AHS Faculty/staff news

Good evening- I hope your weekend was not too tied up with grading.  I know this time of year involves a lot between grades and course recommendations.  Thank you for all that you do! The course recommendation window is open in iPass. Please have your recommendations completed by Friday. February 1.  Refer to last weeks information for tips on how to recommendations easily. See me if you have any questions. Teachers make course recommendations- January 22- February 1 (ALL teachers must have conversations with students and make recommendations- Start conversations now!) We will hold class meetings this week to review the course registration process.  Class meetings- January 31 (B day) 9th grade- 9:35am 10th grade- 10:15am 11th grade- 10:55am Classes will be called down- do not send them until an announcement is made. It is hard to predict how long each meeting will take based on student questions.  If someone from your department would like to talk about any...

Good evening! I hope you had a fantastic long weekend. If you are football fan, Go Pats! What an exciting game. I loved reading your emails about the appreciation emails and calls you made on Friday. What awesome stories you all shared and the connections I saw between faculty members was incredible. Thank you for engaging in that activity! You really showed the importance of relationships in creating a great educational experience. The course recommendation window is open! Check out the Teacher Quick Start Guide for Course Recommendations here. This is a busy time of the year with mid-terms and course recommendations (timeline attached here). Thank you for all you do around this time. Please make recommendations for all student sin your classes over the course of the next two weeks, the teacher recommendation window will close on February 1. Next year we are making some changes to course titles, but the class descriptions are staying the same. I have opened the recommend...

Good evening- Here we go into the last week of Semester 1.  It has been a great semester.  Every day I feel so appreciative that I work with such a great staff.  Thank you.  I know the next couple of weeks are busy.  Hang in there, take some deep breaths, and ask for help if you need it! As I listened to some conversations at faculty meeting on Thursday I could tell that our faculty feels strongly about the importance of mid-term exams.  As you get ready to administer exams next week please think critically about the content of the exam and what you do with the information you gain from each test.  How is your exam preparing each student and how is it evaluating them?  I agree that exams have value, as long as we are thoughtful and purposeful. A reminder about January 18 Professional Development-  Please review the email sent by Paul Vieira so you know where to go for your sessions on Friday. The day starts at 8am.  AHS classrooms will b...

Good evening- I hope you had a restful weekend. I know the next two weeks are busy as we wrap up Semester 1.  We will kick of course selection for 2019-2020 in just a few weeks. Please be sure to review the mid-term schedule (see below) with your classes and explain expectations to students, especially freshmen. Courageous Conversations- Stress Management   We hope you'll join  Ashland  High School students as they lead small group discussions about solutions to stress in our community. Parents, students (middle school and up), town leaders, school administrators and faculty, and mental health professionals will be participating . Improve your strategies to increase productivity and reduce stress.  Monday, January 7th, 2019 from 7 to 9 pm,  Ashland  High School Cafeteria. Faculty meeting  is this Thursday, January 10 at 2:50pm.  Please be in the library ready to begin at we can break into groups after introductions of new staff and a review o...

Good evening and Happy New Year! Here we are, almost halfway through the school year.  Thank you all for your commitment to AHS.  I am so privileged to work with each and every one of you and wish you the best in 2019. Mid-year exams are approaching quickly. Please review the schedule that was sent for teachers last month. Here is the modified schedule to share with students. Mid-term exams-schedule for students Attendance- As we start the new year I want to share my expectations for attendance.  Moving forward, please take attendance within the first 10 minutes of each class.  This is a professional responsibility. We have had far too many incidents this Fall in which we were not aware a student was absent until later in the day. As you can imagine, this is a safety issue and we are currently concerned about the accuracy attendance data.  We will, of course, be addressing individual concerns, but the issue is widespread so moving forward the expectation is that...