Rising Above in a Year Like No Other

  Congratulations on a great first week with students in the building. You all have done an outstanding job! Plan B teachers and Rockstars have had to engage in concurrent teaching, and I know this is not an easy undertaking.  Here are a couple of interesting articles with suggestions on how one can approach concurrent teaching.  This article suggests three possible strategies that can be used in concurrent teaching. Although written from a college perspective because there is very little research on concurrent teaching in K-12, this article nonetheless has some good ideas. Highlighting a virtual teacher: Ms. Myers does an excellent job giving her students "digital jobs". This is such a great way to continue to build community and responsibility for the group. Way to go! Scenes from a socially distanced recess! Mask Break Socially distanced Creativity - this week's trait Monday, Nov. 2nd-  Regular Day Tuesday - Nov. 3rd -Teacher Workday/Picture Day for some students...

  Happy Weekend! These past couple of weeks we have had to focus on the logistics of bringing students back on Monday. However, we have not forgotten you "Virtual Teachers". You are rocking it every day! As students begin in plan B, it is time for us to come back together as a whole school community. I want to make sure that we don't begin to think of ourselves as two schools. We are still tasked with creating a cohesive and consistent learning environment for all students. This is a challenge we can only meet working as a team. PLTs will still meet together and can ask the question "How does this look for teachers teaching in concurrent environments, and how does it look fully virtual? If you are teaching virtually, you might still have ideas for your plan B colleagues and vice versa. We are in this together! You each have incredible talents and working together GHE is unstoppable. #weareone. First Day Feedback document Lunch Count Document : Please fill this out wh...

If you haven't heard lately, you need to practice the 3 ws. Wear a mask; Wait 6 feet apart; and Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. In my opinion, this cannot be repeated enough. As we come back to school, we owe it to ourselves and to our families, friends, and neighbors to belabor this point.  Other districts in our state have returned to some method of in person instruction. The most important things in keeping everyone safe has been masking washing hands and waiting 6 feet apart. Counties who have done this well have had 0 or 1 cases of COVID on campus. Perhaps not surprisingly, it has not been students who have had the hardest time adhering to these guidelines, but the adults. As we bring students back in, please be sure that you are doing these three things with fidelity. If someone needs reminding, remind them. If you see someone who is having trouble remembering, I am also happy to remind them. You know me well enough by now to know that I will do it in a respectful way....

 Happy Weekend everyone! These amazing times call upon us to collaborate in a way that perhaps we never have before. I don't just mean aligning our curriculum, which has taken on increased importance this year. We need to lean on and support each other as we navigate the newness and constant change that is a regular part of our lives now. As we move toward bringing students back into school, you may be called upon to help a colleague teaching on a different Plan. This definitely calls for "all hands on deck".  Before you start thinking about how tough this will be for you, think instead that we are all going through this. Noone is getting off easy. We will do everything we can to support you and our doors will always be open to you.  We will extend you as much grace as we possibly can under the circumstances because no matter the plan, you are all doing the most important work we do as a school community.  In that vein: CARE CENTER helpers: Our front office staff wil...

  The title of this post does not refer at all to marital status. 😁 There are teachers on staff who are the only ones who teacher their subject in the school. A lot of planning will be going into what it will look like for our Plan B teachers, specialists, ESL, Special Educators, Intervention, Speech language, OT, PT. We know that having students back in the building is a daunting thought for all of you. We promise that we will do everything in our power to make this as manageable as possible for you. Nothing has been decided about dividing the workload, or what this will look like. Please try not to stress. I have another principal meeting next week and I am collaborating with other principals to provide support and to think through the details of our new reality. I meant what I said in our meeting yesterday. I have absolutely no doubt that we will rise to this occasion and do it better than anyone . Let's also remember that at the end of all of this are children who cannot wait ...