All Teachers Bump Their Heads

Forum Meeting, May 11, 2011

2011-05-12T12:23:00.000-06:00

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

English: absent

Math: Josh Feller

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor

Science: Vicki Heupel

Art: Sarah Taylor

Administration: Jackie Boshka

Good News:

Stormy Taylor’s classes are having a cultural week. Highlights include dances, songs, Japanese culture, and the Salish and Kootenai tribes.

Art club received a thank letter from the Food Bank for the 20 bowls they made and donated to the Empty Bowls project.

Jackie commended the last school board presentations from the teams.

Wellness team went on a field trip to Peaceful Gardens. They are willing to do field trips next year for classes.

Teacher Appreciation Week—great lunch at elementary school.

Agate conference—several attendees from both schools, great information.

Grades 3 and 4 are working on musicals—The Solar System and The Lewis and Clark Expedition

High School Intervention is two years into their five year plan already.

Reports on HPT meetings

PIR ideas:

· Agate—specifically how to include enrichment activities in the curriculum, Eliza Sorte is a great speaker

· Intervention time to develop more consistency in grading

· Life coach training with Gina Lyons

· Creating literacy and math activity centers

· Curriculum Compacting

· Web 2.0 tools

· Creating my view for school website

· Refresher on Step up to Writing

· Focus on the direction of grading and grading practices

· Time for new department members

· Policies and procedures, especially for new teachers

· Refresher for school website

· Gradebook

· Interwrite and Smartboard

· Blogs

· Brain Processing and Stress with Bridget

· Dr. Ruby Payne—Framework for Understanding Poverty

· Nutrition education in the classroom

· Yoga

· Yoga in the classroom

· School Gardens in the curriculum

· Junior Great Books training

· Share Agate information from workshop

· www.bigforkschools.org advanced training

· Clickers

· Basic Computer Troubleshooting

· Copy Machine-scanning, email

RECOMMENDATION WAS MADE AND UNANAMOUSLY AGREED NOT HAVE IT IN THE CAFETERIA FOR ALL DAY, SUGGESTION TO HAVE IT AT CROSSROADS WITH THAT GREAT SOUP WE HAD LAST TIME!

Forum Meeting, April 27, 2011

2011-04-29T10:20:00.000-06:00

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: absent but sent report

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

English: Charlie Ball

Math: Josh Feller

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor

Science: Vicki Heupel

Art: Sarah Taylor

Administration: Jackie Boshka

Good News:

Student Council elections this week at the high school.

Stormy Taylor has had Mike Bennett, a Vietnam Vet, as a guest speaker in her classroom.

Assembly at the elementary school on Wednesday.

Wellness Committee has received a grant to teach health and yoga and to pay the wellness chair a stipend. There will also be two PIRs offered next year for teachers.

Jesse Venteicher won a national photography contest.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: worked on end of the year assessments and how to put them in a report card style

3-4: worked on teacher/student numbers for next year, combining classes and departmentalizing content areas; 4^th grade is getting ready for the Lewis and Clark play

5-6: worked on assessments and the board report

Wellness: three high school students have joined the committee, the school board requested a prioritized list which includes—fresh produce for school meals, Farm to School speaker, field trip to Peaceful Garden, nutritional education at all grade levels, yoga for 8^th grade, webinar on school garden, lunch time for high school, vending machines, student store

Intervention: evaluated what is and is not working, what should be contained in the files from grade to grade

Tech team: worked on board report

Intervention (High School): looked at elementary data room and what can come across with 8^th graders and Swan River students

English: worked on board report, looked at how Science was using assessments on a quarter basis, checked out the national standards, and looked at aligning semester finals

Science: discussed the Science department changes

Social Studies: worked on board report

Math: worked on board report, continued on the assessment database for PreAlg

Art: worked on board report

HPT meetings—please discuss with teams PIR ideas for next year. What are you willing to present and what would you like to see presented. Speaker for HPT work????

Insurance

2011-03-25T10:20:00.002-06:00

Let's use this area to have a threaded disscussion regarding insurance. The BLOG is a great way to have this disscussion so that everyone can see the discussion and therefore will know what's going on.

Yesterday I sent out an email to the staff seeing how many people would like to shop around for insurance. So far, i've had 45 emails with a big fat YES! Feel free to post any comments and concerns. You can also use this area to let me know you would like to be involved!!!

Forum Minutes 3/16/2011

2011-03-17T11:16:00.001-06:00

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: absent

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Sue McGregor

Intervention (Elementary): absent

English: Charlie Ball

Math: Marya Dolezal

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor

Science: Vicki Heupel

Administration: Matt Jensen, Jackie Boshka, Cory Pierce

Good News:

CRTs are going well at both schools with students taking them seriously. iPod touch incentive seems to be a motivator.

Cowabunga is this weekend.

Blood Drive went well on Wednesday.

Missoula math contest results are back. Eight students received a superior and several received honorable mention.

Wellness team is almost done with their checklist and eager to move on to the recommendations.

Two high school students are back to complete the rest of the year.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: Checked out Kalispell’s rubric and were pleased to find that Bigfork’s is more extensive.

3-4:

5-6: Continued working on writing assessment prompts. Planning to have at least one writing assessment after Spring Break.

Wellness: Prepping for the board presentation, after checklist is completed they will work on recommendations and improvements with the help of surveys. Mary has applied for a grant but have yet to hear back about it.

Intervention:

Tech team: rschooltoday online worksheets and trails9.org assessment.

Intervention (High School): will be presenting workshop information at a staff meeting.

English: Discussed formative assessments, how they utilize discussions for comprehension and dealing with absences.

Science: Worked on essential learnings and the overlap between courses/grade levels. Vicki has been working with the online worksheets at rschooltoday and how to use them for assessments and remediation.

Social Studies: Continued working on assessments and the board presentation.

Math: Working on PreAlg assessment banks for each quarter, formative assessments, daily quizzes, techniques for checking for understanding, and nongraded versus graded assessment.

Art: Worked on assessments, Sarah is working on a blended classroom.

Board Presentations: Showcase alignment and assessments, website work and other trainings and technology you have used this year.

Calendar is narrowed down to four. Staff will receive the choices soon to vote on.

Next meeting is April 13, 2011.

Forum Minutes 2/16/2011

2011-02-17T12:28:00.001-07:00

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Julie Bonner

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

English: Charlie Ball

Science: Vicki Heupel

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor

Math: Jessica Johnson

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Administration: Jackie Boshka

Good News

Cynthia Wilondek is the new recipient of the High School teacher of the month trophy.

The 7^th graders went to the MATH COUNTS competition and took 3^rd place, competing against mostly 8^th graders.

Valentine’s Day dance featured student artists.

Science Fair had more projects than ever before. Assembly will be held on Thursday for presentation of the awards. The winners will compete at the county level.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: Celie Perleberg—Continued working on common assessments for Math. Terry Gross was volunteered to be on the calendar committee.

3-4: Michelle Kaney—Continued their work on common assessments for Math.

5-6: Julie Bonner—Came up with a calendar for the calendar committee. Joe Pitts volunteered to be on the committee. The team focused on writing assessment and came up with three writing prompts for assessments to be used throughout the school year to obtain measurable results.

Wellness: Mary Ahnert—Email was sent to staff about the wellness committee. They are seeking a student and parent representative to attend their meetings. Currently working on grants available and the application process.

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel—The team needed a more efficient way to look at students needing intervention. They created an academic profile form that lists the assessments currently given as well as the student’s prior test history. The form includes a recommendation section. The profile can following the student from elementary to high school and be transferred with a student who changes school districts. Started out for students with difficulties but certainly could be used for all students.

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski—Will be working on the Information Literacy Assessment at trails9.org.

English: Charlie Ball—Worked on the various assessments that are given at specific grade levels. Will be used for entrance and exit information.

Science: Vicki Heupel –Currently no placement test, summative assessments are by individual teacher. They are currently going through the year and aligning the essential learnings with the tests. Also discussed the transition from eighth to ninth grade and created a form for essential learnings that will be used for each student for intervention.

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor—Looked at what is currently in place, how they assess, and their expectations of what students should know. More release time would be beneficial, as well as plagiarism software and maps. Also discussed the gap in social studies from 8^th grade to Junior year. (Perhaps a freshman elective for Geography?)

Math: Jessica Johnson—Marya volunteered to be on the calendar committee and will present the calendar that they created. They are working on math assessments to be given three times a year. Next meeting will be to work on PreAlgebra test bank.

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark—Has not met, will be attending an intervention conference next month.

Reminder for teams to sign up for the board presentations.

Next forum meeting will be March 16.

Forum Minutes 1/19/2011

2011-01-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Heidi Raab

English: Charlie Ball

Math: Marya Dolezal

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Social Studies: Cynthia Wilondek

Science: Vicki Heupel

Administration: Matt Jensen, Jackie Boshka

Good News:

Semester tests. Student Council will again be providing juice and bagels on Thursday.

Reflections reception and show is excellent.

7^th and 8^th graders went skiing.

Senior class is sponsoring parent’s night out on January 28^th. Free babysitting from 6 to 10.

No drop outs first semester.

Three seniors are graduating early.

Vicki Heupel is high school teacher of the month.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: Aligning report cards with the Everyday Math program.

3-4: Looked at the calendar and would like a half day HPT time but the lunchtime schedule is a problem for the elementary. Working on math assessments and are now using the IXL Math program.

5-6: Focused on the scientific method and were pleased with the classroom results.

Wellness: Following the OPI guidelines. Sue McGregor is the chair. They will be seeking student and parent input and are working on assessing the school environment.

Intervention: Implementing the intervention process at the Elementary. Created a data room for all assessments K-8.

Tech team: rschooltoday training

Intervention (High School): Six people will be going to a Pyramid Response to Intervention Workshop in March. Are anxious to see how it will work at the high school level.

English: Talked about the calendar.

Science: No common assessments for Science so looked at individual assessments to be edited.

Social Studies: Each brought an assessment to check with state standards.

Math: Each brought an assessment to align with the state standards. Discussed the calendar to adjust for more HPT time.

****HPTS should propose a calendar for recommendation next year. Volunteers for the calendar committee are needed.

Next forum meeting is February 16, 2011.

Forum Minutes 12/8/2010

2010-12-10T14:40:00.002-07:00

REMINDER: All reconfigured teams need to make certain they have a rep for the next forum meeting.

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Sue Loeffler

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

7-12 English: Charlie Ball

7-12 Science: Vicki Heupel

7-12 Math: Marya Dolezal

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Art:

7-12: Social Studies

Administration: Jackie Boshka

GOOD NEWS:

· Two math teachers have been hired.

· Trish Shults has been appointed to the Student Literacy Board for the state of Montana.

· Door decorating at the High School will begin next week, 5^th period. Theme is Christmas Around the World.

· K-5 is working on an assembly that will include singing and dancing.

· Nobel Peach Prize for student behavior is being implemented at the Elementary. Peaches can be nominated by teachers and peers.

· Running Across the U.S. is starting in Sue’s P.E. classes. Students will earn shoe laces and a runner to add for each 5 miles they run.

· Anthony Baker is the Student of the Month at the High School.

Wellness: Sue Loeffler talked about the new wellness team. The initial focus of this team will be food and nutrition. Eda will address the budgetary restrictions at their next meeting. They will also be looking at increasing the P.E. requirement, creating goals, and finding out what other schools are doing successfully.

K-2: Discussed the possibility of rescheduling Parent Teacher conferences for next year. Suggestions were all day, two days of early release, and spread out over 3 days. Jackie stated there will be a calendar committee for next year’s calendar. The team also worked on fine tuning their report card (essential learnings).

3-4: Working on the geography assessment but decided they really want to focus on math and create a solid assessment in this area first.

5-6: Worked on creating a formal assessment for writing. They came up with several possible prompts to use.

7-12 English: Discussed the difficulty in assessing for each grade level in English. They looked at different tests for each grade level and would like to have some sort of formal assessment at the 9^th grade level.

7-12 Math: Looked at aligning the assessment with the standards. They also plan to look at the semester and end of the year final to create assessments that are consistent. They also plan to create a “pacing guide” so that a new person stepping in to the department would have a timeline to follow.

7-12 Science: Worked on checking assessments and essential learnings.

Tech: Tech team is beginning to work on the new District web site. We are awaiting training from rschooltoday. There are many great features that we are anxious to share with everyone.

HS Intervention: Working on how to develop and practice RTI at the high school level.

Intervention: They have developed a packet that was handed out and explained to staff that shows the process, flowchart, guidelines, and iplans for Intervention.

HPT Schedule Change Ideas:

· extend school day by a few minutes to create a full day of HPT

· early release one day a month

· half a day once a month (one day might be too much HPT!)

· a day in between semesters for grading, etc.

· could we have an occasional break from assessment during HPTs?

Early Release: December 15^th, Clara will email HPT goals on Monday

Forum Meeting: January 19^th

Forum Minutes 10/13/2010

2010-10-15T11:08:00.000-06:00

Forum Meeting

October 13, 2010

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Kathy Manders

7-8: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Team 1: Charlie Ball

Team 2: Vicki Heupel and Ana Young

Team 3: Mary Sullivan

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Administration: Cynthia Clary, Jackie Boshka, Cory Pierce

Good News

Mary Ahnert report that the Middle School will be holding a career fair on October 27^th that will include several community members sharing their careers with the students.

Mary also reported that 7^th and 8^th graders really like their teachers and feel that they are supported by them as well.

Halloween luncheon on the 28^thfor the high school staff put on by Team 3.

Charlie Ball reported that they (Student Council) are hoping to put on a scary movie night in the gym and have a costume contest. At the final football game (this Friday) the split the pot proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: The focus was on Science Standard 3 that deals with plants and animals. They looked at each grade level, subject area, essential learning, rubrics, and concepts for each lesson. Each team member will be doing their portion of the standard for their grade level and then report back the results. Celie made a form that combined all of above that she shared with us.

3-4: Continued working on geography with a focus of map skills. The group feels that time is a big issue in working on the assessment with the way that our HPTs are scheduled. Many teams concurred with this. They will also continue working on essential learnings that are in kid friendly language.

5-6: The team worked on Language Arts and parts of speech. They wanted to know who will be looking at the work that we do, is there a final product “format” and what will that look like. Essentially, what is the ultimate goal? What is the definition of proficiency? Some of the essential learnings are already in place and do we need to change them.

Cynthia responded that this will ultimately be a living, breathing document that will change in time, and there is room for individual creativity.

Jackie said there are areas that do have a common assessment and those that are already in place can then compare data, especially at the grade level.

Proficiency—how do you measure, age level, grading, how do you report it—each group will need to deal with that question.

7-8: The focus was on a common goal-- kids have difficulty in reading with understanding and are working on writing this essential learning. They concluded that once you have the essential learning and assessment, you need to look at the skills involved and work backwards, from the whole to the part. Questions, are the assessments for us or the kids? The assessments can be useful motivators for kids. Each member of the group is going to test drive this with their students and bring it back to the group for discussion.

Intervention (Elem.): Continued working on their model for intervention. Each member took a task to work on individually so that will be in place and then they can move forward.

Tech team: Focus was on an art essential learning. There was much discussion with questions that have been brought up by other groups about how this will be used and what exactly the product should look like, as well as the time issue.

Team 1: There were a few questions concerning whether we were actually creating an activity to assess, and what exactly we were expected to create. There is some difficulty in working within a group of diverse members but ultimately they came up with several great options for assessment from the members.

Team 2: A Spanish essential learning was chosen. They brainstormed several different ideas for assessment. Ana will be trying out a technology idea (a video) in her classroom for assessment.

Team 3: The luncheon was planned! They like the diversity of the group but find it difficult to find a common goal. They focused on clarification and analysis of their essential learning.

Intervention (High School): Reading assessment was the focus, especially with new students that are moving into the district. Previously used the Nelson Denning reading test so that teachers were aware of the student’s reading level. This would be a useful tool for intervention.

**Next early out will be a vertical meeting K-12. The teams should revisit the essential learnings for clarification and assessment. Is this a necessary essential learning or reinforcement? What do they need to know at your grade level when they walk in the door? Other things to consider are introduction, mastery, reinforcement, common vocabulary, and grade level.

Teams are:

Math

Language Arts

Science

Social Studies

Art

Music

Counselors/SpEd/Title/Intervention

Health Enhancement (PE and Health)

Ind. Arts

Spanish

Tech/Library/Business

Family and Consumer Sciences

Forum meetings will be December 8, January 19, February 16, March 16, April 13, and May 11.

Late Work

2010-10-13T10:52:00.003-06:00

I have struggled forever with how to deal with late assignments, projects, and homework. I think I started out early in my career with, "If it is late it's a zero." It was the tough love approach. By god I was going to teach them a life lesson and make my job easier. The idea was that the penalty was to serve as a deterrent. Surely, any rational student would see the error of their ways and maybe do it once. That is not what happened. The same late offenders continued to offend. Plus I was deemed unfair because I no longer spent time deciphering the truthfulness in a myriad of excuses. It was a zero. Some of the excuses were actually legitimate, but I didn't care. I then went to a strategy that I used for years and that was a graduated penalty. For every day late I would deduct ten points (90, 80, 70, etc.). That seemed to work better, but I then had an accounting nightmare. (Which kid and which assignment and how many days late was it?) In addition, the same kids offended and became resigned to a bad grade and in some cases gave up on learning. The goodie-two-shoes always complied but not the kids that really needed to.

One day I was having a discussion about late work with another teacher in Alaska and she said that she thought it was unfair to take points off a grade for a behavior. Also the grade should be a measurement of what they know not of their behavior. On elementary report cards we separate the two with content evaluated on one side and behavior on the other. Actually I was traumatized by that behavior side in first grade. Mrs. Sodowski carried me down the hall by my ear for talking in the bathroom, during bathroom break. I can distinctly remember trying to keep my feet on the ground as I struggled to pull up my pants from below my knees, but I digress. I took the teacher's reasoning to heart. I really want the grade to be separate so that it is a clearer measurement of what they know, especially for those kids that always turn it in late if ever. I believe giving the offending kids grade penalties may actually perpetuate the behavior. I think study backs are an excellent consequence to get kids to do the work and keep up. I don't think adding late penalties works and it skews the grade so it is no longer the measurement I want it to be. I guess "teaching them a lesson" (content/product) is more important to me than "teaching them a lesson" (responsibility). At least they should be separate.

The reason I have written this is that the middle school is starting mandatory study backs during lunch for any student with a D or an F in class. A discussion has been started regarding how much credit should be given for work completed at study backs. Some teachers believe the most they should get is 50%. Others believe full credit should be given. Finally, I think this is a very good topic for the staff in general to give their opinions, because I think every teacher has struggled with this issue and every teacher has a different policy. If you're a student it can be confusing. I am positive people will disagree with my stance, but there could be an epiphany out there somewhere. I have posted this to the HPT blog. You can go there and leave a comment of any type. Maybe one like, "Damn you Mike Roberts" or "You're so lovely." Actually, I would prefer possible solutions instead of attacking the messenger. Please, don't send me e-mails about this. The comments on the blog can be read by anyone.

Forum Minutes 9/29/2010

2010-10-07T09:08:00.001-06:00

Forum Meeting

September 29, 2010

Attendance:

K-2: Celie Perleberg

3-4: Jill Morley

5-6: Kathy Manders

7-8: Mary Blinn (substituting for Mary Ahnert)

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Team 1: no rep

Team 2: Vicki Heupel and Ana Young

Team 3: no rep

Intervention (High School): Clara Clark

Administration: Cynthia Clary, Matt Jensen, Jackie Boshka, Cory Pierce

**Please remember that all teams must have a representative and a replacement when unable to attend a meeting.

Nominations and election of Forum Chair and Secretary

Chair: Clara Clark

Secretary: Sue Zielanski

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: Essential Learning dealt with money--preskills discussion, using uniform language and consistent expectations, as well as recognizing versus identifying.

3-4: Essential Learning dealt with geography—discussion centered on using project based learning and/or assessing each essential learning.

5-6: Essential Learning-- the 5-6 team took one of our Language Arts essential learnings and went through some of the keys to assessment such as purpose of the assessment, design of the assessment, communication after assessment, etc; and that we had a good discussion and start on the assignment from our administrators

7-8: Essential Learning and the use of rubrics for assessment.

Intervention: Focus was on outlining the system of intervention (documentation).

Tech team: Essential Learning was citing sources appropriately—how it relates throughout the curriculum, project based learning, and rubrics.

Team 2: Essential Learning dealt with science—brainstorming, rubrics, implementation and assessment of understanding (which Vicki successfully incorporated into her classroom).

Intervention (High School): Essential Learning was reading symbols—making connections.

Discussion

The focus of the discussion was the role of the forum, direction, outcomes, and expectations of the HPT teams and the vertical meetings. How do we assess the essential learnings, preassessment, breaking it down, what if they don’t get it, and then deciding what to do with all of that information. Forum reps will report on BOTH the HPT team meetings, as well as the vertical team meetings.

Good News

Travis Knoll is a National Merit Scholar.

3^rd Graders—Glacier Park Staff complimented them on being the best behaved, most knowledgeable group.

Jill Morley had a low reader tell her that they loved to read.

Mike Roberts and the Yearbook class—Profits from That Coffee Shop and their highlights show.

**Next HPT meeting will continue the 7-step process. Forum meetings will be October 13, December 8, January 19, February 16, March 16, April 13, and May 11.

Web 2.0

2010-06-04T09:14:00.004-06:00

So you didn't know there was a Web 2.0? You wonder what came before that? I have been *in class* for 6 weeks finding that the tools of Web 2.0 are almost limitless, and that blogging, WIKIs, podcasts, screencasts and bookmarking are excllent ways to engage student learners. I had to try it to believe it, and now I subscribe to RSS feeds, I can Google Wave, and more.

The high school art department is under construction this summer, so watch for new and exciting changes. I am hoping to collaborate with a colleague and offer Web 2.0 study groups in the fall of 2010 to share our newly enhanced skills.

I also wanted to share a very fun video of our freshmen trip that I put together using a tool called Photostory. Here is the video! Enjoy!

Stay tuned!

April Forum 2010

2010-04-22T10:51:00.000-06:00

Forum April 21, 2010

Attendance:
Tech Team: Scarlett Sherman
Art Team: Amber Britt
Math Team: Ann Dorr
Social Studies Team: Celie Perleberg
Language Arts: Joyce Singleton & Clara Clark
Special Ed/Title Team: Heidi Raab
Spanish Team: Ana Young
Admin: Cory Pierce, Russ Kinzer
Counselors Team: Mary Ahnert

Non-Attendees:
Science ?
Health Enhancement ?
Music ?

**A Friendly reminder: when a representative cannot attend the scheduled forum meeting, a replacement representative must be chosen to attend.

Next Meeting is May 19th.

I. GOOD NEWS
• Mr. Kinzer- "Bravo Everyone for doing such a fabulous job with curriculum alignment"
• K-5 team- Thanks the Staff for cooperation with planting trees on Earth Day.
• 6-8 team- Started Advisory again. Getting positive feedback from staff and students; today’s discussion is on bullying.
• Mr. Pierce- Our School is very near being a PLC (Professional Learning Community) school.
• High school is noticing less bullying from the freshman for this year and students are more willing to approach staff when issues arise.

II.REPORT BACK on professional development ideas: These are suggestions and ideas only. Teams will need to report back with final input at the next meeting.
• 1 day Love and Logic Speaker k-12
• Step-up to Writing
• 6 Traits of Writing
• Ruby Payne Project: Understanding the Framework of Generational Poverty training
• MBI (Montana Behavior Initiative)
• Olweus Bullying Prevention Review
• Big 6 Research Model
• Healthy Living Information
• Staff Members might be able to present: Tech Team(network, blogging, best websites, online library, wikis, smartboards, iPad), Doug Peters and bike riding healthy living, Indian Ed
• How to deal with ADD ADHD kids
• Classroom mgmt tricks: Love and logic covers this
• Police/Drug presentation
• Now What: The Curriculum is Aligned
• Copyright Laws with school Lawyer Mr. Dahlam from Whitefish
• Professional Learning Communities (PLC)—training from Phoenix, AZ that several staff members attended
• Suicide Prevention, sexual harassment, drug Prevention at secondary levels
• Refresher on Math Connects and how it connects to Everyday Math
• 1 day Denny program
• Refresher on CRISS strategies
• Training on Aims Web
• Common Prescription drugs/side effects, what they are used for. -Craig Walker, Clinical Psychologist.
• Possible break up with k-8 separation with 9-12 for one day for a session pertaining to those grade levels
• Group training for HPT’s and how they can be effective
• Assessment training so we are all on the same page
Thanks to everyone for all of the great suggestions!

III. HPT Discussion:
• Would like to open the floor to anyone willing to help organize this Fall’s first few days of school for all of us. Please if you are interested in helping contact Scarlett. It is a lot of hard work for just a couple of staff members!

• What training do we need to provide to our staff to make sure the programs that are in place, stay solid and consistent. This will be explored more at the next meeting.

• Restructuring Teams: Possible option for going back to grade level teams for common assessments on the implementation of our newly aligned curriculum. The Forum would like each team to discuss this issue to bring back to the forum. Give feedback on how you would like to restructure teams. Intervention would like to stay together.

Next Forum Meeting each team will need to report the following three items:

1) Now that we have so many ideas for the Fall Professional day; what do we want to see, who is going to help plan and how much time/ money is available. Think of motivational, upbeat and inspiring ideas for the beginning of the year!

2) Discuss team restructuring for next year. Would you like to go back to grade-level teams like we’ve had in the past?

3) What programs can we use for the 9-12 level to address bullying. Olweus is designed for k-8. Would like suggestions from high school teams/staff members as to what possible program would work with secondary levels.

Have a Fabulous Day!
~Amber

2009-10-09T15:11:00.002-06:00

Attendance: Tracy S., Matt J, Michelle K., Ann D., Joyce S., Karen P., Mary A., Ana Y., Mr. Kinzer, Clara C., Amber B.,Mrs. Boshka, Scarlett S.

Agenda:

Review of Instructional forum guidelines and procedures

Nomination and Election of Chair and Secretary positions:

Scarlett Sherman Chair

Amber Britt Sec.

Business: Feedback from the team

~Tracy, Intervention: creating a path to intervention, Changed the intervention plan collaborated with k-5 team to make changes.

Working on letting the staff know about the new intervention plan

~Michelle: Social studies reports a very positive group and getting a good start on things

k-4 records on paper, standards, benchmarks, well on their way, format is working well for this team.

~Ann Dorr: Math team, doing well with cross alignment on the curriculum. Have compared CIT scores and finding it very helpful, and enjoyable. Would like to be able to meet as a k4 team so they could line up assessments with each other. To make sure all the grade levels are on the same page with alignment is a goal.

~Joyce Singleton k-4 lang. arts. Have been working on K4 reading scope and sequence. Finding gaps, and finding creative ways to work on the curriculum. Information they are finding is very informative and helpful, making progress.

~Clara Clark: Goal for this team is to have a solid look at what is missing in the curriculum in order to look at individual grade levels and go from there.

~Karen Pogachar: Meeting CRT at 10^th grade, trying to make the curriculum meet the standards. Asking parents what they would like to see from the students as far as expectations. Making progress. “Do we prepare the students to take the test, or prepare them for moving further into the field of science beyond”.

~Mary Ahnert: Careers, Focus is on k12 career education. Noticing weekness in careers for k12 being taught. Collaborating with 9^th grade teachers to find out what is valuable for this goal. Changing the name from the transitions course to career focus.

MCIS, online portfolios, apps, and career exploration are some of the ideas this team has.

~Ana Young, spanish: looking at the standards to make alignment. What applies, what is covered, what do they need to work on and develop a plan. Making progress

~Amber: for the Arts: Goals: meet with other schools to collaborate on subject to make sure they have the curriculum information that is hand; starting with swan river. Starting the blog will help with allowing other staff members, parents, students can access the information online. We are making phenomenal progress with the curriculum guide.

Mr. Kinzer reports Shop is making progress

Scarlett: Tech team is working on infusing technology into everyone’s curriculum, and making huge progress on this and is implementing this already.

FORUM on 6/3

2009-06-04T08:52:00.002-06:00

Forum Minutes
June 3, 2009

I. Attendance
¸ K-2: Shults
¸ 3-5: Deskins-President
¸ 6-8: Howie
¸ 9th grade: --------?
¸ 10th: Appleby
¸ 11/12: Boshka
¸ Tech: Sherman
¸ Intervention: -------?
¸ Admin: Boshka, Kinzer, Jensen, Loeffler

II. Good News from Teams
¸ High School reported most seniors got good scholarships
¸ Graduation was short but very sincere
¸ First time for baccalaureate
¸ Elementary school reported Kindergarten graduation at Sliters park went well
¸ L Losing 3 teachers at the Elem level: Deskins, Howie, Moul
¸ 8th grade trip leaves for their trip on Thursday- looks like they have lots of fun planned
¸ 5th has been at Ravenwood this week! Going well!!
¸ Multi-age went to Ravenwood last week and it went really well!

III. HPT Restructure
¸ Right now the school improvement system is bogged down. We need to re-align the entire process. All teams will be restructured by discipline and by grade-level.
¸ Next year we will be working on: Curriculum, Instructive and best practices. This is the time to focus on our students and the curriculum
¸ Next Fall one of those September days will be used for this re-alignment
¸ Content teams will be one big vertical team and then break down into smaller focus groups within the team.
¸ Benchmarks will be assessed.
¸ Next year specific goals will be articulated.
¸ Here are the teams:
¸ Math: Epperley, Bach, Pitz, Dorr, Gross, Pierce, McAnally, Tennant, Johnson, Dolezal, Swope, New
¸ Language Arts: Singleton, Lamar, Shults, Morley, Henion, Bonner, White, Blinn, Pierce, Ball, Appleby, Sullivan, Boskha, Clark
¸ Science: Brown, Trembath, Pogy, Bodenhammer, White, Heupel
¸ Social Studies: Perleberg, Manders, Carter, Aldrich, Taylor
¸ Sped: Wisher, Richter, Pilskalns, Wallin, Hanson, Raab (Aides: Manicke, Standley, Stodghill, Lyons
¸ Art: Britt, Taylor
¸ Music: Blinn, Peters, Richter
¸ Counselors: Wood, Ahnert, Nadeau, Willison, Strong
¸ PE: Epperley, Loeffler
¸ Shop: Melkioty
¸ Spanish: Young, Trenerry
¸ Tech: Richardson, Roberts, Zielanski, Shanks, Porrrovecchio, Sherman, New
¸ *****All questions/concerns will be answered this fall!! There will also be some flexibility in these teams!

IV. The Inservice Days (The First Four Days of School TENTATIVE SCHEDULE)
¸ Orientation/Cluster Day 1
¸ HPT Restructureing Day 2-3
¸ Building Preperations/Meetings Day 3-4

V. MEA Days (October)
¸ You need to have a plan
¸ MEA days are contracturally required
¸ There will be flexibility if you have made prior arrangements to fullful your PIR if prior arrangements have been made (Summer workshops)
¸ Otherwise things will be offered at our school
¸ MEA is in Billings this year

VI. Cluster Day Ideas
o AGATE
o ANKEL TAPING
o SCHOOL ATTOURNEY
o TECH
o INDIAN ED
o SUMMER INSTITURE FROM THE CO-OP
o BIG 6
o Anyone with ideas please contact Scarlett
o You get DOUBLE PIR if you teach one of the classes!!
o Teams planning on presenting a cluster need to put something in writing
o Here is the tentative schedule:

Tues Sept 1st
8:00 Greeting/Orientation
8:30-10:00 Guest Speaker
10-10:15 Break
10:15-11:30 Cluster
11:30-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:45 Cluster
1:45-2:00 Break
2:00-3:15 Cluster

Wed. Sept 2nd Thur. Sept. 3rd Fri Sept. 4th ----T.B.A.

Subject: 2009 Totally Wired Teacher Award

2009-05-29T12:00:00.000-06:00

Our humble colleage, Mike Roberts received the following email from Bri Brewer Head of Community Development for Dell’s Education community.

I would like to personally extend my congratulations to you on being
nominated (multiple entries) and ultimately selected for the
Ypulse 2009 Totally Wired Teacher Award!!

You were selected from more than 200 nominees for your dedication to technology supporting instruction and your commitment to being an advocate for its potential in education.
http://www.ypulse.com/the-2009-totally-wired-teacher-ismike-roberts

Tech HPT

2009-05-28T08:05:00.002-06:00

Still working on the finishing touches of the tech plan.

Did you know that as a teacher at Bigfork Schools you can become a tech mentor or mentee? You can also ask for University of Bigfork Credit, PIR time, or personal days as a result???
Ask your building rep for more info!

Elem/Middle School Rep:Scarlett Sherman, Greg Moul, Mike Roberts
High School Rep: Sue Zielanski, Matt Porrovecchio

6-8 HPT

2009-05-28T07:55:00.002-06:00

The 6-8 team spent yesterday's HPT meeting recommending sixth and seventh grade students to next year's leadership class. We are looking to involve students that have demonstrated the ability to sway their peers, in either a positive or negative direction. The goal is to teach these natural leaders the skills they need to use their abilities to create a positive social and educational environment. The leadership course will likely be a combination of character education, and a civics curriculum.

10th Grade HPT

2009-05-20T09:46:00.002-06:00

Tenth HPT continued to talk about next year's goals, those we hope to still accomplish no matter how the HPT system works next year. We tried to nail down a large community based project for each quarter. 1st: A motto and logo contest along with a What's Good About Bigfork English discussion. 2nd: Food Drive (With the graduation of this year's class it will be interesting to see if the kids really get behind this like they have in the past.) #rd: Empty bowl, a huge project involving the entire high school, more on that later. 4th: Community service day. A day for kids to go out into the community and do some good, picking up trash, doing yard work, going planting trees, etc.

That's where we are right now, any ideas or additions would be great.

3-5 in May

2009-05-17T20:53:00.002-06:00

The last two early releases have either been consumed with math (Ms. Math was here. I think she has a real name, maybe Rachel?) or grade levels planning end of year trips. As a team we have not seen very much of each other but we take comfort knowing we are planning the end of the year.

It seems there has been a lot of work happening involving math with a lot more to come. Hopefully someone with some actual insight will post too! 3rd recently visited a museum (I know, I should remember the name!), 4th just returned from another successful overnight adventure to Great Falls, and 5th is about to embark on yet another two night-er to Ravenwood the first week of June!

intervention

2009-05-15T13:53:00.003-06:00

The Intervention Team was mostly involved in other meetings, scheduling, and athletics but those who could meet did so briefly and talked more about some students who were in danger of losing credits through failing, notably the seniors.

Tech HPT on May 13

2009-05-15T07:49:00.002-06:00

At our last tech HPT meeting we met with a revised copy of the tech plan. We our making changes to the plan to fit the needs of OPI requirements. We also asked for one full school day with sub release time to work on this large endeavor. The plan also needs to be ready with monetary figures when stimulus money becomes available.

Also, we constantly talk about the Technology Mentor/Mentee program that the plan has set up. Hey Staff!! Did you know you can further your technology education with the help of the school district as laid out in the tech plan? Ask one of your tech members for more info!!!

Pardon me, but I must....

2009-05-11T17:53:00.000-06:00

Please accept my invitation to nominate Mr. Michael Roberts for the Ypulse 2009 Totally Wired Teacher Award. It has been my privilege to be mentored by Mr. Roberts over the last seven months . I have watched as he has played point person, driving Bigfork School District to embrace 21st Century Technology . I have observed his enthusiasm in the classroom as he shares his passion with students and they respond. We are fortunate to have this rare resource in our midst and this is a unique opportunity to acknowledge him. Please visit Ypulse and fill in the brief nomination form.

HPT 10

2009-05-08T07:36:00.003-06:00

Well, a week and a half ago when we met, we prepared for our Sophomore field trip to Nine Pipes lodge and Beardance trail. It was a hit. the kids enjoyed themselves and learned a lot. They also had a great opportunity to work hard and do something good for the environment by planting trees and clearing away brush that could cause wildfires.

We also continued talks about the Empty Bowl program that we plan to reinstate next year, with the full blessings of the Forum and Administration, of course.

We are still pushing to be the All Things Positive group, and we will continue to look for ways to set Bigfork apart as a place that kids want to be.

11/12 team report

2009-05-04T12:34:00.003-06:00

At the last HPT the 11/12 team discussed goals for next year. We are considering "critical thinking" curriculum, gifted and talented identification, and intervention. We also discussed concerns about next year's calendar. Senior projects were a great success and I will be posting pictures of the presentations. The interactive board was perfect for this type of assignment. Mike B.

6-8 HPT

2009-05-04T10:53:00.002-06:00

Our HPT meeting was spent planning for a track and field day for the morning of May 27th. This day will be led by the 7th and 8th grade students and teachers and attended by third and fourth grade students. We brainstormed a series of events, so that each student will visit around eight stations during the morning. Some events will be traditional, and others have been highly adapted to accommodate our age range and number of students. It should be a fun day for all participating!

Insurance Discussion

2009-05-04T09:54:00.002-06:00

Here are Clara's Comments. This blog is open to FRIENDLY discussion about our insurance choices. You can also click your choice on the unformal poll! Currenlty I am also leaning towards MUST b/c of the HSA option. Please keep in mind these are opinions and the blog is a great place to share!!! Scarlett

Dear All,
Last night I made the time to attend the MUST meeting. I'm glad I did.
After listening to the Blue Cross-Blue Shield presentation, I was ready
to vote in favor of switching our health insurance company. No so,
any longer! My reasoning is as follows:
MUST raised the maximum lifetime benefit from 3 million to 5 million
MUST has a basic medical plan - the Blue's don't - we do have members
on this plan
MUST has a built-in $!0,000 life insurance policy with the district
paying for another $10,000. I purchased a $50,000 policy
for about $18 per month. Great rate. I'm not real clear on
the Blue's, but I believe if we wanted that, it would raise the
premium?
MUST has a built-in long term disability insurance - the Blue's
don't. You can purchase it.
MUST deals with schools only.
MUST and Blue's dental and vision plans are comparable, however,
if you use a flex account or a health savings account, you will
not spend as much in the end. When you add up the premiums
paid and subtract you benefits, the insurance is not cost effective.
MUST also offers opportunities for us, as a district, to lower our
premiums through wellness incentive plans. One of the opportunities
mentioned was if 90% of the insured participated, we could save up to
3% on our premiums. Granted that may be only $12 - $13 per month,
and that depends on your plan and deductible, but $140 to $150
per year would but something fun?
MUST premiums may be a couple dollars more, but the benefits outweigh
the cost risks.
I know I'm not covering all the points. Perhaps those in attendance can lend
their memories and support.
Union members will be voting soon to decide which insurance company
we will be using as a district.
Thanks for listening/reading about my obvious choice.

Have a GREAT DAY!
Clara

I Team

2009-05-04T08:24:00.004-06:00

Intervention Team met last week and went through the updated F and nearly-failing list. Christina Nadeau shared some of the interventions in place for students struggling with math. Our discussion centered on what we are doing as a high school to intervene in skill deficits among students in all areas. Elementary strategies were also discussed including the math interventions that have had success in their program. Christina informed team members how we're working on a plan for next year to take out the "negativity" associated with some intervention programs, and anticipating success with the new strategies.

4.29.09 Tech Team

2009-04-29T16:44:00.002-06:00

At the tech meeting we talked about the tech plan and how we continually have to update it. The updates we need to make include:
-a timeline for the network and its infrastruture, a mobile lab for the high school this year and next, a forcast for room 201 in the middle school, how many new machines will be purchased a year for teachers, and VHS

3 and 4 and 5 HPT

2009-04-18T21:26:00.002-06:00

The 3-5 team separated into its component parts Wednesday needing to discuss the upcoming enrichment clusters, last minute report card details, and end of year trips. As grade levels we were also able to utilize some much needed meeting time to keep up with reading and RTI, our foremost team goal.

K-2 HPT

2009-04-17T13:38:00.003-06:00

We started off talking about extending the lunch time for primary students for next year, as they are rushed to eat, or throw their food away because they want to get out to recess. Discussed different ways this might be possible, and will bring it up to Mrs. Boshka for further discussion. Earth Day activities were brought up and paint has been ordered to start painting the animal tracks on the sidewalks for those grade level sections of the campus that have a paintable surface to work with. We tallied the Internet Survey that was sent home with students.
Do you have a computer at home? 95Y 5N
Do you have internet access? 84Y 16N
Is your child allowed to get on internet sites without supervision? 1Y 99N
Do you have child safety protection instaled on your computer? 26Y 43N (Not all teachers asked this question)
Sharon Lamar is participating in the Pennies for Peace campaign again this year and invited the other primary classrooms to participate if they wanted too.

9th HPT

2009-04-16T12:45:00.002-06:00

We chose a representative principal advisary. We discussed new possibilities for the School Picnic. Many suggestions were made. We also brought up many concerns for our representative to take to principal advisory. We edited and copied the freshman school supply list to be sent home for the current 8th graders and would appreciate any input from other staff of anything that needs to be added to that list. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to hear back from the bike company in regards to lowering the costs of our 9th grade field trip.

2009-04-16T12:23:00.001-06:00

11/12 team discussed the calendar for next year, problems accessing the computer lab, and greed to examine some web sites on critical thinking at our next meeting. MB

2009-04-16T10:34:00.002-06:00

Tenth HPT spent the time doing several different things. Hans and Stormy went to the parks department and set up our tree planting day set for May 1st. We will be taking all of the sophomore class to plant trees at Beardance Trail and Nine Pipes lodge, with a picnic between.
We also spoke about a reworking of the picnic, perhaps asking student council to come up with a little more structure, and adding an assembly to show off all of the good things that we have done this year, awards, scholarships, etc.

6-8 HPT

2009-04-16T07:41:00.003-06:00

The 6-8 team did some problem-solving and some brainstorming during this weeks meeting. One issue was students being released from classes early and then lingering in hallways, disturbing other classes. Solutions involved synchronizing clocks, and urging teachers who don't have bells to carefully watch the clock and keep students until the appropriate time.

Next, grade checks for the current track season were organized, followed by a brainstorming session on how to organize some of the elementary school into a track and field day later in the spring. Planning is still in process, but will involve advisory teams organizing and running track events for some elementary students in a fun and community-building afternoon in May.

Intervention and Tech collaborate

2009-04-15T15:09:00.003-06:00

The Intervention and Tech teams that were able to meet together did just that and discussed the upcoming Cinco de Mayo lunch collaboration. To those who could not attend, please check your email for your specific assignment.

Three of the team members met and discussed Moodle, and tried to download the program to begin using this new technological hybrid. Unfortunately due to administrative issues, we could not in fact use or later uninstall the zipped files, and will wait for further instruction as to where the program will have to be housed. For you who are completely lost by this discussion, do not despair as it will undoubtedly resurface in coming weeks. If you are interested, check out moodle.org online and see what you think.

The Intervention team will meet again to discuss students who are jeopardizing credits by not passing classes, and how we can redirect them toward success.

Tech Team on 4.15

2009-04-15T15:00:00.003-06:00

The tech team spent individual time researching different aspects of Web 2.0 tools. For example I learned about Twitter. Sue spent some time researching Moodle and talking to other teams about Moodle. And Roberts spent time updating the tech plan with our new goals and looking through the stimulus package to see what was available.

Will We Be Ready For Her?

2009-04-01T13:54:00.006-06:00

She's posed for learning in the digital world! She will come to school unafraid of technology and she will be skilled at using it to produce creative work. Using technology will expand her vocabulary and deepen her ability to think critically. She might even teach herself to read! The notion of literacy for her will be much expanded beyond the traditional print literacy.

Thank you TECH HPT for pushing us to become more comfortable with using technology. We might not become as tech savy as our digital natives but we can be open to developing our expertise.

11-12 HPT-Agate

2009-04-01T13:53:00.001-06:00

The 11-12 hpt will examine ways to increase critical thinking in the curriculum and our assignments. I will attend the AGATE conference in Missoulla later in April.

K-2 team early release meeting

2009-04-01T13:27:00.002-06:00

During our meeting, we discussed the question; What is the potential and use of this blog site? Obviously it can be a great communication tool for all staff K-12, as long as it focuses on professional issues and is accessed by all staff. Time factor is the first thought that comes to mind for most of primary. During the day, because we work with such young children who need constant direction and attention, it is rare to find even a moment; unless it is our prep time, when there is a priority list of things to be done,to read the blog. To access it later at home would not be possible for all of the primary teachers, as 5 do not have a computer at home. It could also be a huge time saver, in not physically attending meetings that some times go in complete circles and it seems like there is alot of talk but nothing is accomplished. But then again, blog discussions can also go down rabbit trails. Some of the questions that arose were: Would it at any time be used as decision making tool? or just as an informative venue to keep the teams in touch?

3-5 on 3/25

2009-03-29T05:15:00.002-06:00

The 3-5 team had a lively discussion on 3/25 about the nature and intent of RTI and what it should look like next year. All agreed there were some definite benefits but some tweaking is needed when it comes to scheduling and equitable distribution of Title resources. 3rd and 4th have some kids who are not receiving the much needed "daily double dose" of reading and 5th has Tracy Swope fitting one group of intensive kids into her tight schedule.

It is possible to be a part of RTI and still teach reading to your "homeroom" kids while also best meeting their individual abilities. RTI is not a verb, it is not something we "do", but an approach to help students receive the interventions they need when they need them. We should be looking at how students respond to the interventions we provide and use those responses to drive our teaching. 3-5 expressed some concern that RTI is not more consistent K-5 and that during the spring teachers from each grade level should get together to look at the future of this idea. Many would like to see math included next year and 5th is very happy using RTI for math this year.It was noted that as we are not consistent, we are unable to use the RTI process and its accumulation of data to identify kids for services. RTI is intended to circumvent the traditional "wait to fail/discrepancy" approach to qualifying students for special education.

As a team we also discussed just how incredibly talented our K-5 teachers are at teaching reading. The students of Bigfork Elementary are incredibly fortunate. This was celebrated while at the same time we look to the future to see how we can continue to provide top notch reading instruction consistently for all students.

We briefly discussed the blog but for the most part we had run out of steam. It was bantered about that there wasn't enough time in the day (always true), but it was also discussed how it is meant to be a time saving option.

9th HPT

2009-03-27T14:01:00.002-06:00

This year's Freshman HPT group has dicussed the following topics:
4 day school week
Freshman supply list
Interventions to be made with 9th grade students
A mandatory typing and computer class for incoming Freshmen
Robin Burns worked with the Math Department in vertical meeings looking to install a 3 year math graduation requirement. We also support the ALC with Mrs. Burns in math. Last week out HTP put on a St. Patrick's Day luncheon for the High School staff.
Currently we are working on trying to find funding for our Freshmen Trip down the Hiawatha trail for the beginning of the year.

10th HPT

2009-03-26T15:19:00.002-06:00

After an exciting and particularly productive meeting yesterday the 10th grade team has many ideas and a whole philosophy we'd like to adopt for next year.

As we move to a B school we decided that now was a perfect time to do some serious marketing for our little village school. The ideas started pouring, but basically all of them involved a way to get all of the good things about our small school out into the public. We thought about making a list of all of our pros and cons, much like a teen aged boy might do when trying to figure out which girl to ask to prom. We are the girl, and we need more boys asking us to prom. We don't just want to keep the kids we have, we want those kids who feel their current school isn't right for them. If kids are leaving Bigfork because it is too small, it stands to reason that there are kids at Flathead that want to leave because it is too big, because they don't like their coach, or because they feel like they haven't had the ability to shine. Let's get them!

We also loked into several ideas that would give the students and the faculty a more conected feeling to the school. Such as a teacher section of the bulletin that could include actions that happened at the board meetings, field trips, projects, etc. We thought of a contest for students to come up with a new school logo and 'motto.' We thought of an idea that was done before called empty bowl, a community fund raiser where every kid in the school makes a bowl and we sell them with soup (Mrs. Taylor may punch me for bringing this up).

This led to our philosophical idea:
We believe it should be our goal to create opportunities to not only do great things, (BE PROACTIVE) but to show them off as well. Our empty bowl could be an open house that shows off pictures of the vehicles that the auto-shop has donated, art work and photography, photos or tree planting, Bio Club activities, sewing projects, food drive photos, reading at nursing home, litter pickup, Interact as elves, etc. It's amazing how long the list becomes. We should do something for the community every quarter.

It should be our goal to be printed in the newspaper not just for our sports but for our community based deeds as well.

It should be our goal to create opportunities for our kids to shine . . . and that will be the best possible marketing campaign of all.

What we are looking for: A list, literally, of what we have to offer students. Let's ask our kids what they like about our school as opposed to what they want to change, and let's build a list right here that we can share with community members and ourselves to help us feel good about where we work.

Other proactive ideas that we can implement that, 1 gives kids an opportunity to show off their talents, 2 gets us good press instead of bad, 3 plays on a new era at Bigfork High School (not the littlest little A school, but a mighty and proud B school.)

10th HPT thanks you for your time and for all you do for kids.

Tech Team

2009-03-25T21:22:00.003-06:00

Today at our meeting we met with Mr. Jensen and discussed technology at our school. Mr. Jensen and our team came up with 2 objectives to integrate and move forward with technology at our school. These two objectives align with the tech plan that we have written and are integrating.

1. Build a system that supports mobile learning labs and facilitate the bandwidth necessary for web 2.0 tools.

2. Seek training for the understanding of and practical use of a mobile lab which adds online components to the traditional classroom.

Our definition of "Online" - the use of web sites, tutorials, discussion boards and other web 2.0 tools.

Thank You

2009-03-25T18:34:00.003-06:00

I want to thank all of the forum reps for dutifully accepting invites to the blog as authors. Also this post is to generate an e-mail to reps to see if my setting changes worked. Let me know please.

6-8 HPT

2009-03-25T16:31:00.002-06:00

6.8 team discussion

Our first conversation revolved around future potential and use for the district blog. Possibilities involved the potential for ‘direct’ interaction with the community, the accurate transfer of information, and a sounding board for school improvement ideas. Concerns involved having time for staff training to ensure that everyone realized the uses and possibilities for the blog, and what to do to ensure that all staff was checking it regularly.

We then shared how the CRISS strategies that Tracy Swope has been providing us with were working; think, pair, share was highly successful in several classes and showed increased retention in students.

Our year-long goals were re-evaluated;
-Indian Education for All will be covered with the visit of Chip Jasmine next week, as well as upcoming units in Social Studies. 6th grade completed a unit of Montana tribes in January.
-RTI has been implemented and progress monitoring has been thorough. Students have been assessed regularly, and Tracy has been testing as young as 4th graders to be prepared for next years 5th grade interventions.
-Suggested additional goals for next year: add a study skills intervention, and focus on attendance and tardies.

To close, we talked logistics about the upcoming 8th grade trip, as well as graduation plans.

Intervention Team HPT

2009-03-25T15:37:00.002-06:00

At today's "I" Team meeting, the discussion centered around our focus for the remainder of this year. With the advent of Administrative Advisory and Attendance Review Committees, the group agreed that we should fall back to our previous direction and focus on identifying students who for whatever reason are struggling in school.

In the past, the "I" team has supported the counselor, administrators and teachers in suggesting and implementing strategies to assist students in need, whether academically or personally. Sometimes the need for confidentiality supersedes direct involvement with the team members, and appropriate steps are taken to insure privacy of students and families. Through referrals, meetings and communication with staff, the I team successfully guided some students through rough waters, so to speak.

Once again we'll be looking at seniors and some juniors, time permitting, who are in danger of credit loss prior to graduation. Team members will most likely be visiting other high school teams for suggestions or referrals from teachers. We hope to work in conjunction with the student assistance program and help direct students to group involvement.

As a final note, the team wondered what happened to the discussion regarding whether or not teachers chose to meet one day per month for HPT as opposed to early releases. Are we out of the loop or what?

10th Grade HPT

2009-03-25T07:21:00.003-06:00

Okay. Let's see how well this dissemination of information works.

The 10th grade team along with several other teachers in the high school have noted the terrible price a 1:00 PM lunch is having on the nutrition and morale of the student body. This is not a new issue, but because of our ties with the elementary and middle school there seemed very little we could do about it.

10th HPt has two ideas that should be seriously looked into.

a. a 10-15 minute break after third period where students can: go to the store and purchase a muffin, use the vending machines, refill their water bottles (apparently our kids are suffering from a major case of dehydration), socialize with their friends (i.e. cut down on tardies) and refuel before the long haul to lunch.

This plan would require the middle school's approval and would also add about 6-10 minutes to the school day . . ahhhh! (totally worth it around fifth period when the kids are zombies because they haven't eaten since six o'clock the night before).

b. Due to the new much larger and luxurious cafeteria we could possibly move lunch up a whole period so that kids would get to eat after 4th period (11:53 pm).

After everyone has had a chance to look this over I will be posting a poll to see how everyone feels on the subject. This will gauge interest, communicate to the calendar committee our needs and to see how well we do with this new technology.

We put forth this proposal and would like to hear comments and considerations.

Happy Reading

HPT Blog simplified

2009-03-23T23:31:00.006-06:00

Here is a little informational movie on what the HPT blog is supposed to do. The main processes are Posting and Commenting. The idea is to enhance communication between HPT's and between HPT's and the Forum. Forum reps as authors can post on behalf of their HPT with issues from their meetings. They can also post on behalf of the Forum. Administrators are as usual all-powerful. They can post whenever they feel the urge. What is a post? You are reading one. Anyone on the staff then can comment on an individual post. At present communication between the HPT's sometimes loses meaning when it travels to Forum and back to HPT's. The hope is that the postings, which stay available on the blog and can be archived remain on the blog to be observed and commented upon. Other functions can be added later. One nice addition could be a Poll. If we wanted to poll the staff on an issue, it could be done quickly with the results shown immediately. Please play the movie just below for a audio/visual explanation.

6/8 test

2009-03-23T15:46:00.001-06:00

Hey blog followers,
I just wanted to do a test post, on behalf of the 6-8 team, to see if the authorship attempts worked out.

*monica

Articles on Blogging & Twitter!

2009-03-23T10:31:00.004-06:00

We live in a digital age, it's not coming, it's here. And if you think you can avoid blogging, face booking, etc. think again. Were you one of those who wasn't going to be burdened with a cell phone 10 years ago? That's what you thought!!! This is a time of instant information, and that's what your students are expecting! They want the info instantly!

Check out this article about Blogging and the student in the classroom.
Joyce Valenza writes about 21st Century Writing in her School Library Journal blog:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1540041554.html

Here's a great article on Twitter too!!
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6573999.html?q=3Dtwitter

RTI

2009-03-04T15:29:00.003-07:00

I'm looking for feedback in Math and Reading in regards to the RTI process that began this fall. Do feel the process is working, signs of improvement and your overall views. Please do not note scheduling as I am aware this has been a problem. This will be addressed for next fall.

Bigfork School District Staff:

2009-03-04T10:38:00.002-07:00

All users of this Blog site are subject to Board of Trustee policies. Please also review the requirements of Board Policy 5229, Use of Technology Resources. Board policies can be accessed from the following link:http://suse.bigfork.k12.mt.us/district/Policies.htm

Please maintain appropriate professional standards when posting or commenting to this Blog.

American Administrators hear what is about to disrupt schools.

2009-03-02T12:13:00.005-07:00

Here is an excerpt from an eschoolnews post. If you want to read the rest the link is below.

If Harvard Business School's Clayton Christensen is right, half of all instruction will take place online within the next 10 years--and schools had better get into the online-learning market or risk losing their students to other providers.

Christensen was at the American Association of School Administrators conference in San Francisco Feb. 19 to discuss his book Disrupting Class, which looks at why schools have struggled to improve through the lens of "disruptive innovation."

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=57419

Timely Articles

2009-03-02T11:29:00.009-07:00

The most recent issue of Eduational Leadership magazine from ASCD was devoted entirely to the discussion of the role of technology in schools. This is very timely in light of the discussion that has been started by the Tech HPT. Listed below are just a few of the titles, there are many more. If intrigued, you can go to the website, read the abstracts or the articles and share your thoughts about them!

One article, Deep Reading, explored the question of whether the immediacy of the digital world might hinder the formation of the neural circuits necessary to develop an expert reading brain. It gives suggestions how we can use technology such as webquests, online tutoring programs and strategic models to promote deep reading online.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/current_issue.aspx

The Joy of Blogging: A weekly blogging class enhances students' communication skills.

Orchestrating the Media Collage: New forms of expression emerge when sound, moving images, and text coalesce.

Mastering Multitasking: Does multitasking overtask the brain? How should teachers respond?

The Best of Both Literacies: Three ways to bolster students' literacy levels in an online environment.

Are Digital Media Changing Language? Our shifting attitudes about language may signal lasting change.

Stepping Beyond Wikipedia: Students need to know that research might begin, but not end, with a Wikipedia search.

Plagiarism in the Internet Age: Beyond the logistics of citation, students must learn how to think about the information they find.

R U Safe? Eighth graders mentor 6th graders in Web safety.

Welts on Your Head.

2009-02-04T20:58:00.008-07:00

Since Greg Moul's blog is named All Children Get Ahead, I felt compelled to name my blog something comparable. I thought it appropriate to name it, All Teachers Bump Their Heads because we all do when it comes to technology. Some of us have more welts than others. Anyway, a little levity isn't a bad thing. I can always change the name later. At present I am the author of this blog. However, my intent is to change the settings to add all HPT reps as authors. This would be a HPT blog and not one specific to technology.

My first post here is to request feedback on the presentations that I gave at the high school and grade school. I would like everyone to make some honest response. My main goal is to start a conversation that everyone is in on. There are a lot of issues with technology and its use in schools. Things like access, support, troubleshooting, security, knowledge and time all deter people from the use of technology. I for one, will not be deterred.

Also for those people that have never made a comment to a blog you can have that experience and possibly see the potential for such dialogue as colleagues. We will offer a PIR on blogs and use in the classroom in the coming weeks. I will post some blogging rules soon. The main one is to be civil in your responses to anyone.

HPT TECH and MATH INTERVENTION

2009-02-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Given budget constraints and available manpower, it is incumbent upon us to use the resources at our disposal. One such resource is online content. The concept would be to develop an online guide that would be available for students to access independently or with a peer tutor or “Title” personnel, which would be more productive.

The “challenged” student would have their teacher and the text, as well as access to the online text, computer activities, digital tutorials and a tutor to guide them through and assist them in utilizing the available resources. This endeavor would necessitate a collaboration between the Vertical Math Team, Tech Team and the district community. The resources accessible online are substantial. The Vertical Math Team members would identify what areas of the curriculum need to be supported, Tech Team members would locate the online resources, then Vertical Team Members would evaluate their merit, having the most useful resources placed on a Website or Blog by the Tech Team for student use.

The following list of links is a preliminary survey of the types of resources available for ALGEBRAIC FOUNDATIONS / Pre-Algebra:

MATH.COM

Algebra.com

BBC Algebra

EMINTS- Pre-Algebra

Quizlet-Middle School Math/Pre-Algebra (loads slowly)