary school students. Students Cassidy Platte, Jamie Schroer, and Sophie Ungless assisted her with this project!
Our House Deans and House Leaders participated in a National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) student leadership training program called Raising Student Voice and Participation (RSVP). They worked through a number of activities focused on team building, taking initiative, and strategies to get input from all students to improve school climate and culture. The House Leaders seemed to grow in confidence throughout the day as they implemented a variety of strategies and dialogued about how to serve the student body!
Upcoming Events: Homecoming Spirit Week!
Monday, September 28th- Favorite Sports Team Day; State of the Schools Address 7:00
Tuesday, September 29th- Class Color Day
Wednesday, September 30th-House Shirt Day/Powder Puff Game/Bonfire
Thursday, October 1st-PJ Day
Friday, October 2nd- White Out Day or Eagle Spirit Wear
Saturday, October 3rd- Homecoming Dance 8:00 PM-11:00 PM in the Gym
Article Worth Reading
Perfect Practice-Educational Transformation
Until next time…
Be Great,
Dwight
Hi Mr. Carter,
I have a new idea that I shared with Ms. Horning this morning. Instead of anti-bullying, which is a double negative, can we go with something a bit more positive, like “be nice to others”? I personally do not like the anti-bully campaign and quite frankly, it does not work! Instead of ugly signs with a bunch of words, how about a smiley face? Or two kids happy together and smiling with a caption that reads, make a new friend today!
This is a change that New Albany schools could really use. Get rid of those ugly words everywhere ‘anti’ and ‘bullying’, both of those words invoke bad, mean feelings.
Telling kids “don’t” never or hardly ever works. They need to know the alternative, which is what to do, be kind.
Thanks for listening,
Lisa
Hello Lisa,
Thank you for sharing your idea. Like you, I’m not a fan of the term either. I much rather focus on the behaviors we want to see as opposed to the opposite. Let’s work together on making this shift so that we can continue to improve our peer~to-peer relationships.
Be Great,
Dwight Carter