Quote to Consider
“Every success story is a tale of constant adaptation, revision and change.” ~Richard Branson
To Dos Before Summer
- Once you have submitted all your grades, please connect with Gina to let her know that you are done, so that she can double check everything on her side.
- Log in to Talent Ed and make sure you have no outstanding tasks in your folder.
- Here is the most up-to-date 2020-21 work calendar for certified staff.
- Make sure to review Canvas information and create a plan for yourself on which training dates you are planning on attending. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IIFhqRuD3cBXxMSZPP53JdhMSjXT9oeV1zLH0vB4uwk/edit?ts=5ee12ee5
- The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) released its first round of guidance, Ready Schools, Safe Learners, Version 1, which will aid school districts across Oregon in planning the start of the 2020-21 school year this fall. ODE leadership has stated that the guidance is the first iteration and will likely change multiple times before the start of school year this fall.
- We welcome you to review the full guidance from ODE at your convenience. You will find that it includes a wide range of guidelines for schools, including, but not limited to:
- Physical distancing (minimizing contact within 6 feet with other people)
- Hand hygiene (frequent washing with soap and water or using hand sanitizer)
- Cohorts (conducting all activities in small groups that remain together over time with minimal mixing of groups)
- Protective equipment (use of face shields, face coverings and barriers)
- Environmental cleaning and disinfection (especially of high-touch surfaces)
- Isolation of sick people and quarantine of exposed people
- Meal service
- Transportation
- We welcome you to review the full guidance from ODE at your convenience. You will find that it includes a wide range of guidelines for schools, including, but not limited to:
- In the weeks to come we will be meeting with educators, health care leaders, and others to plan for a healthy return to school.
- Our commitment to our students, families, and staff is to regularly communicate with you about this work. We plan to send updated information regularly. You can expect updates from our district on the following dates, if not sooner:
- July 1
- August 1
- August 15
Articles to read and consider
- The article Helping Students Discuss Race Openly in Education Leadership (ASCD) outlines several steps teachers can follow to ensure “safe classroom environments” where powerful discussions regarding race, class, privilege, and inequities can emerge. Although it is a few years old, the suggestions for teachers on how to connect these types of discussions into the teaching of standards – no matter the content area – definitely still fit in today’s world.
- This article not only spells out experiences I’m sure our teachers and students felt this spring, but also provides some ideas to get better at (or avoid altogether) it not happening again. 5 traps that will kill online learning (and strategies to avoid them) is a practical set of reminders of what teaching should be – and should not be. This might be one to read now, then reread, if needed, in the fall as we think about what online teaching/learning should be.
- Ed Week just published this article regarding how a school may look next year (a district team is working on a plan specific for us now – and will share updates with you as these become clearer). I thought it provides some ideas, although generic, that may fit within what we need to accomplish in the fall. The Socially Distanced School Day
- If you are looking for a good read over the summer (or would like to recommend one to someone you know – no matter what age), then check out this list that our district librarian has compiled.
PASS Assessor Opportunity
The district is looking for teachers and administrators to participate as PASS Level Review Panel Assessors. Every teacher in the PASS Program has to go through Level Review in the fourth or fifth year of the program. It is important that the teachers in the PASS program are assessed by their peers. We need 20+ teachers and administrators that would be willing to score materials for these teachers in PASS. Successful applicants will receive training.
- You can find a job description and application materials at the link below.
- After you have applied in Applitrack, send me an email so I can complete the electronic recommendation process.
- Applications are due by August 10th.
- If you have specific questions about the position, then please contact Michele Oakes.
Master Schedule
Below you will see the final draft of the 2020-21 master schedule. When undertaking a task like this, there are numerous ways to prioritize competing needs in order to arrive at the best possible schedule. While we do seriously consider teacher input about preps, sequence of classes and other requests, that is not our highest priority.
This year, we created a schedule with an Equity lens to prioritize the needs of our historically underserved populations, specifically, our linguistically diverse students (DI and ELL) and those who needed additional support classes through our AVID elective, SPED interventions and/or counselor study skills groups. In past master schedules, a 6th grade who was in our study skills wheel, was a DI student and who wanted a singleton music elective like a brass band class may not have been able to receive all of those selections. Similarly, a 7th grader needing ELL services, the AVID elective and who wanted a singleton orchestra class; or, an 8th grader who was a DI student, who was transgender requesting a walking PE class and also wanted a Foods 2 elective may not be able to access all of those classes.
Prioritizing the needs of these underserved groups while creating the master schedule has allowed us this year to serve all of those students’ needs. No schedule is perfect and we know that not every teacher was able to get exactly what they hoped for, but we excited to be providing opportunities for students who may have been compromised in the past.
Many thanks to Gina for all her hard work and constant tinkering to complete the schedule!
Virtual Learning
You probably did not have enough time to access all of the resources shared during the past three months on how to improve digital learning opportunities for students. A site that you may want to go back and review is the district’s Teaching and Learning @ BLS blog. In the likelihood that there will be some distance learning next school year, there are some great tips and ideas on this site.
Equity Book Club
A number of Bend-LaPine teachers including some from HDMS participated in a Equity Book Club this past year. We wanted to pass along some information shared by Kinsey Martin to the Book Club members.
If this is an area of interest to you, you may want to read the book over the summer and participate in the PD opportunity in August. Here is the info from Kinsey:
Matt Kay (the author of our last year’s Book Club book, Not Light But Fire) was going to keynote at our summer Innovative Teaching and Learning conference…which is obviously canceled.
However, he has agreed to provide our district with his support and expertise, virtually! He will present and discuss some equity topics as part of a two-day workshop offered as one of our district summer PD choices.
Save the dates: August 24-25! (University credit or PDUs available.)
The workshop is titled “Daring Classrooms and Schools: Practicing Vulnerability, Relationships, and Dialogue as a Basis for Equity Leadership.” Half of the time will be Matt Kay presenting info and facilitating our discussion, and half will be collective learning based on Brene Brown’s work on vulnerability and courage, as well as some other resources promoting dialogue and relationships (teacher-to-student, and colleague-to-colleague).
Because this work helps deepen not only classroom practices around equity issues, but also our skills in general with courageous conversations together as adults (think true PLC work), I would encourage you to attend with your grade-level team, department, school leadership team, or even just another colleague.
Anyway, just a heads-up, since I know many of you were excited to work directly with this author!
I would love if you could share a bit with your team or building colleagues about our book club and this national speaker/author, so folks are aware of this opportunity coming to our district, and so we can maximize the number of staff who benefit from his expertise.
Trauma Informed Practices
Another PD opportunity that will happen over the summer is below. Nole, Brettney and Paul will be attending and invite interested teachers to join us.
The regional Culture of Care Coaches are hosting a 2-day training with Jim Sporleder (Paper Tigers) on August 20-21.
- Day 1 is designed for a broad overview message about restorative justice and creating a culture of care. This is open to anyone.
- Day 2 is designed for building administrators and leadership teams to go deeper.
