The BEST Beat
Monthly Newsletter from Anna ISD Curriculum & Instruction
SEPTEMBER 2022
DR. GAYLE SMITH
Email: gayle.smith@annaisd.org
Website: annaisd.org
Location: 501 South Sherley Road, Anna, TX, USA
Phone: 9729241000
RAQUEL VARGAS, 1ST GRADE DUAL LANGUAGE
JEANNIE MILLSPAUGH, KINDER
Jeanie Millspaugh is one of our returning Anna ISD teachers that transferred to begin Rosamond-Sherley Elementary this 2022 -2023 school year. During a Handwriting Without Tears lesson she integrated the new technology Newline Interactive Board in her classroom. Students were able to write on the board and practice correct letter formation. She then had her lesson put into Schoology and students had their Handwriting song to sing and move to. For the independent practice students used dry erase boards to continue working on writing. Thanks Mrs. Millspaugh for following the lesson cycle and embracing this new technology to get students actively engaged!
MICHELLE MARTINEZ & ERICA HARRIS, GEOMETRY
HAPPY NEW SCHOOL YEAR!
I hope that everyone has had a great start to the 22-23 school year! We have so many things to be thankful for and I am getting lots of positive feedback from the start of school. I want to thank you all for your patience as we work through opening a new building and the growth we are experiencing at all the campuses. Please know that we are working diligently to get your curriculum and materials to you as quickly as possible, as well as all the online resources.
This year I look forward to supporting curriculum and instruction PK-12, federal programs and the ESL and bilingual program.
I encourage all of us to keep students at the forefront of everything we do by focusing on how we can help our students grow, both academically and emotionally throughout this year.
It has been a busy and exciting first few weeks of school for the Special Services Department in Anna. With a high number of students with special needs transferring to the district, our specialists have been working diligently to identify students, interpret their records, and provide comparable services in the right environments. While this can be one of the most challenging times of the school year for staff members such as our Educational Diagnosticians and Related Services Providers, it is also very important and meaningful work as we continuously strive to serve our students and support our campuses. Did you know that the Texas Legal Framework grants public school districts 30 school days to finalize the IEPs of transfer students? That makes October 3rd our deadline for all transfer students in Special Education who started on the first day of school.
STUDENT PROGRESS
There are many different ways to measure success for students, but the Special Services Department focuses on student progress. At our itinerant department meeting in August, we discussed the concepts from Good to Great by Jim Collins of: 1. What are we passionate about? 2. What can we be the best at? 3. What drives our economic engine? The answers - the Special Services Department is passionate about serving students and supporting campuses. We frame our work around becoming the best at evaluating, developing service plans, and implementing special services. Lastly, the factor that drives our economic engine as a department is progress per person.
We celebrate when our students make progress, whether that be on IEP goals, growth on MAP, or improvement year-to-year on STAAR. Overall, we know our students are successful when they are making progress, and we can all contribute to this progress by meeting the individual needs of students, following service plans, adapting to changing needs, pivoting when something is not working, and innovating to offer the best specially-designed instruction around. Here’s to all of the progress our students will make in 22-23!
STRATEGIC INIATIVES
Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year!! This year will start my 16th year in Anna ISD where I have spent time as a teacher, coach, and most recently Anna Middle School Principal. I’m so excited to serve our Anna ISD community in a new capacity as the Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives. I look forward to working more closely with all the campuses and working with you specifically in the areas of Teacher Incentive Allotment, Advanced Academics, and Gifted and Talented.
TEACHER INCENTIVE ALLOTMENT
For those of you new to our district, Anna ISD has completed the process to participate in the Teacher Incentive Allotment Cohort E. The goal of Anna ISD participating in the TIA is to recruit, retain, and reward our teachers who are putting in the work daily to help our students be successful. Anna ISD TIA application was approved in early August and we are well on our way in helping teachers earn those designations and most importantly MONEY!! With the approval of our application, the 2022-2023 school will serve as a data capture year for our district. The data captured will be sent to Texas Tech University which includes TTESS observation data and student growth measures.
Our district and campus administrators have been working over the summer to prepare for this upcoming data capture year. All parties have participated in calibration training and practice to ensure that we are equitably appraising teachers using the TTESS Rubric across our campuses. Something new you may see this year is myself and other district administrators walking through your classrooms with your appraisers. This is part of the TTESS calibration activities we are doing with campus administrators to ensure the validity of TTESS appraisals. I encourage you to review the TTESS Rubric regularly as you plan instruction and complete your goal setting and pre-conferencing with your campus appraisers.
Below you find several links that you can dive into to learn more about the TIA, as well as hear from a current Master Teacher from Dallas ISD. I look forward to working with each of you!! It’s going to be a great year in Anna ISD!
2021 Dallas ISD Teacher of the Year/Master Teacher Designee
AISD TIA Handbook- Note page 17 for clarification on Teacher Movement.
Check out the Anna ISD CTE & STEAM Monthly Newsletter for all things CTE & STEAM! We are excited to share the awesome things we are doing!
Hello, Anna ISD! My name is Amy Sweet and I am the Director of Assessment and Accountability! This is the start to my 17th year in Anna ISD. I taught elementary at JKB and Rattan for ten years. Then I had the privilege of being one of the Assistant Principals at Anna High School. Now, I feel so thankful that I get to serve each of you and our students in this capacity. There are many ways that I can help you throughout the year. I would love to come meet with you and explain how to break down the data, what it means and what to do with that information. You will see me on your campuses and coming into your classrooms throughout the year and I cannot wait to see all the amazing things that you are doing.
HELPDESK
NWEA MAP
MAP testing for the 2022-2023 school year is here! Most campuses started MAP testing this week. The MAP window officially opened on Monday, August 29 and will close September 7th. After MAP testing is over, then what? You have resources available to you! Please be looking for information about how you can learn more about the MAP assessment, communicating with families and what to do after testing! I will be scheduling time to visit each campus in order to provide a “Learn and Go!” regarding all things MAP!
A-F ACCOUNTABILITY
On Monday, August 15, all 2022 accountability reports were released on the agency’s public website. The public accountability reports and data tables are masked to protect student confidentiality.
Go to txschools.gov to dig deeper into the data.
Our accountability is broken up into 3 domains: Student Achievement, School Progress and Closing the Gaps. Anna ISD as a district scored an overall B (86 out of 100). I encourage each of you to take a look at your school’s rating! If you have any question about how to read this or what it means, feel free to reach out to me and let me know!
Let’s collaborate and raise the bar for ourselves and our students! I💜AISD!
2022-2023 PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
We have been working hard to prepare our 2022-2023 Professional Learning Schedule based on the needs of our campuses. Click the image below to see the 22022-2023 Schedule. You can also find it in the Anna ISD Staff Portal > Professional Learning
TECH TIP OF THE MONTH
BECOME A CLEVER CERTIFIED TEACHER
We use Clever to provide students a simple way to use one login to access multiple programs. All Clever logins are student's Google Apps (firstname.lastname@students.annaisd.org) account.
Clever syncs automatically with Ascender information: if a student is enrolled in a classroom roster they will be able to access Clever enabled programs (refreshed each morning).
Once you complete the Clever Teacher Academy, upload your certificate to Eduphoria and I'll bring you a button to add to your lanyard to let everyone know you're a Clever Certified teacher!
DELIVERING CURRICULUM!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
7 Steps to a Language-Rich, Interactive Classroom
This innovative training will help all teachers transform their classrooms into vibrant spaces where students can use academic language to talk, read, write, and think about each lesson’s content. This 7 Steps training outlines a dynamic process for structuring, planning, and facilitating a language-rich classroom. In addition,. participants gain knowledge of helpful ways to integrate both content and language standards when planning instruction. They also receive specific strategies for differentiating instruction so that all learners within the classroom can build their ability to discuss and communicate academic concepts effectively.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING DAY
Lunch on your own. Dress code is casual. Jeans are ok.