Monday Morning Memo --- April 8, 2013
Upcoming Events:

 

MON. (4/8)     WELCOME BACK!!!

 

                      Don't Forget To "Leave Your Legacy" This 

                      April and May during Testing Season...

 

TUES. (4/9)   STAFF MEETING @ 7am in Room 500 

                     There'll bee coffee, and pastries, and a good look

                     at some of the proposed bell schedule changes

                     for next year

 

                      8th Grade Parent Night, 7pm In PAC

            
WED. (4/10)  EEATT Meeting w/ Mr. Celestin & Mr. Bennett,
                     (Room 700 @ 2:30pm)

THUR. (4/11)  OPEN HOUSE @ 6pm

                      Minimum Day Schedule

FRI. (4/12)     Teaching & Learning Abound!!!

SAT. (4/13)   ACT on campus
                    SAT Prep in Room 153/154 from 9am - Noon

SPRING SPORTS ARE IN FULL EFFECT!!!!
Go see Baseball, Boys Golf, Lacrosse, Softball, Swimming, Boys Tennis, Track & Field, and Boys Volleyball compete all week...

& On The Horizon...

4/16 --- Athletics & Activities Night @ 6pm in PAC
4/18-19 --- Order Class Rings From Jostens On Campus
4/18-20 --- Drama Show, COLOR BLIND

*** Turnitin.com is live for anyone who's interested in piloting it for the rest of the year.  Email Dan Bennett, [email protected] for sign-up information.
They Did It Again!!!
Los Al's Show Choir Are Grand Champions In Orlando...
For the last 5 years, a Los Alamitos Show Choir has won either a Grand Champion or National Champion award!!!!
 
Competing against some of the top show choirs in the country, SoundFX was named Grand Champion at the FAME Orlando Show Choir Competition.  Going up against groups from West Virginia, Mississippi, Florida, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio, SoundFX made it through the first round of competition early in the day and won the competition after a knock-out performance in the finals Saturday evening.

 

SoundFX also won awards for best choral sound, best show design, and best male soloist which was awarded to Chance Perez.  Los Al's biggest individual honor went to Nicole Barker, who was awarded a full scholarship to Gillette College through the FAME competition.

 

Soundtrax also had a very successful day, earning First Runner-up honors in their division, going up against choirs from Indiana and Ohio.  Tailynn Carlton won honorable mention as a soloist for her performance.

 

From a teaching, coaching, and learning standpoint, as educators we all know the tremendous amount of practice, preparation, and culture-building that goes into garnering results like these.  Much like an Algebra teacher prepping students for upcoming CSTs, or an AP Calc teacher readying students for their May Exam, or a Basketball Coach gearing up for CIF Playoffs, our Show Choir teachers and students are more than just talented... they are literally well-educated and prepared. 

 

In fact, I happened to catch their last practice at school, the day we left for Spring Break, and recorded a few minutes of it. What's particularly striking, on top of how good everyone sounds, is the immediacy of the feedback protocol during the rehearsal performance --- immediate and specific... just how the best teachers around do it :) 

 

Los Al Show Choir Practice --- March 29, 2013

 

Both groups will savor their well-deserved honors, relive great memories on the plane ride home, and grab just a bit of shut-eye to be prepared for school early on Monday morning.  
 
Give 'em a pat on the back when you see them in your classes. They more than deserve it!
"Leave Your Legacy" This CST Season:
We're Creating Extra Opportunities For Teaching & Test Prep All Month Long

Bio & Chem teacher, Dan Bennett, stays after school to work with students on test corrections almost every day.

"Leave Your Legacy."  It's a phrase that's been used time and time again over the years to call people to action and appeal to their sense of self.  Or, rather, their sense of selflessness.
 
April and May in schools, otherwise known as testing season, is a time when "leaving your legacy" in the academic sense of the phrase matters the most.  By Spring, most of the critical teaching and learning has already occurred in our classrooms, and we are fine tuning our students' skills so that they can maximize their achievement going forward.  
 
This season, we're also asking our students and teachers to "leave their legacy" on Los Al, and help our school and district be recognized as the absolute best in all of Orange County for years and years to come.
 
And we're not just saying it... There are actions behind these words as well:
  1. From now until the end of May, there are resources available for teachers to host Review Sessions before school, in the afternoon, or on weekends to help students be best prepared for their May CST exams.
  2. Additionally, anyone interested in giving a mock CST exam outside of normal classroom hours can have that experience funded as well.
It's no secret that more teaching equates to more learning; and if you can think of any extra teaching opportunities that you would like to create for your students in preparation for this year's testing season, please see the administrator over your department for time card approval.

We all know that we work for an absolutely amazing school district and surrounding community... let's "leave our legacy" on Los Al this May, and set up our school to be continually coveted and sought after for generation after generation!!!
What We Message Matters...
How We Implicitly Teach Values In The Classroom

If you look closely, you'll see the words "Do good to all people" hanging from Ms. Williams' podium.  Keep in mind, 150+ students see this message for an hour a day, 180 days a year.

 

Whether you're a first-year teacher, or a seasoned veteran, we all know that "room environment" plays a huge role in creating the kind of atmosphere for learning we desire in our classrooms. In fact, that's why places like Lakeshore Learning exist... they've made themselves a key player in the education market because of the way they help classrooms look and feel like "classrooms."

 

But you don't need borders and butcher paper to change a child's life... 

 

All it takes is a single message, repeated and referenced consistently so that it's importance is clear and undeniable.  This is also where character education and ethics can be implicitly taught.

 

In conjunction with parents and families, school's shoulder partial responsibility for helping people learn the difference between right and wrong, what it means to upstand instead of bystand, and how to lead as opposed to follow.

 

So the next time you're putting up some wall art in your room, or you're thinking about messaging something specific to your students, remember to choose your words wisely.

 

"Do good to all people..."   Enough said. 

Week 30, 2012-2013... IN THIS ISSUE:
Upcoming Events
Los Al's Show Choir Does It Again
"Leave Your Legacy"
"Do Good To All People"
Test Prep vs. Test Familiarity
A Banana Walks Into A Classroom...
Methinks It's The Common Core!
 
Assemblies are a Los Al way of life...
And this Spring ASB really delivered!!!
 
Test Prep vs. Test Familiarity:
Totally Different, Or One In The Same?




















Mr. Kennedy is an AP Literature Reader for The College Board every year, and he brings that knowledge and experience to his classroom for all his students.
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What's the difference between "Test Prep" and "Test Familiarity?"
 
Some might argue that prep is just a form of familiarity --- the more you see something, the more comfortable you are at "owning" it at times when it matters most.
 
But familiarity is more than just seeing a test beforehand, or reading and answering a few questions...  Familiarity is working within the nuances of an exam's format and language to understand the impetus for examination, and the true purpose of the assessment itself.
 
Test prep, while valuable, is something else entirely.  During "prep" sessions, students learn specific strategies to answer specific problems in specific ways on an upcoming exam.
 
There's no doubt that that's important... but it's just a form of review.  We've all taught our students the content beforehand; getting them to apply it to a test is all we'd be working on.
 
So, do both.  And consider a block of time where you and your students just go over a sample exam without asking them to answer any questions.  Instead, ask them "why is this question being asked?" or "how might this format change your answer?"
 
You might be surprised at how much students learn when they gain familiarity with an upcoming exam in a truly metacognitive fashion.
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...
So, A Banana Walks Into A Classroom...

This is a real picture...  And the story told below really happened... There are plenty of witnesses that can verify the details...

The following is a true story:

So, I'm sitting in Ms. Lundblad's yearbook class during 4th period last Friday, and I'm listening to the students talk about yearbook ideas for this year and next.  It's just a few minutes into the period (as you can see, the clock above says 11:05), when a student wearing sunglasses and a banana suit barges through the door.

The class is confused, as am I, because he doesn't have a pass, doesn't appear to be a part of any official school business, and is wearing a banana suit.

He asks loudly and abruptly, "Hey, is Nicole in this class?"  Nobody answers.  He shouts again, "Is Nicooooole in this claaaaaaaass???"

I quickly pull out my camera and start snapping photos... I have a feeling I'm going to want to remember this.

"I'm Nicole," the girl sitting a few seats behind me says.

The student in the banana suit immediately walks up to her, and then stops at the corner edge of her desk.  "You're Nicole?"

"Yes."

He bangs his hand on her desk and says, "Tom will LITERALLY go bananas if you don't go to Prom with him!!!" 

The class erupts in laughter, and  lo and behold Tom walks into the class with flowers to actually ask Nicole to Prom with him.  Thankfully, she says "Yes!" and the whole class claps and applauds for a spectacle they'll never forget.
 
****  This is one of the things I love about Los Al.  In the midst of rigorous teaching, voracious learning, and unparalleled athletic and artistic achievement, our students (and the teachers who encourage and support them) know how to have a good time, smile, and bring joy to others.
 
See you at prom, Banana Man... 
Whiff, Whiff. 
Smell That? 
Methinks It's 
The Common Core!
Practical Engagement In Math Through The Famous "Birthday Problem"
Mr. Barker stands and delivers "The Birthday Problem." An oldie but goodie when it comes to student engagement and The Common Core.
 
Here's the question:
 
"What is the probability that in a random group of 30 people, at least 2 people share the same birthday?"
 
Pretty simple, eh?  Like a billion to one!
 
WRONG!!!  But, what's more fascinating is the way students can play and rationalize the question with words and thoughts before ever being asked to do any math.  In fact, the first 15 minutes of Mr. Barker's class was simply a discussion of what we might be some logical and conceivable answers to the question.  
 
It was sooooo Common Core:  thinking about math, instead of doing it... talking about solutions, instead of going through procedures.
 
By the way, the answer is 70%.  And on the day Mr. Barker did the problem, each class had at least one shared birthday in it.
 
Here's Sal Khan, of Khan Academy fame, with the solution: 
Birthday Probability Problem
 
Our Record-Breaking Harlem Shake!!!

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Los Alamitos High School
3591 Cerritos Ave.
Los Alamitos, CA 90720   
(562) 799-4780