PantherReport October 29-Nov2

Celebrating Success
Listening to students in Jim McNease's class arguing enthusiastically about issues, people and current events makes you realize that our students do care about the world around them and its influence on all of our lives. Students in Jim McNease and Lori Wright's co-taught U.S.History class were asked to read  about and discuss hot topics such is immigration, abortion, education etc. and formulate opinions based on the information they read and talked about.  Students respectfully and intelligently shared their opinions with one another. It was truly encouraging to see so many students participate in this type of discourse.

IEPs
Just another reminder about what an important role you play in the IEP Process. Your input is very valuable and provides critical information for the success of our students. By law there needs to be a general education teacher at each of these meetings.  If you know in advance that you are unable to make an IEP meeting, please make contact with the case manager (either through email or in person) as far in advance as possible and give a report on the student's strengths and weaknesses. Your presence is preferred, but in your absence a written report will help the IEP team make appropriate decisions about each student's individual education plan.   Please know that when you are paged to attend a meeting, this is just a friendly reminder.

Thanks for your support of our special education students here at CHS!

Professional/Personal Leave
If you know in advance that you will be absent from school, please, please, please call off as far in advance as possible. This will help ensure that we have an adequate number of substitutes to cover classes.  As you know many CHS teachers are being asked to to sub on their prep period causing a lot of undue stress on one another. Should you need a quick tutorial on how to call off on-line, please see Becky or Jolene.

Halloween 
It is fine if students want to come to school in costume, but dress code still applies. If you are planning to dress in costume please help set the example, please do not wear hats or head coverings etc. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Planning ahead
Next week we will have a faculty meeting on Wednesday, November 7 at 1:30PM. There are several required trainings that need to take place before winter break, we will take care of this requirement during the faculty meeting. Then on Thursday Nov 8, our students will have an opportunity to hear from a special guest speaker, Colonel Richard Toliver, author of the book An Uncaged Eagle. This is an inspirational memoir of victory over adversity – The prevailing message is one of hope .  Colonel Toliver's story is very moving and he is eager to share his story with our students.  If you would like your students to attend, please sign up with Becky. Students who are signed up will go from ASP to the assembly. (Please note, this is next week, not this week).

Dates to Remember
10/31 PLCs:Collaboration time with colleagues from other schools
11/01 CHS Parent College Night 

PantherReport~October 22-26

Celebrating Success
In our brief visits to your classrooms Cris and I have seen some really dynamic strategies being used to increase vocabulary and writing opportunities. Kelly Koelfgin and Mike Vogler use a cool tool called a Vocabulary Cube that provokes students to think deeply about what they are reading and articulate why  a specific topic is important and relevant. Gaby Garcia is using the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey for her ASP. Students read and discuss the principles of the book together. Her ASP Students are thoroughly engaged and have expressed how much they are enjoying and benefitting from the Academic Support Period.  Keep up the great work everyone!

Panther Golf For the first time ever our Golf Team is going to the state playoffs.  Congratulations and Go Panthers!

Welcome Please join me in a warm welcome to our new Bookstore Manager, Carrie Crowther and our new Attendance Aide, Diana Middleton. We are happy you're here.

This week is Red Ribbon Week.  The red ribbons are in your mailboxes. Second hour teachers please distribute to your students on Monday during 2nd hour.

PLCs Thank you for the excellent work in clearly identifying the "What" students are expected to learn in each of your classes. This Wednesday please continue the work of articulating Essential Learning Outcomes and Content Objectives. If your Collaborative Team has completed this task you are free to work together to share ways you plan to assess whether or not your students are learning the outcomes.
We will not meet together this week. Also remember that the last Wednesday of each month is set aside for teachers to collaborate with colleagues in other buildings. We will meet as a Faculty on Wednesday November 7 @ 1:30PM in the mini-theater. Please mark your calendars. 

AIMS week has arrived. This week is AIMS for all 11th and 12th graders who have not yet passed. We will be testing in the small gym as well as in room numbers 407, 506 & 619.
Tuesday~Writing         Wednesday~Reading         Thursday~Math

Please note we will have combined lunch on Tuesday as well as the usual Wed and Thursday. See schedule for details and proctor assignments.

AIMS Schedule

New info on the PantherReport I am working on a new section for this the blog that contains frequently used forms and other commonly used documents. The Frequently used forms will be located on the upper right hand side of the blog above the photo box. You will soon be able to access late bus passes, MI forms, CHS announcement form, CHS letterhead etc...stay tuned.

Dates to Remember 
10/23,24,25 ~ AIMS
10/25 ~  V VB v. FHS 6:00 PM
10/26 ~  Teacher Focus Group in large conference room both lunches (Pizza provided)
10/26 ~ V FB @home  v. Chino Valley 

PantherReport-October 15

Celebrating Success
Did you know that we have two students who are Olympic Athletes? Yes, Kyle Yazzie and Ethan Kowena have qualified for the World Special Olympics. These students are headed to North Korea this winter to compete in the Cross Country Ski Competition. Congratulations to these hard working CHS students! Another point of light this year that I thought you all might like to know about is that CHS has a finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Award.  CHS Student, Marcus Braatz, was recognized among the highest scoring HS students in the U.S. on the PSAT which qualified him as a semi-finalist.  He then advanced to finalist based on his high academic performance and outstanding academic promise. Way to go Marcus!

Pre-Observation Conferences
Cris and I have enjoyed our brief conferences with many of you to set up your teacher observation profiles. The original sign up sheet is posted in the mail room. If you have not yet set up a time to meet you can do that with Becky. We will begin our rounds of informal and formal observations at the end of this month. We are looking forward to spending time in your classrooms.

PLCs
This Wednesday 10/ 17 we will continue our work on developing Content Objectives based on our Essential Learning Outcomes. I will be sending you a document before Wednesday, that helps clearly define both Learning Outcomes and Content Objectives. I hope you will find this to be a useful tool. Tadd and I will be available in the mini-theater on Wednesday at 1:00 PM to answer questions or help clarify this task, should you need us. Otherwise plan on meeting with your subject level teams Wednesday afternoon.
Future work: Several of you have asked when we are going to begin work on creating benchmark formative assessments. Once we finish the work with the underlying question#1. What do we want students to know and be able to do?, we will transition to question #2; How will we know if they have learned what we want them to know and be able to do?

Dr. Schmoker
For some of you Mike's presentation was inspiring and provoked some thought as to ways to incorporate his ideas into your teaching, and for others it went over like a lead balloon. As we all know there is no magic bullet and teaching and learning are mighty complex. It is my hope that we continue to have open and honest conversations that lead to concrete action steps toward improved student achievement at CHS.

Idea
I am thinking about hosting a kind of CHS Teacher Focus Group discussion. Last year we held lunch time focus groups with students which were very valuable. I am wondering if we did something similar for CHS teachers would you participate? I would be available during both lunches maybe one day per month to talk about current CHS issues and hot topics. I'll plan on starting this next Friday, October 26th in the mini theater.  You do not need to formally RSVP, but I would like to know if this is of interest to you.

This week at CHS
For your planning this week remember we have two events.  Wednesday, October 17 is PSAT testing in the small gym. Although this is primarily for juniors, freshmen and sophomores are eligible to test as well.  The last day for students to register is this Monday, October 15. We will make an announcement Wed morn to send all pre-registered students to the small gym for testing. No change in bell schedule.
Friday, October 19 we continue the tradition of having a  pre FHS, pep assembly. We will follow a combined lunch schedule this day. Gaby Garcia will send the schedule to you all on Monday.

Planning ahead
Next week is AIMS. 10/23-Writing, 10/24-Reading and 10/25 Math. Any junior or senior who has not yet passed AIMS is required to test (A letter to those students went home in early October).   Any junior student wishing to improve their score my also test. I will send the testing and proctoring schedule out early this week, but for your planning purposes the only day that the schedule will be modified is Tuesday October 23. We will have a combined late lunch, meaning periods 1,2,3, 4/5 will all come before lunch. Other than that there is not a whole lot of change to the bell schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday will not change at all.

Deep breath...
This Thursday we begin the new cycle for Panther Pathways and Interventions. Thanks to Dave Tessmer and his scientific mind, we have a concise and hopefully accurate list of students and where they are supposed to go. ASP teachers it is critical that you spend the time on Thursday to inform each student where they should go for their new Panther Pathway, Intervention or Study Hall.

Dates to Remember
10/16 VB all levels @ home v. Tuba
10/17 PSAT 8:00 AM
10/17 Frosh FB @ home v. FHS
10/19 Pep Assembly (Combined lunch)
10/19 V FB v. FHS 7:30 PM in the NAY SkyDome * FYI game price at the dome is $8.00 for everyone.  Our Athletic passes do not work at the dome. 

PantherReport October 8

Celebrating Success
College Visitation Day was a great success. A number of the college representatives commented about our students; their enthusiasm about the information being shared and overall pleasant attitudes. A special thank you to CHS Counselors for organizing the event and encouraging active participation by all seniors.

Academic Interventions 
The benefits are becoming apparent. Thank you everyone for hanging in there. Increased student achievement is the purpose behind the Thursday Structure. As Priscilla Aydelott so aptly describes "Every student who has come for intervention with an F has left with a passing grade as well as a much improved attitude about their ability to achieve.  The interaction of intervention also has improved my relationships with my struggling students.  I'm talking 100 % here". Thank you for sharing this success Priscilla.

PLCs
Our work on defining and articulating the "What we want students to know and be able to do" in our classrooms will continue. Analyzing our Essential Learning Outcomes and developing comprehensive Content Objectives will help us promote the desired knowledge, skills and attributes that we expect our students to acquire as a result of being actively engaged in every course we offer at CHS. This valuable work will be on- going as we continue to work together in our collaborative teams.
This week we will pause from our small CT work and work together to begin our journey with Dr. Schmoker. Please plan on arriving to the mini-theater before 1:15 on Wednesday. Dr. Schmoker will begin his presentation promptly at 1:15 P.M.

PBIS
The PBIS team is asking that we take a few minutes each period on  Wednesday 10/10 and Thursday 10/11 to do a "Behavior Blitz". This is simply devoting a few minutes of class time to remind students of our CHS expectations. During the blitz we'll concentrate on Hallway Expectations. Please reinforce with students that the only beverage containers permitted in school are those with a twist cap and that ear buds and headphones can be used outside, but are not permitted in the hallways. Remember the ear bud issue is relatively new and the explicit expectations were developed just this year. Our students will need many friendly reminders before  it becomes a natural instinct to put these away upon entering the building.

Text Books
If the text book you use for your class has an online version, please post the access code on your teacher web page.

Teacher Observations
This week Cris and I will begin conferencing with you in preparation for observations. Steve will be holding down the fort while we conference and when we have completed our conferences, Steve will hold conferences for teachers on his list to observe. You can refer to the Teacher Handbook to find out who will be observing and evaluating you this year. We look forward to visiting with you all and scheduling classroom observations.

Dates To Remember
10/8 CHS Choir Concert
10/9 Girls VB all levels @home vs. Camp Verde
10/10 Dr. Schmoker all faculty presentation 1:15 P.M. Mini-theater
10/11 Frosh and JV FB vs. Winslow @home
10/12 Varsity FB away vs. Winslow

"It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end."
               ~Ursula K. LeGuin (1929)-American Writer

Mid Week PantherReport

Reminder
Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 3, is PLC Day.  The format for our collaborative work this Wednesday is outlined below:

1. From 1:00PM - 1:45 PM meet in subject area teams. Using your agreed upon Essential Learning Outcomes, create a minimum of five Content Objectives (C.O.s). Some of the essential outcomes require numerous C.Os. This means that some of you will take one outcome and develop five, or more, C.O.s for that one essential learning outcome. Some outcomes need only one C.O. This is the part that will be determined by your team.
2. The recorder of the group will write the results of your work and submit this to Tadd Ragan.
3. If time allows, discuss how you are working to increase opportunities for students to write as often as possible in as many class periods as possible. 

At 1:45PM we will meet in the mini-theater for a faculty meeting. The topics to be discussed are PLC work, Our current reality at CHS (including Pathways/Interventions) and our work with Dr. Schmoker.  We will aslo hear from Lydia Hemphill-Smith (Our PTO Pres) and Dr. Ken Garland FUSD Director of finance. 

See you tomorrow!