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Onslow County

School System Instructional Friday Focus

Volume XXXI – May 17, 2013

Upcoming Dates Mark Your Calendar!

May 19 & 20

NHS Musical Beauty & the Beast

Spring Art Show

May 17-24 Jacksonville Mall

Thursday, May 23rd TLC

JHS 2:00-5:00

Monday, May 27th Memorial Day Holiday

“Going the Distance, because We’re In It To Win IT!”

Department of Instructional Services & Continuous Improvement

Instructional Headlines:

E/M 9 WK

HS 6 WK

Regional School Speech Contest Level III

The Regional School Speech Contest Level III was held on Thursday, May 2 in White Oak High School's Fine Arts Auditorium. The students did an exceptional job. Comments made by the judges included: "The teachers did a great job preparing the students." "We were touched by all the speeches.‖ ―Best, most engaging year." "Everyone did a great job." These sentiments were shared by all that were privileged enough to attend. The top three winners each received a trophy along with a check from Modern Woodmen of America. The first place winner, Alyssa Koscierzynskil, progresses to the National Level. Her speech was recorded on Thursday, May 9 and has been submitted to the National Headquarters for judging. Good luck, Alyssa!!

1st - Alyssa Koscierzynski, SRE ($100.00) 2nd - Clara Brannon, NWE ($75.00) 3rd - Alli Ingraham, NBM ($50.00)

1st Place - Alyssa Koscierzynski with principal, Harold Jurewicz

and teacher, Ms. Price

2013 Regional School Speech Level III Participants

(L-R) Bobby Hubbs (SWM), Sidnie Watts (CFE), Alanna Lee (PWE), Alli Ingraham (NBM), Alussa Koscierzynski (SRE), Clara Brannon (NWE), Molly Gartner (CEEM), Ann Horton (SBE),

Tyler Hatfield (JCM), Natalie Zannion (DMS), J’sah Gits (BFE), Kiersten Caliguire (DES)

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Special Interest Story: Divisional Updates

EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN SERVICES – Clara Talton & Brenda Scott

LRP Conference – Clara Talton and Misty Williams attended this conference. Major topics included:

Pre-determinism – be careful not to determine placement for a student prior to the IEP team meeting; consider more than one placement option

Failure to meet FAPE – be careful not to leave students on homebound or shortened school days for lengthy amounts of time

Administrators - emphasis on administrators participating as part of the IEP team

We encourage signups for DPI Professional Development session on the Special Education Process, June 19-20, in Family Education Center. Contact Marie Massengill at DPI, 919. 807. 3763 to attend. There is a $35 fee.

Shout Outs:

Northside High – resource teachers attended training for Hands on Equations; job shadowing for students at the Salvation Army was successful!!

Dixon Middle – Betsy Gray is doing a great job with CECAS.

Jacksonville Commons Middle – Rachel Vuocolo trained in Corrective Reading and Connecting Math Concepts and is implementing; Rachel Duvall and Shea Callieri created a department behavior program; Stephanie Matthews attended PBL for math.

Trexler Middle - Jerry Soletro completed Corrective Reading.

ACADEMIC INNOVATION SERVICES – Michael Elder, Pat Curley & Michelle Chadwick

Adventure

is not

outside man;

it is within.

George Eliot

With freedom

comes

responsibility.

Eleanor Roosevelt

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Continued . . .

Special Interest Story: Divisional Updates

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION SERVICES - Dwayne Snowden

AVID Updates for 2013-14 The 2013-2014 school year will bring the following changes for AVID Center:

Executive Director, Jim Nelson will retire by the end of the year

Eastern Division Director, Dr. Ann Hart will retire the end of August

AVID Center is ―standardizing‖ the support that is provided to all District Directors

AVID Live this year replaced the WebEx sessions that were offered in previous year’s in NC and will be replaced with new opportunities

NC/SC will have a Program Manager (KC Amerson) for the entire year and of course, Kellee Nash, Office Manager in the Eastern Division office is wonderful to help with whatever we all need

AVID Center now has three (3) ―Strategic Imperatives‖ to direct our work - a very brief description of each follows:

a.) Student Centric Imperative – expands AVID’s reach directly to the students throughout the AVID system via the use of technology and digital environments

b.) Urban Success Imperative – is focused on enhancing and tailoring the AVID program, creating AVID Urban, so that it is successful and sustainable in large urban districts across the country. AVID Urban will be viewed by urban districts as of highest value to their mission of preparing all students for college. The success of this imperative will embed AVID where the greatest number of students can be affected – urban schools, districts and communities

c.) Accelerate School-wide Imperative – is focused on significantly expanding the number of AVID schools with a school-wide college going culture that prepares all students for college readiness

AVID Book of the Month Review by Dr. Ann Hart Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America by: Jonathan Kozol

Renowned author Jonathan Kozol returns with another piece of literature based on the question of why some students come out of poverty and excel while others fail to achieve success. Kozol explores this issue in a variety of schools in some of the most challenging communities in our country. Personally, I feel like this work taps at the heart of an issue that, if solved, could change the landscape of education and the world as we know it. Obviously there’s no magic bullet, but I feel the mere attempt of Kozol to approach the subject in writing gives us all something to analyze and reflect upon. Who knows, our answers to these challenges could quite possibly be discovered by the next person to read this book.

TITLE I & ELA SERVICES SERVICES – Mark Bulris

Title I Principals of all Title I Schools were emailed a copy of their Title I planning allocations for the 2013-14 school year on Tuesday afternoon. The included budget sheet and the School-wide Application and Planning Document are due to the Title I office by May 29. If you have any questions or need any assistance with the planning process let me know and I will be happy to assist.

K-5 ELA Reminders The EOY Benchmark window for Reading 3D is now open and will close on May 21.

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Continued . . .

Special Interest Story: Divisional Updates

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT SERVICES – Michele Halley

STEM/Inquiry BCE hosted a STEM/Inquiry professional development in February that was presented by Manley Midgett, DPI. On Tuesday, April 16th, elementary teachers from around the county attended a STEM/Inquiry follow-up session that focused/expanded the activities from the February professional development. Below are pictures of the teachers utilizing these activities with their students. Onslow County Schools Elementary Spelling Be This year OCS will be hosting its first Elementary Spelling Bee - OCESESB. There are sixteen elementary schools (BFE, BCE, CFE, CEEM, DES, HCE, JCE, MES, NWE, PWE, RES, SRE, SWE, STE, SSE, SBE) competing for the title of the OCS Elementary Spelling Bee Champion. The Onslow County Schools Elementary Spelling Bee (OCSESB) will be held Thursday, May 30, 2013, at Southwest Elementary School. The Bee will start at 7:00 pm. Summer 2013 Professional Development Publication The Summer 2013 Professional Development Publication and registration form are now available online. Please encourage your teachers to review the outstanding offers and to take advantage of these high quality professional development opportunities. Early Release Renewal Credit and NC Module Renewal Credit Please remember that Early Release and NC Module renewal credit documentation is due on June 15th. The forms to be used for Early Release and NC Module renewal credit were sent via email to all principals and assistant principals on Friday, April 12th. All schools are required to submit these forms. Directions for each form are located at the top of each form. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding how to complete and submit these forms. As in the past, original sign-in rosters are required for Early Release documentation. Forms may be submitted by fax (455-5401) or electronically to michele.halley@onslow.k12.nc.us.

“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” Ferdinand Foch

Blessed is the

influence

of one true,

loving human soul

on another.

George Eliot

Summer 2013 ONSLOW COUNTY

SCHOOLS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

OPPORTUNITIES

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Continued . . .

Special Interest Story: Divisional Updates

MEDIA & INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES – Ross Friebel & Shari Estep

Media Center Spotlight: Northside High School

We are in the process of upgrading and increasing the technology in each

classroom with mounted projectors, Promethean boards and Ladibug document

cameras. We brought in the trainer from the document camera company to train

our teachers on its features including the recording aspect of the Ladibug. Since

many of our teachers are interested in the Flip Classroom where students watch

the lesson at home and discuss the next day in class, the recording feature was very intriguing. We

had training on the 3D projector this week to incorporate this technology into as many disciplines that

are available. Two additional COWS have been purchased so the teachers can have some one-to-one

technology in the classrooms when needed. Our teachers are very excited about using this

equipment so students can better understand the content.

We are very excited to be selecting our media assistants for next year. We select one student per

period to assist in the media center with various duties and classes. This is an honor because

students must have good grades and be of good character to be chosen. They receive on-the-job

training like an intern as well as helping other teachers. -Dolly Grosskopf, Media Specialist

Student Email Update/Reminder:

This is a reminder that Onslow County Schools will continue to have access to Gaggle applications

until June 30. Teachers and students can use the email, digital dropbox, filtered Youtube (Gaggletube),

and other Gaggle applications until June 30, 2013. The last few weeks of the school year would be a

good time to back up/save any digital content that has been stored within Gaggle, so that you will still

have access to it after June 30th. Please encourage students to back up their files at home. MITS and

IT will be working on an on-site solution for those without home access. After June 30th, students will

continue to have student email, but through a different service provider. We have been working with

the new company to ensure a smooth transition between providers. More information will be coming

soon.

STUDENT INFORMATION SERVICES - Wendy Grantham NCWISE

We had a wonderful training session with the data managers this week.

I want to give a HUGE SHOUT-OUT to:

Andreana Mathis - Carolina Forest Elementary

Lori Jones - Swansboro Elementary

Becky Sewell - Swansboro Middle

Kristy Maready - Richlands High

Linda Provost - Swansboro High

for the wonderful job that they did as trainers during this session. Everyone stayed focus and

on track and we had a very productive day. I would also like to thank their principals for

allowing them to be part of the training team. We look forward to training the High School

principals and counselors next week.

We will get everyone involved in training sessions as the project develops and we are able to

better understand the NC version of PowerSchool.

It seems to me

we can never

give up

longing and wishing

while we are

thoroughly alive.

There are

certain things

we feel to be

beautiful and good,

and we

must hunger

after them.

George Eliot

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Continued . . .

Special Interest Story: Divisional Updates

As we look ahead

into the next century,

leaders will be

those who

empower others.

Bill Gates

STEM TRAINING & RESOURCE SUPPORT (STARS) – Pat Curley “Enrichment Saturdays”- a success! Participants of the Project Based Math MSP grant were invited to attend Enrichment Saturdays during the past year. The special PD took place on three different Saturday mornings and allowed the teachers to learn and “play” in a relaxed, hands-on environment with instructional tools that they might want to use in their classroom projects.

This year’s programs were in the use of Vernier Probeware, Legos Robots and Citizen

Science during each of these events. Teachers were given instruction on how to use

the tools and then provided with a mini project that required the use of the featured

tool.

The Vernier Saturday introduced the Vernier Labquest and

temperature probe. Teachers were then assigned as a

Peace Corps worker in Afghanistan where they were

required to pasteurize water through solar power captured

from items they found in the “trash dump.”

During Legos Robotics PD, teachers were divided into groups

of three: an engineer, a programmer and a cartographer.

They were then assigned to send a vehicle to the planet

Mercury and perform tasks. The participants had work

together and use models that were created through the use

of the cartographers drawings to practice for the Mercury

landing.

The last PD in the series was on Citizen Science. The

participants met at the Onslow County Farmers Market

where they met local farmers and craftsmen, dined on the

local cuisine, and learned how they can bring real science

research into their classrooms. For their hands-on

experience, the teachers became real scientist and made

traps for ants which were caught, data recorded, and sent to

NC State University as part of the School of Ants research

project.

Due to the feedback of these events, five enrichment Saturdays will be offered next

school year.

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Special Interest Story: Divisional Updates

SECONDARY SERVICES – Brent Anderson INNOV AT ION -T ECH NO LOG Y INT EGR AT ION -T RA NSIT ION

The Department of Secondary Services will provide high quality support to the secondary schools of Onslow County in the areas of communication, instruction, and policies as they prepare students to be successful in the 21st century.

As the weather gets warmer, and the end of the school year gets nearer, consider the strategies in this article from the Association for Middle Level Education’s Middle Level iNSIDER.

Spring: Time to Get Moving Spring has sprung and the students are restless. They talk a little bit more. They fidget. They gaze out the window, dreaming of summer vacation. But learning must not take a back seat to the lure of the great outdoors. Teachers can keep students engaged by letting them move around while they are learning. Here are some suggestions:

1. Use learning centers. Students work on hands-on activities in small groups or individually, rotating every 15 or 20 minutes.

2. Let students answer questions with their bodies. "If you think the answer is A, stand up. If you think the answer is B, pat your head."

3. Give students an opportunity to stand up and stretch periodically. Or let them switch desks halfway through class.

4. Send students outside. Give them an assignment like, "Using your cellphone camera, take pictures of hexagons," or "Draw and label all the species of trees you see on campus."

5. Give students opportunities to "act out." In his book, The Collected Writings (so far) of Rick Wormeli, educator/author Rick Wormeli shares a variety of strategies that allow students—and teachers—to tap into their inner actor. For example, have students create and present commercials for countries, words, or scientific formulas.

6. Consider adding some movement to your actual classroom. Bring in a rocking chair for fidgety students who may need movement to concentrate. After all, active sitting can lead to active learning. Some students have a habit of drumming their pen or pencil on their desk when they are concentrating. Don't forbid the tapping! To mute the noise, give students something soft to put on the top of their desks—like mini pot holders—and let them tap away. Provide stress balls or small (quiet) toys for students to fiddle with.

7. Have students come to the whiteboard and teach the lesson or demonstrate how they arrived at an answer.

Staying focused when the weather is changing and the end of school is in sight can be a challenge, but every day of learning counts! Help students channel their energy by keeping them motivated and engaged.

Brent C. Anderson, Director brent.anderson@onslow.k12.nc.us

(910) 455-2211 x20228

Angela Brown, Office Support angela.brown@onslow.k12.nc.us

(910) 455-2211 x20262 Follow the Department of Secondary Services on Twitter: @SecondDirect670

There are

two primary

choices in life:

to accept

conditions

as they exist,

or accept the

responsibility

for changing them.

Denis Waitley

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Back Page Story:

Southwest Middle Achieving a Perfect Score!

Congratulations go to the Administration, Staff, and

Students of Southwest Middle School for achieving a

perfect 100% score on the School-Wide Evaluation Tool

(SET). Angel Batts, Region 2 PBIS Coordinator for the North Carolina

Department of Public Instruction, completed the SET evaluation on

May 7, 2013.

Southwest Middle School is the first Onslow County School to obtain Level

1 status and has been invited to apply for status as a PBIS Green Ribbon

School. Green Ribbon schools have completed Module I team training

and begun PBIS implementation. They have attained at least a Level I on

the Implementation Inventory and 80% total on the SET.

Ms. Batts stated that this is the first perfect score she had given a

school. She was so impressed with the overall school climate, her closing

comment was “I want to work at this school. The students are well

behaved, knowledgeable about expectations, and were excited to be here.”

2012-2013 Green Ribbon schools will be announced in the fall of the 2014-15

school year.

Judy Yeager, Director

Safe, Civil & Caring Schools