Friday, March 22, 2013

highlights 3/22/13

News:


More Change by the NJ Dept of Ed
In the past, the State of NJ has issued "School Report Cards" for each school in every district. Starting this year, the State has changed they way they grade schools, as well as how they are determining which districts we should be compared to (School Peer Groups).  This new Performance Report for Waldwick HS is not a positive one.   As of yesterday, the reports were not available for release because so many districts, including ours, had found errors in the data and expressed concerns about the way we were being compared to other schools with these new peer groups.  I wanted to make you aware of this before you read it in the paper or a parent approaches you about it.  Once it is officially released, I will share it with everyone and we will probably have a meeting to review the new report. 


Congratulations to Dayna on the birth of her son, Michael Thomas Orlak on 3/20/13


Tonight  the Waldwick Music Department will present a recital at 7:00 p.m. in the Little Theater.  Performers will include staff, students and alumni.  Free Will donations will be accepted to benefit the purchase of new marching band uniforms.  Complimentary refreshments will be served.


Next week the freshman will be undergoing heart screenings.  On Monday, Homeroom will be extended ten minutes.  We will be showing a video to all students related to the heart screening process.

School Highlights - Blog Posts/Tweets: 




Professional Development:

Google has been in the news a lot lately with new services and ending support for other programs.  I thought this week's PD info would be a few posts related to Google.  

Why Word Order Matters in Google Searches  via Richard Byrne @rmbyrne
How to Create a Test that Grades its Self Using Goggle Forms via @TeachThought
Google Keep - Note taking Service via David Andrade @daveandcori 

** This last one is not related to Google but I really liked the title, so I wanted to share it.
10 Do's and Don'ts to using PowerPoint deliver lectures that don't SUCK via Lisa Nielsen @InnovativeEdu

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

Highlights 3/15/13

Staff News: 

While Dayna Orlak is out on leave, we have two teachers filling in for her.  Chris Mayer will be covering four classes and Hank Bitten will be covering the AP US History class.  Stop by Room 143, to introduce yourself and say hello.

On Friday, March 15, Mr. Opderbeck, Mr. Rolling and Ms. Hummel will be speaking at the Princeton School Garden Conference at the Princeton Public Library.  The conference is a gathering of master gardeners, community garden organizers, and representatives of New Jersey food, nutrition, farm and gardening organizations.  The Waldwick representatives will present how our Biology and Social Studies classes have collaborated to create the Waldwick Community Supported Agriculture group.  The student-run Waldwick CSA uses social media and Web 2.0 tools to include the Waldwick community in the upkeep and rewards of our community garden.  Waldwick was invited to the conference to provide insights and ideas regarding how other schools can create community gardens, empower their students to run and organize them and include the entire community in the project.     

Congratulations to Mrs. Getlik and the Drama Club for three great nights of the performance "Curtains".  The cast and crew did a great job!

Friday Night is the Winter Season Varsity Dinner where over 100 Student-Athletes will receive their Varsity Letter.  In addition to the athletes, all the students that worked on the Warrior Nation mural will be recognized. 





School Highlights - Blog/Twitter Posts:


February Students of the Month 

Professional Development: 

Our very own Erin Hummel, who you can follow on twitter @MzHumz recently participated in the #njed Twitter chat, that takes place every Tuesday night at 8:30pm.  The chat is primarily New Jersey educators sharing ideas, discussing educational topics and another way of building your PLN.  This week's topic focused on Web 2.0 tools and how they are used in the classroom/school.  After the chat Erin created a great Glogster page with all the resources mentioned during the chat and posted them on her blog Waldwick Media Center Blog.  While you are on her blog, check out Erin's speaking Avatar that she created using Voki.
**You can read all the tweets form Tuesday night's #njed chat: Storify of #njed Chat 3/12/13  

Want to know more about Twitter Chats, the video below does a great job of explaining "The Power of Twitter Chats".  Each one of the educators involved in the video, I consider part of my PLN and communicate with all of them through Twitter.  I listed their names and twitter handles for those of you on Twitter.  They are all great follows!

 Tom Murray - @thomascmurray
Joe Mazza - @Joe_Mazza
Brad Currie - @bcurrie
Bill Krakower - @wkrakower
Dana Sirotiak @Sirotiak02
Scott Rocco - @ScottRRocco
Jerry Blumengarten @ cybrayman1
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Friday, March 8, 2013

PARCC Update


On 3/5/13 the NJ Dept of Ed released a memo - Update on PARCC Development 

 There a few things in the memo I wanted to highlight:

 There a few new Acronym we all need to familiarize ourselves with....

 (PBA) - Performance-based Assessment
(EOY) - End-of-year assessment 
(PLD) - Performance Level Descriptors 
(CCR) - College and Career Ready 

 PARCC Assessment Design
As mentioned in my memo to you in January 2013, the PARCC assessments will be
administered in two components:

 A performance-based assessment component (PBA) to be administered after
approximately 75% of the school year, and
An end-of-year assessment component (EOY) to be administered after approximately
90% of the school year.

 *The PBA & EOY assessments will be combined to determine the students "Summative Score" which will be used for teacher accountability 

 More information about the PARCC blueprint, including the number, types, and values of the
items that will appear in each component will be forthcoming this spring. PARCC items and task prototypes are currently available: Link to PARCC Site

 Performance Level Descriptors (PLD)
Also, in late 2012, PARCC adopted a framework for reporting student achievement on the
PARCC assessments using five performance levels. (New Jersey currently uses three levels:
Partially Proficient, Proficient and Advanced Proficient.) Although no formal names for the
levels have been adopted, the PLDs will describe the level of command that a student
demonstrates of the knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Common Core State
Standards assessed at their grade level, as follows:
Level 5 Distinguished Command
Level 4 Strong Command
Level 3 Moderate Command
Level 2 Partial Command
Level 1 Minimal Command

Please take some time to read the memo, look over the PARCC Site and analyze the sample items and prototypes .   We are all going to have to make changes in the way we teach and administer tests.  

 We still don't have all the answers, the only thing we do know is that as of 14-15 SY we will be adminstering the PARCC.............. I Think??????
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Highlights 3/8/13

BIG Thanks you to everyone for all their hard work this week with:




 HSPA Testing
AP Reviews
10th Grade Trip to Philidephia
Social Studies Department: 10th graders on Research & Presentation Skills
Science Department: 9th graders Analyze Scientific Data Workshops 
 



Reminder that on Monday, March 11 we have a Minimum Day for a Professional Development. The day will be focused on review the Marshall Rubrics.  

 Date for 3rd Marking Period Quarterly Assessments (MP ends on 4/12/13)

4/1       Monday           Language Arts
4/2       Tuesday          Social Studies
4/3       Wednesday     Math
4/4       Thursday         Science
4/5       Friday             World Languages       
**By March 27th, please get me copies of all three quarterlies.  In addition I would like a short reflection from you on the results of your quarterlies and any changes you would make for next year.  

School Highlights - Blog/Twitter Posts:


PD Resources 

Read an interesting post on Assessments during the break by Steven Anderson who is a great follow on Twitter.  You can follow Steve on @web20classroom 

Why Formative Assessments Matter 
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