Welcome Back!

News and Notes

Welcome back Sem Yeto Family!

During the last week of school before we went on Thanksgiving break, Sherry, Bonnie, Astrid, Elvira, and myself, attended a Restorative Justice Professional Development that focused on utilizing restorative practices to improve school culture and community.

The fundamental premise of restorative practices as it pertains to schools is that students are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes when those in positions of authority (e.g. administrators, teachers, and campus monitors) do things with them, rather than to them or for them. Essentially, the idea is to bring students together in peer-mediated small groups to talk, ask questions, and air their grievances.

Restorative practices can also be utilized in the classroom to improve collaboration, and student engagement. Below is a link with some more information on Restorative Justice/Practices which give you an idea on how it is being implemented in a setting similar to ours. Have a great start to your week!

In The Tool Box

Restorative Practices at Work in High School

Newsletter November 16th-20th

News and Notes

At the end of last week, we participated in POD’s with Patricia from West Ed. Our Social Science and Science department teachers from both Sem Yeto and Sem Yeto Satellite participated in the collaborative professional development. It was great to see how teachers from both sites utilized the opportunity to collaborate on lesson planning to ensure that content rich, and engaging lessons were formulated. The entire process was very demanding; identifying/planning ways to engage students at different levels of Depth of Knowledge as a collaborative team was a new experience for some of us. The process that the staff participated in, highlighted the extensive intentional planning that needs to be present to ensure that lessons are meeting the level of rigor and student engagement required for students to be successful in the 21st century educational arena. It was great to visit the classrooms of the teachers who were involved in this collaborative effort, and observe the finished product. Our staff took some risks and tried some things that were outside of some of their comfort zones, and for this they should be commended!

Suspension data from October is in, and we went from 42 days of suspension in October of 2014, to 16 days of suspension in October of 2015. This is a significant drop in the number of students suspended for that period. Now the question becomes; how is this drop in suspension rate affecting our school culture for the positive, and identify what (if any) are the strategies we as a school are implementing to enable students to make positive decisions centered around them being more successful in achieving their academic goals.

Next week is Thanksgiving break. Please take time to relax, and reinvigorate yourselves. There will be a small luncheon during lunch on Friday, November 20th for the entire staff.

In the Tool Box

There is Always something to be thankful for. Be thankful, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Newsletter November 9th-13th

News and Notes

Last Friday, we celebrated all the students with 90% or above attendance, and who received 20 or more credits for first quarter. In total, 103 students took part in the celebration. Of the 103 students who participated, 73 were on both list. I believe this is a significant number because, 73 students who consistently attended school, received the majority of their credits.

If we can continue to recognize students for their efforts in continuing to come to school, we may also be contributing to enabling our students to be successful academically. That being said, I do not think that rewarding students for coming to school is going to solve all of our student's problems; however, some students do not come from environments where they are recognized for any of their positive achievements/behaviors.

We as a Sem Yeto family can create a culture and environment that allows students to feel safe and rewarded for working hard at the little things. This can in-turn inspire/encourage our students to step out of their comfort zone, take risk educationally, and experience some measure of success in their lives. Please continue to recognize our students and stand in the gap!

The design for the Sem Yeto Facilities Master Plan will be posted in the office. Please stop by and provide feedback and suggestions on how we can improve the design. The input that we provide will be collected December 7th, and utilized to ensure that the plans meet the needs of our future students. No one knows what our students need more than we do; so please share your thoughts.

In the Tool Box

Strategic Goals: FormativeSummative =Rigor

Strategic Goals: Formative Summative = Rigor | Edutopia

Strategic Goals: Formative Summative = Rigor | Edutopia

Newsletter November 2nd-6th

News and Notes
This week,  our students will be involved in some great events. 3 of our students will have the opportunity to speak with Assemblymember Jim Fraizer. These 3 students will be allowed to ask the assemblymen questions and give their perspective on the state of public education. Another 21 of our students will be attending an assembly hosted by AHS with Judge Ladoris Cordell; and to end the week, we will host a lunchtime celebration for all students who had 90% attendance and earned 20 or more credits for first quarter.

Please continue to look for opportunities for our students to to be exposed to valuable information and influential people within our community. These opportunities provide a bridge for our students to positive role models and information that can encourage and enable  our students to set goals, and be successful in achieving those goals.

In the Tool Box
What is Depth of Knowledge(DOK); and how can I as an educator utilize DOK in the classroom?
These are questions that educators are asking about DOK, In an article written by Gerald Aungst, he explains how DOK can assist educators with increasing the rigor in their classrooms by providing rich environments where all students are learning at a high level. The article is very short, and provides some exercises for educators to try to gain a better understanding of the cognitive levels of the task being utilized in their classrooms. The article is attached below; enjoy!

This is Good!!