MESSRS. NARVAEZ AND TAMAYO TAKE THEIR CLASSES
ON A FIELD TRIP TO THE MUSEUM OF NATIONAL HISTORY
Pictures provided by Mr. Narvaez
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2023
TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2023
SLC Morning Meeting
High School Athletic Banquet
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2023
SLC Morning Meeting
Departmental Planning Period Meetings
Capstone Night
THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2023
Departmental Planning Period Meetings
FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2023
No Meetings
Principal: Maria Tukeva
JUNE 5, 2023:
IN CELEBRATION OF PRIDE MONTH
This week, we focus on the phrase from our mission, “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.”
In June, CHEC joins the nation in celebrating Pride Month. Pride Month is dedicated to the celebration and commemoration of LGBTQ+ pride. Modern-day Pride Month both honors the movement for LGBT rights and celebrates LGBT culture. Pride Month began with the, Stonewall riots, a series of riots for gay liberation that took place over several days beginning on June 28, 1969. Bisexual activist, Brenda Howard, is known as the "Mother of Pride", for her work in coordinating the first LGBT Pride march.
During this month, it is important to learn this history, learn about this community, and recognize and celebrate our students and staff who identify as LGBTQ+. Our Librarians have curated materials, lessons, and resources that can be used in classes. As always, we commit ourselves to lifting up difference, as a way to increase our learning, respect and empathy.
CULTURE AND CLIMATE
As part of our focus on making sure we end the school year with focus and purpose, upholding all norms, for the past two weeks all members of the admin team have moved their offices into the hallway for the majority of the day. In this way, we can be visible, supportive, and remind students of the norms and expectations throughout the day.
As a follow up to feedback on emergency drills, and as part of our monthly drill calendar, we will have an Advisory Lesson for all advisories/PLT’s on Wednesday, and a Lock Down Drill on Thursday. The lesson plan for advisory will be provided on Monday for Wednesday’s Advisory.
Members of the Parents Association and our Parent Coordinator have reached out to City Council Members for a meeting on resources and support for school and community safety. A meeting will be held here at CHEC – more information forthcoming.
Our norms are more important now than ever before. Please take time every day to discuss norms, to provide positive feedback when you see them being lived, and to redirect using the language of the norms. One of the most powerful ways to process violation of norms is the use of restorative circles. You can make time in the beginning or close of your class, to have circles based on prompts related to culture and climate. The Culture team is ready to support you should you decide to do this.
Another way to engage with students on this topic, is through SEL check-ins, and listening and observing carefully. If you see a student seems particularly pensive, or withdrawn. you can reach out for a conversation during the work period of class, or after class.
We must continue to improve in making sure students arrive to, and remain engaged in, all classes, every period. The most important step in doing this is to teach bell to bell. Please start the class with an interesting activity that students must be accountable, and end class with a closing activity that also carries participation points and synthesizes learning.
You have received information from the Climate team on our new color coded pass system, as well as the passes. However, for any system to work, it must be implemented consistently by ALL staff members. Please support our new revised system of passes, so that we can eliminate unnecessary lost instructional time, and ensure that all students are moving safely and with purpose during the entire school day. If a student or students have misplaced your classroom pass, please reach out to the Culture team for a new one. To make sure students can own their learning through full and active participation in class, continue emphasizing on time arrival to class, a strong opening and close to class, and minimizing time out of class. Please make your focus on engaging students with ideas and activities that are interesting, aligned to standards, and relevant to their lives and cultures. Our project based approach to instruction is a great vehicle, especially when we design the projects with students in mind.
XQ REDESIGN UPDATE
“How Might We Use Design Thinking to Transform our School through Student Voice and Choice?”
We have not yet received feedback on our final presentation to XQ, however we are continuing and will continue with our redesign process through design thinking.
Thank you to all for your diligent work on the design sprints. In order to provide more time for each sprint to have artifacts to share, as well as a focus question for feedback, we will postpone the June Faculty Meeting until June 15. This gives at least two more meetings for SLC’s to work on their sprints.
On Tuesday, the Food Equity Design Team will administer a follow up survey on satisfaction with the food, through advisory. The details on this will be sent out to all.
For this next charette on June 15, we want to increase the number of students presenting, as well as the number of students and parents attending. Each SLC should identify and bring at least 20 students and 5 parents. Please work with your team, to plan for which artifacts you will share at the Faculty Meeting, and consider what your feedback question is. For teams that are still in the Research stage, we will pick one template that all can use to visually share their research findings (for example 360 empathy persona). For those that are at the prototype stage, there should be a Napkin Pitch, as well as a storyboard or journey map.
A group of 12 staff members will attend the Project Based Learning Conference in Napa Valley California from June 24-26. Project Based Learning has always been a part of our instructional model, and within our design it takes on a new importance by focusing on student choice and participation in the design of projects. We look forward to hearing from the team when we return in the fall.
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:
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 to Mr. Narvaez and Mr. Tamayo for taking their students to the museum of Natural History!
- Shout out to Ms. Scott, Ms. Massoni and Ms. Pugh for taking students to the CTE Fair!
- Shout out to Dr. Lainez and Mr. Pinto for presenting at the DCPS Community Fair!
- Kudos to Mr. Schutt, Mr. Whitney, and Mr Alvarado for continuing to coordinate Senior Portfolios make ups last week!
- Shout out to Ms. Yamashita and Mr. Jones as they return from Japan!
- Kudos to the Enrollment team, and to all staff for enrolling over 72% of our students for next year! Shout out to the 10th grade team for leading with 94%!
INSTRUCTION
MESSRS. ATHMER AND PERRY TEAM TEACH MATH
Pictures provided by Mr. Heber Diaz
Week 18 of Semester 2 and Week 7 of Advisory 4
It is the eighth week of the Fourth Advisory! We now have three weeks of school left.
Two important updates –
Field Day is postponed until June 20 for High School, and June 21st for Middle School.
We have an extension on TAS until June 20th , to provide more time for grading finals and portfolios.
Please plan backwards from your portfolio presentations on the 15th and 16th of June. It will be important to maintain the focus in your classes by maintaining student interest and involvement in their GRASPS. Especially at this time of year, students need to continue to set goals, have work time, and get feedback on their GRASPS, in order to experience success. Let students choose and design a field trip experience, and then schedule it! Ask them how they want to support learning your current topic by visiting some place in Washington DC. Please see additional suggestions in the Climate section on how to try engaging approaches during these last weeks of school.
The Whole Child
Jay from Petco is a great community helper for the Whole Child antiracist concept. When I teach Biodiversity he is always willing to assist with our Biodiversity ecosystems projects. Here is a picture of our closed ecosystems with the concept of biodiversity. It is always good to have a diverse environment celebrating differences should always be expected.
Sincerely,
Ms. Planter
Angenette Planter
Whole Child Teacher Lead
Environmental Science Teacher
To Live, To Learn, To Love!
Instructional Calendar
Please view the 22-23 CHEC Instructional Calendar here.
Assessment Corner
As we approach the end of another successful school year, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your unwavering commitment and dedication to our students' education. We are now just one final test away from closing this chapter, and I am confident that together we will finish strong.
The Health & Physical Education Assessment (HPEA) will be the final assessment of the academic year. It is scheduled to take place during advisory and PE classes this week and next. This comprehensive evaluation aims to assess our students' understanding and application of the knowledge gained throughout the year in these respective areas. It is essential that we support them and ensure a smooth testing experience.
To help you prepare for the upcoming HPEA test, further correspondence and important information will be shared via email. Please keep a close eye on your inboxes for these communications. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the test, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mr. 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.
Professional Development
Thank you to all who signed up for the ISTE and PBL Conferences in June!
The Instructional Coaches have put together a Summer Professional Development Survey, in order to offer time and compensation for learning and planning. The survey has been sent out in a separate email. Please fill out the survey!
ALT TEAM
The ALT Team met on May 30 to follow up on the Master Schedule, Safety and Security, and the professional development plan for summer professional and curriculum development to support our Redesign process. All are invited to the ALT Team meetings! The next meeting will be Tuesday June 13 at 3:30 pm in the Middle School Library. The agenda will include a follow up on Climate and Culture challenges and the design process, and an evaluation of our CSP.
OPPORTUNITIES
GALA 2023 FEATURE: BENECIA ZOUMA WITH HER PARENTS
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
EGNA LE EGNA HIGH SCHOOL MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
Please share with students of Ethiopian and Eritrean descent,
Greetings,
I hope you are doing well. My name is Amenti from Egna Le Egna Mentorship program (ELE). We are a group of college students based in Silver Spring, Maryland, working with high school students across the U.S. from the Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora communities. The ELE Mentorship program provides Ethiopian/Eritrean high school students in grades 9-12 with academic enrichment and resources to succeed in high school and beyond. This program offers free virtual tutoring, mentoring, ACT/SAT preparation, and educational and career guidance, including college preparation, free of charge to assist students and guide them toward their goals.
The current academic year, 2021/2022, was our first year of entire operation. During this time, we have worked with over 125 high school students and have helped students gain admission to multiple colleges and scholarships. We are currently in the process of recruiting the incoming class. We will recruit students enrolling in 9-12th grade in the 2023 to 2024 school year. I invite you to share the mentee application and flier below with any of your students who would benefit from this mentorship program. Please visit our website at ELE Mentors Website, which we constantly update, to learn more about our program.
As we are currently recruiting the next cohort of students to work within the 2023/2024 academic year, the main goal of this letter is to see your willingness to help us reach out to our target population by sharing the application form that can be found in our website to any Ethiopian/Eritrean high school student who might benefit from this program. We would appreciate your putting this info on a schoolwide system so that all parents can know about our organization. We are also happy to send one of our mentors to speak with your students or faculty about our program and share what we do.
Thank you for your time, and I hope you are staying safe and healthy.
Best regards,
Amenti Bekere
ELE Mentors
Georgetown University’s Equity and Excellence for English Learners Professional Development Certificate
A Professional Development Certificate for In-Service Teachers
The English Learner population in DCPS and DC public charter schools is increasing, but there is a lack of ESL-certified or trained teachers who can teach equitably in ESL/Dual Language programs. The goal of Georgetown University’s Professional Development Certificate Program is to train effective teachers across general education, ESL, and dual language settings, paying special attention to increasing the pipeline of bilingual teachers in DC.
If you are an experienced DCPS school teacher without prior preparation in the effective education of English Learners, our hybrid certificate program can help you better serve your culturally and linguistically diverse students.
All applicants to the Equity and Excellence for English Learners Professional Development Certificate will receive scholarship to help cover the cost of the program. Funding for these scholarships is provided by Project ELEECT (new window).
THE DEAN TEAM
Message from Deans:
Keep up the momentum...We are almost there!!
We are now 13 days away to the end of the 2022-2023 school year!!! Keep pushing and being productive! How we end the year will set the tone for next year. Every day and moment counts. Please remember to hold students accountable for our norms and core values.
As a reminder, WE ARE DESIGN THINKERS and must be creative with how we keep students engaged. START CLASSES STRONG AND END STRONG.
Think of one thing you can change or improve in your classroom management to keep students engaged and excited to come to your classes and remain there until the end. The goal is to help remind students the importance of being on time and that every moment counts!
Please remember to follow the protocol for the colored pass
system. Students should not be in the hallways outside of transition
without the laminated colored pass.
If you need another pass for your classroom, please let a member
of the Culture Team know and a new one will be provided.
School Culture Updates, Reminders and Shoutouts
See Below Dates for Special EOY Events:
- MIDDLE SCHOOL:
- Organization Fair: May 30th
- 8th Grade Grad Promotional Activities:
- Class Trip: June 13th
- Sneaker Ball: June 14th
- Promotional Ceremony: June 16th
- HIGH SCHOOL:
- Organization Fair: May 31st
- Field Day: June 21st
- 12th Grade Grad Activities:
- Masquerade Theme Prom: June 17th
- Senior Trip: June 21st
- Graduation: June 23rd
SHOUTOUT TO MR. WHITNEY and all who supported him with the Organizations Fair!!! Thank you, Mr. Whitney, for offering students, coaches and club sponsors an opportunity to showcase their clubs/sports and recruit new members and players.
UPCOMING PBIS INCENTIVES
(Please note that this schedule is tentative and is subject to change at the discretion of Culture Team Leaders.)
Our next incentive is an Ice Social that has been rescheduled. The date is TBD. Stay tuned!
PBIS Reminders and Celebrations
Teacher All-Stars
(500+ Highest Interactions from 05/08 - 05/14)
- Latrice Quickley (413)
- Lizquel Archibold (400)
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 (minimum)
- 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
Restorative DC Professional Development Opportunities:
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.
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
The HS track team had a strong showing at the DCIAA Outdoor track championships. Almera Carter was named to her 2nd consecutive ALL league team. The middle school softball team lost a nail-bitter to Jefferson and tied Eliot-Hine.
BELL
BOYS BASKETBALL: 5 - 8
FLAG FOOTBALL: 4 - 7
SOFTBALL: 5 - 4
TENNIS: 2 - 7
LINCOLN
SOFTBALL: 0 - 5 - 1
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Monday:
MS SB vs. Deal at CHEC @ 4:00
Tuesday:
No Games
Wednesday:
HS Track at DCSAA Championships Day 1 at Dunbar @ 3:00
Thursday:
HS Track at DCSAA Championships Day 2 at Dunbar @ 1:00
MS & HS golf at Potomac Golf Course @ 2:00
Friday:
No Games
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. Spring sports practice have begun.
Desmond Alexander, CAA
Athletic Directo.
Columbia Heights Educational Campus
Bell/Lincoln Multicultural Schools
(202) 939-7700 Ext: 5207 (office)
(202) 576-9147 (fax)