"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.   
  •  
  •  
  
  
  

  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

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

WEEK OF OCTOBER 12TH - OCTOBER 16TH

IT'S A MARVELOUS MONDAY TEAM CENTRAL!

WELCOME BACK! 

• Ms. Kaplun for her hard work in getting over 90 Juniors to sign up for the PSAT! A 50%+ increase from last school year!!!
• Mr. Nichols, Dr. Fuller, all Sponsors, and the entire SGA Team for a very organized and fun Homecoming Week!!
• Ms. Warner and her team of Senior students for assisting with Homecoming Week and decorating the cafeteria for the dance.
• Ms. Claggett and Ms. Holston and the AWESOME Central High School BLUE THUNDER MARCHING BAND! They were OUTSTANDING!
• All staff members who attended the Homecoming Game and Dance!! Thank you for your assistance!!
• Dr. Jones for sharing a parents' compliments regarding Mr. Nichols tutoring a student, in need of additional Math support, after school! We support each other!!!!
• Ms. Hogans for bringing Dwayne Myko and his Team to help us kick-off PSAT Testing!!
• Ms. Chavez and the ESOL team for providing us with information about prominent Hispanic men and women as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!
• The entire staff for your support during Homecoming Week!! Teamwork makes the dream work!!!

5 Ways to  Incorporate Literacy in the Classroom

A CHS Blog Series

This Week.... 
Speaking

Students having academic or high-level conversations in small and large group settings does not happen overnight. It takes time -- and scaffolding -- to create a Socratic Seminar setting in your classroom.

In order for our students to engage in academic conversation, or accountable talk, they need plenty of practice with informal conversation in pairs and triads. Use the following strategies frequently for building students' oral skills: 

• think-pair-share
• elbow partner
• shoulder share
• chunk and chew
• Kids should be talking and not sitting passively in their seats. 

For every 5-8 minutes you talk, give them 1-2 minutes to talk to each other. You can walk around and listen, informally assessing and checking for understanding.

Conversation helps immensely when processing new content and concepts. Students also will surely have more fruitful answers to share (be sure to always provide wait time when asking questions of students).

*Alber, Rebecca. "How Important is Teaching Literacy in all Content Areas?" Edutopia.15 January 2014.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-instruction-across-curriculum-importance. 11 October 2015.

• WE ARE BACK IN UNIFORMS THIS WEEK! PLEASE ENFORCE THE UNIFORM POLICY, INCLUDING JACKET COLORS BEGINNING MONDAY, 10/12!
• 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!
•  Student Services Videos should have been watched and the assessments completed by October 9, 2015. If you have not done so, please complete ASAP.
•  All SLO's are due in Teachscape by October 19, 2015. (REVISED DATE) See your Department Chair for more information.
•  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. 

MONDAY, 10/12 "B DAY"

• Girls V Volleyball vs. Largo @ CHS - 5:00pm

TUESDAY, 10/13 "A Day"

• Family and Consumer Sciences Collaborative Planning (PD 1A - RM 221) 
• Math Collaborative Planning (PD 2A - RM 212)
• English Collaborative Planning (PD 3A - RM 100)
• Social Studies Collaborative Planning (U.S. His - RM 312; LSN Gov - RM 105; World History - RM 118)
• French Immersion Collaborative Planning (PD 4A - LIB 1)
• Science Collaborative Planning (PD 5A - RM 219)

• Literacy Team Meeting @ 2:45pm Rm. 100
• New Teachers Meeting  @ 2:45pm
• Boys Soccer vs. Forestville @ CHS - 3:30pm
• Girls Soccer @ Forestville - 3:30 pm

WEDNESDAY, 10/14 "B" DAY 

• PSAT DAY
• IEP Meetings (All day) 

• Foundations of Technology Collaborative Planning (PD 1B)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning (PD 1B - RM 201A)
• World Languages Collaborative Planning (PD 5B - RM 204)

• Admin/ABIS/Security/PGC Meeting  - 2:45pm - 3:15pm (Location TBA)
• Admin Meeting 3:30pm (Upstairs Conference Room) 
• 
  
• 
  
• THURSDAY, 10/15 "A" DAY
• CHROME OS TRAINING DURING ALL PLANNING PERIODS - MEDIA CENTER

• Instructional Leadership Meeting @ 2:45pm Media Center
• Boys Soccer vs. Parkdale @ CHS
• Girls Soccer @ Douglass @ 5:00pm
• Girls V Volleyball @ Douglass @ 5:00pm

FRIDAY, 10/16 "B" DAY

• NO SCHOOL FOR SCHOLARS
• NO SCHOOL FOR 10 MONTH EMPLOYEES
• 
  

SATURDAY,  10/17

• (JV) Football vs. Forestville @ 9:00am
• (V) Football @ Forestville @2:00pm

MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK...BY CHOICE!!

Week of September 28th - October 2nd 

It's a Magnificent Monday Team Central!!

Welcome Back!! 

•  Ms. Hall for receiving a literacy grant which allowed the English Department to receive free novels!!!
• Ms. Gibson for celebrating her students and giving "Student of the Week" certificates!!!
• Ms. Fingal for receiving a note from a parent thanking her (Ms. Fingal) for showing professionalism and kindness during the parent's visit to Central!!
• Ms. Clark and Dr. Berry for working with a parent volunteer to begin a partnership with the University of Md. Agriculture Team. They will be working together to fix up our CHS Greenhouse.
• Mrs. Lorditch for spearheading CHS's Breast Cancer Awareness T-Shirt sales!!!
• Ms. Walker for spearheading our Parent University Night and Ms. Booker, Ms. Hogans, Ms. Kaplun, and Ms. Warner for volunteering to lead presentations.

5 Ways to  Incorporate Literacy in the Classroom

A CHS Blog Series

This Week.... 

Teach Vocabulary

• SELECT SPECIFIC WORDS - When planning your lesson, pre-select words that are critical to students' understanding of the content. 
• RANK WORDS - When considering which words need the most instructional attention, let's turn to Isabel Beck's practical way of categorizing vocabulary words into three tiers: Tier One: Basic words that rarely require instructional focus (door, house, book).
  Tier Two: Words that appear with high frequency, across a variety of domains, and are crucial when using mature, academic language (coincidence, reluctant, analysis).
  Tier Three: Frequency of these words is quite low and often limited to specific fields of study (isotope, Reconstruction, Buddhism).
  Beck suggests that students will benefit the most academically by focusing instruction on the tier two words (since these appear with much higher frequency than tier three words, and are used across domains). Go ahead and select some content-specific words (tier three) but only those directly related to the chapter, article, short story, or whatever you are about to read.
• TEACH WORDS - If you haven't heard of him, I'd like to introduce Robert Marzano. This guy is pretty amazing, having spent countless hours observing students and teachers. An education researcher and teacher, he stresses that in all content areas, direct vocabulary instruction is essential and suggests six steps: Step one: The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its definition (tap into prior knowledge of students, use imagery).
  Step two: Students restate or explain the new word in their own words (verbally and/or in writing).
  Step three: Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the word (a picture, or symbolic representation).
  Step four: Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the new word (compare words, classify terms, write their own analogies and metaphors).
  Step five: Students discuss the new word (pair-share, elbow partners).
  Step six: Students periodically play games to review new vocabulary (Pyramid, Jeopardy, Telephone).
  
  *Alber, Rebecca. Doing it Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary.  January 16, 2014. Edutopia. September 28, 2015. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/vocabulary-instruction-teaching-tips-rebecca-alber>
  
  
  
   Continuing with our checking for understanding feature...
  
  
  
  EXIT TICKETS
  
  
  • An exit ticket is perhaps one or two questions or problems for students to answer quickly at the end of class.
  •  Not only are exit tickets a great way to assess what students learned, but they are also a good tool for teachers to see how well they taught the material.
  •  An important aspect of exit tickets is that you need to make sure that they are short and simple, and also usually focused on the main points of the lesson, not small details. 
  •  Make sure that you have the exit ticket questions ready before class begins, so that you don't waste time at the end of class trying to come up with questions. Either write  them on the board or pass out a slip of paper so that the students can visually see the questions.
  •  Allow students to get used to the routine of completing exit tickets upon the dismissal of each class period.
  
  *Thompson, Jordan. Exit Ticket. Teach Like a Champion. September 28, 2015.  <Teachlikeachampionjordan.weebly.com/exit-ticket.html>
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Please sign up for the October 2, 2015 County-Wide Professional Development (for your content area). Information can be found on the Staff Portal.
  • Please view Student Services Videos and complete assessments by October 9, 2015.
  •  All SLO's are due in Teachscape by October 19, 2015. (REVISED DATE) See your Department Chair for more information.
  •  Please use the Google Doc LVL 1 Form to document minor student behaviors, and students 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. See Major Pabalan for more information. 
  •  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.
   
  
  
  
  
  
  

   

  MONDAY, 9/28 "A DAY"

  • Value Teachers @ 11:00am in Staff Lounge
  • Smart Board Training - Periods 2-5 (Location TBA) 
  • Department Meetings @ 2:45pm
  • Volleyball vs. Potomac @ Central - 7:00pm
   

  TUESDAY, 9/29 "B Day"

  • Foundations of Technology Collaborative Planning (PD 1B)
  • World Languages Collaborative Planning (PD 1B - RM 201A)
  • World Languages Collaborative Planning (PD 5B - RM 204)
  • Literacy Team Meeting @ 2:45pm Rm. 100
  • Boys Soccer @ Highpoint - 3:00pm
  • Girls Soccer vs. Highpoint @ Central - 5:00pm

  
  WEDNESDAY, 9/30 "A" DAY 

  • IEP Meetings (All day) 
  • Family and Consumer Sciences Collaborative Planning (PD 1A - RM 221) 
  • Math Collaborative Planning (PD 2A - RM 212)
  • English Collaborative Planning (PD 3A - RM 100)
  • Social Studies Collaborative Planning (U.S. His - RM 312; LSN Gov - RM 105; World History - RM 118)
  • French Immersion Collaborative Planning (PD 4A - LIB 1)
  • Science Collaborative Planning (PD 5A - RM 219)
  • Admin/ABIS/Security/PGC Meeting  - 2:45pm - 3:15pm (Location TBA)
  • Admin Meeting 3:30pm (Upstairs Conference Room) 
  • Parent University Night - All Grades @ 6:00pm
  •  
  • THURSDAY, 10/1 "B" DAY

  • Girls Soccer @Eleanor Roosevelt @3:00pm

    Boys Soccer vs. Eleanor Roosevelt @ Central @ 3:30pm

  • Volleyball @ Forestville @6:30pm

   

  FRIDAY, 10/2 "B" DAY

  • NO SCHOOL FOR SCHOLARS
  • PGCPS TEACHING AND LEARNING CONFERENCE
  •  

  SATURDAY,  10/3

  • (JV) Football @ Douglass 9:00am
  • (V) Football vs. Douglass @ Central @3:00pm
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK!!

   

  HAVE AN AMAZING, GREAT BY CHOICE, WEEK!!!