Hello Everyone!
The school year is off and running! For many of our office and teaching staff we are literally RUNNING!
So much happens to kick off the school year; registration, computer entries, lesson plans, distribution of materials, cleaning, busing routes, shot records....that's just a start.
If you get a chance to thank a teacher or a staff member at our school -- please do so. The beginning of a school year is often one of the toughest parts of the school year.
I wanted to give you all this information about our seminar class:
Seminar is a ¼ credit course per semester and is taught by teachers with strong counseling and
administrator support. Teachers retain a small group of approximately 15 students (of the
same grade level) for their entire high school experience and develop strong working
relationships with them. The primary purposes of seminar are to do the following:
1) Guide young people to complete their assignments in their classes and stay on-track to graduation
2) Provide additional study time for students
3) Teach learning skills that promote success as a student and assist students in improving their overall grades and achievement
4) Promote a culture of literacy – students reading
We began with the plan and purpose above and throughout last year teachers took feedback through our building leadership team made up of teachers, adminstrators and counselors.
The following are revisions to seminar in response to teacher concerns:
1. There is not enough time to teach learning skills lessons well – time is too short
Revision: these lessons are not mandatory, but highly advised for individual students failing
Students should develop a PDSA – Plan Do Study Act – learning plan for each 6 week period, teachers will keep these plans on file and take time to meet with them individually to approve and review their plans.
2. Student Council and Leadership oriented students need enrichment – they have little need of intervention.
Revision: A seminar class has been formed for students actively participating in student council.
3. Students having more difficulty keeping up in classes need more attention in seminar; seminar class size should be reduced for these students and they should be identified so they receive more assistance in staying on-track.
Revision: Smaller classes were set up with a single digit class size of students having more difficulty.
(approx. 7 students per class) Students having more difficulty were identified by teachers via feedback to the building leadership team (BLT) All these students are located at MHS.
4. Concern about the loss of teachers with experience working with students at each grade level. Suggestion from teachers: Keep one teacher at each grade level so there is at least one person each year with the knowledge of what should happen at that grade level.
Revision: Stationary teachers were assigned to each grade level.
5. Some concern about the balance of teacher experience at each grade level was voiced.
Revision: Classes were better balanced with teachers of varying experience levels.
6. Necessary Adjustments
Our class sizes at the freshman and senior level are significantly larger than last year.
**This meant we couldn’t keep all students with the same teachers as last year.
Here are the focuses for seminar each day:
Monday:
Student Grade Checks
Tuesday:
Guided Study hall
Wednesday:
Drop Everything and Read
Thursday:
Guided Study Hall
Friday:
Guided Study Hall
And/or
Seminar: Team building activities
Seminar has also been used for class meetings, planning meetings, and special assemblies and guest speakers. Our revisions to seminar will hopefully better address our needs with students.
We are committed to continuous improvement and our teachers continue to look for ways to keep students on-track to graduation.
Additionally, the teachers and staff will begin pursuing positive behavior intervention and support (PBiS) for our students and teachers. In this 3-5 year process being pursued with the support of the Columbia Regional Professional Development Committe at Mizzou. We hope to better address poor behavior issues at the high school. We are committed to teaching students how to behave in a learning or business environment so they are successful in school and in life. Mr. Brad Ellebracht will be acting as our coordinator for this effort and the following teachers have also committed to serving on the committee: Ms. Taylor, Mrs. Breshears, Mr. Schenewerk, Mrs. Swisher, Mr. Winslow, Ms. Windmann(Crowe), Mrs. Gilles, Mr. Winslow and Mrs. Conn.
Our planners for students will be distributed next week. Student Council provided the planner choice for students to use for 2011-12. There has been a slight delay from our distributor.
Finally, MHS faculty and staff is looking forward to assisting your son or daughter as they work toward the completion of their high school education. Please call on us if you have any questions or concerns throughout the year.
Dr. Terry Robinson
Principal
