New Teacher News
Year One is almost done!
A note from Dr. Jon Rysewyk, Chief Academic Officer
The semester is moving along quickly, and you are fast approaching your first experience with state testing. Let me calm your anxieties around the state assessment. In my opinion, the focus on assessment has become over-emphasized in recent years. Assessment is an important step in the learning process. But it is not more important than the other steps. The first step asks us, "What do we expect students to learn?" Your students are well equipped to know this based on all the work and training you have done with the Tennessee State Standards. The second question asks, "How will we know if students have learned?" This is the assessment stage. The final questions are, "What do we do for students who didn't learn (intervention)?" and, "What do we do for students who already know (enrichment)?" So relax, assessment is just part of the learning process.
Instead of getting uptight, spend your time and energy encouraging your students in areas of strength. Focusing on students' shortcomings or gaps doesn't enable learning. It impairs it. I recently read a story about legendary Dallas Cowboys' coach Tom Landry, and a strategy he used to turn around his struggling team. While other teams were reviewing missed tackles and dropped balls, Landry instead combed through footage of previous games and created for each player a highlight reel of when he had done something easily, naturally, and effectively. Landry reasoned that while the number of wrong ways to do something was infinite, the number of right ways, for any particular player, was not. It was knowable, and the best way to discover it was to look at plays where that person has done it excellently. From now on, he told each team member, " we only replay your winning plays."
Taking this approach might help your students build their confidence to be successful on this year's assessment. Thank you for all you do and be sure to continue to take good care of yourself. Teaching is a marathon, not a sprint.
The End is Still the Beginning
A Note from the Math Department
The Math Department has been working with teachers this year to implement strategies that promote mathematical discourse in the classroom. Students make connections in and among mathematical concepts when they Build and draw, Talk, and Write, or BTW! Please share the great things you are doing in your classrooms on Twitter by following @GaryPetko and @MathFriendAnne and use the hashtag #talkmath.
In addition to visiting the Math Department website (https://www.knoxschools.org/Domain/1007), make sure you have self-enrolled in the Math Teacher Collaboration Canvas pages. You will find a variety of helpful resources here: curriculum guides, spiral reviews, and TNReady blueprints and practice tests. Be sure to visit the Announcements page to get the latest Trending Topics newsletters and Summer PD dates.
Elementary School Teachers: https://knoxschools.instructure.com/enroll/L3RRKM
Middle School Teachers: https://knoxschools.instructure.com/enroll/HWL6DL
Professional Learning Opportunities
Various technology sessions will be available this summer. See the list below, which can also be found in the latest edition of Byte-Sized Learning.
Sessions Offered on Specific Dates this Summer:
- June 6: Cultivating Canvas
- June 11: Into the Deep - Canvas Pages & Assignments
- June 12: Deeper Dives - Choose Your Own Destination
- June 13: Bonus Excursions - Different Technology Destinations
- June 18: Into the Deep - Google Docs, Sites, Slides, Forms, & Sheets
- June 19: Deeper Dives - Choose Your Own Destination
- June 20: Bonus Excursions - Different Technology Destinations
- July 16: Into the Deep - Canvas & Google Integration
- July 17: Deeper Dives - Choose Your Own Destination
- July 18: Bonus Excursions - Different Technology Destinations
*Note: There are a variety of other trainings available this summer in various content areas. You can find something to suit your learning needs in My Learning Plan.
Would you like to win two tickets to Ripley's Aquarium?
https://forms.gle/JeDiEKUD6RMasmj4A
Congratulations to Natalie Choate from Beaumont Magnet Academy and Sally Brady from Bearden Elementary for winning Titanic Museum passes in the last giveaway.
Contact Information
Email: casey.robison@knoxschoos.org
Website: knoxschools.org
Phone: 865-594-1114
Twitter: @knoxschools