WHS Staff News - Week of 1/28/20

Halfway point! We have had a busy first half of the year with a lot to be proud of! Please keeping doing what's best for our students: Push them, challenge them, show them you care and be there for them when they need you! 

Course name changes. Please see video. 

Elective Fair (New Date) - February 20 in the HS Gym

We will run a special schedule with all classes meeting.  Assembly Schedule (Page 3) There will be no classes from 10:40 - 11:18.  Seniors will have an extended lunch.   

What's coming up! I made this list for me but felt it could not hurt sharing it with everyone. All these dates/events are on the calendar or will be added. 

I also updated the Working Wednesday Doc to reflect the updates I made on this list.  No dates were changed, just what the focus of the Wednesday would be.

1/28 PSAT Data Day - Math Department
1/29 PSAT Data Day - Language Arts Department
1/29 Working Wednesday - DLC Time
1/30 Placement Test - Language Arts 3pm
2/3 Doc for recommendations will be pushed out to staff
2/4 Placement Test - Science 3pm
2/5 Working Wednesday - Task (Recommendations)
2/6 PSAT Data Day - Math Department
2/6 Placement Test - Social Studies Arts 3pm
2/11 Placement Test - Spanish Arts 3pm
2/12 Working Wednesday - Task (Recommendations/SGO’s)
2/13 Recommendations due for all departments by 8am
2/19 Working Wednesday - DLC Time 
2/20 Elective Fair in the Gym - Assembly Schedule with all classes meeting
(10:40 - 11:18 No classes)
2/24 - (Monday) Staff Meeting in the Little Th 
2/25 9th Grade - Grade Level Meeting 11:35 in the Little Th (Course requests)
2/26 Academic requests inputted in Genesis by the counselors 
2/26 10th Grade - Grade Level Meeting 11:35 in the Little Th (Course requests)
2/26 Working Wednesday - No meeting, free to go! 
2/27 11th Grade - Grade Level Meeting 11:35 in the Little Th (Course requests)
3/2 All electives requests due to the counselors via the students
3/4 Working Wednesday - DLC Time
3/11 Working Wednesday - DLC Time
3/13 Elective requests inputted in Genesis by the counselors
3/18 Working Wednesday - Staff Meeting
3/25 Working Wednesday - No Meetings / Free to Go
4/1 Working Wednesday - Tasks - SGO’s
4/8 Working Wednesday - DLC Time
4/10-17  No School
4/22 Working Wednesday - DLC Time
4/24 PSAT 10 (Sophomores)
4/29 Working Wednesday - TBA
5/6 Working Wednesday - State Testing Meeting
5/14 NJSLA Testing: Math/ELA (9th & 10th Gr.), Science (11th Gr.)
5/15 Teen Arts
5/18 NJSLA Testing: Math/ELA (9th & 10th Gr.), Science (11th Gr.)
6/9 Semester Assessments
6/10 Semester Assessments
6/11 Semester Assessments
6/12 Semester Assessments

WHS Staff News - 1/6/20

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great break and enjoyed the time off.  If you are into resolutions or your "one word" for the year good luck with them. Each day let's continue to focus on making ourselves and WHS a better versus then the day before.

"If your not moving forward, your simply standing still"

My focus for 2020 is this statement and philosophy by John Gordon

Three things you control every day are your ATTITUDE, your EFFORT and your ACTIONS. It doesn’t matter what others are doing or who you think is being unfair. Every day you can focus on being positive, working hard and making others around you better.

— Jon Gordon (@JonGordon11) December 30, 2019

Semester Assessment Schedule
Semester assessments start next week.  We will be running a modified schedule with two assessments per day. Here is the Schedule for the four days. The normal rotation will be followed but we will have a modified bell schedule.

Monday 1/13 Day 3 - Assessment Blocks (Periods 3 & 7)
Tuesday 1/14 Day 4 - Assessment Blocks (Periods 4 & 8)
Wednesday 1/15 Day 1 - Assessment Blocks (Periods 1 & 5)
Thursday 1/16 Day 2 - Assessment Blocks (Periods 2 & 6)

A few items to clarify:
All classes will still be meeting.
When a class falls on an assessment block that is not giving an assessment, instruction should continue and the full length of the period should be used.
Be respectful of other teachers and their assessments.  There should be no other major tests given, during the 4 days of semester assessments.  Let the students focus their attention on studying for the assessments.
The semester assessment is a separate item in Gradebook. It should not count towards marking period 2.
I will be sharing the schedule with the students and parents later today. Please start to review the schedule with your students.

January 24 (Recovery Day)
We will run a bell schedule with all classes meeting, unless we have a snow from now till then.
Schedule for 1/24/20

January 20 (PD Day)
All instructional staff will be attending a PD session on PLC's. I have the same speaker coming back that was in late last year, that worked with a handful of teachers on the initial implementation. Lunch will be provided (FREE) and the day will run till 3:15.  There is a possibility that we will be meeting offsite for the day.  More details to follow.