Building Collaboration for January:

Building Collaboration meetings: 1/24, 1/27, 1/29

RockStar meeting: 1/31

Department Create Videos for Course Information: 1/22

Building Focus Team meetings: 1/24

• The Learning Commons no longer has a projector/screen. It now has a large flat panel display that connects to any staff member's laptop.
• Need HQPD hours or interested in learning more about serving gifted students? Check out this free learning opportunity to do online book studies through HCESC!
• Present at HighAIMS! The 7th Annual HighAIMS Summer Institute will be held at Lakota East High School on July 30 and 31, 2020. This year’s Institute is focused around three pillars - Kids, Culture, Action. All session proposals should align with at least one of the pillars. Proposals are due by February 28, 2020. Applicants will be notified by March 9, 2020 concerning acceptance of your session proposal. Click here for more information and to submit your proposal.
• The Catalyst Grant deadline is approaching. Don’t miss an opportunity to apply. Submission Deadline is 2/18/20. The Catalyst Grant Workshop Date is January 27, 2020. At the workshop, you will learn more about grant writing, get support for your idea, and/or have the opportunity to build on your concept with the Learning Experience team prior to Grant Deadlines
  • Link to Grant Application
  • Link to Submission Form

Student Activities

This Week (and next) in Connect Time :

• January 22nd Agenda-This is an R-Factor and MBC Day. All Students report to their 6th Bell Classrooms
• January 29th Agenda- This is a launch day for scheduling for next year. More plans will be added to this link as they become available.

MHS Big Rock Teams for 2019-2020 (including Building Focus, District Focus, Building Fusion and District Fusion teams)

MHS OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) for the 2019-2020 school year

• When Kids Have Structure for Thinking, Better Learning Emerges - One easy way to start asking students to be more metacognitive is to build in reflection time about thinking. This read provides strategies to ask students to think about the lesson and identify the kinds of thinking they used throughout.
• Relationships are Important: How Do We Build Them Effectively with Kids? - Everyone agrees developing relationships with students is important, but not enough teachers get the time or training on how to do this well. This blog offers "the Four S's" interview to help build those bonds.
• Six Strategies to Help Introverts Thrive at School and Feel Understood - In every classroom, teachers try to engage students who have a variety of temperaments: extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. Check this out to learn more about six strategies to use in your classroom.
• 3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching - Edutopia blog on assessment - Gather and use valuable student data to inform your classroom practice.
• "New Year, Improved You" - Are you wanting to use the New Year as an opportunity to improve your instructional practices and grow as a professional? Would you like someone to walk alongside you to encourage and support your growth? Everyone needs and deserves an instructional coach that can provide them non-evaluative, low-pressure one-on-one consultation, collaboration, and support around lesson design, implementation of instructional practices, and assessment. Consider taking advantage of the "New Year Improved You" professional learning and growth opportunity with me. ~ Robyn Jordan

Click here to complete the "New Year, Improved You" interest form.

• January Teacher Collaboration Time - Are you looking for colleagues to collaborate with during Tuesday/Thursday Collaboration time? Wanting to share ideas, brainstorm, develop lessons, have meaningful discussions and connect with colleagues? Feel free to add to the wall if you have something that you would like to open up to others for collaboration. Just click on the plus sign under the date in which you are wanting to collaborate, and add the brief description and location.

Culture Team:

"It's not things that upset us, it's our judgment about things." ---Epictetus (^^^ Click to watch the video.)

Whether it’s at school, at home, or elsewhere, we will all experience difficulties and frustrations this week, probably every day, probably multiple times a day. Our ability to press pause and clearly see how our judgmentalism is the root cause of the difficulties and frustrations will help determine the quality of our response.

As a reminder: The next Connect Time dedicated to student R-Factor training is this Wednesday, January 22.

Inclusive Excellence Team: ↑↑↑ in relation to the above...

Speaking of checking to see how our bias affects our difficulties and frustrations... visit Harvard's Project Implicit and look to see where your hidden biases are (We ALL have them!). Then, watch Vernā Myers's Ted Talk: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them for encouragement and guidance!

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. ~ Maya Angelou

Personalized Learning Team:

Am I personalizing? I think I am... how can I be sure?

These are questions we get from MHS teachers all the time. The truth is, you probably have some practices that fit our description of personalized learning naturally. So which of your practices are more personalized? Check out these 4 attributes of personalization and see if any of them resonate with you. Do you allow self-discovery? Social construction? Co-creation? Or student voice?

We use this organizer on Learning Walks to help better train our eye to find The 4 Attributes of Personalized Learning.