February 8th - February 12th

"FOCUSED"

WE ARE...GREAT BY CHOICE!"

 

 

FEBRUARY 8TH - FEBRUARY 12TH 

 

OUR GOALS 

-Increase the 9th grade promotion rate by 3-5%

-Increase the 12th grade graduation cohort rate by 3-5%

-Build Assessment Literacy around the PSAT

-Rigorous, authentic literacy in every class 

FOCUS AREAS

-A guaranteed and viable curriculum

-Sound lessons

-Reading, Writing, Discussion, Numeracy in every class

 

• ROTC students, Master Sgt. Ferguson and Major Pabalan for holding an ROTC Leadership Academy Meeting to prepare for Graduation. 
• The Creative Arts Dept. for pushing through the literacy tasks and pushing our students to build their literacy skills!

 

 

RADICALLY REDEFINING LITERACY INSTRUCTION: AN IMMENSE OPPORTUNITY

• We MUST work as a team to enforce the uniform policy.  Please check uniforms during the first 5 minutes of each class. Scholars MUST be in uniform every day, in all classes. If a scholar is out of uniform, please send him/her, with a pass, to the ISS Room. Again, please do not allow scholars to sit in your class out of uniform. REMINDER: Have scholars unzip and unbutton jackets and sweaters to ensure they are wearing the correct uniform shirt. Shirts MUST have collars. Army green/brown bottoms are NOT a part of the uniform.

• Cell phones, ear buds, and/or ear phones MUST be turned off and out of sight during instructional time (unless used for instructional purposes). We MUST "sweat the small stuff" consistently across the entire school.

• Please use the Google Doc LVL 1 Form to document minor scholar behaviors, and scholars with attendance concerns.  Send the LVL 1 form to all appropriate staff members. Remember,  three LVL 1 referrals, that show interventions attempted, must be submitted prior to submitting a Google Doc Discipline Referral.

• Please limit all hall passes.  We must enforce our expectation that instructional time is the priority, and all scholars MUST be in the classroom to learn. You know who your "hall pass" scholars are.  Please DO NOT issue passes, with the exception of true emergencies. Additionally, passes should NOT be issued during the first and last 15 minutes of each class period, or after 2:00pm. 
  
  

  MONDAY, 2/8 "A" DAY 

  • 10th grade SIT @ 

  • Advanced Placement Teachers Meeting @ 2:45pm
  • Boys BB @ Douglass - JV @ 5:30pm; V @ 7:15pm

  
  
  TUESDAY, 2/9 "B" Day
  • LOCKDOWN DRILL
  • Professional Development All Planning Periods

  • 12th Grade SIT Meeting (AM) @8:30am
  • 11th Grade SIT Meeting (PM) @ 12:00pm
  • 9th Grade Team Meeting @ 2:30pm
  • New Teacher's Academy @ 2:45pm
  • 8th Grade Parent and Students "Game' Night @ 6:30pm
  • Girls Basketball @ Home vs. Potomac - JV @ 5:15pm; V @ 7:15pm
  • Boys Basketball @ Croom 7:15 PM

  
  
  WEDNESDAY, 2/10 "A" DAY
• EMERGENCY LESSON PLANS DUE
• IEP Meetings (All day)French Immersion Open House @ Central
• French Immersion Open House @ Central
• Math Collaborative Planning (2nd period)
• English Collaborative Planning (3rd period)
• Social Studies Collaborative Planning (4th period)
• French Immersion Collaborative Planning(4th period)
• Science Collaborative Planning (5th period)
•  PDP 10th Grade Teacher Meeting @ 2:30pm

• Safe and Supportive Meeting @ 2:45p

 THURSDAY, 2/11 "B" DAY

• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 1)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 5)
• School Counseling/Student Services Team Meeting @ 1:30pm
• FAC Meeting @ 2:30pm

FRIDAY, 2/12 "A" DAY
PAYDAY!!
Girls Basketball @ Home vs. Largo- JV @ 5:15pm; V @7:15 PM
Boys Basketball @ CMIT 7:15 PM

"FOCUSED"

WE ARE...GREAT BY CHOICE!"

FEBRUARY 1st - FEBRUARY 5th 

WELCOME BACK TEAM!!

I hope you enjoyed this surprise snow break, had time to rest and energize, spend time with family and are ready to begin the second half of the school year!!

• THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to our AMAZING Maintenance Team!! They have been hard at work since MONDAY, 1/25, ensuring the school grounds were safe for staff and students upon our return. WE APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK! Make sure you thank our maintenance team when you see them!!

• It's NATIONAL SCHOOL COUNSELORS WEEK!! The Guidance Department and our Professional School Counselors are the nucleus of our school - WE CANT DO WHAT WE DO WITHOUT THEIR HARD WORK! Ladies...Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the students of Central High School! Know that we appreciate you!! Make sure you thank our Professional School Counselors this week!!

It is a well known fact: The number one predictor of success in college and careers, is he ability to effectively read and effectively comprehend complex text. Therefore, as we move towards "FOCUS,"we must ensure:

• 50-75% of all units/lessons must center around a complex text(students reading, discussing, and writing)
• provide students with necessary scaffolding to comprehend complex text
• model and expect student to annotate to develop a deeper understanding of the content
• create text dependent questions to help students develop a deeper understanding of the content
• frequent writing , citing textual evidence, to support arguments

• We will strictly enforce the uniform policy.  Please check uniforms during the first 5 minutes of each class. Scholars MUST be in uniform every day, in all classes. If a scholar is out of uniform, please send him/her, with a pass, to the ISS Room. Again, please do not allow scholars to sit in your class out of uniform. REMINDER: Have scholars unzip and unbutton jackets and sweaters to ensure they are wearing the correct uniform shirt. Shirts MUST have collars. Army green/brown bottoms are NOT a part of the uniform.

• Cell phones, ear buds, and/or ear phones MUST be turned off and out of sight during instructional time (unless used for instructional purposes). We MUST "sweat the small stuff" consistently across the entire school.

• Please use the Google Doc LVL 1 Form to document minor scholar behaviors, and scholars with attendance concerns.  Send the LVL 1 form to all appropriate staff members. Remember,  three LVL 1 referrals, that show interventions attempted, must be submitted prior to submitting a Google Doc Discipline Referral.

• Please limit all hall passes.  We must enforce our expectation that instructional time is the priority, and all scholars MUST be in the classroom to learn. You know who your "hall pass" scholars are.  Please DO NOT issue passes, with the exception of true emergencies. Additionally, passes should NOT be issued during the first and last 15 minutes of each class period, or after 2:00pm.

MONDAY, 2/1 "B" DAY

• Faculty Meeting @ 2:45pm
•  First Generation College Bound - FAFSA Night 2 @ 6:30pm

TUESDAY, 2/2 "A" Day

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (ALL PLANNING PERIODS) 
  

• Boys BB @ Crossland JV(5:30pm), V (7:15pm)

WEDNESDAY, 2/3 "B" DAY

• Instructional Planning (TBD)
  

• IEP Meetings (All day)

• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 1)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 5)
• 9th Grade PDP Meeting @ 2:30pm
• Safe and Supportive Meeting @ 2:45p
• Administrative Meeting @ 3:30pm
• Girls BB @ Annapolis (5:30pm), V (7:00pm)

 THURSDAY, 2/4 "A" DAY

• Instructional Planning (TBD)

• Math Collaborative Planning (2nd period)
• English Collaborative Planning (3rd period)
• Social Studies Collaborative Planning (4th period)
• French Immersion Collaborative Planning(4th period)
• Science Collaborative Planning (5th period)

FRIDAY, 2/5 "B" DAY

• World Languages 3rd Quarter Instructional Planning - 12:00pm - 2:15pm
  

• Boys BB @  CHS vs. Gwynn Park @ 6:00pm
• Girls BB @ CHS vs. CMIT @ 7:30pm

"A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE....
We Are GREAT BY CHOICE!"

January 4th - January 8th 

I hope you had a relaxing break and the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Additionally, I hope you found time to rest and re-energize, as we embark upon a brand new year. Let's prepare to push ourselves, and our scholars,  to the next level with professional growth, teamwork, accountability, and hard work!!

In looking at the surface level data from the completed literacy tasks, our scholars' areas of growth are:

• comprehending complex text
• identifying the task of the prompt
• organizing their  writing 
• providing specific evidence from the text to expand upon their opinions/thoughts

Therefore, our school-wide literacy focus areas will center around:

• text structure (to support scholars with organizing their writing)
• close reading/annotating (to support scholars with developing a deeper understanding of complex text and providing specific evidence to support their opinions)
• academic vocabulary (to support scholars' understanding of complex vocabulary in texts and writing prompts)

Professional Development will focus on supporting you with developing a deep understanding of the aforementioned literacy strategies, effectively incorporating them into your lessons, and understanding how to effectively teach the strategies to scholars.

• We will strictly enforce the uniform policy.  Please check uniforms during the first 5 minutes of each class. Scholars MUST be in uniform every day, in all classes. If a scholar is out of uniform, please send him/her, with a pass, to the ISS Room. Again, please do not allow scholars to sit in your class out of uniform. REMINDER: Have scholars unzip and unbutton jackets and sweaters to ensure they are wearing the correct uniform shirt. Shirts MUST have collars. Army green/brown bottoms are NOT part of the uniform.

• Cell phones, ear buds, and/or ear phones MUST be turned off and out of sight during instructional time (unless used for instructional purposes). We MUST "sweat the small stuff" consistently across the entire school.

• Please use the Google Doc LVL 1 Form to document minor scholar behaviors, and scholars with attendance concerns.  Send the LVL 1 form to all appropriate staff members. Remember,  three LVL 1 referrals, that show interventions attempted, must be submitted prior to submitting a Google Doc Discipline Referral.

• Please limit all hall passes.  We must enforce our expectation that instructional time is the priority, and all scholars MUST be in the classroom to learn. You know who your "hall pass" scholars are - they ALWAYS want a pass. Please DO NOT issue passes, with the exception of true emergencies. Additionally, passes should NOT be issued during the first and last 15 minutes of each class period, or after 2:00pm. 

MONDAY, 1/4 "B" DAY

• Faculty Meeting @ 2:45pm

TUESDAY, 1/5 "A" Day

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (ALL PLANNING PERIODS - RM 303) 
  

• 9th Grade Code of Conduct Assembly @ 8:00am
• 10th Grade Code of Conduct Assembly @ 9:15am
• IB Alumni Celebration @ 12:00pm 
• Admin Meeting @ 3:00pm
• Boys BB @ Fairmont Heights JV(5:30pm), V (7:15pm)
• Girls BB @ CHS vs. Friendly JV (5:30pm), V (7:15pm)

WEDNESDAY, 1/6 "B" DAY

• IEP Meetings (All day)

• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 1)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 5)
• 11th grade Code of Conduct Assembly @ 9:15am
• Safe and Supportive Meeting @ 2:45pm

 THURSDAY, 1/7 "A" DAY

• Math Collaborative Planning (2nd period)
• English Collaborative Planning (3rd period)
• Social Studies Collaborative Planning (4th period)
• French Immersion Collaborative Planning(4th period)
• Science Collaborative Planning (5th period)
• SLO Closeout Support for Staff @ 3:00pm in Library

• FRIDAY, 1/8 "B" DAY
• Boys BB @  CHS vs. Surrattsville JV(5:30pm), V(7:15pm)
• Girls BB @ Potomac JV(5:30pm), V (7:15pm) 

PLEASE WATCH THIS!!!!

"A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE"

DECEMBER 21st - DECEMBER 22nd

It'a a Marvelous Monday Team Central!!!

• Our Social Studies, Science, and Math Departments for working extremely hard and supporting students with completing the literary tasks!
• Mr. Byass and Ms. Hollway for an outstanding Holiday Program!! Well done!!
• Ms. White and Ms. Schramm-Slavin for attending the Holiday Program and supporting the Music and Art Departments!
• Mr. Ali and Master Sgt. Ferguson for participating in the Holiday Program!! Our staff is very talented!!
• Mrs. Lorditch for spearheading the Secret Santa Week and all staff members who participated!
• Mrs. Lorditch and the front office staff for putting together, and assisting, with our staff Holiday Luncheon!
• Mr. Bailey and Mr. Norman for hanging our brand new motivational banners around the building!
• Dr. Jones and Mr. Miller for passing the first two parts of their National Board Certification Assessment! Way to go!!

Our school-wide focus is on increasing the literacy capabilities of our students across all content areas. We have started the ball rolling with implementing our literacy tasks in Social Studies, Science, and Math. Additionally, our literacy team is preparing to look at the data from the literacy tasks to determine our students' strengths and areas of growth, and identifying areas of needed professional development. We will begin sharing this data with the entire staff after Winter Break.

• Students are tired, and so are we!! Everyone is ready for Winter Break!! However, we must continue enforcing the expectations of CHS!! Let's continue to "sweat the small stuff" as we work on building "A Culture of Excellence!"
• Please do not order, bring, allow students to bring any food/drinks into the classrooms. If there are questions,  please speak to your Zone Administrator.
• Students must be in uniform this week. There are no "dress down days" this week.
•  On days close to Breaks, students like to walk the building. Please ensure students remain in your classes. Reminder - There should be NO PASSES issued during the first 15 minutes of the class period, or the last 15 minutes of the class period. EMERGENCIES ONLY during the class periods. It is very important that we all adhere to this expectation!!
• Please continue to be vigilant and let's keep our eyes and ears open! If you see or hear of any possible issues with students, or between students, please notify security, ABIS, or Administration ASAP!

Monday, 12/21 "B" Day

• Senior Class Meeting @ 9:15am
• Girls BB @ Surrattsville 7:15pm
• Boys BB @ CHS 7:15pm
• NO DEPT. MEETINGS

Tuesday, 12/22 "A"

• LAST DAY BEFORE WINTER BREAK!!

Thank you for your hard work!! 

Have a wonderful, relaxing, and safe Winter Break!

Let's return recharged in 2016!!

NOVEMBER 16th - NOVEMBER 20th

IT'S A MARVELOUS MONDAY TEAM CENTRAL!

WELCOME BACK! 

 

• Mr. Spence for being selected as part of the PGCPS Male Educator Network Team.
• Dr. Berry for being invited to present at the Critical Questions in Education National Conference in Baltimore Maryland.  This conference was hosted by The Academy for Educational Studies
• Ms. Hernandez for publicly thanking Mr. Spence for his continuous support. (We have to acknowledge each other and spread the good things that are happening around CHS.)
• Mr. Spence for supporting Ms. Hernandez and being a fantastic teammate!!!
• CHS Professional Guidance Department for facilitating a very organized and successful Parent-Teacher Conference Night.
• All staff members who attended and helped during Parent-Teacher Night.
• Ms. Walker for a thorough and effective Performance Matters Training.
• Mr. Ewegbemi for publicly thanking Ms. Walker for an effective Performance Matters Training
• Mr. Suminski and Ms. Devlin for volunteering to chair the Literacy Team. 

Each content area will be implementing a literacy task that will focus on scholars responding to a prompt.  This section of the blog will focus on the steps and strategies that will be used during the literacy task:

• Unlocking the prompt

• Close reading of the text (annotating; breaking down the meaning of the text)

• Responding to text-dependent questions

• Organizing and preparing to write

• Unpacking a rubric

• Writing the essay

UNLOCKING A PROMPT

Although the Science Department is currently implementing the literacy task, it will benefit our scholars if we begin implementing the different steps of the writing task in our daily lessons. 

During a lesson this week, give students an opportunity to practice, by giving them a short writing prompt and have them practice unlocking it using the aforementioned steps.  We look forward to seeing our scholars work on "Unlocking a prompt."in your classes.

 

 WE MUST SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF AND SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE.

• Scholars MUST be in complete uniform - top and bottom BEGINNING WITH EVERY FIRST PERIOD TEACHER! WE MUST direct scholars to unzip jackets and unbutton sweaters to check uniforms. This is how we are missing scholars that are non-compliant with uniforms. If a scholars is out of uniform - PLEASE SEND THEM TO THE ISS ROOM. SCHOLARS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO ENTER A CLASSROOM OUT OF UNIFORM.  Senior shirts and Central shirts are only allowed on Friday's.

• Scholars MUST NOT have cell phones out during class (with the exception of instructional use), ear phones or ear buds in/on ears, or any other electronic device out during instructional time! Please do not allow scholars to listen to music because it helps them "work better." If a scholar has a cell phone out, or earphones and earbuds on/in, we MUST tell them to put it away. Follow your classroom/school consequences. It is unfair to teammates when we are not on the same PAGE!!

• In order for us to assist us with clearing the hallways, please DO NOT issue hall passes the first 15 or last 15 minutes of each class period! During the class period, passes should be issued for EMERGENCY RESTROOM REQUESTS AND EMERGENCY HEALTH ISSUES. Passes should NOT be issued for: LOCKERS, GETTING SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER SCHOLAR OR FROM A TEACHER, "I LEFT SOMETHING IN THE ...?," "I NEED TO CALL MY...?" Our priority is scholar achievement. In order to make it happen, scholars MUST be in class.

MONDAY, 11/16 "B" DAY

• 9th Grade SIT Meeting
• Advanced Placement Teacher Meeting @ 2:30pm

TUESDAY, 11/17 "A" Day

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (ALL PLANNING PERIODS - RM 303)
  

• ATTENDANCE MEETING @ 9AM
• Literacy Team Meeting @ 2:45pm Rm. 100
• College Fair Night @ CHS @6:00pm

WEDNESDAY, 11/18 "B" DAY

• IEP Meetings (All day) 
• SPECIAL EDUCATION LEARNING WALK @ 9am - 11am

• Foundations of Technology Collaborative Planning (Period 1)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 1)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning(Period 5)
• IB 11th Grade Teacher Meeting @ 2:30pm
• Safe and Supportive Meeting @ 2:45pm

• Admin Meeting 3:30pm (Upstairs Conference Room) 

 THURSDAY, 11/19 "A" DAY

• GMAC CAREER ACADEMY FIELD TRIP
  

• Family and Consumer Sciences Collaborative Planning (1st period)
• Math Collaborative Planning (2nd period)
• English Collaborative Planning (3rd period)
• Social Studies Collaborative Planning (4th period)
• French Immersion Collaborative Planning(4th period)
• Science Collaborative Planning (5th period)
• Senior Make-Up Pictures @ 1:15pm - 2:00pm
• Instructional Leadership Team Meeting @ 2:45pm (Media Center)

FRIDAY, 11/20 "A" DAY

IT'S FRIDAY!!!

WEEK OF OCTOBER 26TH - OCTOBER 30TH

IT'S A MARVELOUS MONDAY TEAM CENTRAL!

WELCOME BACK! 

• Major Pabalan for incorporating close reading and an open -response writing task in his ROTC class - "Operation Literacy.
• Staff members who participated in our "Anti-Bullying" Day Orange Out!
• Ms. Hall, Ms. Clark, Ms. D and Ms. Wright Price for winning the Class Orange-Out Day!!

5 Ways to  Incorporate Literacy in the Classroom

A CHS Blog Series

This Week.... 

Writing

When was the last time your students had sore hands from writing in your class? Just like conversation, writing helps us make sense of what we are learning and helps us make connections to our own lives or others' ideas.

You can't avoid thinking when you write.

Students need to be writing every day, in every classroom. How about adding to your instruction more informal and fun writing activities like:

• quick writes - The strategy asks scholars to respond in 2–10 minutes to an open-ended question or prompt posed by the teacher before, during, or after reading.
• stop and jots - Stop and jots are an opportunity for students to stop and jot their thinking while they read. They are meant to be quick, so the reader can keep reading! 
•  one-minute essays - Click for more info
  graffiti conversations - Click for more info
  
   Not all writing assignments need be formal ones. Students need frequent opportunities to write informally and formally.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • It is important that we are ALL speaking the same language to our scholars. Please DO NOT allow any student to sit in your classroom out of uniform, listening to music, texting, or with ear phones or ear buds in their ears.
  • No hall passes should be issued the first 15 or last 15 minutes of each class period! During the class period, passes should be issues for EMERGENCIES only!
  •  Please make sure you are lesson planning each day, and using the school-wide lesson plan template. Lesson plans should be in a binder, and in an area that is accessible for visitors. 
  •  All SLO's were due in Teachscape by October 19, 2015. Department Chairs will be requesting information from you if you have not uploaded your SLO's.   
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  MONDAY, 10/26"A DAY"

  • 10th Grade SIT Meeting
  • First Generation College Bound -College Admissions Workshop @ 6:30pm

  
  

  TUESDAY, 10/27 "B Day"
  

  • 11th Grade SIT Meeting @ 12:00pm

  • Foundations of Technology Collaborative
  • World Languages Collaborative Planning
  • World Languages Collaborative Planning
  •  9th Grade Nation Meeting @ 2:30pm

  • Literacy Team Meeting @ 2:45pm Rm. 100

  
  WEDNESDAY, 10/28 "A" DAY

  • IEP Meetings (All day) 

  • Family and Consumer Sciences Collaborative Planning
  • Math Collaborative Planning
  • English Collaborative Planning
  • Social Studies Collaborative Planning
  • French Immersion Collaborative Planning
  • Science Collaborative Planning 
  • IB 12th Grade Teacher Meeting @ 2:30pm

  • Admin/ABIS/Security/PGC Meeting  - 2:45pm - 3:15pm
  • Admin Meeting 3:30pm (Upstairs Conference Room) 

  
   THURSDAY, 10/29 "B" DAY 
  GOOGLE CLASSROOM TRAINING DURING ALL PLANNING PERIODS - MEDIA CENTER
  

  •  Cross Country @ Ft. Washington Park- Regionals @ 3:00pm
  • College Fair Night @ 6:00pm

  
  
  FRIDAY, 10/30 "A" DAY
  

  • End of First Quarter (45 days)

  • 1/2 Day for Scholars
  • 1/2 Day Professional Development beginning @ 12:45pm

  
  

  SATURDAY,  10/31 

  • JV Football @ Central vs. Fairmont Heights @ 9:00am

  
  

  • (V) Football @ Fairmont Heights @ 2:00pm