1-27-2023

 Angela has done a great job with advertising the yearbooks.  Personalizing the posters with actual pictures of different students is a great personal touch!

Thanks to team leaders for scheduling the 5 Essentials survey for our students.  Also thanks in advance for taking the survey.  Your feedback is important for our improvement as a whole.  

It's fun time down in the old Benjamin Roller Rink.  Thanks to Jen and Joe for creating this awesome opportunity for our students and for teaching the kids precautions to keep them safe.  

Best of Luck to Coach Mejia and our Bengal Chess team as they play in a tournament in Barrington on Saturday!

Thanks to Betty for facilitating the Access Test for our EL students. Also thanks to Greg and Vanessa for getting the tech aspect ready.  

Hats off to Solly for doing a ton of work for the compliance visit also thanks to the staff members who helped me on some of the compliance items. 

Great article on student writing in the age of AI.  

https://www.edutopia.org/article/ai-writing-tools-middle-high-school

Thanks to Kerri for sending out the PO directions to everyone.  These are the same steps that Ellen had sent last year, the google form will now go to Kerri who can then submit it to Skyward for approval.

The basketball girls celebrating a victory (and 2 birthdays)!

I appreciate Todd making a lot of trips back and forth from Evergreen to Benjamin to help support our students and staff this week.  

I appreciate the lunch supervisors for assisting me in giving the sports interest survey to all of our students.

Please remember to send Dr. Salamone & myself the list of your summer school candidates today.

5 researched based ways to give meaningful feedback to your students:

I appreciate our 7th grade team setting up the reward trip today for our students who worked hard to earn it!  

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." ~ Albert Einstein

"The mind is like a trunk: if well-packed, it holds almost every thing; if ill-packed, next to nothing." -- Augustus William Hare

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.

Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977) 

1-20-2023

 Jessica and Jen H did a wonderful job of preparing and presenting at the NJHS Induction ceremony.  Their hard work provided a beautiful ceremony for the inductees and their parents while emphasizing the important work they do throughout the year.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the new in-house PD form sent out this week.  Please fill this form out if you are working at school on March 3rd.  Also, if you are going out please submit your district conference request form soon,  This allows the district office to consolidate payment for multiple attendees of the same conference and ensure it gets there before the deadline.

Using nature writing to improve student analytical skills.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/nature-writing-develop-analytical-skills

Thanks to all of  the teachers working on curriculum maps this  past Wednesday and the small group working with me on our mandated units of study.  It is important that our maps reflect what we teach and that we implement the MUOS in meaningful ways.  

Thanks to Jen V and Joe for all of their hard work in getting their healthy cooking units organized and implemented with students.  The emphasis is definitely on student safety and cleanliness but the results are still tasty!

Pretty cool article on the importance of building relationships...not fluff ...the better your relationships are, the longer and happier your life will be.

https://blog.ed.ted.com/2022/02/28/6-relationship-resolutions-to-make-this-year/

This is your weekly reminder to schedule your 2nd formal observation with me if you have not done so already!

I am excited for the upcoming girls basketball season.  Please sign up to supervise/work the home games on the sign-up genius link that Dan sent out.

I appreciate the job that Megan D, Kerry and Kendra do with the Bengal Cafe.  Having student volunteers help Kerry's class is also a great component to this life skills unit.

Big thanks to everyone that does lunch duty everyday.  Supervising our kiddos during recess and lunch during these winter months definitely keeps you on your toes.  

How do you engage passive learners.

https://teacherhead.com/2023/01/17/tps6-how-do-i-engage-passive-learners/

Shout Out to Jen Matthews! Being our permanent sub is not an easy task as she fills in for a different teacher each day and she has definitely shown this year that she can be flexible and give additional support whenever she has a spare moment!  

Thanks to Chris for keeping the BB300 coming three days a week.  I think this years crew all do an outstanding job of being engaging for the listeners.  Also thanks to the teaching staff for ensuring that the students are listening and not talking or doing other things during this homeroom time.  

Very happy to have Michael Miles with us again this week.  Watching him play and interact with our students is always a great experience. Thanks to Melissa for creating this opportunity and to Angela for capturing some pics.  

I have a parent letter ready to go for the 5essentials Survey, Greg informed me that the link for students and staff is already pushed out to devices from last year, and Kim is preparing the student class lists with their state id necessary to take the survey.  For all of these components we are waiting on the current link.  The survey runs from January 24th-March 31st.  

Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it.

Max Frisch

Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone.

Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946) 

1-13-2023

 Kerri Snyder has jumped right into our office and has done a great job of helping out.  I have received many compliments from staff  about the fine job she is doing in her first week!

The Boys Varsity Basketball season ended with a loss on Thursday night.   Dan and Matt have done a great job of keeping the student athletes focused on doing the best job they can on and off the court. 

Thanks to the 8th grade team for facilitating the WCHS counselors this week with our students.  This is an important time for our 8th grade students and their transition to the high school.   

7 Attention getters to use in class.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-attention-getters-use-instead-raising-your-voice

Nicollett has done a great job helping fill needed gaps in our support this week and will work her way into supporting our check-in/check-out students starting next week.  Thanks to the grade level teams for giving us students to start this intervention with.

As we start the second half of the school year please remember to keep the structure and rigor our students need in the classroom and the hallways and other common areas.  Teaching & re-teaching expectations is how our students will learn and grow.  

I'd like to welcome Kim Anderson to Benjamin 25.  She will be making her way around our building to become more familiar with our school and has already been a great help at the ad center in many ways.  I am sure you will here more from her in the near future. 

Thanks to Jessica who gave a wonderful presentation on Wednesday at our staff learning meeting. All three pedagogies (chat stations, movement, and in-class flip) seem like they would benefit our students.  I am excited for you to try them out in your classroom.  

Now from Cult of Pedagogy here are 6 tech tools to try in 2023:

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/6-ed-tech-tools-to-try-in-2023/

Thank you to Kerry K, Jen Vidic and Joe H. for attending the PTA meeting Thursday night.  Jen and Joe were also honored for their work with the PTA on the Fun-Run earlier in the year where the district raised $6,000 and the PTA decided to match those funds!  Great job guys!

Please don't forget staff on cycle: ...it is up to you to schedule your second formal observation with me and/or check in with me on your alternate evaluation progress.  Also, please keep checking in on your student growth progress.  Let me know how Melissa and I can help.

Thanks to everyone for the work that you continue to do in teams to help students.  Whenever I pop in I am always amazed at the dialogue and problem solving that is taking place to do what we can to support struggling students.  

Thanks for the work that was done on curriculum this past Wednesday.  One question that came up Wednesday that I want to share as I believe it would benefit other people.  On the standards section, don't just list the numbers actually list what the standards are with the numbers.  this makes it much easier for everyone when they reading the curriculum map to understand what is being taught in relation to the standards.  It is a little more time consuming when you first type it out, but then can easily be copied and pasted for other curriculum units.  Please let me know if I can help answer any question on curriculum mapping.

Resources for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

A collection of lesson plans, curricula, and multimedia resources for teaching the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 https://www.edutopia.org/article/resources-martin-luther-king-jr-day-matt-davis

I know that some of the March 4th County-Wide PD opportunities are opening up.  You do have permission to attend an out of district conference.  I know many of these are free or minimal cost.  Please see me before you register as we need to do two things:

1.  have an accurate account of where people will be on this day

2.  Figure out the best method of payment for those that charge.  Many conferences have different procedures for registration and if we have multiple people going to the same conference we want to consolidate payment as much as possible.  

All people going out of district need to fill out the conference request form regardless if the conference costs money or not

Staff that is staying in-house I will send you a form that you will need to fill out with your agenda for the day.  This will allow me to request PD hours for the day with the ROE. Evergreen will be doing the same. Please see me if you have any questions.  

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." -- Voltaire

"By walking, I found out where I was going." -- Irving Layton

"Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be a part of the solution, not the problem." -- Stephen Covey

12-16-2022

 The concert Wednesday Night was a great success with an absolutely packed house.  Congratulations to Melissa, April and Morgan for a job well done. 

 

Sherry had a great tamale party on Tuesday.  It's not just about the food but learning about the process and culture with a fun crafty activity as well.  There were also lots of parent volunteers on hand to lend a hand.  

I think everyone had a wonderful time at Ellen's retirement celebration.  Thanks to Lauren, Keriann, Michele D, April, Kim, Melissa L and Chris for making it a special event.  I know I speak for everyone when I say that Ellen will be missed.  

Building a strong staff culture takes work.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-positive-staff-culture-takes-work

The 8th grade was alive with the Sound of Music as they went to the Paramount theater and were able to see a wonderful show.  

Dec-a-door mania has hit Benjamin Middle School as dedicated students use their creativity and artistic talents and teachers hidden competitive side come out.  Can anyone beat Mrs. Falkos and her crew of 30 students?  Only time will tell.

Thanks to Colleen and Alex for not only organizing the Dec-a-door, the Toy Drive and the Spirit week, next week.  

Thanks to the PST team for meeting with WCCHS and their new special ed director.  Working together to help the transition for our students is so important.

Congrats to Nicole for completing the Dance and Cheer season. Best of luck to Matt and Dan as they finish up the boys basketball season and gear up for the girls basketball season. Also thanks to Bill and Marcia who do the book and clock for almost every game.  

Thanks to Josh for bringing his technological know how and some needed direction to our maker space club this year.  The kids have been having a blast.  

Thanks to Angela for taking all of the wonderful pics for our many events.  Also thanks to Tim, Frank, Isidrio and the night crew for their hard work during this busy season.  

I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy breakfast and the wonderful WCCHS Choir on Friday morning.  Thanks to Dr. Woell and Solly for organizing this event and to our school board members for "being there" to thank you for a job well done.  

"If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped." -- Izaak Walton

"Choose to be kind over being right and you'll be right every time." -- Richard Carlson

12-9-2022

 I hope you guys had as great a week as I did.  I was lucky enough to do  pop-ins in almost every classroom this week.  It is awesome to see the excellent staff and diverse teaching strategies and activities our students experience.

Thanks to Nicole and Todd for presenting our mandated trainings on Monday.  We appreciate the time that went into the planning of this important information.  If anyone has any follow up questions please do not hesitate to reach out to either of them.  Specific make-up information will be sent out soon.

Just one article in this weeks blog:  The 10 most significant studies of the year.  Check it out.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/the-10-most-significant-education-studies-of-2022

Jessica brought in a great speaker through Zoom to her newspaper club! Joe Hogan, Producer of Retro Report "How to Fact-Check History," talked with the students about fact checking.  If you have never checked out Retro Report it is a pretty cool website with short educational videos connecting history, science and government to the present.  Check out this great free resource:  https://www.retroreport.org/education/

Thanks to all of the work that staff has been doing meeting about the academic and SEL needs of some of our students.  Trying different approaches and working together as a team = success!

Kerry and Kendra did a beautiful job working with their students on  Kuhn's Tree Farm.  The really cool thing is that people have been randomly and without asking adding random ornaments to the tree!

Best of luck to our 8th grade team as they take their students on the ice skating reward trip.  I'm sure students will enjoy this fun activity they earned through hard work this first trimester.  

Thanks to the people that have replied about 2nd observations.  Check your calendars and let me know.

Please remember to keep using Fish Slips as a positive reinforcement with students.  We will be doing another drawing right before winter break.  

It's  a busy week next week!  I am looking forward to the final home basketball game on Monday and choir and band assembly and concert on Wednesday as well as our Flannel Celebration with Ellen.  These are only a few of the events taking place!

Are you ready for the Student Council Holiday Dec-a-Door contest? How many winners? 

"Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing." -- Tom Waits

"Never let your fears be the boundaries of your dreams. Happiness is a direction, not a place." -- Sydney J. Harris

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.” —Jack Handey

 

12-2-2022

 Looking forward to seeing the choir and band perform at the Sweets with Santa on Saturday at Evergreen.  Thanks to Melissa, April and Morgan for working with the PTA to make this happen.

Guiding students to be independent learners.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/guiding-students-be-independent-learners

The Big Benjamin Chess Tournament is also this Saturday.  Good luck to Mauricio as he leads this event for the first time.  Huge thanks to Bill and Joe as they are helping to work the event.  Thanks to NJHS and Student Council for finding a few student volunteers for concessions. Thanks to Ellen for doing some data entry for me.  Thanks to Leslie for helping me getting the monetary aspects of the tournament taken care of.  Finally I appreciate the maintenance staff for all the set-up and clean up that this event requires.

I am so appreciative of the hard work that our ELA Curriculum Resource Committee is doing.  Tough conversations, working through materials (in your free time lol) and keeping an open mind to change does not an easy committee make.  

Which of these 4 habits is keeping you from being a great communicator

https://blog.ed.ted.com/2017/11/14/which-of-these-habits-is-keeping-you-from-being-a-great-communicator/

Very excited to have Kerri Snyder come over from Evergreen and take over for Ellen Trush after winter break.  She is doing a stellar job covering the leave position at Evergreen and we are happy that she will continue to be an asset to the district.  

I appreciate Todd and Nicole presenting the mandated trainings at our next meeting staff learning meeting.  This training is mandatory for all staff members.  

If you are on cycle please reach out to me and schedule your second formal observation.  If you are doing an alternative please make sure you are progressing with your goals.  Everyone continue to look at your student growth goals.  

Congrats to Dan and Matt as the JV and Varsity BB teams travelled to Schaumburg Christian and came away with one basket victories!

Getting students excited to revise their writing.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-steps-to-get-middle-school-students-excited-about-revision

Thanks to Colleen and Alex for sending out the information on the Student Council Door Decorating Contest, Toy Drive and Spirit Week.  Please review this information with your students. 

Once we hit December things can get crazy with interruptions and excitement in the anticipation for winter break.  So please stay vigilant in following procedures with students,  keep supervision tight and lets all keep an academic focus until we do get to break.  

"Treat the cause, not the effect." -- Edward Bach

"The future will be different if we make the present different." -- Peter Maurin

I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet.

Rodney Dangerfield