Friday, September 20, 2013

Highlights 9/20/13

School News:

  • Congratulations to Mrs. Kish on the announcement of her pregnancy.  Best of luck to the future parents Danielle and Andor.
  • Ted Opderbeck was honored with a 2012-2013 Gold Star Teacher Award.  Teachers receiving this award achieved a 90% pass rate (in a class with at least 10 students) on the w!se Financial Literacy Certification Test.  Gold Star Teachers will be honored at w!se’s annual Money POWER Conference for Financial Literacy in New York City, on Tuesday, November 5.
  • Waldwick High School will also be honored at the MoneyPOWER Conference for excellence in Financial Literacy.  Read more about the Blue Star School Award for Waldwick High School
  • The Dip-Off will take place Wednesday, September 25th after school.  Again, you do not need to be present at the dip-off if you plan on preparing a dip.  Mrs. Bimbi will be in the cafeteria before school the morning of the 25th to accept and store your dips until the afternoon.
  • The Waldwick High School newspaper will be publishing a "Guess Who" section in the first issue. The staff writers would like to include a photograph of each teacher or staff member when he/she was young, this way the students can guess who is in the photo. The answers will then be posted a week after the paper is published.
    If you are interested in participating, please e-mail your photograph to waldwickecho@gmail.com. Please send all photographs by the end of next week. You can either scan the photo into the computer or you can take a picture of it on your cell phone.
50th Anniversary
Waldwick High School is celebrating its 5oth Anniversary.  We have a week long celebration planned for the week of October 14.  All the details can be found here - WHS 5oth Anniversary

School Safety
Over the past week, staff members and I have been noticing doors propped open with sticks/rocks/door stops/etc.  Please do not prop doors open.  If you see doors open please close them.  If you see students doing this, please speak with them or send them to me. 
Please remind students not to open doors for anyone, let the Main Office buzz them in. 
   
Back to School Night - Thursday, September 26
All staff please report by 6:30pm
Make a Great First Impression - classroom, presentation, appearance
Class overview/Technology in use
Talk with parents about: expectations, accountability, ways to communicate  
Back to School Night Bell Schedule

Classroom Observations
The Administrative Team has been busy over the first two weeks of school getting into classrooms and having open and honest conversations with teachers related to instruction & strategies.  As of this morning, the administrative team completed over 40 observations.  

Personal Growth Time @ WHS
At this point, everyone has read or heard me speak about the Personal Growth Time @ WHS (Google 80/20 model).   At this point I need to finalize the list so I can change duty assignments.  If you are interested in taking part, please fill out the Google form by Friday, September 27. 

Professional Development

Upcoming Local Conferences

Edscape Conference  @ New Milford High School on Saturday, October 19, 2013
This year's conference will be held on Saturday, October 19, at New Milford High School (NJ).  Registration is only $35 for a superb keynote (George Couros) and 2 featured speakers (StevenAnderson, ShellyTerrell), 60 concurrent sessions, breakfast/lunch, and giveaways.  It would be great to see as many WHS staff at the conference as possible.   

EdcampNJ @ Linwood Middle School, North Brunswick Twp on Saturday, November 23, 2013  Registration is open.  If you are interested, please go online and reserve your spot.  Did I mention its FREE. 

Blog posts that made me think/reflect: 


Twitter/Blog Posts

Staying Connected to WHS News

WHS 50th Anniversary
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Sunday, September 8, 2013

New Staff @ WHS 2013-2014 SY

We have three new staff members joining the WHS staff this year.  I know all three are going to be great additions.  Below are three blog posts introducing Ms. Lentino, Ms. Fernicola and Mr. Freeman.  



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Thursday, September 5, 2013

13-14 SY Opening Day Presentation

My 2013-2014 kickoff presentation to my staff.  

 Have a great first day and make the best first impression ever. #ownit



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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Welcome Back Letter/Info 2013 School Year

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"
Ralph Waldo Emerson 


Hopefully, everyone is having a relaxing summer and is recharging for the upcoming school year.   A new school year presents opportunities for various beginnings – new classes, new faces, sometimes new courses and new challenges.   Starting a new year gives us the opportunity to make new plans, design new strategies and implement new ideas. 


Together we have created something special here at Waldwick High School and that only happens with commitment and sacrifice.  I know how hard you work and I have the utmost respect for what you do as educators.   Just like in life, there is always something we can improve upon or learn something new to make us better. I ask you to embrace challenges, take risks and set professional and personal goals for yourself to keep you focused on being the best you can be.      

Last year in my welcome back letter to all of you I mentioned the educational landscape in New Jersey is changing and with those changes brought greater accountability for all of us.  I believe an increase in accountability can only help us as individual’s, grow as educators and in turn, our students should benefit as well.  I will continue to reinforce to all of you - do not stress over the new observations and/or the SGO’s.  If you hold yourself accountable to teaching every lesson the best you can, work on areas you think you could become better at, be open to feedback or recommendations to help you grow as an educator, then this new evaluation process will be something you will embrace, not fear. 

Earlier in the summer I wrote a blog post regarding Professional Growth Time @ WHS which I hope you had a chance to read.  In that post I set a deadline of August 9 to signup if you were interested but I have decided to extend that deadline and will be speaking more about the PGT model when I see you on September 4.   

We have three new staff members joining us this year who I know are going to be strong additions to the Waldwick High School staff.  They are:

  • Amanda Fernicola  – Social Studies Teacher
  • Daniel Freeman – Social Studies Teacher
  • Amanda Lentino – Language Arts Teacher
Let me update you on a few changes that have taken place over the summer. 

  • The boilers (which were original) have been replaced. Not the most exciting project but something that was needed.
  • The following rooms were painted:  139, 140, 141, 142, 144 and 501
  • The BOE will be moving forward on a renovation project for the HS Gym which will include: New bleachers and a new paint design for the gym floor.  Completion date is TBA. 
Your Genesis Gradebook is available to view your class lists.  

Below are two links you will need to click on and fill out the information required.  Each form should take you less than two minutes to fill out.   This needs to be done prior to the start of school.
The first link asks for your automobile information and the second link is for your personal information.  Once you fill out the form make sure you hit the submit button.

Registration of Automobile                                      Personnel Records

Important Links/Resources

WHS Faculty Manual - It is also available on Google Drive under the WHS Staff Resources Folder.  (For new staff I will show/explain the Google Drive Folder when I see on August 28).     

Laptop Cart Sign-out sheet  - This Google form will be used to signup for the laptops throughout the school year. 

Parent/Student Handbook 
Please have your staff webpages updated by September 6 for the first day of class. 

Important BOE Policies and other documents – will be posted later in the summer.

Students will report on Friday, September 6, 2013, for their first day of school. This will be a full day schedule, with a modified bell schedule. 

NOTE: 
Back to School Night - Thursday, September 26, 2013
September Faculty Meeting Learning & Collaborating Time
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 @ 3:10pm

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and I look forward to seeing you on September 4, 2013.

 (I am off to Ireland today and will be disconnecting, powering down, not tweeting/blogging for the next 10 days.   Well, at least I am going to try)

Agenda for September 4 & 5:

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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Summer Post - 7/26/13

School News:  

Congratulations and best wishes to Carla DeGironimo and her new husband Aaron Pastore.  Welcome Aaron to #warriornation

 If you didn't get to see my post on Personal Growth Time @ WHS the 80/20 model, please take the time to read it and if your interested please fill out the Google Form.  

 GradeBooks are open! 

 Don't forget to take care of the Suicide Prevention Online Course

Simply go to http://spts.pldm.com click on the class entitled “Making Educators Partners in Youth Suicide Prevention 2012-2013 “ the New Jersey version.  Once you have completed the class at your leisure please print out a copy of the certificate.  Maintain a copy for your records and provide me with a copy as well.  All staff will be required to complete this online course by November 1, 2013.  District Code - 5410
**This online course counts for 2 hours of PD, which can go towards the 20 hours required for the 13-14 School Year.  

Professional Development Resources 

Adam Bello who you can follow on twitter at @adambellow was one of the Keynote speakers at this years ISTE 2013 conference back in June.  It was a tremendous speech!!  The speech is about on hour long but I wouldn't recommend it, if I didn't think it was worth the time.  Hope you find the time to watch it.

You can jump ahead to the 21:40 minute mark on the video, which is when Adam starts his speech.   



This next video has nothing to do with Education but when a saw it on SportsCenter last week I thought it had a really powerful message about determination, perseverance and over coming obstacles.    

 The inspirational story of Richie Parker, a man born without arms thrives in NASCAR




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Personal Growth Time @ WHS

I strongly believe one of my responsibilities as Principal is to find different ways to make life less hectic and less stressful for my teachers.  I try to do this in a few ways:
  • Eliminate distractions  
  • Provide support and resources
  • Respect your time
  • Provide meaningful professional development 
  • Provide Clear, Constant, Communication


This coming school year I have a proposal for all of you that will give you more time as teachers to grow and improve as educators.  A few years ago I heard about the Google work model of 80/20.  Employees at Google are allowed to spend 20% of their work time on “Passion Projects" which are not necessarily connected to their current job assignment/responsibilities.   The idea behind their 80/20 model is to keep employees thinking, creating and possibly developing something new that in the end could benefit Google.  New Milford High School implemented an 80/20 model two years ago with great success. The concept is now finding its way into more and more schools around the world.  

I would like to create an 80/20 model here at WHS called “PGT” Personal Growth Time.  I want to give you the freedom to explore, learn and create as long as the time spent is used to improve student learning and achievement here at Waldwick High School.  This model is optional and there is no expectation from me that everyone will want to take advantage of it.  

How are we going to this? ……. I know that is what you are all thinking. 

Here’s my plan.  For those staff members that are interested in being part of the WHS “PGT” Model, I will reduce your non-instructional duty assignment to only three or four days a week.   That means if you have cafeteria duty you would only be there for three days a week.  The same idea would apply to study halls, media center and hall duties.   

During your Personal Growth Time you will be expected to be working towards your “Learning Goal” and building your “Learning Portfolio”.

Examples of possible Learning Goals determined by YOU:
  • Become a connected educator by developing and engaging in a Personal Learning Network (PLN)
  • Researching best practice
  • Developing innovative learning activity
  • Creating interdisciplinary lessons
  • Engaging in face-to-face professional development
  • Learning to use new technologies
  • Collaborating on projects with colleagues
  • Create legacy projects 
  • Enhance curriculum 
  • Find/Research Common Core Resources 
If you choose to take advantage of the PGT Model, then you will be asked to create a Learning Portfolio.  The idea of the portfolio is to create a bank of information for you to refer back to or share with others.   You will document your progress throughout the year towards your Learning Goal.  How you create the portfolio is totally up to you. 

What your Learning Portfolio could look like:
It could be a log, website, Edmodo, blog, wiki, binder, etc. 
I will meet with each teacher twice during the year to hear about the progress (Mid-Year and End of Year Evaluation meeting) 

What the time is not for:
Doing graduate school work
Grading papers 
Having a second lunch
Calling parents for class related issues
Leaving the building 

If your interested, please fill out the Google Form below and create your learning goal.   If you would like to talk more about this, have questions, ideas please email me or give me a call.  I would love to hear your feedback.  

I do need to know if your interested by August 9 so I can finalize duty assignments.  


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Friday, July 12, 2013

Summer Post - July 12, 2013

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer thus far.

The yearly rollover in Genesis will be completed as of July 17.  After the 17th, teachers will be able to access their Gradebook, see class rosters, input assignments, etc.  If anyone was interested.

Congratulations to Michael Pepe and his wife on the birth of their first child


 Reminder - If you're interested 
Summer Learning:

Looking to learn, share, collaborate this summer? Stop by WHS on:

Wednesday, July 24  (9 - 12pm)

Wednesday, August 7 (9 - 12pm)

My Summer Reading - practice what WE preach

Right now I am reading a terrific book called "Teach Like a Pirate" written by Dave Burgess.  I highly recommend it.  

To find out more about the book and the author:
Follow him on Twitter @burgessdave
Read his Blog DavidBurgess.com
Click here to get your copy


The picture below is what is currently posted on the outside sign.  If your reading this summer and on Twitter share what your reading using the hashtag #WHSread.  Remember we are Life-Long Learners!!



PD Resources 

Below are two blog posts I recently read that focus on how educators can make differences in their students lives, co-workers and most importantly their own.  Teaching and learning together can be very rewarding and can help create positive changes.  

Vicki Davis ( @coolcatteacher ) has a great blog "Cool Cat Teacher".  Her blog is a must follow for all educators.    
Why teachers should help lead a thankful revolution 

John Robinson ( @21stprincipal ) is a Principal from North Carolina who has an outstanding blog "21st Century Principal"
Guiding Principles for Fostering and Developing the Compassionate Classroom and School

Mark your Calender - Local PD Conferences 


Edscape Conference  @ New Milford High School on Saturday, October 19, 2013
EdcampNJ @ Linwood Middle School, North Brusnwick Twp on Saturday, November 23, 2013

Recent Tweets 






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