Acceleration East High School
Community Brief
Thursday, October 17, 2019
   
Helping student Lily Hernandez re-learn how to ride a bicycle this week!
Sound the horns! It's my annual message about reciprocal accountability! It always seems to fall at the same time every year - right at the end of the first marking period. The week at the end of a marking period or a semester often involves controlled panic regarding test re-takes, missing work, and discrepancies of "I don't have any record of you completing this assignment" vs. "But I turned it in!"

Our teachers have become increasingly more helpful in deferring to students regarding their grades approaching the end of the term. I see teachers responding to the students that are advocating for themselves. However, as I have stated for the past several years to students, triaging grades during the last week of a term is not a successful strategy.

I'm not referring to the situations involving grades and assignments that have just come through, but the assignments and tests from the beginning of the marking period deserve immediate attention.

College won't offer the re-takes that we offer. But we believe in mastery learning. And sometimes things can't be mastered the first time, but requires multiple exposures. In some cases, students struggle with certain formats of testing. And they require something different. The allure of working in this field is that we don't work on a production line - everything is couture. We will continue to get better so that the students can continue to get better!

With Phoenix Pride,
 
Mr. Doug Loftus
2019-2020 Calendar
Dates to Watch For:

* NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Teacher workday)
* Nov. 5: Spirit Night at Texas Roadhouse, 4:00-8:00 pm.



Kadence Switzerland and Maida Merced were "bragged on" by Ms. Melton, math teacher, for their efforts earlier this week. Trying to "catch the winning behaviors" of our students is something AEHS teachers do and when they really stand out, the students are spotlighted and receive a candy bar.
Hispanic Heritage Festival Highlights





Student Health and Fitness
HOPE Class with Ms. Trimble
Ms. Trimble's students enjoyed working on making their own homemade "stress balls" last week. They were studying mental and emotional stress going into the final days of the 1st nine-week quarter. HOPE stands for Health Opportunities through Physical Education.



Johan Verdugo holding his finished stress ball
 
Student Government Association (SGA)
Homecoming, Oct. 18th
Our SGA has been working very hard leading up to tomorrow evening's Homecoming Dance which will be held at the Holiday Inn on the corner of Alafaya Trail and SR 50.


 
Motivational Moment!
Testing For Gossip

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right", Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about it and ..."

"Alright", said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "If what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

Florida flag
Enjoy the rest of your week and please remember there is no school for students on Friday.
Doug Loftus, Principal
Acceleration East High School
Thursday, October 17, 2019
 
 
 
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