When we returned to campus on Monday, one could recognize that most of our students and staff had clearly established a new routine over the Thanksgiving Break. Whether it was sleeping in, napping, staying up late, changing one's diet or exercise routine, we have been a little fatigued this week. One can tell how sleepy a campus can be from what is not said, by the level of noise in the halls, and the yawns. Teenagers are always tired so the change in body language and lack of noise are the keys. Everyone loved the week off, but it's hard to get back into the routine when it's a little cold in the morning and even the car seats are cold. On Tuesday morning, we took the Senior Panoramic Picture. As I have mentioned over the years, this is truly a magical day for our Seniors. Every day students walk in the hallway by the Counseling Center and the Commons and see the Senior Composites. Students know that one day they will be forever a part of CHAP history by being on the wall. It's a moment of clarity for our seniors: this is our last year. This is real. We are on way to the next phase of our life. Kids sometimes ask great questions. "Mr Ramsey, why do we take the senior picture after spring break so it only hangs on the wall for a few months with the actual seniors on campus?" And sometimes adults do not have quality answers. So we decided to take the picture in the first semester as a way to have their picture visible for a longer period of time. This movement did not change the nostalgic conversations down the parking lot hill between our kids. It actually may have been great timing as our students may have begun reflecting on their experience a little sooner and the level of senioritis is not as severe as in March. This is a tremendous group of seniors, and their conversations were just a little more optimistic and genuine without the eventual cynicism that can impact seniors all over the US in their last few weeks of high school. This month in our TEACHER FEATURE we are visiting with one of our new teachers on campus, Lisa Taylor. The Teacher... Lisa is an engineering and AP Physics teacher that came to us from Huntington Beach, California, where she previously taught AP Physics. Ms. Taylor has been teaching for 8 years, and says she does it because she loves the kids. She hopes to inspire students to pursue careers in science and engineering in college, and says she measures her success based on how many kids she can inspire to pursue careers in those fields. Based on conversations with students in her class, it appears Ms. Taylor is meeting her goal.
The Lesson... As part of their civil engineering unit students were working in groups to design and build towers that can resist earthquakes. In previous lessons they individually built models and prototypes of towers, and as a class tested each design to determine what design features were best for allowing the building to resist vibrations and shift the resonance frequency of the tower out of earthquake range. Students then selected the most effective design features when creating their final tower. Throughout the process of building their tower, they test their designs intermittently and make changes as necessary. The ultimate goal is to design a tower that is most effective at resisting the vibrations caused by earthquakes. One group said that they were designing dampers on their tower to improve structural stability, and ensure that their tower vibrates out of the 1-2 Hertz range. Group members were Deuce Smoot. Grant Yeakey & Emre Latiffes. They said they conducted several tests of their tower on a shaker table, and were choosing damper designs that maximize structural stability in earthquake scenarios. The Coach... In addition to teaching advanced academics Ms. Taylor also serves as one of our Cheerleading coaches. She was a cheerleader herself in high school and college. She has always enjoyed the excitement around football and cheer. As a cheer coach, Ms. Taylor can connect with students, and it allows her to be part of building and participating in school spirit. In her own words Ms. Taylor says “I want to be a part of their high school experience, and see them have fun and enjoy themselves.” We want to thank Ms. Taylor for bringing some fun and joy to our campus. When we return on Monday, we will be working towards a quick finish to the first semester. Our students and staff will be working and deciding on semester exam exemptions. We will only have 11 school days until the beginning of semester exams. Here we go............
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“Thanks for your service.” The week started with our Veterans Day Assembly. Monday morning began with our Student Council leading our annual assembly honoring our veterans. With the help of the WHS band, choir, and orchestra, our students led one of the finest traditions for our student body. Our speaker was Mr. Dean Phillips who is a veteran of the US Army while also being a substitute teacher for our campus for nearly twenty years. Mr. Phillips, who served two combat tours in Vietnam, did a fine job. Photo by WHS Senior, Will Rhodes We also shared a story from our Virtual Vietnam Memorial, which has over 1800 videos created by WHS students honoring the servicemen and women who gave their lives in Vietnam. One of the coolest aspects of our assembly is when we play the songs of the armed services and request students and staff to stand if their parents or grandparents or any relative served in that armed service branch. We appreciate all our groups making this a special event for our community. In the fall of 2011, our campus was the pilot program for the introduction for the 1:1 technology initiative. As one of the two administrators tasked with this initiative, I can say that this has been a process that has always included feedback from all stakeholders-students, staff and parents. During this past week, our staff and parents received a survey from the Digital Learning Task Force. We hope you can find the time to complete this survey: CLICK HERE TO BEGIN SURVEY Feedback is crucial for any organization, and we hope the DLTF receives an ample amount of direct feedback. Our students will be receiving their survey the week after Thanksgiving Break. Thanksgiving is a wonderful day for many reasons. It is special for I believe it is the one holiday that can be deeply personalized for each family. Everyone has their own traditions and activities that are simply part of the day.
Since my father was in the Air Force, we moved around a lot. For those who had parents in the military, this day could take on many variations based on a number of different circumstances: how far away from family, how long in the new assignment, living on or off the base, stage of military career, and if dad would be home for the day. After getting to spend back-to-back Thanksgivings with family in Montgomery, we found ourselves in southern Illinois at Scott Air Force Base. We would be spending the day alone due to various circumstances. After helping with the preparation for the meal, my mom and I took our dog for a walk. It was very cold with skies filled with gray. We were walking along, and my mom asked me what I was thankful for on that day. I do not remember what all I said, but I do remember my mom taking the time to tell me all the reasons she was proud of me. This yearly exchange became our tradition that would last until she passed away. We spent our last Thanksgiving traveling to many homes in November of 2001 as we knew she would pass soon. My mom was clever and crafty enough not to have that thankful and proud exchange until we arrived back to her home late that evening after celebrating Thanksgiving at least six times with her friends. That night was a little different as she not only told me what she was currently proud of me for, but she went on to detail the things she knew she would be proud of me for as I grew as a husband, possible future father, and educator since she would not be around the next year. Traditions are fun for they can be passed down from generation to generation. While my girls may not look forward or listen to my “proud list” for each kid, they all do glowingly and joyfully express their gratitude for Grandma Mary whom they never met. Have a wonderful break, and take care of each other over the next week. Over the years, I have written about the excitement and joy derived from watching our students compete, perform, and create life-long memories. Whether it’s on a field, stage, diamond, track, trail, gym, robotics field, it is a pleasure to watch our students compete with the help and guidance of our coaches, directors, and sponsors. With nearly 90% of our students involved in extracurricular activities, there are numerous opportunities nightly it seems. There also is the downside of some of these seasons - they end for our seniors. Over the last few weeks, our marching band, tennis, volleyball and cross country teams experienced the end of their seasons. The abruptness and jolting end can be highly difficult on our seniors no matter the measure of success. When I was coaching at WHS, we had many ends that happened in a state championship game or the first round of the playoffs, and they were all challenging and sad. Only one team may experience a championship - so a disappointment ensues for thousands of kids every year. As I have observed over the years, a strong hug and a few simple words go a long way between our kids, parents and staff. This is truly a time where kids may not remember the words...but they will always remember how they felt in that moment. As we celebrate our seniors involved with football, Hyline, band, cheer and Tech Crew this evening, we hope everyone has a fantastic, if not, Chaptastic night. For those of you who love the cold weather, we hope you enjoy the brisk and chilly air. For those who detest the weather being below 70* like me, here are my thoughts: On a final note, do you ever wonder what teachers do on Early Release Days? Early Release Days provide opportunities for our staff to collaborate and engage in rotations to enhance their teaching and to gain more insight into our children. To give you an idea, teachers were able to choose from a variety of sessions this past Tuesday, 11/6, including:
Of particular interest to many was the presentation by our Guidance Counselor, Lisa Arronge, on The Teenage Brain. Who wouldn't be fascinated by that?! Be sure to check out the TED Talk by Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, one of the world's leading researchers into adolescent neurology, who explains the mysterious workings of the adolescent brain. Here are resources shared by our Educational Technologists during Early Release Day you may also find helpful: Enjoy your weekend!
At Westlake High School, we have two Educational Technologists. Lisa Johnson and Chris Hanson are two of the finest Educational Technologists in this wonderful state. Lisa and Chris work with our staff daily in many areas. On October 31st, they took our sophomores through a single period called Base Camp which our freshmen completed earlier this fall. Each grade level receives a customized set of activities. This Halloween, our Ed Techs had an App-tacular time with Sophomores. All sophomores visited the iPad Base Camp during their World History or WHAP class. The intent of the Base Camp was two-fold:
600+ sophomores visited our base camp yesterday. Their favorite stations were Google Keep, Screen Time, Clips, and Toontastic and we received lots of great feedback from them:
We would like to wish our Girls’ Cross Country Team luck as they compete at Old Settler’s Park. If you would like to see some of our athletes who represent our community at the finest levels, come on out at 8:30 am to support the team as they run for state for the first time in our history. The CHAP Band will be competing for state at 9 am on Monday morning at the Alamodome. The band has an outstanding show which will be up against some of the premiere programs in Texas. State band takes place every other year, and the band has reached this competition every time since 1998. Good luck to these outstanding groups of students, coaches and directors. As a final request, today is Donation Day for the Eanes Educational Foundation. EEF funds 16 full time positions at WHS. Sixteen is a rather significant number...these teachers impact around 2,000 students a day. We hope you will take the time to donate today for every dollar makes a direct impact. DONATE HERE Have a wonderful weekend. We hope you are designing some great plans for the Thanksgiving Break. As one of our seniors pointed out earlier this week, we get nine days instead of just five for a break. And that is awesome…….
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Steve Ramsey: WHS Principal BlogPrincipal's Weekly Reflections Archives
May 2019
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