Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Tribune
WEEK OF DECEMBER 9-13, 2019
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP/NORTHWEST GOALS & CORE VALUES
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Illustrious Leaders,
Everyone should be settled and back into the routine of delivering high-quality lessons for our scholars after our Thanksgiving break.
By now, all your teachers should have received an email in regards to taking the climate survey. Highly encourage your staff to take the climate survey. This survey will provide many data pieces to use in order to make adjustments and get better. What will your climate say? Is Good First Instruction a focus for all? Is your campus truly a college-going culture? How is your morale? Do teachers really enjoy coming to work in Dallas ISD and your campus? All these questions and more will be answered in order to give you a true reading of where you are as a staff and where you need to improve for your Spring Climate survey.
As a campus, you should continue to analyze AGGRESSIVELY your campus data in order to look at trends for all your scholars so that instructional sound decisions can be made prior to taking the upcoming ACP’s. Please ensure that you are focusing on our students who are out of place and those who have met their growth targets but have not moved to the next academic band. Your ACP’s will be a true reflection of all the work you have engaged in the first semester of school. This will give you a great indicator of where your deficits are and where you need to place more emphasis and with which students.
Be thinking of the next steps to ensure that you have the proper staff in placements that they have the most leverage and impact for all students that will affect your campus academics. Have you tightened your Aggressive Monitoring plan? Are all grades 2nd -5th Aggressively Monitoring our students and are you Aggressively Monitoring the Aggressive Monitoring piece with your AP and CIC with fidelity? What are the highest leverage points? Are they different from the beginning of the year? Are you closely INSPECTING what you are EXPECTING? Are your students growing? Remember, as the instructional leader of your institution of learning, you will be accountable for the results at the end of the year! 'Good First Instruction' is expected! Remember Covey's Habits #1-Be Proactive, Habit #4 Think Win-Win and Habit #7 Sharpen The Saw.
As always...."WE ARE IN IT TO WIN IT...GO FOR THE GOLD!!
Here is to a productive week of teaching, learning, growing and leading!
Ms. Torres
Emmett Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Executive Director
DALLAS ISD INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT RESOURCES
PRINCIPALS OF LEARNING FOCUS
WEEKLY UPDATES
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9
Computer Science Week
AP Meeting -ALL AP's and ILCs@ NCX-7:45 a.m.-2nd floor
Cigarroa Campus visit w/ED
Stephen Foster Campus visit w/ED
Burnet Campus visit w/ILCs
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10
- Jill Stone Campus visit w/ED & ILCs
- Jack Lowe Campus visit w/ED & ILCs
- Principal of the Year & Holiday luncheon @ Arboretum-11:00 a.m.-all principals-Ms. Torres & ALL Conrad/Thomas Jefferson Principals
- Saldivar Campus visit w/ILCs
- Joe May Campus visit w/ILCs
- Thomas Jefferson Principal Community Meeting -6:00 p.m.-ALL TJ principals MUST attend
- LAST DAY FOR CLIMATE SURVEY!
- Joe May Campus visit w/ED & ILCs
- K. B. Polk Campus visit w/ED and ILCs
- Deputy Chief & ED Meeting @ 8:30 a.m.
- ED & ILC Planning @ 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
- SLB ED Holiday Party @ 5:00 p.m.
- 2019 Campus Spelling Bee Deadline
CURRENT CLIMATE SURVEY RESPONSES
UNITED WAY DISTRICT CHALLENGE
The Dallas Independent School District needs your support ensuring the success of the 2019-2020 United Way Employee Giving Campaign. Each year, United Way generously funds district initiatives from pre-school preparation to college readiness and provides a variety of assistance to our students and families outside of the school setting. Maintaining this important source of support requires your help! That’s why we are asking that all Dallas ISD employees donate to the 2019 – 2020 campaign goal of $190,000.
A strong push for our cluster to show up with donations prior to November 5. It is our intention to have at-least $50K raised by then.
- There are three ways to give: Oracle, Give 360 or Cash/Check. Attached are instructions on how to give through Oracle and Give360. (SEE THE LINK BELOW!)
The suggested giving levels for administrators are listed below.
Suggested Giving Levels for Leaders:
Executive Level: $750.00
Mid-Level Management: $300.00
Administrative Level: $25-$100
The School Leadership goal for 2019 – 2020 including org numbers 862+865+923 is $6,000.
IF OUR CLUSTER IS THE WINNING CLUSTER FOR UNITED WAY DONATIONS, THERE WILL BE A PRIZE FOR THE CLUSTER AND THE PRINCIPAL WITH THE HIGHEST DONATIONS GIVEN. MAY THE BEST CAMPUS WIN!
INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO RESOURCES
THE LEADER IN ME
Thinking Maps ~ December ~ The Multi-Flow Map
CONRAD & JEFFERSON ES CLUSTER'S SHINING STARS
2019 CAST Conference Presenter
Mathew Hight, Science CIC at Joe May ES
Best Sparring Award During Instructional Rounds
Lee McShan ES Instruction Leadership Team
Best Debrief Session Led by an Assistant Principal
Tracie Reed at Highland Meadows
Foster ES Transforms into Whoville for the Holiday Season
From Intentional Learning Stations to a Successful Science Fair @ McShan ES
PNC Donates $50, 000 for Tornado Relief at Burnet ES
Saldivar ES Families "Sharpen the Saw" for 2020 Family Goals
Lowe Family & Current Trustee Micciche Honor Jack Lowe ES for National Blue Ribbon Recognition
Second Grade Learning Stations at Jack Lowe
THE CORE 4
Dallas ISD is 20,000 staff members strong, and each one is vital to the work being accomplished in the district. Through the district’s commitment to exemplary customer service, each member is focused on serving 157,000 students and their families by delivering professional, high-quality service in everything we do.
At the heart of great customer service for each district employee are the four tenets of customer service--the Core 4: focused, fast, flexible, and friendly. These principles, also, are key to forging a positive culture within the organization as they are applied, internally, colleague to colleague, as well as to students, families, taxpayers, and the entire community.
It is a strong commitment that goes beyond the conversation about what exemplary customer service looks like becoming the norm for the way we operate in the district every day.
FUTURE IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
4th Six Weeks at a Glance
2020 LEADER IN ME SYMPOSIUM
BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT SYSTEM (K-2)
SWAG NIGHTS (K-5) & Specials Teachers
SWAG SPECIALIST TEAM LEADS
COMMON ASSESSMENT TIMELINE
Reading ILC Corner
Math ILC Corner
Grade 3-5 Math Focus
Properties of Multiplication to Generate Strategies
Expiration Rules in Division
Science ILC Corner
FALL 2019 TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Oracle Finance Systems and Payroll classes are also available. ATS is now offering a new Open Lab for iExpense. The attached schedule of classes is on our website at: https://www.dallasisd.org/ATS.
See the WAIP 7/18/2019 for more information
IMPORTANT LINKS & INFORMATION TO READ
100% Scholar Participation in Clubs or Extracurricular Activities in Pre-K-5th Grades
DECEMBER
16-Accountability Training-Domain 3-Region 10 (Staci Barker) Time & Location TBD
17-Principal Winter Solstice
JANUARY, 2020
9-Network Day
FEBRUARY
21-State of the District Address @ Omni Hotel-@10:00
27-Network Day
MARCH
28-United 2 Learn-Community day
APRIL
16-Network Day
JUNE
4-Network Day
10-Principal Luncheon
Marshall Memo #814
Teacher-Led Versus Student-Centered Classrooms: Either-Or?
In this chapter in The ResearchED Guide to Education Myths, British educator/writer Tom Sherrington addresses the widespread belief that teacher-led instruction and student-centered learning are opposites. Looking at schools in this way, one polarity is command and control: quiet classrooms; the teacher is responsible for what students need to learn; instruction is focused on subject-area content; failure is seen as a bad thing; learning is shallow and memorized. On the other side is student engagement and empowerment: classrooms are busy, even chaotic; learners are self-aware and advocate for their own needs; teachers lead, coach, and inspire learners to find passion in the subject matter; failure is recognized as a powerful learning moment; learning is deep and passionate.
Implicit in the second description is a sharp critique of traditional, teacher-led instruction, but there’s plenty of criticism on the other side: students don’t know enough about the curriculum to make good choices about what to learn; the opportunity costs of inquiry and problem-based learning are too high; student agency is not necessary or relevant in the classroom; and student group work and projects are inherently low-level and ineffective, with students acquiring misconceptions or incomplete and disorganized learning.
Proponents of these opposing camps tend to declare, “It is clear that…” and “The evidence almost uniformly supports…” In this dichotomy, says Sherrington, “the opposition is explicit, unequivocal – and utterly ludicrous… In reality, in a school curriculum that is rich and broad, leading to deep learning, both teacher-led learning and student-centeredness will be woven together, blended and sequenced, integrated in a proportionate manner.” He identifies the common ground by posing three questions:
• When is teacher-led instruction most and least effective? Novice learners need firm teacher guidance, says Sherrington, while students who have mastered the basics can work with less explicit guidance. Teacher scaffolding can make projects and group work effective learning vehicles. And good teachers gradually taper off the amount of structure and guidance they give students as they become more proficient and independent.
• What is the role of student engagement in teacher-led instruction? “Teachers cannot be said to have undertaken successful instruction unless their students, as individuals, have secured successful learning,” says Sherrington, “and this requires their active involvement, their mental engagement, their conscious effort, and active schema-building… Essentially, effective instruction depends on teachers being guided by their students’ responses; they will adapt, adjust, push on, re-teach, provide more supports, take scaffolds away, give more or less feedback, follow different lines of reasoning – all driven by students.”
Checking for understanding and fine-tuning instruction in real-time is at the heart of good teaching, and is entirely compatible with instruction where the teacher is “in charge.” The ultimate goal, after all, is students who can learn and function on their own – but it’s a myth that independence will emerge in most students without strong and thoughtful teacher guidance. “Teacher-led instruction,” says Sherrington, “formulated with student thinking at its core, is vital to the process – not exclusively, but often predominantly.”
• Where is the middle ground? Sherrington believes that every curriculum unit should include an artful blend of teacher-led and student-centered instructional strategies. Some examples:
- Collaborative learning – Learning is social, and students benefit from opportunities to work together, airing their ideas, testing hypotheses, and assessing each other’s learning. With teacher structuring and active monitoring, small-group and pair work can be highly productive, “not as vehicles for making discoveries,” says Sherrington, “but as a means of practicing recently learned content and skills.”
- Open-ended tasks and projects – A few times each year, students can benefit enormously from producing a piece of extended writing or engaging in a learning task where the outcome is not predetermined. The key, says Sherrington, is the teacher modeling some elements, determining success criteria, giving feedback, and providing some direct instruction.
- Co-construction – Over time, as students gain proficiency and confidence, Sherrington believes students should increasingly make decisions about their learning. “When I hear teachers suggest that students can’t really guide their learning,” he says, “because how could they know enough to do so? – I almost feel sorry for them because it suggests they’ve never met the kind of students that I have who most certainly could. You only have to reflect on your own education to consider when, as a teenager growing up, you started to form legitimate academic interests and preferences; you started asking questions that you wanted answers to; you felt ready to make choices about what to study.” Again, the key is teacher standard-setting, guidance, nudging, directing, and monitoring.
- Education for citizenship – There’s certainly a need for direct instruction about government and civics, says Sherrington, but “citizenship is something you do; it’s not just something you learn about… If students don’t develop the sense that their voice matters at school, how are they going to find their voice as citizens in the wider world where the stakes are much higher? Citizenship isn’t hypothetical, emanating from a knowledge base derived from instruction; it’s lived; experienced. Student-centeredness needs to be woven in.” And that means students debating, expressing opinions, presenting ideas, and organizing themselves and others.
“Myth: Teacher-Led Instruction and Student-Centered Learning Are Opposites” by Tom Sherrington in TheResearchED Guide to Education Myths (John Catt, 2019, p. 71-82)
EMMETT J. CONRAD/THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
- Jack Lowe Elementary: Principal, Sandra Barrios
- Jill Stone : Principals, Rosalinda Pratt & Selena Deboskie
- Highland Meadows: Principal, JoAnna Bahena
- David G. Burnet Elementary: Principal, Sonia Loskot
- Leonides Cigarroa Elementary : Principal, Douglas Burak
- Stephen C. Foster Elementary: Principal, Irma De La Guardia
- Joe May Elementary: Principal, Rosseven Nava
- K.B. Polk Elementary: Principal, Kourtnei Billups
- Julian T. Saldivar: Principal, Edgar Jaramillo
- Walnut Hill Elementary: Principal, Phillip Potter
- McShan Elementary: Principal, Joseph Medaris