Pickleball, YoTeach!

Excellence in Education: Pickleball
For last week's Mustang Morning, Coach Price Thomas offered ninth graders the opportunity to play pickleball. Most of the students didn't know what they were signing up for because they haven't heard or played pickleball before. One day after school, I overheard a couple of students talking about how much they enjoyed it. 

When I went to share the news with Coach PT, I hadn't realized that the students didn't know what pickleball was so she told me that she spent much of the time introducing it to the students, many of whom were not stellar students or athletes. But what she said next was what impressed me most and has relevancy for all of us: These students are going to be ahead of their peers when we get to this unit. They're going to be experts.

What a great approach to Mustang Morning that we could all use! Instead of catching the students up, why not accelerate their learning by pre-teaching. This might mean finding a way to pique student interest with a video, building their background knowledge, introducing a concept or pre-teaching vocabulary. Instead of focusing on remediation or re-teaching, why not turn Mustang Morning upside down by advancing their learning before class? 

Excellence in Education: YoTeach! A Backchannel
I was a big fan of Today's Meet, a backchannel used to facilitate discussions. This summer, Today's Meet ceased operations. I found a great alternative though Yo Teach! 

How's it work: 

1. Go to the site and name your room and give it a description.
2. Optionally, activate the admin, password and "avoid search" functions. The admin function gives you the ability to mute/remove students, delete the room and view some simple stats about student participation.
3. Share the url with students and they enter their name or nickname.

Two cool student features are the ability for them to participate in the conversation and the multimedia features. Sometimes when discussing a sensitive topic, students may want to do this anonymously so allowing them to  use a nickname is a good idea. The multimedia features for students include a whiteboard and the ability to take pictures. The whiteboard feature would be great for a math class and the picture feature could be used for students to respond with pictures or respond to a carousel walk or to take pictures of "evidences" of exemplary work or something then need more help with.

Need to Knows/Dos
We are sending out a weekly email to all students' k12albemarle accounts with information about the week's events and other useful information (Mustang Morning, Homecoming, etc). As educators the county is requiring us not to use students' personal emails to communicate. Students can learn how to link their school email with their phone by visiting the Digital Passport in Blackboard. Also, if you would like something sent/included, just let me know.
 
If you have a student with a computer issue, needs to print.

This week's tasks for staff:

1. As part of the Crisis Management Plan, all staff members are required to complete this survey. Please complete by Friday.
2. Emergency Lesson plans are also due by Friday. Please submit these electronically into the Google Team Drive: Monticello Emergency Lesson Plans. 
3. We're in need of a teacher representative for our PTSO. We meet once a month (first Tuesdays at 6pm). Please let me know if you're interested.

PLCs 

• Use a data analysis tool (models in PLC Handbook) to analyze your pre-assessment
• Use data to begin discussing students 
• Create SMART Goals
• Design Mustang Morning system to provide specialized instruction 
• Upcoming: Meet with John (LTI), AVID team member, Beth Brown (Illuminate)

September 11, 12: Underclassman Pictures 
September 12: Back To School Night (schedule below)

Field Trips and SOLs

Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday: SOL Testing for Seniors and Select Others, See Ms. Pryor's email *sent Friday at 9:42am





Stats of the Week: GPAs by Race/Ethnicity

AS: Asian, BL: Black, WH: White, HL: Hispanic, MR: Mixed Race
 
Birthdays
Sept 10: Cullen Wade
Sept 11: Rob Garland
Sept 12: Pamela McGhee, cafeteria
Sept 14: Kelly Kroese, Geoffrey Parks


Shout Outs


Thanks to Rob Ayres, Deandra McDonald, Chris Stanek, John Kinney, and Paige Pippin for their work with students taking the SOLs this week.









Useful Information
The presentations and resources from the first couple of days have been added to the Monticello Team Drive on Google.

Don't forget to use the Shared Monticello Calendar. 

Bell Schedules : http://bit.ly/MOHSbells

Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm

Announcement Request: http://tinyurl.com/requestannouncement

Teacher Handbook

Useful Information: Mustang Morning
Three new groups have been created. One is for AM CATEC students (these students can never be here for Mustang Mornings). The other is for seniors who do not have a 1st period. It has been explained to these students that if they are requested by a teacher, they must be here.

We will NOT process Mustang Morning attendance for Honor Societies.

The system is available to you through the first week of October. Students will have 1 week at a time access with it opening during 1st period on Monday.  On Mondays, please make sure to:

1. Post the slides for new clubs and enrichment activities. 
2. Check all students schedules for the week to ensure all students have signed up. 
3. Help students or sign students up who have not signed up for a session. 

During Mustang Morning sessions:

1. Please take attendance and update attendance, if needed. 
2. Do not allow students to go to another location (this includes school counselors, unless it's an emergency). The exception: the student was absent and visiting other teachers to catch up. This student should go to their assigned session and that teacher will record attendance and write a pass to the next teacher. Please communicate with the other teacher as appropriate. 

Worth Your Time
35 Google Classroom Resources That Will Make Your Day

A Sleeping Student Wouldn't Wake Up, So an Officer Pulled Out Her Taser

Take A Closer Look at Those Back To School Photos, Is Something Missing?



Back to School Night Schedule

Time	Period
6:30-6:55	Mr. Vrhovac’s Presentation in Auditorium
7:00-7:07	1A
7:12-7:19	2A
7:24-7:31	3A
7:36-7:43	4A
7:48-7:55	1B
8:00-8:07	2B
8:12-8:17	3B
8:22-8:29	4B

Creating Reflective and Visible Learners

Excellence in Education: Creating Reflective, Visible Learners
 In walking around classrooms on Friday, I saw a simple assignment that immediately drew my attention. After drawing the world on one side of a paper, Mr. Burton's World Geography students answered the following four questions:

• One a scale of 1-4, how representative do you think your drawing of the world is? 
• Why was this a tough exercise? Why is your map not as representative as you might have thought? 
• Where did you start your drawing? Why did you begin there? 
• What does this tell you about perspective?

What made this assignment so powerful was that it created visible learners.

John Hattie (2009) used the term visible learners or those who "exhibit the self-regulatory attributes that seem most desirable for learners (self-monitoring, self-evaluation, self-assessment, self-teaching). Mr. Burton's simple assignment focuses on student learning by making creating opportunities for students to become visible learners by:

1.  All students should understand their current status or level of understanding.
2.  Assessments in advance of instruction can activate background knowledge and help students understand what they don't know and need to learn.
3. The ability for students to recognize what they know and don't know builds metacognitive awareness.  
4. Relevancy can be built by enabling students to see themselves as learners.
5. Students are learning the value of assessing their own learning and are not reliant on the teacher. 
6. The feedback the students provide to themselves is specific and actionable, meaning the students know where they have to improve. 
7. The students' struggles are productive and enable students to monitor their own progress. 
8. Students were encouraged to be reflective and self-questioning. For example, compare how different the student learning experience would have been if Mr. Inman asked, "If I were to have you draw a map of the world, where would you start?" After the student(s) answer, in a more teacher-centered classroom, Mr. Burton would have then explained perspective.

I didn't get a chance to follow-up with Mr. Burton, so I don't know if this learning activity was his or one all World Geography teachers used. 

An Idea for Friday Lessons or Mustang Mornings:

As much as possible practice should be self-directed. To create opportunities for such practice, allow students to review the week's work and allow students to choose an assignment that they would like to improve on or redo. This could be a homework assignment, a quiz, an interactive notebook, a lab report, etc. You may want to post the learning objectives for the week to help guide students.

If you feel more structure is needed, you could start with a formative assessment/quiz (need not be entered into the gradebook) that takes 15 minutes and allow students to spend the next 15 minutes improving their learning in weak areas. This would also work well with a flipped and/or blended learning environment. 

For students who may not need this time, they could work on an enrichment activity enabling them to dive deeper.

What are some other Friday or Mustang Morning activities that you would like to share?

Need to Knows
Mr. Atkins' Field Trip and Crisis Management Presentation and a presentation made to new teachers about TPA has been added to the Monticello Team Drive in Google. 

Mustang Morning and Clubs
With only a couple of classes still to be added, our Mustang Morning and Clubs schedule is almost finished for the first week. Tomorrow, I will be working with these teachers to complete the process.   Students will get a chance to sign-up for clubs and Mustang Mornings on Wednesday. Honestly, I'm not sure how it works from the students' perspective and how far out they can assign themselves. Please be sure to double-check your Mustang Mornings and Groups. You can change your rooms and the capacities. Again, this is an evolving process that we will tweak and improve throughout the course of the year. 

Other notes:

• Next Friday's Mustang Morning is the "Monday" schedule--moved because of Labor Day
• Students will also use this to sign-up for the Pep Rally. Instead of having a massive sign-out, our plan is to offer students two options. Option 1: Go to Pep Rally; Option 2: Go to a "study hall". If you are not into the pep rally, let us know and we'll assign you to another location. 

PLC Goals for the week:

• Begin analyzing common pre-assessments through a data protocol and drafting of SMART goals
• Schedule meetings with John Mitchem, LTI
• Ensure you're on the same page in regards to Mustang Morning 

First 2 Weeks Schedule

Extended 1st Block August 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30
7:40-8:40	Zero Period
8:55-11:05	1st Period
11:10-1:00	2nd Period Lunch Class 1st: 11:05-11:35 11:40-1:00 2nd: 11:50-12:15 11:10-11:50 and 12:20-1:00 3rd: 12:30-1:00 11:10-12:30
1:05-2:25	3rd Period
2:30-3:50	4th Period

AM CATEC Students: Depart from Monticello High School at 9am and return from CATEC and 
return to Monticello High School at 11:55am

PM CATEC Students: Leave class at 12:50pm for 12:55pm bus departure 

Wednesday, August 22	Computer Distribution
Thursday, August 23	Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors: Naviance Goal Setting Lesson Freshman: Class Meeting
Friday, August 24	8 Period Day
Monday, August 27	Senior: Class Meeting Freshman: Naviance Goal Setting Lesson Sophomores/Juniors: Club Slide Presentation
Tuesday, August 28	Junior: Class Meeting Freshman/Seniors: Club Slides Sophomores: Naviance Strengths
Wednesday, August 29	All: Club Sign-up and Mustang Morning
Thursday, August 30	Sophomore: Class Meeting Freshman, Junior, Senior: Naviance Strengths

*activities listed in right column begin at 10:30-11:05

Club Day with No Lunch August 31

0 Period: 7:40-8:40

1A: 8:55-9:35

CLUB: 9:40-10:03

1B: 10:08-10:46

2A: 10:51-12:16 Lunch 1 10:46-11:16 Lunch 2 11:20-11:45 Lunch 3 11:51-12:16

2B: 12:21-12:59

3A: 1:04-1:42

3B: 1:47-2:25

4A: 2:30-3:08

4B: 3:13-3:50

AM CATEC Students: Depart from Monticello High School at 9am and return from CATEC 
and return to Monticello High School at 11:55am.

PM CATEC Students: Leave class at 12:50pm for 12:55pm bus departure.

Fire Drill: Wednesday during 3A 

September 5: College Planning Night 
September 6: Monticello Lead Teacher Meeting 
September 7: Long Lunch A-Day (because of no school on Monday) with Mustang Morning. 
Students/Teachers will follow Monday Mustang Morning Assignments (we'll have to see how that works in system)

Field Trips and SOLs







Stats of the Week

Birthdays
Adam Conner: August 29
Susie Neuhauser: August 30
Shannon Cruthirds: September 2
Shamika Terrell: September 3
Sorry if I'm missing anyone new. 

Shout Outs


To our school counselors for doing a great job of getting our students fully scheduled for this year. It's not an easy task and there are probably still some changes to come, but they've maintained a student-centered focus!







Useful Information
The presentations and resources from the first couple of days have been added to the Monticello Team Drive on Google.

Don't forget to use the Shared Monticello Calendar. 

Bell Schedules : http://bit.ly/MOHSbells

Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm

Announcement Request: http://tinyurl.com/requestannouncement

Teacher Handbook

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VDoE Releases SOL Test Scores from Last Year (State Averages)

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