Super User
Monday, 10 April 2017 00:20
Recruiting New Teachers
As part of my duties I get the opportunity to recruit new teachers to our district. As it has been widely publicized, we are in a teacher shortage in most of our country. Recruiting teachers has become very competitive and will continue to be so for some time. Bringing new teachers to our district who are knowledgeable in their content, creative, and energetic amongst other traits will always be a high priority. Everyone knows the importance of a good teacher in a student's life. Through this process Weber School District continues to do very well. I attribute this to many different factors but here are a couple that I feel have made a difference:
- There is a great climate in our district. Our Superintendent has set a great tone by teaching the "Weber Way" to our leadership where educating the whole child and treating people fairly are important. One of the questions we ask in our interviews as we try and find teachers is "Why do you want to teach in Weber"? Most of their answers reflect the positive things they have heard about our district from others. They mention good parent support, good communities to live in, supportive administration and co-workers and so on.
- We have a good mentoring program where a new teacher is assigned a mentor for the first three years of their education. Research has shown that if a teacher leaves the profession they usually do so in the first five years and the number one reason is the lack of support they have felt. We take that seriously. We have hired retired master teachers to mentor these new educators. As we ask for feedback from our new teachers about their mentors, they have expressed gratitude for someone knowledgeable to turn to for help that has the time to give the help when needed. This has helped us be in the top three to four districts in the state as far as retaining our teachers.
I share this information because it has been a cumulative effort from students, parents, staff, and administration to attract good teachers to our district. Thanks to everyone for their efforts to provide the best education possible for students.
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Superintendent Messages
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Tuesday, 11 April 2017 00:00
Thesis Builder
This handy tool helps you in your persuasive essay writing. Answer a few questions, and Thesis Builder will propose a thesis statement sample, and provide a handy outline for writing the rest of the essay.
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Link of the Day
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Monday, 10 April 2017 00:00
Noteflight
Noteflight is a great way to create, store, listen to, print, search and share notated music online. If you are a composer, you can use Noteflight to author and manage your compositions. If you are a performer, you can use Noteflight to create and share sheet music that you like to play. For all the teachers and students, you can use Noteflight to communicate and collaborate in learning music.
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Link of the Day
Sunday, 02 April 2017 00:00
Freesound
The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focuses only on sound, not songs.
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Link of the Day
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Saturday, 01 April 2017 00:00
CultureTalk
CultureTalk features video clips of interviews and discussions with people from many different countries and of many different ages and walks of life. Some interviews and discussions are in English. More are in the language(s) of the countries involved. Translations and/or transcripts are given for all non-English video clips. Topics include family, food, education, religious and cultural customs, work, art, sport, travel, and more.
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Link of the Day
Friday, 31 March 2017 00:00
Hardbound
This iOS app contains 5-minute, illustrated stories based on bestselling nonfiction books (specifically focused on business, history, and science). Your brain will love the unique, "tap story" format that combines photos, illustrations, animations, and text. One new story is released every week.
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Link of the Day
Thursday, 30 March 2017 00:00
PeakVisor
What's the name and the height of that mountain? Find out with PeakVisor. PeakVisor includes a high-tech 3D compass and an altimeter that accurately measures the elevation of any mountain peak that comes into view of your smartphone's camera.
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Link of the Day
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Monday, 27 March 2017 02:22
Kanesville Elementary's Robotics team performs well at state VEX competition
Kanesville Elementary attended the VEX IQ state robotics competition in Farmington on March 4, 2017. Before going to state, Kanesville attended 3 competitions. Kanesville received funding from some very generous donors and parents who stepped up to help out: Skidmore Transportation, Asphalt Preservation, Doxey Family Chiropractic, Universal Synaptics, and Bryron Bosshardt with Ridgeline Realty.
Kanesville sent four teams that were randomly chosen from interested 5th and 6th grade students. Each team had between 6-10 students. They worked together as teams to design, build, drive, record and autonomously program a robot, as well as create a STEM project all within the theme of the year.
In the 1st competition, at WIC, Kanesville swept STEM with a 1st, two-tied 2nd place, and 4th place awards, also having some of the students make it into the top 16.
At the next competition at DaVinci Academy, the students made it into the top 16 for finals, one team won the Overall Design Award, and another team won the STEM award overall. Kanesville then decided to attend one more competition.
As the year ended, 3 out of 4 Kanesville teams were invited to compete at the State Competition. One team made it into the top 16 finals, and another team WON the overall STEM award and was invited to attend and compete in the World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.
Kanesville was one of the very few elementary-aged students to be invited to the World Competition. These students and amazing teachers have put in many hours preparing and attending these events. They are so grateful at how hard these students have worked!
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Featured News
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Monday, 27 March 2017 00:19
Mr. Murray helped out a short-handed lunch room on Friday at South Ogden JR
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Around the District
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Wednesday, 29 March 2017 00:00
StillTasty
How long does food really last past its expiration date? StillTasty lists some good tips for storing food to maximize its edibility.
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Link of the Day
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