The Middle Update 9/26/20

We have 4 weeks with our students under our belts and have gotten the chance to establish relationships with students and parents, as well as build routine and structure into our 2020 learning environment.  I have been in awe of how hard everyone has worked to make the learning experiences engaging and successful for our students.  We have had to look at things through a different lens and be creative in many instances.  I can't tell you just how much I appreciate the extra efforts that have gone into establishing what we have started.  

In times of busyness and stress, it really helps to have your "why" established deep into your core.  Your "why" makes those efforts worth it, and in having the opportunity to see and discuss your "why", it's no surprise that the well-being of our kids is at the core of why we do what we do...it takes a special person to dedicate their career to being a positive force/impact in the lives of others...helping to move the trajectory for some kids in a more positive direction.  It truly impacts the future of our communities.  Thank you doesn't seem like enough sometimes.

Resource of the Week

As we grow more comfortable with the format of our instructional delivery model this year, we now look to creating even more impactful learning experiences for our students.  The article this week shares some research about the impact of having students use questioning to develop a deeper understanding.  The article also gives some examples of how to incorporate this practice into virtual instruction.

"Using Student-Generated Questions to Promote Deeper Thinking" - Youki Terada

Close Contacts and Positive Cases

The spread of the corona-virus in both our state and county continues to be something that is at the forefront of the news.  In the Middle School, we have had students who have been a close contact to a positive case, but as of this writing no positive cases.  In those situations, a close contact to a positive case is ordered by the county to quarantine for 14 days starting with the day of last contact.  A "close contact" of a "close contact" is not required to quarantine.  There are situations where a person can be a "presumptive positive" before actually testing positive...this is when a person has been a close contact and has symptoms...this "presumptive positive" is treated as a positive case.  If we learn that someone at school has been a "close contact" to a positive case, we will communicate that information as soon as possible to the affected individuals.

The communication about these situations can be tricky.  There are HIPAA guidelines that we must follow to protect people's health privacy.  We are still working to ensure that we follow the HIPAA guidelines, and at times that can be frustrating for some.  One thing is for sure, if you have been a close contact to a positive case, you will be contacted as soon as that information is known.

As part of our standard procedures in the office, we keep a spreadsheet of absences that are due to illness...we monitor symptoms, close contacts, and keep tabs on if there are any trends happening within certain groups.  Calls are made home and we are working to be as thorough as possible in ensuring we know if there is corona-virus activity that is close to home.

Virtual Schedules

Our 8th Grade team piloted a Virtual Learning Schedule (8th) that allowed each CORE teacher to meet with each cohort group last Wednesday.  We are working to establish a plan that involves more structure for students and allows for more consistent student/teacher interaction in a virtual learning situation.  The experience from Wednesday went well for the 8th grade team.  The 7th Grade team will also pilot a VL Schedule (7th) this Wednesday.  We'll continue to reflect on the experience, working to provide the best learning experience for our students.  More conversation and planning will continue to happen as we learn more...the 5th and 6th grade groups, along with our Applied Class teachers continue to think about, discuss and prepare as well.  I appreciate each of your efforts to help us be ready for any learning situation that we could encounter in the coming months.

  

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences are right around the corner.  The conferences are scheduled for October 14th (4:00-7:30) and October 15th (2:00-7:30).  At this time, I'm not prepared to share exactly what those will look like (I'll know more after a meeting on Monday), but we can plan for having each teacher plan to meet with the parents of the students in their cohort, with special meetings set up for teachers that teach elective classes.  More information to follow....and it's important to note that Friday, October 16th is a No School Day.

Fire Drills

We are required to perform a monthly fire drill, even in the face of a pandemic.  We can modify how we do a fire drill, however, and that is what we'll do.  We'll conduct our Fire Drills on Tuesday, September 29th starting at 10:00.  I'll be sharing more details soon, however, the drills will involve certain groups heading out of their fire exit doors and to their locations at certain times.  We'll utilize the same exits (for the most part) that students enter and exit from now for their specific classrooms.  Here is a quick summary of locations to head to for each exit.

Door #4 - Should cross Cleveland St. and stay away from other groups.

Door #5 - Should actually exit Door #6 (North side of building) and head to fence away from other groups.

Door #12 - Should head out to an area in the field away from other groups

Door #13 - Should head out to an area in the field away from other groups

Main Entrance - 6th Grade groups should head out and left up to the field away from other groups.  8th grade should head left and proceed to the grassy areas near the sidewalk on the way to the HS away from other groups.

Livestream on Monday Morning

After the announcements, please join a Live Stream for a special Monday event.  

stream.meet.google.com/stream/d991963a-31b2-4057-b059-035e2961a916

Images from the Week

The Middle Update 9/20/2020

After three weeks of of our new learning environment there has proven to be many successes and challenges.  Some of the technology pieces, which we anticipated working smoothly in our planning, have been frustrating at times.  I am really impressed with our staff and the fact that despite the challenges and frustrations this "atypical" school year has provided, our dedication and focus on the well-being of our students has risen to the top and has helped us push through these challenges.  I, along with our students and families, so appreciate each of you and those extra efforts.

The global pandemic has been a traumatic experience in many ways for all of us, and we have seen much evidence of the effects of this trauma on our students as the start of the school year has unfolded.  Please keep a special eye out for signs that a student may be struggling with this or other trauma.  The efforts each of you make during the school day to connect and build positive, trusting relationships with your students make a huge difference...not only for the kids, but you can feel it in the overall culture of our school.  Our student services team is also equipped and ready to help any students in need.  

Resources of the Week

Our resource this week is targeted at our middle level learners...as we get to know them early in the year, it is oftentimes surprising to learn about the skills we need to teach them that we assume they would already know how to do...knowing how to send an simple email is one skill that came up this year for our 6th graders.  The article this week shares some of these key skills we need to focus on, especially while we have them in front of us.

"How to Help Middle School Students Develop Crucial Skills This Year" - Sarah Gonser

More information about effective online instruction continues to become available.  Good tips for all of us to know and understand in our environment in the article below.

"5 Research-Backed Tips to Improve Your Online Teaching Presence" - Youki Terada

COVID and Close Contact

Just like in a typical school year, a sense of comfort and routine has started to set in for all of us.  It's so important that we don't let our attention and focus on the guidelines designed to keep us all safe become lax.  If there is a confirmed case of COVID in our school, the contact tracers will ask questions about who has had "close contact" with the individual.  "Close contact" is defined as being within 6 feet of the individual for longer than 15 minutes (masked or unmasked...behind a barrier or not behind a barrier).  Also included is if anyone touched the individual or was in contact with respiratory droplets.  

In our typical work, it is very difficult to keep distance when working with our students...however, this is not a typical year or situation, so we, as adults, need to do everything we can to protect ourselves, understanding that keeping that distance may not be comfortable or as effective in working with students, but it will make a huge difference in terms of minimizing the chance of spread.  When there have been positive cases with people I know personally, it always seems like a surprise, so we have to think about anyone we come around as potential carriers of the virus.  

We also need to continue to hold our students to the same standards and be insistent on doing our best with the close contact guidelines.  Thank you all so much for your efforts in this area, as I believe we have been doing well...just want to make sure we continue those important efforts.

Posting Grades

We are three weeks into the first quarter and that is the time we typically have enough evidence to post overall progress grades for each standard.  Many teachers have done this already.  If you have not, please take a look at the evidence you have collected for your class in each standard and post an overall standard grade.  I will send a Infinite Campus Message out to parents on Wednesday indicating that grades are posted and can be viewed in IC.  

In a discussion with the 6th grade team, they thought it would be best for each cohort teacher to assign an overall "Follows Classroom Expectations" score for their group, rather than the subject teacher.  We added the option to assign a score for "Follows Classroom Expectations" in the Homeroom section.  The other Puma Pride standards that subject teachers should assign are one or both of the following: "Completes and Returns Work in a Timely Manner" and "Puts Forth Effort to Produce High Quality Work".  Applied teachers that actually meet with their students can also provide "Follows Classroom Expectations" feedback using the Puma Pride grades.

Virtual Wednesdays

As we are getting to know our students and their levels, many of you have really tried to use this time to meet with our virtual students.  This is a great use of time, and our morning times should really be spent working to set up either individual or group meetings with virtual students or students from other sections that we don't get the chance to see or work with.  We have utilized "office hours" and some students take advantage of these times, but setting up times to meet with students, while copying their parents on an email invitation, would help enhance the likelihood that students will attend those critical sessions.  Homeroom teachers can assist by reminders their students about meeting times with other teachers.

Some teachers have also began to explore the possibility of meeting virtually with students from other cohorts during class time.  Getting to know all of the students that aren't in our cohort group has proven to be challenging, so being creative and utilizing each other to provide the all important feedback to students is what we'll need to continue to work on.

Donuts

What a great turnout for our class color day.  It appeared that a huge percentage participated in this unifying effort.  It turns out that I'll need to bring donuts in for each cohort based on the fact that nearly every student participated.  My plan is to spread out this effort over the course of this week.  The plan will be to bring in enough donuts for each grade level on each day...Monday - 5th, Tuesday, 6th, etc.  If I have extras I'll try to cover as many Homerooms as possible.  Kwik Trip is going to enjoy this challenge :)

The Middle Update 9/13/2020

We have 2 weeks under our belt!  I am looking forward to having a rain free week (hopefully...).  We have started to get into a routine and a rhythm both throughout the school and in each classroom.  As all of us get more comfortable in our routine (kids included), it's a lot easier to let our guards down in terms of relaxing our safety expectations.  With all that is going on around us, each day, each minute is critical for us to ensure we are adhering to the guidelines that are designed to minimize the risk of spreading the virus.  We've sent a couple of students home already first thing in the morning after a teacher asked questions after noticing a student not well.  Face coverings, maintaining 6 feet of distance, not letting students mix with other cohorts, and staying out of school when symptoms are present remain critical to our efforts to educate our students while they are in the physical school building.  I appreciate your help and diligence in ensuring that we do a great job of this school-wide.  Hopefully, we can maintain what we started in terms of keeping the virus out of our school.

Close Contact

As we continue to learn more about how the virus spreads and quarantine/isolation guidelines, it's critical that we all have a firm understanding of the definition of "close contact".  In the event of a positive case, close contact will determine who needs to be quarantined.  Literally, anyone could be carrying the virus and we have to try really hard to keep that in mind as we go about our daily operations.  

Close Contact is defined by the CDC as:

"someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic clients, 2 days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated."

Additionally..."includes persons with direct physical contact with a probable or confirmed case, direct care for a patient with probable or confirmed COVID-19 disease without using proper personal protective equipment"

Resource of the Week

A couple of resources within the Google Suite to share this week.  The first resource is a description of a chrome extension that is helpful in Google Meet.  More information below (Thanks Mrs. Morrissey for the contribution this week).  The second is a feature found in Google Calendar that utilizes the "appointments slot" (Thanks to Mrs. Rogness for sharing this contribution!)

Chrome Extension: Dualless

Split your screen to see both your students and what you’re presenting.

This Chrome extension allows you to split your screen so you can see your students as well as what you are presenting in your Google Meet. Once you have added the Dualless extension join your Google Meet, click on the Dualless icon, and choose how large you want each split-screen window to be. 

Now that you have selected your size windows, you can click “Present Now” in your Meet and select “A Window” and only choose the window you would like to share with students.  When you are done presenting you can close out of the presentation or end the meeting.  

Want to use it now?  Click Dualless Chrome Extension Link to go right to the extension and add it.  

Want to watch a video tutorial of how to use Dualless? Just click the video tutorial link to see how it works.

Appointments Slots within Google Calendar

"You basically open a slot or slots of time and can designate how long they are, then you can share the entire appointments page with families and let them sign up for a slot of their choice.  Then it automatically generates and sends a google meet reminder/invite with meeting codes (and they can use the call in feature instead if they want).

*This can help us meet with students and ensure they meet with us without anyone else popping in.  We would also know in advance who wants to meet with us and when."

Here's a place to learn more about how to use this feature in Google Calendar.

Grade Level Weekly Planners

I wanted to share an update about our weekly planners.  Each team is sending home a copy each week through Campus Messenger, but each week is also visible on our website.  I have received numerous emails from parents who expressed appreciation for this tool...I included a couple of quotes from some of those emails below:

"I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the Weekly Planner documents you shared! It's great for us parents that have kids transitioning from elementary to middle school. I want XXXXX to be independent and accountable on her own, but it's great to have this as a backup, especially on Wednesdays!"

"I am finding it a bit tricky to know as a parent what needs to be done and how involved I should be with middle schoolers.  The video was helpful to see on the website where I can go each week to get an idea of what they are doing and what assignments are due."

"Thank you so much for posting the Grade Level Weekly Planners.  I appreciate those so much.  I was looking for a way to stay on top of assignments with the boys, but didn't want to bother the teachers since they are incredibly busy.  These are great!!"

Extended Time Periods of Virtual Learning

If we are ordered to close our school for a period of time, we will need to have a plan/schedule ready to go for students.  I have gotten the chance to talk through this scenario with at least one member of each grade level team (except 5th) during some BW Meetings.  Once teams have discussed and are on the same page, we really should be sharing with students and even practicing on Virtual Wednesdays.  I am hopeful we can continue in-person for the rest of the school year...however, preparation is critical for the continuity of learning and our operations...we need to be ready to implement in a day's notice.

Collaboration

As we have gotten comfortable with the format of our day to day operations, we need to now look for ways to be creative about how we can get more collaboration opportunities for our students while adhering to safety guidelines.  If you have found some success in this area with your students, or are ready to try some innovative approaches, please reach out to me, so we can continue work to spread these important practices in all classrooms throughout the building.

Building Tight-Knit Communities in our Homebase Groups

It appears that our groups have gotten off to a great start in terms of building community.  Just watching the groups interact during their lunch break and while visiting classes, it's evident most kids feel comfortable in their groups.  We must continue our efforts in this area.  I am re-sharing the bank of activities we have collected as a resource with many ideas for how to be special in this area.

Homeroom Greetings, Shares, and Community Building Activities

Homeroom Picture/Class Color Day on Friday

During Homeroom early this week, each Homeroom should vote on a representative color for your group.  On Friday, we'll ask each Homeroom to wear a shirt that has their color as the primary color.  The Homeroom with the highest percentage of participation or every Homeroom that has 100% participation will be rewarded with donuts next Monday morning.  Please add your Homeroom's color to this DOCUMENT.  We'll be coming around on Friday to take socially distanced photos of each Homeroom group to be displayed on a bulletin board in the school.

Family Bulletin Board in Office

The black bulletin board that is outside of my office is designed to share about our lives outside of school.  Our lives outside of school are very important, and I thought having a space dedicated to share your family photos would be a way for everyone to get to know each other better.  Feel free to post a photo of your family, you with special people or pets, or of you doing something you enjoy.  I envision that more may go up around the holiday season, but feel free to add if you'd like.  

Images from the Week

The Middle Update 9/7/2020

The first week is in the books.  I have enjoyed the interaction with students, watching talented educators do their thing, and just overall being back in school.  I have such an appreciation for each of you and your willingness to do go with the flow, talk through struggles, work towards solutions, and be all about putting kids first.  I can't thank you enough, and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to lead such a great team.  We learned a lot this week, will learn more next week, and continue to work on improving the learning experience for our students.   

Resource of the Week

In our resource of the week, I'll try to provide some tips and tricks that will help us continually improve our virtual teaching and learning skills.  This week's article is about providing our students audio feedback.  Typically in our responses, we write feedback to students...our article this week provides a glimpse into a study where teachers focused on providing audio feedback.  Thanks to Mrs. Walther for sharing.

"How (and Why) to Leave Audio Feedback on Student Work This Year, Whether During In-Person or Distance Learning" - Dave Stuart Jr.

Student Data and RTI

We have just started the process of getting to know our students...both personality-wise and academic skill wise.  Students took the STAR assessment this week in Reading and will take it soon in Math.  We'll be working as a larger grade level team (not just in departments) on analyzing this student data and planning for how we can close the gaps we will see for some of our students and enrich the learning for others.  Our structure will be different based on our different schedule, and our plans will certainly be creative.  We sent out some initial dates to start this process, but certainly adjust if those dates/times don't work for your team...just let me know.

School Activities and Special Days??

As we all get adjusted to a different way of doing things at school, I'd like to get some smart people together to map out a plan for some fun things that kids really enjoy that add to the culture of our school.  While the guidelines that we are following won't allow for a large group assembly watching pigs race in the gym...I think there may be some creative ways that we can still achieve a similar goal.  If you are interested in this type of discussion, please join me on Thursday (9/10) at 2:50 in the cafeteria. 

BW Meetings with Me

I'll soon be sending out invitations for Bi-Weekly Meetings with teachers.  The purpose is to have a consistent time for you to check in with me, and for us to utilize a time to talk about continuous improvement and what that looks like for you.  The intention is for the time to be between 10-15 minutes.  You should not look for me during this time, as I will come to your classroom or we can meet virtually.  If something comes up, I will work hard to notify you and reschedule.

Recap Video to Parents

I sent the following video out to parents at the end of the day Friday...wanted to give a quick recap of the week, but also to share how they can use our website to access important organizational materials for students.  If you have an idea of something to add to the site that would enhance communication for the school or your class, just let me know.

Images from the Week