Allan's Announcements

By Allan 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=3678

Hi Everyone,

If you’d like a deliciously unhealthy dinner on Monday between 5:00-8:00, Jake’s Wayback Burger, owned by a former Howard parent who’s son used to be in my 2/3 classroom, is giving 15% of all sales during that time to Howard! Then have a pint on Sunday the 14th at The Growler Guys to support Howard as well, if that sounds like a good time.

Eleven items of note this week:

• More Housing in our Attendance Area – A flyer from the City of Eugene came to Howard last week letting us know that they have conditionally approved a tentative subdivision located between Maxwell and North Park Ave. (the field across North Park from Kelly), which will be 40 residential lots and one commercial lot.

On a related note, the apartment complex on River Road, named the Ecco Apartments, is now accepting applications. Looking at their website, they’re marketing themselves as having “resort-style community amenities” and are renting 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments. I contacted them and they plan for tenants to begin moving in around mid-January and plan on opening their final building in March.

• “Taking it Up” Opportunity – There will be an opportunity next month for any staff member, licensed or classified, interested in attending “Taking it Up” who have not already attended. The two-day seminar will be offered January 13th and 14th. Downtown is paying all of the registration fees and I will pay for substitutes if any of you would like to attend this excellent two-day experience. Two graduate credits will also be available. For those not familiar with “Taking it Up”, it is a provocative seminar focused on helping educators, school board leaders, and community members deepen their understanding of the institutionalized racist barriers that hinder elimination of Oregon’s racial achievement gap. This focus on working from the inside out will challenge participants to step out of their comfort zone and create new entry points for becoming aware of, understanding, and interrupting inequitable policies and practices in our schools. Space is limited and downtown would like everyone registered by December 19th. See this email for further details. Please let me know before Winter Break if you would like to attend this high quality and challenging workshop.

• Smarter Balanced Updates – Downtown has scheduled the site test coordinator training for Smarter Balanced for the end of January, so we’ll have more information to share after that. In the meantime, attached are some item you may want to read over now and will probably answer a lot of the questions you may have:

• The Test Administration Manual, which is required reading for access to TIDE and the Smarter Balanced/OAKS Assessments
• The Accessibility Manual, which covers the Universal Tools, Designated Supports, and Accommodations for the SB/OAKS Assessments
• Test Administrator checklists to aid in your planning

• Houghton Mifflin CCSS Upgrade – The School Board did approve the HM CCSS update for Howard and all of the other six HM schools (River Road, YG/Corridor, Buena Vista, Edgewood and Edison) who’s staffs were also interested in getting the updated materials. I did get answers to a couple questions that came up at our meeting on Monday. One, we will be getting both hard copies of the updated program and also digital versions that will work on laptops and iPads. And two, the timeline is up to us in terms of when to begin using the updated materials. I’ll share more once we get more information about trainings and planning time.

• Superintendent Search Updates & Online Survey – The school board is seeking input on what you’d like for a new superintendent. This online survey will be up Monday, December 8th through Dec. 19th to solicit input. There will also be a parent forum December 16th, 7:00-8:00 PM and a public input session at the December 17th School Board meeting. Final candidates will be in Eugene for community meetings March 4-6.

• PDU’s Available – For licensed staff who need to collect professional development units (PDUs) for licensure renewal, I wanted to remind you that I can write up PDU certificates for our building PD days and for some staff meetings. Just let m know if you’d like one and I can get it to you.

• Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there’s a good video on how to use a Socratic Circle (also known as a Socratic Seminar) as a dialogic approach to understand information in a text. The video features a 2nd grade classroom from San Bernardino, CA.

• Learning Palace Coupon – Learning Palace sent me a 15% off coupon that can be used at any of their store locations. The coupon is valid from Dec. 8th – Dec. 15th.

• Study: Active learning helps black students with STEM subjects – This study was done with older students, but it can easily apply to younger students. Using active learning, rather than lectures, to teach science, technology, engineering and math may help to close the diversity gap in STEM fields, according to recent research on how black students learn best.

• VIDEO: Jay Smooth: Ferguson, riots and human limits – This video about Ferguson is a week old, though I’d say it also applies to the the recent Eric Garner chokehold death decision in New York, but Jay Smooth, who’s TED Talk on “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Discussing Race” I shared at last week’s PD, has just about the smartest, best, most empathic take on the civil unrest in Ferguson following the failure of the prosecutor to secure an indictment. He quotes Martin Luther King: “riots are the language of the unheard.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v-Pd62hq0w

 

• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

December 8 (M)
The Week of the “Hour of Code”
Fake Holiday: “Pretend to be a Time Traveller Day”
Reading and Math Progress Monitoring 6
2:30-3:30, Allan to Elementary Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)

December 9 (T)
9:00-4:00, Allan to Reclassification Meeting Training (Ed Center)
4:00-6:00, Best Practices in Writing Workshop Opportunity (Ed Center)

December 10 (W)
Data Team Meetings
8:30-1:00, Fluoride Varnish (Room 11)
9:00-10:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Trailer)
9:30-12:00, 3rd Grade Salmon Release Field Trip (Alton Baker Park)
9:30-4:30, Allan to Reclassification Meeting Training (Ed Center)

December 11 (H)
8:00-3:00, Teacher Leaders & Allan to North Region BAW Training (Awbrey Park)

December 12 (F)
12:15, Allan to IEP Meeting

December 14 (SU)
11:00-10:00, PTO Fundraiser at The Growler Guys

December 15 (M)
Regular Day

December 16 (T)
8:00-9:00, Allan to Superintendent Search Gocus Group (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 7)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)

December 17 (W)
8:30, Fire Drill
11:00, PRIDE Awards at Lunch
1:30-3:00, Bi-Lingual Office Assistant Interviews (Office)

December 18 (H)
2:30-3:30, Staff Hot Chocolate Bar (Library)
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Meeting

December 19 (F)
10:55-12:30, Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Room 11)
1:00-1:30, Tail Feather Rewards – Extravaganza of Ridiculousness!

December 22 (M) – January 2 (F)
Winter break

January 5 (M)
Classes Resume

Two more weeks until Winter Break!

Allan