Band/Chorus Concert FYI

From Heidi:
We will be performing at the Wednesday Morning Meeting and again at night!  Thanks! See evening concert time below. 

Enjoy

Enjoy your time with family; you deserve the time off. Please turn off work, email included, and just be there for your family.

Looking Ahead

Enjoy

Have a fabulous weekend and great Thanksgiving next week. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you each do for our kids. WE are QUEST!

Looking Ahead

BEDS season is upon us. We GET to do BEDS.  :)

What? 

QUEST Staff BEDS Deadline: Wednesday, December 3rd

Who? 

Teachers AND some non-teaching (counselors, nurse, pysch...) 

How? 

1. Log-in to the ePMF site with your TEACH id.
2.  Validate the information that was uploaded into your school snapshot. Most data should be accurate, but there could be a few discrepancies. If you think some of the data is not accurate, please let Derek know what is wrong and what you believe it should be. 
3. For those who are instructional, you will also need to enter the course you teach, assignment code (see link), assignment name, grade level and the amount of students in your courses. 

Where do I log-in to start?

Log-in HERE

What resources might I need?

The BEDS ePMF User Guide, FAQ's, and Assignment Codes are now listed on the SharePoint called QUEST Shares (schedules) at the top of our blog. Inside that sharepoint there is a folder. Or, click Here

Acts of Kindness

Good one to show the kids as we look to bolster acts of kindness through the Principal's Challenge. Next week: anonymous acts of kindness!

SEL for a Second

What is equity? Why does it matter?

We all come from various backgrounds, and with one's background comes blind spots. How do you ensure that each student has what they need each day, regardless of gender, race, religion, or personality? Where are your blind spots?

This level of self-awareness is an area of strength at QUEST, in my eyes, but as we unpack SEL we will continue to look at the role that equity plays in it all.

Here's a visual that captures what equity is. 

Looking Ahead

FEAST

Many schools are rooted in tradition, but I have yet to see a school where the traditions are so deep and authentic. Last year, our teams unpacked many of the traditions to make the connection between who we are and what we do. Time to feast...can't wait!

IB PYP Policies

From Andrea:

Next year, we will have an engaging, hilarious, amazingly-fun way of sharing/revising/updating our PYP Policies. But until then, please take some time to read them over. This is absolutely an area of growth for us, but really, like our mandatory GCN trainings, you just need to know the information and for now, I'm posting them to the blog. No tests, no memorization needed, no deadlines. Finally, if you're really going to only look at 1-2, please choose Assessment and Language. Let me know if you have questions or ideas!

Here are the HCSD IB Policies:

HCSD Assessment Policy
HCSD Language Policy
HCSD Special Needs Policy
HCSD Academic Honesty Policy

FYI

Hello Everyone!

Three platforms we use, MyLearningPlan, OASYS and IEPDirect, are owned by the same company Frontline.  Next week, the company is combining all of their products into a single sign on, called Frontline Insights, at a new web address, with new names for those three programs and a slightly different look.

On or after Tuesday, November 12, when you first log into MLP/Oasys, you will be instructed to Update Your Account.  Follow these simple steps:

• Log into Frontline MLP/OASYS like you normally do
• Select the button I need to update to a Frontline account
• Type in a username of your choice
• Type in a new password
• Type in your email address
• Check the box I accept the terms and conditions
• Click on Update to a Frontline ID
• Click on Continue to Professional Growth
• Bookmark the new, universal URL: app.frontlineeducation.com and use this web address from now on, and delete the old url from any bookmarks/bar

MLP and Oasys are now called Professional Growth, and when you log into app.frontlineeducation.com, you will navigate from the column on the left shown below.

• Learning Plan refers to your observations and evaluation
• Activity Catalogs refers to our professional development options

Users of IEP Direct (now known as Special Ed and Interventions), you access it  by using the drop down arrow at the top of your screen. 

And as a reminder

Frontline Special Ed and Interventions (formerly IEP Direct) questions – Lisa Czerw (lczerw@hilton.k12.ny.us) ext. 6070
Frontline Professional Growth (formerly MyLearningPlan, OASYS) questions – Claudia Engel (cengel@hilton.k12.ny.us) ext. 6057

Enjoy

Enjoy your long weekend. Be sure to find a way to express your gratitude to our vets!

Looking Ahead

SEL for a Second

SEL in Seconds

Did you know that how schools discipline can hurt or hinder a child's social/emotional development? There are various camps in schools across the country when it comes to discipline: some want hard, black and white consequences, while many districts and schools are moving toward a more restorative approach. No matter where you personally fall on that spectrum, there is a lot of research that supports the power of teaching behavior.

Restorative discipline approaches focus on teaching and restoring. It's all about allowing all kids to feel part of their school. Instead of simply kicking a child out of school or having them serve a detention, in a restorative approach one would also have the child find a way to fix and mend the situation that they caused. This approach teaches empathy, and helps to provide the person who was the "victim" with a voice;  ideally it repairs broken relationships.

Some ways I have seen QUEST use restorative approaches: 

• Volunteering in a classroom
• Writing an apology letter to someone you hurt
• Helping to clean up a mess that you created
• Mediating between two students
• Having students reflect on behavior
• Having students set goals around relationships
• Jamie, Jamie, Jamie...the way she is able to help students find a way to fix things
• Peace circles...sitting kids in a circle as a group and teaching them to talk.

Restorative approaches does not mean you remove any consequence and do not hold a child accountable. Instead, you combine the consequence with fixing and restoring what was hurt/broken. 

Go QUEST.

Team/Department/Grade level scavenger hunt

Introducing our new Instructional Technology Team/Department/Grade level scavenger hunt. Here is how it works:
- We release the tasks
- Your team/ department/ grade level completes the tasks
- You Earn Points
- The grade level/department with the most points wins awesome prizes and becomes the ultimate tech guru

Let the games begin!!!!

Your first challenge and opportunity to earn points... Invite your Instructional Tech to a grade level, team, or department meeting worth 25 points.

Tea with a Tech update

There will not be a Tea with a Tech the next few Fridays.  The next Tea with a Tech will be Friday, December 6th.

Enjoy

Happy November. As a reminder, we are now entering no meeting weeks. Please enjoy the extra time, and please know I see and recognize all the hard work that goes into conferences. Take time for yourself this month.

SEL for a Second

There are 5 core competencies that create the SEL framework. The research says that when these are explicitly taught to kids, there is a direct tie to academic achievement.

Data FYI and Ed Law 2D

Team,

Below are two artifacts that were shared at Leadership Council this week. Dr. Surash mentioned in an email yesterday that this would be shared. The first artifact is our district's vision regarding data. Check it out.


The next artifact is related to Ed Law 2D:

Please take a look and let a content leader, or me, know if you have any questions. 

Looking Ahead