Wildcat Weekly
September 14, 2020
Our Promise
Every student in Dallas School District is known by name, strength, and need, and graduates ready for career, college, and community.
Courage is Contagious!
Now I know, I share some pretty cheesy stories from time to time, and I tend to reach to make connections, but what I saw on Sunday from this new revamped Seahawk team was much like what I have seen these past couple weeks at our school. I gushed a bit in an email this past week, but I am really proud of the work we are all doing to overcome the challenges of new systems and meeting the needs of kids in Comprehensive Distance Learning.
I have talked with many of you about our work these past weeks and though we are building the plane while we are flying it, there is a sense of confidence or courage if you will in our ability to not only overcome but to create some amazing experiences for our kids. I have seen our game rise and our teams' confidence and courage become infectious.
We have a great team and we will be better together! Really glad you're here!
Jamie
Important Update on Canvas
Information shared from Matt Jurick and Kim Kellison, these two are doing some amazing work to get us all through this challenge and appreciate their efforts!
Important points:
1. Please sign-in to Canvas only using Google going forward. If you sign-in with Google and don't see your courses, email me and I will merge your accounts so that you do. It's important from a sync standpoint that we only use Google for signing in.
2. Most importantly, please do not change or alter the "Course Code" or "SIS ID" on your Canvas courses. I am in the process of connecting them to the sync data. If you change either one of these fields, it will break the sync with Clever and cause data problems.
**Please know that your Canvas classes HAVE NOT been deleted. We are having an issue with Canvas and the nightly sync. This is an issue that will require Matt to reach out to the Canvas tech department. We are working on merging your accounts back into one account that you access with the Google Sign-On. Please be patient today, and know that we are working seven days a week to get you up and running.
Zoom Help, Thanks Doug!
The issue of breakout rooms and student screen sharing has been discussed in several different circles, so I thought I’d throw this out to everyone, in case it helps.
Both are features we have, but need to be turned on in the ‘advanced settings’ in Zoom. Log into Zoom on a browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc.), not in a downloaded app on a device. There are more accessible settings this way. A chromebook should be fine. Scroll down to advanced settings and find the items in the screenshots below:
The Distance Learning Playbook
Thanks for your work this past week in PLC in discussing the modules. Though not rocket science having the ability to share ideas with one another is important. I will have our ideas posted outside the office for review.
I will have copies of the next modules to share with you this week, due to our closure, we will adjust our work in PLC for the next weeks.
Lesson Design and Planning
PLC discussion Wednesday 9/16:
- Module 5 - Teacher clarity
- Module 6 - Developing engaging tasks
- Module 7 - Planning instructional units
PLC discussion Wednesday 9/23:
- Module 8 - Feedback, assessment, and grading
- Module 9 - The best case for learning through a crisis
I am excited about how this resource pairs well with the care and connection first through the development of high engaging lessons similar to our work with Project-Based Learning. This will be a great learning opportunity!
More to come!👍
Coming Up On Your Calendar
Monday - 9/14 - School Closure/ Homeroom Outreach
8:30 - 9:00 - Homeroom Outreach - Zoom
Tuesday 9/15 - Homeroom Outreach/ Team Planning
9:00 - 6:00 - Chromebook Distribution
Wednesday 9/16- Homeroom Outreach/ Team Planning
1:30 - 2:30 - Teacher PLC
Thursday 9/17 - Homeroom Outreach/ Team Planning
9:00 - 6:00 - Chromebook Distribution
Friday 9/18 - Team Planning