Celina Curriculum Newsletter
Volume 1 Issue 2 - September 2020
About
Celina Curriculum Launches FaceBook Page
Celina Curriculum (@CelinaCurriculum) now has a FaceBook page. The purpose of the page is to provide Celina teachers and the school community with information and resources to implement our district strategy and provide high-quality instructional practices that challenge, prepare, and empower our students. Check out and like or follow the page!
DLT Holds September Meeting
On September 16, our DLT held their second meeting of the 2020 school year. Here are key highlights from the meeting:
- Reviewed Feedback on Opening Day video - Special thanks to Jonathan Williams and Buck & Bronco for their efforts with the video! Teaching staffs in all buildings were able to watch the video during their opening day meetings.
The DLT uses the 5 Step Process to address critical needs of the district. The team finished this improvement cycle by reflecting (Step 5) on what they learned from the cycle. Below are key learnings:
- All buildings shared that their staffs have been trained with our new educational software (Google Classroom, Kami, and Zoom) and have successfully implemented the technology into their daily lessons. All buildings did state that some issues with devices did limit certain aspects of the software.
- All building staffs rallied behind behind each other and worked well together to get everyone trained. The additional days at the beginning of the school year and first few weeks of school have offered teachers time to work out issues and to seek help from each other. #TogetherWeWill
- All building staffs have worked extremely hard and put forth a valiant effort to ensure that the beginning of the year started smoothly and on a positive note.
- Teachers of remote learners need additional support and/or time to meet the needs of their students. Where applicable, building principals will work with these teachers to offer additional support and/or time.
- The team will begin a new improvement cycle at the next meeting.
Our next DLT meeting is October 21.
DLT Members include: Dr. Ken Schmeising, Barb Vorhees, Vaughn Ray, Tracey Dammeyer, Michelle Duncan, Casey Hinton, Cory Ahrens, Erin Weigel, Lisa Bye, Jen Birney, Toby Siefring, Brittany Green, Andy Mikesell, Jackie Mertz, Phil Metz, Allie Slavik, and Carrie Cubberley.
September 28 Two-Hour Delay
Q: What are we doing on the September 28 Two-Hour Delay?
A: For the upcoming Delay, building principals will work with their staffs to address building level issues surrounding educational technology and software and remote learning. Please reach out to your building principal for more information.
Celina Literacy Leadership Team Continues Journey
The Celina Literacy Leaderships Team consists of 24 Celina K-12 teachers (ELA, Title, and Intervention Specialists). Here's more information about the team:
- Vision: We will design high-quality professional development/learning, promote a balanced literacy framework, and build capacity for literacy leadership through problem-solving, collaboration, and communication in order to create an aligned literacy experience for ALL students in Celina.
- 20-21 Goals: Develop a common language for literacy, Practice and receive coaching and feedback on high-impact literacy strategies, Design a tiered instructional framework for K-12 literacy, and Review literacy resources.
- Long-Term Outlook: Our Team will build capacity for literacy strategies and frameworks. In the future, the team will offer professional learning opportunities for our K-12 teaching staff.
In September and October, the team will be working on two tasks:
- Team members will apply new learning on the Instructional Read Aloud strategy into lessons. Sherry Kinzel, literacy coach, will coach team members and provide feedback to them.
- Also, team members will begin designing a tiered instructional framework for literacy. This will be an evolving document.
ODE Updates
Here are some updates from ODE:
- ODE is still hosting Virtual Meet-ups for all content area teachers. Check out their Resources page for dates, times, and additional information.
- ODE did release Report Cards for the 19-20 school year. Click here to view Celina's Report Card. While most of the data is incomplete, there are details on the 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee, Graduation, and Prepared for Success portions.
- ODE has added several updates to their content area pages. Check out your content area's page for additional information.