The CIA Report
February 2019 Edition
Welcome to the February 2019 Edition of The CIA Report!
Please take some time to read through this prior to the January 30 administrator meeting. If you have any questions, please post them in this Google Doc.
Thanks!
Learning Today... Feeding Your Professional Soul
Strength Based Learning
During the Share Fair last week while I was with some amazing secondary educators, I was reminded that we will likely connect with struggling students not through their deficits, but through their strengths. One SPED teacher used a student’s love and expertise for art to motivate others and himself! If we’re all honest, we all have strengths and “areas for improvement”. Let’s celebrate our strengths, differences, experiences and passions to build Collective Efficacy! This
Strength Based video is worth sharing and your 3 minutes!
From a Nation at Risk to a Nation of Hope - Take a look at this website!
School Improvement
If you have not given Megan the equity dates for this summer that will work for your school team, please do so before Friday, 2/22/19.
The Equity training dates are (teams will attend one set of two):
June 24 & 25
July 15 & 16
July 22-23
Elementary Principals: Let me know if you have some teachers that would host a high student for a job shadow (see my email from 2/21 for more details)
Technology
New iPad Management
The Technology Department is in the process of transferring over to a new system to manage district iPads. To complete this transition, we will need to erase and resetup every iPad to move them over to our new system, Mosyle. Any newly purchased iPads has already been transitioned over to Mosyle. Your building tech will be working with your staff to complete this transition. This will need to be completed by October 31.
MMD Technology Grant
$500 Technology Grants available to all schools this year! Exciting news...you can apply for a technology grant to purchase something for your school. I encourage you to think of something you might need. Some examples of items I have heard people purchasing: TVs for lobby or conference room, ipad for specific use etc.
Use the link below to access the Technology Request Forms https://www.moedu-sail.org/mmd-tools-resources/ (When you get to the page, scroll down to the bottom. The form is the last on this page.) Please note: Please get your request approved by Greg Lawrence prior to submitting the grant form.
Hello G Drive, Goodbye H Drive
Over the past couple of years, we have seen how Google has enhanced learning, collaboration, and communication across the Wentzville School District. With ease of access and unlimited file storage, there are many benefits to Google Drive. A year ago, Google introduced the “G Drive” (also known as Google Drive File Stream), which allows quick access from your computer to save and store files. Google Drive File Stream, once installed, functions just like your H Drive. Instead of going to your H Drive, you will go to your G Drive. You can save any file format (ie - Word, PowerPoint, Notebook, etc) to your G Drive and best of all your G Drive travels with you everywhere...school, home, even Starbucks!
Watch how the G Drive (Google Drive File Stream) works!
On August 1, all staff H Drives will be disabled. Please ensure your documents have been backed up to an external drive, Google Drive File Steam (G Drive), or your computer hard drive.
Please note: This is only for staff H Drives. Other network drives are not affected at this time (ie - P Drive, T Drive, etc).
Assessment
Thanks to the time and efforts of several teachers and administrators, we have simplified the elementary math placement process! Elementary and middle school principals received an email with more details.
We are entering the season of state assessments. We know you are eager to learn more about the details for this spring.
The state MAP window is 4/8-5/23
Reminder: MAP manuals training is March 6 from 8-11
Our district EOC window is 5/14-21
For more information about all things Assessment, check out Assessment Department Resources
Teaching & Learning
Math curriculum
We are working on plans to rewrite math curriculum and provide summer professional learning opportunities for all math teachers. Our first step is to establish a Math curriculum team. Expectations for curriculum members are as follows:
WSD math curriculum team members serve a minimum 3 years (approximately 6-9 days per year) for research, curriculum development, and assessment writing.
WSD math curriculum team members will serve in a leadership role for math.
Each elementary school will provide 1 representative for K-2 and 1 representative for 3-5.
Elementary core curriculum teams will consist of 3-4 classroom teachers total per grade level.
Teachers who are interested should complete the application (this will also be shared on the Teaching and Learning site). https://goo.gl/forms/IzerZXncnfykvJf02
STEM Olympics are coming!
Mark your calendars for March 5 (grades K-4) and March 12 (grades 5-8) from 5pm - 8pm at Liberty High School.
WSD 3rd Annual Film Festival
The deadline for film submissions is March 2. Please encourage your students and teachers to create and submit!
Youth Art Month
March is Youth Art Month. To celebrate, each building selects one piece of artwork to be displayed in Berrey-Place Center for the next year. Our hope is to recognize these individual students at a reception at Berrey-Place Center so the students can see their art on display. We are still working on a date - stay tuned!
Seal of Biliteracy
The Board of Education recently approved the Seal of Biliteracy and Distinguished Seal of Biliteracy awards for WSD graduating seniors who show proficiency in English, one or more other languages, and successful completion of a sociocultural proficiency project. We are excited to have 100 students from our high schools who are interested in obtaining this award for this school year. The languages we will be assessing include German, French, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
The Seal is currently offered in 28 states. The Missouri Seal of Biliteracy is endorsed by a number of universities (several schools award students between 6-14 credit hours) and Missouri businesses (including Ameren, Mastercard, and several others).
A team of WSD educators, including the high school World Language teachers, high school principals, the high school ELL teacher, and members of the Teaching and Learning team have worked collaboratively to align a rigorous program for our students to achieve the requirements set forth by DESE.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please feel free to contact Nichole Nolan.
Professional & Program Development
Summer School NEWS
Summer School postings - Pending BoE approval of the positions on Thurs 2/21, we will post Summer School Teacher, Clerk, Nurse, IA, Para, Librarian, etc. early next week. This will be posted in eNews.
Summer School Dates - We will be looking at our snow make up days AFTER Spring Break to determine a plan for Summer School dates. There are many options and we want to make sure we are into Spring before we publish the plan… to make sure there are no more snow days (theoretically!). Anyone applying to work Summer School should be aware that we may work into July and/or on Friday(s).
Summer School Immunizations - Incoming Kindergarteners, 8th graders, and 12th graders will need updated immunizations to attend Summer School. Please see the Summer School webpage for more info.
High School - Exciting news! We will be offering our first online Summer School courses for credit advancement OFF CAMPUS through Launch: 1) Personal Finance (incoming 11th & 12th graders), 2) Health (incoming 10th - 12th graders), and 3) Personal Fitness (incoming 10 - 12th graders). The Personal Fitness course will be limited to 11 students from each HS. Your choice. We are setting these courses up to be taught by WSD teachers to ensure rigor! WHY?
Many of our students are involved in Band and sports during the month of June and not able to attend Summer School.
Other districts are offering online courses that our students are taking. Even though these classes do not meet our high expectations, we cannot prevent them from transferring in these credits. Our preference is that our students take courses from our teachers.
K-6 Summer Journey - We will be offering Summer Reading Remediation during Summer Journey in June! We will be discussing this Referral Process at the Admin Meeting. INFO
Electronic confirmations are being sent weekly to let parents know which of the 5 Summer School buildings (DUE, LVE, PVE, SCE, WBE) their child will attend.
We already have over 740 registrations!
Dr. Megan Stryjevski
Twitter: @DrStryjewski