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October 28, 2024

Good morning-

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. A reminder that this week is a short week as we acknowledge Diwali on Friday, November 1. Happy Diwali to all who celebrate!

Tuesday, October 29 is picture retake day. Everyone is required to have an updated 2024-2025 ID so please get your picture taken if you didn't do so already.

For your planning purposes, here is the schedule for Tuesday, November 5 professional development:
8:00- 8:30- classroom time
8:30-10:00- ALICE training
10:00-10:15- break
10:15-11:15- bryt presentation (via Zoom)
11:15-12:00- lunch
12:00-2:25- special education law & Easter Seals presentation

If you have not done so, please review the MCAS information sent by Meaghan on Thursday, October 28. It includes information on the retests as well as information on the new system. Everyone should have an account created for the new system so please follow the directions she shared. 

Term 1 grades close on Thursday, November 7. Please make sure iPass is up to date and families have been contacted if you have a student who is struggling. 

Important dates this month:
October 29- picture retakes
October 31- senior Halloween parade- x-block 
November 1- Diwali- no school/no school activities
November 5- professional day
November 6-7- English MCAS retakes
November 7- Term 1 closes
November 11- Veteran's Day- no school
November 12-13- math MCAS retakes
November 13 - site council meeting (4-5:30pm)
November 14 - report cards
                         faculty meeting
November 19- JED schoolwide survey-no x-block
                        dept. liaison meeting
November 21- department meetings (liaisons, let me know if you change the day)
November 26- AHS Red Cross blood drive
November 27- early release/Thanksgiving pep rally
November 28-29- Thanksgiving- no school 

Below are some resources/articles that have been shared with me regarding the upcoming election: 

Please see the resources shared with a parent member of site council that were shared by the BC Center for Teaching and Education (CTE). 

Free Online Resources for the U.S. Election (from the Marshall Memo)

            As November 5th approaches, says Kara Yorio in this School Library Journal article, “Students are likely seeing a mix of mainstream media stories, influencer takes, memes, clips from speeches, and more. There is no way to avoid it.” An important contribution librarians and other educators can make is to build the skill of discerning where information is on a continuum from reliable to unreliable – and think about the motives of those who spread bogus information, “the motivation and methods of political messaging.” Some helpful websites:

            • The Living Room Candidate – Political commercials from 1952 to 2024, with lesson plans comparing and contrasting approaches to political persuasion over the years.

• National Association for Media Literacy Education – Includes downloads of core principles and key questions about media literacy, including “Meet the Media Monsters,” a lesson plan for grades 3-5 on consuming and sharing media.

• News Literacy Project Misinformation Dashboard – Tracks 2024 election misinformation, helping students see the tactics and narratives that influence public opinion.

• PBS NewsHour Classroom: Media Literacy – Lessons on debates, political polarization, and violence, and specific topics, including the Kendrick Lamar-Drake feud.

• Project Look Sharp – Ithaca College provides elementary, middle-, and high-school lessons on media analysis and decoding.

• Teaching Elections – Inquiry-based lesson plans, curriculum links, an election map, election news updates, and fact-checking sites.

“More Than Just the Facts” by Kar Yorio in School Library Journal, October 2024 (Vol. 70, #10, pp. 12-14)

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