November
2005
Dear Serra Families:
I am happy to report that we have had a great beginning to the 2005-06
school year. Our students have started out the year right, participating
in a series of presentations to learn about procedures and routines
that ensure a great year for everyone.
Athletics and activities have started and seasons are well under
way. We had a wonderful Welcome Back to School (Aloha) Dance as
well as a fabulous Homecoming. Students and staff worked tirelessly
to make the events successful.
We would like to thank everyone for attending our Open House. It
was an excellent opportunity to meet you and your families. Building
a strong relationship between school and home is a critical component
for student success.
We also appreciate your support of our PTSA and the Serra Foundation.
These worthwhile organizations allow us to make even stronger connections
with our community, resulting in great things for Serra students!
On October 27, Serra was honored to host the first community meeting
of the year for the entire Serra Cluster. A highlight was the introduction
of the new superintendent, Dr. Carl Cohn. Parents who attended also
received information about Parent Connection. This new web based
application provides parents secured access to a wide array of their
children’s school data. You can learn more about Parent Connection
and sign-up by logging on the our website at http://serra.sandi.net.
On October 28, we issued our first report card to students. This
is an early indicator of each student’s achievement in their
first semester classes. It is important to remember there is time
left in the semester for students to improve their marks and do
well in each course. Be sure your student takes advantage of the
tutoring opportunities available at Serra. See the tutoring schedule
printed in this issue of the Serra Spirit.
Recently, I had a little bit of free time and was going to be able
to read the large stack of professional journals that had been piling
up for a few months. My attention was focused specifically on a
series of articles about how schools improve. The authors were highlighting
schools around the country and the world that were using innovative
and successful approaches to improve student performance. I could
not help thinking as I read the articles; “We do that!”
One of the articles was about using classroom observation to improve
instruction. Two topics of interest were mentioned in the article:
differentiated instruction and the use of a brief classroom walk-through
to give teachers constructive feedback about teaching and learning.
The authors wrote about using a variety of instructional strategies,
flexible groupings for instruction, and the use of wait time as
indicators of differentiated instruction. Administrators did a series
of focused, brief classroom visits, or WalkThroughs, to gain a snapshot
perspective of the state of instruction in the school. This type
of classroom visit has been a part of the culture at Serra for several
years. Recently, the principals of the Serra Cluster visited each
other’s schools and visited classrooms. With a commitment to
strong articulation between the grade levels, we are joining together
to ensure a strong academic program K-12 for all our students.
Finally, with the week-long Thanksgiving holiday coming up, this
is the season of the year when we often pause and give thanks for
the many blessings of our lives. For most of us, Thanksgiving conjures
up images of food, gathering with friends and family, and stories
of Pilgrims and Native Americans. But something is missing... thanks
giving.
The real point of this holiday is to remind us of the things we
each have to be grateful for. It’s our special time to give
thanks for the thousands of fortunate moments, the multitude of
blessings that we receive each year.
As a principal, I have many things to be thankful for, but I’m
most thankful for the incredible staff here at Serra High School
who work so hard and have so much heart!
May you and yours have a safe and memorable Thanksgiving.
Donna Somerville, Principal
Serra High School
