Welcome back to a brand new school year! I hope each of you enjoyed the long and lazy days of summer, even if they were jam packed with fun. This year I am looking forward to getting to the Heart of the Matter: Academic Excellence at Coconino High School, with you. We all play an integral part in creating a culture of excellence at CHS, and I am excited to continue the journey.
As we embark on the voyage of a new school year together, there are some important dates and events for you to keep in mind.
We have a district 301 day on August 7. Click here for the True North Logic Access Portal, where you will need to go to register for the 301 Day Keynote. Once at the site, click Professional Learning across the top , then enter the title Grading form the Inside Out, the next window will display the course as # 49393 2017 301 Keynote. Follow the prompts to register.
After that, we have two days of fellowship and learning together on campus.
On Tuesday, August 8, we will kick-off the 2017-18 school year with our colleagues from around the district at Flagstaff High School at 8:00am. After Kick-Off, you have time to work in your classrooms and take care of business. We will meet in the CHS Outdoor Classroom for RootBeer floats provided by Pepsi of Flagstaff at 2:30pm.
Wednesday, August 9, our very own Student Council will provide a delicious breakfast and our admin team is hosting lunch. Be sure to wear your walking shoes and comfy clothes for a colorful, scavenging good time. We will convene at 9:30am in the mini-theater. In the afternoon, you will have more time in your classrooms.
WHAT ELSE?...
The administrative team and several teachers have spent some time this summer reflecting, learning, participating in a book study, attending conferences, and thinking about how we can move together into the Heart of the Matter: Academic Excellence. Over the past several years we have all been working in our CHS Professional Learning Community thinking about how best to reach our students and developing effective lessons and improving student learning. The recurring question is how can we improve lesson design so that learning becomes more discovery and inquiry and less delivery? This is directly related to the seven Learning Growth Targets that we will focus on over the course of the year. Think updated Blooms Taxonomy. We will be looking at some common language involved in understanding the 7 Learning Growth Targets in addition to the other programs and philosophies that I am excited to explore more deeply over the course of this school year and beyond. I don't want to overwhelm you right now, but wanted to give you an idea about the areas of focus for this school year.
The administrative team and several teachers have spent some time this summer reflecting, learning, participating in a book study, attending conferences, and thinking about how we can move together into the Heart of the Matter: Academic Excellence. Over the past several years we have all been working in our CHS Professional Learning Community thinking about how best to reach our students and developing effective lessons and improving student learning. The recurring question is how can we improve lesson design so that learning becomes more discovery and inquiry and less delivery? This is directly related to the seven Learning Growth Targets that we will focus on over the course of the year. Think updated Blooms Taxonomy. We will be looking at some common language involved in understanding the 7 Learning Growth Targets in addition to the other programs and philosophies that I am excited to explore more deeply over the course of this school year and beyond. I don't want to overwhelm you right now, but wanted to give you an idea about the areas of focus for this school year.
In addition, as we move toward offering an International Baccalaureate (IB) Curriculum at CHS, we will guide our students in developing learner attributes. These attributes are identified in the Learner Profile, which is an awesome and comprehensive collection of qualities and mindsets that will help our students become passionate lifelong learners. You can read more about the IB Learner Profile here. As our students learn to embody these attributes, I am excited to explore how we can grow in these areas as a professional community as well.
We have an exciting year ahead of us and several new team members that will be joining our Panther Family. Please welcome our new faculty and staff members. I will introduce them in next week's blog and again when we convene on Wednesday, August 9.
I am looking forward to to seeing you all soon!
PRESS ON! PANTHER STRONG!
Just for fun, below is a video you might enjoy (intended for elementary, but fun never the less).
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