Student Support Services Department
Roadmap - Week of 10/8/18-10/12/18
IDVA Mission - Building a community of engaged learners.
IDVA Vision - Empowering every student to learn at high level.
SSS Department Group Agreements
- We will be intentional in our collaborative work with school community members to address students' academic needs.
- We will proactively identify and support students' individual needs and accomplishments.
If you have other pictures of the SSS Dept. from the start of the school year, and/or during events, send them to Alex for roadmap inclusion.
SSS Department Kudos!
If you have kudos to share about you or a colleague, send them to Alex.
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Shout out to Deslynn! I was told Deslynn is a good team encourager, evident through her fun messages and innovative ideas. She is drawing the FASTeam closer together.
Great job, Deslynn!
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Here is a wonderful message sent to Debbie from a student: "i just wanted to see how you are doing i just wanted to say Hi to you and see how you are doing we really do like you lot and really big thanks for what you have done for us"
This is awesome, Debbie!
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Another great message was sent to Loretta: "I just wanted to thank you again for your efforts and how well you know and care about what you do. I was really hesitant to enroll [student name] because of my previous experiences with an online public school and [student]'s unique learning style. I am now so thankful that I did. I hope you know how much your diligent efforts are appreciated. Not only did everything go better than I expected, but it was fast. That relieved a lot of my stress and [student]'s. Thank you!"
Keep up the important work, Loretta!
We need to give an extra special thanks to Corrie Munson!
I am not sure how many of you know, but Corrie has been subbing while Cassidy has been on maternity leave. Over the past 6-ish weeks, Corrie has been supporting Vision students, while helping other students through new student orientation, and diving into the grad plan tool. The work she has been doing is vital to our departmental mission! As Cassidy transitions back, I would be remiss if I don't recognize Corrie. Corrie, on behalf of the Student Support Services Department, thank you for all of your work! You rock!
- Alex
Thank you Corrie for your work with Vision students. I appreciate your willingness to dive in and learn. You have been a big help!
-Jesse
Thank you, Corrie, for all your contributions to FAST and Onboarding. You have been a wonderful member of our team – always organized, thorough, and helpful! It’s been a pleasure to work with you. We will miss you!
-Lisa
Corrie, thank you SO MUCH for your help with the grad plans! You are very detailed, inquisitive, and thorough. I appreciate all you have done!
-Jessica
SSS Department Trivia
Week 5 Trivia Results!
WHO AM I?
It is Bev Beals!
No one got this correct; however, 37.5% of the respondents thought it was you, Loretta. Scores remain the same.
Score Board:
Debbie = 2
Tree = 2
Corrie = 2
Bev = 1
Pam = 1
Deslynn = 1
Colleen = 1
Jennifer E = 1
Jessica = 1
Lisa = 1
Kelly = 1
A message from Bev about her Peru trip
We traveled in Peru for 3 weeks, then on the way to the airport we stopped at a Sears and my dad was robbed at gunpoint. They took the car with all of our luggage, passports, plane tickets, film, souvenirs, etc.
So, here is a picture about the same time, of me at the top of one of the pyramids in Mexico.
Share something about you that your colleagues may not know and you would feel comfortable with them knowing. We will include this as a question in a future roadmap.
Weekly Calendar, 10/8-10/12
Sunday 10/7:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO COLLEEN MEADOWS
Monday 10/8:
- Grad Plan Weekly Meeting Series session 11-12 pm MST - counselors and advisors, attend as you can
- First day for K5 Cohort 3
Tuesday 10/9:
- English singer-songwriter John Lennon was born on this day in 1940
Wednesday 10/10:
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School Pictures – Magic Valley 1-3 at the Magic Valley YMCA (1751 Elizabeth Rd, TF)
Thursday 10/11:
- Cassidy White is back!
- School Pictures – Blackfoot 10-12 at the Blackfoot Community Ctr (1350 Parkway Dr, #31)
- IDVA School Board meeting, 7 pm MST, http://tinyurl.com/IDVABoard
Friday 10/12:
- October Face to Face School Event, info found at https://www.smore.com/y1jpk-the-howl
- New Student Orientation begins for 10/22 MS cohort
Departmental & School Updates
Time Blocking Wrap Up - one more action step
Thank you all for conducting an inventory of how you spent your time during a specific week. I know adding this task was challenging, but this type of reflective work is important. If I haven't already, I will be reviewing your data and a-ha moments with you during a future targeting.
That being said, here are the takeaways I hope you have:
- On a regular basis (maybe each semester), we need to be reflective on how we are spending our time. Our work can pile up, and we can become responsive to the various demands, and in doing so, we need to make sure the items taking up the majority of our time are truly of high importance. I will ask you to track your time for another week in the second semester.
- Additionally, I hope you found that you are spending most of your time in area 2 (important, but not urgent). In theory, we focus our time here, we should have fewer crises. If you found that you are spending a bulk of your time elsewhere, what do you need to do to change that?
Lastly, your final action item is to time block your schedule, or at least glean and apply a strategy from time blocking. Here are some tips I'd like you to try, even for just one week, and reflect on how helpful it was for you:
- Create & maintain a schedule. Tree has a wonderful example of how she does this. Maybe you can borrow ideas from this. See the picture of a week in Tree's schedule (below). Thanks for sharing, Tree.
- When you are building your schedule, whether it is at the start of each day or for the whole week, prioritize based on highest priority. Ask yourself, what is the level of importance and urgency? Prioritize accordingly.
- When building your schedule, group similar tasks. For example, if you have pulse check calls to make, group that with weekly FAST check-in calls you need to make.
- When working on a project/grouped items, give your self AT LEAST one hour of uninterrupted time. Spending moments here and there on the same tasks doesn't allow for effective use of time.
- Consider NOT starting your day with emails. Start your day with a Priority 2 task for the first hour +, and then get to emails. Sometimes starting your day with emails can push you into a crisis mode that can linger the whole day.
To recap, your action items are to (1) pick at least one of the above strategies, (2) apply it for a week, and (3) send me a quick email (a) noting which strategy you chose and (b) any a-ha moments. This email is due to me by Monday, October 15.
K12 Updates
Great LC resources you may want to consider sharing
Reoccuring/Reference Info
Out of Office Reply Template
Hello,
I am out of the office [date(s)] [optional: add reason – e.g. school outing, holiday]. I will return emails when I return on [date].
Sincerely,
Name
** ADD YOUR IDVA EMAIL SIGNATURE
Professional Learning Communities
As your PLC has data to review, send info to Alex to post for the group.
An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry to achieve better results for the students they serve.
PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improving learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators.
Four questions to guide PLC’s
- What do we expect students to learn?
- How do we know they are learning it?
- How do we respond when they do not learn it?
- How do you respond when they have already learned it?