Weekly News and Notes

Fasten your seatbelts.

The last week of classes for seniors is finally upon us. Oddly, they have had just a single skip day, and while some have been mentally checked out for several weeks, we have kept them, by and large, on the route to June 2.


Some information about the coming weeks:

May 13 and 14: Math MCAS. The sophomores will meet in the cafeteria first thing in the morning and will be moved to testing rooms shortly after passing to first period.

May 13-17: Second week of AP tests (Thank you, Ms. Ford, for all your hard work coordinating!)

May 17: Junior Prom/Senior Reception. Sharon and Susan, along with the junior class officers, have been working tirelessly to get the event organized. Having been the advisor to them prom before, I know what goes into making it happen - as do many of you - and it's yeoman's work! Thanks for the effort!

May 15-31: Formative conferences for evaluation with professional status teachers. To all who are completing their portfolios - the energy, effort, and thought is appreciated!

May 20: History/English field trip to Newport

May 21-24: Senior Exams

May 23: Junior Class field trip to Bellingham Movie Theater to see The Great Gatsby

May 28-31: Senior Week. Ms. Ryan and Ms. Aigler posted the full schedule to the high school conference.

May 31: Class Day

June 2: Graduation. Expect invitations next week.

June 19-24: Final Exams

June 25: Last day of school


Hiring and Selection Committees

We will be posting in the next week or so for open teaching positions that we know are coming down the pike. We have sent some emails to those departments already to enlist support, but if you have a particular interest in serving on a hiring/screening committee, just let one of us know.

Handbook Committee

Thanks to the following members of the faculty who are contributing their ideas at the Handbook Committee meetings: Ms. Rodgers, Ms. Webster, Ms. Aigler, Ms. Kitka, Mr. Rojee, Ms. Heller, Mr. Christie, Ms. Guilfoil. Ms. Pearl and I are thankful for their insight, and the student reps have also been charged with specific tasks in terms of getting pieces of the Handbook together.

After the Committee drafts its proposed revisions, it will be sent for a reading to both School Council and School Committee, with School Council having the right of first approval. We will also be getting revisions to staff, hopefully by year's end, not that anyone will need them until next September!

REMINDER:

If you are going to be absent, please make sure you let Carol Kopec know. It is important that we know exactly who is in or out during the week, and that appropriate coverages are being arranged!

Student Teachers' Last Days

Friday, May 10 was also the last day for our two student teachers from this spring, Mr. Mitchell, who was working with Mr. Rojee, and Ms. Bammi, who worked with Ms. Coyle. I actually had a couple of students personally remark to me about how great their experience was - and how anxious they were at the beginning. The tasks associated with having a student teacher and mentoring him/her, particularly through some of the high-stakes waters and through some behavioral ebbs  and flows, are even greater than ever in number and responsibility, and the job done by both of our educators is sincerely appreciated. The lessons Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Bammi will take with them into their careers is a credit to the professionalism and support they saw here at Medway!

NEASC!

Shari Fedorowicz, Doug, and I all had the fortune of being involved with NEASC-related tasks earlier this week. Doug was on a NEASC visit at Amesbury, while Shari participated in the NEASC visit to Littleton High School. Ms. Rojee, Ms. Kaeli, Ms. Hallett and I were at a NEASC pre-self study workshop, a very productive couple of days. There are many, many initiatives in which we are all involved that will support the goals NEASC establishes for re-accreditation, and there will be other standards which we will seek to achieve moving forward. Naturally, we'll have more to come in the coming weeks and months!

Curriculum Work

If you are interested in doing some curriculum work this summer, including quality control within Atlas, send an email to Doug ASAP. There is money available for this summer!


The weekly resources are located here. There is an interesting piece on using Google's 20% time theory in the classroom (not sure how I feel about it, but a good read), and the video called "My Second Chance" is a pretty cool animation (and short).


Finally, to all the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day!