Mr. Kory Price Receives The Brightest Classroom Recognition

Mr. Price was surprised this morning by KNWA’s Dan Skoff and received a $500 check from the Brightest Future classroom project.

The presentation will air on KNWA tonight at 5 PM and they will send us a link so that everyone can view it tomorrow.

Congratulations Mr. Price!!!

Link to KNWA story.

Teachers of WJHS: Thanks for Another Great Week

It’s been another great week here at WJHS.

Mrs. Judy Marquess, Executive Director of Secondary Instruction, helped top it off with her visit this morning.

As usual, Judy was very complimentary of what she saw in the classrooms that we visited- engaged students, having fun, AND learning.

Mrs. Marquess and I encountered laughter in virtually every classroom that we visited this morning.  It wasn't “off topic” laughter but genuine happiness about what they were accomplishing within the lessons.

Students were more than happy to share what they were doing and why they were doing it.

Our students are so lucky to have teachers that strive to incorporate real world activities and scenarios and provide students an opportunity to display their knowledge in ways other than traditional paper and pen tests, worksheets, etc.

I appreciate the effort that you put into teaching each week.

Now...

Have a great weekend!  

Tim Sparacino, Principal

Go Wildcats!

In Remembrance

Today at WJHS our students honored Floyd Smith by sharing words of encouragement to his family through a graffiti wall, creating bracelets to wear to show support for our Wildcat community, raising approximately $1000 to give to Floyd's family by participating in a hat day, and planting a memorial tree on the front lawn of WJHS as a lasting symbol.  Our hope is that through these actions and symbols, we will honor the great impact that Floyd had on us as individuals and as a Wildcat community.

WJHS Staff Members Recognized for Excellence

Today Rob and Miguel, important members of our WJHS family, were recognized for their outstanding work. No only do they model the Wildcat Way for our students, but they keep our facilities up and running and we'd be lost without them! Thanks to both of them!

FCA meets Monday mornings at 8am!

FCA meets Monday mornings at 8am in the band room for a Bible study. Anyone and Everyone is welcome! 

A Great First Week and Relationships

We have just wrapped up a great first week at WJHS.

As always, our teachers have been modeling The Wildcat Way and focusing on building a collaborative classroom culture.

We understand that kids don't care what you know until they know that you care.  So, a great deal of our efforts this week have been on getting to know our students and helping them to learn about us.

Our Instagram account has several pictures from the week that depict these relationship building activities.

One of the things that we frequently talk about as a staff is that we are about much more than test scores.  We strive to make a difference in the lives of the students that we teach.

If you have four and a half minutes and some tissue (men, you may want to watch alone so nobody else sees you crying), check out the video below about a teacher that is retiring after 41 years in the business.

This teacher would fit right in with our faculty and demonstrates exactly what we strive to be about every day.

I'm looking forward to another great year of making a difference for students.  Go Wildcats!

Tim Sparacino, Principal

It's All About Ideas

WJHS teachers,

I found two really good blog posts in my short professional reading time this morning.

If you follow me on Twitter (@sparacino), you may have already seen the links.

If not…

5 Questions Every Teacher Should Ask His/Herself

Students Learn More If They’ll Need to Teach Others

You can find and search all of the online resources that I collect in my Diigo library.

My Professional Learning Network helps me keep up with the latest trends in education and more importantly, find ideas.

It’s all about ideas!

Where do your ideas come from?

I’ll be hosting sessions throughout the year to help you harness the power of digital tools to efficiently locate, manage, and share ideas.

Please join in the fun and let me know if I can help in any way.

Tim Sparacino, Principal