Friday Update- July 25

As most of you know, on July 7th, I experienced the deepest and saddest loss in my life. This painful transition, this emotional paralysis, has forced me to re-examine my purpose and to figure out how my new life is supposed to function. Every doubt, every personal and professional vulnerability has been tested. 

The outcry of support from the Northstar family, has brought me to tears over and over again. The words, "thank you", will not even come close to expressing my appreciation and gratitude for your kindness and love. Through the dark clouds, I honestly believe that my calling continues to be servant leadership. To learn, to lead, alongside each of you, is what I am meant to come back to do. I continue to search daily for the fuel to do just that. Those of you that have helped me realize this, I owe you. 

You have been angels.

My goal is to be back at the Purple Palace on Monday, after being gone this entire month. I can't promise you that I won't start crying on any given day. I also can't promise that I will exude the empathy that I should for you, if you complain that your room temperature is not where it ideally needs to be. What I can commit to, is a work ethic that goes unmatched, and a commitment to support you and help give you what you need to be the best teacher, the best employee you can be, so that ultimately our students get the best educational experience during their time at Waukesha North High School. 

I seek the strength from Deb and the help from each of you, so that together, we can lead our championship team to an unforgettable, impactful year ahead. 

My hope is that each day of your life brings you a "trophy" moment of some kind.

Friday Update- July 18- Guest Teacher post

On the heels of the 3 days of literacy learning @WaukeshaNorth1 this week, our Literacy Specialist, Jenny Weinke, provides you the update this week.

“I love the look of words” (Maya Angelou).  I think this quote describes me to the tee.  For those of you who are new to North, my name is Jenny Wienke.  

This will be my tenth year at North, but my first year as the literacy specialist.  Hence, the quote.  When Jody asked me to write a little bit about myself, I was honored.  Then, when I sat down to write it was hard to think of exactly what you would want to know.  

So to start off, I will tell you about the most important thing in my life my son Logan.  Logan just turned 18 months last week.  He is such a blessing and such a handful!  He keeps me going 24/7 and doesn’t move only when sleeping:)  The things he says and does make me smile everyday.  This past week I took him in for his 18 month check up.  Right before the nurse was going to give him a shot, she was prepping the area on his thigh and tickling him.  He was laughing and talking like crazy.  She then stuck the needle in his leg, his bottom lip quivered, tears flooded his eyes, he looked at her and said, “Geez!”  I thought that was a pretty appropriate response:)

I guess since I am talking about my son, I should mention my husband (he would be thrilled to read that).  My husband Jason and I have been married for a little over two years.  He manages a graphic design company in Delafield, and we live in West Allis.  When we are not busy chasing our son, we love to go on bike rides, spend time with family, and go out with friends.

Besides my family, my number one passion in life is literacy.  For the past eight years that has been my main focus.  In a dorky kind of way, I love reading research on comprehension, fluency, texts, vocabulary, and anything else that has to do with literacy.  I am a huge advocate for reading and usually try to read one book a week.  When I was teaching English, my number one favorite thing about it was hearing students get excited about reading and want to read more.  My hope is that I can get all of North as excited about reading as I am.  In effort to do this, I want to extend a welcome to all the newbies and the veteran teachers to come to my room (904) whenever you need something.  I am willing to come into your classroom and help you or your students in anyway.  I have a plethora of resources and other texts that are great resources for reading, writing, speaking, and assessing.  See you in a few weeks!

Friday Update- July 11- Guest Blog

Happy Friday! As part of my efforts to get more people involved with blogging and allow others to hear other points of view from around NorthstarNation, I am starting a guest blog spot. At least once a month I will have a teacher, other staff, or students post an entry on waukeshanorth1.blogspot.com.

This week is the perfect start as our new North Associate Principal will introduce himself. Please give him a warm welcome when you see him during the Literacy days at North next week.

Hello Everyone,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to everyone at Waukesha North High School.  I am very excited to be part of the great things that are happening at North and look forward to working with the students, staff, and community.  

A little bit about myself, I graduated from UW Oshkosh in 2001 and began my teaching career at Southern Door High School in Door County, WI as a high school social studies teacher and athletic director.  I then moved to Marinette, WI to teach social studies at the high school from 2003-2007. While I was in Marinette, I began work on my master’s degree in educational leadership and administration through Marian University.  In 2007 I accepted my first administrative position with Badger High School in Lake Geneva, WI as an associate principal.  In 2009, I accepted the principal position at the middle/high school in Hustisford, WI and was there for the past 5 years.  In 2013, I completed my superintendent licensure program through Cardinal Stritch University.

In March of 2014, I became engaged to my fiancé Carolyn and we are getting married in July 2015.  I have 3 wonderful stepchildren who range in ages from 10 to 6 years old, they certainly keep Carolyn and I on the go.  We live on Okauchee Lake in the town of Oconomowoc and as a family we enjoy outdoor activities.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone at North, if there is anything that I can do to help you please do not hesitate to contact me, my door is always open. I am looking forward to a great 2014-15 school year.

Yours in education,

Chad Schraufnagel

Assistant Principal

Friday Update- Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July to everyone! 

With our upcoming literacy training on July 14, 15, and 16, many of you have started to ask questions about this professional development.

Hopefully, most of you are already signed up for for the Stephanie Harvey sectionals which will run at North HS all 3 days. If you have not done so, please click on this link to register: http://goo.gl/g8qdF7
This will not only ensure that you get your book on time, but it will also count towards the three day literacy training of which you will not need to make up if you are in attendance.

Those of you that absolutely cannot make it, below is the scheduled make-up for you that will consist of 3 TDP courses.

"We recognize there may be  circumstances that will make it difficult for some to attend the Summer Learning Institute.  While we know we can not replicate that summer experience, we are striving to ensure that learning outcomes are as similar as possible.  All principals/teachers/ coaches/coordinators will be responsible for the knowledge and information from our Summer Institute and applying it in their respective classrooms/ setting. Staff unable to attend the Summer Institute will develop a personal professional development plan which outlines how they will access, learn and apply information from the Institute through a three TDP course cycle (ex: Literacy 101, Literacy 102, and Literacy 103) starting in September. (Please reference TPD Course outline for dates and offerings.)  Building principals will be consulted and will approve personal professional development plans."

The entire district professional development outline for the 2014-15 school year can be found HERE.