After-Hours Paid PD
A reminder that we are offering up to four hours of paid (curriculum rate) time for those teams who want to plan together outside of school hours. In order to help ensure that not only is this PD is meaningful, but also so I can share the outcomes of the time as I advocate for work time built into future work schedules, I am requiring that all teams complete (what else?) a Google Form explaining the objectives for your time together and how the time will be used to consider the four questions of effective PLCs (what will students learn? how will you know they are learning? what will you do if they are not learning? what will you do if they demonstrate proficiency/mastery?). Please note that this time is NOT available on October 27 or 28 (conference days), as that is work time already.
PLC Team Rosters can be found here.
As always, please see me with questions.
Conferences
One more reminder that conferences are being held on October 27 and October 28 and will be held via WebEx. A reminder that you may choose to host conferences off-site if you’d like, but you will need to be available for the duration of the time (4:15 – 8:15 on Wednesday, 8:00 – 8:00 on Thursday); even if you do not have a student signed up for a conference slot, they may choose to “drop in” to your WebEx for a conference. You do not need to have your camera on when no one is there, but you do need to be available for these drop-ins.
If you need me or Anne-Marie to join you in a conference, text us. If you don’t have our numbers, come ask us or ask Deb to share our contact info with you.
Lunch Update
We are moving to TWO lunches starting Monday, 10/25 in order to prepare for the inevitability that the weather will force us to host indoor lunch at some point this fall/winter/spring, as we do not currently have the capacity to host 610+ students inside for lunch while maintaining the required 6 feet of social distancing.
After consulting with the ICCL team, we were able to make this change without any disruption to the overall schedule by rotating lunch and Advisory depending (mostly) on grade-level. The breakdown of whose Advisory class has first lunch and whose Advisory has second lunch can be found here; the bell/time schedule with the addition of the second lunch can be found here.
You’ll notice that we will continue to host only one lunch on Wednesdays (“One-Lunch Wednesday”, to use an alliterative reminder). This will present a great opportunity for problem solving as to how we’ll get all students in a setting that meets the requirements for indoor eating, and we’ll share our ideas as they’re developed. One idea is to host all (or as many as possible) clubs on Wednesday in order to provide an opportunity for all students to take part in clubs.
Any solution-oriented feedback on this is appreciated and welcomed.
Master Schedule
Speaking of schedules, I’ve had some requests to share the master schedule, so here it is.
FAN Training
We are getting close to our first FAN survey of the year, which means training will need to happen ahead of time for those in need of the training. Our FAN Advocate, Heidi Odman, will be reaching out to you via email next week if you are someone who needs the training. Training is MANDATORY for all staff, so thank you in advance for not only your compliance but – more importantly – for the work you do to ensure students and families in need are able to get assistance that will allow them to be successful.
For those of you who do not know what FAN is or does, their website does a great job of detailing all of the amazing resources they provide to our students and families in need, and I’ll share that they are an amazing organization that helps provide clothes, food, financial support, and so much more to students and families in need.
Attendance Recording and Codes
Please remember to take attendance early in the period, each period. Not only is such recording legally required, it also REALLY helps out the office staff looking for a student (or looking to ensure a student is indeed absent). By doing this early in the period, you are helping your colleagues be better able to do their job. See me if you have questions.
Some of you have asked me about the new codes that have been used this year, so here’s an overly-brief explanation.
● ACO – School Activity. This is when a student is out of school for an approved activity (think: field trip) or because we need them out of school but their absence is not discipline-related (think: well-being).
● SSP – Student Success Program. This is when students are present in the building but are in the Trail.
Both of these codes are used for excused absences. See me with questions.
Synergy and Canvas Updating
From our friends in IT:
Greetings,Now that teachers are more comfortable with Canvas, it has become evident in IT that several middle school and high school teachers are not using or actively transferring grades into Synergy. Please help us by restating that Synergy is our official grade reporting tool and that grades should be updated regularly. Additionally, please encourage families to use ParentVue as their primary source for student progress. ParentVue shows our families “HOW” their student is doing, Canvas shows them “WHAT” their student is doing (stolen from Roger White). Instructions for how families can join both tools are linked here. The following comparison illustrates why it is critical that our synergy grade book is properly maintained.
Standard Response Protocol Video
From our friends in our Safety and Communication Department:
Thank you to those of you who have already watched this video detailing the new Standard Response Protocol (SRP) language that we are using as a district to make things clearer. Please watch the six-minute video and complete this one-question Google Form attesting you have done so by Friday, October 29. One of you who already watched the video indicated that you’d like to follow up with Anne-Marie or I to talk more about safety, but I forgot to collect email addresses for this form and don’t know who you are. We are always willing and ready to discuss safety questions/concerns as they come up, just let us know.
PAID Newsela Training
From our friends in Teaching and Learning:
All secondary teachers have access to Newsela this year, with a broad range of applications in every subject area. With it, you have the ability to provide information – especially current events information – on a variety of nonfiction subjects to your students. What makes Newsela unique is the content scaffolding, so that the same material can be delivered in a variety of difficulty levels. You can utilize one version of an article for your younger classes, and a more sophisticated version for your older students. Similarly, within a class, you can access one version for your struggling readers, one version for your grade-level readers, and one version for your strong readers. It has myriad applications and is pleasingly user-friendly. Teachers that are using it have been impressed.
Click here to learn even more about Newsela.
Additionally, there is an opportunity for a PAID 1-hour training on this platform. Click here to find out more about the training opportunity.
Record of Credit Update
From our friends in Human Resources
We are excited to announce that you can now check your Record of Credit through Employee Online. Record of Credit has been added to the Personal Information tab – see screen print below. We have entered all credits we have received up through today so this information is up to date. We respectfully ask that when you send in new credits moving forward, you allow us a couple weeks to get them entered before following up to see if we have received them. Let us know if you have any questions. Employee Online
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