Teaching & Learning- July 8, 2020

Mount Airy City Schools- Volume 22

Our MACS Teaching and Learning Newsletters

Our goal is to continue providing you with a weekly set of vetted resources to support your work as a reflective practitioner. We hope you are enjoying your summer with your loved ones.

Staying Up-to-Date in MACS

Please join us for our Zoom Optional MACS Staff Meetings, led by Dr. Morrison, Superintendent. All MACS staff members were invited via the Google calendar invitation, which provides you with an email and link. You may also access the meeting via the hyperlinked date below. See you on Zoom!


July 13, 2020 at 8:00 am


*Beginning on July 27, 2020 at 8:00 am, we will have a mandatory MACS Staff Meeting with Dr. Morrison.

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MACS Summer Enrichment Experiences (SEE)

MACS SEE begins on Monday, July 13 at Jones Intermediate School. We are offering 18 separate SEE events over a 3 week period within July. This week we engaged in two days of safety training and instructional planning as we prepare to welcome students onto campus. Through social distancing we were able to bring our team together and complete the necessary steps for planning and safety.


We are highly appreciative of the 21st Century grant, which provides the funding required to continue serving our families with enrichment experiences. We are also appreciative of the teachers, Mount Airy High School students, and former students (college students) that are leading this highly valued and greatly needed work. Our students and families deserve the best we have to offer, even in the summer months. This will also serve MACS as a positive and proactive way to move forward with all in-person safety guidance within our schools. Stay tuned to all of the MACS social media outlets to see how we are facilitating enrichment in a safe way at Jones this summer.

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Education

Overall Access to PD Opportunities for all Educators- Provided through NCDPI through August 14, 2020

NEW SEL/Arts Website Shows the Link Between SEL and the Arts

Inspired by a meeting of the SEL4NJ leadership in January 2019, Arts Ed NJ began wrestling with the question, “How do arts educators intentionally connect SEL to their work in the arts classrooms?”

The Arts Education and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Framework is designed to illuminate the intersection between arts education and social-emotional learning to allow for the intentional application of appropriate teaching and learning strategies, with the overarching goal of enhancing Arts Education.

Check out the website, resources, and lesson plans!

Arts Information from NCDPI About PLCs and Reopening

In order to be flexible and meet the needs of teachers and arts ed administrators, we have a new webinar archive to house the Professional Learning Community (PLC) Meetings and any other relevant Webinars. Now, you can watch the webinars whenever you are able!

We also have consolidated guidance documents from the field regarding reopening arts ed classes in Fall 2020. (Yes, there's even guidance for Marching Bands in summer 2020!) *Please Note* This information should not supersede DHHS or CDC recommendations. The inclusion of ideas and/or resources on this page does not constitute endorsement or verification by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

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Instructional Resources for The Arts

Davis Publications understands during these times your teachers need quality visual arts products and we are offering free resources for teachers:

  • Free K-12 lesson plans
  • Free digital SchoolArts magazine
  • Free webinars including topics like Adaptive Art, Using Contemporary Art in the Classroom, and more.
  • Free professional development webinars including Therapeutic Art Approaches

Access the free resources HERE.

Summer Time Grant Writing

Did you know that summer serves as a great time for grant writing? You are now reflecting on what worked well, what did not work well and what kinds of resources could enhance the instruction and experiences you facilitate for our kids. Click here to check out this list of possible grants, many with upcoming deadlines in August and September. If you have any questions or need support completing a grant application just email Penny Willard at pwillard@mtairy.k12.nc.us and we will help you get it done!

Piedmont Triad Education Consortium (PTEC) Summer Opportunities for Professional Development

Please see the document attached below from PTEC regarding their summer PD opportunities. Our membership in PTEC guarantees that we have a certain number of spots available for MACS employes to attend. We would love for you to take advantage of these opportunities if they will support your professional growth. Please do not attempt to register yourself through the PTEC website. Instead, please email your name and the sessions you would like to attend to Penny Willard and she will get you registered as long as slots are available for MACS.

Upcoming Social Studies PD from PTEC

Piedmont Triad Education Consortium (PTEC) is pleased to share information about a Social Studies professional development opportunity entitled The Age of Enterprise. This session is offered by one of our PTEC workshop presenters, Teaching American History (TAH), a project of Ashland University's Ashbook Center.

The flyer below provides a snapshot of the August 4 session.

To access the links in the flyer for additional information and to register, please DOWNLOAD the flyer here: Click here to open TheAgeofEnterprisePD.08.04.2020.pdf

Science Professional Development Opportunities through NCDPI

The K-12 Science Section is conducting the 2020 Science Summer Institute virtually. The series focus is to address gaps in instruction due to COVID-19 and consists of 4 recorded webinars each with a corresponding coaching session. Time is allotted in between coaching sessions to allow for districts and teams of teachers to work on classroom materials for the upcoming year.

Intended audiences include, but aren't limited to the following: District science leaders and specialists; Science teacher leaders (where district support is unavailable). CEUs will be awarded for those who attend.

Title and Description

Part 1: Deep Curriculum Mapping: Planning for Acceleration - This session will examine why Curriculum Mapping matters and how to maximize your mapping process.

Part 2: Communicating Clear Learning Targets - This session will focus on communicating clear learning targets with an emphasis on developing learning targets for the upcoming school year.

Part 3: Planning for Formative and Summative Assessment - This session will focus on providing district leaders with a rationale to refocus efforts of school improvement on using formative assessment to accelerate student learning.

Part 4: Mastery Learning and Standards Based Grading - This session will focus on mastery learning and standards-based grading with an emphasis on strategies teachers can employ to implement both for the upcoming school year.

The sessions will be pre-recorded and available after July 9 on the Science Summer Institutes page of the K-12 Science Google Site

Coaching Sessions - These coaching sessions are to support district leaders with reflections of each session as well as addressing concerns, needs, ideas and related resources.

July 27 (10:00am-12:00pm) Deep Curriculum Mapping

July 30 (10:00am-12:00pm) Communicating Clear Learning Targets

August 3 (10:00am-12:00pm) Planning for Formative and Summative Assessment

August 10 (10:00am - 12:00pm) Mastery Learning and Standards Based Grading

Resources to Support You As a Reflective Practitioner

Consistent Collaboration within MACS- STEAM Institute Resources Have Arrived!

Don't forget to check out our resources, developed by our MACS colleagues and shared in our MACS repository. Each day we are also adding resources into our Schoology Group called- Professional Development, including the videos from our most recent, STEAM Institute. See the steps below for accessing



>Log into your Schoology Account

>Choose Groups at the top of the page and then select Professional Development- Teachers

>On the LEFT side of the page select Resources

>Select the pink folder at the top, MACS STEAM Institute (Recent and Historical)

>Select the yellow folder at the top, May 26-27, 2020 STEAM Institute

*In this folder you will have access to recordings from many of our #MACSawesome presentations.



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Please follow the steps below to access our Schoology folder designed especially for MACS Teachers preparing for the 2020-2021 school year.


>Log into your Schoology Account

>Choose Groups at the top of the page and then select Mount Airy City Schools

>On the LEFT side of the page select Resources

>Select the blue folder Curriculum

>Select the pink folder at the top, Remote Learning

MACS Teaching and Learning

Dr. Phillip Brown, Chief Academic and Human Resources Officer

Penny Willard, Director of Innovative Programming

351 Riverside Drive, Mount Airy, NC, USA pwillard@mtairy.k12.nc.us 336-786-8355 mtairy.k12.nc.us