GOOD MORNING & HAPPY FRIDAY!
GISD Bond Information Dates- There are multiple opportunities for staff and community members to receive information regarding the May 2023 bond election. Please select the Information Dates tab on the Graham ISD 2023 Bond website.
Legislative Advocacy- As you know, the Texas Legislature is currently in session. Our Texas Legislators are Senator Drew Springer and Representative David Spiller.
Please be informed and contact Senator Springer and Representative Spiller regarding legislation impacting public education in general and Graham ISD. A great place to begin is by reading the legislative priorities of the associations that support public education. The ones I have reviewed so far are linked below.
Additional organizations to follow for public school advocacy are
Raise Your Hand Texas- Text RAISEMYHAND TO 40649 to receive text message updates.
One Act Play Receive Alternate at Bi-District- Congratulation to the cast & crew of The Book of Everything on an outstanding OAP season! Individual awards earned at the Bi-District Contest- Jackson Kidd- Outstanding Technician, Denys Klymenko- Honorable Mention All-Star Cast, Madison Freeman- All-Star Cast, and Sara Peyton Dospapas- All-Star Cast.
Lady Blues Soccer- The Lady Blues season came to an end last evening 0-2 in the Bi-District match. Congratulations on an excellent season! You have represented yourselves and our community well!!!
Youth Art Month- Students from Graham ISD will be displaying their creative works at the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center (OPOMAC) from March 8-31, 2023. The exhibit is open to the public. We hope you will find time to visit the OPOMAC and enjoy the artwork from our students.
GHS District UIL Meet- Congratulations to our Graham High School UIL Academic competitors!
Lillian Graham - 1st place - Current Issues and Events (Regional Qualifier)
John Upton - 5th place - Current Issues and Events
Graham - 2nd Place Team -Current Issues and Events (Lillian Graham, John Upton, Travis Lawson)
Rachel Bleeker - 5th place - Copy Editing
Hayden Burrows -1st Place - Accounting (Regional Qualifier)
Ashton Castle -4th Place - Accounting
Graham - 2nd Place Team - Accounting ( Hayden Burrows, Ashton Castle & Breanne Cook)
Audrey Witherspoon - 3rd Place- Science (Regional Qualifier)
Riley Lanham - 5th Place - Science
Graham - 2nd Place Team - Science
Audrey Witherspoon, Riley Lanham, Denys Klymenko, Lawson Marin
Audrey Witherspoon, 1st Place - Biology (Regional Qualifier)
Denys Klymenko - 5th place - Biology
Denys Klymenko - 5th place -Physics
Jazlynn Van Alstyne - 2nd place -Spelling (Regional Qualifier)
Vanessa Luccio - 3rd place - Spelling (Regional Qualifier)
Graham - 1st place Team- Spelling (Regional Qualifiers) Jazlynn Van Alstyne, Vanessa Lucio, Rebekah Gilbertson, & Ella Centers)
Rebekah Gilbertson - 3rd place- Prose Interpretation (Regional Qualifier)
Sara Peyton Dospapas,- 5th place- Prose Interpretation
Jade Dospapsas - 6th place- Prose Interpretation
Denys Klymenko - 3rd place- Mathematics (Regional Qualifier)
Audrey Witherspoon- 5th place- Mathematics
Devin McCall- 6th place- Mathematics
Graham - 1st place Team Mathematics - Regional Qualifiers
(Denys Klymenko, Audrey Witherspoon, Devin McCall, & Thomas Gage)
Alexia Santos - 5th place- Headline Writing
Rachel Bleeker:- 6th place- Headline Writing
Lawson Marin - 1st Place - Social Studies (Regional Qualifier)
Kurgan Anderson - 5th place - Social Studies
Graham - 2nd place Team - Social Studies (Lawson Marin, Kurgan Anderson, Aidan Adams, & Keion Shead)
GPEF Spring Fling Event- The Graham Public Education Foundation (GPEF) is hosting an exciting new event on the downtown square called “GPEF Spring Fling” which will be held Monday, April 17th from 5-7 pm. You are invited to visit several downtown locations and enjoy delicious food at each stop. Tickets are $50 and available to purchase online at https://www.grahamisd.com/272594_2. The host locations will be:
Here and Now
Pure Movement Studio
Middle Sister/Middleton Hotel
Pratt’s Books
OPOMAC
Each location will have food from different providers such as Neri’s, Eleanor Burkett/Middle Sister, and the GHS BBQ team. At Pratt’s Books, wine from Graham Wines will be available.
All proceeds from the Spring Fling benefit GPEF which is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing amazing projects and programs to the GISD schools. Since 2011, GPEF has provided over $600,000 in grants to our Graham schools. This has been made possible by our donors and supporters over the years.
If you or your company would like to sponsor this event, please email sarakmccall@gmail.com or donate via the link above. The following are the levels of sponsorships:
$1000 Champion- 10 tickets to the Spring Fling
$750 Advocate- 8 tickets to the Spring Fling
$500 Ally- 6 tickets to the Spring Fling
$250 Friend- 4 tickets to the Spring Fling
All sponsors will be listed on signage at the Spring Fling event.
Lady Blues Softball- The Lady Blues will take on Vernon this evening at City View. The JV will play at 4:00 pm with the varsity to follow at approximately 6:00 pm. GO LADY BLUES!
Graham Steer Baseball- Congratulations on the district win this past Tuesday vs Mineral Wells. The Steers play a non-district home game this evening vs Burkburnett. The JV game will begin at 4:00 pm with the varsity contest to follow at approximately 7:00 pm. GO STEERS!
Lady Blues and Steer Tennis- Our tennis teams will be in action on Saturday competing in Abilene at the Eagles Classic. GO NETTERS!
It’s All In The Game…
Jim Knight is the Founder and Senior Partner of the Instructional Coaching Group and a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research and Learning. He has spent over 20 years studying professional learning and instructional coaching. The pioneering work that Jim and his colleagues have done has led to innovations that are now central to professional development in schools. Several years ago, a friend sent me an article he authored. Here it is, and I hope it has meaning to you:
My wife Jenny has decided that she does not want to know the rules of football. Growing up in Nebraska, surrounded by football fans, it took her some fortitude not to learn how the game is played, but she stuck to it, and she is blissfully unaware of the magic and mystery of touchdowns, field goals, and quarterbacks.
Nonetheless, Jenny is gracious enough to go to games with me here in Lawrence. Once at the stadium, she and I had totally different experiences. My attention is totally focused on the game; I’m always optimistic that our team will win, and I watch each play unfold with close to rapt attention.
Jenny has a completely different experience. She notices everything but the plays on the field. She sees the little red-headed three-year-old sitting three rows ahead of us, and the cute haircut on the woman beside us. She wonders about how hot it must be in the mascot’s outfit. At the end of one season when Jenny and I had gone to all six home games, I asked her what her favorite part was. “Oh, easy,” she said, “that was the flyover by the stealth bombers before the Nebraska game.”
If she wanted to, Jenny could pick up the rules during one game, but she likes her blissful ignorance. She would rather enjoy the context than worry about the score and who wins and loses. I believe that there are students in everyone’s classes, too, who are quite a bit like Jenny. They don’t know the rules, and they don’t follow the game at all. In the children’s case, however, they would love to learn the game, but they don’t even know where to start to find out how to play the game.
Kids who don’t know the rules might not know how to find the most important information in a text or how to relate learning to their own personal experiences. They might not know how to break large tasks down into manageable goals or how to simply negotiate day-to-day relationships with their peers. They might not know how to ask for help or even how to interact during a discussion in class.
Not knowing the rules, they stop playing. Sometimes they make up their own game, sabotaging their teacher’s effort to teach or disrupting their peers’ attempts to learn. Other times, they show up in class, but they don’t participate. They spend the day with their heads down; in the room but not connecting. They hide behind a mask of sullenness - hard people for anyone to reach.
And when they choose not to play, the temptation is to blame them, of course. They are rude, angry, and negative. But what if they wanted to play, but they don’t know how? What can we do to make sure more and more students want to know the rules? Maybe the next time we see a student who is totally disengaged, we should start by asking, “I wonder if he (or she) knows how to play.”
Have a nice day, unless you have already made other plans…take care of yourself and others!
CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:
What did one tomato say to the other tomato during a race? (Scroll down for the answer.)
Ketchup!
No comments:
Post a Comment