Ram Nation News
Distance Learning Resources
Vision
Happy Birthday!!!
- Jesse Bales 4/3
- Martin Brown 4/4
- Juan Salazar 4/5
- Barbara Perez 4/11
- Joseph Childress 4/11
- Bailey Mason 4/14
- Shelly Kannada 4/22
- Shatavia Reeves 4/24
- Kiara Brunson 4/30
Welcome to the World!
Keeping in our Thoughts and Prayers
Virtual Collaboration
Ms. Cagle
Mr. Hernandez
Admin Team
Food, Laptop, and Materials Distribution
Shout out to Ms. Scott and Jennifer, tech, who supported with our laptop distribution; we were able to finalize Chromebook distribution and only have about 15 left allowing our students to continue learning. Also, Ms. Shannan Martin came out to support our FLS students to provide with learning packets; we had all of students picking up materials to continue meaningful learning from home.
Climate and Culture
Our goal for our students is to make sure they are feeling supported, continue to have a connection with our teachers and staff, and have a great learning environment still taking place. Thank you so much for everyone who participated in our Spirit Week! Shout out to Ms. Calderon for coordinating our efforts. All of our pictures and stories are posted in our Instagram page.
Distance Learning Plan of Action
Monday - Friday - Arpil 6 thru April 9
Teachers and Staff:
- NO ATTENDANCE submission on Friday, April 10, 2020 since it is a day off for students/staff.
- Last day for Open Transfer - April 10, 2020. See Open Transfer Section below for more details.
- Teacher and staff will clock in at 9:00 a.m. by completing the Clock-In Form
- Teachers will be accessible online through the instructional day (9:00 a.m. -12:00 noon &1:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m.). Each teacher will have an online designated platform for courses, which can be found on our school Master Directory directly.
- Teachers will meet with their classes based on the schedule below and keeping our calendar of A/B days for electives. However, based on feedback from parents, and what we noticed with students, there are some students who need more structure and need a schedule. Therefore, share the schedule below with students so that they know what subject/Google Classroom to access throughout the day. These should be recorded and saved for flexible student access. Also, use the daily schedule to support those who need even more support keeping a schedule to keep up with tasks and assignments.
- Students needing assistance will be reaching out the teacher directly via email, the classroom platform, or phone.
- We will work with our flexibility of online activity and availability; however, we may need to adjust our collaboration to 4:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. once or twice a week.
- Review work completed and submitted by students, provide feedback, and assign grades. Two grades/week will need to be recorded in the Powerschool Gradebook. While teachers may maintain a separate student gradebook as a part of Google Classroom activities, they are required to enter grades into PowerSchool through PowerTeacher Pro. The 5th Six-Weeks grading cycle ends on April 9th. Gradebooks will be locked on April 13th.
- CA5 grade will be assigned in the form of a project or from an average of student work/quizzes/test/projects from the entire 6 weeks.
- SPED Inclusion teachers will follow existing schedule of classes, assist teachers, and provide support to students according to their IEP. Please note that the courses are only 45-60 minutes, so please divide the time appropriately.
- SPED Inclusion and FLS teachers will work on completing the IEP Amendments for students whose IEP cannot be implemented as drafted in the ARD documentation.
Counselors:
- Follow up with students who have academic plans to ensure they are on track with online and material access to ensure they are successful with work completion and passing grades.
- They will provide follow up for those students reported by teachers who have not engaged with the our virtual setting. They will use the 5.5 Attendance Sheet filled out last week as a reference to help contact students.
- Follow up with students who were receiving psychological as well as Youth and Family Services to provide support and guidance.
- Counselors will work on completing the 504 Amendments for students whose 504 plan cannot be implemented as drafted in the 504 documentation.
- Counseling Services is requesting for Dallas ISD counselors to document their work by filling this link.
Administration:
- Coordinate and support food distribution - Thursday 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
- Respond to parent and student questions and concerns via email.
- Conduct virtual PLC meetings with content teams. Deliverables: Update Syllabi and Instructional Planning Calendars for @HomeLearning.
- Admin virtual meeting to review the week and plan next steps based on survey results, parent, student and teacher input.
- Check calendar invites.
- Monitor PowerSchool grades weekly and provide support as needed.
- Participate in ARDs and 504 meetings. Use the Final ARD Script for Administrator Facilitating the Meeting
- Begin virtual interviews for current vacancies.
Parent and Student Communication
Communication is key to ensure our students feel supported and are successful. Therefore, we will formally document these phone calls in our Teacher-Parent Contact log.
- Teachers will call all of their "Advisory" students at least once a week. Use the Check-In Script provided by our counselors. I understand that we may reach out in different ways such as, ClassDojo, Remind, e-mail, or text; however, hearing a friendly voice means a lot especially when faced in times of social distancing. This will allow students the opportunity to stay connected with the school and for the teacher to help students solve issues or concerns.
- Our website is updated with information about At Home Learning.
- Please adhere to technology etiquette and policy guidelines. Teachers should not be directly communicating with students or parents after 9:00 pm and before 7:00 am. We understand if you are providing feedback and do not need student responses, but we cannot expect students to respond, nor should texts and Remind 101 messages be sent after 9:00 pm or before 7:00 am.
Use this School Student Directory to have access to more students' contact information. It is listed by grade level at the bottom of the screen. You can search within each sheet the student's information you need to access.
SEL Lessons for Students - April 6-9
In order to make lessons more interactive, this week we will implement a Nearpod lesson. Ms. Calderon uploaded it to our school library. The lesson is titled Rusk SEL 4/6- 4/9. Below you will find step by step instructions on how to place this lesson in your google classroom.
After signing in to Nearpod
New Accounts have been created for teachers that did not have an existing account. User
Name: Teacher District email address (i.e. jcordoba@dallasisd.org - you will be surprised)
Password: RuskRams1
- Click on School Library (on the left side bar)
- Find the lesson and click Add to my library
- Go to my Library
- Hover over the lesson and click Student Paced
- In the pop up, select add to google classroom
SEL Schedule Reminder
DayLesson/Content Area
Monday- Math
Tuesday - Reading
Wednesday - Science
Thursday - Social Studies
Follow us on Instagram
@ThomasJRusk_MiddleSchool
Attendance Procedures
- Teachers are required to enter and submit student attendance every Tuesday and Friday.
- Attendance will NOT be submitted on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. CRCs and Registrars do NOT submit attendance on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
- Teachers have until 4:30 pm on Tuesdays and Fridays to enter and submit student attendance.
- Unexcused absences during District Closure and implementation of at-home learning will NOT count against a school’s attendance percentage.
- Student attendance corrections due to teacher error must be submitted via email to the school CRC/Registrar and principal (or designee) within 5 school days. See attachment below for attendance correction requirements:
Secondary:
- Attendance is taken only for the teacher’s “ADA” course (meets at 11:00 am.)
o On Tuesdays
o On Friday
All Teachers are required to confirm participation in at-home learning for each student.
- Confirmation of participation at-home learning will be used to enter student attendance as “present”.
- Confirmation of participation in at-home learning can be determined using electronic login by student (Google Classroom, Zoom, Teams, or other learning applications or platforms)
- Confirmation of participation can be used for any of the three days prior to official attendance accounting on Tuesday and Friday.
Unexcused Absences: Students are only marked as having an Unexcused Absence if the teacher has attempted multiple times to contact parents/students and received no response at all. Confirmation of participation should begin well before the Tuesday/Friday deadline. Teachers should be encouraged to keep a log of participation so that on Tuesday and Friday, they have very few students/parents to reach out to.
Use link below to access an example for secondary campuses.
Attendance - Work Completion Tracker
We are going to use this Attendance and Work Completed Tracker each week.
Teachers will still have until 4:30 pm on Tuesdays and Fridays to enter and submit student attendance for their 2nd period students.
This will allow for better alignment and communication as grade levels to ensure that our students are logging into each class and completing work. This will also allow our counselors and CIS to continue to contact students who neither are completing work nor have reported online.
Here is the key to for what you will enter for all of your students throughout the week.
0 - No Communication (have not talked to at all)
1 - Talked to- No internet
2 - Online/No WORK
3 - Online and Work Submitted
You will also enter the best working number you have for the students in your 2nd period.(if someone is blank and you have a working number please enter it)
AT-HOME LEARNING WEBINAR SCHEDULE FOR STAFF
Webinar schedule outlining dates and times for professional learning. We will have some of our administrative team members attend to support in implementation, but you are welcome to log in and participate for your own learning.
- Google Classroom Set Up and Basic Features
- Google Classroom/More about Classwork
- Using EdPuzzle - Mr. Maymi, Ms. Perez, and Ms. Guerra
- Flipping Content with Screencastify -Ms. Tucker and Ms. Minter
- Engaging Students with Flipgrid - Ms. Scott, Mr. Maymi, Ms. Minter, and Ms. Ford
- Snap and Read - LIVE Tutorial on Monday, April 6, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. to support our students in using this tool that will assist students and teachers with Read Aloud, Overlays, Translation, Content and Language Support, and Writing. This tool can be used in any content.
Instructional Resources
All in Learning (AIL)
Teacher Guide To Make Online Assessments Via AIL
Google Forms to create Quizzes
Here are some sample google quizzes by grade level. They are aligned and ready for use!
Make sure you make a copy and edit for YOUR team and classes
Here’s a 6th grade math example of how to use Quizzes more instructionally
Guided Practice followed by…
SIRIUS e-books
Sirius is a STAAR test prep company that has made their workbooks, both teacher and student editions, available online. For FREE. They have online workbooks for all state – tested subjects.
Follow this link for directions (they’re kind of picky) and registration links.
https://siriuseducationsolutions.com/supporting-texas-educators-during-covid-19/
- For teacher editions - Teachers need to register (with their DISD email) for the books they need. There is a 2 – 3 day lag; however, I have already sent an e-mail with all STAAR tested teacher names so that the company may verify all teacher accounts.
- For student editions - See document below to access codes. There is a link for the regular book and a Zingers component, this is a resource that addresses the most commonly asked questions that have had the lowest performance and giving our students difficulties.
NEARPOD
Here are links to valuable teacher resources.
Posting Nearpod to Google
Resources: OnDemand Videos, Instructional Videos, Webinar links
https://nearpod.com/blog/resources/
Teachers with already existing accounts were sent an invention to join Rusk Middle School account for the upgrade.
New Accounts have been created for teachers that did not have an existing account. User Name: Teacher District email address (i.e. jcordoba@dallasisd.org - you will be surprised)
Password: RuskRams1
Imagine Math
Imagine Math (formerly Think Through Math) builds problem-solving skills and conceptual understanding with support from an online, live, certified, bilingual teacher as well as:
- Personalized learning driven by the Quantile® Framework
- First language support for English learners
- Scaffolded instruction for all learners
- On-demand instruction by live, certified, math teachers
- Motivational system that develops confident thinkers
- Development of college- and career-readiness skills
Imagine Math is another resource to use with our students. It is available on Clever.
Imagine Math has added our Math teachers in the system.
Teachers can…
- go to Clever
- Click on Imagine Math
- Click on Content
- Then Learning Pathways
Middle school grade levels start on page 2. You can assign pathways to students as you desire
DonJohnston Learning Tools
- Snap and Read - LIVE Tutorial on Monday, April 6, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. to support our students in using this tool that will assist students and teachers with Read Aloud, Overlays, Translation, Content and Language Support, and Writing. This tool can be used in any content.
Reading assistant with text leveling, study tools, and translation.|
Help students understand everything they read today. Available as a Google Chrome Extension.
Co:Writer®
Word prediction, speech recognition, and language support.|
Kickstarting the writer inside. Available as a Google Chrome Extension.
Quizbot™
Automated Quiz Creator for Google Forms.|
Your onramp to Google Forms.
BlendSpace
Mixed Media platform that can be used to put a lot of links in one place (without anyone knowing)
Guide Students Frame by Frame, Step by Step
More Resources...
Science Spot - Interactive lesson for all Science
Phet Science Simulations - All level science interactive lab simulations
6th-8th success stations for science - Full lessons and activities
School Yourself - great resource for Algebra 1 and up. It’s totally free and well organized!
Delta Math - looks excellent for all grade levels. Lots of timed mental math activities and specific skills to practice.
Five interactive SS websites - Social Studies interactive sites and activities
Kahoot it - Provides engaging game-style learning using multiple choice practice
These are the guidelines for our teachers that serve students receiving Advanced Academics, Bilingual/ESL, Section 504/Dyslexia, and Special Education services as each of these groups has compliance requirements that remain in place during the district closure. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide additional information as it becomes available.
Important to note, all ARD and Section 504 committee meetings will be conducted virtually through Microsoft Teams. Principals in collaboration with Special Education Case Managers will coordinate these meetings where applicable.
Procedures for Recording a Virtual ARD during COVID-19 School Closures
Counseling Corner
Request for Counseling Services
- Request for Counseling Services
- Request for Counseling Services (Spanish) This form is for current Dallas Independent School District students, parents/guardians, or staff who would like to request counseling services for a student from a professional school counselor. Once completed, a member of the counseling team associated with the identified school will contact you regarding your concerns.
One-on-One Counseling Support through Bookings
Students may schedule an appointment with our counselors using the Rusk Counseling Booking Link.
Social-Emotional Learning
- Mindfulness and Emotions: To help find a sense of calm and focus on the present, we encourage both adults and students to practice mindfulness and regulate our emotions. Each of us can build our skills by pausing to breathe deeply, focusing on the present, and allowing emotions to come and go rather than being swept up in one particular train of thought or heightened emotion.
- Remember to visit Dallas ISD's At-Home Learning for SEL resources for students (available in both English and Spanish). If you feel students need support from our counselors, please refer them to one of our counseling queens team members.
District Extended Emergency Leave
During an Extended Emergency Leave, some employees (this applies to all of us) may be required to perform limited duties remotely/work from home to maintain key functions of the District (i.e.: activities such as instruction, lesson development, curriculum development, staff supports and business office functions). An employee must be available during normal work hours.
If an employee is unwilling or unable to fulfill their assigned duties on a given day or are not available due to a trip, vacation, surgery etc. they should utilize PTO.
Open Transfer Period (MUST read if planning to transfer)
The Open Transfer application for regular schools will be available starting March 6, 2020. Eligible employees must apply via the open transfer application online at https://www.dallasisd.org/careers within the time frame established. Principals will have an opportunity to submit open transfer recommendations no later than April 10, 2020 for regular schools. If you are seeking a transfer to a High Priority Campus listed here, then you can still participate of the Open Transfer Window until May 8, 2020. Transfers are not final until an approval email notification has been sent from Human Capital Management. All notification will be completed by April 24, 2020.
If you know that you are planning to transfer or leaving the district, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can plan accordingly. As we are working on having a solid and effective team, transfers will not be approved after the April 10 deadline for regular schools or May 8 for HPC. In previous years, I have tried to be flexible and supportive allowing staff members to transfer; however, we have found ourselves in a bind trying to fill vacancies for transfers approved after the deadline. Therefore, while I want to keep as many of you as possible, I know that life happens and some of you will be transferring. Please, plan accordingly and let me know of your next steps.
Testing Updates - Included only applicable testing to MS
We are waiting until mid-April to make final determinations on some assessments.
TELPAS has been extended to May 29th, but totally optional. As of now we have about 43,000 kids tested (the writing prompts for many still need to be scored). That leaves about 7 to 8 thousand untested. (By the way, that is the most we have ever had completed before Spring Break and we are really proud of the schools for getting on it.)
EOY MAP testing is still a possibility, if we return.
Spring ACPs are still being worked on. The tests themselves are ready, but they still need to be printed. Dependent upon return.
Common Assessments 5 for the fifth six week were only STAAR Release tests.-CANCELED
We would simply do a waiver regarding the policy for grading. In this case, teachers would have a choice of a teacher made test or utilizing an average of all grades to this point in the test grade position in the gradebook.
Rusk Middle School
Email: jcordoba@dallasisd.org
Website: www.dallasisd.org/rusk
Location: 2929 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 972-925-2000
Twitter: @RuskAllTheWayUp