KARCHER STAFF BLOG
Karcher 2016-2017 School Calendar
Student's of the week for
October 10 - October 14
- Drake Branden: (Applied Academics)
- Drake is a great asset to our class. He is always willing to help others and is respectful to his peers. He always has a big smile on his face, shows great effort and outstanding participation.
- Izac Nienhaus: (Onyx)
- Izac has demonstrated wonderful creativity with his iTime project. He consistently shows patience with his peers and regularly exceeds expectations. He is a great example of the Karcher Way.
- Megan LaRose: (Diamond)
- Megan goes out of her way to help other students. She is very kind and caring and reflects the Karcher Way.
- Brooke Schenning: (KCB)
- Brooke is a loyal member of the safety patrol, displaying responsibility but always being there and helping others.
- Samantha Naber: (Silver)
- Samantha takes on leadership roles and is not afraid to state her opinions and ideas! We love her bravery!
- Dane Kornely: (Hive - Not pictured)
- Dane stood out this week for his exceptional help for a classmate. Dane displays that helpful attitude consistently and is responsible and kind at all times.
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Kudos
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- Kim Moss was chosen as the KCB STAFF OF THE WEEK! Congrats Kim and thank you all for continuing to reinforce our 8 character traits.
- Big shout out to Stephanie Rummler for taking the lead with our PBS leadership student team! They have been working hard to get Mr. Malewicki's old room all set in order for students to use KCBs to eat there versus in the cafeteria as it can be "the student lounge". Thank you to the staff members that have been willing to assist with supervising that space as well! This group of students is also brainstorming other ideas/options for KCB use as who better to ask then students!
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Reminders
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Items to be aware of/small changes:
- The 21st Century Lab will be used on Monday, October 17 for some elementary teacher training.
- There is a possibility that that space will also be used on October 18th and 19th for some Dyer teacher trainings... Scott will get back to me on that if they will be using that space or not. (just FYI)
- Students who are dropped off in the mornings should be allowed to come into the building. Starting at 6:50 Kris Thomsen will be supervising the library where students will be able to sit until the 7:05 bell.
- Judy and I have also talked and she will be serving breakfast in the library to those students who are waiting as well... she will be starting this on Monday, October 17th.
- Students will not be allowed into the hallways so if you see any direct them back to the library.
- Students waiting prior to 6:50 should be let in by staff and asked to wait in the inside of the doorway until Kris comes down to get them.
- I am not a fan of making students stand in the cold so please assist with allowing them in the building to either wait for Kris in the entry way or to go up to the library after 6:50.
- Please do not make any announcements about this to students, we are not wanting to encourage early drop offs just wanting to assist the regulars and they will learn how things work!
- During our BLT meeting it was decided to add a bell at 2:28 for staff to release students from class. Please do not release students before the 2:28 bell. We will still have another bell at 2:30 as that bell will indicate that students can leave the building. You do not need to hold students in your classroom between 2:28 - 2:30... just inform students that they should be staying in the building until the second bell at 2:30.
- Do not stress about this... just use gentle reminders to students to wait until the second bell.
- Thank you for your flexibility with the bells as we work on making small changes in order to accommodate the need to take care of the chromebooks.
- Just an FYI... students being picked up by parents will always need to wait either in the main office or on the second floor (up stairs) by the windows. We had an incident last week that made us reflect on our practices and from now on we will always have students wait upstairs. Once their ride arrives they will be asked to inform the main office (come back in quick) to say their ride is here.
- Just an FYI if students are asking...
Things to remember for this week:
- Extended Advisory Week! This week there is no iTime as we have extended advisory curriculum around the topic of bullying. Make sure you are looking at the advisory link for all of your needed materials.
- For any questions see Jack Schmidt, Patti Tenhagen, or Marilee Hoffmann.
- Music Fundraiser - just a reminder that on October 17th all music students will be asked to report to the auditorium during 1st hour. Rod Stoughton sent out an email regarding this... seek out his email for more details.
- Parent/Teacher Conferences, October 17 from 4:00 - 7:00.
- These conference will be open conferences for any and all parents. We will have all staff located within the library, ULab, and conference room. Please be in the library by 3:50 as some parents are very prompt and ready to roll at 4:00. Name tags will already be placed on the tables.
- We will group staff by house, grade level, and applied academics.
- PBS Meeting, Tuesday, October 18 - in the conference room starting at 2:40. Come join if you have any ideas/thoughts regarding PBS! See Stephanie Rummler with any questions.
- iTime PLC - this week's PLC time will be in the library working within your advisory teams as to what each teacher will be doing with their iTime groups.
- Academic teachers should be coming to this PLC with a fairly solid plan in regard to who is doing what and with what students so that the PLC time can be use to plan and finalize things for the start of the next iTime rotation.
- Remember all iTime groups should be focused in providing intervention/enrichment within the areas of ELA and math.
- Huddle Time/Club Pictures - October 21 during the extended advisory time.
- Huddle Time: this time should be used to meeting one on one with each of your students in your advisory. Going over grades, working through needed materials, etc. to ensure all students know where they stand and what they need to do as we are approaching the end of term 1 (crazy by the way!).
- Club Pictures: Kim/Jane will be making announcements to have students report to a specific location throughout the extended advisory.
- Any questions see Barb Berezowitz.
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month - to show support those interest in participating please wear something pink to school on October 21st! Thank you :)
- FYI - Block Schedule next week Monday and Tuesday.
- Please note we have a different schedule for October 24 and October 25.
- During the Extended Advisory day students will be taking the Search Institute Survey. I will get more information to you later this week as all students who have not opted out (we will get you that list) will be taking this survey on their chromebooks.
- As students complete the survey you will continue using this advisory time for Huddle Time/time for students to get their necessary work completed.
- Reminder: October 28 is an all day teacher in-service day.
- From 8:00 - 11:30 everyone (district wide) will be meeting at BHS and the focus is on technology.
- More details will be sent out after our principal's meeting on October 18th.
- From 11:30 - 12:30 the entire staff BASD will be provided lunch by the district :). This will be a grill out style lunch!
- Starting at 12:30 - 4:00 we will be meeting back in the Karcher library for our building level in-service with the focus around essential skills.
- Our ELA staff will be participating in the Lucy Calkins training held at Karcher in the 21st Century Lab from 8:00 - 2:00. You will be able to attend the BASD lunch from 11:30 to 12:30.
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Pictures from the week
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I can't believe this but I did not capture any pictures this week :( this will be the first time since I joined Karcher that I missed pictures from a specific week. I apologize and will have to work extra hard this week to capture all the great things I see in your classrooms on a consistent basis!
Article of the week: Here is the second half of last week's article relating to student engagement.
The Icing or the Cake?
Teachers can plan for student engagement so that it's more than just decoration.
Please, please, please try to just shake it up sometimes. Give us a variety of work and activities and don't just stick to the same type of lesson every day."
This student's plea, reported in Grant Wiggins' 2014 Annual Student Survey of Academic Experience, reflects the longing of students in classrooms everywhere. Embedded in this learner's request are the top three culprits of classroom boredom, echoed by numerous high school students in the same survey: "Our assignments are just busywork," "There's no variety in what we do from day to day," and "The teacher talks too much."
It's tempting to dismiss such comments as the predictable complaints of adolescents who are inundated with compelling and distracting content from screens and social media. But similar themes emerged in the responses of elementary and middle school students who were surveyed with the same questions (Wiggins, 2014a, 2014b). Both common sense and research tell us that an engaged student at any grade level will invest—and therefore achieve—more than will a disengaged student (Sousa and Tomlinson, 2011; Hattie, 2012; Walkington, 2013). So instead of disregarding these students' complaints, we should use them to catapult us toward more effective planning.
How then can teachers plan lessons that address required content and standards while promoting student investment? We offer the following four practical principles that address sources of disengagement.
3. Gauge and respond to student progress frequently.
As students wrestle with complex ideas, they will inevitably progress at different rates and encounter "road bumps" along the way. To keep students engaged in worthwhile work, teachers must gather evidence about how students are grasping content and where they are getting stuck. However, like responses from student surveys, this formative assessment evidence must be used in order to have instructional power.
Therefore, when planning lessons, teachers may consider reserving time—perhaps the first 15 minutes of class—to revisit issues arising from the previous lesson's formative assessment results. This might mean answering a few intriguing questions, addressing a common misconception, or giving students different tasks for practice or reinforcement that address needs revealed in the assessments.
As a routine, this habit has several positive outcomes that influence student engagement. First, when students see that the teacher has taken time to read and address what they have written, they are more likely to invest in giving honest responses. Second, students who see their teachers using their responses to drive instruction become more comfortable with the reality that everyone has different learning needs.
Teachers are often reticent to acknowledge students' different learning trajectories, fearing that students will "feel bad" if their classmates know they "don't get it." But in classrooms where teachers respond to formative assessment evidence regularly, questions become the rule rather than the exception. In fact, surveyed students at all grade levels remarked that receiving extra teacher assistance, when needed, facilitated their learning because "every student learns at [his/her] own pace" (Wiggins, 2014a).
4. Offer choice.
There are inevitably spots in the curriculum—or even times of the year or day—that bring out the reluctance to learn in many (if not all) students. After repeated failed efforts to engage students at these points, a teacher might conclude, "Some kids just aren't motivated." But all human beings have passions, kinships, and areas of intrigue that motivate them to learn.
Few things motivate learners of all ages more than choice. Choice not only satisfies the innate human desire for autonomy and ownership, but can also increase student engagement in a task. Teachers can offer choice by appealing to two kinds of interests: personal and situational (Schraw, Flowerday, & Lehman, 2001).
Personal interests are those that the student brings to the classroom. Students "own" personal interests and develop them over time. Examples include playing video games, shooting hoops, and cartooning. One of many ways that teachers can proactively uncover personal interests is by asking students to make a pie chart representing their personal interests proportionally as different "slices."
Harnessing students' personal interests may be as simple as allowing students to listen to podcasts on the topic of their choice with the purpose of examining organizational structure. Alternatively, when students practice math skills by calculating discounts and sales tax, a teacher might provide them with ads for products corresponding to their personal interests. Although not all personal interests relate directly to curricular topics and skills, teachers can find and use patterns among interests—like technology, sports, music, and animals—to form interest-based groupings, design tasks, and make connections among school, learning, and real life.
In contrast, situational interests arise from a situation, such as those created by teacher-designed lessons and tasks. They are more spontaneous and "in the moment." Teachers can uncover students' situational interests before or during a unit by providing straightforward prompts such as the following:
- Here are some things we will be learning about. Which three topics sound most interesting to you? Explain why you chose each one.
- On a scale of 0 to 5 (0 = not interesting at all, 5 = super interesting), how interesting do you find what we're working on right now? Explain your rating.
- What might make you more interested in the topic we're studying?
Research suggests that situational interest in a text or task actually increases with choice, even when personal interest is low (Schraw, Flowerday, & Lehman, 2001). Teachers can harness and create situational interest simply by providing students with options for how they will express their learning. Strategies like learning menus and jigsaw tasks promote choice in processing activities and assessments. Even asking, "Given a choice tomorrow, would you rather learn about this topic by watching a video, reading about it, or listening to a podcast?" can pique students' interest and heighten engagement.
Teachers can also design tasks with simple variations that allow students to wrestle with the same learning goals in slightly different contexts. Figure 1 (p. 19) provides several examples of such assignment options.
Figure 1. Examples of Assignment Options
Choices like these motivate students to focus on important, required content while giving them a say in how they accomplish the learning goals. They meet the high standard of one 8th grader who said, "The work has to be fun, but also get the point across" (Wiggins, 2014b).
Not Just an "Extra"
These four principles offer practical ways to forge connections and infuse interest into the school day. It's easy to think of student engagement as an extra, or something to consider after getting the real unit or lesson in order. But students of all ages long to enjoy what they are doing and connect to what they are studying, to their teacher, and to their classmates. Planning with student engagement in mind helps teachers meet students' real, human needs, without sacrificing their academic growth. It's not the icing on the cake; it's the cake itself.
