Welcome back to 2018-2019!

Welcome back!

I hope everyone had a restful summer and you are feeling ready for a great year.  It has been wonderful to see so many of you over the past couple of days.  I filled out my slide for Paul Vieira the other day, thinking a lot about what motivates and inspires me.  Relationships is the word that kept coming to my mind.  I have spent the summer reading a variety of articles and putting aside things I might share.  I chuckled when I opened this article, which was first on the list.... 3 Reminders for the Beginning of the Year.  My big reflection this summer was that I want to do everything possible to make sure we have a positive year.  I feel last year started with a perception that it was going to be a tough one, and that came true.  In some cases we judged kids before we knew them. We let their reputation precede them, at least I did. Let's start this school year off with a positive, hopeful attitude.  The kids will feel it and they will respond accordingly.  Let's give every kid, freshman through senior, a fresh start and show them we believe they can learn. We have the ability to set the tone, let's make it a positive one. I am again asking that you ALL start the year by building relationships with your students. Post what you do on social media using the hashtag #1st3days (read this article from local principal Brian McCann) or send me an email letting me know what you have done as a class.  We had our annual Student Leadership Summit today and students said loud and clear..."they care about their relationships with teachers and they learn better when they know you care about them."  Take the time, get to know them, it will make for a great year!

On Monday and Tuesday we will meet in the AHS library during the times listed on the Back to School letter from the Superintendent.
Monday, August 27 10-11am
Tuesday, August 28 8:30-10:30am & 12-2pm
Lunch will be provided both days and we will gather in the cafeteria. It will be a time to renew and build new relationships with colleagues. 

We are thrilled to welcome our new staff to the AHS community:
Javier Arango, Spanish
John Noel, Special Education
James Phillips, School Psychologist (0.5 at AHS, 0.5 at AMS)
Erika Thomson, Math

Internally, Jess Curran, School Psychologist, has transitioned from her previous role of half-time at the middle school and half-time with us to our full-time psychologist. 

Please take a moment to introduce yourself and get to know our new colleagues. 

Our student population is changing.... This photo of the Class of 1926 arrived in the mail the other day.  Fourteen students in the graduating class! As of today we have exceeded 50 newly enrolled students and our total enrollment is 814 students.  Our freshman class is at 222.  We graduated approximately 180 students and the last enrollment report I ran in June had us at 766 students.  We are welcoming 6 students through exchange programs as well as a several other students who have moved in from different states and countries. Ashland High School is growing and changing and we need to be ready to meet the needs of the diverse school community we are serving.  Think about how you are going to start the year focused on making adjustments to meet the needs of all learners.  I came across a few resources to support students who do not speak English as their first language. Supporting ESL students in the mainstream classroom The following came from an email list-serve I am on: 11 MORE Great Strategies to Incorporate English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom Kelly, last week we told you about 10 easy, minimal-prep ways that K-12 content teachers can help English Language Learners in their classes without slowing down the whole class.  Continuing this week, we explain 11 more tried and tested techniques that really work -- all of which will benefit not only international students but local students as well.    Break complex, multi-step assignments down into segments. The types of assignments we do in US schools are often completely new and bewildering to international students. Break them into steps and provide examples of each step. Also, consider giving students a grade for each segment of a longer project or assignment, to ensure that they learn and follow each of the steps. Don’t ask, “Do you understand?” They will always say yes. For students who are still learning English, it is better to ask either/or questions with the answer embedded in the question, have them point to a picture or phrase, or ask them to name one or two reasons or examples. Explain how assignments connect to learning objectives.Again, many international students find American ways of teaching unfamiliar, and may fail to see the value and importance of tasks and projects. Especially if there is an element of creativity or fun to an assignment, if it doesn’t feel painful, they may feel they are not learning. Take a moment to explain to increase buy-in and the effort they will put into it.   Encourage but don’t force participation. It helps to give international students who tend to be reticent a question that you want them to think and talk about a bit ahead of time, so they have time to think and find their English words before speaking in front of the class. Also, remember, many international students come from countries where participation is not encouraged. They may not be used to sharing ideas and opinions. Moreover, particularly in East Asian educational systems, students are expected to repeat the ideas and opinions of the experts, so formulating their own ideas and opinions feels inappropriate or self-important to them. Of course, developing habits of critical and innovative thinking is why they come to the US to study, but they need language, time and structure to get there. Wait for response, and train your whole class to pause before raising their hands and/or shouting out answers to questions. Think of the old game of Red Light, Green Light. Hold up your hand as a stop sign and count down by folding each finger. This allows every student a moment to think about the question and formulate a response in their minds. Similarly, Think-Pair-Share and Turn and Talk are ideal strategies for getting students using the language, remembering, and assessing their own understanding of the lesson or reading’s main ideas. Both are great ways to start or finish a class, and Turn and Talk in particular works to break up content-heavy classes and check that students are with you so far. The kids really enjoy both activities, and they get the kids using the language and talking about the ideas without the pressure and stress of speaking in front of the whole class.  I use these favorite activities in just about every class. Allow some use of students’ native language to access their existing knowledge. For example, suppose you are talking about the difference between reptiles and amphibians and you give some examples of each. You can show them pictures of the animals, but also, let them speak to a classmate in their own language or use an electronic translator. This helps them to connect the English to what they already know in their native language. Speaking of the native language, translators can be useful,but don’t allow students to over-rely on them as they can impede development of fluency, not to mention connection with others. Often students will do a writing assignment in their native language and then translate it. This should be discouraged as it does not help them build their English and becomes a crutch that will stunt their language development. Instead, provide useful words and phrases on a handout or word wall in class, and push your students to do their work and writing in English. Let them write words or phrases in their native language or draw pictures when they don’t know the English – and then use their translators later for these phrases only. Just be aware that translators have a memory function, so be sure to tap their reset buttons when you give the students a quiz or test.   Phones may have translators built in, but phones also have games and social media – it’s best to avoid that temptation.  When you do group work or projects, it is particularly important that you mix international students into groups with American students and do not let them self-segregate, even if that feels more comfortable for everyone in class. The American students will have experience working on group projects that your international students very often will not have, so they can show the international students the ropes a bit, while they model language use and critical thinking. It will be more of a challenge, but it’s a good one that allows for realexchange of different perspectives.  It helps to give each student a role and/or to remind all students of the goals and ground rules of working in groups. For writing assignments, consider giving students one grade for content and another for grammar and mechanics. https://www.jaymctighe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Three-Lessons-from-Grant-Wiggins-1-2.pdf