Geneseo High School Blog Site

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Friday noteFriday Note for 4/27-5/1

Friday notefriday-note

Morning Supervision

North End: Rodriguez
South End: Scherer
South of Commons: Schneden
Cafeteria and Commons: Schnowske
Bus Supervision
Back Hallway: LaCroix                   Outside:  Laingen        Outside: Marsh

Early Bird Supervision
Rakestraw and Rehn                    Early Administration: Mackey

Reminders
•    Teachers – If you are taking an educational field trip you are filling out the reimbursement forms and sending them to the district office.
•    Cell phone experiment – Being March 30th the high school will experiment with cell phone use in the cafeteria. This is thinking outside the rectangular solid and will be monitored for two weeks after that date to see if it makes a difference. We are also working on blue tooth software that will give you the ability to know if someone has their cell phone on in your classroom from your computer.

Kudos
•    Kudos to Smith & Smith for showing students career options with the JA fair.
•    Kudos to Kathy Nelson for hosting the art fair and her enthusiam she brings to the fine arts.
•    Kudos to Sally, LaNel, Bart, Jon, and Pam for signing up to teach the ACT prep classes.
•    Kudos to Steve Scherer for giving us all the confidence that we have made the right choice to be at Geneseo High School
•    Remember to imagine yourself on a sandy beach or at your favorite vacation spot relaxing in the summer sun. Imagine your hands and feet getting warmer as you lazily watch the clouds going by overhead sipping on your favorite beverage.

Dates of Importance
Monday 3/16    Act Prep classes 3:30pm – 4:30pm and 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Monday 3/18    Act Prep classes 3:30pm – 4:30pm and 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Thursday 3/19    Department Chair Meeting 7:15am

Staff Welfare and Advisory –

Present: B. Smith, D. Fredericks, H. Green, T. Mackey

Questions and Concerns:

-    The last day of school will be June 8th unless there are more snow days.
-    How is attendance taken during link crew days? The link crew leaders will report to Melanie and Cheryl if anyone is missing in their groups.
-    People are signing up for the computer lab and then not showing up. If a teacher signs up for the computer lab and then changes plans please e-mail staff to let them know it is available.
-    The computer signal in the teachers lounge is not strong for the Internet. The technology coordinator will check into this.

Morning Supervision

North End: Aper
Hallway South of Café: Bott
South side: Brewer
Cafeteria & Commons: Brucher
Bus Supervision
Outside: Eberhardt        Outside:  Fiers           Back Hall: Eastlick
Early Bird Supervision
Early Bird: Croner and Mattie                    Early Administration: DePauw

Reminders
•    Teachers – The final exam schedule will be attached on the next page.
•    Teachers – Reminder to have the students use the designated restrooms if they have to leave your class and not the locker rooms. We have had a rash of thefts in the locker rooms.
•    Teachers- Reminder to have the students use the sign out sheets when they leave your classrooms.
•    Coaches – All schedules for summer activities needs to be to the athletic department by Feb 3rd.

Kudos
•    Cheryl Ewert and Melanie Rice for setting up the great study sessions. 50 students benefited from the event.
•    J. Wyffels, J. Croner, J. Young, G. Smith, S. Mattie, M. Ganson for helping students during the study sessions. The students really appreciate it.

Dates of Importance
1/12 Financial Aid Night Auditorium 7:00pm
1/13 Staff Welfare and Advisory 7:15am
1/14 Semester 1 Final Exams 2:00pm dismissal
1/15 Faculty meeting in Library 7:15am
1/15 Semester 1 Final Exams 2:00pm dismissal
1/16 Half-Day School Improvement

Final Exam Schedule
First Semester – January 2009

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

1st Hour Class            8:00 to 8:20 AM
1st Hour Exam        8:20 to 9:35 AM
2nd Hour Exam        9:45 to 11:00 AM
3rd Hour Class/Lunch
A Lunch    11:00 to 11:25 AM    Class 11:30 AM to 12:25 PM
B Lunch    11:30 to 11:55 AM    Class 11:05 to 11:30 AM and 12:00 to 12:25
C Lunch    12:00 to 12:25 PM    Class 11:05 AM to 12:00 PM
3rd Hour Exam        12:30 to 1:45 PM
Third Hour teachers distribute second semester schedules    1:45 to 2:00 PM

Thursday, January 15, 2009

4th Hour Class            8:00 to 8:20 AM
4th Hour Exam        8:20 to 9:35 AM
6th Hour Exam        9:45 to 11:00 AM
5th Hour Class/Lunch
A Lunch    11:00 to 11:25 AM    Class 11:30 AM to 12:25 PM
B Lunch    11:30 to 11:55 AM    Class 11:05 to 11:30 AM and 12:00 to 12:25
C Lunch    12:00 to 12:25 PM    Class 11:05 to 12:00 PM
5th Hour Exam        12:30 to 1:45 PM
Students will be released to clean lockers, see counselors if they have an open slot in their second semester schedules, wrap up any first semester obligations (library, office, cafeteria, etc), etc.    1:45 to 2:00 PM

Friday, January 16, 2009

EB Class            8:00 to 8:25 AM
EB Exam            8:25 to 9:40 AM
7th Hour Class            9:50 to 10:15 AM
7th Hour Exam        10:15 to 11:30 AM

2nd, 3rd, and 6th Hour Study Halls are mandatory for attendance.  All other Study Halls are optional.

Third hour Study Halls will meet in the auditorium on Wednesday.

friday-noteFriday note for 12/15 - 12/19

DEPARTMENT CHAIR MEETING NOTES

December 4, 2008

7:15 to 7:47 AM

Conference Room

In attendance:            S. Rehn, K. Kroener, L. Carey, J. Zum Mallen, J. Fiers, M. Haugse, S. Eberhardt, L. VanDerLeest, S. Scherer, A. Ringenberg, T. Minnaert, J. DePauw, T. Mackey

Topics:

Mike spoke about a conference he attended yesterday.  One of his sessions was on test prep for the ACT.  The speaker was good.  He said that taking time for test prep was not enough, there still needed to be a strong base in the appropriate content area being tested.  The speaker indicated that staff should always look to improve professional development.  At the speaker’s school, there were three levels in core areas, each with entrance and exit criteria.  Teachers should be teaching skills to prepare students for work and/or college.  Teachers should be able to tell, for each lesson, each day, what skill they are teaching and how is it reflected in curriculum.

Mike spoke to item number one on the agenda, in reference to movies in the classroom.  Movies are not necessarily bad, but only should be used when they reinforce a skill taught in the classroom.  We should continue to strive to protect instruction time.

Mike introduced topic number two from the agenda.  It opened up a lengthy discussion in reference to the use of Skyward.  It was the general feeling that there are still many components of the program that many of us are still not familiar.  Jan and Linda will put together, with input from staff, a list of topics that we would like Rayanne to address at in in-service, hopefully in January.  This led into topic number five, and the discussion continued.

Topic number three - The Gretchen Courtney audit has been received.  We are hoping that someone will be here before Christmas to go over it with us.

Topic Number four - Mike has requested a literacy / reading instructor be employed for next year.  Duties would include, as listed in the agenda.  The Board should vote on this at their December meeting.

Topic number II 1. - The budget - Mike complimented our staff on how they spend their money.  We have been told that our district will receive less money next year.  We are to try to only spend as needed.

Morning Supervision

North End: Murray
South End: Nelson
East Side: Neumann
Cafeteria: Obrecht
Bus Supervision
East End:  Schnowski        West End:  B. Smith        Back Side:  B. Smith

Early Bird Supervision
Hirschfelder and Johnson                    Early Administration: Mackey

Reminders

•  Considering all the institute time we have used, it should be easy to infer that the Words of the Week are significant.  We will post the words of the week in the Friday note or on the blog site. Though they are not indigenous to GHS, we will still try to use all the words of the week in the announcements.   And, to add symmetry and balance,  we ask that teachers use that word each day in their instruction.   Mr. Haugse is still taking suggestions about a culminating activity once every 2-3 weeks involving the vocabulary words.
Words of the Week #2 (use each word in order of the day of the week.  First word first day, etc.):
Symmetry - the proper or due proportion of the parts of a body or  whole to one another with regard to size and form; excellence of  proportion.  In math, it means  a rotation or translation of a plane figure that leaves the figure  unchanged although its position may be altered.  The statue of David has excellent symmetry in regards  to size, form, and proportion.   For math -  A circle has rotational symmetry and reflection symmetry.
Indigenous - originating in and  characteristic of a particular region or country; native.  Mrs. Young’s class was able to  determine that the mysterious plant was indigenous to the Mississippi  river valley.
Infer - to derive  by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence: to guess;  speculate;    surmise. The student was able to infer his displeasure from the  cool tone of Mr. Domino’s voice.

•  the Roger Taylor link the for differentiation is  www.rogertaylor.com
user id    GHS          Password geneseomapleleafs
• Check out this link, it’s a great promotional vocab. In a charitable way kids can do, it is cool.
http://www.freerice.com/

Kudos

Congratulations to all of the coaches and sponsors for the fine job they did this fall with their teams and activities.
Good aim by the FFA Trap Teams and Mr. Stahl on their first place finish at the ROWVA Alumni Trap Shoot.

Best of luck to Mr. Christensen as he begins the inaugural year of the Mathletes Club.

Thank you Julie and Lindsey for the fine job you did filling in and keeping attendance this week.

Dates of Importance
11/25 - PLAN testing
11/27 - 11/28 - Thanksgiving break
11/17 - PIC meeting 3:30 District office - Suggestions/feedback to Michelle S
12/4 – Department Chair Meeting – 7:45, conference room

DEPARTMENT CHAIR MEETING NOTES

November 20, 2008

7:15 to 7:45 AM

Conference Room

Present:  K. Kroener, L. Carey, J. Zum Mallen, D. Aper, J. Fiers, M. Haugse, S. Eberhardt, L. VanDerLeest, S. Scherer, A. Ringenberg, T. Minnaert, J. Swanson, J. DePauw, T. Mackey

Word of the Week:  Mike will give one word a day.  It will be defined, spelled, and used in a sentence.  He will try to have it incorporated into the daily announcements wherever appropriate.  He was looking for ideas for a culminating activity for every couple of weeks, or so.  Suggestions included some type of a contest, mad libs, etc.  Mike will take ideas.

Fibal Exam Schedule:  The first draft of the exam schedule for first semester was distributed.  Itt will be discussed at the next meeting.

CPG Update:  Linda said that it was in the hands of the BOE.  They will approve it in December, and then she will ask for any last checks for grammar, typos, etc.

The next here items on the agenda (How are we doing as a school, audit on syllabi, and audit on vocabulary strategies) were for self reflection

Make-up Work Policy:  Mike asked for each chair to review policies/procedures within their own department.  He wanrts to know what kind of coinsistency is out there.  There is an issue at the Middle School that is bringing this to the surface.  The distribution of report cards was also discussed, in reference to many of them not making it to the hands of parents.  There were many suggestions on this topic, but one was to add something to the registration paperwork asking where parents would like information sent.  It was also questioned if there could be something in Skyward that could trigger a notice to parents of a grade goes too low, of could Scottt use school messenger to notify parents

School Board Policy:  Mike did a good job of explaining how this procedure works in a democracy, and that we should continue to be professional. And work within our procedures.  It was brought up that the chairs wondered if the BOE always knew what went into our thinking.  Mike said that Joni did a good job of conveying this information.  They also asked if it might be possible to hear the resoning that the BOE used to make their decisions.  Joe indicated that the BOE meetings were open meetings and anyone can attend, especially when they know there is something on the agenda that is of particular interest to them.  This would allow them to hear, first hand, the discussions.

December 10, 2008:  This is a one-hour early release.  There may be time for some department meetings.

January 16, 2009:  There will be a ½ day in-service following the last day of finbal exams.  This is not for grading exams.  It could be for test item analysis.  Mr. Kuffel will have about twenty teachers from the district in a teacher leader workshop.  Thjose names will be given at a later date.

Differentiation of Instruciton:  This should be getting done.  We would like to know of anyone who has attended any kind of a workshop/conference on this topic.

Weeding the Garden:  We did an activity at our unit administrator’s meeting yesterday on this topic.  Reflectiopn on this topic will continue, with potential action.  The idea is to look at what is going on, keep what is good and valuable, and weed out what is in the way to success, or, at least, try to accomplish it in another way.