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St. Mary’s School
New technology: What used to take minutes can now take up to an hour
By Kathy Ayette
This year the principal uttered those two little words guaranteed to
strike terror into the hearts of all staff members...” new technology”.
I have been given to understand that technology is supposed to make
tasks easier and quicker. My experience has been that technology tends
to make tasks that I used to do in several minutes take up to an hour.
This year we have the new St. Mary’s app. I spent the first week
wrestling with the app, and it almost had me pinned several times. Now
instead of just sending my parent newsletter via bulk email, I first
have to create a PDF, send it to the cloud, then whip out the I Pad,
click on the appropriate icon, choose teacher blog, add a picture to
the blog, and add the attachment. The first time I tried it, I had our
trusty tech wizard next to me. I sent my letter to the cloud, but when
we tried to attach it to the blog, the cloud wouldn’t give it back. Our
tech wizard had to contact his tech wizard. You know you’re in trouble
when the tech guy has to go to a tech guy! I must admit there are
things I like about the app. My favorite is the on-line forms. No more
finding a pile of important forms that I forgot to send out... last
week.
School began on August 27. The evening before students and parents were
invited to an Open House to give them the opportunity to meet the
teachers and check out the classrooms. Technology aside, the beginning
of the school year went smoothly. We usually meet on the playground the
first day of school for a short prayer service to start the year. This
year the short prayer service was even shorter. Our prayers may have
been ascending to Heaven, but rain was descending from there.
On Friday September 6, we participated in a mass evacuation drill to
our secondary location. As part of the safety plan, we need to have two
places for the student to go to if the school is unsafe. Our primary
site is the church building. However, if that building would not be a
safe place, the students evacuate to the secondary site, Memorial Hall.
We “evacuated” at the end of the day. I have to admit I was a little
concerned about the acoustics in the hall’s lobby. It is a yodeler’s
dream. Echoes abound. I have thirteen potential yodelers. However, the
students behaved very well and considering the mass of children in the
hall, the noise level was low.
Fall pictures were taken on September 9. I had forgotten that it was
picture day. I can hardly wait to see that photo. Oh well, there’s
always retake day. I wouldn’t bother except the fall pictures are the
ones in the yearbook and in the composite picture that hangs in the
hall. On the other hand, I could provide hours of merriment for future
students.
As you know September 11 was Patriot Day. Staff and students gathered
around the flagpole first thing in the morning for a prayer service to
remember those who died that awful day and to pray that we learn
tolerance and understanding to avoid such tragedies in the future. None
of our students were alive at the time of the attacks. The teachers had
recounted the events for the students earlier that week.
On September 17, the student council is sponsoring Yellow Day in order
to raise funds to fight childhood cancer. We recently lost one of our
own to cancer. One of the children who was going to be in kindergarten
lost her battle with cancer the Sunday before she was to start at St.
Mary’s. In her honor and students and staff are asked to wear yellow
and bring a donation to help put an end to childhood cancer.
Lock the doors and bar the windows! Talk Like a Pirate Day is September
19 and I have it on good authority that blood thirsty pirates (OK juice
thirsty pirates) will once again invade the hallowed halls of St.
Mary’s. Every September, the first and second graders roam the halls
following the clues to
find the buried treasure. The date is already noted on our September calendar, and the pirates are raring to go!
On September 25, the third through eighth grade teachers will attend an
in-service hosted by the Darke County ESC. The topic will be writing
across the curriculum. One of our goals to improve our curriculum is to
improve the students’ grammar and composition skills. One way to do
this is to require proper grammar and punctuation on assignments in all
classes, just not in language arts.
Until next month, enjoy the end of summer and beginning of fall.
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