 |
@D114Stanton
@D114Lotus
@FLGSD114
#District114proud
|
Kudos to Stanton student Emily Allen. She found a $20 bill today in the gym. Without hesitation she turned it into the office. It was lost earlier in the day by a 5th grader who was supposed to put the money on his lunch account. Thanks to Emily, the money was returned to the rightful owner and deposited into his account.
-From Jeff Sefcik
Thank you so much to all the staff who help make Preschool’s few days successful. I really could not have done it without all of you! A special thanks to Ms Melissa (ELL), Ms Fiona (SLP), Ms Cari (SW), Ms Udstuen, Mr. Peters, and Ms Smolen!
-From Michelle Magness
Thank you to Amanda Rash for creating the Stanton map sessions, organizing testing, and teaching the staff how to proctor their student tests.
Thank you to Betty Cwiak for having a training on the Accelerated Reader program after school for any staff that were interested.
Thank you to those staff members who have gotten a head start on their GCN training and have finished all of the mandated GCN training videos: Erin Connolly Jordt, Maureen DeVoss, Joe Fernandez, Katy Gardner, Melissa Williams, Amber Mysliwiec, Lisa Huck, Colleen Robinson, Kim Vanhoorelbeke, Deb Marienau, Natalie Miller, Laura Myers, Michele Burgess
-From Rachelle Peters
To the 7th Grade ELA Collaborative Team (Cathy J., Niccole C. and Walter N.) and the 7th/8th Grade Social Studies Collaborative Team (Gizelle W., Liz A. and Jessica R.) for outstanding teamwork on Wednesday, August 23!
-From Rachelle Peters and Jeff Sefcik
Kudos to Mike Szotek for all of his help with my classroom technology issues this past week! He resolved everything very quickly and was beyond helpful! THANK YOU!
-From Kelly Roland
To all staff for taking the time and asking the questions you needed in order to complete open enrollment!
-From Heather :)
When you have a kudo to share for someone, please just email me and I'll include it here! The goal is to create system celebrations--so your input is truly welcome!
News from the Business Office
Personal/Vacation/Sick Days
The Business Office team has been working hard to make sure all personal/vacation/sick days are 100% accurate in the system. It's been a difficult process, as the software currently in use can take up to 90 seconds to enter a single date! YIKES!
If for any reason the data is inaccurate, please contact Sandy Popp ASAP.
Additionally, please remember to contact Sandy or me if, for some reason, a day you've requested changes. For example, if you complete the form to request a personal day but then don't end up needing to, we want to make sure the days are not deducted/are accurately reported.
Staff Update
I'm sad to report that Friday, September 1 will be Stacy Zagar's (Bookkeeper) last day in D114. She's decided to explore other options. We already have a plan in place to fill her very big shoes---I'll tell you more once it's all finalized.
Thanks to all of our teams for working collaboratively to launch the year! I'm so excited to see where we'll go together!
You'll find, attached to this week's blog email, and article I'd ask everyone to read. We'll dig into it during early release this week--it's a short but powerful piece to help us celebrate our work and keep our eyes on how we can continue to get even better!
A great resource...
INFINITEC MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
Infinitec is an Special Education and Assistive Technology Initiative that provides webinars, workshops, resources and other services to member districts. Their website not only includes a calendar of events of one day webinars and workshops, but also free archived webinars of a variety of topics for staff with any level of knowledge. Please contact Brandt Rosen (brosen@elced.org) for more information of what Infinitec has to offer.
VIEW FREE WEBINARS WHEN YOU SIGN UP FOR A FREE ACCOUNT:
Click here to register for a free account. When signing up, under "District/coop," be sure to type in the "Exceptional Learners' Collaborative." Please remember that if you sign up, one day webinars are archived for a certain amount of time following the time of the webinar, so it's good to sign up even though if you may not be able to attend the exact date and/or time of the webinar. You will be able to watch the webinar later. Click on the "Online Classroom" tab to view all archived webinars.
WEBINARS:
- 9/27/2017 N2Y Product Overview: Unique Learning, News-2-You & SymbolStix Prime
- 9/28/2017 Resources for All Learners: A Guided Tour of myinfinitec.org
- 10/4/2017 The Neurology of Autism Spectrum Disorder by Dr. Brenda Smith Myles
- 10/5/2017 Partner Skills Tips and Tools to Support your AAC Users by M. Baud & K. Key
- 10/11/2017 Hidden Curriculum: Understanding & Teaching Unstated Rules-Dr. Smith Myles
- 10/12/2017 Supporting the Education of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness BY Christina Dukes
- 10/16/2017 Get to Work! Handheld Technology Supports and Transition to Employment By Carrie Clawson
- 10/19/2017 20 Low-Cost Features for Designing Accessible Instruction for the Masses BY CHRIS BUGAJ
- 10/25/2017 Assistive Technology for Dyslexia: Nuts and Bolts by Jamie Martin
- 10/26/2017 Implementing Core AAC Systems & Adaptations for Individual Students
- 10/30/2017 Resources for All Learners: A Guided Tour of myinfinitec.org
WORKSHOPS/CONFERENCES:
FUN APPS, SOFTWARE OR RESOURCES:
- Flip Grid (web based and iPad/iPod/iPhone accessible)- A fun and exciting way to engage students through video discussion platforms
- We Are Teachers (web based)- Celebrates educators with classroom ideas, "helpline" advice, inspiration and laughs.
- SeeSaw (web based and iPad/iPod/iPhone accessible)- Seesaw saves time on organization and parent communication, makes formative assessment easy, and provides a safe place to teach student the all important 21st Century skills (i.e. social media).
PLEASE CONTACT BRANDT ROSEN brosen@elced.org or (224)513-6455 FOR ANY QUESTIONS OR ISSUES.
FACILITIES UPDATES
Just a reminder..
Please use the work request link to let our team know what you need. The link can be found in the list below...
Keep watching for technology updates and news you can use!
Education Association of Fox Lake News and Updates
Thank you Gayle (Mondie) McManamon for your service to the Education Association of Fox Lake as the Lotus School Representative. We hope everyone will join us in welcoming Tiffany Tardio, Lotus School kindergarten teacher, as the new Lotus Representative. Thank you Tiffany for stepping up to fill the role!
New members, please mark your calendars for our meet and greet Wednesday, September 6th at 3:20; we will meet in the health room (22) at Stanton. We are looking forward to getting to know you, telling you about our association, and learning what we can do to help support you as new members! Please let Melissa know if you will be unable to attend.
Melissa Williams, President
Maureen DeVoss, Vice President for Certified Staff
Chris Brown, Vice President for Non-Certified Staff
Katy Gardner, Treasurer
Betty Cwiak, Secretary
Barb Brown, Region Representative
Matt Shannon, Stanton School Representative
Tiffany Tardio, Lotus School Representative
Questions for thought as you read...
What do you believe are the factors that are more powerful than poverty?
How do your actions help make these more powerful factors come to life for our students?
The Answer is in the Room
By Brian Butler
Teachers Remember The Answer IS IN The Room!
You may not be the cause of many of the problems that face our children but collectively you can work to be the answer!
Poverty is a huge challenge because it puts on the backs of kids who come to school many potential obstacles even before they step into our world. Poverty is not always economical. Children born into means can be born into social or emotional poverty as well. But economical poverty can have the most devastating effects on kids!
Having said that, if you are a teacher and you are working in isolation then looking out the window and "hoping" that someone cures the poverty ills of the world, you may be waiting for a long time and you are playing the victim role!
If you are a teacher working in a school that has embraced the Professional Learning Community at Work model in which the school has abandoned the idea of the isolated classroom teacher in favor of organizing into collaborative teams of teachers who take collective responsibility for each and every child's learning, mitigating the effects of poverty can be done. It is not easy but what is our choice?
Whose child are we going to say won't as Mike Mattos says "have a life filled with endless possibilities". If poverty trumps our profession then why have teachers. I think we can do better than that!
In John Hattie's meta-analysis of literally thousands of studies and millions of students Socioeconomic status has a big effect on student achievement (we are not denying that). It was number 31 or 32 in terms of most powerful impact. However, there were 30 or 31 factors that had a higher impact and those factors were controlled by the school, the teachers!
Mike Mattos and Austin Buffum terms them factors more powerful than poverty!
Teachers it is a dangerous detour to debate others regarding ill informed policies that we know don't work because we tend to debate them by pointing at things beyond our control.
Take our profession back and articulate and then work to create the kind of collaborative schools in which we become more powerful than poverty! We know what it takes to fix our schools and we have the influence within our schools to do so. But, It cannot be left on the back of individual teachers.
If we continue to look out the window, work in isolation and point to things we cannot control then people will continue to have fuel for their(presuming positive intentions-good hearted) wrong headed attempts to fix our schools.
But, if we look in the mirror, use the research and evidence and create the culture and conditions for our schools to function as Professional Learning Communities at Work where collaborative team focus on the right work then we truly can do this for every single child.
We are not ignoring that poverty is a factor but we take poverty and other challenges into consideration when making our decisions for those children.
It's our moral imperative! We may not be able to fix poverty but we can give children the tools to lift themselves out of poverty! The biggest lever to lift children out of poverty in our nation's history has been through EDUCATION!
Teachers may not be the problem but we collectively certainly can be the answer!
THE ANSWER IS IN THE ROOM!!!
Have a great school year😉
Teachers Remember The Answer IS IN The Room!
You may not be the cause of many of the problems that face our children but collectively you can work to be the answer!
Poverty is a huge challenge because it puts on the backs of kids who come to school many potential obstacles even before they step into our world. Poverty is not always economical. Children born into means can be born into social or emotional poverty as well. But economical poverty can have the most devastating effects on kids!
Having said that, if you are a teacher and you are working in isolation then looking out the window and "hoping" that someone cures the poverty ills of the world, you may be waiting for a long time and you are playing the victim role!
If you are a teacher working in a school that has embraced the Professional Learning Community at Work model in which the school has abandoned the idea of the isolated classroom teacher in favor of organizing into collaborative teams of teachers who take collective responsibility for each and every child's learning, mitigating the effects of poverty can be done. It is not easy but what is our choice?
Whose child are we going to say won't as Mike Mattos says "have a life filled with endless possibilities". If poverty trumps our profession then why have teachers. I think we can do better than that!
In John Hattie's meta-analysis of literally thousands of studies and millions of students Socioeconomic status has a big effect on student achievement (we are not denying that). It was number 31 or 32 in terms of most powerful impact. However, there were 30 or 31 factors that had a higher impact and those factors were controlled by the school, the teachers!
Mike Mattos and Austin Buffum terms them factors more powerful than poverty!
Teachers it is a dangerous detour to debate others regarding ill informed policies that we know don't work because we tend to debate them by pointing at things beyond our control.
Take our profession back and articulate and then work to create the kind of collaborative schools in which we become more powerful than poverty! We know what it takes to fix our schools and we have the influence within our schools to do so. But, It cannot be left on the back of individual teachers.
If we continue to look out the window, work in isolation and point to things we cannot control then people will continue to have fuel for their(presuming positive intentions-good hearted) wrong headed attempts to fix our schools.
But, if we look in the mirror, use the research and evidence and create the culture and conditions for our schools to function as Professional Learning Communities at Work where collaborative team focus on the right work then we truly can do this for every single child.
We are not ignoring that poverty is a factor but we take poverty and other challenges into consideration when making our decisions for those children.
It's our moral imperative! We may not be able to fix poverty but we can give children the tools to lift themselves out of poverty! The biggest lever to lift children out of poverty in our nation's history has been through EDUCATION!
Teachers may not be the problem but we collectively certainly can be the answer!
THE ANSWER IS IN THE ROOM!!!
Have a great school year😉
You may not be the cause of many of the problems that face our children but collectively you can work to be the answer!
Poverty is a huge challenge because it puts on the backs of kids who come to school many potential obstacles even before they step into our world. Poverty is not always economical. Children born into means can be born into social or emotional poverty as well. But economical poverty can have the most devastating effects on kids!
Having said that, if you are a teacher and you are working in isolation then looking out the window and "hoping" that someone cures the poverty ills of the world, you may be waiting for a long time and you are playing the victim role!
If you are a teacher working in a school that has embraced the Professional Learning Community at Work model in which the school has abandoned the idea of the isolated classroom teacher in favor of organizing into collaborative teams of teachers who take collective responsibility for each and every child's learning, mitigating the effects of poverty can be done. It is not easy but what is our choice?
Whose child are we going to say won't as Mike Mattos says "have a life filled with endless possibilities". If poverty trumps our profession then why have teachers. I think we can do better than that!
In John Hattie's meta-analysis of literally thousands of studies and millions of students Socioeconomic status has a big effect on student achievement (we are not denying that). It was number 31 or 32 in terms of most powerful impact. However, there were 30 or 31 factors that had a higher impact and those factors were controlled by the school, the teachers!
Mike Mattos and Austin Buffum terms them factors more powerful than poverty!
Teachers it is a dangerous detour to debate others regarding ill informed policies that we know don't work because we tend to debate them by pointing at things beyond our control.
Take our profession back and articulate and then work to create the kind of collaborative schools in which we become more powerful than poverty! We know what it takes to fix our schools and we have the influence within our schools to do so. But, It cannot be left on the back of individual teachers.
If we continue to look out the window, work in isolation and point to things we cannot control then people will continue to have fuel for their(presuming positive intentions-good hearted) wrong headed attempts to fix our schools.
But, if we look in the mirror, use the research and evidence and create the culture and conditions for our schools to function as Professional Learning Communities at Work where collaborative team focus on the right work then we truly can do this for every single child.
We are not ignoring that poverty is a factor but we take poverty and other challenges into consideration when making our decisions for those children.
It's our moral imperative! We may not be able to fix poverty but we can give children the tools to lift themselves out of poverty! The biggest lever to lift children out of poverty in our nation's history has been through EDUCATION!
Teachers may not be the problem but we collectively certainly can be the answer!
THE ANSWER IS IN THE ROOM!!!
Have a great school year😉
August 29--Lotus Curriculum Night for Grades PK and 2
September 6--EAFL Meet and Greet, 3:20 at Stanton
September 19--Board of Education Meeting at Lotus, 7PM
September 23--TRIVIA NIGHT! Let's show our D114 pride! I bought two tables---who's with me?
September 29--D114 Day of Service
Although it was cloudy, the students at Stanton had a great experience viewing the eclipse! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day!
Let's make it a fabulous week! Thanks for all you do!
Heather
