Monday night was Admin Induction. Yes, you heard me correct, I am in an Induction class for administrators!!! It is a good thing and one that allows us to network, talk and share concerns. This week we talked about Crucial Conversations that we need to have with different people. It was a great class and one that we learned a lot from. We were provided two books that I do want to read, just not sure when that is going to happen. Too bad nobody wants to give everything to me on Audiobooks. LOL!!!
Tuesday was extremely busy. There was so much going on that all of us had to work to cover all events. Megan had to come back from her PD. I had to come back from a meeting, Lynne was at another meeting and Mike and Rich were covering basketball at different places. On top of that, we had the EXAM Cram going on and a program on drug use at the school. All of this ended with a missing student, who was not really missing, just not listening to her dad and doing what she needed to do, which makes for tense situations with parents. I walked in the door at 8:30 pm. Poor Squeaky was all alone!!! Needless to say, she let me know about it. LOL!
Wednesday was pretty cool. My principal and I went to Sweetwater High School in National City, CA to meet with the admin at the school. Sweetwater has a very large ELL population and the school has some interventions, programs and a school culture that results in student achievement. Meeting Roman, Juan, Tony, Hector and some of the other teachers was fabulous and we got lots of great ideas to work to implement in RUSD. I am excited about hopefully making some changes to benefit our AEL (Academic English Learner) students!!! I did make it to work out tonight as well for an hour. It was nice to make it to the gym for the first time in awhile. I really want to get there more often but I just have trouble with times. However, I discovered today I might have realized my issue. I got home earlier today than usual and went and got my nails done. I got something to eat around 5:30 pm and then went and worked out at 7:15 pm. I think part of my issue is times of eating. I get so hungry and then don't eat well when I get home but to some extent I think my body does not like the time. Eating dinner earlier today really helped me feel better. I am going to try it for awhile and see if this is in fact part of my issue. On the way home from the gym, I did look at the moon and tomorrow is a full moon. While this may not be a big deal for some - it is for me. Tomorrow is a half day, a full moon will be out and we don't have kids until Jan 21st so the full moon will have passed. (Me sighing and smiling)!
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| Programs for Students at Sweetwater High School |
Thursday was interesting. I would like to start Project Lead the Way at our school and we had the CA rep come and talk with us. I would love for us to do the Bio-medical Sciences at JW North and we have a benefactor who is willing to provide us with money to get the program started. The problem is getting the district to approve us to start the program and potentially even the Engineering portion as well. The problem is another high school in the district has the Engineering Program and they don't like us to have competing programs since we are a District of Choice. UGH!!
The testing schedule is done for the Spring - thank you very much - with much collaboration. I am very excited about the schedule and how beneficial it is for all students and teachers. There is time for all teachers to have contact with all their classes during the three week testing period. Yes, I said three weeks. We come back from Spring Break, have a week of normal classes and then three weeks of testing. The first week 11th grade students will be taking the multiple choice portion of the Smarter Balanced test in both Math and ELA while they are in their English classes. The next week the poor 11th graders will be taking the Smarter Balanced Performance Assessment in either English or Math. This portion takes about two hours and therefore we will be on an extended period Monday - Wednesday and all students will be taking some type of assessment or having some type of meeting. Ninth graders will be taking the practice CA High School Exit Exam, 10th will be taking the California State Test in Science, 11th the SBAC Test and the 12th graders will be going to their senior meeting to talk about the rest of the Spring, Prom, and Graduation. Then the poor 11th graders will have to take another test on Thursdays for two weeks. One week will be English and the next will be Math. I feel really bad for the 11th graders who are having to take 4 tests this Spring. Poor guys!
On Friday, it was schedule brainstorming time!! Presently we are on a 6 period day and we have a 0 period and 7th period that is not part of the normal school day. We are getting ready to implement a Middle School Years IB program and we need to have a 7 period day. Of course, I want to be on an 8 period day and am pushing for a block schedule. Of course we need an 8 period day because of the challenges our students face in our school. Our students need more opportunities to get support for the classes they are taking within the school day. They also need more opportunities for classes they would like to explore before they leave high school in programs like Project Lead the Way, Internships and Mentoring programs. We developed a block schedule that includes an 8 period day, and leaves a 0 period and 9 period time frame for students for instructional support. I am very excited about the opportunity to develop a new schedule that benefits students and allows them more opportunities to be academically successful.
During lunch the Attendance and Discipline office went to the Mission Inn to eat lunch to celebrate Linda's upcoming retirement. This is a restaurant at The Mission Inn, which is a fancy hotel and spa in Riverside with a historical presence. I have walked through this area before in December but this was the first time that I have been here for lunch. The food was delicious and we sat outside in 80 degree weather to enjoy our lunch. Even the SRO joined us, since the Chief of Police was at the restaurant as well. We really had a fabulous time and it was nice to relax and eat lunch together.
Another first on Friday was a restaurant called Hero's. Megan and I met Trevor for dinner on Friday night just to catch up and say Hi. We had a great time eating bad food. They literally had a appetizer called Fried Junk and it was literally - curly fries, onion rings, jalapeno poppers, zucchini, and shrimp all fried and placed on a plate in front of us. They also had baked mac and cheese with four different cheeses, bacon, peas, and bread crumbs. Needless to say, it was interesting to eat here and I obviously don't need to eat anything on Saturday or the next week with all the food that I consumed in a 6 hour period. LOL!!!
I guess this long weekend I will be working on finishing up Chapter 4 of the dissertation and starting Chapter 5. I am hoping to get to a point where it is done and I am refining so that I can do some more things on the weekends. Since Thanksgiving, I have been staying around the apartment on the weekends to work on the writing and I am starting to go stir-crazy in some ways. My confinement with the writing makes disappointments and no's in my life seem more exacerbated and puts me more of a depressed mood than I would like. Therefore I really need to finish up this monster to get out of this funk. However, when I think about taking a break, the cycle starts again and I just want to be done! With that being stated. I am signing off so that I can finish some work in hopes to get this done so I can go back to hiking, visiting sites in CA and dealing with set-backs in a healthier way. Wish me luck!! LOL!!!
The testing schedule is done for the Spring - thank you very much - with much collaboration. I am very excited about the schedule and how beneficial it is for all students and teachers. There is time for all teachers to have contact with all their classes during the three week testing period. Yes, I said three weeks. We come back from Spring Break, have a week of normal classes and then three weeks of testing. The first week 11th grade students will be taking the multiple choice portion of the Smarter Balanced test in both Math and ELA while they are in their English classes. The next week the poor 11th graders will be taking the Smarter Balanced Performance Assessment in either English or Math. This portion takes about two hours and therefore we will be on an extended period Monday - Wednesday and all students will be taking some type of assessment or having some type of meeting. Ninth graders will be taking the practice CA High School Exit Exam, 10th will be taking the California State Test in Science, 11th the SBAC Test and the 12th graders will be going to their senior meeting to talk about the rest of the Spring, Prom, and Graduation. Then the poor 11th graders will have to take another test on Thursdays for two weeks. One week will be English and the next will be Math. I feel really bad for the 11th graders who are having to take 4 tests this Spring. Poor guys!
On Friday, it was schedule brainstorming time!! Presently we are on a 6 period day and we have a 0 period and 7th period that is not part of the normal school day. We are getting ready to implement a Middle School Years IB program and we need to have a 7 period day. Of course, I want to be on an 8 period day and am pushing for a block schedule. Of course we need an 8 period day because of the challenges our students face in our school. Our students need more opportunities to get support for the classes they are taking within the school day. They also need more opportunities for classes they would like to explore before they leave high school in programs like Project Lead the Way, Internships and Mentoring programs. We developed a block schedule that includes an 8 period day, and leaves a 0 period and 9 period time frame for students for instructional support. I am very excited about the opportunity to develop a new schedule that benefits students and allows them more opportunities to be academically successful.
During lunch the Attendance and Discipline office went to the Mission Inn to eat lunch to celebrate Linda's upcoming retirement. This is a restaurant at The Mission Inn, which is a fancy hotel and spa in Riverside with a historical presence. I have walked through this area before in December but this was the first time that I have been here for lunch. The food was delicious and we sat outside in 80 degree weather to enjoy our lunch. Even the SRO joined us, since the Chief of Police was at the restaurant as well. We really had a fabulous time and it was nice to relax and eat lunch together.
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| Mission Inn - Just one view |
I guess this long weekend I will be working on finishing up Chapter 4 of the dissertation and starting Chapter 5. I am hoping to get to a point where it is done and I am refining so that I can do some more things on the weekends. Since Thanksgiving, I have been staying around the apartment on the weekends to work on the writing and I am starting to go stir-crazy in some ways. My confinement with the writing makes disappointments and no's in my life seem more exacerbated and puts me more of a depressed mood than I would like. Therefore I really need to finish up this monster to get out of this funk. However, when I think about taking a break, the cycle starts again and I just want to be done! With that being stated. I am signing off so that I can finish some work in hopes to get this done so I can go back to hiking, visiting sites in CA and dealing with set-backs in a healthier way. Wish me luck!! LOL!!!
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| This is Squeak's, "What are you doing?" look. |
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