12/2/22 ←—- Four 2’s!!
Welcome to Friday. It was a long week here with a lot of emotion. The Woodlawn students were amazing and they are doing great things in the classroom, clubs, activities and even just around the building. I am pleased with our “Your Words Matter” initiative and the general tone in the building. Do we have setbacks? Absolutely, but the conversations are focused and positive as we move forward.
D96 Loss
I know that you all received information from our Superintendent of Schools, Katie Sheridan, about the tragic loss of life in Buffalo Grove. We as educators and you as parents dedicate our personal or professional lives to the enhancement of children, watching them grow academically as well as socially. When something like this happens, especially so close to home, it has an impact on all of us. Thank you to all who have sent well wishes or have had the district in your thoughts.
Congratulations to our November Woodlawn Wolves of the Month!
Each month, Woodlawn will be recognizing our students who stand out as outstanding members of our school community. Each team will recognize one student per month who will receive this honor. This group of students consistently demonstrated respect, kindness, responsibility and perseverance as well as serving as a role model for outstanding expected behavior.
John Podolak
Anjana Edat
Rachel Lee
Rubi Cortez Comino
Eli Kim
Lucas Urbaniak
Abdullah Ahmed
Luke Norvell
Saba Gochiashvili
NWEA MAP
The MAP assessment will be administered district-wide next Monday (12/5) and Tuesday (12/6). MAP testing will be in math and reading for grades 6, 7 & 8.
8th Grade World Languages Information
Dear Families -
In the month of December, 8th-grade students will participate in the AAPPL (The ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages) assessment to assess their communicative competency with the Spanish language. The purpose of this assessment is three-fold:
D96 will collect valuable data that will inform our instruction to continue to enhance our Spanish curriculum and instruction.
Stevenson High School will use this proficiency data to make initial recommendations for Spanish coursework when your student is in high school.
Students will have the opportunity to have experience with an assessment that can lead them to earn the Seal of Biliteracy on their High School diploma when they are in high school.
Tell me more about the assessment.
Your child’s Spanish Teacher will share the specific assessment schedule. The tasks included in this assessment are similar to tasks we use during our regular instruction and assessment cycle in Spanish classes. The students are asked to engage in interpretive listening and reading tasks. This includes listening or reading authentic Spanish pieces and answering questions, in English, about those pieces based on the language the students already know or context given. Additionally, the students will respond to writing prompts in Spanish utilizing learned language skills. The final piece of the assessment is an interpersonal speaking opportunity in which your child will perform for the classroom teacher and will be scored based on a rubric co-constructed with all Spanish teachers across the consortium (D96, D102, D103, and D125) for consistency of expectations.
When will the test be administered?
Listening and Reading- December 8th from 1:06-2:30
Writing- December 9th from 1:06-2:30
What do students need?
Please make sure your student has headphones.
How will this information be used to make course recommendations?
Your student’s level of proficiency (interpretive listening and reading as well as writing) as indicated by this assessment combined with an analysis of their interpersonal speaking skills and teacher input will be used to make an initial course recommendation that is optimal for your student. You will receive this information in the mail late January/early February prior to needing to select courses at Stevenson. You can find the specific course sequence in this course book. In general, recommendations will be made for the following courses based on this assessment:
- Spanish 2
- Spanish 2-3 Accelerated
- Spanish 3-4 Accelerated
As this is a recommendation, your family will have the opportunity to provide input as you make the final selection for a course should your child choose to continue studying the Spanish language.
What is the Seal of Biliteracy?
The Seal of Biliteracy is intended to recognize students for multilingual skills and is indicated on a student’s high school diploma. Additionally, Illinois universities are obligated to offer college credit to students that have earned the Seal of Biliteracy through meeting the requirements.
For more information about this opportunity, use this link and click on the Seal of Biliteracy Tab.
What if my child would like to participate in a benchmark or placement assessment for a language other than Spanish?
Stevenson also provides individuals who have experience in Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, or Latin could take a placement exam to decide if a higher level language course placement would be appropriate for your child. Please visit the Stevenson website for more information and to register for the exam via this link. The deadline to register is Monday, December 12.
The purpose of the benchmark exam is two-fold:
As indicated by this assessment, your student's level of proficiency will be used to determine the appropriate level for course recommendation. This information will be mailed in mid-January prior to Stevenson's Course Selection evenings.
Course selection data collected in February is crucial to determining appropriate staffing, the number of sections, fiscal decisions, and building the master schedule for the following school year.
Finally, more information is available on the Stevenson website and on Benchmark FAQ document. For additional questions, please email [email protected].
Current Patriot Consortium Mathematics Placement Process
The consortium has created criteria that defines the four strands of mathematical proficiency to highlight the attributes of a proficient mathematical thinker. The criteria are grouped into three categories (See chart on second page):
- Procedural Skills & Fluency (How well you can correctly use mathematics.)
- Conceptual Understanding (How well you utilize mathematical ideas, transfer your knowledge into new situations, and apply it to new contexts.)
- Problem Solving with Adaptive Reasoning and Strategic Competence (How well you can apply strategies and sound reasoning.)
Over the course of the year, the mathematics teachers will be discussing these criteria with the students in class to create a portrait of each student. This portrait will be used to recommend the students into the mathematics course at Stevenson High School that matches their content knowledge as well as level of mathematics proficiency at this time.
As a district and consortium, it is our vision that each student moves on to the next course in the sequence providing that there are no significant gaps in content knowledge. If there are significant gaps in content knowledge and a change in recommendation occurs, we will contact you. We feel that this process allows a mathematical picture of the student to develop over time, which will provide a more informed recommendation.
Course Sequence for Bridge Algebra 1 Students
-Algebra 1 with Mentor math or Algebra 1 with Math Guided Study will be recommended if students need to reinforce and refresh targets in Units 1-4
-Algebra 1 will be recommended if students have mastered targets in Units 1-4
Course Sequence for Algebra 1 Students
-Geometry will be recommended if students need to reinforce and refresh targets in Units 1-4
-Geometry Accelerated will be recommended if students have mastered targets in Units 1-4
Course Sequence for Geometry Students
-Algebra 2 will be recommended if students need to reinforce and refresh targets in Units 1-3
-Algebra 2 Accelerated will be recommended if students have mastered targets in Units 1-3
PORTRAIT OF A MATHEMATICALLY PROFICIENT STUDENT
Procedural Skills & Fluency
How well you can correctly use mathematics.
(skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately)
I can identify and use the most efficient method for the problem. (MP7)
I can use mathematical computations, terms, symbols, formulas, and language appropriately. (MP5, 6)
I can recognize the algebraic structure in problems and use rules or procedures to solve or simplify. (MP7)
I can solve problems with accuracy. (MP6)
Conceptual Understanding
How well you utilize mathematical ideas, transfer your knowledge into new situations, and apply it to new contexts.
(comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations, and relations)
I can use diagrams, pictures, and symbols to justify my work. (MP4)
I can understand and justify the “why” of the procedure. (MP3)
I can justify solutions algebraically, graphically, and numerically. (MP3)
I can explain my solution with sound mathematical reasoning using precise mathematics vocabulary and terminology. (MP3, 8)
I can determine the reasonableness of my answer. (MP2)
Problem Solving with Adaptive Reasoning and Strategic Competence
How well you can apply strategies and sound reasoning.
(capacity for logical thought, reflection, explanation, and justification and ability to formulate, represent, and solve mathematical problems)
I can select and use all the pertinent information to solve the problem. (MP2)
I can determine a solving strategy by forming logical relationships among concepts and situations. (MP7, 8)
I can represent a situation mathematically using modeling. (MP4)
I can retain and apply information and skills from previous units to solve problems alongside new concepts. (MP7,8)
I can make connections between multiple mathematical concepts to solve problems in unfamiliar situations. (MP7,8)
I can persevere when encountering new and difficult concepts.(MP1)
Language Arts
Winter MAP Scores and teacher recommendations will be used to create an initial placement into one of the 9th Grade English Courses.
English Placement Options Include:
- Accelerated English- AP Track English (same track as Advanced LA in middle school)
- 9th Grade College Prep English- 9th Grade English- Natural transition from 8th grade LA/ English (same track as 8th LA in middle school)
- 9th Grade College Prep English & Academic Literacy 1- 9th Grade English with an extra class for additional reading & literacy support across multiple content areas; year long class that takes place of 1 elective
Teacher Recommendation
To ensure that students are successful when they get to Stevenson, teacher recommendation will be based on evidence of student progress throughout the school year.
Our Common Core Aligned Curriculum prepares students for the rigor of high school English. Student performance is measured by the following:
Assessments using district rubrics will focusing on the following areas:
Analytic Writing & Literacy Targets
SHS Freshmen English Placement Requirements
Reading RIT Scores (Winter MAP) Initial Course Placement
217 and below (25th percentile or below) Academic Literacy1 + College Prep English
215-235 with teacher recommendation College Prep English
229-265 with teacher recommendation Accelerated English
Vernon Township Food Drive
I received a very kind letter from the people associated with the Vernon Township Food Pantry, thanking us for the food and household items that our families donated before Thanksgiving. Thank you for your generosity Woodlawn families.
Please visit the PTO MONTHLY BLOG
CLICK HERE for the Woodlawn Daily Announcements
Finally, I recently witnessed an uncomfortable encounter while out and about last weekend. Basically, someone lost it in public. It made me wonder what causes this kind of reaction and how we support one another as citizens. My research took me into reports on incivility and how it is expanding and showing itself everywhere. Dating back to 2005, less than half of those interviewed reported on being treated rudely or seeing rude behavior from others. Recently, that number was over 76%. This incivility jump brought me to the path of what is causing this increase.
- As you can imagine, stress is one of the leading causes. The world around us, a lack of exercise and poor sleep habits...among other things are leading to high levels of stress.
- Negative emotions are also a key component of incivility. A large survey has shown that anger is the top emotion that people are having.
- Weakened ties to the community as a whole is another reason. This one concerns me as I transfer my feelings onto this school as I want people to feel connected to Woodlawn.
- Invisibility, meaning people do not feel valued or heard.
- Technology (of course) as people are ignored or foster rudeness from a distance. Items that we look at on the internet are also setting us up to raise our anxiety, unhappiness or stress.
- Lack of self-awareness is also an issue. This is interesting…Research has shown that 95% of people think they are self aware, but only 10-15% actually are. Wow! Think about that one for a minute. That statistic makes me take a step back and pause. How can so many of us, and yes, I will lump myself into that questionable 80-85% of people, not recognize our self awareness flaws?
If the first paragraph is “Here is what”, as I look forward, I want to focus on the “now what?”. My world kind of revolves around Woodlawn and how things are functioning around here. I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect but I try to run a positive and accepting building where everyone feels welcomed. When you read about things in this blog each week, my hope is that it gives you an opportunity to connect with what is happening here. As I mentioned at the top of this blog, the students have been outstanding and I am really proud of them. I look forward to parents coming in and assisting with Special Lunch or Dessert Day and it is important that your children know that you care about what they are doing here. Throughout everything we do, civility matters. I know that my staff understands civility and parents, your support is the backbone of what we can accomplish here. I hope that everyone believes in "best intentions" as we communicate with each other.
When we return from break, I will be hosting a “Chat with Mr. Grana night”. I will share insights into our school, my expectations, experiences and a funny story or two. My hope is that this type of exposure to a building administrator will increase your belief in what we do here. Whether one person comes or 100 people show up, it can be a very positive, civility increasing activity. Honestly, I think that is all we want from one another.