Curriculum Connection
Updates, Information, and Ideas for DCSC Staff
April 21, 2020
In order to be respectful of everyone's time, I have broken the newsletter down into information that staff "Have To Know" and information that is "Nice to Know." In addition, I have tried to break things down further by grade level or subject area. Please ensure you read and/or respond to anything in the "Have To Know" section that applies to a grade level or subject area you teach.
If you find any ideas, websites, books, etc. that you think are worth sharing out, please send them my way and I am happy to include them!
Morgan Walker
Director of Academic Services
Tracking Attendance
A few reminders regarding attendance:
Students earn attendance for a day of instruction if they have made ANY progress toward work each day. Even if you can see they logged in and viewed part of your lesson, they are counted as being present for the day. (See tutorial below to set this up.) They do not have to complete all work assigned to be counted as being present. (Grades are different from attendance, of course.) ***If a student completes work later, you can go in and change the attendance to mark them as present for that date.***
Each week, please go into the master attendance sheet shared by your building secretary. You may begin entering in your final attendance anytime after 11:59 P.M. on Tuesday. You may enter this attendance on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Secretaries will now be locking down tabs once they have entered information into Infinite Campus. If you want to make any changes to those tabs after they are locked, please send them an email with the information.
Paper copies are due to buildings on Tuesdays. Secretaries/Principals will be scanning documents and emailing them to you once they are turned in. Attendance will be counted for students that turn in a paper copy with ANY attempt to complete work. (Again, this is for attendance, not grading.)
K-12 Teaching Staff
K-12 Teaching Staff
eLearning Teacher Interaction
It is imperative we ensure frequent interactions are taking place between students and teachers. I heard Dr. McCormick say this week that, "Remote learning doesn't mean removed." We are asking each teacher to utilize at least one method of interaction geared toward all students at least once every two weeks. We know that not every student may not log into your Schoology site, not every student will log on to a Zoom call, etc. but at least these opportunities have been offered.
Here are some ideas to help you brainstorm ways to interact:
- Schedule a Zoom session to check-in, review content, introduce information, etc.
- Record yourself explaining/demonstrating a concept, sharing a story, or inviting students to check in with you
- Create a survey asking students how they are doing, what they are struggling with (and respond to comments)
- Create a discussion post where students can interact with each other (and reply to comments as you are able)
- Send individualized feedback to students on an assignment turned in during the week
- Have students respond to a prompt of some kind in Flipgrid and ask students to review and comment on other student videos
- Send students postcards/emails to let them know you're thinking of them
What other ideas do you have? I'm happy to add them to a future list!
K-12 Teaching Staff
Zoom Videoconferencing Reminder
Zoom safety is very important. There are a few easy ways to ensure you can keep these meetings private to just your own class of students.
1. The waiting room feature is turned on by default. This allows you to let in students one by one. Remind all students to use their actual first and last names as their "zoom name" so you can let them in safely. If you do not recognize a name, do not let that person enter.
2. Do not post a Zoom link in a public spot (like a social media page). This may invite unwanted guests to click on the link to join. Post your zoom link in an email to students/parents or on a Schoology page that only your own students can access.
3. Disable other options, including the ability for others to Join Before Host (it should be disabled by default, but check to be sure). Then disable screen-sharing for nonhosts, and also the remote control function. Finally, disable all file transferring, annotations and the autosave feature for chats.
To disable most of these features, click on the gear-shaped Settings icon on the upper-right side of the page after you've logged in. From there, you'll see the option to turn off most of the listed features.
Disabling screen-sharing is a bit different, but just as easy. Go to the host controls at the bottom of your screen, and you'll see an arrow next to Share Screen. Click the arrow, then click Advanced Sharing Options. Go to Who can share? Click Only Host, then close the window.
Tip 3 from: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/no-more-zoombombing-4-steps-to-a-more-secure-zoom-video-chat/
All Staff
Purposity Reminder
We are at 101!!!! We need 99 more followers to begin posting our needs!!!!
During the age of COVID-19, our students need us now more than ever. Enter, Purposity! Danville Community School Corporation is partnering with Purposity to allow us to post the needs of individual students and their families to the members of our community to ensure no family is without during this time. We are striving to meet our goal of 200 followers (we are at 96 currently) and we need you!
Download the app, search, and follow “DANVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION” to help us reach our goal. Once it is reached, we can post essential needs of our students like food and clothing items!
Get the app at www.purposity.com
PK-12 Teachers
Overwhelmed by all the ideas? We put them in one place for you, by subject.
All the resources. In one place.
Virtual field trips! Daily singalongs! Amazing websites! There are SO many resources and ideas out there, and it can be a little overwhelming.
So we put all the best ideas in one place for you, sorted by subject. We'll continue to add to it and keep it organized for you.
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DCSC Curriculum Connection
Contact: Morgan Walker, Director of Academic Services
Email: mwalker@danville.k12.in.us
Website: www.danville.k12.in.us
Location: 200 Warrior Way, Danville IN 46122
Phone: (317) 745-2212
Twitter: @walker8208