OSP Connected
October 2020 Update-Office for School Performance
Message from Dayle
Guess what?
She found one of those letters in a box and found me on LinkedIn!
Last week I received my first email and we have been emailing and texting. I am hoping to go see her next weekend for lunch. She still has a shy, kind smile and the internal calm she had back then and is doing quite well as a business leader. In our interchange I shared with her that I didn't know if I did much to support her at the ripe age of twenty for the one year we spent mostly playing. Know what she said?
"At that time of my life I just needed to be away from my family and know there were better things out there in the world. You did that for me".
Friends, this message just keeps coming. We- you, me- have such a great impact on the children we interact with in ways we never know. For so many of our students they are experiencing challenges and trauma that we can't prevent in all cases. What we can do, and what we should do as educators, is keep showing them the better in the world that is out there for them and their futures. Please be congizant of the power that you have; show each of our children new opportunites, new ways of thinking, careers and spaces and experienes that wait for them! Don't predetermine. Each child should know that the possibilities for them are so numerous. Show them that are are better things out there in the world! Let's do that for them.
October Mid-Month Update
Lunch Pick-Up
We have been encouraging teachers to remind students to pick up lunch at the school sites and/or from the busses driving around the community. The bus routes for lunch are not the same as the bus routes for pick up for brick and mortar transportation. Take a look on the HSD website to see what is close to a specific residence. There have also been concern about loss of instructional time; again, the buses are close to most students and they could go grab lunch in 5-10 min! It is definitely worth that time to have a full stomach and a well fed brain!
Breakout Rooms
As you likely are aware, the Breakout Room feature was recently released on Google Meet. Here are some helpful points to get you started in using the Breakout Rooms:
Break students into different meeting groups and pull them back when needed.
Teacher can go into the different rooms.
Breakout rooms cannot currently be recorded (only direct instruction needs to be recorded which should be occurring during whole class instruction)
Those that joined by calling into the meeting cannot be assigned a breakout room
Video - How To Use Google Meet Breakout Rooms - Teacher Guide and Tutorial
One question that has recently come up with the use of Breakout Rooms is student supervision. First and foremost, it's always important to teach expectations for all learning environments ahead of time - this includes establishing clear expectations for behavior in Breakout Rooms. The best way to think about this is relating it to small groups that would function when we were in-person brick-and-mortar school. Small groups during in-person learning often function independently with a teacher and/or educational assistant circulating and checking in with groups periodically. Treat this the same way of Google Meet! Teachers and educational assistants can "pop in" to different Breakout Rooms in order to check in with the students and support their learning.
Google Meet
Attendance Tracking in Google Meet!
What’s Changing?
Organizers of G Suite Enterprise for Education Google Meet sessions are now receiving an attendance report via email once the meeting is over. This report can be used as a tool to help you complete your attendance in Synergy. Attendance reports will be generated for web or mobile meetings with at least five (and no more than 250) participants and will contain the following information for each:
- Participant’s name
- Participant’s email
- Length of time a participant was on the call, including when they joined and exited
Click here for more information!
Blue Print Teams
We are reactiviting Blue Print Teams in order to have ample time to plan for bringing students back into the building IF the metrics allow it. Teams at the schools will be formed and asked to give feedback on the evolving plans in collaboration with the district level blueprint teams. HSD is committed to follow the metrics for the possibility of hybrid learning but we are far away from that being a reality! However, we would be negligent to not start thinking about the reopening and getting thoughts on what may work as it's a very complex level of thinking we will be doing in the planning. We are thankful for the HEA and HCU representatives that are involved in each layer of committee work as they were in the CDL planning.
Leading Change in HSD: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
As we continue our work with Equity in HSD, now is a great time to remind and root ourselves in Culturally Responsive Practices in our classrooms. Culturally responsive teaching recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning, enriching classroom experiences and keeping students engaged. It is an approach that supports best teaching practices by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes. The use of cultural referents in teaching bridges and explains the mainstream culture, while valuing and recognizing the students' own cultures.
This can be achieved by doing the following:
· Communicate High Expectations
· Active Teaching Methods
· Teacher as Facilitator
· Positive Perspectives on Parents and Families of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
· Cultural Sensitivity
· Culturally Mediated Instruction
· Student−Controlled Classroom Discourse
· Small Group Instruction and Academically
· Reshaping the Curriculum
Please reach out to Saideh Haghighi or Francesca Sinapi if you have any questions.
Elementary Language Arts Adoption
Reminder: If you are having technical issues with rostering please submit a ticket to our tech department. However, if your issue is within the ConnecEd platform, please submit your ticket to their technical department at https://mhedu.force.com/DTS/s/contactus. When you submit the ticket they are able to find the issue connected to the user account.
Continue to check the Language Arts Guide for any new information.