Site Council Agenda For Friday, March 16th , 2012
At 7:45 we will:
1. Review minutes from our previous meeting.
2. A Study Strong (Hall) Update (see page 2)
3. As requested during our last site council meeting: % and # of our students meeting
literacy benchmark—Mark
A. Reading and Writing Test Results
B. 9th Grade Writing Results
4. CCAP Update-- Michael
5. A district student management discussion: Personal electronics in our building: Ereaders, I-Pads, Netbooks, Smartphones, and Laptops. What are the academic benefits
and potential pitfalls?-- Noah
6. MHS Hallways—how do we maintain an academic environment outside the
classroom?
I think study hall has it's ups and downs. Initially it was a difficult transition because of the
different expectations and guidelines the previous study hall teachers had for students. At the
beginning of second semester, Michael Sheehan and I met with Mr. Pinder to establish clear
expectations which would be followed in both study hall classrooms. I feel like our consistency in
both rooms and the support we received from the administrative team helped to make the
transition successful. At times it is difficult to motivate students to work on homework because
they do not always feel like there is a reward for their efforts. Almost on a daily basis, I check esis
for missing work that students can work on to help their grades improve. I hand deliver many of
these assignments after school to the teachers so students know the assignments were turned in.
With some classes, it is difficult to help students monitor their grades because esis is not always
updated, but I email some of the teachers, especially English teachers, and find out what the
students should be working on in study hall.
Stephanie Ostlund
Hello Noah,
My take on things so far.
I find the study hall period to be very helpful for many students. It does give them time to
complete assignments that are due (or past due). I find that most students aren't really into
helping others work on assignments, but there are some students that do help.
Unfortunately there are a number of students that either legitimately don't have anything to do
because they've completed all of their assignments, and/or a certain amount of students that are
not interested/capable of doing any work in this type of setting.
It can be really difficult keeping them in the room because they don't want to be in there and as a
teacher (kind of) you don't have material to attempt to engage them with. When you dip in to
work with a student for any length of time, you lose sight of what might be going on elsewhere in
the room. These kids are savvy in that way and try to take advantage of it.
I think that it could be more beneficial to have alternative activities for students to participate in
when they do not have work to do or are not willing to work because of their psychological and
physiological make-up at this age. I realize the restraints on this, but getting some of these
students in a more active setting where they can expand energy would be more beneficial at
times. One scenario might be splitting up the classes between Stephanie and I, and one of us
taking a group out to walk laps on the track. Just a thought.
I didn't want to go on and on, so I tried to keep this short and sweet. Hope this helps.
Michael Sheehan