March 11, 2009

Thanks for your willingness to collect dried goods for the poor. Check the website for the schedule of classes.

Next week, I’ll begin my formal observations. I hope to make it pretty simple. Here’s how. I will simply drop in to any class and sit in the back. I’ll take notes. [not to worry, I always take plenty of notes] Then, if I have a body free, I’ll put someone in your class to watch your kids while you and I go and talk about the lesson while it’s still fresh. Here are the areas I’m observing: ambiance, lesson structure, strategies/techniques, values, and teacher/student interaction. I chose these areas since they come right from our philosophy of reason, religion and loving kindness and are observable. In a nutshell, just be yourselves and do your thing. It’ll be ok.

Keep in mind that we are downsizing for next year. All who are rehired will need to keep in mind that there will be a lot less prep periods, more assistance, and less help for the same amount of pay. We will maintain the quality of our educational program with less personnel and less money. I’m trying to be as clear as possible and lay it all on the table. We will start signing contracts pretty soon, and I believe that “forewarned is forearmed.”

Just some reminders:
Please sent your planbooks to Barbara on Monday or email your plans to her. She’s keeping track and it helps if they come in all at once.
Please keep your grades on Gradelink up-to-date weekly. By Monday morning, all the grades of the previous week should be entered.

Other than that, thank you, thank you, thank you!! Together we’ll get through these difficult times. They will only make us stronger!

February 25, 2009

Good Lent to one and all! I’d like to start using this means of communication once again to help us stay on track and all together. So let’s review a couple of the main things that are happening. Let’s begin with the Lenten scene:

• The Ash Wednesday mass is at 11am and is to be celebrated by Fr. Joe Grimaldi from Holy Eucharist.
• Since it’s a “whole school” mass, I get the priviledge of preparing it. I made need to pull a couple of kids out here and there to practice in the morning.
• Thank you for following through with the children and their cards to Sr. Carmen. It was very helpful for them to already decide on their Lenten practice.
• What I’d like to do now is have a discussion with the kids on how to make love tangible by bringing in small items of dry goods that we can pass on directly to poor families in our area. To facilitate this, we’ll need to direct the mission money toward this effort, have one class per week bring in dry goods, and have the older kids work to separate it and prepare bags for families. We’ll need containers for this. If anyone has an idea, please contribute.
• In solidarity with the poor, I’d like to ask the kids about giving up canteen on Friday.
• I’m wondering if we can also get some of the older kids to help serve the homeless down at the Salvation Army on Mondays. Perhaps you can have a junior high discussion about that.

Next, there are some administrative items I’d like to bring to your attention:

• I’ve asked Barbara Smith to take care of the lesson plans. You can email them to her, or you can still hand them in to the office if that’s easier, and I’ll set them aside for her to check.
• At the time of this writing, none of the report cards are ready to be printed. Each class, including music, art…, must be concluded. I’m trying to get to some of the classes that are missing some grades, but it takes a lot of time to print report cards, so we’re coming way too close to the deadline. I’ll need each of you to take care of this in your own sector. Thank you.
• We are in the process of evaluating how to conserve and save money in gas and electricity. I’m going to ask Katie to double check all the heaters to make sure they are set to go on and off at a certain time. I’m going to ask each of you then to leave the thermostats alone. If you have a problem, see Katie.
• Also in the area of conserving, I’m asking that as you leave a room, turn the lights off. I’ve asked Sr. Quyen to show us the monthly bills for heating and electricity so we can work to trim and save. Thank you. [Keep in mind that sometimes the best way to "remember" is to assign a child to the task.]

Thank you for all your hard work for the poetry and fine arts presentations. I’m preparing a small program for Sr. Sandra when she comes next week. Perhaps, we can choose a few children to present their poetry/speeches for her. Think about which children might be the best for this.

Thanks and have a wonderful evening!

January 9, 2009

In this first post of the new year, I’d like to thank all of you for who you are and all you do for the children. Tomorrow the focus of our faculty meeting will be housekeeping. The gentleman who fixes our copy machines will give us an inservice on their proper use. We will go on to evaluate the number of copies and set goals for the next month. We will then go on to speaking of details of housekeeping within the classrooms, computer lab… We will then plan for the month of January and see how to help the children plan for the month of Don Bosco. See you at 7am!

I have some good news, too. If you click the link on the side of this page for the school website and read the new bulletin, you’ll see some exciting news about the progress reports. Check it out.

Just a note: the cafeteria and the chapel/multi-purpose room are officially off limits tomorrow. We are preparing for a crowd of 40-50 sisters coming for a big meeting this weekend. Thank you for your understanding.