OSP Connected
November 2019-Office for School Performance-Volume 33
Message from Dayle
Starting with the students' lives is not hard to do in lesson planning it's just not what we usually start with. However, as early as the 1970s Madeline Hunter encouraged us to consider it with her "hook" or anticipatory set. This hook often provided "the why" of how the content mattered in students' lives or the applicability of what they would be learning. Both require understanding your students.
Overall we do a great job of getting to know students in the first month of school. We are new to each other and there are simple things we do to build our class community. How do we continue to learn more about each other over time? Specifically, what is the lived experience of our students in school, their homes and the community? The simple answer is to ask them and ask them in a variety of ways. Social desirability is a real thing and students want to say the right thing so using other formats such as exit tickets, anonymous surveys, small group brainstorming and perspective taking can all help you learn more about your students.
Today I heard about a student who shared that they skip class or stay home at times but they know when their teachers expect them to be there and they know how they will be treated in class and so they work to show up. Knowing your students helps you engage them. Take the time to understand your students; the more you know the more you will be able to hook them into the learning opportunities in your space!
HSD Focus 2019-2020
INSTRUCTION: Compliant Engagement v. Authentic Engagement
Let’s consider two different classrooms. Classroom 1: The classroom is quiet. Students are sitting up and listening, most are prepared to raise their hand and answer questions and better yet, prepared to answer a cold call. A peak in a student notebook reveals detailed notes from the day’s learning. Classroom 2: The classroom is loud. Students are out of their chairs and talking to one another. They give each other high fives, then find a new friend to talk with. A listen into a conversation reveals they are talking in complete sentences with academic vocabulary based on the learning objective on the board.
Based on these observations, it appears that learning is occuring in both of these classrooms. But how do we know? Are students in both of these classroom authentically engaged? What data can we collect and examine about student learning in these two classrooms? As educators, we have likely all heard the phrase “whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning.” Increasing student talk can be loud and messy at times, but if compliant engagement is already established in the classroom then that next step towards authentic engagement is closely within reach.
Elizabeth A. City out of Harvard Graduate School of Education provides the why and the how of establishing student talk in an article for Education Leadership. In the article “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say,” Steven C. Reinhart outlines how to increase student talk in a math classroom, although these strategies can be applied across content areas. We don’t all need to be experts at implementing every student talk protocol perfectly - just choose one and master it before trying another.
CLIMATE AND CULTURE: Self Care
As we move from fall to winter, the days are getting shorter, the list of things to do is getting longer, and our need for self care is becoming more and more real. Self care goes beyond keeping a stock pile of chocolate in your desk drawer (although that helps), it is about giving your body and mind the time and nutrition it needs to rest, relax, and recharge. So when you are trying to decide if you should stay late to grade papers or skip a meal to prep for class, go for the healthy choice. Go home and be with the people you love and/or eat so your brain and body have the energy you need to think and function. (Stop rolling your eyes - we mean it). As educators, we are modeling for students how to be healthy functioning adults, so we do not want our kids to believe that they have to be workaholics to be successful. If you don’t know where to start with self care checkout the supports and resources we have available through our EAP or rally your staff to develop a wellness program using these tools from Kaiser.
CAREER & COLLEGE READY: Oregon Student Access and Completion (OSAC): A Support for Student and Adult Learners
November marks the yearly opening of OSAC Scholarship Application. With a single application, an Oregon resident can sort over 500 scholarships and apply through the OSAC portal. Scholarships are available to high school graduating seniors or adult students pursuing an associates, bachelors or graduate degree. Anyone can access the general scholarship questions and use the writing prompts in class as a career and college readiness activity, click here to see the general application questions.
Scholarship Application Timeline & Deadline
October: File your FAFSA or ORSAA as soon as possible after October 1. Doing so will ensure you are considered for all scholarships that consider financial need.
November - February: Start your OSAC scholarship application and submit from November through March 1.
First-time applicants: create an OSAC account and start the OSAC Scholarship Application.
Returning applicants: refresh and update your application from last year.
High school juniors may start a "test application", but cannot submit until their year of graduation.
February 15*: Early Bird deadline. Complete applications (including transcripts) submitted by this date will be entered into a drawing for one of several $1,000 Early Bird scholarship awards.
March 1*: Final deadline for all materials to be submitted to OSAC.
April - August: Track your application status and scholarship awards in the OSAC Student Portal.
Language Arts Adoption Update
We are excited to embark on this journey towards finding our next Language Arts Adoption. This is a big endeavor and we have learned so much in the process. Currently, we have 61 elementary classrooms involved. This includes K-6 teachers across the district in both English and Spanish. We are currently piloting American Reading Company and McGraw Hill. To keep yourself informed about this process, check the following links on an ongoing basis:
Language Arts Communication Plan
Language Arts Adoption Update - for weekly updates
Tech Teach Grow
Our Purpose
This digital magazine is intended to support educators with technology integration in the classroom. Our hope is to provide HSD staff with tech integration ideas, info and updates via quick digital media easily accessible at your convenience. Everything we share should work with your current HSD tech.
Want a different result? Try something new!
Learn What’s Next…
Follow this link to a new (1.3) #TechForward>> digital magazine focused on digital citizenship. You will also find crowdsourced feeds of tech integration ideas, info & updates organized by application. These feeds are constantly curated to provide you with the ideas for tech integration that work with the HSD tech in all our schools!
Mission
The Hillsboro School District joined the 1 Million Project in the fall of 2018 to assist our High School students that do not currently have internet or students who have internet that is slow due to unreliable service or too many users sharing a single connection.
The 1 Million Project goals are:
- To help 1 million high school students who do not have reliable Internet access at home reach their full potential by giving them mobile devices and free high-speed Internet access.
- Why is this a national problem? Because we have a serious Homework Gap in this country. 70% of America’s school teachers assign homework to be completed online, but more than 5 million families with school-aged children do not have reliable internet connectivity at home. This disconnect leads to dramatically inequitable outcomes among our students.
- We believe all students are curious, want a bright future and are willing to work hard. We also believe having Internet access at home means more time to learn, imagine, create, accomplish and graduate.
The Hillsboro School District believes in this mission and would like to take full advantage of the program for our high school students. After a student/family is approved, the student will receive a wireless hotspot provided by the 1 Million Project. The district will also checkout a chromebook for the student to use with the hotspot. Fill out the online application (English | Spanish) or download the flyer (English | Spanish) for more information.
Coffee Conversations - Support Classes for Secondary Staff (Episode # 11)
Secondary Staff - we have support classes just for you as you navigate serving students experiencing disabilities in your classes. You can earn credit equivalency by attending 10 hours (5 full sessions). Topics include mindset, accommodation and differentiation, engagement, eligibility 101, and more. You can also bring a real life special education situation and sit with someone 1 on 1 to work on solutions. Maybe you don't know how to modify next week's lesson, you don't understand what a student's accommodations mean in relation to your content, or you are not sure why a student needs a copy of your notes. We are here for you!
Every 3 weeks we will be in AC 213 from 4:00 - 6:00 ready to support you as a group or individually. A recent participant said "these sessions are the best kept secret in HSD" - but we don't want to keep it a secret! Come visit and bring a friend; we'll provide the support and the candy!
Please feel free to email us if you have any questions.
-Your Student Services Team