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STAFF NEWS AND NOTES

NUTS & bolts

24 EDITION 24, ISSUE 32 Wed., May 9 Thurs., May 10 Fri., May 11

May 4, 2012

KUDOS -In the double Kudo department to Omar Williams who was recently asked to serve as guest conductor for the Columbia All-County Junior High Band on April 21st. He directed an 82piece band comprising many of the top 6th-8th grade musicians from Columbia County. They had two days of rehearsals (the first day was a 4 hour rehearsal after school immediately after the ELAs!) They performed several new and eclectic pieces. Thanks also go to Bob Bedell for offering his oratory advice regarding a Walt Whitman poem, which was the inspiration for one of the pieces. Additionally, thank you to Brian Christiansen for lending his anvil for another piece that was performed. It is always nice to be asked by colleagues to participate in such a regional showcase performance. Congratulations to Omar for doing so. We are sure that he made a great impression and served as an excellent representative of our music department and our school. Great job, Omar!! - As written in a letter of thanks from Ed Dopp, Director of PE and Athletics: I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Shaker Junior High School Jazz Ensemble for their participation in the 2012 Physical Education Leadership Awards Program. Under the direction of Omar Williams the following students performed. Their musical talents added greatly to our awards programOn behalf of the Physical Education Department I say thank you for sharing this very talented group of musicians, their director and your facility. We certainly second the congratulations and thanks! - To Dan Chouiniere whose 8th grade band competed in the NYSSMA ensemble competition this past Tuesday at Shaker High School. Dans group earned a gold medal!! Great job, Dan! Hopefully everyone realizes the amount of time, effort and commitment that it takes to get an ensemble of this size in such a performance mode. It certainly reflects well on Dan, our musical program and again our school!

Book Fair Day #2 Calhoun 8 Field Trip to Saratoga Battlefield 7:30 pm Concert #3 Book Fair Day #3 Fiction to Film Field Trip to Broadway 2:30 pm PST 6:30 pm District Art Show Book Fair Day #4 Houston 7 Law Day Activities 7:30 pm Concert #4 Great East Musical Festival Book Fair Day #5 Studio Art Field Trip to The Hyde Museum Trustworthy Fair Cooperative

CHARACTER TRAIT ASSIGNMENT May 7 11 PE/Health/Music May 14 18 English May 21 25 Social Studies

STAND UP COMMITTEE T-SHIRT DAYS We have one t-shirt day sponsored by the Building Stand-Up Committee remaining it is scheduled for next Tuesday, May 8. It is Wear Green Day with the theme being Dont be mean! Wear Green! Please wear green on May 8th! NWEA LAST ROUND Our last round of NWEA assessments will take place during the week of May 14. The math assessment will be administered on Monday and Tuesday, May 14 and 15 with the ELA assessment taking place Wednesday through Friday, May 16 through 18. CONCERT SEASON UPON US SPRING CONCERT DATES Date May 8 Groups 7th Grade Band (B day) 8th Grade Band Select Band Treble Makers 7th Grade Band (A day) Select Chorus Jazz Ensemble Time 7:30 pm

PM BUS SUPERVISION ZONE #1 ZONE #2 C. Bourgeois L. Bullis

ZONE #3 C. Shumway

ZONE #4 CAF D. Chouiniere May 10

People are reminded to be on duty on a daily basis to make sure that supervision is provided.
ALL STAFF MEMBERS ARE REMINDED THAT THE BUS SUPERVISION IS AN ASSIGNED DUTY AND IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR ALL STAFF MEMBERS TO BE WHERE ASSIGNED DUTY; IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ARRANGE FOR REPLACEMENT PERHAPS BY SWAPPING WITH A COLLEAGUE.

7:30 pm

APRIL/MAY PERFORMING GROUP DRESS REHEARSAL SCHEDULE Mon., May 7 8th grade Band Period 2 7th grade B Day Band Period 4 Tues., May 8 Select Band 2:30-3:30 7th grade A Day Band Period 4 Concert 7:30pm Wed., May 9 Select Chorus - 2:30-3:30 Thurs., May 10 Jazz Ensemble 2:30-3:30 Concert 7:30pm Fri., May 11 Great East Festival LONG-TERM CALENDAR OF EVENTS Fri., May 4 Grade 7 Field Trip to Plymouth May 7 11 Spring Book Fair MPR Wear Green Day Tues., May 8 Calhoun 8 Field Trip to Saratoga Battlefield 7:30pm Concert #3 Wed., May 9 6:30pm District Art Show Fiction to Film Field Trip to NYC Thurs., May 10 Houston 7 Law Day Activities 7:30pm Concert #4 Fri., May 11 Great East Musical Festival Studio Art Field Trip to The Hyde Museum Mon., May 14 Houston 7 Field Trip to Philadelphia May 14 15 NWEA Math Tues., May 15 Norris/Clay ES Field Trip to Thatcher Park Wed., May 16 PTA/Staff Appreciation Breakfast Thurs., May 17 Calhoun/Houston ES Field Trip to Thatcher Park May 16 18 NWEA Language Arts Fri., May 18 Clay 8 Field Trip to Hyde Park 7:00pm Faculty Play May 23-June 1 Science 8 Performance test Thurs., May 24 Track Meet Fri., May 25 Track Meet Rain Date Fri., June 1 Science 8 Performance Test NCTA Retirement Dinner Mon., June 4 Science 8 Written Assessment Thurs., June 7 6:30pm Studio Art Show Reception 7:00pm Parent Orientation Wed., June 13 7:00pm PTA/PAC Fri., June 15 6th Grade Student Orientation 7:00pm Grade 8 Awards Program/Dance Fri., June 23 Regents Rating Day CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mon. May 7 2:30 pm Faculty Meeting Book Fair Day #1 Tues., May 8 Wear Green Day

PTA STAFF APPRECIATION BREAKFAST Mark your calendars! The PTA Staff Appreciation Breakfast is scheduled for Wednesday, May 16. Food will be available beginning at approximately 7:00am in the library. We also always announce the Peter M. McManus Staff Recognition Award winner at this breakfast. Nominations for the award are being solicited. Please complete the nomination form that follows and return it to R. Moore, asap. Peter M. McManus Staff Recognition Award Nomination Form Criteria for Nomination 1. 2. 3. Excellence in meeting current responsibilities. Makes contributions that upgrade the educational climate at SJHS, provides creative ideas and innovations Demonstrates concern and respect for students and their needs, available to aid students by giving extra time and effort to students, staff and parents.

Return To SJHS Main Office C/O PTA by Wednesday, May 9, 2012 Please list below how you feel this staff member has met the criteria. Add any information you think appropriate. Please note this is NOT an award given to the staff member who receives the most votes, but instead will be given to the staff person who best demonstrates his/her excellence and who reflects the values and objectives of Shaker Junior High. NOMINEE: ________________________________________________ COMMENTS:____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________

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NYS FIELD TESTING Yes, we have finally learned what field test we will be administering. On Thursday, June 7, we will be administering the ELA field test to all seventh graders. At this time, we have no details about the time allotment needed to complete this field test. Stay tuned! SPRING BOOK FAIR Our spring book fair will take place the week of May 7 11. Students will visit the fair out of their English classes. FACULTY MEETING REMINDER A reminder that our next faculty meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 7. We will begin in the assembly room at 2:30 pm. Agenda items include: 1. End of year bulletin 2. Track meet 3. Other 4. Gift Giving STUDENT COUNCIL ADVISOR OPEN We have an opening for a co-advisor for our student council for the 2012-2013 school year. If you have questions about the position please speak with Melissa Brandt or Kristina Gabriele, who have served at co-advisors this year. If you wish to put your name in the running for the position please let R. Moore know. PERIOD SWITCH Due to a recently scheduled Calhoun 8 field trip which conflicts with an 8th grade band dress rehearsal. We need to switch periods 1 and 2 on Tuesday, May 8. So our schedule for that day will be: 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. If you see a problem with this switch or a conflict that is created due to the switch please let Dawn, Mickey or me know. MARSHALL MEMO 430 by Kim Marshall The Importance of High-Quality Writing Prompts In the Elementary School Journal article, Amy Crosson, Lindsay Clare Matsumura, Richard Correnti, and Anna Aroltta-Guerrero of the University of Pittsburgh examine the quality of writing tasks that teachers give students (in this case, grade 4-5 English language learners writing in Spanish). They found the quality of the text and the cognitive demand of the writing task had a direct impact on the quality of students writing, most notable their use of academic language. Here are two examples: A high-quality writing task Grade 4 students were asked to read the chapter book Esperanza Rising, which deals with social class, identity, and renewal, and then write a six-paragraph essay analyzing how two characters in the book changed. A low-quality writing task Grade 5 students were asked to read two one-page passages about the life of Thomas Edison and then compare and contrast the passages by completing a worksheet about how the texts were similar and different.

The next steps are introducing words in ways that help students make sense of them, getting students interacting with the words in interesting ways, and assessing the depth of students knowledge of the words. For the word unwavering from When Marian Sang, here are some steps: - Give the context of the word in the story (Marians mother had an unwavering belief that Marian would find the training she needed to be a great singer). - Explain the meaning of the word, giving counter-examples. - Display the word on a poster or word card with other words. - Have students pronounce the word after you. - Provide an additional context for the word, for example the unwavering dedication of a dancer who practices every day. - Use various forms of the word unwavering, unwaveringly, and wavering. - Engage students in interacting with the word through a variety of activities, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. - Assess students understanding of the word in its various forms. - Have students work with the word over time. What Is Most Important to Know About Vocabulary? by Linda Kucan in The Reading Teacher, March 2012 (Vol. 65, #6, p. 360-366), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.01054/abstract Making School Grades More Accurate In this Education Gadfly article, Michael Petrilli suggests a way to improve the credibility of school accountability scores. In the business world, he says, experts look at more than just a companys profit and loss statement. They send analysts to go visit with the team, hear about their strategy, kick the tires, talk to insiders, find out whats really going on. Their assessment starts with the numbers, but it doesnt end there. So it should be with school accountability systems. Heres Petrillis suggestion. Start with a thorough analysis of accountability data for each school, culminating in a letter grade thats easy for educators, parents, and taxpayers to understand. Then, once a year, send in a Britishstyle inspection team (probably composed of retired teachers and principals) to look for two things: Evidence that the school is achieving important outcomes that may not be captured by the state accountability system for example, adaptive computer assessment results that show progress by previously low-achieving students, or college matriculation and graduation rates that put mediocre test scores in a different light. Evidence that the school is fostering valuable attributes in its students. This is to guard against the testing factory phenomenon, says Petrilli. Is the school offering a well-balanced curriculum (and extra-curriculars), or engaging in test-prep for weeks on end? Is it focused on teaching non-cognitive skills and attributes, such as leadership, perseverance, and teamwork? Character traits like empathy, honesty, and courage?

The difference in the quality of student writing in response to these prompts (quoted verbatim in the article) couldnt be more striking. Students responding to the first wrote long, thoughtful essays using a range of vocabulary and sentence structures. Students responding to the second filled in the blanks using short sentences and used a very limited range of vocabulary. The Quality of Writing Tasks and Students Use of Academic Language in Spanish by Any Crosson, Lindsay Clare Matsumura, Richard Correnti, and Anna Arlotta-Guerrero in Elementary School Journal, March 2012 (Vol. 112, #3, p. 469-496), http://bit.ly/HJawTI Classroom Steps to Developing Students Vocabularies The classrooms of teachers who support the vocabulary development of their students are energized verbal environments environments in which words are not only noticed and appreciated, but also savored and celebrated, says University of Pittsburgh professor Linda Kucan in this article in The Reading Teacher. She recommends four ways to get high-quality words like sagacious, brisk, frigid, and perfidy into students mental lexicons. The key is paying attention to what words mean and how they work: Phonology For young children, learning about how words work begins with cues to attend to the sounds of words, says Kucan. Teachers provide these cues by orchestrating childrens participation in activities such as listening to and chiming in on rhymes and songs and clapping the syllables in long words and short words. Orthography This is the bridge between spoken and written words, and students need to build words and notice what happens when they add and subtract letters for example, set becoming sent becoming tent with the addition and substitution of letters. Morphology Students need to study the meanings within words, often through Greek and Latin roots, for example, -er, -or, and ist denoting someone who as in dancer, actor, and naturalist, and spect meaning to look at as in inspect, inspector, perspective, retrospective, and spectacular. Include lessons on homophones like coarse and course and homographs like bass (the fish) and bass (the guitar). Syntax Students can explore verb and noun forms, for example, inspire/inspiration, illustrate/illustration, getting the feel of parts of speech and how words can move from one to another.

The inspection teams findings could be used to raise the schools score (if there was evidence of strong outcomes not captured by the state accountability system) or lower it (if the team found unhealthy curricular narrowing or other problems). This process would be expensive, but Petrilli thinks its worth it. To the extent that school grades (and consequences linked to them) drive policy and behavior, he concludes, we ought to make sure that those grades are informed by more than just numbers. The correct response to the unintended consequences of accountability isnt to end accountability, but to make it work better. That would have positive consequences for many years to come. We Dont Judge Teachers By Numbers Alone; the Same Should Go for Schools by Michael Petrilli in The Education Gadfly, Apr. 12, 2012, http://bit.ly/HWLDEw ADVISORY Advisory isnt just about videos, but if you get caught short due to the weather canceling outdoor plans or one of those odd things that crop up, remember that there are quite a lot of videos and DVDs in the library collection that may work for you. Besides things like the Mike Pritchard series and various other self-help types, we have a few feature films (although not new) and episodes of the Simpsons and I Love Lucy (if youre talking about teamwork, theres nothing like the show with Lucy and Ethel on the candy assembly line.) You can search our collection on the internet by typing in video. DVDs come up under that subject, too. You can narrow it down by including a topic. If you dont have the link bookmarked, just go to the district page and click on SJHS right on the top under NCCS Resources, then on our homepage click on the scrolling blond character (remember, neither Dianne or I are blond, its a fictional character). Search box on the top. Judy Stott & Dianne Hobden Your Friendly Librarians

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK No one is to blame, but everyone is responsible. -Steve Wessler

Kucan suggests teaching words in carefully designed instructional sequences. The first step is choosing which words to teach, and Kucan suggests that teachers zero in on Tier 2 words in high-quality classroom books words that students will encounter in many texts, can understand from their own experiences, but are unlikely to hear and use in conversation. Mature language users include Tier 2 words in conversation, and authors use them in stories and articles. At the kindergarten level (and above), these might include commotion, concentrate, envious, forlorn, timid, and appropriate. In first grade (and above), they might include anxious, evaded, leisurely, prominent, and savoring. In the book, When Marian Sang (Ryan, 2002), these words deal with the important ideas of the story: prejudice, unwavering, humiliations, endured, dignity, awe, restrictions, and trepidation. Selecting one over another depends on what teachers discern to be the traction or mileage that specific words provide, says Kucan. Which provide opportunities for building connections to other words?