Thursday, September 20, 2012

Papa Murphy's Fundraiser Tonight!

Don't forget that tonight (9/20) is our Papa Murphy's fundraiser!

Come order some take & bake pizzas from 3-7 pm at the Todd George/Langsford location and help out the team! We get 25% from every order if you do not use coupons or promotions.

Invite your friends, family, neighbors, etc., as well!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Weekly Class Update (9/10-9/14)

Quick update as to what students may want to work on over the weekend.

DEBATE I
We have just finished up our first ever affirmative policy case! I am very excited about what the students created (as a class), and I am even more excited about what we'll get to do next! Over the weekend, students should continue evaluating their peers' cases from the other two hours. They were given an evaluation sheet to use for this activity, as well as a copy of the other two classes' cases. These evaluations are due on Monday. Next week, we will be looking at these cases from the negative perspective of the debate.

DEBATE II
Students have officially declared their second competitive event and have been working diligently to gather research, scripts, and ideas. This is in conjunction with them continuing their work on the first competitive event, including an in-class rough presentation on what they have gathered and organized to date. On Friday, we discussed the grading rubric that will be used for the monthly reading response essays, and extra time was given for students to ensure that they were following the guidelines on the rubric. Their first monthly reading response is now due on Monday, 9/17.

DRAMA
Students have been working on memorizing and dialoguing their chosen script for interpretation. They started the week by presenting a rough version of the performance to the class, and have been working on developing character roles, the plot, and expressing the conflict for the rest of the week. Next week, students will take a look at their completed analysis of the script and beging blocking actions.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Update 9/10/12

Hello everyone!

There are a few things that I wanted to let you know about or remind you of, so today's blog is just titled "update." Please read through the following items, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me (nate.smith@leesummit.k12.mo.us or 986-2061).

1. LSHS Hosted Invitational Tournament Judge Assignment

Our tournament is scheduled for October 12-13 (as stated in the Syllabus and at the first parent meeting), and that date will be upon us before we know it! It is essential that we have enough community volunteers signed up to judge our various events well in advance, and to that end, students have received an assignment to recruit adult judges. They should have taken home a judge form on Friday to show you or to ask you or some other family member or friend to volunteer for some rounds. All judges must be at least 18 years old and must NOT CURRENTLY BE IN HIGH SCHOOL.

Assignment Requirements:
All students must recruit and confirm ONE JUDGE PER ROUND OF COMPETITION, except for the two rounds on Saturday marked as "ASAP" rounds. We have a potential 55 rooms to fill with competitors and judges during the weekend each round, so it is essential that we recruit enough judges to not only cover those rooms, but to also provide extras in case of emergencies. With 65+ students enrolled in the program this year, we should have enough judges for sure if everyone does their job.

Grading:
Each judge = 20 points. Extra judges are extra credit, but students must first secure the required one judge per each of the eight rounds before extra credit is given.

DUE:
Initial judge recruitment is due this Friday, 9/14/12. Please help us out in any way you can, whether it be volunteering for some rounds to judge or helping us recruit.


2. T-Shirt Orders

We are finalizing all sizes and names for T-shirt orders. The student shirts are covered through the competition fees via the syllabus (which do not have to be paid immediately). In order to receive the shirts in time for our tournament on Oct 12, we need to order them by this Friday, 9/14.

If parents, friends, family, etc., would like to have a 2012-13 LSHS Debate shirt, please give me your name and size by this Friday, 9/14. Each non-student competitor shirt is $14, and for these shirts, money DOES need to accompany the order. The shirts are considered "unisex" sizes.


3. Worksessions

This week, there will be a Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday worksession for the kids. Remember that students pick and choose the date/times they can attend, and they only need 6 hours (novice) or 8 hours (varsity) of time for the entire semester. Students may earn extra credit based on the number of minutes they attend at worksessions that is productive. Times/dates of all worksessions are posted on the Calendar page of this blog.


4. Signed Medical Release Forms

If you have not read through the syllabus yet with your child and signed the necessary Medical Release Form, please do so soon. We cannot allow students to compete at tournaments until we have this document on file. Remember that it serves two purposes: that you have read and understand all the provisions of the syllabus, and that you give permission to the coaching staff to have your child treated for medical injuries/illnesses if the scenario arises.


5. Make-up Parent Meeting To Be Scheduled Soon

We are looking for good dates and times to schedule an alternate mandatory parent meeting. Once we get a time/date secured, we will post that to this blog. Please remember that, in order for a student to compete at tournaments, their parent must have attended a mandatory parent meeting. If you absolutely cannot attend the make-up date, an in-person meeting will need to be scheduled with one of the coaching staff members before your child is allowed to attend tournaments.


I believe this is all for today. Feel free to contact me or any of the assistant coaches for more information or if you have questions.

NS