Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 |
| March 14, 2017 |
Did you know that the very spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech is inscribed eighteen steps from the top landing of the Lincoln Memorial? I had the opportunity to stand on that spot while visiting Washington D.C. in 2017. I was on an HBCU tour with a group of about forty high school juniors and seniors. Our tour of Morgan State University was canceled due to weather, so we decided to tour the Washington Mall instead. I will never forget this simple yet inspiring moment in my life.
On August 28, 1963, the day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech, my great grandmother was 37 years old, my grandmother was 17 years old, and my mother wasn't born yet. On the day that Dr. King gave this speech, my great grandmother was the same age that I will be on August 28 of this year. Thinking about such significant events in terms of how old the matriarchs in my family were on these days helps to give me perspective. On that day, Dr. King delivered a freedom dream to the world. How did that impact a 17 year old black girl? What about her 37 year old mother? Did that speech give them hope for the future?
I had a conversation with my grandmother and older sister yesterday about the events that unfolded last week at the capitol and the continued fight for racial justice in this country. My grandmother always reminds us of how life for black folks back then was about surviving a world that believed deeply in their inferiority and had every intention on keeping them there. She explained how the events last week elicited the same feelings of horror that she lived with on a daily basis growing up in Jim Crow America. This was deeply disturbing and hurtful to me, and it exasperated my own feelings of hopelessness that I have recently been trying to supress.
But then I listened to Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech today.
Did listening to this speech make it all better? Absolutely not. Did it remind me of the sacrifices that my ancestors made for me and for the betterment of this world so that someday Dr. King's dream can be realized? Absolutely. Today, I will meditate on this speech. I will meditate on the possibilities of Dr. King's freedom dream, and specifically consider the educator's role in the very act of dreaming. I invite you to join me in honoring Dr. King's life and his contribution to the world in whatever way you see fit, particularly as we look ahead into what could be a very tumultuous week.
Important Dates
January 12 - February 5 - NWEA Testing
January 19 - Virtual Incoming 6th grade Parent Night
January 21 - Virtual Incoming 7th grade Parent Night
January 20 - Picture retake day, Inauguration Day
January 25 - 29 - Elementary Virtual School Visits/6th & 7th grade Course Selection Talks
February 1 - Department meetings, 3:35 pm to 4:45 pm
DOMAIN 1: HIXSON & COVID-19
Revised plan for supporting students who are quarantined
Click HERE to view the final version of our revised plan for supporting students who are quarantined. This plan starts on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. If your quarantined students were attending your virtual classes (if you have any), then you need to understand that they may not be able to do that anymore because more teachers are now live streaming their instruction, causing quarantined students to have classes to attend at their regularly scheduled times. This plan was released to parents this afternoon. Jason Heisel and Gail Tumminello are working on getting webcams checked out to teachers who requested one.
If you need to change your plan down the line, please let me know as soon as possible so I can update the plan. Be sure to let your students know about the change.
Remote teaching
If you ever have to teach remotely, please make sure you review the protocols below and let me know if you have any questions.
Protocol for teaching remotely
Click HERE to access the protocol for teaching remotely.
Protocol for substitute teachers who will cover virtual classes
Please read the information below regarding how we will handle/support substitute teachers who need to cover virtual classes.
IF we have a sub who needs to teach via Zoom:
The classroom teacher must add Sarah Magruder as a co-host to the Zoom so that she can start the Zoom classes, if necessary.
Sarah Magruder will assign a hixsonsub1(through10)@wgcloud.org to the primary teacher.
The primary teacher needs to then make the hixsonsub(NUMBER ASSIGNED)@wgcloud the cohost on Zoom.
Sarah Magruder then assigns the sub covering for the virtual class the sub wgcloud email address
and password to login to Zoom with. The sub will log into Zoom using the hixsonsub(NUMBER)@wgcloud.org assigned to them by Sarah Magruder.
https://zoom.us/signin
example: username: hixsonsub1@wgcloud.org password WGSD2021!
IF more than one sub will be teaching via Zoom for the primary teacher then the primary teacher will
need to add the appropriate hixsonsub(number)@wgcloud.org as cohost to their Zoom sessions.
We have a total of 10 Sub accounts setup in wgcloud to use.
DOMAIN 2: HIXSON & EQUITY
Alive and Well
We had a very informative session with Alive and Well on Monday afternoon. Click HERE to view Michele's presentation.
Resources for having difficult conversations with students regarding recent events
Inauguration Day - January 20, 2021
I was notified on Friday that the district will release a plan to all staff for the handling of Inauguration Day. I will share it with you as soon as I receive it.
DOMAIN 3: HIXSON & STEGER
Transition Task Force Updates
The Equity work group of the Transition Task Force is seeking feedback on progress that Hixson and Steger have made on equity work thus far in both buildings. Please click HERE to take their brief survey. They really need your feedback to help them move their work forward!
2021-2022 Team Names
The Rebranding and Campus Beautification work group of the Transition Task Force is currently seeking ideas for new team names. If you have an idea or a theme for team names, please submit it to Dr. Mayes by January 29, 2021. Please, no colors or constellations. Those themes are already in place at Hixson and Steger, and we need to pick team names that are inclusive of both schools as one.
DOMAIN 4: HIXSON & CONSTRUCTION
Construction tour
The Hixson admin team had the opportunity to tour our construction site on Friday. It was such an amazing experience to witness up close how this building is transforming and expanding. We are so grateful to the Webster Groves community, architects, and construction workers for their hard work and dedication to this project. I've included some pictures from our tour below.
 |
8th grade Science Lab
New Band Room
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.