|
Upcoming Events:
MON. (10/7) PTSA Meeting @ 9am In Room 500
Pre-Registration For PSAT Begins In College/Career Center
*** 9th, 11th, and 12th Graders MUST fill-out their Answer
Document BEFORE the PSAT is administered on 10/16.***
Please send students to the College/Career Center before
school, during lunch, or after school to get this done. (It takes
10 minutes...and students must complete this step this week!)
Contact Valerie Beachley at vbeachley@losal.org for
questions or more information.
TUES. (10/8) UC Application Night, 7pm in PAC
A representative from the UC campuses will be here to discuss
the ins and outs of the UC Application as well as the UC Essay. If you are applying to a UC, this is a very important night.
Pre-Registration For 10th Graders Taking The PSAT Takes
Place In All English Classes
Sophomores taking the PSAT will fill out their Answer
Document in their English classes before Tuesday, 10/8.
WED. (10/9) LATE START DAY FOR STUDENTS -- 1st Period @ 8:37am
***All-Staff Meeting For Teachers In Room 500***
Colleges Are Visiting The Los Al Campus All Week
Be sure and come to a session by a school you're interested in
attending. (The USC session was packed last week!) For a
schedule of visits, check out our school calendar here:
THUR. (10/10) Teaching & Learning Abound!
FRI. (10/11) LAST DAY FOR PSAT REGISTRATION!!!
Students that haven't filled out their Answer Document by today
are in jeopardy of not being able to take the test on 10/16.
Head over to the Career Center to get this done before school,
during lunch, and after school ALL WEEK LONG!
Contact Valerie Beachley at vbeachley@losal.org for
questions or more information.
ATHLETICS: Sunset League action is well under way!  Be on the lookout for incredibly talented teams in all of our Fall Sports --- Football, X-Country, Girls Volleyball, Girls Tennis, Boys Water Polo,Girls Golf, and hockey. Remember, Los Al is heralded for all of our athletic accomplishments, so if you know a student that's not connected to a sport, encourage them to tryout today!
10/14 -- No School For Students / 6-12 Staff Development Day @ Los Al
10/15 -- Fall Plans Due For All Teachers
10/16 -- PSAT On Campus, Reverse Modified Bell Schedule
10/17-19 --- Show Choir's BROADWAY SHOW BEGINS, 7pm in PAC
Unlimited Possibilities...
|
 |
|
Instructional Networking, Round 1:
Reflecting On The "I Do / We Do / You Do" Framework In Science And Beyond
 Debby Brosius, Krystin Braithwaite, Matt Bone, Kelly Jones, and Kathy Currie observe Science teacher Ashlee Baker as part of Los Al's first set of Instructional Rounds this year.
Year two of Instructional Networking @ Los Al is officially underway, and with Common Core fast approaching teachers are even more excited to get out of their classrooms and observe colleagues implementing novel practices that focus on depth of knowledge and the practical application of skills.
In fact, that's what this year's first set of ROUNDS was all about. Science teacher Ashlee Baker put forth a lesson that incorporated Common Core values like collaboration, creativity, effective use of technology, and application so that her colleagues could reflect on their own practice and draw similarities and differences between what goes on in their classroom and what goes on across campus and between disciplines.
While there were a number of practices that caught each observers eye, one interesting aspect of Ms. Baker's lesson last Monday was the use of stations to task small groups of students with separate roles and functions. In the picture to the right, students are actually watching a YouTube video that "flips" part of the lesson for Ms. Baker, and allows students to learn on their own.  In fact, there were a number of interesting instructional strategies on display as colleagues quickly realized they were observing the "We Do / You Do" portion of an extended lesson. Specifically, the class was noisy with good, accountable student talk on display everywhere. Also, students were free to get up and walk around if/when they needed to. This environment proved to be the antithesis of the "Sage On The Stage" paradigm in which a teacher stands and delivers content to a group of students taking notes for long periods at a time. Of course, there isn't just one way to adapt instruction to meet the goals and expectations of the Common Core classroom. But with Instructional Networking @ Los Al, we can continue to investigate what works in the classrooms of our colleagues, and apply those strategies to our own repertoire of effective instruction. So if you haven't done so already, please contact Kathy Currie to get signed up for our October ROUNDS. Space fills up fast, so email her at kcurrie@losal.org today! |
|
It's An Ill Plan That Can't Be Changed:
The Art & Science Of Lesson Planning
Teaching is a science! No, wait... it's an art! Whatever it is, things rarely go according to plan when it comes to delivering instruction. Luckily for Los Al, we have some of the best improvisers in the business!
Think you have your lesson all planned out? Think again. Being prepared for the randomness of educating 30+ young people at a time is part of what makes good teachers good teachers. Just ask Ms. Farrokh-Siar (left) about the hundreds of things she doesn't anticipate as part of her lesson that happen during the course of a single period. Whether it's her French students or Study Skills cohort, Ms. Farrokh-Siar has to be flexible in her start and endpoints throughout the course of a unit. Areas where student struggle take more time, and times where classes need to focus on rapport and relationships need to accounted for. This is the art of teaching. Being prepared for the unpredictable. Mr. Eisenberg (right) is also a magician in the classroom. He has the impossible task of moving students across a curriculum with scheduled labs spattered throughout the year. With time constraints like this, Mr. Eisenberg still manages to be mindful of student needs. He builds in moments of re-teaching and intervention into his daily discourse and uses wit and humor to relieve students of academic stress when content overwhelms. And then there's Mr. Rubio... In his AP Spanish Literature class, Mr. Rubio lets the literature dictate the pace of the course. The driving "plan" in AP Spanish Lit. is for students to acquire critical thinking skills that help them delve into texts in a deep and meaningful way. For Mr. Rubio and his students, this can be taught over the course of a number of different novels, plays, and poems which can change from year to year. The point of all this talk about pacing, planning, teaching, and learning is that every class, every year is different. And teachers that move and shuffle their content and practice so that their student needs are fully met are the teachers we know and remember for years and years after we graduate. Change is the only constant.
|
How The Mantis Shrimp Will Get You Into College:
And Everything Else You Need To Know About Writing A Personal Statement...
The next time a Senior turns in a 5-paragraph essay, show them the University Of Chicago application website and dare them to turn in a 5-paragraph response to one of their Personal Statement Prompts. The fact is, colleges and Universities are looking for students that think differently about the world around them. And at elite institutions across the country, the questions are pushing students to their creative and analytical limits.
Here are some examples:
"The University of Chicago has long been renowned for its provocative essay questions. We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between.
Each year we email newly admitted and current College students and ask them for essay topics. We receive several hundred responses, many of which are eloquent, intriguing, or downright wacky.
As you can see by the attributions, some of the questions below were inspired by submissions by your peers."
2013-14 essay questions:
ESSAY OPTION 1.
Winston Churchill believed "a joke is a very serious thing." From Off-Off Campus's improvisations to the Shady Dealer humor magazine to the renowned Latke-Hamantash debate, we take humor very seriously here at The University of Chicago (and we have since 1959, when our alums helped found the renowned comedy theater The Second City).
Tell us your favorite joke and try to explain the joke without ruining it.
--- Inspired by Chelsea Fine, Class of 2016
ESSAY OPTION 3.
"This is what history consists of. It's the sum total of all the things they aren't telling us." - Don DeLillo, Libra.
What is history, who are "they," and what aren't they telling us?
--- Inspired by Amy Estersohn, Class of 2010
ESSAY OPTION 4.
The mantis shrimp can perceive both polarized light and multispectral images; they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Human eyes have color receptors for three colors (red, green, and blue); the mantis shrimp has receptors for sixteen types of color, enabling them to see a spectrum far beyond the capacity of the human brain.
Seriously, how cool is the mantis shrimp: mantisshrimp.uchicago.edu
What might they be able to see that we cannot? What are we missing?
--- Inspired by Tess Moran, Class of 2016
HERE ARE SOME ESSAY QUESTIONS FROM YEARS PAST:
1. "What does Play-Doh™ have to do with Plato?"
2. Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, "Between living and dreaming
there is a third thing. Guess it." Give us your guess.
3. Write about a time you found something you weren't looking for.
4. How do you feel about Wednesday?
5. If you could balance on a tightrope, over what landscape would you
walk?
6. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis
(either real or imagined).
7. Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and
explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend.
8. Pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it.
9. So where is Waldo, really?
And my personal favorite...
"Don't write about reverse psychology."
|
|
|
|
Vote For Football Coach John Barnes As
In USA TODAY'S National Competition
(Polls Close Tuesday, October 8th... Click Now To Vote Today!)
|
|
LOSAL4LIFE:
10 Students Win $50 Gift Cards, Parking Passes, And Dance Tickets In Los Al's Positive Behavior Incentive Program
Step right up and spin the wheel! Who knows? It might land on the coveted "LosAl4Life" spot, guaranteeing that you and a guest can go to any and every Los Al activity, sporting event, dance, etc. for FREE and for the REST OF YOUR LIFE!
As the back of the PAC was packed this Friday with LosAl4Life nominees from all 125 4th period classes on campus, friends and teachers cheered on as 10 lucky students got a chance to spin the Griffin Prize Wheel in hopes of winning one of the many PTSA-sponsored prizes being handed out.
 "I've never seen so many people behind the PAC like this," Senior Hannah Wing observed. Along with a packed house of students and teachers, Superintendent Dr. Kropp was on hand with School Board members Dave Boyer and Dr. Jeff Barke. All in all, the event was truly a positive, uplifting, and celebratory occasion --- students were excited to be recognized.
LosAl4Life is part of a new behavior paradigm in schools called PBIS. (Click here to find out more.) Its rationale is rooted in the belief that in order to support healthy decision-making in adolescents, the solution is not to "catch" students behaving poorly and then apply consequences for that behavior... rather, schools should highlight positive behavior, and elevate that decision-making so that others emulate and proliferate good choices.
 The LosAl4Life framework seeks to accomplish exactly like this. By incentivizing good behavior (and tying it into the values associated with what our community believes the word "Los Al" represents), teachers are able to reward students in class, and then use the experience of the raffle to keep other students focused on making healthy choices throughout the school year. It's truly a win-win! And in a school of 3,200, with a clear emphasis on academics, athletics, activities, and the arts, LosAl4Life provides an additional platform for students to be recognized for no other reason than being an upstanding high school citizen.
Congratulations to all of our winners! Let's make October's festivities even bigger and better this time around :)
|
|
"The Dining Room":
Los Al Drama's First Play Of The Year Is A Hit With Theatregoers Far & Wide!
Travis Baker and Jade Kaiser act out a scene from A.R. Gurney's THE DINING ROOM last week in Los Al's Black Box Theatre.
It's finally here! Los Al Drama's season of theatre kicked off this week in the Black Box Theatre with a 3-night run of A.R. Gurney's THE DINING ROOM --- a play about the importance of family, relationships, time and space.
 Directed by Drama teacher Stacy Castiglione (left), THE DINING ROOM featured dozens of Drama students in a number of different roles throughout the performance. Student actors got to show off their range as the play focused in on some of the humor surrounding family relationships and the characters we all have in our immediate and extended families, as well as the real drama that is inherent in nearly all of our familial dealings as well. When asked about the play on opening night Ms. Castiglione said, "I couldn't be more proud of these students and the performance they all put on."
With an opening in early October, and only a few weeks to rehearse, the students seemed like professionals on the stage as the show went off absolutely perfectly!
 Remember, too, that the entire production of THE DINING ROOM is student-run --- from the lights, to the staging, costumes, and more, a student production team manages every element of putting the play together. This kind of collaboration is a phenomenal real-world example of precisely the kind of teamwork required to put on huge Broadway productions and big-budget movie shoots. Once again, Los Al is preparing students for future opportunities in real and meaningful ways.
Congratulations Drama Department! THE DINING ROOM was amazing. We can't wait until THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK this November in the PAC... and if anyone is interested in becoming a "fan" of Los Al Drama on Facebook, please like their Facebook page HERE.
|
|
Putting The "O" In R.O.P:
Chief Wilson Brings Long Beach Search & Rescue To Campus For Students To Get First-Hand/Real-Life Experience
These students in Mr. Wilson's Emergency Medical Responder Class get an up-close look at the equipment, materials, and training used to save lives.
ROP @ LAHS has been a part of our school culture for decades. And with opportunities for students to get career and technical education before they graduate, hundreds of Griffins sign up for a variety of course offerings each and every semester.
One course that's extremely popular is Chief Wilson's Emergency Medical Responder Class. While Chief Wilson brings a wealth of real-world experience to every lesson that he teaches (he is a retired Deputy Chief from the Long Beach Fire Department), Chief also knows that there's only so much that he can explain and discuss in class... at some point, students need to experience the tools and equipment he teaches about for themselves.
 And that's when the trucks come on campus! At various points throughout the year, Chief Wilson calls some of his colleagues in Long Beach and has them come over to Los Al and showcase the reality of what they do every day, and the tools, resources, and training they use to save lives and/or put out fires.
It truly is a science, as well as a wonderful and noble career. So, the next time you see a Search & Rescue truck on campus, the odds are everyone's okay, and all of us are safe... it's probably there so that Chief Wilson's students can experience a glimpse of what might be their future career.
|
|
Los Al's 2-Minute COMMON CORE Video
Is Getting National Attention
Click HERE To Watch It Now!!!!
From now on, if you need a picture from any of these
Monday Morning Memos, Just find us on FLICKR
The pics there are high quality, easy to access,
and always downloadable.
|
Los Alamitos High School
3591 Cerritos Ave.
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
|
|
|
