Westwood Weekly
Staff Newsletter - Week of April 20-26
This Week:
As we dig deeper into what it looks like to provide instruction to students remotely, we are all learning how to utilize new online tools to facilitate this process. If you have questions about how to do something specific (i.e. convert a document so students can edit and submit online, pin notes to your Google Classroom, etc.), you are not alone! Reach out to our Teachers on Special Assignment and your colleagues. Be sure to check out the training sessions being offered as support (see the Distance Learning Update above for more information). If there is something specific your team would like more training on, schedule a Zoom training tailored to your needs! Please also remember that Leatha is available for consultation, and to join your Zoom meetings, and the Amber has made herself available to use as well.
Although we had another awesome parade and I enjoyed seeing some of our students, I missed interacting with students last week. My IEP meeting schedule is not quite as busy this week, and I am looking forward to popping into some classroom Zoom meetings. If you haven't already, please remember to share with me a breakdown of your weekly schedule. If there is a particular session (day? time?) you would like me to join (or not), please let me know. I won't stay long, but want to see the kiddos and how they are engaging within our virtual classrooms. I love seeing some of their comments in Google Classroom (tee hee)! We do not yet have a formal process for tracking student 'attendance', however, here is the 'tracker' I drafted. If you edit it, just remember to please copy and rename it first.
Wishing you all a great week of teaching and learning!
This Week:
-Lunch served M, W, and F at EDMS (11-12:30)
-Soul Shoppe Workshops (daily, 1:30-2:15)
Monday, 4/20:
-3rd-5th Grade Collaboration and Support Meeting (1-2pm)
-Annual IEP Meeting for Anahi GG (2:30)
-Virtual School Board Meeting (7pm)
Tuesday, 4/21:
-Mindfulness Lesson (10am)
-Annual IEP Meeting for King S (11:45)
-1st/2nd Grade Collaboration and Support Meeting (1-2pm)
-Annual IEP Meeting for Joshua ZP (1:30)
-Annual IEP Meeting for Azariah B (2:30)
Wednesday, 4/22: Earth Day!! (see information about a special event below)
-Annual IEP Meeting for Ruben TC (9:00am)
-Mindfulness Lesson (10am)
-Coordinated Care Team Zoom Meeting (10:30am)
-TK/K Collaboration and Support Meeting (1-2pm)
-Virtual Staff Optional Check-in (2:00pm)
Thursday, 4/23:
-Mindfulness Lesson (10am)
-TK-5 and Specialties Collaboration and Support Meeting (1-2pm)
-Annual IEP Meeting for Zara Z (2:30)
Friday, 4/24:
-District DHH Check-in with Amy (10:30)
Remote Instruction Resources and Support
With all of the tools and resources available to you, please continue to reference the information provided by the district regarding instructional expectations (see above) and the resources being compiled by our TOSA team, as they are filtering the information that best aligns with our district-wide learning goals and instructional tools: Distance Learning Teacher Resources.
With that being said, many of you are discovering useful links, training opportunities, tips, etc. Please be sure to add these to our Westwood Remote Learning Resource List.
PBIS - Connection Before Content
Student Connection - We made significant progress on reaching our families before the break, and we want to continue to ensure that all of our students are engaging with the educational and social-emotional support we are providing. If you indicated that you had not yet reached all of your students, then be sure those students' names are on our Student Contact List so I can assist in reaching out. Finally, please be sure your contact information is up-to-date so that our families know how to reach you, when needed: Staff Contact Information.
Tip of the Week
Are you looking to integrate a new online teaching tool this week? AVID has put together a collection of helpful tips for how to get started with some of the most popular teaching tools for distance learning. They have also included several synchronous and asynchronous ideas for how to use them with your existing learning objectives. Check them out HERE.
Jeanne Johnson - Instructional Coach for AVID, Social Studies and Secondary Literacy
Earth Day Chalk Drawing Event - April 22nd
We are inviting everyone to create a chalk drawing (or use whatever supplies you have) for Earth Day. I have been leading a community Earth Day chalk drawing at the Zoo for the last several years. With the Zoo now closed, this year I'll be creating a large drawing by myself down at my studio.
Please join in, kids, adults, no experience needed except social distancing. Send a photo of your work to info@drawingonearth.org and we'll create a global gallery.
Visit www.drawingonearth.org for updates and chalk drawing tips.
PLEASE SHARE
Creatively Yours,
~Mark Lewis Wagner