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Volume 1, Issue 1 2/26/2007
Have you hugged your administrator today? |
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Why a Newsletter?
Since this is the first time I have done this, bear with me. One of the major complaints I had as a teacher was the lack of communication between the various groups of people involved in the process of educating our youth. It was suggested to me that I send out a newsletter to help bridge the gap that exists between “downtown” and the high schools, specifically pertaining to the two departments with which I work. I thought it was a great idea and regret it has taken me this long to be able to send something to you. I would ask that you respectfully not “throw” my name around as saying this, that, or the other from what you read here. I felt a few times this year
as if I were on the cover of a tabloid and really didn’t like it. This newsletter is simply a way to disseminate information to the individuals I represent and would ask it be used as such. Thank you.
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What’s New in Foreign Language?
French phrase for the day:
Il a mis de l’eau dans son vin.=He’s mellowed out.
If you don’t know how to say it, ask a French teacher.
First, I want to acknowledge the teachers from Spain for coming over and staying!!! American high school is a culture shock for those of us who attended here, let alone are visiting from another country. I’d like to send a “shout out” to Juan at Guilford, Martino at East, Theresa and Cristina at Jefferson, and Maria from Columbia, who is also at Guilford, for hanging in there. Thanks for doing a great job.
Foreign language will offer two new classes in Spanish next year. Spanish for Native Speakers to support that growing population, and AP Spanish. We are very excited these are going to be offered and even more excited that they are grant funded.
Fourth year Japanese will be offered at Guilford as of next year. We were very fortunate to find not only one, but two wonderful Japanese teachers for this year. Yoko was with us first semester, and Maiko is with us this semester. Please extend a warm welcome to her as this is her first high school position.
This year I’d like the high schools to handle the placement testing of incoming freshmen and students new to the district. Last year, the middle school teachers did it and did a fine job. This year I’d like to take that off their plate and have the incoming students take the Placement test on the registration nights provided by each high school. Not everyone has to take the test, just those who feel they can place into second or third year language. I would ask that each department create one placement test which will be used for these two evenings. Plan on the first week of April to have your tests ready to go. Also, make them user friendly enough so that a non-language teacher can give them. We will meet before April to finalize this plan.
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What’s New in English?
"Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug"By Mark Knopfler; recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter
First, I hope everyone is using the binder and finding it to be user friendly. Hopefully, you are doing your best with all of the information that you are required to cover. We will meet again this summer to discuss tweaking what’s been done. I can’t thank enough those people who contributed to the creating of the binder. I have heard it really is a big help.
There is a new English teacher at Auburn High school. Her name is Aya Sato and she is a recent grad. Please welcome her and relay some of your first year teacher stories when
you see her. Mine included retching everyday before I went to work. Things did get better, and 18 years later, I’m still here. Ugh! Has it been that long?!
News writing will be offered at all of the high schools next year and will serve as a prereq for Newspaper and Yearbook.
The AP Audit deadline is June 1st and I’m meeting with the curriculum team to discuss our plans for this. AP teachers will hear from me in the near future on what was decided and the plan of action. We will be discussing this with your building administration as well. Implementation details will be coming soon.
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Freshman Foundation
As most of you know, the Freshman Foundation will be in place next year. There will be one person who oversees this area in each building. Two of these people are English teachers: Cathy Powers at East and Mark Wallace at Guilford. Your building administrators
will be looking for enthusiastic Freshmen-teaching candidates, so don’t be shy if you feel you fit this description. The details of how everything is going to fit into place are being worked out currently, so don’t become agitated if no one seems to have all the answers for you right now. Your patience and support are appreciated.
After attending a meeting this morning, I feel that this has been more organized on the frontend than many things I have seen implemented over the years. This year, there is more planned collaboration between middle and high schools in ensuring student success than I have ever seen. With all new things, the first year might not be pretty, but at least we’re trying to move ahead.
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Other English Issues: Laptops
I have not forgotten about the laptop initiative. Let me fill you in on what has taken place. I spoke to Dr. Thompson a while ago and asked if we could wait on this initiative. My reasons were simple: I didn’t feel that the group had had enough time to hammer out the details of how this was going to work, I felt people were really stressed and pushed for time to meet the 24 hour instruction requirement, and the timeline I had planned for implementation was not where I wanted it to be. The bottom line is we are going to offer the opportunity to anyone who is interested in a laptop with the same agreement as I sent out earlier. The only difference is those people will meet for four days during the summer instead of evenings or Saturdays. I thought more
people might be interested in this, and if you are, please let me know by May 1, 2007. You must teach English for at least .6 of your day to be eligible. This is an opportunity to have your students’ portfolios on the computer. If you prefer to keep the folders in crates in your room, that’s fine. I wanted to create another avenue by which we could utilize space, time, and technology. Anyone who thinks English teachers aren’t overloaded with papers to grade has never taught English and shouldn’t complain that the English teachers have this opportunity. I look forward to meeting over the summer prior to this training to discuss how we will set up these electronic portfolios. As always, I welcome your input, especially those of you who are techies.
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More English Info.
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."Henry Ford
The professional development calendar is in the process of being finalized so I wanted you to be aware of upcoming events. I can’t give you the dates yet, but know that June and August have been set aside for curriculum related activities. A two day Springboard training will be a part of that. I’m hoping to meet with specific groups to target areas that I wasn’t able to cover last summer.
I met with the Data Teams coaches representing each high school last week. It sounds as if Guilford and Jefferson are off to a great start. I will be around to see how these teams are doing as soon as I can. Please let me know the make up of the data team for your English department so I know whom to talk to about your plan.
Many thanks to Kristina at Guilford for sending out an ace reporter and photographer to cover the robotics story at Tech Works. There is so much happening with vocational opportunities in manufacturing and technology that I hope we do a better job of educating our students about their options. My knowledge base has increased immensely since I started attending the Educational Outreach Committee meetings as of this year.
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Requests:
Again, I’m asking for your department meeting minutes. If you don’t have someone in charge of taking the minutes and delivering them to me, choose someone. I can’t make it to every meeting, and it helps me know what’s going on. I want to give a “shout out” to Jefferson English for keeping me informed on a regular basis. I look forward to English and Foreign Language department minutes from now until the end of the school year. I will inform your building administration of this arrangement.
I hope everyone is gearing up for the PSAE. “March Madness” of a different sort will be upon us soon as we try to shift the students’ mindset from the weather to the ACT. I believe your individual school will give out practice materials to help you get going. Please go over grammar again with them as this seems to be an area where they consistently need reinforcement. Also, anything you can do to enhance their organizational skills would be beneficial as well. Remember, ACT scores in English went up as the result of taking speech. Take a page out of your speech teacher’s book and up those scores.
Finally, I’d like to send warm wishes for good health to Tiffany Sago-Gray and Charles Joseph. |
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