How Can We Improve?The CJUHSD Instructional Development Office is administering its second annual instructional support feedback survey! In our ongoing efforts to provide meaningful and engaging instructional support, we ask that you please take a few moments to respond to our survey so we can continue to best address your needs!
The survey is anonymous and is used by our instructional development team to determine if our efforts have been successful and to help inform our direction for next year. As always, we are here to serve you. Only you can tell us if we're doing that effectively or not! The Link to the Survey: bit.ly/16-17FeedbackSurvey This week's installment brought to you by John Stevens, Instructional Coach for Technology While the integration of technology can be an exciting time in lesson preparation, it can also be a daunting task to choose the right tool for the job. In an ever-expanding world of websites, apps, and programs to help teachers support their students, there seems to be an ever-shrinking amount of time to find the perfect resource. With that in mind, we have something that will help, built by CJUHSD teachers for CJUHSD teachers! In the link above, you now have an opportunity to look at what other teachers are using in their classroom to engage and assess student learning. Not only that, but each resource has a link to take you directly to the free product that you can test out and see if it works with you and your students for that upcoming project, activity, or assignment. (A big thank you to Matt Gillum at CHS for getting the ball rolling with this!) In its infancy, the list won’t look very impressive. However, as teachers from CJUHSD and beyond start contributing the ideas they have tested in their classrooms, the list will grow and become more useful for all who are interested in taking a risk with a different modality, a new platform, or a unique task. For those who feel like they have found a resource worth sharing (yeah, you!), we encourage you to do so. To contribute, please use the link below: Your instructional coaching team is dedicated to empowering the teachers across CJUHSD to create a culture of sharing and collaboration. We have the distinct privilege of visiting your classrooms and sitting in on your meetings to hear about how you are implementing technology, incorporating instructional practices, and more. This table is merely a way to accumulate a collective list of ideas and share them out with your peers, the teachers who are working hard to improve student learning through the medium of technology.
This week's article brought to you by Chris Hollister, Asst. Supt. of Alternative Instruction Research indicates that the teacher in the classroom has the greatest impact on student achievement. Fortunately for us, exceptional teachers are the strength of our District. But what happens when students struggle? What happens when students don’t get it the first time or in the traditional way? That’s where the Assistant Principals of Achievement get to roll up their sleeves and make an impact, and their role is the same as yours -- to prepare students to be successful after they graduate. The APAs make an impact by supporting our teachers and they also ensure students receive plenty of assistance outside of the classroom walls. They strive to ensure any student can get help in any subject at any time.They work with school staff to develop effective intervention systems and processes to monitor individual students as they progress towards completing graduation and A-G requirements. They oversee all of our on-site supports for students including before and after school classes, tutoring, and Saturday School. Some students need more intensive intervention, and the APAs work to ensure these are extensions of the classroom. They help to provide assistance for our students with disabilities, especially the growing population of 504-identified students. They know many students face significant challenges outside of school that impact their achievement and they work to remove barriers and provide scaffolds to help to our growing number of low-income, homeless students, Foster Youth, and our pregnant and parenting teens. In addition to our inspiring staff, we know students need support at home, and the APAs work not only to provide opportunities for parents and community members to become engaged participants with our schools, but also to train and educate them so they can become effective and informed advocates and mentors for their kids. Student achievement is at an all-time high in the Chaffey District and yet we continue to have students who struggle. The APAs speak and act on behalf of these students and their success after high school. They can’t do it alone, and they very much depend upon teaming up with staff to accomplish the significant tasks laid before them. Our Assistant Principals of Achievement have certainly made an impact since we added them in July 2014. Notable accomplishments include:
This week's article is brought to you by Susan Petrocelli, Director of Community RelationsAs educators, we know that parent/family engagement is one of the strongest factors in helping our students succeed in school, yet often we are not sure how to re-engage families that have felt disconnected from students’ academic communities. In the beginning of a child’s education, parents are often involved and engaged in their student’s school activities. However, somewhere around middle school, that interconnectedness dwindles as students grow older and parents’ lives become busier. Unfortunately, this distance can take a toll on student achievement. Fortunately, the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and creation of our Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) has allowed us to formally revisit the importance of school/parent/community partnerships and direct our efforts toward building these relationships. Goal four of our 2016-2017 District LCAP Goals now addresses the importance of this outreach and these connections: “CJUHSD will provide effective communication and strong relationships with all stakeholders.” As the Director of Community Relations, it is my responsibility to support, plan, guide and collaborate with the site programs and activities that address parental engagement. I have now had the opportunity and privilege to meet with parents throughout our District, and have found through heartfelt conversations that there is a renewed interest on the part of parents and community members to re-engage with our school to help not just their own students, but to support all students.Parents and community members have shared many positive stories involving the positive impact our teachers and sites have had on students. Their positive comments far outweigh any concerns expressed, and this positivity is a direct result of the community relations that take place in our classrooms, offices and play fields every day. But we can do more. Through strong and healthy collaborations that involve parent training programs and parent/community participation in campus life, we will provide the greatest opportunity for our students to succeed. When our students succeed, our entire community succeeds. Thank you for taking time to read my news article. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like more information regarding parent/community partnerships and training opportunities. Follow me on Twitter @CJUHSDCommunity for district-wide information about all the great things happening at our schools and in our community. The following link will take you to a very informative policy brief written by the National Educational Policy and Practice Department about Parent, Family, Community Involvement in Education: Did you know...
This week's issue brought to you by Jim Cronin, Asst. Supt. of Instruction, Intern Our teachers are the best around. They are conscientious, diligent, and thoughtful, and they are constantly striving to find new and innovative ways to help students learn and succeed. Our willingness to embrace change, to adapt to our students’ needs and changing world, to take risks, and our efforts to grow professionally drive all that we do. This summer, I saw a graphic that illustrated some compelling shifts that we are seeing in education, and that we will continue to see this year in the Chaffey District. The graphic (seen below) illustrates seven powerful shifts that continue in education. One in particular, shifting from a physical to digital world, has become more apparent as we began the year by deploying 7,400 Chromebooks to 180 teachers district-wide. This investment further opens up access to the current Chromebooks and labs on each of your campuses. Our teachers and students have Google Apps for Education (GAFE) accounts, fostering a collaborative environment in which students and teachers can interact beyond the walls of the classroom. With ease of connectivity between Google Drive and School Loop, students and teachers can access assignments, lessons, homework, and more. Unlimited access and storage for documents and programs from any device allows students to collaborate, submit work, and get feedback in a digital environment and to develop digital portfolios of their work. Of course, all of this access requires us to continue to teach students the importance of digital citizenship. I am impressed by our Teacher Librarians who have embraced the significance of this and placed it in the forefront of the work they do. They worked together as a team to provide our teachers with resources that will guide us in our efforts to continue to teach students how to access and use the digital realm safely and responsibly. They are each a valuable resource on your campuses, and they are ready to help you and your students implement technology effectively in your classrooms. Likewise, the Instruction Division and our instructional coaches are excited to support you on your journey as you shift your classroom, whether it’s flipping your classroom, creating a website, using online formative assessment tools, or building digital portfolios for you students. As you begin to use technology more often in your classroom, think about these three things: how is my use of technology improving instruction; how is my use of technology improving student achievement and outcomes; and how can technology help me take students places I could not before? Every year brings the excitement and potential for opportunities. I wish you well as you continue to shift your classrooms to an increasingly connected, interactive, and digital environment. Have a great year! Graphic developed by Terry Heick. Article and graphic posted at TeachThought.
This week's installment is brought to you by Jessica Kachaenchai, Director of Instruction Etiwanda HS Journalism students gather after their capstone project presentations. I have always loved this time of year: classes are gearing up for finals; students are excited about summer; teachers are excited about summer; and there’s a general cheeriness on campus as we fight to finish the year with a final burst of purpose and determination.
It’s also a time when all of a sudden we have those “This is why it’s all worth it” moments. Maybe it’s students’ final presentations that exceeded expectations or a gift from that quiet student you weren’t sure you had made an impact upon. Maybe it’s getting that senior to pass whom you’ve struggled to motivate all year, or maybe it’s the hugs students are so quick to give when they realize they did well on an assignment or quiz. Not having my own students anymore, I’ve discovered those little moments pop up in different forms these days. I had the honor of visiting the journalism students for Etiwanda High School this week, led by Ms. Bernadine Judson, to observe their capstone projects. Groups of students partnered together to research their topics, put together segments of interviews and footage, and then publish their video to PBS’s site. From start to finish, these students conducted themselves and presented themselves professionally. They created samples of work that will demonstrate to future colleges and employers the skills they’ve developed and honed in their time in Ms. Judson’s program. They worked with professionals in the industry to produce quality work, work they could be proud of. And they were proud. It came through in their presentations, in their segments, and in their smiles. They tackled difficult and sensitive topics, from wifi access in lower-socioeconomic communities, to breaking gender stereotype boundaries. And I thought, “This is why we do it. This is why we are in education.” As you move to the end of the year, I hope you’re finding your “This is why we do it” moments. I hope you’re getting the necessary reminders of why you work so hard throughout the year. Of course summer brings rejuvenation and reflection, but I hope these last couple of weeks serve as the validation needed to come back and do it all over again next year! |
Writing Team:These tips and ideas are a compilation of ideas from the Instructional Coaching Team and from teachers who have contributed Archives
April 2017
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