Catholic S. S.
Jun. 8 - Jun. 12, 2009
| Mary Ward Catholic S. S. |
V A R I A Jun. 8 - Jun. 12, 2009 |
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Volume 24--Issue 38 |
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Hello All: This is Even Week 38. Friday has passed and I’m sure most of you went home with piles of marking to do. It was a difficult week for most of us in terms of conversations with students and colleagues and the never-ending ‘let’s make a deal’. On the upside, we have the Athletic Banquet, Graduation and Prom to look forward to celebrating. We also have the opportunity to come together as a community in our final mass and staff social.
We are not done just yet, however. Lynda Dever has put out a detailed listing of what the final days of the year will look like. Keep this posted by your desks for daily reference.
Monday, June 8th will be a scheduled Day 1. Attendance will be taken in the morning only. The intention of scheduled Day 1 and Day 2’s are for exam review and communication of final status to students – ready for exam, carry-over, course failure, or summer school. In some cases, there may be a few final evaluation-style ‘items’ that will be done in these classes. It may also be useful to poll students in terms of overall course evaluations – what aspects of your course students liked, disliked, found difficult, etc… This feedback would be very useful for any unit writing or re-writing that is done over the summer. Just a suggestion….
During TA on Monday and Tuesday, please remind students that the MUST clear out their lockers by Friday, June 12th. Grade 9’s and new students will be to be reminded that locks will be removed by custodial staff and that lockers will not be in use over the summer school. Additional garbage receptacles will be available. Please encourage recycling.
This week students are encouraged to complete their timetable stamping. As a favour, please remind students that they need to demonstrate responsibility in not losing their timetables. It is difficult for students who have misplaced their timetables to run around finding their teachers to get stamps just prior to a final exam. This is too much pressure for students and doesn’t put them in the proper frame of mind to write a final exam. HOLD ONTO THOSE TIMETABLES!!!!! As Teacher Advisors, you must collect the fully stamped timetables of any students that ARE NOT WRITING FINAL EXAMS. If timetables are NOT completed, please forward this information to Josie Giancola. As a school, we need to ensure that materials are returned to all departments and outstanding fines or the replacement of texts/materials has been finalized.
Finally and perhaps most importantly on MONDAY AND TUESDAY, all subject teachers MUST let all their students know where they will be available for consultation during this WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY’S TUTORIAL DAYS. This is particularly important for teachers in two or more departments. We have made a change to accommodate teachers’ ability to mark and have access to computers and files. Rather than have teachers follow scheduled Day 1 and Day 2 schedules on the Tutorial days, we have decided that we will follow a Day 0 schedule for Tutorial Days on Wednesday and Thursday. Please understand that these are not exam days. Tutorial days are regular school days. Attendance is taken in the morning in TA1. If you are aware that some of your advisees will not be taking advantage of the Tutorial days, please remind them that their parents need to call into the school to record their absence. Subject teachers must provide a location for all their students so that students will have easy access to their teachers for consultations and questions. I’m sure that it goes without saying, but teachers must be in the building from 8:30 – 3 p.m. Lunch is still 40 minutes. These days are built into the year to accommodate teacher marking and exam preparation for students. Let’s not jeopardize this.
Tuesday, June 9th, OASIS teachers will be off to Woodland Trails to do an intensive leadership training with next year’s OASIS leaders. Teachers and students will depart after school on Tuesday and will return on Wednesday at 2 p.m. OASIS teachers that are absent for Wednesday, MUST let their students know about their unavailability on Wednesday. Again, please let your Day 2 students know your departmental location on the Tutorial Day.
This Wednesday, June 10th is the Math EQAO test. All eligible grade 9’s will be involved in this process. The English and Math Resource areas, as well as the Test Centre will be out of commission during the morning. We have moved all English Teachers to the Library for Wednesday morning. Students will not be able to access their math teachers until Wednesday afternoon. This will be communicated to all students! It is also our first Tutorial day. The purpose of the Tutorial Days is to provide students opportunities to ask questions, clarify concepts, review files, etc… with their subject teachers. Wednesday is also our first sign up day for summer school.
Please refer to the Year End Dates memo for all specific details and events.
Thursday summer school registration continues. This is our last day for cafeteria service. Please drop by the café to say goodbye for the summer (or until summer school begins) to Sabina, Esther, and Cathy. Thursday is also the annual Special Education staff luncheon and it is also the TDCAA Coaches’ Appreciation Dinner at Fr. John Redmond.
Friday is our FIRST exam day. I am preparing a supervision list. The TCDSB is hosting their annual Secretaries’ Luncheon. Have fun, ladies! There will be a Quad meeting in the Office Conference room at 11:30 a.m. Friday will also be our annual Athletic Banquet for student-athletes and their coaches. This is always a wonderful evening for celebration. We hope that all coaches are able to attend. It is very meaningful for the student-athletes to have all their coaches attend. We hope you can make this great event.
On the topic of exam supervision, please let me give everyone a few details. I am in the process of putting together the exam supervision schedule. If there is some reason why you cannot be available on a particular day, you need to let me know by noon on Monday. Otherwise, you will have to find your own replacement. There are some departments who are doing their own examinations that are not on the official schedule. Again, I need to know the dates (for those that have not already let me know). All teaching staff and Instructional Assistants will be asked to help out. If you are a Chief Presider, please take note. I will attach a memo outlining the exam supervision expectations for all staff. Please be on time for your supervision as there is work to be done setting up prior to the 8:30 and 12:30 start times. All our thanks in advance for your assistance and hard work!
During the exam schedule, teachers may not need to be in the building if their services are not required. Please be sure that you are aware of department meetings, supervisions, and the End of Year dates. We would request that you provide a cell phone number that you can be reached in the event that your input is required. Please leave that cell phone number with Paulette. This is particularly important on June 22nd and June 23rd. Guidance will likely need to reach many teachers for graduation marks discussions. You must be able to be contacted.
On behalf of the Guidance Department, Admin, and our beloved school secretaries…. We will soon begin our final reporting cycle. We will open our reporting cycle on Tuesday, June 16th and you may begin to enter marks when available. As you should be aware, last June was just plain UGLY in terms of errors made by teachers in reporting final grades. We spoke about this in September and even showed staff some of the more glaring errors. Guidance is still picking up and fixing some of these errors even now! Last April’s reporting cycle was again fraught with errors. Lynda Dever and our secretaries had to re-enter some teacher marks well beyond the verification changes. Verifications are reserved to make minor adjustments that you, as teachers, may have failed to check during the initial report mark entering process. Please ensure accuracy in your marks and report card entry. One of the big problems we encountered was with the LOAD MARKS button. If you have not adjusted your incomplete marks, conditional zeros, etc… the marks will not be accurate. YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE REPORT CARD MEMO CAREFULLY. Please also ensure that the Learning Skills and Report Card Comments match the mark. Too often we have had to field calls when a mark of 35 is assigned. The comment is ‘credit granted’ and ‘good work’. Learning Skills then reflect ‘E’ across the screen. This reflects on all of our professionalism. Please take the time to do an excellent job. We know that you are tired and are waiting for the summer. No one wants to come back in July to fix their marks! We will be coming around to speak with specific individuals. In the meantime, if you are uncertain of how to enter final marks, please ask for help!
As a last note, I wanted to express my gratitude for your demonstration of support and friendship not only on Friday morning, but throughout my lengthy time at Mary Ward. I have been having a tough couple of days since the news of my change. I know that it is an honour to be appointed principal at Cardinal Carter and I will be excited eventually, but right now, my heart hurts. I am trying to savour every last minute at Ward and to appreciate even such things as exam scheduling and supervision. This is our last Varia of the year and my last Varia at Ward. This is an exceptional community with exceptional people and I have been so fortunate to have been a part of it for so many years.
Have a great week.
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| This Week At Ward (Week 38, Even Week) | |||
