WHS News - Week of 3/2/15

The last ten days might have been the hardest days of my career at WHS.   I say that not because it was physically demanding on me, or the work load just became too much, but because it was hard on the people around me (Teachers, Administrators, Students, Parents) who had questions, concerns, frustrations, inconveniences, changes, that related to something I had limited control over, PARCC. 
  

What we had control over was the administration of the PARCC test and I could not have been happier with how that worked out.  Here go the THANK YOUS:

• Mrs. Baskin and Mrs. Gastman did such an amazing job handling all aspects of the testing.  They handled everything that was thrown at them and pulled it all together.  
• Mrs. Fortini, Mr. Sussman, Ms. Cassidy and Mrs. Doheny helped in so many ways to make this work.  There are too many things to list, but you know what you did and thank you.  
• Mr. Meyers, Mr. Clancy, Ms. Angelli, Mr. Mayer, Mr. Rolling and Ms. Sobkowicz each day came in earlier and made sure all of the computers were up and running and helped throughout the entire testing process.   What a TEAM! 
• The technology staff; Joel, Gary and Dianna.  They pulled it together and we all learned that when there's a problem... Refresh or Ctrl/Alt/Delete will fix most issues.  I have to single out Joel for all of his hard work and the trouble shooting he did to make this round of testing go so smoothly.  
• To all of the TEACHERS that were "Testing Administrators"- what a great six days for something that was brand new to everyone.   You came prepared and were able to handle Java Issues, Error Codes, Seal Codes, Student Tickets, Starting/Resuming without one irregularity or major issue.  No one can question your professionalism or your ability to step up when needed.  
• We also had help from our custodians, aides and substitutes throughout the six days, which made things easier for others.   

Now, don't make me eat my words because we do have three more testing days later in March, but I think this was the major challenge and everyone earned a 4.  #Ownit

What will happen with the Common Core?  Will PARCC be around in April or next year?  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone can answer these questions right now.   What we can control is the impact we have on our students.  Be Great for them everyday!   

Google Apps for Education has arrived in Waldwick
This Wednesday all HS staff will be receiving a "Welcome to the Waldwick School District" email which will have your username, password and new email.    At some point in the future all email will transaction to Gmail but for now this gets you into the Waldwick Google Apps Account and gives you access to Google Classroom.  There will be a lot more information on this moving forward.  

Google Resources 
I starting using the hashtag #WaldwickGAFE to tweet Google Apps for Education resources. I am also using a web tool Storify to gather the tweets weekly and post them on The Source. Checkout the links below for the last three weeks of tweets. 

Tweets using #WaldwickGAFE (2/21 - 3/2)

Tweets using #WaldwickGAFE (2/17 - 2/21)

Tweets Using #WaldwickGAFE (2/6 - 2/16)

Other Items
Those of you teaching 9th graders, please remind them to get their heart screening paperwork in ASAP.  Link to blog post: Free Heart Screening 

Starting tomorrow we have HSPA testing going on for a few seniors that still need to take it. Testing will be going in the Greenberg Center.

If you would like to use the Chromebooks for a lesson or unit please email me your plans, date(s) and period(s) you would like to use them.

March 17 - Professional Development Day (Schedule to posted soon)

PARCC Testing Continues 3/16, 3/18 & 3/19.  All testing will be done in the morning.