Faculty Notes

Hello, All!  I hope everyone has enjoyed a relaxing weekend.

Here are just a few items as we head into the new week:

Faculty Meeting 

There is no faculty meeting Monday.  Some committees will be meeting, however, so check with the chairpersons of any on which you serve to see if you have a Monday afternoon commitment.

Important Upcoming Dates

The 7th grade Government field trip is this Friday, October 29.  Our 7th grade students and faculty (including myself) will be off campus for the entire day.

Congress Day is Friday, November 19.  More information is forthcoming from Rebecca Helms.

The Rule of Three

I discovered this great article in my leadership reading this week.  It discusses the Rule of Three and how this "rule" makes for more efficient meetings.  I believe the concept could also be applied to teaching a 50-minute class, so I hope you will take a few minutes to explore these ideas.

See you tomorrow!

Faculty Notes

Happy Weekend!

Thanks so much to those of you who came out to the "Minute to Win It" 5th Quarter event after the T. R. Miller game Friday night.  The kids behaved themselves beautifully and we all had a great time! (Be sure to ask Karen Harris about her dress, and you'll get an idea of what you missed if you didn't come!)

Here are some important upcoming events you'll want to be sure and mark on your calendar:

Our 7th Grade Government field trip is set for Friday, October 29.  The entire 7th grade will be off campus for the school day visiting our local and state government offices here in Montgomery and in Pike Road.  For further information, see Whittington McLemore.

Also, grades 6-8 will participate in congress Day on Friday, November 19.  See Rebecca Helms for more information about this event.

Part of my "thank you" for our stellar SAIS comments is an afternoon off this Monday.  NO FACULTY MEETING FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION!  Enjoy - you deserve it!

Some of you are having students create comic strips to demonstrate that they understand material.  If this idea interests you, this link could be very helpful.

We have recently increased our web presence here in the middle school division.  This article discusses the importance of having such a presence in today's educational environment.

I'm looking forward to seeing each of you Monday!

Faculty Notes

Happy Saturday!

I hope you enjoyed a dress-down day yesterday.  You certainly earned it this week!

Thank you so very much for everything you did to make our SAIS visit a success.  Several of you, along with some of our students, visited with team members, and others covered classes to make this possible.  However, most of all, you each do an outstanding job with our kids, and the visiting team took notice of that in a big way.

Our visitors this week had many nice things to say about our middle school program and about our professional TEAM of educators.  It was obvious to them that you love these children, and that you are passionate about what you do.  Please know that I deeply appreciate each of you and the hard work you do to make our middle school what it is!  Together, we will continue improving for the benefit of our kids.

Now for the announcements:

Please remember that we have standardized testing scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, which includes a noon dismissal.  If you have any questions about your testing responsibilities, please see Becky Shepherd.

We work hard here at Trinity to provide you with as many "perks" as possible.  One of these is the abundant supply of copy paper as well as several ink jet and laser printers.  I am reminded of just how good we have it every time I buy copy paper for my wife to take to her public school job.  Yes, she has to buy her own.

To that end, please be careful with the number of color prints we make -- especially on the library printer.  Ink jet cartridges and laser printer toner tend to be quite expensive and we want to be good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us.

Our YMCA student groups are putting together a social activity next Friday night following the TR Miller game from 9:15 - 11:15 in Willett Hall.  We need some teachers to assist with chaperoning this event, so please sign up in the copy room if you can help with this.  It promises to be a fun evening and you won't want to miss out!

As educators, we are always looking for ways to take our game to the next level.  I have found Google to be very helpful in my work, and you may want to explore the many ways it can be used to enhance your teaching.  This article shows us 100 ways Google can help the classroom teacher.  I hope you find some useful information!

Have a great weekend!

Faculty Notes

Happy Homecoming Friday!

We all seemed to have survived homecoming week! Now, I hope you'll take some time for yourself this weekend.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as we head out of here today:

SAIS Visit

Our SAIS visiting team will arrive on campus next Tuesday, and will be here through Thursday.  I have asked a few of you to visit with the team for about twenty minutes Wednesday afternoon.  Thank you for agreeing to help with this!  I will be in contact with other faculty members to make sure we can have classes covered for this time span as visiting team members chat with a representation of our faculty.

Thank you for the hard work you have put toward helping us be prepared for next week.  Several of you have served on committees, and have contributed long hours in the preparation of our self-study.  It goes without saying that we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Laura Williams, our accreditation coordinator, who has done an outstanding job of keeping everything on track for us.

Please remember that our K-12 faculty meeting has been moved from Monday to Thursday at 3:40 in Willett Hall.  The SAIS visiting team will present their findings to us at this meeting, so please make every effort to be there.

Please consult this week's Faculty and Staff Bulletin for detailed information regarding our SAIS visit.

Professional Development Resources

Here are a few links that I thought would be useful to you in your daily work here at Trinity:

This site offers tips on how to deal with technology glitches as they pop up in your day-to-day work.  With all of the technology we are adding, we could all use some help in this area!

Many of you are entering into the world of project-based learning more and more.  This site offers seven "essentials" for project-based learning.  I hope you can find some useful information there.

As we assign homework to our students, let's constantly ask ourselves if it is appropriate and enhancing the learning process.  This site gives five "hallmarks" of good homework, and is certainly worth a look.

Thank you, as always, for everything you do each and every day.  You are deeply appreciated!

Have a great weekend, and GO CATS!