Week of April 29th - May 3rd

Important Dates:

Tuesday April 30th @ 8:00am: Stand up meeting in the MS Library

Thursday May 2nd @ 8:25am-9:00am: Spring Arts day #2 Mini Band concert in the HSPAC and MS/HS Band evening concert @ 7:00pm-8:30pm

Friday May 3rd @ 8:00am Department Meetings, DL’s to forward invites / agendas, School Wide Leaving Faculty gathering @ 5:00pm New Jersey Cafe

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Next week is the last PubPD of the school year. We will be meeting at Smokehouse on Tuesday, April 30th at 7PM. The topic is transition, and you can view the discussion questions on this flyer. Some questions that we've received from teachers before:

Do I have to have Twitter? No!

Will the conversation happen only on devices? Definitely not! This is an in person conversation, the digital connection is optional!

Can I join from home? Yes! Look for #PubPDAsia on Twitter.

Athletics:

MS Golf will be absent Thursday 5/2. Please find the list of absent students on the sheet linked below.

KISAC HS Badminton will be going on Tuesday and Wednesday in the HS Gym. Bring your class to cheer them on!

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

ELL:

Please bookmark ELL Department. The first week of every month, our department publishes a tip for that month.

Counseling:

Counseling Program Evaluation: The MS Counseling Department would like to request your valuable insight regarding the quality of the support services we have provided to all stakeholders throughout the academic year. Your constructive feedback will be used to inform and enhance the comprehensive counseling program as well as our professional counseling practices.

At your earliest convenience, per your schedule and flexibility, please complete the anonymous survey attached. The Middle School Counseling Program Evaluation Survey will remain active throughout the month of April. Thank you so much for your time and support!

Associate Principal:

Thursday May 2nd: Spring Arts day #2 MS/HS Band performances 8:25-9:10 am (abbreviated performance @HSPAC). Instructions: Advisors, please collect your advisees in your classroom. As soon as they are all accounted for, inform students to leave all belongings in advisory, then walk together as a group over to the HSPAC. Use this HSPAC seating chart to guide you where to sit. After the show students walk back to advisories with their advisors, collect their belongings and report to their 1st class of the day. *1st period teachers: because of the time needed to transition back from the HSPAC your class may start 5-10 minutes later than normal. (There will be no special schedule for this day).

The MSPAC stage is currently housing the set for the Middle School Spring production. Please do not remove any set materials from the stage. The projector is still available for assemblies/meetings/classes.

Due to student safety: The MS Deli will be off limits for student use until 4:25. At 4:25 dorm students are allowed to use the deli under dorm supervision procedures.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: Teachers, please refer S2 Report Guidelines throughout the upcoming weeks. Please note the deadlines, dates and times. PowerSchool will be ‘off-line’ to students and parents as of 8am on Friday May 24th, the portal will remain closed until June 4th at 9:30am. The following message will be visible to students and parents during this time:

"Dear MS students and parents, PowerSchool is currently offline while final grades and reports are being processed. The portal will reopen on Tuesday June 4th @ 9:30am KST. In the meantime please contact your advisor or subject matter teacher directly with quarries related to your learning progress."

The first page of the semester report will be forwarded to parents via email, narrative comments on page 2 onward are only available via the online parent portal.

Off-campus housing stipend: Please click here and indicate which KISJ sponsored events and dorm related activities you’ve attended (outside your usual working hours of 8:00-4pm). Our accounting team needs this information as soon as possible for May payroll.

Volunteer Needed: The MS & HS Arts Department will host an evening concert at KISJ on Thursday May 2nd from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. The Arts Department is calling for the support of a few faculty members to oversee Student performers who will sit in the auditorium (stage left, back almost to the doors) during the other groups' performances. Students will stay for the duration of the concert, which should end a little before 8:30pm. This 2-hour commitment will count toward ‘Dorm commitment hours’ this semester. Please contact Derek Cour for more information and to sign-up.

Middle Level Leadership announcement:

Dear MS colleagues

After significant consideration, the KISJ MS leadership team and I would like to announce the following appointments to middle school leadership roles beginning in August of 2019:

Timothy Cushing - Grade 6 Team Leader

Paul Boland- Grade 7 Team Leader

Melanie Macallum - Middle School Science Department Lead

Arthur Scibal- Middle School Social Studies Department Lead

The decisions were sometimes difficult, as all of the applicants for these positions brought significant strengths to the table. In the end, we felt the decisions that we came to were the ones in the best interest of where we are as a division right now. It should be noted that, while these are official leadership positions, I believe strongly that the responsibility of leadership is not limited to those who have an official title. In order for us to truly serve our students and to provide the best experience possible, it is my hope that each and every one of us will help to lead this community moving forward. In the coming weeks and months, I will be reaching out to each of you to discuss ways in which you see yourself leading and serving our division and the school as a whole. I will do everything in my power to help you realize your vision in the context of the school's mission.

I cannot tell you how impressed I am with the quality and caliber of our teaching and support staff. I am truly grateful to Mr. Vento, Ms. Reynen, Mr. Keith, Mr. Brown and the HR staff for the team that has been built and that I am helping to represent. I am confident that we will make them proud.

I am looking forward to August and the beginning of our journey together. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating the new appointees!

Yours in celebration

Patrick

Week of April 22nd - April 26th

Important Dates:

Tuesday April 23rd @ 8:00am: Stand up meeting in the MS Library

Wednesday April 24th @ 8:25am-9:00am: Spring Arts day #1 Mini Orchestra/Choir concert in the HSPAC and Spring Arts day Orchestra/Choir evening concert 7:00pm-8:00pm

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

Dorms:

Dorm Update: Every two weeks or so the ES/MS dorms will release a community update to share what is happening in the ES/MS Dorms. Please take a moment to see what ES/MS dorm students have been up to.

If you are a teacher or coach who is sponsoring any type of MS activity that will require students to leave or return to the dorms outside of these hours: Monday-Friday 8:00-23:00, Saturday & Sunday from 9:00-23:00, please contact Caitlin Wampler & Ben Fisk at least 72 hours in advance. This will enable us to give our staff sufficient notice, and amend their schedules, so that we can ensure students are ready for your activity. If you are running late in returning from an activity, or your activity will mean a student will miss meal times, you must inform the Dean on duty so that alternative arrangements can be made. If you have any questions, please contact Caitlin (cwampler@kis.ac) or Ben Fisk (bfisk@kis.ac).

Technology:

Reminder - When entering SUMMATIVE grades in Powerschool, make sure you

1. Choose the standards

2. Go to the tab titled “SHOW SELECTED STANDARDS”

3. Select “COUNT IN GRADE”

4. Save and Close

If you have any questions on Powerschool, please attend one of both of the sessions on Powerschool next week. Linked is the presentation for both of these sessions.

• Monday, April 22nd - Setting up assignments and inputting grades
• Tuesday, April 23rd - Specific information teachers can find in Powerschool and how to access this information.
  • Session Times:
    • 9:15 - 9:45
    • 10:15 - 10:45
    • 11:15 - 11:45
    • 1:15 - 1:45
    • 2:15 - 2:45

See the following form to sign up. Please bring your computer to the sessions you are attending.

Tech Bytes: Edpuzzle allows teachers to customize videos and make them interactive for your students. Through this application, you can add different types of questions to videos, crop the video to only show the content you need, insert a voice over into the video to reiterate an idea or make a specific point.

ELL:

Please bookmark ELL Department. The first week of every month, our department publishes a tip for that month. This will take place of the monthly email that was being sent out.

Please be informed that I will be conducting unofficial observations. The observations are conducted to collect data and guide our school-wide needs as a program. In no way will this affect your performance evaluation.

Our department is looking for volunteers. All you have to do, if you decide to volunteer, is go to our page and click on Goal 1, Module 1. Read and complete the questionnaire. Then go onto Module 2, Module 3 and Module 4. Each module takes between 3-5 minutes to complete. Please complete all four modules. The last modules will ask you for input on the whole process.

This new tool is meant to inform teachers about our ELL department and the school-wide policies in regards to ELL.

Counseling:

Counseling Program Evaluation: The MS Counseling Department would like to request your valuable insight regarding the quality of the support services we have provided to all stakeholders throughout the academic year. Your constructive feedback will be used to inform and enhance the comprehensive counseling program as well as our professional counseling practices.

At your earliest convenience, per your schedule and flexibility, please complete the anonymous survey attached. The Middle School Counseling Program Evaluation Survey will remain active throughout the month of April. Thank you so much for your time and support!

Associate Principal:

Wednesday April 24 @8:25am-9:00am: Spring Arts day #1 Mini Orchestra/Choir concert in the HSPAC. Instructions: Advisors, please collect your advisees in your classroom. As soon as they are all accounted for, inform students to leave all belongings in advisory, then walk together as a group over to the HSPAC. Use this HSPAC seating chart to guide you where to sit. After the show students walk back to advisories with their advisors, collect their belongings and report to their 1st class of the day.

• 1st period teachers: because of the time needed to transition back from the HSPAC your class may start 5-10 minutes later than normal. (There will be no special schedule for this day).
• This is the first time we are trying this format, please excuse any hiccups that may occur.

Thursday May 2nd: MS/HS Band performances 8:25-9:10 am (abbreviated performance @HSPAC) + 7:00-8:00pm @HSPAC.

Due to student safety: The MS Deli will be off limits for student use until 4:25. At 4:25 dorm students are allowed to use the deli under dorm supervision procedures.

Principal:

PowerSchool Gradebook: Teachers, in preparation for supporting students in shaping an understanding of PowerSchool Gradebook please carefully review the intended learning progression for students here. Grade level teams have worked together to agree upon the student groupings and timing for communication. On Monday April 22nd teams will view a ‘real time’ tutorial on the student view in Powerschool in order to better understand how students can access information. Whitney will also be hosting sessions April 22nd on inputting grades and April 23rd on data teachers can access through the system. See the following form to sign up.

Communicating Learning: Teachers, as you continue to prepare for the end of the semester please mark your calendar with the following dates:

• Friday May 24th, time will be allocated for departments and individuals to work on narrative comments and grades
• Friday May 31st S2 all final grades, Dragons Scores and narrative comments are entered into PowerSchool
• Tuesday June 4th S2 reports go live to students and parents.

Please stand-by for the usual comprehensive S2 Report Guidelines.

PGP: Unannounced classroom visits and walkthroughs will continue throughout Q4, along with Department Lead observations. In preparation for observations and walkthroughs, please be sure to consult the PGP 2018/19. Teachers will be invited to a final reflective conversation with their evaluator; sign-ups and Google Calendar invitations are forthcoming. During this conversation, teachers will share their professional portfolio and growth toward their professional goals. As always, if you have feedback for your evaluator re: your professional growth and development, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Atlas Expectations: Please click here to revisit the SY’18/19 ATLAS expectations. Continue to allocate your time accordingly during planning periods in Q4 (non-student contact time) toward staying up-to-date on ATLAS curriculum mapping. Teachers, stage 1 & 2 of each course you teach must be completed before May 30th in order for Departments Leads to review all units with the DOTL on May 30th & 31st. It is important to note this step is an important part of the EOY Checkout Process. If you have questions please reach out to Rick Odum or me, as we are here to help.

Head of School:

All KISJ faculty and staff are invited to the New Jersey Cafe & Lounge (close to Osulloc Tea Museum) on Friday, May 3 from 5:00-7:00 pm to acknowledge and celebrate friends and colleagues who are departing at the end of the school year. Light snacks and a drink will be provided. Please RSVP by April 23 if you are able to attend. Apologies and recognition to our dorm staff who will be working at this time and are unable to attend this event. With beautiful May weather on the way and almost 40 people already confirmed, please try to join us if you can!

If you didn’t have a chance to attend the premiere of Xanadu: The Musical, you are strongly encouraged to attend the closing performance Friday April 19 at 7:00pm in the HS PAC. Ticket costs are only 5000 KRW and are available at the door. Acting, singing, live music, choreographed dancing, and roller skating! The cast and crew have really outdone themselves with this performance! Special recognition to all the students, faculty, and business staff for creating this fabulous production!

Be sure to check out the KISJ Intranet (my.kis.ac) for all of our most important KISJ documents and links to the ES Weekly, MS Weekly, HS Weekly, Sunshine Weekly, Human Resources Updates, Director of Teaching & Learning News & Announcements, Head of School, Dragons News, and all KISJ social media accounts.

For your planning purposes: 2019-20 KISJ Academic Calendar.

Week of April 15th - April 19th

Important Dates:

Wednesday April 17th 7:45-8:45: Adaptive schools Make-up session #1

Friday April 19th: WASC focus groups @ 8:00am and OBOS special schedule/movie presentation.

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

Activities / Clubs:

MAGMA sports is back! If your child is in elementary school or if you are just interested in volunteering to help coach baseball, please let me know." - Paul Boland

Here is a link to a letter that was posted on the Elementary School PAB last Friday.

SLL:

The G8 teachers would like to invite ANY of our school community to come and celebrate student learning with the grade 8 class. On Friday, April 19th, the grade 8 class will be reporting and celebrating their SLL projects through modified "PechaKucha" presentations. This will occur in BOTH the MS and HS PAC's from 10:15 - 12:00. ANY teachers, students, and staff are invited to attend some, or all, of the time. If anyone should have any questions, please email Brian Elshoff.

Thanks to all trip leads who have scheduled a time to engage in a reflective conversation about Lessons Learned from SLL experiences this year. If you’ve not already done so, please reach out to Kate in order to review trends in feedback so that we can make data-driven recommendations to our administration that would enhance our SLL program trough refining processes.

From the G8 Team

To all faculty, staff, and students from all divisions of our school community,

On behalf of the G8 teachers and students who organized the Camellia Flower campaign to help remember Jeju 4.3 history:

THANK YOU!

It was the hope of the G8 Jeju SLL Camellia flower efforts to bring us together as a community to remember the events of the past to spread peace and prosperity into the future. We hope the Camellia flower campaign was an inspiration to us all.

Dorms:

If you are a teacher or coach who is sponsoring any type of MS activity that will require students to leave or return to the dorms outside of these hours: Monday-Friday 8:00-23:00, Saturday & Sunday from 9:00-23:00, please contact Caitlin Wampler & Ben Fisk at least 72 hours in advance. This will enable us to give our staff sufficient notice, and amend their schedules, so that we can ensure students are ready for your activity. If you are running late in returning from an activity, or your activity will mean a student will miss meal times, you must inform the Dean on duty so that alternative arrangements can be made. If you have any questions, please contact Caitlin (cwampler@kis.ac) or Ben Fisk (bfisk@kis.ac).

Technology:

Want to know more about using Google Expeditions in your classroom? Join me for a hands on 15 minute PD Thursday April 18th in the MS Community Center. Fill out the form below with the time you are interested in coming. Please bring your phone with the Expeditions App downloaded along with the Ancient Rome VR experience and The Skeletal System AR experience

TechBytes: Google has just released a bunch of new features in many of their products. Below are a few highlights. Read their blog to find out more.

• insert audio files directly into Slides from Drive
• edit Office files from Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, without having to worry about converting file types.
• Schedule send in Gmail lets you schedule email to be sent at a more appropriate date or time
• Comparison in Docs (coming soon) lets you compare two Google Docs and review the differences as suggested edits in a new Doc.

Instructional Coach:

• Here is Dragon Dialogue: MS Standards & PowerSchool (April 2019), from today’s PD should you need to reference it. If you are interested in seeing the questions parents had after their workshop on standards based grading and Powerschool, and the answers given, visit this document. Here is the Faculty PD Follow-up - April 12, 2019 as promised. Some great questions and ideas; thank you for taking the time to provide this valuable feedback to us.
• PD Collection: If you intend on keeping books that you’ve signed out, please be sure to return them, signing them back in, before May 31. Thank you!
• OBOS: Thank you everyone for your involvement and support for One Book, One School, Holes edition! Again, here are the links for the remaining weeks, for your reference:
  • here is the link for extension activity leaders;
  • here is the link for the advisory discussion slides;
  • here is the link to the student groups.
  • On April 19, when we watch the Holes movie together, please note the following instructions:
    • Advisors will either be on for 1st half of the movie and intermission OR 2nd half of the movie and intermission
    • During the intermission, color groups will move together; advisors must stay with their advisory at all times
    • Groups will move through 4 rooms on the first floor, about 5 minutes/room, viewing the work that extension activities produced in, in a clockwise rotation
    • Exit tickets and pencils can be picked up in your first room and should be dropped off in the lobby on your way out
    • There will be a “host” teacher in each of those rooms
  • If you need support with any part of your role, please reach out to Jon or Alisha. If you need to order anything for your activity, please reach out to Neil. See the schedule for OBOS below:

• Today’s my last day before I go on maternity leave. Should you need anything related to teaching/learning please reach out to either Julia Reynen or Rick Odum.

ELL: Please bookmark ELL Department. The first week of every month, our department publishes a tip for that month. This will take place of the monthly email that was being sent out.

Counseling:

Counseling Program Evaluation: The MS Counseling Department would like to request your valuable insight regarding the quality of the support services we have provided to all stakeholders throughout the academic year. Your constructive feedback will be used to inform and enhance the comprehensive counseling program as well as our professional counseling practices.

At your earliest convenience, per your schedule and flexibility, please complete the anonymous survey attached. The Middle School Counseling Program Evaluation Survey will remain active throughout the month of April. Thank you so much for your time and support!

Library:

Please reference the follow dates for the End of the Year collection and inventory.

Wednesday, 22nd May: Everything must be returned.

• All library materials - fiction, non-fiction, reference, biography, graphic novels, magazines ... EVERYTHING!

Monday, 27th May - Friday, 31st May: Library inventory.

• There will be NO access to the books. This means that the shelves are completely off-limits.

Monday, 3rd June: Camera and equipment inventory

• Cameras cannot be borrowed any more.

Associate Principal:

Dragon Challenge: Try having a restorative conversation with a student who is off task during class. (If you need laminated RP cards come get another one from me)

Spring Art day #1:

April 24th: MS/HS Orchestra and Choir performances 8:25-9:10 am (abbreviated performance @HSPAC) + 7:00-8:00pm @HSPAC.

(*For the Spring Arts morning performance students will report to their advisors promptly at 8:20. Then advisors will walk their advisories over to the HSPAC).

Clothing reminder: Students can wear their winter or spring KISJ uniforms now until the weather becomes consistently hotter.

MAP Testing: Will be the week of May 13-16, with May 17th as the make-up day.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: Teachers, as you begin to prepare for the end of the semester please mark your calendar will the following dates:

• Friday May 24th, time will be allocated for departments and individuals to work on narrative comments
• Friday May 31st S2 final grades, Dragons Scores and narrative comments are due
• Tuesday June 4th S2 reports go live to students and parents.

Please stand-by for the usual comprehensive S2 Report Guidelines.

PowerSchool Gradebook: Following up on this morning’s faculty PD, I would like to address the immediate concern that arose re: the use of advisory time to support students in gaining an understanding of how to interact with learning progress shared via PowerSchool GradeBook. With the best of intentions in mind, advisory groups were suggested as it is a close knit group of students and teachers who’ve established a relationship and trust over the course of the academic year. Students will likely have questions and it is important learners feel they are in a safe space to seek answers. Please carefully review the intended learning progression here. With that being said, please consider the intended learning outcomes of this student communication and complete this feedback survey to let us know your professional preference as to the ‘vehicle’ for this communication beginning the week of April 22nd. Results will be shared and grade levels will proceed with the majority preference.

In addition, MS Tech Coach, Whitney Little will be meeting with team leads next week followed by grade level teams the week of April 22nd with a ‘real time’ tutorial on the student view in Powerschool and how to access that information. Whitney will also be hosting sessions April 22nd on inputting grades and April 23rd on data teachers can access through the system. See the following form to sign up. Student lessons will be postponed until after these further training sessions have occurred.

Head of School:

All KISJ faculty and staff are invited to the New Jersey Cafe & Lounge (close to Osulloc Tea Museum) on Friday, May 3 from 5:00-7:00 pm to acknowledge and celebrate friends and colleagues who are departing at the end of the school year. Light snacks and a drink will be provided. Please RSVP by no later than April 23 if you are planning to attend. More details to follow. Apologies and recognition to our dorm staff who will be working at this time and are unable to attend this event.

All small change has been made to the 2019-20 KISJ Academic Calendar to reflect the start date for quarter 4 and that we will be hosting only 3 SAT test dates. No other changes have been made to this calendar.

In an effort to improve our admissions process and ensure the success of new students, our Director of Admissions, Ms. Saeree Moon will be observing classrooms in each division during the week of April 15. Please let her know if her presence is disruptive so she can return at an alternative time.

Week of April 8th - April 12th

Important Dates:

Tuesday April 9th: All MS faculty stand-up meeting @ 8:00am in MS Library

Friday April 12th: MS Faculty Meeting @ 8:00am in MS Library

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

SLL:

Once again, sincere thanks and acknowledgment to all trip leads, chaperones, and advisors for providing feedback (and supporting students to provide feedback) about local and international SLL experiences. It is thanks to your cooperative efforts that we are able to work toward evaluating the effectiveness of our program as an effort to support KIS students as they serve, learn and grow beyond the walls of our classrooms and school.

If you’ve not yet done so, please respond to this confidential survey before the close of business today (Friday, April 5th). Upon careful review, the constructive critique that is offered by our different community stakeholders will serve to shape the future of SLL at KISJ. Once data is aggregated, leaders of each initiative will have an opportunity to review responses and debrief about Lessons Learned.

Once again, thank you for your honesty, your objectivity, your professionalism, and your *patience* with the ongoing processes of planning, implementation, and evaluation of this initiative.

Dorms:

If you are a teacher or coach who is sponsoring any type of MS activity that will require students to leave or return to the dorms outside of these hours: Monday-Friday 8:00-23:00, Saturday & Sunday from 9:00-23:00, please contact Caitlin Wampler & Ben Fisk at least 72 hours in advance. This will enable us to give our staff sufficient notice, and amend their schedules, so that we can ensure students are ready for your activity. If you are running late in returning from an activity, or your activity will mean a student will miss meal times, you must inform the Dean on duty so that alternative arrangements can be made. If you have any questions, please contact Caitlin (cwampler@kis.ac) or Ben Fisk (bfisk@kis.ac).

Instructional Coach:

• Planning for Learning Support: If you'd like support in planning units, planning assessments, inputting plans into Atlas or any other curriculum/teaching needs, please reach out before April 12.
• OBOS: Thank you everyone for your involvement and support for One Book, One School, Holes edition! Again, here are the links for the remaining weeks, for your reference:
  • here is the link for extension activity leaders;
  • here is the link for the advisory discussion slides;
  • here is the link to the student groups.
  • If you need support with any part of your role, please reach out to Jon, Alisha or Julia. See the schedule for OBOS below:

Student Spaces: The Dragon’s Lair and the other two student spaces on the 3rd floor are available for displaying student work and being used as common spaces for learning. Please add evidence of recent student learning! Also, the purpose of the new bulletin board in the Dragon’s Lair is to post any relevant information for our middle school community, so please post anything there that might be helpful.

ELL:

Please bookmark ELL Department. The first week of every month, our department publishes a tip for that month. This will take place of the monthly email that was being sent out.

Counseling:

Counseling Program Evaluation: The MS Counseling Department would like to request your valuable insight regarding the quality of the support services we have provided to all stakeholders throughout the academic year. Your constructive feedback will be used to inform and enhance the comprehensive counseling program as well as our professional counseling practices.

At your earliest convenience, per your schedule and flexibility, please complete the anonymous survey attached. The Middle School Counseling Program Evaluation Survey will remain active throughout the month of April. Thank you so much for your time and support!

Associate Principal:

Supervision rotation: Please check this document if you were sent a reminder from me to start supervision this week.

April 19th: OBOS special schedule/movie presentation. Be aware of the shortened class schedule.

April 24th: MS/HS Orchestra and Choir performances 8:25-9:10 am + 7:00-8:00pm @HSPAC more information will be coming.

Clothing reminder: Students can wear their winter or spring KISJ uniforms now until the weather becomes consistently hotter.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: Today middle school departments met and discussed various topics including Logic Rules in order to guide teachers toward creating final grades for the semester. Departments will also come to common agreements as to the ideal amount of information shared with students and parents, ie. minimum inputs for formative and summative grades in order to achieve consistency. These common agreements will be formed and communicated in the month of April. For all upcoming teacher PD sessions, please consult our PD Calendar.

PGP: Unannounced classroom visits and walkthroughs will continue throughout Q4, along with Department Lead observations. In preparation for observations and walkthroughs, please be sure to consult the PGP 2018/19. Teachers will be invited to a final reflective conversation with their evaluator; Google Calendar invitations are forthcoming. During this conversation, teachers will share their professional portfolio and growth toward their professional goals. As always, if you have feedback for your evaluator re: your professional growth and development, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Head of School:

Congratulations to Josh Wood for being accepted into the Apple Distinguished Educator Program! Since its inception in 1994, less than 2500 educators have been accepted into this program which supports pioneers in education who are transforming teaching by integrating technology throughout the learning environment.

Thank you to our Director of Teaching & Learning, Dr. Rick Odum and our WASC Focus Group team leads and members for your work in preparing for the self-study. We are already collecting valuable data that will help us better define KISJ as a school and assess our learning program and its impact on student learning. We are awaiting the WASC written report from our special visit and expect to have it ready to share with community members before the end of the month.

If you have a chance, please be sure to check out the Jeju Invitational Soccer Tournament today and tomorrow which has high school teams participating from Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Week of April 1st - April 5th

Important Dates:

Monday, April 1: First day of One Book, One School! Students and teachers will meet during afternoon advisory for their extension activities and groups.

Tuesday April 2nd: All MS faculty stand-up meeting @ 8:00am in MS Library

Friday April 5th: Department meetings @ 8:00am, various locations please consult your department lead

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

Clash of Dragons (Staff color challenge):

Once again, thank you all very much for your participation and positive team spirit during this week's Staff Color Challenge (Clash of Dragons) event. This event was designed to give us all a chance to decompress, chat with teachers we don't get to see every day and have some fun. The first week back after a holiday can always be extra busy and more stressful than usual. It is important to find time for some fun and camaraderie. The Clash of Dragons is supposed to be just that and this week's challenge seemed to hit the spot. Here is an update (insert photo of standings) on how we've progressed through the year.

GO DRAGONS!!!

SLL:

Sincere thanks and acknowledgment go out to ALL of our local and international SLL leads and teacher guides. It is thanks to your cooperative efforts that our community has effectively supported KIS students to serve, learn and grow beyond the walls of our classrooms and school.

It was excellent to celebrate highlights of these diverse encounters during this week's assemblies. In efforts to measure the impact of SLL activities this year, we would like to invite all Leads, Teacher Guides, and student participants to please respond to this confidential survey before the close of business on Friday, April 5th. Upon careful review, the constructive critique that is offered by our different community stakeholders will serve to shape the future of SLL at KISJ.

This week all teachers will complete the feedback form during Monday morning grade level meetings. All students will complete the feedback form during the agreed upon class time established by teachers during the Monday morning team meeting.

Thank you in advance for your ongoing commitment to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of this program - Kate.

Technology:

Thank you all for participating in the Technology PD Monday. We hoped you left the sessions with some valuable takeaways you can implement into your classroom practices and enjoyed sharing the time with staff from all divisions. If you have not filled out the feedback form, please take a few minutes to do so. Please refer to the following document for access to the presentations.

Tech Bytes: Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Google Earth has released its own version of the popular TV show. Gather clues, move around the globe, and explore famous landmarks on Google Earth all while hunting down Carmen.

Instructional Coach:

• Planning for Learning Support: If you'd like support in planning units, planning assessments, inputting plans into Atlas or any other curriculum/teaching needs, please reach out before April 12.
• OBOS: One Book, One School is starting on Monday, April 1st! If you are an extension activity leader, here is the link where you can find information for our group. If you are a discussion group leader, here is the link to the advisory discussion slides. Here is the link to the student groups. If you need support with any part of your role, please reach out to Julia or Alisha. See the schedule for OBOS below and refer to recent emails for additional information.

• Last call for book requests:
  • Do you have particular titles you’d like added to our MS Professional Collection? We only have a handful of recommendations, so please complete this form, if so.
  • Do you have particular titles, authors or genres you’d like added to our MS Library? We’re looking for more contributions, so please complete this form, if so.
• Student Spaces: The Dragon’s Lair and the other two student spaces on the 3rd floor are available for displaying student work and being used as common spaces for learning. Please add evidence of recent student learning! Also, the purpose of the new bulletin board in the Dragon’s Lair is to post any relevant information for our middle school community, so please post anything there that might be helpful.

ELL:

Please bookmark ELL Department. The first week of every month, our department publishes a tip for that month. This will take place of the monthly email that was being sent out. Also, please begin thinking of F&P testing. The final due date for the end of year report is June 3rd.

Counseling:

Counseling Program Evaluation: The MS Counseling Department would like to request your valuable insight regarding the quality of the support services we have provided to all stakeholders throughout the academic year. Your constructive feedback will be used to inform and enhance the comprehensive counseling program as well as our professional counseling practices.

At your earliest convenience, per your schedule and flexibility, please complete the anonymous survey attached. The Middle School Counseling Program Evaluation Survey will remain active throughout the month of April. Thank you so much for your time and support!

G6-8 Course Registration: Monday April 8th through Friday April 12th Counselors will be visiting all KIS Reads/Academic Support classes to lead students through the course registration process for the 2019-2020 academic year. All KIS Reads teachers will receive a Google invite for their specific registration session early next week.

The complete course registration schedule is listed below for reference if needed. If you have any questions or concerns please contact your grade level counselor for support. Many thanks for your time and care!

Associate Principal:

DRAGON Challenge: During Monday’s “Sink the Ship” color challenge with teachers how often did you try to bend the rules? What helped you adhere to the rules? How does this relate to the students you teach?

April 19th: OBOS special schedule/movie presentation. Be aware of the shortened class schedule.

April 24th: MS/HS Orchestra and Choir performances 8:25-9:10 am + 7:00-8:00pm @HSPAC more information will be coming.

Clothing reminder: As the weather changes please be mindful to dress at least as good as our students. This includes not wearing open toed sports shoes or jeans.

Students can wear their winter or spring KISJ uniforms now until the weather becomes consistently hotter.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: In Q4, teachers will transition to using PowerSchool gradebook as the primary platform for communicating learning progress with students and parents. Students and parents will now rely upon this LMS to receive all formative and summative information on learning outcomes in your course. In the month of April, departments will come to common agreements as to the ideal amount of information shared with students and parents, ie. minimum inputs for formative and summative grades in order to achieve consistency throughout. In order to ensure a clear common message, parents are invited to attend a Dragon’s Dialogue on Preparing for PowerSchool on Wednesday April 10th; teachers will attend an all faculty PD session on April 12th followed by working with their department leads throughout Q4; and, students will receive important information about how to navigate PowerSchool gradebook the week of April 22nd during Advisory. For all upcoming teacher PD sessions please consult our PD Calendar.

PGP: Q4, the final push toward the end of the academic year! Now is an ideal time to add to your professional portfolio, reflecting on your practice and uploading artefacts to your Google folder. Q4 is all about bringing things together, reflecting on the previous three quarters and looking ahead. Unannounced classroom visits and walkthroughs will continue as in Q3, along with department lead observations. In preparation for observations and walkthroughs, please be sure to consult the PGP 2018/19.

Atlas Expectations: Please click here to refamiliarize yourself SY’18/19 ATLAS expectations. As you read and understand the expectations, continue to allocate your time accordingly during planning periods in Q4 (non-student contact time) toward staying up-to-date on ATLAS curriculum mapping. You might consider using the Atlas Style Guide to direct your work. If you have questions please reach out to Julia Snider, Rick Odum or me, as we are here to help.

Head of School:

KISJ Air Quality & Outdoor Activity Policy: Our revised KISJ Air Quality & Outdoor Activity Policy policy will promote greater student safety by encompassing all air pollutants and follows the behavioral recommendations outlined by the Korean Ministry of Environment (Air Korea). This update has been communicated to all KISJ parents. KISJ is currently developing a two (2) year plan (starting 2019-20 school year) to install air purifiers on campus beginning with the youngest grade levels first.

Tech PD Workshops: A special thank you to the 12 KISJ faculty Tech Ambassadors who facilitated the March 25 PD workshops. The feedback from these workshops was very positive and we will be looking to provide more professional learning opportunities like this is in the future.

KISJ Spring Golf Tournament: On Friday, April 26, KISJ will hold our Spring Golf Tournament and dinner at Elysian Jeju Country Club. Regardless of skill level, all KISJ faculty and staff are invited but we are limited to 32 players. The cost is 100,000 KRW and will include green fees, cart, caddie, dinner, and prizes. The first grouping will tee off at 13:19 with dinner starting at 18:30. If you would like to be a part of this event, please be sure to add your name to this registration sheet. Please pay Ms. Kate Ye Sil Seo in H105 (Head of School Office) by no later than Wednesday, April 3.

Schoolwide Communication: Interested in knowing what is happening in other divisions across KISJ? The KISJ Intranet (my.kis.ac) has all of our most important KISJ documents and includes links to the ES Weekly, MS Weekly, HS Weekly, Sunshine Weekly, Human Resources Department, Director of Teaching & Learning, Head of School, Dragons News, and all KISJ social media accounts.