Hope that many of you are seeing the desired results on mid-year exams! There are many different exams ongoing, from the multiple choice, to the performance-based, to the written. The students have seemed ably prepared, and the feedback from staff on the half-days has been largely positive. Hopefully the results support what your expectations were.
Second Semester Duties:
Please look at the duty schedule and determine with whom you share the periods where the seniors may not be around. I would love for folks to collaborate on those periods on freeing each other up - I will, for the time being, defer to professional courtesy, until such time as that becomes problematic. I have the utmost confidence that we do not need to hand schedule these at this point with a schedule as to who is covering for whom. Please, please, please work together!
Student Assemblies Next Week:
Dot forwarded the message below to the High School conference last week - be aware of assembly times!
As you are aware, underage substance use continues to be a concern for this community, for Metro West and for Massachusetts. Though there is much data available, in the 2010 MWABS,
*—50% of Medway students said they hung out or attended a party where alcohol was available.
—*42% hung out or attended a party where marijuana was available.
I anticipate that data trends for this past administration will yeild similar data at the very least. Raising awareness of parents and students is only one part of prevention.
Please mark your calendars:
On January 28th at 7 pm we will host a program for parents presented by the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and by RIchard L. Campbell of a nationally known law firm, Campbell, Campbell, Edwards and Conroy. The DA's Office will focus on legal consequences of underage substance use, and the law office will present "Be a Parent, Not a Pal, " focused on social host liability.
On Wednesday, January 30th, we will host similar presentations by the DA and an attorney with a student focus to raise awareness of consequences. The social host piece, "It's All About You, " is a powerful presentation. To allow adequate time for the presentations for the entire student body, the schedule is as follows:
Students in Grades 9 and 10- 8:50- 10:00
Students in Grades 11 and 12 10:10-11:15
Students will be called by grade to the auditorium 5 minutes prior to the start time above. If you have a class of students from mixed grades at the time, please send only those students in the grade assigned at the time and remain with the students in the other grades in your classroom. Otherwise, your presence in the auditorium is appreciated. We understand the difficulties that overlap of periods may cause, but hope you can embrace this effort and its impact on saving lives and fostering positive decision making.
For your information, if students plan to attend the ring dance or prom. parents must attend the parent presentation. We are finalizing options to satisfy this requirement for those who are unable to attend.
Assembly for Seniors
We will be hosting an assembly for Seniors ONLY on Friday, February 1. This assembly will be taking place in auditorium, during F block, at 9:15. That way, the assembly will not impact a period that would have been dropped earlier in the week or been altered due to the assmblies.
The purpose of the assembly will be to review procedures for Senior Privileges, as well as to get students normed per our expectations of that privilege. We do not expect the assembly to last the entire period; please wait to be called, and if teachers of seniors could report with their classes, that would be appreciated.
GRADES CLOSING!
Reminder: second quarter grades close on Tuesday, January 29. Report cards will be issued on February 5.
Scheduling Update
Most of you have no doubt had department heads review with you the "course change form," which will allow for course revisions, "deactivations," or additions. We hope to use this to track changes to the Program of Studies, as well as to put forth the courses for which students may register. The goal this year in terms of scheduling will be to have course selections drive the master schedule, not to put a schedule in place and fit the students in. While we do anticipate some hiccups, the goal is obviously to build a master schedule that satisfies not only what the students are taking and need, but also to allow some continuity in teaching, which has sometimes been difficult in certain departments.
By the same token, there are some revisions being examined that could potentially support fewer students in study during certain periods, as well as some discussions on the number of total credits a student would need to graduate. More on that will be forthcoming as these discussions evolve!
Video of the Week: Educator Rick Wormeli shares his thoughts on the purpose of homework.
Article of the Week: How a Good Teacher Becomes Great. I'm sure many of you will see some of the traits you practice every day!
Please enjoy the time assess mid-years, de-compress at the end of the term, and prepare for the onset of the second semester, and, as always, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!
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