Team Trailblazer Update
September 19, 2016
You are extraordinary. Get your hero on and have a great week!
Check out the video from Graduation 2016!
SAVE THE DATE - Graduation 2017 - June 17, 2017 - Please plan on attending!
Last day for students to request a course change is September 20.
Here is our breakdown if you need to direct a student to his/her counselor:
Mike Scheel: A-G
Lauri Alexander: H-P
Kirsten Brown: Q-Z
Learning Liftoff
Looking for another site to which you can refer your students' parents/learning coaches?
Tell them about Learningliftoff.com!
There are also sample lessons from K12 courses on the site.
Please see the attached document with our 9/19 starters - password is lower case-school acronym.
Andrei's monthly update is attached!
Spring Awards Ceremonies - feedback requested
In planning for End-of-the-Year Awards Ceremonies for each grade level grouping, the Awards Committee has created a short survey, seeking input/feedback from staff regarding potential categories for awards. We also would like to determine the best time/date for each award ceremony.
Here is our survey link:
Thank you for your participation!
CODE Vocabulary - Friday, September 16 - HS Team Time
Thank you everyone for the time and effort in our meeting on Friday.
From Angela Hammer:
I’ve attached a few things to help you out.
1. HST313A_U1_Vocab_Glossary – this is a sample of the doc I’ve used with my students. Tweak for your own use if you want.
2. CODE_packet – this PDF has all of stuff we did today (minus the script but it does have the definitions). Scroll through it to find different strategies you can use at each level of CODE. There are 2 sets of CODE activities: 1 set is from some older material and the other set is from newer material but it’s all useful. I like to use the C activities early in the unit and the E activities near the end.
3. CODE_UnitWorksheet – if you like to plan things out, this will help you plan the activities to use for your more important unit words
4. Vocabulary’s Code – Thoughtful Ed Vocab Strategies - this was the ppt from today
5. CODE_Virtual_Classroom – a ppt of strategies that you can copy and paste into your classroom ppts
Please reach out if you have questions or want to troubleshoot how to use these in a live class or in your virtual classroom. I’m glad to help!
Issues with CCs showing on the Schedule
As of Friday, September 16:
We are receiving reports of Class Connects not showing on the Schedule in the New Landing Page. However, the sessions are available in Classes> Go To Class> Class Connect within the actual course. Sessions are also available within the OLS Quick Links- Class Connect Schedule. Please advise students of this workaround if you are getting reports of this until this issue is resolved.
Congratulations to Rosana Salamey! She is moving into our Child Find Coordinator position as of today!
We look forward to welcoming Michelle Gurney this week as our math sub for Lindsay Wesley's maternity leave!
Hello MVCA Staff!
We are the character committee. Our goal is to help students become better people, better problem-solvers and better leaders by establishing a common language at our school. After working with staff from all departments K-12 we’ve planned 8 themes for the school year to help promote positive behaviors in our students.
Program introduction video (feel free to use this in your classes next week):
https://youtu.be/XIDAZa-PZsY
How does it work? Every month we will roll out a new character trait to promote in classrooms and conversations with families. From general education to intervention groups to students in special programs, all students and staff will be asked to promote these key character traits.
2016-17 CHARACTER EDUCATION CALENDAR
September- Self-Discipline
October- Responsibility
November- Digital Citizenship
December- Respect
January- Team Work
February- Perseverance
March- Honesty & Integrity
April/May- Leadership & Community
September is Self-Discipline month! We’ll be promoting good habits such as logging into class and controlling your behavior to help our students prepare for a great year of learning.
What is my role? Your role as a teacher/ counselor/ FASL is to promote this language in a way that works for you. Below is a link to our Smore page which will house a video for students along with slides or resources to use in your CC sessions. Every month we will update it with a new trait and share it out in our HOS meetings and newsletters.
(Tip: Bookmark this for future use) https://www.smore.com/tta7v
Ideas:
- Add one of the slides to the beginning of class every day
- Use self- discipline in your classroom norms for the year.
- You might “catch” students who are showing great self-discipline and praise them in class.
Every month we will have a link on our website where families can nominate students who exemplify the trait of the month and we’ll display their first name/ grade/ homeroom teacher on the website. Bragging rights are at stake! We look forward to continuing to build a community of learners with you this school year. If you have any questions about the resources or need other ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Have a great school year!
Welcome calls for homeroom students
If you have any additional notes to post, please do!
GVSU Charter Schools Office: 16-17 PD Calendar
Upcoming all staff PD
Face to face: December 16
Free Webinar - thanks, Jon DeCou!
ASCD
Free Webinar: Leading a Literacy Culture
Educators can develop a culture of literacy in schools and classrooms that engage students in authentic learning that will make them better readers, writers, thinkers, and problem solvers. When students are engaged in authentic learning activities, explicitly taught and modeled by the teacher, they are carefully reading and rereading with clear purposes, thinking analytically, and evaluating their understanding of texts and ideas orally or in writing.
Join Bonnie Houck and Sandi Novak, authors of the new ASCD book Literacy Unleashed: Fostering Excellent Reading Instruction Through Classroom Visits, in a live webinar where they will introduce the Literacy Classroom Visit instrument and unpack important "look for" elements that teachers need to establish in their classroom to cultivate student independence. Together you will explore the importance of creating an engaging learning environment, how to organize classroom libraries to motivate readers, and why "walls that teach" can support a rich culture of literacy.
Leading a Literacy Culture
Tuesday, September 27, 2016, 3:00 p.m. eastern time (US)
Presented by Bonnie D. Houck and Sandi Novak
Upcoming Webinar
How to Integrate Digital Content into the Classroom Curriculum
Thursday, October 6, 2:00 p.m. EDT (US)
Presented by OverDrive in cooperation with ASCD SmartBrief.
SHARE FAIR at GVSU 2016
SHARE FAIR MICHIGAN
Date:
November 12, 2016
Hosted At:
Grand Valley State University
Description:
Share Fair Nation has teamed up with Michigan education leaders to deliver the inaugural Share Fair Michigan, a unique day of professional development that will feature expert-led sessions, peer collaboration, and the opportunity to win prizes.
At Share Fair Nation, we recognize that well-prepared teachers are the key to student achievement. Our organization is passionate about delivering world-class teacher training—at no cost to teachers, schools, or districts.
Relevant and tailored to your needs, Share Fair Michigan was created for educators, by educators, including many who practice in Michigan. Don’t miss this action-packed day of sessions that include:
- Best Practices and Innovative Tools to Implement the Michigan Science Standards
- Technology for Today and Tomorrow’s Learners
- ELL Insights
- SEL (Social Emotional Learning)
- STEAM Punk Science
- Technology as the Key to Quality Classroom Assessment
Share Fair Michigan will include a complimentary lunch and the opportunity to win prizes.
Let us know you’re interested by visiting http://bit.ly/SFNEventInterest.
Saturday, Nov 12, 2016, 08:00 AM
Grand Valley State University, Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Enrollment numbers as of September 15
National Honor Society
This was sent out on 9/14 to the 11th and 12th graders that qualified. A special thank you to Lauri Alexander for taking the lead on getting the ball rolling!
You can see the attached list of students who qualified. Encourage them!
Message sent:
You excel! You serve. You lead. You succeed. You have a true thirst for challenge…and accomplishment. Membership in National Honor Society (NHS) may be an ideal fit for you! You can become a member through a local selection process that concludes with induction into the Michigan Virtual Charter Academy’s National Honor Society chapter.
You are receiving this communication because you meet the scholarship requirement for membership. Students must have a cumulative GPA of a 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. You have the opportunity to complete an application detailing your accomplishments in and commitment to service, leadership, and character.
You may email the completed application to MVCANHS@gmail.com no later than October 16 if you would like to be considered for MVCA’s National Honor Society.
Sincerely,
MVCA NHS Committee
K12 Marketing/PR Team - SHARE A STORY!
From the K12 Michigan Marketing Team:
Hope the school year is off to a good start for you!
As we begin this new year, the PR time would like to remind you that they’d love to hear stories about your students for potential news coverage. You, your teachers and staff can access the MVCA spreadsheet here: MVCA Share a Story Form .
Our agency is also interested in any students that have an interesting story who live in the Traverse City area.
Finally, October is bullying awareness month and we’d like to showcase any students that were previously bullied and turned to online school.
FAST Referral Process
Attached is the deck used in the presentation last Friday and below is the link to the recording. We talked about FAST Referral process, how to submit referral, how to look up for student, etc.
Link to the recording: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2016-09-09.0921.M.EF02AF1C3D763DE78A2C4BDFEA504F.vcr&sid=559
If you have any questions just let me know and I will try my best to help you.
Thanks
Amela Redzic
MVCA Family Engagement Administrator (FEA)
678 Front Ave Suite 190
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
616.309.1600 ext.3174
“Login, Learn, Lead ….. Leave a Legacy!”
Please list Cassandra Rusie as the lead for all HS referrals and Tanya Kuipers for all MS referrals.
Feedback from Orientation Week
Thank you to everyone for your hard work with the students during Orientation week.
Feedback is good and will help us improve things for next year. Your constructive feedback is greatly appreciated. Please complete this by the end of this week.
Feedback link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTs3ovNpOH5AmJMDe3dzOWNqR7BQT8SrqyVJYUR8bEPq4D-g/viewform
OSKARS are back!
Teacher Recognition through the OSk12ARs
This monthly program to find and share outstanding examples of direct instruction has launched for SY 1617.
You can share yourself or your lead may nominate!
I have attached the flyer and pasted it below.
K12 Practices from the Field
A new K12 event:
Event: Practices from the Field
Date: Thursday, October 27th 2016
Time: 1-4pm
Proposal Review Period: Ongoing until August 31, 2016
Final Presentations Due: September 29th, 2016
Now Accepting Proposals!
All faculty, staff, and administrators are encouraged to submit proposals! We welcome individual and small group proposals. Proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis until August 31, 2016.
Practices from the Field Proposal Survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWfwfaKkyt8ukfhjls4a4hF0usPziTYqFzaLT1bPDACqYQGg/viewformThursday, Oct 27, 2016, 01:00 PM
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State Testing Updates
Please make special note that SAT accommodated testing is now only 2 weeks.
ELL
· Page 7 – WIDA ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT) MUST be administered to any newly enrolling students who have one “yes” to either of the 2 HLS questions
o Hard copy of W-APT MUST be kept in student’s CA-60 and scores MUST be entered in Secure Site (forward to Wendy Poulton to enter)
HOSs/LEADERSHIP
· Page 2 – 2015-16 Accountability Info and Timeline – results available to district later this fall with public release by mid-December.
o Differences worth noting for 2015-16:
§ 2 separate school rankings – 1 overall based on achievement and growth and 1 based on achievement gap
§ Overall ranking will include achievement and growth weighted 50/50 for elementary/middle school and 45/45 + 10% on grad rate for HSs
§ Content areas included will be weighted by # of student scores
§ Achievement Gap ranking will only use ELA and math scores
§ MDE will NOT ID new Focus schools
§ Exiting Focus schools meeting exit criteria will be exited
§ MDE will ID new Reward schools
§ MDE will ID new “Participation Non-Compliant” schools
o Questions? www.michigan.gov/sro or Jill Baynes, SRO at BaynesJ@michigan.gov or MDE-Accountability@michigan.gov
· Page 7 – New Principals & ELL Coordinators – WIDA New Principal Primer and New Assessment Coordinator (ELL Coordinator) Primer
· Page 8 – Please make sure HS Counselors have signed up for the SAT & PSAT Counselor workshops
M-STEP
· Page 2 – M-STEP is Triple Success – improved proficiency, shorter testing times and prompt turnaround of results
REPORTING/STUDENT SCORES
· Page 4 – New Student test scores can be viewed if an SRM (Student Record Maintenance) is submitted by David to update PEPE.
SAT
· Page 7 – MI-specific manuals for 2017 to include – Test Center Supervisor manual, SSD Coord. manual and Testing Room Manual. Yahoo!
· Page 7 – Add’l material order window. Another yahoo!!
· Page 7 – Accommodated testing window for SAT is now 2 weeks!!!!!!!
Proposed Spring Sites
We of course will look again at our student population, but if anyone has any specific suggestions for additional locations or specific locations within these communities, please let me know.
City Alpena Ann Arbor Benton Harbor Big Rapids Cadillac Charter Twp of Clinton Coldwater Crystal Falls Dearborn Detroit Dundee Escanaba Farmington Hills Flint Garden City Gaylord Grand Rapids Jackson Kalamazoo Kincheloe Lansing Marquette Mt Pleasant Muskegon Petoskey Pontiac Port Huron Saginaw Traverse City West Branch
Non-starters
There were some who noted that they were schooling elsewhere and they moved ahead with withdrawal.
Others continued to be unreachable and they were locking them if a return call was not received.
I have attached Mark's report in the email. If you have questions or info about any of the students, please let him know.
Sharepoint
Sharepoint may have switched to the “new” view.
In order to have the functionality that you previously had, please scroll to the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar (where all school summary dashboards are located) and click “Return to Classic SharePoint.”
This should fix any issues.
K12 Training
On September 15th, teachers will be assigned update training: K12 Online Tools SY 1617. This curriculum is a collection of updates—each marked as elective—that includes updates and just-in-time training on Summit courses and other topics. All of the individual items are also available separately through the Catalog—the Curriculum serves as a convenient collection point from which applicable selections may be made by individual teachers. Additional elective items may be added to this curriculum though out the year.
Asynchronous training now available for the new Summit courses in K12Training.com:
Summit Course Overviews - These general courses provide overall information about the Summit Courses, are subject specific and intended to get you started. They are updated frequently, so be sure to check back for the most recent information.
K12 Summit Courses Asynchronous Course - This simulation style course will provide detailed information concerning the functionality of these courses and even walk you through procedures! It’s set up for you to choice what you work on and when, so you can learn a little at a time.
K12 Summit Courses Procedure Simulations - Just need to know how to do something in the Summit Courses? These simulations will walk you through a single procedure.
K12 Summit Procedures Job Aid - Want a pdf you can keep handy while you are working? Check out this job aid for the most commonly referenced procedures.
Withdrawal Process
Courtney also made a Jing video walking us through the process: http://screencast.com/t/sAgqP0zR6Tm9.
Effective 9/8, we have a few adjustments to the withdrawal process for parent/guardian requested withdrawals. The office will still take care of truancy and Tier 4 withdrawals.
The new items to make note of:
1. New submission link
2. New parent/guardian request form to be filled out by parent/guardian
A few notes:
- The old google link is no longer active.
- With the electronic parent form, we will no longer need to hunt down families to get their withdrawal in writing thus expediting the process.
- If you get a written request for withdrawal, please just add to notes so we have it.
- Registrar will process withdrawals daily during peak times (BOY/Semester), but will then move to processing on Mondays and Thursday during the year.
- No special education students will be withdrawn for truancy/tier IV, without Special Program Manager’s consent.
4T Conference in October
Looking for some free PD? Need some more SCECHs for cert renewal?
Amy Stirling attended a few years ago and really enjoyed what was offered.
Here is the detailed list of sessions:
https://www.smore.com/0pp1b-4tdw-conference-schedule?ref=email
Monthly Board Meeting
1 888 824 5683
56017364#
Monday, Sep 26, 2016, 06:00 PM
Birmingham, MI, United States
Expense Reports
For general funds, we should now be using the 2017 State Aid fund.
Learning Styles Assessment for Grades 5-10
As of today we have had 1262 students take it!
Thank you!
Family Resource Coordinators
FRC assignments for SY 16/17
Jan Collier- K-8
Dave Krause-9-12
Our Homeless Liaison:
Stacea McKeever (Homeless Liaison)- K-12
Additional computer request process
Google Form: https://goo.gl/forms/tiXarTHdz1JFvGAA3
Survey Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HDXLaZpj_YnR5ak34wIfXk8G67nrpXjUtWtxIF0GCUg/edit?usp=sharing
Process:
There are additional costs so the policy and request process must be followed. The current policy states: K-6 families are given one desktop computer for every three children. 7th & 8th grade students each receive a desktop.
Step 1- Families (or another staff member) contact homeroom teacher with request and valid reasons for needing an additional computer or laptop. Valid reasons include special education needs, medical issues, or custody issues.
Step 2 - Homeroom teacher fills out request form.
Step 3 - Andrei approves requests each week on Tuesdays/Thursdays
Step 4 - On Wednesdays/Fridays, Kim will review approved/rejected. She will email HR teachers with findings to let them know if it was rejected/approved, and if a computer has been ordered.