Harwood Union Staff Blog 2022-23 : Harwood Staff Blog Update

Team -

Coming together this week to see the Circus was a beautiful preview of the FUN and energy that lies ahead with Spirit week.

Please see the preliminary schedule/plans for Spirit week here.

Looking forward to the community gatherings/celebrations ahead,

Meg, Laurie and Duane

Calendar:

May 2nd - 20th - SBAC testing window
May 12th - Family Conferences
May 18th - Student Dialogue 1:45 - 2:30
May 18th - Family Conferences
May 23rd - 27th - Spirit week
May 25th - Award Ceremony

Where: Auditorium
When: 9 - 9:45 (ELO A)
Who: recipients & parents will be invited - all can sign up

May 30th week schedule:

Monday - NO school (Memorial Day)
Tuesday – Gold Day
Wed – Black
Thurs – Gold
Fri – Black

June 11th - Graduation

Appreciations:

Staff Member	Appreciations
Molly, Steve and Jasper	For all your work to bring the Circus to town!
Chelsea	For her continued feedback and suggestions that led to a much needed Department head meeting.
Peter, Katie, Ryan and Ray	For your flexibility and support to provide the necessary space for the Circus to come to town.
Assembly Crew	For the work to date to begin preparations for Spirit Week.
Elizabeth King	For her creative hiring suggestions.

Safe - seen, heard, respected & understood:

Topics

Information/Links

Health Office Updates

Prom Pop-up Shop is this Saturday, 10-2 in the cafeteria.

Dresses and suits are available for free
Donations will be accepted for Ukraine

Help spread the word!!

Project Kratos Update

Detention Update

Friendly reminders:

Make a PowerSchool log for students who are UX from your class (any necessary revisions needed will be made by Student Support.)
Send email home to let family know by the end of the day *include HU Student Support so they can follow up with a response if necessary. If you need to make a log for a student but do not have them in PowerSchool please email Liz Hepp to log.
Students should remain in ELO for the entire block and NOT be given a pass to go somewhere else.

If a student says they are being dismissed early please confirm in one of 2 ways:

Call Yvette at ex: 8169
Check PowerSchool for early dismissal code/time

TA update

EOYR (End Of Year Reflection)

The focus for the next two weeks is preparing students for the EOYR with their parents

Communication

This week the parent letter should have been sent
Check in with parents/caregivers who have not responded by Friday, May 6th

Student preparation

Share agenda and goal progress documents with students (in Google Classroom if you are using it) and support their preparation during advisory blocks on Wednesday and Thursday
Provide opportunity, if it works with your group, for students to share with a partner or with the group

TA Staff Meeting May 3rd! Final connection regarding conferences, developing ideas for the May theme of Caring for Our Environment and planning for SPIRIT WEEK! Each group may also have some grade-specific topics (dare I mention the prom???)

Rigorous & Robust Academic Program:

Topics	Information/Links
Staff Meeting	Objectives: To ensure readiness for TA for the month of May. Where: Stay tuned for agenda/location from your TA leads Staff Meeting Calendar
Flex Block	Pink sheets for Flex Block were put in mailboxes earlier this week. Here is a link to the 10.02 rubric to use with students for self-assessment of their engagement throughout the quarter. For Flex Block planning purposes, there are 13 sessions remaining this quarter. This is assuming Flex Block goes through to the last day of school, which I’m assuming is Friday June 10, and likely three of these sessions will be shorter due to assemblies and spirit week.
Course-Alike Expectations for 2022-2023	As many departments develop new courses this summer while refining others, being clear about what different sections of the same course will have in common will help us strengthen our curriculum at Harwood and facilitate meaningful, rigorous learning for all students. This week, the Collective Leadership Team agreed and committed to a set of expectations. Here are the expectations for course alikes for next year. This document was developed and tuned by the Teaching and Learning LT and shared with staff for feedback a few weeks ago. Thank you to those who provided input! The concerns voiced were: The need for common planning time to align course-alikes - This is emphasized in the bottom of the document and departments are asked to identify specific courses where there is a need for common planning time so that it can be prioritized. The continued challenge with formative assessments and how they are treated differently by different teachers and departments - The course-alike document says to “strive for consistency,” and the Teaching and Learning LT recognizes that there is continued work needed to align how we are using and reporting formative assessments. The loss of academic freedom - The document attempts to strike a balance between commonality and flexibility. We need commonality to ensure equity in both what students are learning as well as how scores are contributing in JumpRope, and we know that flexibility is also so important in order to customize your own lessons, respond to the needs of different classes, and at times share resources.
Professional 21-22’ Goals	Given the extenuating circumstances of this year - supervision was paused for the year (as per Superintendent Nease’s announcement earlier this year). To that end, please reach out to your supervisor if you would like to meet to review & discuss your goals.

Positive school climate and culture:

Topics	Information/Links
FY 23’ Hiring Update	This week: Skylar Bradley accepted the Restorative Coordinator position Offer was made to a Student Support staff member Interviews for 8th grade Math Social Worker hired Long Term Sub for 7th grade history hired Next week: 2nd round interviews for 8th grade Math
	Welcome to Eric Bloom! Our new Hallway Monitor. (And Bernadette’s husband!)
Friendly reminders from our facilities dep’t	Please note - if the strobe lights are going off in your classroom that IS the fire alarm and you should follow emergency procedures accordingly. Picnic tables are back outside - please keep them where they have been placed.