2023 CHEC SPELLING BEE
CHEC NJROTC WINS 1ST PLACE FOR UNARMED SQUAD
AT NATIONAL GUARD'S BEST OF THE BEST COMPETITION
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2023
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2023
SLC Morning Meetings
Senior Portfolios in the Library
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Senior Portfolios in the Library
Departmental Planning Period meetings
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2023
Departmental Planning Period Meetings (High School Only)
February Faculty Meeting – 3:30 pm – Courageous Conversations
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2023
No Meetings
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
Principal: Maria Tukeva
JANUARY 30, 2023:
This week’s focus is on the phrase from our Mission Statement,
"All Columbia Heights Education Campus graduates will be prepared to succeed in college, careers and civic life as leaders in the quest for social justice and anti-racism".
This weekend saw the release of the video of the killing of Tyre Nichols. The devastating injustice and the pain it evokes weigh heavy on all of us, and on our students and their families. All of us are in need of a way to process the pain and trauma, and the ongoing struggle for social justice in this country. In addition to finding ways to bring voice to the struggle, we need to provide a safe place for our students
and ourselves to grapple with feelings and emotions. The PGT will offer office hours, and the High School Library Peace and Love Room will be available as well. Please reach out to ask for, or offer support.
These continuing injustices bring even more urgency to our Courageous Conversations, which we will continue in this week’s faculty meeting. It also brings an increased urgency to our schoolwide approach to African American History Month. To become true leaders in the quest for social justice, we must completely redesign how our curriculum represents history, literature and representation of
our students of color. The way to do this, is to have courageous conversations with our students, and listen to what they know, what they feel, and what they want to learn about. We must open ourselves to learn with students and from students.
PORTFOLIO PRESENTATION REMINDERS
Senior Portfolio presentations are a culminating event through which our seniors demonstrate to the community their reflections on their learning journey, and discuss their plans for the future. It is a powerful representation of their growth, and of your work as faculty. It is truly inspiring to hear how students are applying all they have learned, clarified their goals and dreams, and prepared for the future. Please volunteer to be a panelist and bring friends and associates to serve on the panels. They will be held all day Tuesday and Wednesday, in the high school library. Teachers and counselors who attend will be excused from a department meeting.
If we think as designers, everything we do becomes an opportunity to learn and improve. Thank you
#CHECInnovators2023!
Thank you for all you do!
XQ REDESIGN UPDATE
It was truly a week of student voice, and Designing our Learning, as we saw over 40 students come to Admin team to engage in empathy interviews, another 40 come to ALT team, and then professional development sessions on design thinking led by Administrators, teachers and staff. Shout out to all for leaning into this work, and more importantly, inspiring those in your SLC’s and departments to take leadership and ownership. The energy showed creative confidence, collaboration and willingness to take risks. We are well on our way to making this adaptive change to a design thinking organization and school.
To build our design muscle and capacity, SLC’s will continue to work on the opportunities identified last week, for the next four to six weeks in one SLC meeting per week. In addition to the work of SLC’s, there are a number of spontaneous design thinking initiatives that have arisen:
- The World Language Department will have an overarching theme of Food, based on student engagement with previous food related projects. They will create field experiences based on student interest in food and culinary arts, partnering with Sodexo and other restaurant partners
- Mr. Fosu interviewed his AP English Language class to determine what they found interesting and not interesting in the curriculum, and finding out what students want to see in their GRASPS!
- Mr. Stewart has created the Library Brand Ambassadors, to engage student voice in the library!
- The Science department will work with partners, and use the garden as a field experience to center some of the science units this semester
- The middle school Art Department will partner with Food services as part of the Food Equity prototype to create a mural in the cafeteria
- The Food Equity prototype is partnering with Sodexo to launch a new initiative in the Cafeteria – stay tuned for details!
- The Instructional Coaches are using Design Thinking to create our professional development plan
- The Climate Team is using design thinking to approach
Following the SLC professional development and design sprints, we will be engaging in a schoolwide revision and redesign of our mission statement and norms, in order to make sure it reflects what stakeholders want and need.
The two Innovation Teams, Interdisciplinary Projects, and Food Equity, will meet after school this week. to further refine their prototypes. We will launch two new Design Sprints, one focused on Designing social emotional learning and mental health supports, and the other on designing career pathways. If you are interested in either of these, please contact Ms. Tukeva and Ms. Penn.
We encourage all staff members to take a free, on line course, called “Design Thinking for the Greater Good.” The course takes about 8 to 10 hours, at your own pace, and is free and on line. Please sign up in the form below if you want to engage in this professional development opportunity. You can do it on your own schedule!
Design Thinking for the Greater Good: Innovation in the Social Sector
We will offer Admin Premium to all who complete the course, and will be forming study groups of those who engage in the course. If you would like to sign up of these study groups, please fill out the form below:
Shout out to Mr. Bujan, Ms. Ishmael, Mr. Stewart, Dr. Emilius, Ms. Devargas, Ms. Ishmael, Ms. Peddyreddy, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Hearn, Dr. Brown, Ms. Lainez, Ms. Planter, and Ms. Weiss, as Design Thinking Completers! The entire Admin team has taken the course as well. If you have identified a problem you would like help in addressing through the design thinking process, please send a description of the problem. If you are interested in one of the innovations, please contact Maria Tukeva, Principal, Ms. Krishunda Penn Pearson, Redesign Director, your SLC Administrator, or any member of the XQ Redesign Team
NEW FIELD TRIP PROTOCOLS
Field Trip Office Hours for Trip Sponsor Role (Week of 1/23 and ongoing)
All field trips taking place after January 3, 2023, must be entered via the new Field Trip QuickBase app. The Field Trip QB User Guide and additional resources are available in the DCPS Way Field Trip Folder. Trip Sponsors to attend upcoming office hours for support with the new app:
- Monday, January 30th 4:00-5:00pm (Click here to join the meeting)
- Thursday, February 2nd, 4:00-5:00pm (Click here to join the meeting)
Before loading the trip onto the App, please still fill out the CHEC Internal Field Trip Form and get it signed before proceeding.
Thank you!
SHOUT OUTS
- Shout out and thank you to Dr. Jackson, as he transitions to new goals and endeavors! Thank you for your service!
- Shout out to Major Wright, Msgt Deschamps and the NJROTC! They won first place in the Unarmed Drill Squad at the Best of the Best National Guard Competition this weekend!
- Kudos to Ms. Vialpando, Mr. Whitney, Ms. Marshall, Ms. Savage, and Mr. Odom for coordinating our Spelling Bee on Friday! The students were amazing!
- Kudos to all of our PD presenters on Design Thinking on Wednesday!
- Shout out to the BLA and DL departments for their participation in the SIOP training on Wednesday!
- Shout out to our LSAT for a great planning meeting in preparation for Budget Season!
- Shout out to Mr. Hardy and Ms. Martinez for representing CHEC at the HD Cooke School Recruitment Event last week!
- Kudos to the Ninth Grade Team! Currently 9th grade has the most students at 341 and the lowest number of students with failing grades on T1 Report Cards.
INSTRUCTION
MS. BRUGGEMAN'S SPANISH CLASS
Week 2 of Advisory 3
It is the second week of the Third Advisory! Please keep your design thinking lens on, and students and get their ideas about the kinds of projects and learning they want to do this advisory. Incorporate this feedback into your GRASPS development. GRASPS should be launched by this week. Senior Portfolios are taking place in the Library Tuesday and Wednesday. This is the culminating event of the seniors’ time in our school. Please serve as a panelist, this can take the place of your Departmental meeting.
The Whole Child
Hello,
This week focus on cultivating a child's emotional stability. As Valentines day nears, it is good to understand a child's emotional state. The mental state of the science behind the conscientiousness of a child's brain is key to understanding the mental health of the child. Creating oxytocin to flow is key to helping a child meet their emotional needs while being active in school. It is good to understand the effectiveness of the oxytocin being created while a child is actively learning and engaging in the science of learning. Make sure to do a self evaluation of the whole child while making sure oxytocin is being released during classroom instruction.
Sincerely,
Angenette Planter
Whole Child Teacher Lead
Environmental Science Teacher
Whole Child Teacher Lead
To Live, To Learn, To Love!
Instructional Calendar
The Instructional Calendar is a living document that houses all the major curricular requirements, assessments, and schoolwide events. The Instructional Calendar is complete for the moment, however changes may be made and will be noted. If you have any requests for additions to the Instructional Calendar, please contact Mr. Magee, peter.magee@k12.dc.gov, maria.tukeva@k12.dc.gov or your SLC Administrator.
Please view the 22-23 CHEC Instructional Calendar here.
Assessment Corner
First, I’d like to recognize and thank Ms. Garcia-Carmona and Ms. Belton for approaching me about ACCESS planning. This is sort of investment by staff is invaluable. If anyone else is interested in assisting with ACCESS planning for your grade-level, please don’t hesitate to reach out!This past week saw ANET 2 for MS ELA. We’re going to turn right back around and run the MS Math A2 this coming Tuesday, 2/1.
A huge thanks to those of you who engaged with Friday ‘Test Integrity’ Development. This training is REQUIRED by all staff attend, every year. Please do not fret if you were unable to attend. We’ll be reaching out in the next few days with our make-up session.
Testing Coordinator,
Pete Magee
Love & Empathy Page
If you know of students and families in need of assistance, please send the information to our Bulletin, where we will publish opportunities to show love and empathy. Please share these with your networks. Please see below:
From Ms. Ramirez:
“Happy Sunday team, Suseth’s mom will be selling chicken and pork tamales tomorrow. Suseth is a very cute, shy, mature, supportive, loving and hardworking little 6th grader from my PLT. If you wish to buy some, please text her at (202) 754-6413, she has Zelle with that number and her name is Sonia Centeno. Her tamales are sooooooo good! And they really need the support. Thanks in advance for caring and supporting ❤️”
From Ms. Nimer:
I hope you all are going well. Katherine's family is asking for financial support to help cover funeral expenses. As some of you may know, Katherine also lost her father last year and is currently staying with her uncle. If you all are able to support, please Zelle her uncle Amelo @ 2023203496.
Thank you!
Shout out to the Instructional Coaches for coordinating our ALT Empathy Interviews on what students believe are professional development priorities for teachers and staff. The coaches will be synthesizing the feedback and sharing for further development of our plan.
The Blue Engine Co-teaching professional development continues this week. The SIOP training will be supplemented by Office Hours with Lisa Tabaku of the Center for Applied Linguistics, from 1:30 to 4:00 pm on Friday, February 3.
ALT TEAM
The ALT Team met and participated in an introduction to Design Thinking, and a gallery walk of the work of the Design Sprint Teams. The next ALT team meeting will be Tuesday, January 24 at 3:30 pm. The Instructional Coaches will lead a deeper dive into our Professional Development Plan, and we will engage in empathy interview with students to get their perceptions on what the professional development needs are for teachers and staff.
OPPORTUNITIES
CHEC ALUM GIVE BACK AS PANELISTS
AT JANUARY MENTORING MEETING
Panelists: Matt Lopez '15, Michellay Cole '09, Mayron Yohannes '09, Brenda Angula '13, Sol Mundo '19, Frank Alvarado '17
Moderator: Menbere Assefa '09
FACULTY AND STAFF LIBRARY RESOURCES
CHECK OUT THE FACULTY & STAFF WEBSITE TAB
Don't forget to check out the Faculty & Staff tab with some great webinars and recordings--Untying Knots: Beyond Land Acknowledgment - Accountable Action in Partnership with Native Nations, Foundations of Tech: Where Is Industry Going and What Should Students Be Learning? and a host of others!
As we know, Black History and all people's history is to be celebrated throughout the year. As we get ready for an intentional celebration of Black History, The Bell Library will have you salivating in anticipation for more great programming and events!
To come...
A Raisin in the Sun | Movie Night! Popcorn, Pizza & Wings, Friday, February 10 &
What's better than food or books? Uhhmmm, Cookbooks! Join us on February 13 after school for an intimate and exciting cooking demonstration with Bold Fork Books! Just a 5-minute walk from CHEC! Participants will make delicious meals from selected cookbooks, and we'll break bread together! More Details To Come!
So much more, including a writing competition for students and educators!
Absolute Peace, Love and Light
Christopher
School Librarian
Library Corps | Cluster 9 Support Lead
Columbia Heights Education Campus | Bell High School
3101 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20010
202 | 939-7700 ext. 5118
THE DEAN TEAM
PLEASE ENJOY THE "SONG OF THE WEEK"...
SURVIVOR - EYE OF THE TIGER
CONGRATULATIONS TO A STRONG START OF SEMESTER 2!!!!
This week the great work continues. We have so many new opportunities and exciting things ahead. Stay focused and fierce, like the Eye of the Tiger!
School Culture Updates, Events and Shoutouts
- Senior Portfolio Presentations January 31- April 2
- If there are any teachers who would like to sponsor any student club/org you can do so by sending an email to Mr. Whitney (devin.whitney@k12.dc.gov). There is a stipend available for student activities!
- The Culture Team will be conducting RANDOM hall sweeps daily. Teachers, please lock your doors after the bell and redirect students to see a Culture Team member or AP for a pass. Please be sure to document their attendance and contact parents.
- Remember, any students without passes will be sent back to classes immediately. PLEASE PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH PASSES. There should not be any passes given during the FIRST 15 AND LAST 15 MINUTES OF CLASS.
- Passes should NO longer be provided during Advisory. (Emergencies Only). We have seen excessive hall walking during this period. To maximize the opportunity in Advisory students would benefit more in class.
- If you are hosting students in your classrooms/offices during lunch, you must escort them from the cafeteria to your designated space. Please ensure they are not eating in the hallways or leaving food trash on the floor. Students cannot be left unsupervised.
Congratulations to our CHEC Spelling Bee Winners!
- CHAMPION: Charles Boykin
- Runner Up: Gedion Erkalo
- 3rd Place: Justin McLean
- Alternate: Zoe Martinez
Please congratulate our Knights! They will participate in the Cluster Bee on February 9th at 12:30 pm at THE ARC in Southeast DC. Thank you PLT teachers!”
UPCOMING PBIS INCENTIVES
(Please note that this schedule is tentative and is subject to change at the discretion of Culture Team Leaders.)
FEBRUARY 10th – MOVIE Students must have $350 in Kickboard
PBIS Reminders and Celebrations
Teacher All-Stars (500 + Highest Interactions from 01/23-01/29)
- Dwight Simon (564)
- Sandra Garcia Panilla (642)
Kickboard norms reminder
Currently, we have less than 50% participation in staff rewarding students with Kickboard points. Remember, Kickboard helps to build positive classroom culture and should be integrated in your classroom incentives, norms and strategies to manage your classroom.
- 15 interactions per class and 45 interactions per day
- DO NOT deduct student dollars
- Do not attempt to inflate the day of the incentive
- Use the first 15 and last 15 of class to give dollars
- Create in-class incentives (Do not deduct dollars)
STAFF RESOURCES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
- Here is the presentation from the Culture Reset PD led by Deans last week Culture Reset _Winter 2023.pptx Please send any questions to any member of the Dean Team. (Henderson/Bellido-HS and Williams/Iglesias-MS)
- Check out this video with some great classroom management practices. Sometimes we need reminders of the basics. https://youtu.be/LdF5ry5g5-w
Student Support Forms:
Reminder: Please bookmark this link for future behavioral referrals:
Use this form to recognize students for Student of the Week and Month:
WEEKLY SPORTS UPDATE
Athletics are an integral part of the educational program and a means to accomplish the goals of education. Our athletic program exists for the welfare of students and the contributions it makes to their educational experience. Athletic participation builds self-esteem and confidence and provides the necessary tools for success. The interaction between individuals on the fields of sport teaches students the value of teamwork, while developing the proper competitive spirit, combined with a sense of fairness.
TEAM STANDINGS
LINCOLN
BB: 6 – 4
GB: 1 – 9
BELL
JVBB: 4 – 6
VGB: 3 – 11
VBB: 2 – 12
WRESTLING: 6 - 1
BOWLING:
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
The middle school wrestling team took 2nd place at its last match. The HS wrestling team defeated Cardozo in its last match. The JV boys teams lost to HD Woodson, Coolidge, and McKinley Tech. The varsity girls basketball team lost to HD Woodson and McKinley Tech. The varsity boys basketball team defeated HD Woodson but lost to McKinley Tech. Congratulations to Almera Carter for being named to the DCIAA All league team for girls indoor track.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
MONDAY:
JVB vs. HD Woodson at HD Woodson @ 4:30
VBB vs. HD Woodson at HD Woodson @ 6:30
TUESDAY
MS Wrestling Championship at Deal @ 4:00
WEDNESDAY
HS Bowling at Bolling AFB @ 4:00
JVB vs. Ron Brown at Ron Brown @ 5:00
VBB vs. Ron Brown at Ron Brown @ 7:00
THURSDAY:
HS Wrestling vs. Ballou & Roosevelt at CHEC @ 4:00
HS Swim Meet #4 at HD Woodson @ 5:00
FRIDAY:
JVB vs. Roosevelt at CHEC @ 4:00
VGB vs. Roosevelt at CHEC @ 5:30
VBB vs. Roosevelt at CHEC @ 7:30 (senior night)
SATURDAY:
No Games
To participate in sports, including tryouts, students must complete participation paperwork and upload their physical via https://www.thedciaa.com/participation-forms. Anyone with questions, should contact the CHEC athletic director, Coach A in room D236, or via email at desmond.alexander@k12.dc.gov. It is too late to join fall sports. Spring sports practice begins February 15th
Desmond Alexander, CAA
Athletic Directo.
Columbia Heights Educational Campus
Bell/Lincoln Multicultural Schools
(202)939-7700 Ext: 5207 (office)
(202)576-9147 (fax)