Week of October 28, 2008
Project Graduation's November meeting has been moved to
Tuesday, November 18, 2008, at 7:00pm in the lower media center of
the high school. Please join us for this
meeting to participate in the planning of this alcohol and
drug free night of celebration for Haddam-Killingworth
High School's 2009 graduates. The Project Graduation committee
will also meet on Tuesday, December 9 at 7:00pm. The committee
is still urgently looking for co-chairs of the food committee.
Please grab a friend and make the decision to help! There is
an army of volunteers to help pick-up the food items the night of
graduation. There is also an opening for a person to write
thank-you notes to the businesses that donate their goods and
services for this worthwhile event. Please contact Kaycee
Blancaflor (
kccallahan@uks.com ) or Sue Craffey (
jcraffey@snet.net)
with any questions.
The Board of Education
Subcommittee listings have been updated and are available on the
district website at www.rsd17.org.
FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
The faculty and staff of RSD17 were welcomed back to
the 2008-2009 school year with a professional development plan that
specifically focuses on differentiation of instruction and
assessment of student performance. What is differentiated
instruction? In differentiated instruction, students' needs
drive instructional planning. This model of instruction
requires teachers to tailor their instruction and adjust the
curriculum to the needs of the students. It is a cyclical
process of teaching, assessing, adjusting, and making
accommodations. The most important step in differentiated
instruction is determining what students already know.
Meaningful pre- and post- assessments lead to successful
differentiation by producing results that communicate students'
needs.
The
Special Education Resource Center (SERC), a State of Connecticut,
Department of Education facility based in Middletown, was enlisted
by school superintendent, Gary Mala. SERC will provide staff
professional development and expertise on differentiated instruction
by providing comprehensive training along with technical support.
Members of SERC will become familiar fixtures within
the RSD17 schools. They will visit classrooms, observe
teaching that is taking place, and validate what is working.
In addition, demonstrations of teaching strategies that can be used
to address different student learning styles within a classroom will
be presented to district members. They will offer feedback as
needed to make this initiative successful.
Learning
teams comprised of content area teachers, special area teachers,
pupil service support staff and administrators will be
created. These learning teams will be encouraged to
communicate, collaborate, and visit other districts that are further
along in the process of differentiated instruction. Learning
teams will then share their observations of differentiation in
action with the remainder of staff members.
Over
the next three school years, faculty and staff will engage in
on-going workshops and department meetings. Student work, CMT
and CAPT results will be carefully analyzed in order to determine
areas of students' academic strengths and weaknesses. Staff
will then develop a plan of instructional practice that will target
weak areas. They will continually evaluate and assess the
progress of all students. This information will assist in the
revision and adjustment of instruction so that it incorporates
the necessary materials and strategies that target different
learning styles. It is important to understand that high
expectations and standards will continue to be the norm for all
students. This initiative is about evaluating the effects of
instructional formats, grouping, pacing, learning goals, activities
and resources that are being used and making modifications when data
indicates that adjustments are necessary.
Principals
will also play an enormous role in the implementation of this
initiative. They will be responsible for planning supplemental
professional development opportunities for their staff and
over-seeing activities occurring in their designated buildings. They
will need to consistently support and monitor their teachers in
using collected data to make necessary changes to their instruction.
Why is this initiative important to RSD17?
This training provides the teachers of RSD17 with the knowledge,
support and the additional strategies needed to make their
instruction more meaningful and beneficial to all children that
enter into their classrooms. More importantly, it takes into
consideration multiple intelligences and what teachers can do to
create a learning environment where success is within reach for
every child.
Late night snow reports indicate some 12 to 16 inch totals
were recorded across northwestern NJ on into northern Pennsylvania
and east-central NY. Lots of leftover snow and snow showers
will harass parts of northern New England, but for our area only
scattered instability showers or flurries are likely. The big
story today will be the December-like cold. High temps will
struggle into the low and mid 40's. This combined with a gusty
breeze will make for an unusually cold day. The cold will hang
strong Thursday, but should let up considerably Friday. I
expect Thursday's highs to stay in the 40's, but by Friday we might
creep into the upper 50's to near 60. Another batch of cold
air arrives Sunday and sticks around through next Monday. For
those looking for one last Indian Summer period they may get
their wish next week when a surge of warmth pushes temps above
normal by midweek.
FORECAST UPDATE
Today -
Partly to
mostly cloudy, windy and very cold. Chance of a few
showers. High 40 to 45.
Tonight -
Fair and very cold.
Lows in the 20's to near 30.
Thursday -
Mostly sunny and continued cold. Highs 45 to 49.
Friday -
Mostly sunny
with a highs 57 to 60.
Saturday
- Partly cloudy with a chance of
a showers. Highs in the 50's.
Haddam
Troop 44 Boy Scouts, 5th Annual Pancake Breakfast, Sunday, November
2, 2008, New Fire House Higganum, Connecticut, 8:00am to 11:00am,
ALL YOU CAN EAT!, $5.00 per person, Kids Under 12
free.
The 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school calendars have been
revised to provide one half day per month (for high school students
only) between October 2008 and June 2010 to facilitate high school
personnel time to complete work related to the upcoming
accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges
(NEASC). The revised calendars are available for viewing on
the district's website at www.rsd17.org.
Please visit the District Calendar located on the
district's homepage (
http://www.rsd17.org)
to see when the Open House programs are scheduled to be held.
We look forward to seeing you at them.
A
reminder that the district utilizes the Honeywell Instant Alert
system to communicate with parents during times of emergency or to
deliver messages of high importance. Please be sure that you
are registered with Honeywell (link available at www.rsd17.org) and
have indicated how you wish to have messages received. If you
have questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact the
Principal of any one of our schools for
assistance.
If you wish to have an
announcement included in any Weekly Message, please forward the text
to Cindy Fetteroll, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
of Schools at
fetteroll44@rsd17.org.
If
you have any suggestions regarding the Weekly Message, please
contact Gary S. Mala, Superintendent of Schools at
gmala@rsd17.org.
Enjoy your
week and thank you for your continued support.
Gary
"Believing is
Achieving"
