Harwood Staff Blog update, October 6, 2020

Kindness by Mary Harris

Think, really think, about the last time you experienced kindness, whether you gave or received it. Think about the feeling it gave you or how you made someone else feel.

Kindness is a powerful virtue that affects people in the best ways. It teaches us to be polite and selfless. It helps us communicate through actions and build relationships from nothing.

Kindness is the fundamental characteristic of the best people in the world.

 

In memory of Mary, Liam, Jeanie, Eli and Cyrus we will observe a moment of silence as a community at the start of TA on Thursday - October 8, 2020.

Let’s continue to spread kindness and love,

Laurie, Meg and Duane

UPDATE:

 As promised, here  is a short description of the optional session we want to offer  for interested faculty during the inservice program on Friday, October 9:

  Discussion of the film Suppressed; the Right to Vote

Join us as we debrief the showing of the film Suppressed the Right to Vote.We want to hear how this experience went for you and your students, and talk about how  we might continue to address issue of equity, racial justice and voter suppression at our school.We will consider the following questions:

What  reactions did your students  have to this  film?

 To what extent do you feel this was value added for our students?

What suggestions can you make to improve the background materials and this activity for our students?

What extension activities might come out of this activity to further  our racial justice work at HUHS?

This session will be moderated by our own Rob MacLeod

Topic: Faculty Debrief of Suppressed
Time: Oct 9, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86467647793?pwd=Vkw2M3p4WW9vcTdrK1Vmb3o3WFc3Zz09

Meeting ID: 864 6764 7793
Passcode: GJb8WT

Thanks for posting it in the staff blog.

Rob

Please join us!

Curious  

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
Quarter and Semester end dates	Q1 = 11/14 Sem 1 and Q2 = 1/30 Q3 = 4/10
If you have more more questions please add to our Q&A	We’re working hard to answer your questions - keep adding as more come up to Harwood MS/HS Q&A.	Laurie, Meg and Duane

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

Quarter and Semester end dates

• Q1 = 11/14

• Sem 1 and Q2 = 1/30

• Q3 = 4/10

If you have more more questions please add to our Q&A 

We’re working hard to answer your questions - keep adding as more come up to Harwood MS/HS Q&A.  

Laurie, Meg and Duane

Connected 

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
Attendance reminders	Thank you for your collective effort to ensure student’s safety and support high expectations of accountability.  As we work together to do this please remember:   Log your TA asynchronous attendance by 12 noon. Do NOT log attendance for your asynchronous students during blocks When logging attendance for in-person instruction, please only use UX (unexcused) or TU (tardy unexcused). This does NOT mean you are making the decision about their attendance, it just lets Nancy/Liz know to check on that student (they may change the code depending on additional information they may have).  If a student is NOT present in class at the start of the block BUT were present in TA, mark them UX and please remember to call Nancy/Liz to let them know. They will work with John/Eric to determine next steps.	Laurie, Meg and Duane
Calling out reminder	In order to help Shannon secure coverage for you - please call in by 6:30 if you are out sick.	Shannon
Screening reminder	When completing your screener each morning - please remember to use your @huusd.org email address	Meg, Lauria and Duane
Sub folders	If you have not yet returned your updated sub folder to Shannon please update and return ASAP.	Shannon
IMPORTANT reminder - Readying for the election and helping our students understand the significance of the VOTE.	TA's should email their students to let them know that everyone in the school is going to watch this film in TA via Zoom The schedule for Wed Oct 7 is slightly altered:   TA is extended to go from 11:45- 12:25  12:25- 12:55 lunch break  12:55- 1:45  ELO 5  1:55- 2:45 ELO 6	Kathy, Paul, Ellen, Chelsea and Genevieve
10/07 Staff meeting	Enjoy the gift of time on Wednesday - we’ll have a virtual huddle on Friday to kick off inservice.
10/09 Inservice schedule	Please see Friday’s 10/09 - Inservice schedule here.  Support staff are strongly encouraged to join on Friday for the session with Rebecca Haslam from 1-3 and will be compensated accordingly.

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

Attendance reminders

Thank you for your collective effort to ensure student’s safety and support high expectations of accountability.  As we work together to do this please remember:  

1. Log your TA asynchronous attendance by 12 noon.

2. Do NOT log attendance for your asynchronous students during blocks

3. When logging attendance for in-person instruction, please only use UX (unexcused) or TU (tardy unexcused). This does NOT mean you are making the decision about their attendance, it just lets Nancy/Liz know to check on that student (they may change the code depending on additional information they may have). 

4. If a student is NOT present in class at the start of the block BUT were present in TA, mark them UX and please remember to call Nancy/Liz to let them know. They will work with John/Eric to determine next steps.

Laurie, Meg and Duane 

Calling out reminder

In order to help Shannon secure coverage for you - please call in by 6:30 if you are out sick.

Shannon 

Screening reminder 

When completing your screener each morning - please remember to use your @huusd.org email address

Meg, Lauria and Duane

Sub folders

If you have not yet returned your updated sub folder to Shannon please update and return ASAP.   

Shannon

IMPORTANT reminder - Readying for the election and helping our students understand the significance of the VOTE.

1. TA's should email their students to let them know that everyone in the school is going to watch this film in TA via Zoom

2. The schedule for Wed Oct 7 is slightly altered:

  TA is extended to go from 11:45- 12:25

 12:25- 12:55 lunch break

 12:55- 1:45  ELO 5

 1:55- 2:45 ELO 6

Kathy, Paul, Ellen, Chelsea and Genevieve

10/07 Staff meeting 

Enjoy the gift of time on Wednesday - we’ll have a virtual huddle on Friday to kick off inservice.   

10/09 Inservice schedule 

Please see Friday’s 10/09 - Inservice schedule here.  Support staff are strongly encouraged to join on Friday for the session with Rebecca Haslam from 1-3 and will be compensated accordingly.

Caring 

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
How to teach when everyone is so scattered	As we continue to manage life between asynchronous, synchronous and onsite teaching & learning - check out this resource.  How to teach when everyone is so scattered.  It feels particularly relevant to our current 2-1-2 schedule.
Powerschool logs for skipping students	If students are not in class and found to be skipping please ensure you log in powerschool using these directions.
TA plans for the coming week	Hello Everyone!  Thank you for the time you have been spending preparing your students to view the film on Wednesday during TA time. The groundwork is important context for viewing the film.  Please be sure to read the instructions on how best to share the film on Wednesday during our extended TA.  The next step is in the debrief! I have copied the information on the resource document to help you prepare for this debrief (Thursday, the 8th and Tuesday, the 13th). DEBRIEF THE FILM After the film, you might engage students  by asking some of the following questions: 1. What if anything in the film surprised you?  2. In your opinion, what was the most powerful scene in this movie and why?  3. What were some of the ways in which people were prevented from voting in Georgia? 4. This election happened in Georgia in 2018- how does this issue affect me and all of us in Vermont?   5. How hard or how easy  should  it be to vote in America?   6. How can small actions to marginalize and silence voters affect our democracy?   7. What do you know about the upcoming election in 2020?    8. How will voting  be different this year? (All  registered Vermonters will be sent ballots in the mail in advance of the election.They can return them by mail or vote in person on election day, November 3.)  ****Harwood will have a Mock election on Wed, October 28. Every MS and HS student will get to vote- do you know who is running  in national and state races? ( The history department is  sending out information to the entire school to help TA’s in preparing their students for this election)***** Please consider sharing the following information. It provides powerful context for the debrief: This document lists statistics from the film.    Thank you to our colleagues for the hard work in compiling the valuable resources!	Ellen

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

How to teach when everyone is so scattered

As we continue to manage life between asynchronous, synchronous and onsite teaching & learning - check out this resource.  How to teach when everyone is so scattered.  It feels particularly relevant to our current 2-1-2 schedule.   

Powerschool logs for skipping students

If students are not in class and found to be skipping please ensure you log in powerschool using these directions.

 

TA plans for the coming week

Hello Everyone! 

Thank you for the time you have been spending preparing your students to view the film on Wednesday during TA time. The groundwork is important context for viewing the film. 

Please be sure to read the instructions on how best to share the film on Wednesday during our extended TA. 

The next step is in the debrief! I have copied the information on the resource document to help you prepare for this debrief (Thursday, the 8th and Tuesday, the 13th).

DEBRIEF THE FILM

After the film, you might engage students  by asking some of the following questions:

1. What if anything in the film surprised you?

 2. In your opinion, what was the most powerful scene in this movie and why?

 3. What were some of the ways in which people were prevented from voting in Georgia?

1. 4. This election happened in Georgia in 2018- how does this issue affect me and all of us in Vermont?

2.  

3. 5. How hard or how easy  should  it be to vote in America?

4.  

5. 6. How can small actions to marginalize and silence voters affect our democracy?

6.  

7. 7. What do you know about the upcoming election in 2020? 

8.  

9. 8. How will voting  be different this year? (All  registered Vermonters will be sent ballots in the mail in advance of the election.They can return them by mail or vote in person on election day, November 3.) 

****Harwood will have a Mock election on Wed, October 28. Every MS and HS student will get to vote- do you know who is running  in national and state races? ( The history department is  sending out information to the entire school to help TA’s in preparing their students for this election)*****

Please consider sharing the following information. It provides powerful context for the debrief:

This document lists statistics from the film.   

Thank you to our colleagues for the hard work in compiling the valuable resources!

Ellen