Fall Posting

School is a safe place. I felt like it would be a good thing to emphasize at the top of my post this month. Additionally, Mexico High School is the "hub" of this community. Arguably, our most precious resource is within the walls of the schools in our district. The highly trained staff, faculty and administrators have found a very responsive community, supporting our efforts to maintain a safe and engaging school. Rest assured, your school leaders and this community responds quickly and thoroughly to support the safety and security of our school. I'm a recent addition to the leadership team of the school district and I've been so pleased to find our community lends so much support to our high school.

Students of the Month: October

Shaquille Curtis
Amorye’ Curtis

Academics:

From Jennifer Silver – English teacher and Department Chair:

In a proactive effort, the English Department is collaborating to enhance the preparation of students for college and real life. The department is focusing on engaging and teaching students the value of what is being taught. The department is updating their scope and sequence of courses into a specific and usable format, updating novel selections and strengthening anchor texts. The English department is being supported by Gina Gillman – Curriculum Director and Deb Haag – Assistant Principal of Instruction in their efforts.

From Mrs. Linda Rice – FACS teacher:

Mrs. Rice attended an Family Community and Career Leaders of America (FCCLA) conference this month at Tan-Tar-A and has visited Van Far high school to gather information regarding beginning a new FCCLA club at MHS. She also invited FCCLA students from Van Far to visit MHS students and present information to her classes about the program and club. Currently 17 students have conveyed a strong interest in being involved as an FCCLA member. FCCLA promotes personal growth and leadership development through FACS education and focuses on the multiple roles of family member, wage earner and community leader. Members develop skills for life through character development; creative and critical thinking; interpersonal communications; practical knowledge, and career preparation. This newly formed club held its first meeting on November 10, 2010.

Sounds of Success:

Jami Williams, instructor; Roger Brallier, instructor; Jennifer Silver, department chair; are working on the Sounds of Success. This is a reading program allowing students in World Literature I, a relatively reading-intensive class, to be able to download podcasts, take home CD's, or listen to webcasts of the stories, novels and poems being read in class.

The texts are read by the instructor of the course as well as student volunteers. The sound recordings are made in the broadcast journalism studio at Hart Career Center with the assistance of Roger Brallier, instructor. The “performances” are then burnt onto a CD which the student may check out for the length of time that the text is being studied. An unlimited amount of CD's are available and the student is still expected to make notations in the actual text of the story as they read along. The podcasts and webcasts are available on the instructor’s blog at www.indentthis.blogspot.com. There is no cost incurred by the district for this program as all staff involved are currently employed by the district and any materials are incidental. We have six students who have volunteered their time so far.

The program has been offered to approximately 80 students, around 15 have expressed an interest in having access to the performances in one form or another.

It offers universal help to students who need it. The students are able to download or listen in the privacy of their own homes with their own computers. It is not a program meant to replace reading, it is merely an attempt to reach the students who are not visual readers or whose comprehension would be increased by audio stimulation as well as visual. Also, it is proven that reading ALONG as opposed to reading ALONE can help improve fluency, comprehension, and depth of knowledge.

From Mr. Winslow – Social Studies teacher:

History Club is running its annual Toys for Tots drive through seminar classes. Winning seminar will be decided by dollar amount collected or total toys collected. There is a pizza party up for grabs with this contest! Seminar class decides on where the pizza will be ordered from! Most importantly, a child will have a present to open on Christmas morning.

From Bridget Bingham – Special Education teacher:

Home management students have begun the process of preparing a grocery list for the annual Thanksgiving Feast. They helped prepare a letter to various businesses asking for food donations and they are very excited about the upcoming meal. Students will also learn how to fill out invitations for the meal.

From MHS Administration team:

Teacher evaluations have begun and are meeting with teachers about their professional development plans. Mrs. Deb Haag is supporting and guiding the development of P.D. plans with teachers to improve instruction. Remaining administrators will review the plans and complete scheduled and unscheduled observations of teachers. Administrators are following up on the implementation of Dr. Marcia Tate’s Instructional Strategies that engage the brain as presented on November 5 at the district-wide professional development.

From the Guidance and Counseling Team:

The counselors are collecting information concerning senior plans after graduation.

College representatives visited from Westminster College, University of Missouri, University of St. Louis, Columbia College, William Woods, Hannibal-LaGrange, Missouri S and T, Rockhurst, SEMO, Stephens College, Culver-Stockton, NW Missouri State and Iowa Weslayan.

Mrs. Gail Lankford - Counselors’ Secretary is continuing to expand the counseling website with college visit dates, events, and current available scholarships. Local scholarship listings are expected to be posted in January.

Mark Holman – Counselor, led the Red Ribbon Week efforts at MHS. Bulletin boards were decorated and MHS Student Council represented MHS with a red balloon release at the last MHS football game by recruiting elementary students to participate. Shannon Maxwell, Brianna Durrett, LeWalt Evan, Gabby Keller, Mike Perl, Deena Dalton, Shelby Smith, and Nate Hitchcock assisted with the effort to raise awareness.

Kris Turlington – Counselor and Deb Haag – Assistant Principal of Instruction attended the ACT College and Career Readiness Workshop in Columbia, MO. The workshop provided information regarding ACT’s “longitudinal, systematic approach to education and career planning through assessment, curriculum support, and student evaluation.”

Phil Neely – Counselor and Deb Haag – Assistant Principal of Instruction attended a conference focusing on dropout prevention in young men. Mr. Neely also attended MO connections training this month.

Five MHS juniors took the PSAT on October 13. Students participating can enter scholarship competition and utilize information gained from the test for college and career planning.

A+ students received A+ status updates with their report cards.

The PLAN test was administered to all sophomore students on October 19. The PLAN test tests knowledge of Math, Reading, Science and English. The results provide students about their academic preparation, career interests, and how to develop and educational plan.

The Building Leadership Team is planning a work day on December 8 to review their charter, the functions and focus of the BLT, improving parent teacher conferences and grade reporting/grading periods.

Morgan Allen- 9th grader at MHS completed an application for the 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program that recognizes middle level and high school students for volunteer work in their community. She was recommended by Dr. Robinson to receive the award based on the content of her application describing her volunteer work at the Missouri Veteran’s home.

The local academic organization, A+ for Education, awarded approximately $9,000 to MHS teachers for projects in their classrooms to enhance student learning. Teachers submitted the grant requests and were awarded funds based on their impact on instruction. Mr. Keith Louder, Mr. Phil Long, Mrs. Colleen Galloway, Mrs. Julie Exendine and Mr. Kent Henry were all awarded grants ranging from $900 to $3,000 dollars.

Sports and Activities

Coach Ellebracht – Art Teacher and coach is providing a workout opportunity for any high school girl that would like to get in shape or stay in shape for a spring sport or for next fall. The workouts will be after school, Tuesdays and Thursdays until the end of the second semester.

A Veteran’s Assembly was held on November 11, 2010 to mark Veteran’s Day. Mr. Steve Haag served as the director/organizer of the event for MHS students and faculty and student guests from Mexico Military Academy. Major General Flanagan served as the key note speaker for the event and Mr. Randy Gooch spoke on the history of Veteran’s Day.

The Sadie Hawkins Dance was held on November 7 and approximately 100 students attended the event.

From Sara Given – Speech and Theater and Drama Teacher

Sara was contacted by Gina Jensen from Webster University to submit the workshop she taught at the Speech & Theatre Association of Missouri Conference in September to the STAM Journal, a professional publication produced yearly.

MHS Fall Play Update

The play is just around the corner and will have shows on November 19, 20 and 21st. Tickets are on sale now at all of the public schools. We are hosting a coloring and original artwork contest through the Pre-K, elementary schools and middle school. We will be posting their local artwork at the play and the winners will receive free tickets and special seating at the play. The Theatre Design class has worked very hard to turn Emmons Hall into a forest and we've enlisted the support of two faculty members to help with Costume construction; Christine Beshears and Sarah Pence. Additional faculty support comes from Clark Winslow, who will be playing Captain Bluebeard in the production.

Service Project a Success

The Halloween Spooktacular service project put on by the MHS Speech & Theatre Club was a great success. There were more than 80 Pre-K through 5th graders who took advantage of the "safe Halloween" event and there were 33 high school students assisting with the event.

The MHS Speech & Debate team has been working on a community outreach with their Stock in Talk fundraiser. We currently have 26 Businesses/Individuals from the community who have invested in the Speech & Debate team and their communication efforts. The team competed at Sedalia Smith-Cotton in October and completed with 6 finalists who medaled and earned a trophy. We are competing at the Clinton tournament on Saturday, November 13. Our tournament will be December 3 and 4 and we are looking for individuals from the community to judge and/or help direct the tournament.

Upcoming Events

Nov. 19th – Nov. 21st – Fall Play “The Further Adventures of Nick Tickle, Fairy Tale Detective"

Nov. 19th – History Club Meeting

Nov. 19th & 20th – State Cheer Competition

Nov. 23rd – Basketball & Wrestling Media Scrimmage

Dec. 3rd & 4th – Speech & Debate Tournament

Dec. 10th – Band Concert

Dec. 16th – Choir Concert

Dec. 17th – History Club Meeting