Happy Sunday Panther Nation!
I hope that you had a great week! Athens was buzzing all weekend long with the homecoming events for UGA! It was a great Saturday for the Dawg Nation!
As we prepare to return tomorrow, please take a moment to refuel, refocus, and reset. You have done an amazing job of persevering and doing what is in the best interest of the students. Please keep it going. Keep focused I am looking forward to having a full staff by the end of next week.
Instruction should remain our main focus! Be sure to implement effective instructional strategies to increase student engagement. It is equally important to provide students with opportunities to practice what they are being taught in class. Remain in contact with parents regarding their child's progress in your classes and make sure your grade book is updated every 10 days. We must continue to do our part so that we can hold the parents and students accountable for their part!
TKES walk-thrus will continue this week.
Tolbert
Announcements:
Good for fit (Zumba time at Hilsman) Friday October 19 at 6 pm Babysitting for children 4 and under Ticket: school supplies or suggested donation $2 student/$3 adult
21st Century and PSP will not meet after school during the week of Parent Conferences - October 15-19. Only the morning program will be available during that week.
Congratulations 2017-2018 Green Teachers! 3 Hilsman teachers taught a combined total of 56 lessons that were classified by Athens-Clarke County Government as "Green Lessons." Hilsman's Green Teachers are: Audrey Hughes Renee Smith Martin Erin Seymour The 3 teachers will receive a prize and a certificate, plus our school will receive a Green School sign for the exterior of our building.
News from the Counselors
Teachers, Red Ribbon Week will take place October 23rd-31st. The Red Ribbon website actually has lessons available for middle school, if you are interested in adding this to your curriculum (http://redribbon.org/curriculum/6-8/). I will send out more information within the next few weeks about Red Ribbon Week activities.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. This year we will participate in Mix It Up at Lunch Day on October 23rd. This is another way we are working on creating a welcoming school environment. On this date, we will be encouraging students to participate by sitting with different students and engaging in relationship building conversations. In addition, we will participate in Unity Day on October 24th by wearing orange to show we are united for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. I will send out more information soon.
FLU SHOTS FOR EMPLOYEES
For the second year in a row, the school nurses are working with Rite-Aid / Walgreens to offer in in-school flu shots for teachers and employees. The flu shot clinics will come around to each school during the months of October and November. Contact your school nurse for more details regarding when flu shots are coming to your school! If you are in a location without a school nurse and would like to host a flu shot clinic in your building, please contact Amy Roark (20752) for assistance.
OPEN ENROLLMENT INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS
Historically, we have scheduled open enrollment meetings at every facility and the meetings have been poorly attended. This year there are no changes to our benefit package and we are considering having a meeting on each side of the county instead of at every site. We will schedule cluster meetings at appropriate times for elementary and secondary staff. We will also have a video available to all staff.
UNIT POST ASSESSMENTS (UPA’s) UPDATE--PLEASE SHARE WITH ALL STAFF EOG/EOC
First, let me say that the Office of Assessment and Accountability is working diligently to consolidate information about Illuminate (assessments and reports) on the Office of Assessment & Accountability website. The main website can be found here:
The landing page for Illuminate from that website can be found here, which includes an introductory video of Illuminate made by James Barlament:
The landing page for the Unit Pre/Post Assessments can be found here:
Teachers, first thank you for your patience and understanding as we implement standards-based assessments. We appreciate the feedback from many of you regarding the administration of the first UPA. We know that there are some questions and/or concerns that are on your minds and we are working with the Office of Assessment and Accountability and our consultants from Illuminate Education to answer and address your questions and concerns.
- To ensure that we are supporting you in your classroom work, we are planning to inspect future UPA’s immediately with our Coordinators of Curriculum and School Performance and members of the design team to review Unit Post Assessments 2 and 3, which will include:
- Reviewing and ensuring that the “questions and answers” are aligned
- Reviewing and adjusting “scoring weights” for each item
This will allow us to troubleshoot before you administer these assessments to your students. We will send a communication to building principals to share with staff when this work has been completed and when you can administer these unit assessments in the Illuminate Education platform. We have also learned that if the original “access code” for the UPA’s is not working, teachers can create “Quick Codes” to create their own testing sessions. Look for a google doc with screenshot instructions to be posted on the Office of Assessment and Accountability website, linked above.
REGARDING DAILY TEST WINDOW TIMES
The daily test window times are set when setting up test sessions. Daily windows are necessary to restrict student access to taking assessments outside normal school hours. Currently, daily windows in sessions set up by the Office of Assessment and Accountability are set for HS-7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; MS-7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; ES 7:30 a.m.-3:45 p.m. If a test needs to be administered outside of these hours by a teacher/staff member, Quick Codes can be generated very easily for those instances.
In closing, it is the expectation that professional staff protect the integrity of our process and assessments. Therefore, the CCSD professional ethics expectations are to be adhered to at all times when administering and sharing assessment codes with the students in order to protect the safety and security of our standards-based assessments. However, to be clear, these assessments are meant to be used as teaching tools, not as accountability measures for teacher performance.
Questions, please feel free to reach out to Michael Harris, Executive Director of Secondary Teaching and Learning and/or your Coordinator of Curriculum and School Performance.
Week at a Glance
Monday-IEP/504 Meeting
PSP
21st Century
FFE Dinner
Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds
Wednesday-Collaborative Planning
Jeans and Staff Shirt Day
Thursday-Collaborative Planning
C-Team Football Cedar Shoals vs. Clarke Central Date: Thursday, October-11-2018 Time: 5:00 p.m. Location: Cedar Shoals High School
Friday-IEP/504 Meeting
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