Last Friday post for the summer-August 22

The back to school dreams are starting. Some of us have to be a bit more conscientious about how late we are staying up and the pressure of the back to school shopping commercials "forced" me to go out and buy a new pair of Nike Shox! Yes, it is THAT TIME.

Probably the best advice I can give you, is to make sure you are tuned in and checking the North Faculty/Staff Google Calendar. We continue to post our back to school meeting agendas in the description invites, as well as all of our important deadlines and school commitments throughout the year. Besides your family calendar, this should be something you look at every day and are previewing every week. Staying organized and staying connected will help you be prepared and set up for success.

North's academic growth is on the rise! This is a direct reflection of YOU; the teachers, assistants and coaches that work with our students. Setting high expectations for excellence is a team effort and the more we all believe in this team concept, the more not only you as a professional will thrive, but our students will reap the benefits as well. We are knocking on the door to achieving at levels that are considered the best of all the high schools in Waukesha.

Do I seem competitive? As a washed-up athlete, it is still in my purple blood. But, what I have come to realize is that each one of us controls North's destiny. Each one of us in our preparation and performance has the direct potential to impact our students and their achievement. Period.
Does this feel like pressure to you? It shouldn't, but rather serve as a positive motivator. You have the tools you need to make this happen.

Your leadership, your teamwork, and your focus are poised to set North up for another successful year, as we strive for continuous improvement. Let's take our learners at North to a championship...in academics, athletics or any of their life pursuits. They deserve the best, so do you, and together we can achieve great things!

Friday Update- August 15- Teacher feedback wanted

Personalized Summer Institute (#PSI) in Waukesha has come to a close. What an exciting week to see so many educators coming together to learn about how to make their practices better, for our students!
One thing so wonderful about @WaukeshaSchools and especially @WaukeshaNorth1 is that I am surrounded by outstanding leaders. There is no title of Superintendent, Principal, or Teacher that should make a difference on each of you being a leader. I have seen that first hand this week.

Our North leadership team spent some more time clarifying and focusing on our school SLO. In my last update, I gave you a draft of what all high schools in Waukesha will use for their student learning objective: Students will demonstrate projected growth towards Career and College Readiness in Reading as measured by; projected growth in MAP, 2-3 points growth in composite ACT/Aspire tests, and 80% proficient or advanced in the 5 ACT Reading Standards as measured through teacher SLO's.

In our quest for continuous improvement and to help everyone focus on doing a few things really well, we have worked to align our practices with our actions. We are seeking feedback from you on our North SLO document. Please make comments that either resonate with you or that you are wondering about.

We know that in order for our school improvement efforts to be successful, that each player on the team, must understand the plays in the playbook and be able to collaboratively execute our team goals.

I look forward to seeing many more of you next week as you come in and start getting your classrooms student-ready. The Northstar family reunion will officially kick off in 10 days. I cannot wait to share with you some student successes. Each of you continue to make a difference in the lives of our students.

We have much to be proud of!

Friday, August 8th Update - Infinite Campus

Only three more Friday updates and school will be in session....wow!

This week's focus is on Infinite Campus. Two of our six IC coaches attended training this week. North's IC coaches are Kamenar, Hubmann, Alwan, Redner, VanAdestine and VanKeuren. They suggest we need a total of three hours of training time the first three days back. You can see from the calendar invites when we have scheduled those sessions.

It would be helpful for all of you to get logged in to Infinite Campus and the Campus Community BEFORE you come back. Our coaches also suggested it would be productive if you knew how you want your room set up BEFORE you come to the training, and that you have some updated, electronic copies of your course syllabi, so our coaches can more practically help you with getting things done right away, saving you from having to go back and enter more things later during your own time.

Knowing your room set up and groupings should change fluidly depending on what the students are doing, think about how you want to create your classroom culture and welcome students during those first few weeks of school. Also, for your course syllabus, it is likely that most course alike teams have this in place from last school year. Creating the syllabus should be a collaborative process, and course-alikes should agree on a common syllabus with common expectations.

Obviously, the gradebook, creating assignments and grade calculation will take most of the time, but they will teach you about attendance taking procedures (very important), rosters, reports, community, planner, preferences and groups.

Please feel free to connect with any of our Infinite Campus coaches for all your IC needs.

Enjoy the weekend!

Friday Update- August 1st

I cannot believe it is August 1st as I am typing this!

The "smell" of the new school year is upon us and I'd like to focus on some Educator Effectiveness information for this week's update. With our entire district focus on literacy, all Waukesha high schools are solidifying exactly the same School SLO for the 2014-15 school year.


The draft SLO as of today reads:
Students will demonstrate projected growth towards Career and College Readiness (at the Tier 1 level) in Reading as measured by; 2-3 points growth in MAP, 2-3 points growth in the ACT/Aspire Tests, and students will be proficient in Common Core Anchor Reading Standards as measured through teacher SLO's.

The state has decided that each teacher will have one SLO and one PPG. Compared to the pilot of the two and two last year, I feel the North teachers are very well prepared! Each of you will have one SLO, similar to last year, related directly to Reading. Your PPG then, should focus on one of Danielson's components that will be most high leverage in order for you to help reach your SLO.

New this year, every educator and evaluator will be using Teachscape as the online platform for all feedback, submitting of artifacts, and ratings. The DPI website at http://ee.dpi.wi.gov/ continues to be a valuable resource for all your Educator Effectiveness updates.

I am really excited about our focus, and truly feel that our North staff is "in shape" and primed for a smooth and successful transition into the school year.