Harwood Staff Blog, August 29, 2021

I No Words Needed   Team Harwood; THANK YOU for such a wonderful start to the 2021-2022 school year.   While some of our 7th & 9th graders might have felt a little overwhelmed it was powerful and a true sentiment to our community to see you all gathered in the lobby and halls to welcome our students and ensure they feel safe on their first day of Middle or High School.      As we begin to welcome students into our classrooms and dig into learning, let's continue to ask ourselves - as Rebecca challenged us to do on Tuesday -“how our students see themselves in our classrooms and courses?”   In partnership and in ongoing partnership, Laurie, Duana and Meg Important Information  Fire Drill Information will be sent out early Sept regarding our drill schedule, TA location and protocols.   Morning Parking Please note that the parking lot, entrances and roadways are very busy from 8:20 - 8:40.  Remember to get to school early to avoid this crunch time.   Need Facilities Please fill out the work order link located here:  Work Order 21-22 if you need custodial/maintenance work completed.  Please contact Duane with questions.

Appreciations: overview   Gratitudes for the week: Staff Member  Appreciations  TA Leads  For your work over the summer to continue strengthening our TA program and for your commitment to support us all in creating a TA where ALL students feel a sense of belonging! Erin, Lisa T and Sally For your tireless work this summer to create a schedule that reflects ALL our students and keeps equity at the center. Sally McCarthy  For selflessly leaning in for another year and for her invaluable partnership. Collective Leadership Team For your thoughtful and candid work to create an inservice calendar that reflected all in our community and helped us start the year connected. ELO Committee For your continued work to ensure clarity around ELO.  Sally, Ellen, Erin, Tara C and Rachael Potts For the work you did to bring Aspirations to Harwood and again find a driver to help us move towards fulfilling our goal of ensuring ALL our students have a rigorous and robust program that respects them as individuals and ensures they feel understood. Liz, Shannon and Nancy For your work to ensure that students and families have in hand all they need to start the year - from parking passes to MS schedules to registration... Cullen, Bean, Alex, Quent, John, Kendall & Ray For getting it all done amidst a challenging situation and ensuring the building and grounds were ready to welcome our students back. Jen Dreimiller For her efforts with setting up the wellness center in a new space Paul Kramer For working with Living Tree Alliance and creating a positive community experience

Curious

Topics	Information/Links	Contact(s)
TA plan for next week	Appreciation!!! I want to begin with a huge thank you to all of you for your thoughtful conversations and feedback during inservice. Please know that we will be reviewing all of the information in the coming weeks and using this as our guide throughout the year.  A HUGE shout out to the lead TAs for their organization and dedication. You are an amazing group! Welcome Meetings: Timeline for scheduling welcome meetings (8/23-9/23) (not during school hours) Send Parent Letter by the week of 8/23 Create a sign up document for parent sign ups with your available times (here is an optional google doc template) Once a meeting is scheduled: Provide location for the meeting or the zoom link depending on parent preference Follow up with parent and students to confirm the meeting and location If you do not receive a reply from parent/caregiver by 8/30/21 Call the parent to try to schedule by 9/1/21 If no response, refer the student name to their case manager if they have one. If no case manager, contact the student’s school counselor If contact continues to be a concern you and the counselor may decide to complete and SST referral  Use this Checklist and Resources for Welcome Meetings-This resource is designed to guide your conversations with students and families. Links to helpful resources are at the end of the document. Share your sign up document with your administrator to confirm Welcome Conference completion by 9/23 Buddy TAs! Advisories have been organized into Buddies this year. Refer to this list to determine who you are partnering with and their room assignment. Buddies will offer a level of support this year that will allow for clear follow through on advisory activities in the event that a teacher is absent for TA time. Please provide a copy of your attendance to your buddy teacher this week. Flex Block 8/31: The assembly on Tuesday, 8/31 will be short in duration (approximately 15 minutes). Students will be in TA for 20 minutes before and after the assembly.  For this week only- Buddy TAs will meet and have some fun together!  The groups should meet in both rooms (1 session before and 1 after assembly), so students know where to go if their TA teacher is absent in the future Each TA can organize an activity when the host their buddy If you need any resources for this, please feel free to reach out to me. There will be team and community building activities every week in the blog as well (see below!) Advisory Slideshows: Links to the TA slideshows will always be in the blog. This provides another point of access to ensure that you can locate resources easily. Remember that they are a work in progress and will be mapped out in monthly increments.  Middle School           9th Grade       10th Grade          11th Grade                  12th Grade Resources: Attendance Slideshow - This breaks down the attendance policies into more “bite sized” pieces.  Team/Community Building Resources of the week: (Type) Collaborative/Active: Animal Roundup  Purpose: Physical energizer  1. Tell group members to silently think of their favorite animal.  2. Then tell group members that without talking, they need to arrange themselves from largest to smallest animals.  3. Group members can only make gestures and the noise of their animal.  4. After they have finished, have group members go around and say the animal they were supposed to be to see if it was accurate. (Type) Collaborative/Team Building Connected Stories The goal of the game is to connect mini-stories in an interesting way.  Each person must share at least one item that connects to the other mini-stories.  The longer the chain of items that can be created, the better.   ~The first player begins by sharing an interesting memory or experience that they have.  For example, one player can say: “One time, I accidentally locked myself out of the house.  So then I spent the entire day at a coffee shop.” ~The next  person can tell a related story that has any similar themes or elements to the previous story.  For example, the next person can say, “I am a total coffee addict.  Every day I drink 3 cups of coffee and it sometimes prevents me from being able to sleep at night.” ~The next player, based upon the previous story shared, can say something related, such as: “I don’t sleep much at night because I play lots of computer games until early morning.” ~The goal of the game is for every person to have added a related story to the chain.   Finally… Cell phones...It is very hard to build and maintain community when any member of the advisory is on a cell phone. More importantly, we know that cell phones can have a negative impact on our wellbeing. Please make sure your TA time is cell phone free. Ask students to leave them in their bags! Next week I will share some resources about the negative impacts of cell phones for your reference.	Ellen & TA leads
ELO updates	Here are some reminders about ELO that were discussed in inservice. New information is highlighted! ELO is in all students’ schedules on Wednesdays and can be used for: Support in a current course Enrichment in a current course A quiet time to get work done Whole class meeting for additional support/extension/practice Wednesdays are an important learning day for all students! ELO Logistics Teachers’ ELO blocks will be created by Jess and Jon B in Adaptive Scheduler. You will not have to block out your prep blocks - they will not be available.  Some staff/teachers will offer additional ELO blocks (mostly staff who have Flex Block, which doesn’t meet on Wednesdays) - who this applies to, and which block they will have the extra ELO will be communicated next week.  Every third week, each department will book full classes for all their courses (this ensures that all students will have some course bookings each week) - Jess and Jon B. will pre-booked this for students and teachers. Study Halls will continue to be fully booked during their respective blocks every Wednesday. The rotation will be Group 1 (starting 9/15): English, World Lang, Art, Connected Learning Group 2 (starting 9/22): History, Science, Music Group 3 (starting 9/29): Math, STEM, PE/Wellness On other weeks, teachers must book at least 5 students per teacher per class (but can book up to their full class if wanted; if a teacher can’t identify at least 5 specific students to work with, they are encouraged to book their whole class) - this does not apply to special educators. Shared staff will have their full middle school classes during those ELO times on Wednesdays. Middle School will not hold ELO will not be held on Wednesday, but will be set up similarly through Adaptive Scheduler by Jess and Jon B. ELO Timeline The first ELO Wednesday is 9/15 More details about using Adaptive Scheduler and booking students will come out in the next two weeks, including a slideshow to use with TA students	Jess
Where to go if you need:	PD request form - here. tech help desk request here . facilities request here .	Shannon
Supervision List	Wondering who your supervisor is?
Sr. Cafe FYI	Sr. TA’s are currently working collectively to establish norms and expectations for the Sr. Cafe.   The Cafe will open for Seniors the week of 9/13 after these have been established and agreed to.	Meg, Duane and Laurie
JumpRope and Adaptive Scheduler	Are you new to Harwood this year and need to learn the ins and outs of JumpRope (for scoring) and Adaptive Scheduler (for ELO and Flex Block attendance, looking up student schedules for ELO and Flex Block, and booking students for ELO)? Are you a Harwood veteran who feels like you forgot everything over the summer?  Here is a document that may be of help. You can use it to sign up for “office hours” that I am offering over the next few weeks to cover (1) JumpRope, (2) Adaptive Scheduler, and (3) General PBL Knowledge, Questions, and Wonderings. I also linked a few old Lisa T. references/videos if you want to teach yourself. Please sign up and attend, or reach out if you have questions or need to find another time to meet.	Jess
Lawn Game Activities	We are excited to once again have lawn games throughout the campus, and will have more indoors and out. Please remind your students about the expectations for respecting the equipment.  Remember, students should be outside with supervision, and should be accessing lawn games during breaks with classes. We do not have a system of supervision for study halls or lunch Students should be supervised when using the games Any breaks in equipment or items missing, please let Melody know (mfrank@huusd.org) Be on the look-out for new and exciting equipment coming in the next couple of weeks! Encourage the use of the games, vary the use of different games, ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY	Melody
Daily Student Support Team	Please remember to use PowerSchool LogEntries for any behaviors that come up Do not use powerschool for attendance, as we should be calling the Front desk within the first 2-3 minutes Initial cuts, or tardies are an email home to student/caregivers Please feel free to email the student support team with questions about follow up. Here’s the email: huhs-student-support@huusd.org

Topics 

Information/Links

Contact(s) 

TA plan for next week

Appreciation!!!

I want to begin with a huge thank you to all of you for your thoughtful conversations and feedback during inservice. Please know that we will be reviewing all of the information in the coming weeks and using this as our guide throughout the year. 

A HUGE shout out to the lead TAs for their organization and dedication. You are an amazing group!

Welcome Meetings:

Timeline for scheduling welcome meetings (8/23-9/23) (not during school hours)

Send Parent Letter by the week of 8/23

Create a sign up document for parent sign ups with your available times (here is an optional google doc template)

• Once a meeting is scheduled:

• Provide location for the meeting or the zoom link depending on parent preference

• Follow up with parent and students to confirm the meeting and location

• If you do not receive a reply from parent/caregiver by 8/30/21

• Call the parent to try to schedule by 9/1/21

• If no response, refer the student name to their case manager if they have one. If no case manager, contact the student’s school counselor

• If contact continues to be a concern you and the counselor may decide to complete and SST referral 

• Use this Checklist and Resources for Welcome Meetings-This resource is designed to guide your conversations with students and families. Links to helpful resources are at the end of the document.

• Share your sign up document with your administrator to confirm Welcome Conference completion by 9/23

Buddy TAs!

Advisories have been organized into Buddies this year. Refer to this list to determine who you are partnering with and their room assignment. Buddies will offer a level of support this year that will allow for clear follow through on advisory activities in the event that a teacher is absent for TA time. Please provide a copy of your attendance to your buddy teacher this week.

Flex Block 8/31:

The assembly on Tuesday, 8/31 will be short in duration (approximately 15 minutes). Students will be in TA for 20 minutes before and after the assembly. 

For this week only-

• Buddy TAs will meet and have some fun together! 

• The groups should meet in both rooms (1 session before and 1 after assembly), so students know where to go if their TA teacher is absent in the future

• Each TA can organize an activity when the host their buddy

• If you need any resources for this, please feel free to reach out to me. There will be team and community building activities every week in the blog as well (see below!)

Advisory Slideshows:

Links to the TA slideshows will always be in the blog. This provides another point of access to ensure that you can locate resources easily. Remember that they are a work in progress and will be mapped out in monthly increments. 

Middle School           9th Grade       10th Grade          11th Grade                  12th Grade

Resources:

• Attendance Slideshow - This breaks down the attendance policies into more “bite sized” pieces. 

Team/Community Building Resources of the week:

(Type) Collaborative/Active:

Animal Roundup 

Purpose: Physical energizer 

1. Tell group members to silently think of their favorite animal. 

2. Then tell group members that without talking, they need to arrange themselves from largest to smallest animals. 

3. Group members can only make gestures and the noise of their animal. 

4. After they have finished, have group members go around and say the animal they were supposed to be to see if it was accurate.

(Type) Collaborative/Team Building

Connected Stories

The goal of the game is to connect mini-stories in an interesting way.  Each person must share at least one item that connects to the other mini-stories.  The longer the chain of items that can be created, the better.  

~The first player begins by sharing an interesting memory or experience that they have.  For example, one player can say: “One time, I accidentally locked myself out of the house.  So then I spent the entire day at a coffee shop.”

~The next  person can tell a related story that has any similar themes or elements to the previous story.  For example, the next person can say, “I am a total coffee addict.  Every day I drink 3 cups of coffee and it sometimes prevents me from being able to sleep at night.”

~The next player, based upon the previous story shared, can say something related, such as: “I don’t sleep much at night because I play lots of computer games until early morning.”

~The goal of the game is for every person to have added a related story to the chain.

 

Finally…

Cell phones...It is very hard to build and maintain community when any member of the advisory is on a cell phone. More importantly, we know that cell phones can have a negative impact on our wellbeing. Please make sure your TA time is cell phone free. Ask students to leave them in their bags!

Next week I will share some resources about the negative impacts of cell phones for your reference. 

Ellen & TA leads

ELO updates 

Here are some reminders about ELO that were discussed in inservice. New information is highlighted!

ELO is in all students’ schedules on Wednesdays and can be used for:

• Support in a current course

• Enrichment in a current course

• A quiet time to get work done

• Whole class meeting for additional support/extension/practice

Wednesdays are an important learning day for all students!

ELO Logistics

• Teachers’ ELO blocks will be created by Jess and Jon B in Adaptive Scheduler. You will not have to block out your prep blocks - they will not be available. 

• Some staff/teachers will offer additional ELO blocks (mostly staff who have Flex Block, which doesn’t meet on Wednesdays) - who this applies to, and which block they will have the extra ELO will be communicated next week. 

• Every third week, each department will book full classes for all their courses (this ensures that all students will have some course bookings each week) - Jess and Jon B. will pre-booked this for students and teachers. Study Halls will continue to be fully booked during their respective blocks every Wednesday. The rotation will be

• Group 1 (starting 9/15): English, World Lang, Art, Connected Learning

• Group 2 (starting 9/22): History, Science, Music

• Group 3 (starting 9/29): Math, STEM, PE/Wellness

• On other weeks, teachers must book at least 5 students per teacher per class (but can book up to their full class if wanted; if a teacher can’t identify at least 5 specific students to work with, they are encouraged to book their whole class) - this does not apply to special educators.

• Shared staff will have their full middle school classes during those ELO times on Wednesdays.

• Middle School will not hold ELO will not be held on Wednesday, but will be set up similarly through Adaptive Scheduler by Jess and Jon B.

ELO Timeline

• The first ELO Wednesday is 9/15

• More details about using Adaptive Scheduler and booking students will come out in the next two weeks, including a slideshow to use with TA students

Jess

Where to go if you need:

• PD request form - here.

• tech help desk request here .

• facilities request here .

Shannon

Supervision List 

Wondering who your supervisor is?

Sr. Cafe FYI

Sr. TA’s are currently working collectively to establish norms and expectations for the Sr. Cafe.  

The Cafe will open for Seniors the week of 9/13 after these have been established and agreed to.

Meg, Duane and Laurie 

JumpRope and Adaptive Scheduler

Are you new to Harwood this year and need to learn the ins and outs of JumpRope (for scoring) and Adaptive Scheduler (for ELO and Flex Block attendance, looking up student schedules for ELO and Flex Block, and booking students for ELO)? Are you a Harwood veteran who feels like you forgot everything over the summer? 

Here is a document that may be of help. You can use it to sign up for “office hours” that I am offering over the next few weeks to cover (1) JumpRope, (2) Adaptive Scheduler, and (3) General PBL Knowledge, Questions, and Wonderings. I also linked a few old Lisa T. references/videos if you want to teach yourself. Please sign up and attend, or reach out if you have questions or need to find another time to meet. 

Jess

Lawn Game Activities

We are excited to once again have lawn games throughout the campus, and will have more indoors and out. Please remind your students about the expectations for respecting the equipment. 

• Remember, students should be outside with supervision, and should be accessing lawn games during breaks with classes.

• We do not have a system of supervision for study halls or lunch

• Students should be supervised when using the games

• Any breaks in equipment or items missing, please let Melody know (mfrank@huusd.org)

• Be on the look-out for new and exciting equipment coming in the next couple of weeks!

• Encourage the use of the games, vary the use of different games, ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY

Melody

Daily Student Support Team

Please remember to use PowerSchool LogEntries for any behaviors that come up

• Do not use powerschool for attendance, as we should be calling the Front desk within the first 2-3 minutes

• Initial cuts, or tardies are an email home to student/caregivers

• Please feel free to email the student support team with questions about follow up. Here’s the email: huhs-student-support@huusd.org

Caring 

Topics	Information/Links	Contact(s)
Student Support		Mel
E.C.H.O	Please find our updated Every Day COVID safety reminders here.   Friendly reminder to: Have an accurate seating chart for every day! ALWAYS send students to the nurse with a pass Spray down the desks at the end of each period	Duane
Mowing	Please note that there are times when the lawn needs to be mowed during the day due to the athletic schedule - thank you for your understanding and patience.	Duane, Meg and Laurie
COVID safety reminders	COVID-19 Staff Training Fall 2021 (no subtitles) YouTube Version with Subtitles The PDF Version for Reference Only- Staff may click on Links in PDF, but need to view the video.	Allison Conyers and HUUSD nurses
Safety Drills	Information coming soon - please stand by  We will be conducting live drills this year.	Duane

Topics 

Information/Links

Contact(s) 

Student Support 

Mel

E.C.H.O

Please find our updated Every Day COVID safety reminders here.

 

Friendly reminder to:

• Have an accurate seating chart for every day!

• ALWAYS send students to the nurse with a pass

• Spray down the desks at the end of each period

Duane 

Mowing 

Please note that there are times when the lawn needs to be mowed during the day due to the athletic schedule - thank you for your understanding and patience.

Duane, Meg and Laurie 

COVID safety reminders 

• COVID-19 Staff Training Fall 2021 (no subtitles)

• YouTube Version with Subtitles

• The PDF Version for Reference Only- Staff may click on Links in PDF, but need to view the video.

Allison Conyers and HUUSD nurses

Safety Drills 

Information coming soon - please stand by 

We will be conducting live drills this year.  

Duane 

Connected 

Topics	Information/Links	Contact(s)
8/31 Assembly Details	Please exit the building to the lawn outside the swoosh starting at 10:55. Those in the green please use the south entrance to exit. Those in the red please exit out the Front entrance. Those in the yellow please exit out the side entrance.	Laurie, Meg and Duane
Friendly Reminders to complete:	Complete your TA conferences as soon as possible but no later than 9/23 Set up Google classroom Invite your supervisor including guardian invites by 9/10  (great instructions from Curtis here) Update syllabus using the 2021-2022 template and share in this folder by 9/10 Update your sub binder with your schedule and give to Shannon by 9/10 Submit your updated staff information here, if you haven't already. Complete mandatory trainings by 9/23 - please see list here by .  Additionally, you have received an email from HUUSD to prompt you to log in and complete your Safeschools online training.	Meg, Laurie or Duane
If you’re absent:	use ReadySub to request all absences.  That being said, if you are calling out the morning of or late night before, please text me as well as entering the request into ReadySub. My cell phone # is 802-338-8189.  Please don't call - Theo is a light sleeper. If you need help with ReadySub, please let me know!	Shannon
Reference docs	Bell schedule Staff meeting calendar  Harwood FacStaff calendar here.

Topics 

Information/Links

Contact(s) 

8/31 Assembly Details 

Please exit the building to the lawn outside the swoosh starting at 10:55.

• Those in the green please use the south entrance to exit.

• Those in the red please exit out the Front entrance.

• Those in the yellow please exit out the side entrance. 

Laurie, Meg and Duane 

Friendly Reminders to complete:

• Complete your TA conferences as soon as possible but no later than 9/23

• Set up Google classroom

• Invite your supervisor

• including guardian invites by 9/10  (great instructions from Curtis here)

• Update syllabus using the 2021-2022 template and share in this folder by 9/10

• Update your sub binder with your schedule and give to Shannon by 9/10

• Submit your updated staff information here, if you haven't already.

• Complete mandatory trainings by 9/23 - please see list here by .  Additionally, you have received an email from HUUSD to prompt you to log in and complete your Safeschools online training.

Meg, Laurie or Duane 

If you’re absent:

• use ReadySub to request all absences.  That being said, if you are calling out the morning of or late night before, please text me as well as entering the request into ReadySub. My cell phone # is 802-338-8189.  Please don't call - Theo is a light sleeper. If you need help with ReadySub, please let me know!

Shannon

Reference docs

• Bell schedule

• Staff meeting calendar 

• Harwood FacStaff calendar here.