Friday Memo - 8/12/22

Important dates August 15 & 16 - Uninterrupted teacher work days August 17 - Professional Learning Communities professional development August 18 - 8th grade Band plays National Anthem at Busch Stadium (approx 12pm); Staff Pictures, Open House prep, Open House (3pm - 7pm) August 22 - First day of school!

September 5 - No School; Labor Day
September 16 - Early Release Day; dismissal at 12:32 pm
September 16 - PLC Mini Conference presenter expression of interest email due to Mayes

Staff Recognition Committee & PBTE Committee
Human Resources is currently seeking volunteers for the Staff Recognition Committee and the PBTE Committee. If you are interested in serving on either of these committees, please email Shenita Mayes and she will submit your name to HR.

• Staff Recognition Committee - Teacher, support staff, and admin committee designed to plan end-of-year staff recognition celebration for all staff.
• PBTE Committee (Performance Based Teacher Evaluations) - Teacher and admin committee designed to preview and evaluate the teacher evaluation tools.

Middle School THRIVE Program
We are excited to announce that we will be offering an after school WG Thrive entrepreneurial enrichment program for Hixson students starting September 2022, and are currently seeking applicants for after school program teachers. Please click the link below to read the job description, and use the After school activities sponsor sign up to express interest in being a sponsor!

Middle School THRIVE program sponsor

COVID-19 updates
2022-2023 Continued Learning Quarantine Process for COVID-19

Professional Development Opportunities

Please read the information below regarding a salary credit opportunity at Hixson this year!

Equity is defined as a state of existence that is reached when our social identities, and the intersections thereof, do not predict our outcomes. As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that ALL students receive an education that allows them to thrive and reach their fullest potential. This means that our work with students is purposefully loving, affirming, challenging, and empowering. 

In this salary credit course, participants will learn and implement specific strategies/techniques/approaches to instruction that will yield equitable outcomes for the students they serve. The course will begin with an immersion experience that will give a glimpse into the history of education in St. Louis, connecting the equity issues that we see today to their historical origins. Then, participants will meet every six weeks after school to continue their learning, reflect on what they’ve implemented, and discuss the results of the implementation. The salary credit course will culminate in a celebration and an opportunity to assist building administration with planning professional development for the 23-24 school year. 

Facilitators: Mike Hazelton, Shenita Mayes, Jason Heisserer (consultant + former Hixson principal)

Meeting Schedule:

• Saturday, September 24, 2022: History of education in STL Immersion Experience; 9am to 2pm

• Tuesday, November 1, 2022: 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm

• December 13, 2022: 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm

• January 24, 2023: 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm

• March 7, 2023: 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm

• April 18, 2023: 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm

• May 16, 2023: 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm (celebration)

• May 31 OR June 1, 2023: 8:30 am - 3:30 pm (professional development planning)

• Four “on your own” assignments will be embedded throughout the year. They will each require one hour of time. 

Based on this meeting schedule, this course is worth 2 salary credits or a $360 ($15/hr for 24 hours) stipend. If you would like to sign up for this professional development opportunity, please email Mike Hazelton and Shenita Mayes. All staff are welcome!

New Course Proposal Timeline

Please see the linked timeline for new HX/WGHS course proposals for the 22-23 school year (courses will be implemented in 23-24).

New 6-12 Course Proposal Timeline 22-23

Please review it when you have a moment and let me know what questions you have. 

HXMS & WGHS presents: PLC Mini-Conference, November 8, 2022

Hixson and WGHS will have a full, no student day set aside for professional development on November 8, 2022. Since we share seven CLTs with WGHS, we will collaborate with them to plan a PLC mini-conference to be held at Hixson Middle School. Multiple sessions will be offered throughout the day for you and your CLT to attend. You will deepen your understanding of how PLC work helps us become even better practitioners and helps us provide an equitable education for ALL students. If you are interested in presenting at this mini conference, please review the list of possible topics below to get an idea of what we are looking to offer during the conference.

Conference Theme: Achieving Equity through Effective Professional Learning Communities

• Priority Standards (What are they and how do we choose them?)
• Common formative and summative assessments (creating quality assessments) 
• Creating common scoring guides PLC Q1
• Using student work samples to calibrate instructional and grading practices 
• Aligning teaching sequence to make common formative assessments possible 
• Collecting assessment data 
• Using standardized testing data to inform decisions around instructional practice
• Disaggregating assessment data to determine patterns and trends
• Responding to patterns and trends in data
• Classroom-based progress monitoring
• Best practices to ensure student understanding
• Creating meaningful opportunities for intervention and enrichment
• Response to Intervention 101
• Multi-tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS)
• other?

If you are interested in presenting at this mini-conference, please send Shenita Mayes an email by September 16, 2022. Please include information about what you would like to present. Your email is an expression of interest and it is not a final commitment to presenting at the conference.