10-27-2023

 It was a busy day after school on Thursday, Art Club, Newspaper, Book Club, Maker Space, HW Club, Theater Club tryouts, dance & cheer and three basketball games.  As a mom told me yesterday "My kids go to the best school!"

The Chess Club Season also started again on Thursday.  The new coach is Roy Wolski, a retired teacher and chess coach who will be starting on Nov 7th.  Thanks to Joe H for filling in last night.

How to get students to think of their own learning.

Thinking about their own learning

Thanks to Colleen and Alex for working with our student council kids to organize a great  Spirit week. There was some great "student" and "teacher" costumes.  Hope everyone is ready to jam with the spooky tunes on Friday.  This picture is pretty scary...not sure if it's teachers dressed like students or an outtake from the movie "The Warriors"  I would not want to meet this group in a dark alley!

I appreciate Angela getting great pictures at all of our events like the fun-run, staff costumes...sporting events to just name a few.  

Everyone is capable of setting in motion the mightiest waves of change. Everyone.

I appreciate everyone getting ready and being prepared for parent teacher conferences that start next week.  This is an outstanding opportunity to work with parents in a partnership to help students.  

Please make sure you follow the directions Danielle sent out for setting up your zoom conference link for November second.  Please do not wait until the day of to do this.  If you need any help just let me know.

The November 3rd Institute agenda was sent out.  Please review the agenda as Dr. Woell will be starting us off  after you get breakfast.  There will be a building specific agenda sent out soon that will coincide with the district agenda but provide pd options for those of you not in the original sessions.  

3 research based ways to take better notes

I want to take a minute to thank all of our teaching assistants:  Carrie, Nicolette, Holly, Lori, Michelle S and Michele D, we couldn't do the job that we do everyday without the hard work you put in to help our students (and teachers)!

Getting over the October Slump

https://www.edutopia.org/article/avoiding-october-burnout?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Fall+23&utm_id=Fall23&utm_term=fall+school+season&utm_content=fall+slump

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you." — Walt Whitman

"Getting stuck is a feature rather than a glitch on the road to thriving." -- Adam Alter

"If you hit a wrong note, it's the next note that you play that determines if it's good or bad." -- Miles Davis

10-20-23

 Bill did a choral reading poetry project from HMH in his class and Danielle proposed that one of the groups perform at the school board meeting. Danielle explained the project to the board and the girls did a great job! Thanks Danielle and Bill.

Dan, Bill, Matt, Joe, and Megan S did a great job at the Fall Sports awards on Wednesday evening.  I appreciate their willingness to work with students after school on their athletic skills and their sportsmanship.  

You can now write and draw on Google slides

write on google slides

I appreciate Nicole sitting down with me to help tighten up our attendance procedures.  

Melissa, April and Danielle had a great theater club clinic and parent night Tuesday after school.  Tryouts are next week!

Designing lessons with digital tech with careful pedagogy

designing digital tech

Morgan has been working hard getting our band students ready through practice, practice practice!  Performances will be here before you know it.  

Dr. Salamone did a great job organizing the multicultural night Tuesday evening at Evergreen.  While there middle school families there, I really enjoyed meeting the K-4 kiddos who came to my arts and craft table to create works of art!

Using Claim, Evidence and Reasoning in the science classroom.

https://blog.tcea.org/cer/

I know we have been advertising the Sneaker drive and Coat drive to our Kiddos but don't forget that you can bring in some items to donate as well.  I will be cleaning house this weekend to see what I can bring in.  (sneakers are being recycled so they can be torn up!)

Today (Friday) is the PTA Fun Run!  I am so appreciative of Jen and Joe running this through their PE classes all day.  I am also thankful for all of the hard work that Mrs. Hart put into organizing the communication and prizes.

8 proactive classroom management tips

classroom management tips

Colleen and Alex are getting ready for the student council Halloween spirit week starting on Wednesday of Next week.  

New staff alert!!! Jamie Begley is a brand new sub and will be in the building today in 8th grade.  Please stop by and say hello and answer some questions if you can.  

Thanks for all of the social studies teachers for meeting with me Wednesday after school to discuss the new standards, mandated units of study, and how they both affect our curriculum maps.  

I appreciate Marcia and Megan S doing all the behind the scene emails and phone calls to get our students in compliance and did not need to be excluded from school.  

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." -- Derek Bok

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." -- Helen Keller

"I don’t have to tell you it goes without saying there are some things better left unsaid. I think that speaks for itself. The less said about it the better." -- George Carlin

10-13-Story

 Thanks to Michele D for hosting our HMH writable PD on Wednesday and for making enough "unbelievable" perogies to feed our entire staff!

I appreciate everyone chipping in this week to make the outdoor ed trip happen. This includes all of the chaperones on the trip, our wonderful subs, our outstanding teaching assistants, support staff and teachers that came together to make the trip work at Loredo Taft and back at Benjamin.  This required a lot of flexibility and extra effort and not only do I appreciate it but so do all of the kids.  

I appreciate Kim getting the parent teacher conferences time slots together....we will be going forward with the following schedule November 2nd 4pm-8pm (6pm-8pm will be zoom conferences) November 7th 4pm-7pm and November 9th 4pm-7pm.  PTA will be providing a 3pm dinner on the 7th. More info to follow.  

Monday Morning our 8th grade students will be taking the PSAT test for high school placement.  

We just finished with the fall sports season and we are off to the races with the Winter season as boys basketball  and Cheer have started practicing.  

Thursday is always a busy club day.  Mr. Karris has got the Maker Space Club operating on full blast with multiple projects happening at once guided by student interest!  

We have a busy week ahead of us with the rescheduled school board meeting on Monday Night, EL Multicultural Night on Tuesday Night and Fall Sports Awards on Wednesday Night.  

Pretty Cool Story on Leadership I came across.  

60 years ago. Before NIL deals & sponsorships, one college football star: Won the Heisman Trophy, then served in Vietnam, then won 2 Super Bowls as a QB, made 2 HOFs, started a company & sold it for $600+ million. And it almost didn't happen. This is the story of how one decision turned a Cincinnati kid into an NFL & business icon:

1/ Spring. 1958. A HS football coach in Cincinnati wants to revamp his team. He's got players but not a leader. He surveys his roster. He needs a new QB. His eyes settle on one name. A tall, athletic junior who had never played quarterback in his life: Roger Staubach 2/ Young Staubach is confused about the change. He asks why they want him to be quarterback. "Because the other guys listen to you," the coach says. "That conversation changed my life," Staubach says now. "If they hadn't seen me in that role, you wouldn't be talking to me." 3/ Staubach goes full bore all summer. Kills himself during two-a-days to win the starting job as a senior. Loves running the huddle. Leading his peers. Feels natural. He graduates and plays QB for one year at the New Mexico Military Institute... 4/ In 1961 Staubach enters the Naval Academy. He sits as a freshman. Early in his sophomore year the Midshipmen's offense is sputtering. Flat. Lifeless. Staubach gets his shot. He leads Navy to 6 TDs and a 41-0 victory over Cornell. The job is his... 5/ Junior year. Staubach is 21 and becomes a household name. He leads Navy to a 9-1 regular season record. Plays for a National Championship. Wins the Heisman Trophy. Gets the cover of Time Magazine when that was a life-changing honor... 6/ After an injury-filled senior year, Staubach is drafted by the Cowboys. "I know I sound corny but there is no way in the world I was going to break my commitment to the Navy," Staubach says. "They could have offered me a billion dollars." The NFL is on hold. For 4 years. 7/ Instead of commanding Dallas' offense for Tom Landry, Staubach is in charge of several dozen enlisted men in Vietnam. He's a Supply Corp officer. Practices leadership daily. "There's a way to do things in life," he says. "And there's power in setting a good example." 8/ Staubach quarterbacks a few squads in the service to keep up his skills. He spends a year in Chu Lai... He has the Cowboys playbook and uses his military leave to practice with the team. In 1969, he officially joins the Cowboys as a 27-year-old rookie. He earns the starting spot in his second season. 9/ 1972. This is the year it all happens for Staubach. A 10-game winning streak. A Super Bowl victory against the Dolphins. Super Bowl VI MVP. "Captain America" becomes the face of the NFL... 10/ Roger Staubach goes on to play in 4 Super Bowls. He wins 2 and loses 2, both to the Steelers. He's a 6x Pro Bowler. A member of the 1970s All-Decade Team. But quarterbacks (even stars) in that era didn't make big money. Far from it... 11/ By the end of his career in the late 70s, Staubach has 3 kids and is thinking about his post-football life. He'd been working in real estate in the off-season for the esteemed Henry S. Miller company, preparing for this moment. He launches The Staubach Company... The Staubach Company starts off strong. A few office buildings. Regional tenants. But Roger thinks bigger. He starts working with major corporate clients. Residential development. Apartment complexes... Quarterbacks his business. For 31 years the Staubach Company grows. Roger works with Jerry Jones. Ross Perot. All the iconic Dallas magnates. Then, in 2008, he sells the company for a whopping $600+ million. He becomes the wealthiest retired NFL player. All because a HS coach moved him to QB.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There's no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day." -- Alexander Woollcott

“Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” ― Robert Frost

10-6-2023

 I am very appreciative of all the hard work and planning that go into the Outdoor Education trip next week.  Thanks to Mark, Colleen and all of the staff getting ready for this great opportunity for our 6th grade kiddos.  

The Staff Spirit wear link is working!   I checked it myself.  staff spirit wear or if you prefer the styles of the regular benjamin spirit wear you can see it here.  regular spirit wear

Thirty 60 second pedagogy videos.  Browse the list.

pedagogy

We have come upon the end of the fall sports season.  I would like to Thank Joe, Megan, Dan, Bill and Matt for all of their hard work.  We also wish the Bengals Soccer and Volleyball teams the best of luck in the tournaments on Saturday.  

Thanks to the team leaders for traveling to Wheaton Bible Church for our meeting this month and going through our reunification process with the Wheaton Bible Facility Manager G. John Morris.  Our safety is our number one priority.

Incorporating the arts into STEM education helps foster students’ creativity, cognitive development, and content knowledge.

incorporating Arts into STEM

Thanks to the everyone for participating in our 3rd annual Know our Student meeting.  It is really important to look out for and connect with all of our students and this process helps us find the students we know less about.  I will schedule a meeting with each grade level team when the process is complete and will also send the Trusted adult form to everyone once Nicole and Todd are done collecting that data.

I would like to thank Todd and Nicole for the job they do delivering the Second Step SEL lessons to our students.  These lessons teach our students a variety of important life skills.  

Professor Rachel Lambert shared five tips that teachers can use to help kids stop comparing themselves to others in math.

math strategies

I appreciate the Financial Newsletter Dr. Filas sent out.  Lots of important information to review.  Please check it out.

Thanks to the Specials Team for the Outstanding Student of the Month Bulletin Board they put together.  "Frankly"it's spectacular!

Concept maps, sketchnotes, and other annotated jottings can facilitate deeper comprehension of materials than more polished drawings.⁣ Learn more from the research:  full research article below the image

research article

I am so appreciative of the great job Alicia has been doing in April's absence.  Her hard work and preparation has ensured that our students haven't missed a beat.  

Thanks to all of the club sponsors.  I appreciate your organization and preparation that enable so many students to participate in before and after school activities of their choosing.  I know it is a lot of work on your end to be prepared for these meetings!

"Happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided." -- Paulo Coelh

"I learned that a friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face." -- Maya Angelou

"Happiness is good health and a bad memory." -- Ingrid Bergman