AMCMS Principal's Office

I hope that you all have had a restful and enjoyable spring break. Amanda and I spent the first half of spring break at home working around the house and crossing off items on the never ending to-do list. I think we all have one of those.

Back in the fall Amanda and I ran in the Marine Corps Marathon with her father. If you were not aware, we have been running half marathons and full marathons as a family since 2005 and we have not stopped. Why do we run? Well that is another story but in short, we run because we enjoy the stress relief that comes from running, the health benefits, and running has provided us with some really wonderful experiences.... which brings me back to the opening of this paragraph.

After the Marine Corps Marathon Amanda's father decided that he wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon again and he chose the Shamrock Marathon as his course. Amanda and I really love the fact that he is athletic enough to be able to run a race like Boston and we support him any way that we can. In order to support him in his efforts we decided to run the Shamrock with him. The marathon was today and we will not know if the time he ran will get him in to Boston until later this fall.

Why am I sharing all of this? Well, I want you to see that I practice what I preach. I tell you all that you need to be sure to take care of yourself and do the things that you need to do for yourself and your family. Of course I want you to take care of the needs of your students and your job but if you do not take care of the needs of yourself you will not be able to take care of your students and be the awesome teacher they need you to be.

I truly hope that spring break was all you needed. You work hard and you deserve to enjoy life. Make sure that you make time to do just that.

Did I get in the Atlantic?Well... you will have to stay tuned to my twitter account to find out.

Think. Achieve. Succeed.

Jeff

Schoology!

What? Yes, the district has purchased Schoology for the entire school district. So what is Schoology? I'm glad you asked.

Schoology /skoo.luh.jee/—a learning management system (LMS) that has all the tools your institution needs to create engaging content, design lessons, and assess student understanding.

The school district will be providing lots of opportunities for training in the future but I know many of you would like to be able to spend some time learning on your own. So here is a brief introduction and a few of the things that I am excited about. Start exploring on your own. If you want to start building your class now you can and the work that you do will be able to transfer once our paid accounts are created.

1. Collaboration between the faculty. Schoology enables faculty to create and join groups that foster a sense of community and increase collaboration across the institution. Group content libraries simplify the sharing of instructional resources and enable faculty to add them to their courses instantly.

2. Communication (especially with parents). Parents will be able to log in to Schoology and see the classes for all of their kids all in one place. They won't have to click from one teacher website to Edmodo to Facebook to the teacher blog, it will all be there at Schoology. Use your LMS to communicate with students, faculty, parents, and other shareholders all at once with mass updates, in­-platform messages, mobile notifications, and more.

3. Your Own Global PLC. Schoology is the only LMS with a vibrant professional learning community (PLC) built in rather than tacked on. There’s no better vehicle for supporting faculty than a global network of innovators, thought leaders, and instructional coaches ready to help anytime, 365 days a year.

More detailed introductions are below.

Monday March 19

• Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
• Be at your duty station-- 7:50
• Be at your duty station-- 3:50
• Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
• Mann out of town
• Grades Due at 4pm for Progress Reports

Tuesday March 20

• Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
• Be at your duty station-- 7:50
• Be at your duty station-- 3:50
• Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
• Mann out of town

Wednesday March 21

• Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
• Be at your duty station-- 7:50
• Mann & Morchat at District Safety Meeting 9-11
• Progress Reports go out
• Be at your duty station-- 3:50
• Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30
• AMCMS Faculty Meeting 4:30 - 5:30 lecture hall

Thursday March 22

• Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
• Be at your duty station-- 7:50
• Student Protest Group Meeting 11am-1pm -- All PRIDE Sections
• Mann at Community Based Accountability Meetings 1-3pm
• Be at your duty station-- 3:50
• Afternoon Tutorials 3:55 - 4:30

Friday March 23

• Jeans because its Fri-YAY!
• Morning Tutorials 7:50-8:20
• Mann meeting with district leadership cabinet about campus requests for next year time TBD
• Be at your duty station-- 7:50
• No afternoon tutorials

AMCMS is a 7th & 8th grade campus in College Station ISD, College Station, TX, USA

Email: jmann@csisd.org
Website: http://amcms.csisd.org/
Location: 105 Holik Street, College Station, TX, United States
Phone: 979-764-5575
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMCMS.Home.of.the.Cats
Twitter: @AMCMSCatPRIDE