Monday Morning Memo --- November 3, 2014
Upcoming Events:

 

MON. (11/3)    PTSA MEETING IN ROOM 500 @ 9AM

                        Come Join Us To Learn About All The Campus Goings-On At Los Al

 

TUES. (11/4)   TEACHING & LEARNING ABOUND

                        Amazing Things Are Going On In Classrooms Throughout The Month

 

                        GIRLS VOLLEYBALL @ EDISON at 5:30pm For 1st Place Battle!

                        Support Los Al Athletics This Week As We Play Edison For League 

                        Titles in Volleyball & Football... and For Playoff Seeding In Boys Polo

 

WED. (11/5)    LATE START WEDNESDAY  (Check Full Schedule Here)

                        Staff Meeting @ 7:30am In Room 500  /// Period 1 Starts @ 8:37am

 

                        FLEXIBLE SPENDING (FSA) INFO SESSION FOR EMPLOYEES

                        After School In Main Lounge @ 2:30pm

 

                        BOYS WATER POLO vs. EDISON at NHHS For Playoff Seeding!

                        Support Los Al Athletics This Week As We Play Edison For League 

                        Titles in Volleyball & Football... and For Playoff Seeding In Boys Polo


THUR. (11/6)   LOSAL4LIFE CEREMONY @ LUNCH IN FRONT OF PAC

                        Come Support Your Students As They Spin The Wheel In  

                        Recognition Of All Their Hard Workk & Effort In Your Class!

 

                        FOOTBALL vs. EDISON @ HOME AT 7PM For 1st Place Battle!

                        Support Los Al Athletics This Week As We Play Edison For League 

                        Titles in Volleyball & Football... and For Playoff Seeding In Boys Polo

 

FRI. (11/7)       OPEN MIC NIGHT @ 6PM IN ROOM 153/154

                        Enjoy The Amazing Talent The Los Al Student Body Has To Offer!

 

SAT. (11/8)     TAKING THE SAT EXAM @ LOS AL THIS WEEK?

                        Get Plenty Of Sleep & Wear Comfy Clothes To Take The Test!

 
AND DON'T FORGET THAT IT'S A 4-DAY WEEKEND THIS SAT-TUES!!!!
 

ATHLETICS & ARTS:  Once again this Fall, #LOSALROCKSATALLEVERYTHING!
Just check out these stats from this year's Fall Season so far.  
  • Marching Band just took a First Place Title @ The Mission Viejo Invitational.
  • Girls Tennis Are Sunset League Champs and ranked 5th in the County. 
  • Girls Volleyball & Football play for League Titles against Edison this week!
  • X-Country took home a League Title this week in another great season.

#LOSAL finished 1st in nearly every League sport this Fall, and we're poised to make a deep run in CIF Playoffs this November.   But we'll need your support.  Come out to every game and match that you can and show the county that we not only have great student athletes, but we're #THEBESTSTUDENTSECTIONINOC










& On The Horizon...

11/10-11/11 -- No School For Veteran's Day
11/26-11/28 -- No School For Thanksgiving Break!!!

.............. Unlimited Possibilities!
Modeling Monday:
Read What Happens When Every Teacher In Grades 6-12 Assigns The Exact Same Task For Students Across Three Different Schools...
Ms. Huang (left) monitors the level of student talk in her classroom during Modeling Monday - a new math protocol from teachers and students in grades 6 thru 12.  (Middle) Students from Ms. Lyman's Algebra II class present their Modeling Monday findings and assumption.  And (right) the Math Department posts their student work for public consumption all week long to put their learning on display.

Common Core.  As much as some think of it as a buzz word that will fundamentally change the course of American education, at Los Al we see it as "permission to delve deep," a sort of license for us to increase rigor and spend time on conceptual mastery as opposed to just procedural understanding.  

So we're taking advantage of it!

Janelle Fox, math teacher and Common Core Math TOSA for grades 6-12, worked with Juliet Gardner and Bret Lynes, the TOSA's from Oak & McAuliffe, to design a math question that could be accessed by ALL students, and was open-ended enough to challenge students in 6th grade Math and BC Calculus alike.  (Click the picture to the left to see the question in full.)  Here's what they came up with:  "This photograph was taken about 110 years ago... The girl on the left was about the same age as you... As she got older, she had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and so on... Now 100 years later, all this girl's descendants are meeting for a family party...  
         
        How many descendants would you expect there to be altogether?"

Initial feedback from the day has taught us a number of things as we evolve the protocol and make it even bigger and better this December:  1)  Common experiences are important.  Many teachers from other disciplines reported hearing conversations about Math all day long in their classes.  That's a good thing!  2)  Our students need practice talking about math.  They're great at "doing" math, but as the questions we task them with shift from procedure to Big Idea, students will need to be able to use language of the discipline to qualify answers and indicate nuances in their learning.  3)  The power of collaboration.  It was thrilling to see 40+ teachers working on a single protocol to make it as worthwhile and meaningful as possible.  There's simply no other way to do this work than by doing it together.  And last week's Modeling Monday experience was the first of many large-scale collaborative efforts that will change the way we think about teaching and learning at Los Al.  
From Japan To Los Al...
As Part Of Our Robust Exchange Program, Los Al Hosted 20 Japanese Students & Teachers On Campus All-Day Friday
Flanked by their Principal and other administrators from Japan, a group of 4 exchange students give a cultural presentation to Ms. Takeuchi's Japanese class.

It's one thing to take a Japanese class and learn about the language, culture, and history associated with the country.  It's quite another thing entirely to host a student from Japan in your home, take them to your school, and learn from them first-hand - especially when you'll be doing the same thing in their country just 6 short months from now.  This is exactly how our well-established Foreign Exchange Program works, and Ms. Takeuchi couldn't be more proud of the results.  Of course, visits like this impact all of our classes, and its' because of the inclusiveness of our entire campus that our students obtain communication skills and first-hand knowledge that simply cannot be duplicated through a typical classroom experience.  Thank you.
Heard What Alexis Wiggins Did?
A Veteran Teacher Shadowed Two Students For Two Days And Learned A Ton About Her Own Classroom Practice...
Do teachers fully understand the high school student experience?  Read Alexis Wiggins' fascinating takeaways in the Washington Post Article excerpted below.

"I waited 14 years to do something that I should have done my first year of teaching: shadow a student for a day. It was so eye-opening that I wish I could go back to every class of students I ever had right now and change a minimum of ten things - the layout, the lesson plan, the checks for understanding. Most of it!

 

This is the first year I am working in a school but not teaching my own classes; I am the High School Learning Coach, a new position for the school this year. My job is to work with teachers and administrators to improve student learning outcomes.

 

As part of getting my feet wet, my principal suggested I "be" a student for two days: I was to shadow and complete all the work of a 10th grade student on one day and to do the same for a 12th grade student on another day. My task was to do everything the student was supposed to do: if there was lecture or notes on the board, I copied them as fast I could into my notebook. If there was a Chemistry lab, I did it with my host student. If there was a test, I took it (I passed the Spanish one, but I am certain I failed the business one).

 

 

Key Takeaway #1

 

Students sit all day, and sitting is exhausting.

 

If I could go back and change my classes now, I would immediately change the following three things:

  • mandatory stretch halfway through the class
  • put a Nerf basketball hoop on the back of my door and encourage kids to play in the first and final minutes of class
  • build in a hands-on, move-around activity into every single class day. Yes, we would sacrifice some content to do this - that's fine. I was so tired by the end of the day, I wasn't absorbing most of the content, so I am not sure my previous method of making kids sit through hour-long, sit-down discussions of the texts was all that effective."
(To read more of this article visit the Washington Post site HERE.)
Week 11, 2014-2015... IN THIS ISSUE:
Upcoming Events
Modeling Monday
From Japan To Los Al...
Heard What Alexis Wiggins Did?
Take One, Give One: Los Al's Little Free Library
How To Get Into College --- A Khan Academy Resource
SENIOR YEARBOOK ADS NOW ON SALE
 
Group Costumes Ruled The Day This Halloween!

From teachers to students, staff members to parents,
we estimate that well over 50% of our school 
was in costume this Halloween!  

Click HERE to see pics and video from the day's festivities. 
And keep in mind that it's the strength of our culture,
 that makes Halloween a collective joy!

Take One, Give One:
Los Al's Little Free Library Is Here And Students & Staff Are Absolutely Loving It!
Notice anything different on campus this week?  Perhaps you caught a glimpse of the Little Free Library on the hill in front of the PAC.  If so, check out a book today!

To foster a culture of community, stories, words, and ideas, LAHS is now the proud owner of a Little Free Library; you'll see it on the grassy knoll in front of the PAC.  

The idea is to read a book and share it with others.  Please feel free to take books from the Little Free Library and leave books you've enjoyed.  We're storing the books in Lori Franzen's room, the creator of this Little Free Library, and she'll be rotating titles into the library as space allows.  

If you'd like to know more about the Little Free Libraries in your neighborhood, as well as nation-wide, check out this link:  http://littlefreelibrary.org/  

LET THE READING CONTINUE :) :) :)
How To Get Into College:
Click The Picture Below To Watch Sal Khan's Videos The Detail The Step-By-Step Process Of College Admissions.  (It's Fantastic!)
Below, please find an excerpt from Sal Khan's email to Khan Academy subscribers earlier this week.  In true 21st Century fashion, Khan is making the the College Admissions process accessible and understandable to anyone with an computer.

College admissions and financial aid can be confusing.  This is why Khan Academy created resources to help students and parents navigate this challenging process. These resources include video interviews and conversations with successful students from all walks of life and admissions officers and counselors at some of the nation's top schools.

Online resources can never be as good as a great mentor. However, Khan Academy hopes to help students get a solid start and to provide teachers, parents and counselors with a useful tool to help the students in their lives.




WITH HUGE GAMES ALL WEEK LONG FOR SUNSET
 LEAGUE TITLES, THERE'S NO BETTER TIME TO 
CELEBRATE EVERYTHING WE STAND FOR...

#WEARELOSAL

Tuesday 11/4 ------ Girls Volleyball @ Edison For Sunset League Title
Wednesday 11/5 -- Boys Water Polo vs. Edison For 2nd Place Honors
Thursday 11/6 - Football vs. Edison (@ Vets) For Sunset League Title

SEE YOU AT THE GAME!!!


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