Primary Division MD Newsletter
August 21, 2020
A United Force
Happy Friday! We have completed two weeks of virtual learning and are excited and proud to say things are looking well. The virtual classrooms are looking awesome, learning is taking place, more scholars become engaged every day, and we have managed to get positive praise from some parents. These are victories that we need to celebrate. In your effort to get things done and to sweat the small stuff, do not forget to keep your facial expressions, body language, and tone in check. Say please and thank you to your staff. We have all been under a lot of stress these first couple of weeks and have put in enormous amounts of time and effort working on being prepared for scholars and families. Continue to be patient, remind teachers, scholars, and parents to be patient and kind. Recognize all the things that have gone well on campus and in virtual learning and not just the areas that need improvement. Smile. Be encouraging as your make corrections. Give yourself some grace and kindness. Our expectations are that Operations Directors and Academic Directors continue to work hand in hand and in concert with one another. You are partners who set the tone for the entire campus. You are a united force that keeps everything moving. (Yes, just repeat that over and over until it becomes true.) You are one team with one voice. Keep your scheduled meetings, be honest in your communication, and encourage one another. We are counting on you. We are so very proud of what we see as we pop in and out of virtual classrooms and schools. We are proud of the work you have done. Most of all, we are proud of you.
Beaming with pride,
Yasmin, Priscilla, and Kecia
Primary Leadership To Do
- Pre-work for Instructional Lab (Due by Monday 8/24) See Calendar invite for info.
- Send your MD an invite with the link to your LT planning meeting for the weeks of 8/24 and 9/8 (Due by Monday 8/24)
- Pre-Work for Director Cohort Call (Week of 9/15)
- Send your MD an updated staffing model/needs for the 3 learning paths (Due by September 1st)
- Update your Progression Document (For review the week of 9/8).
- Complete a SWOT analysis for your campus (For review the week of 9/8).
- Agility Planning Document (For review the week of 9/8).
Instructional Labs
PreWork for Instructional Lab (Directors and Deans) – record and have access to a 5-15 minute video of any virtual learning lesson that is representative of the current state of practice at your campus. If you need a tool that allows you to record your screen, you can use VidYard. You can sign up for a free account through your Microsoft Uplift account. Here are instructions on how to use on Chrome and from their browser app. Please make sure when you are recording, you allow for system audio so that it will record audio as well. If you could let your deans know as well, thank you!
PowerTeacher Attendance
Teachers officially will begin taking attendance online via PowerTeacher on Monday, August 24th. Reminder, in the async remote learning model, a student has until 11:59 PM to engage to be counted present for the day. Teachers are expected to have the week’s attendance recorded in PowerSchool by 10:00 AM the following Monday after the week closes.
Observations
Read for Next Cohort Meeting
Translation Service
Uplift Education has an existing vendor relationship with Language Line translation service. We have a discount rate that schools are eligible to receive. Reach out to Dennis or Victoria with questions.
Great Minds Resources
A Message from TLT: Great Minds has released some new resources.
How to access materials:
- Log into ClassLink
- Navigate to Clever SSO
- Click the button for “Great Minds InSync”
- Please note that InSync is spelled both InSync and In Sync. We are not sure why this is the case :)
- If a teacher is having trouble logging in, please reach out to Jeff See.
Resources for release:
- Daily Concept Development Videos- These can be posted on teachers’ Schoology pages and will allow scholars to either watch the lesson due to an absence or if they want to watch at home while doing homework or independent work.
- Pre-Module Assessments- Prior to each module, teachers will administer this 5 to 7 question quiz. If scholars miss a question, Great Minds has included supplemental materials to address that knowledge gap. Later in this email, I’ll address our plan for utilizing this data.
- Supporting Content- Supplemental Eureka fluency and concept development lessons focused on addressing misconceptions that have been identified in the pre-assessment. These will also be used to address TEKS that were not taught in Q4 of the 19-20 school year.
Implementation of Great Minds resources:
- Spiral Review- 2nd through 5th already has this block of instructional time that was created with the intent of addressing data from assessments as well as extra time for high priority TEKS. Based on the data from the pre-assessment, teachers can utilize their Spiral Review time in the days before a new module begins to teach the aforementioned supplemental Eureka lessons. This will be done whole group and should address the most highly missed concepts from the pre-assessment.
- More ideas for implementation are coming in September as well as a turn- key PD! 😊
PYP Parent Resource
IB doesn’t define the learning community only as the teacher and scholar, but it instead also includes parents and the local community. Attached is a helpful, well-published resource from IB that helps parents understand how to support PYP learning for their scholar at home through inquiry and conceptual understanding (two of our instructional strategic priorities for the 2020-2021 school year). I imagine parents will find this resource is an empowering and fun way to engage their children in conversations about learning, both for school and for fun. See attached for an English version and a Spanish version.
Shout Out To...
- Grand, Heights, Infinity, North Hills, and Peak for hitting the 100% enrollment target the first week!
- Leetha and the Dean Team at Peak for support your school family through a difficult time this week.
- Mariama for the Virtual Culture Plan developed for Pinnacle. Ask her to see it.
- Chermanda for her Strong Start Dean Development plan for the first four weeks of school.
- Micheal for handing out the best prizes ever!
- Kristin for having a very cool observation tracker for teachers.
Tex and Max, Taking Christian for a Walk!
Uplift Gradus...Getting It Done!
Uplift Luna Carline Supply pick-Up
Uplift Grand Putting It All Together
Uplift Pinnacle Masking It
Remote Learning Around Uplift
Virtual Learning at Uplift Peak
Virtual Learning at Uplift Ascend
Uplift Education
Email: ksmith@uplifteducation.org
Website: uplifteducation.org
Location: 3000 Pegasus Park Drive, Dallas, TX 75247
Phone: (469)621-8500