Team,
I want to give you “big ups” for your “back to school” nights! I have received positive feedback from parents and others around these well run events. Nicely done!
I want to give you a heads up on our next MS work session on Oct 13. I am going to have you invite (one) language arts teacher from each of your schools to attend our work session. There will be a presentation from Michele Clements, L/A TOSA. It will be a 15-20 presentation. I will share more on this topic next week.
As I mentioned last week, I have been updating the pages on the Fish Basket. Take a moment to surf the below pages. You might find it useful.
Here are the latest links of information:
- School Board Goals & District Policies
- Safety
- Standard Response Protocol
- Certified Professional Growth and Performance Manual
- Middle School Running Minutes 2022-2023
- Meeting Agendas
- Instruction
Have a great weekend~Juan
To Do
Reminder: On October 4th at 4:00 in Bend High School’s Perseverance Hall we will have our first convening of secondary administrative teams and building ICCLs. Our purpose is:
You will have a understanding of the ICCL position, and some of the changes You will make connections between equitable grading, MTSS, and administrators work on Leading Equitable SchoolsYou will think about how types of data can inform our school-wide (tier 1) MTSS work
To share with your Health Teacher:
There will be a required training session for Health teachers for the next 3 weeks. All secondary Health teachers are expected to attend. We are paying for your sub coverage. Please indicate workshop/conference
These are the dates and times of the in-person sessions, by grade level band:
- High School: Oct 5, 12, 26 from 8am-12pm
- Middle School: Oct 6, 13, 27 from 8am-12pm
Parent Conferences and Canvas support:
Plan to open up a space (Library?) during parent conferences or Open House so families can get support with accessing Canvas (including getting the code they need). Reminder, parents can get the code from their student.
SLGG Guidance
Dave VanLoo helped us track down SLGG info for 22/23. Here is a guidance document and below is the link to the ODE site.
https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/educator_effectiveness/Pages/slg.aspx
This link is also under the instruction page in the Fish Basket.
This and That
From Tammi Pike
Field Trips
For students who may need nursing support during a field trip, please complete the Medical Request for Direct Care Nursing for Off Campus Field-trip form and send to Tami Pike at least 2 weeks PRIOR to the trip. Due to nurse scheduling, requests submitted less than 14 days prior to the event may be denied due to staffing.
Here is the form: Medical Request for Direct Care
From Alandra
Oct. 6: State of the Schools
Staff members are invited to tune in to one of two presentations by Superintendent Cook on Thursday, October 6. He will share information about the state of our schools as well as information about the upcoming construction bond on the November ballot. Tune in at 8 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. If time allows, Dr. Cook will also answer questions from staff. Submit a question in advance using this form. For those that can’t make it, we will record the presentation and share it at a later date. If your school is interested in having Dr. Cook share a presentation in person, please reach out to Marta Broberg and we will gladly add you to the schedule. Thanks!
More from Alandra
In the coming days, you’ll receive some informational flyers with key facts about the November construction bond. Please be sure to put one on your bulletin board and keep others at the check in counter area. I’m happy to print additional should you like some for an event, etc. Thanks!
From Paul Dean, Human Resources
UKG Project Update
The HR/Business Department will be sending out an email to admin and all BLS staff regarding the UKG Phase One Implementation separately from the weekly blog announcement.
From Dean and our secondary TOSA team:
The Secondary Instruction Blog begins this year with a post from Social Sciences TOSA, Monica Freeman, on some ideas about engaging in controversial topics in the classroom.
We know that it can be intimidating to wrestle with the big ideas of the day. Whether this is a topic that your standards take on or it is a “teachable moment” from a student, engaging in critical thinking, respectful dialogue, and seeing multiple perspectives are important skills for all of us to use in our democracy.
This post gives some reasons why these topics are important, some of the protections that you have, and a resource for setting up your classroom to be a space where students and teachers can be brave enough to speak their minds in a respectful way.
Why Should I Teach Controversial Subjects in the Classroom
From Kinsey Martin
Bias Incidents:
As you lead the Bias Incident Student Lesson in your buildings, you will have the opportunity to engage with some families in dialogue about the ‘why’ of this work. Here are some tips and resources:
- Remember, our Equity Stance has language you can pull from to respond
- Remind families they are invited to share their thoughts (positive ones, too!) via the feedback form linked in the letter they received. Staff are welcome to use that form as well, to share how it went in their classrooms.
- If you get anyone particularly persistent or upset, Kinsey is happy to connect with them individually or in partnership with you.
- Once you have completed the lessons in your building, please note that here
Conferences:
We need to ensure that each multilingual family who needs interpretation to participate meaningfully in conferences has a trained, professional interpreter available and accessible to them.
Interpreters will be tight across the region during conferences, but schools who carefully and proactively coordinate appointments should be able to get every family covered. This will likely mean scheduling your multilingual families first.
Remember, liaisons and bilingual staff are not interpreters. Our CAFE Program will be up and running shortly before conferences (we’re in the final stages of ensuring qualifications and training—Kinsey will get you names soon). However, aim to tap these bilingual staff members for emergencies, walks-ins, and no-shows, rather than for pre-planned and scheduled appointments. Please coordinate with your Language Specialist to chunk ‘interpreter-needed’ appointments into blocks to the extent possible, and submit those blocks via Linguist Link asap.
From Jennifer:
The link below has some some helpful tips and some things to consider for conferences, curriculum nights, and open houses to make the event more meaningful for our families: Family Engagement: A Meaningful Back-to-School Night Thank you Jennifer!
From Instructional Technology:
Canva for Education is now available for all teachers and students. Canva is an online design and publishing tool that provides templates for easy-to-create presentations, posters, documents, and other types of visual content. The attached PDF explains how to get access and login to your Canva for Education account. If you need any support with Canva for Education, please reach out to Tracy Howk, Robbie Faith, or Austin James.
Here is the PDF: CANVA in the Classroom
From TLC
On October 4th Middle and High School Administrators and ICCLs will be meeting at Bend High School’s Perseverance Hall. We will begin at 4:00. If possible, please set up coverage during the last period to allow for an on time arrival.
The agenda is as follows:
- Foster an Adult Learning Culture: collaboration, getting better, problem solving
- Create systems and routines for empowering teachers to identify and solve problems
- Coherence of vision for student experience and student learning
- Connect dots between district goals (CEL and grading) and school goals
Also, during the presentation, we will be discussing our work with CEL. Principals should be prepared to discuss the slide below and lessons learned during our 2 day training.
For Your Information
On-line iPad Insurance
The link to purchase iPad insurance will be removed at the end of the day Friday. If a student wishes to purchase iPad insurance after Friday they will need to do that in person and bring their iPad in for inspection to ensure no prior damage has occurred.
Calendar
October 4: Middle School Principal Breakfast (optional) 7:30-9:00 @Original Pancake House 1025 SW Donovan, Ave (West Side)
October 4: Middle and High School Administrators and ICCLs 4:00-6:00@Bend High School’s Perseverance Hall
October 10: K-12 Principal Only Work Session 3:00-4:30 @Ed Center Board Room
October 13: Middle School Work Session 7:30-9:00 @High Desert Middle School
October 14: Middle School Assistant Principals Breakfast at 7:00-8:30 @Jackson’s Corner (West Side)
October 18: Middle School Principal Breakfast (optional) 7:30-9:00 @Original Pancake House 1025 SW Donovan, Ave (West Side)
October 24: Assistant Principal Professional Development 7:30-8:30 @Ed Center Boardroom
October 28: Middle School Work Session 7:30-9:00 @La Pine Middle School
October 31: Halloween
November 10: Middle School Work Session 7:30-9:00 @Pacific Crest Middle School