Interaction

I have been interacting with students a lot over the last few days. We held STUCO officer elections and had our first meeting along with the class representatives. It was very productive. Some of the students had really good ideas for some activities throughout the school year. I brought in some activities from previous schools I've known to be successful in other schools, too. The students seemed to like everything and having the chance to have their voice heard, which is what STUCO is all about. I have the Lunch Bunch groups all divided. We have an early and late lunch. I had to put them in groups according to their lunch period and tried to group males and females in such a way as everyone would have a friend in attendance. I found some great signs to use during these groups and some great ideas for activities. The first eight or 10 groups will be for new students only. I've scheduled a speaker for the first Career Cafe which will be this coming Friday. I will finally make a trip to the elementary to wrap up my classroom schedule there and possibly will begin classroom lessons on Thursday. If not this week then definitely next week. I have been proctoring tests for our concurrent enrollment students and getting those mailed, emailed for faxed in. Thursday evening was parent teacher conference night. We stayed until 9:00 p.m. Doing this allows us to be off on Friday. I made a home visit with supper for a family that has been struggling to keep things afloat due to one of their children being hospitalized then home in a medically induced comma. I counseled with a couple of girls on some very serious issues and made a couple of phone calls home to discuss other serious issues. I sent some post cards out to parents with some positive comments about their kids. I met with the entire senior class to show them where the scholarships are being posted and how to get to the links for them and an article on applying for scholarships in general. Once I start going to the elementary my time at the high school will look something like this: Mondays for the office, administrative and test coordinator duties. Wednesday: Lunch Bunch and class lessons in two middle school classes. Any leftover time will be administrative duties. Friday will be Career Cafe, meeting with two middle school classes for classroom lessons and any leftover administrative duties. I've started meeting with kids on the intelligible list to offer tutoring and encouraging communication between them and their teachers. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be in the elementary doing classroom lessons.I hope to get a reading group going soon there, maybe 4th grade girls, two advanced with two low level readers, at lunch time.

I'd also like to do a lunch bunch there as well maybe one day a week. Still in the works are monthly Coffee with the Counselor meetings with parents. The first meeting will be on scholarships, the second possibly middle school girls and stress. I went to a workshop Wednesday. When I got to the office Thursday, this is what me door looked like. I changed what was on the door, adding the chalkboard paper and chalk just recently. I wanted a place for students and staff to leave a note on days I wasn't in the high school offce. I didn't expect such sweet comments already. It made my day and helped me realize I'm already making a difference.