Please review the attached spreadsheets and encourage yourself and your school Vanguard members to submit any XP that may have been missed or overlooked and/or begin a coaching cycle. To qualify for the stipend, Instructional Vanguardians must have a total of 70 XP (with at least 35 XP in either mentoring category) and Non-Instructional Vanguardians must choose one of 3 Flexible options found here . The full 100 XP expectation is still required and should be completed by May 1, 2020.

If you need clarity on what can be submitted for XP, please refer to the TIMS padlet for ideas and to add your own suggestions for others. HAPPY XP'ing!!!!

This school year, we awarded 30 Vanguard members with a top of the line Lenovo laptop to replace their standard issue teacher laptop. I know some of you have seen these laptops with the Vanguard logo on them. Maybe you even felt a twinge of envy, wishing you had one too. The Vanguard laptop is a high-end laptop with a fast processor, touchscreen, built in stylus, long battery life, and a 360-degree hinge. It represents a considerable upgrade to the standard teacher laptop. As Vanguard members, we want to ensure that you have the best tools to support the work you are doing. We want the perks you get to be valuable and enticing. Based on feedback; we are going to begin transitioning toward replacing Vanguard iPads with a high-end Vanguard laptop like the Lenovo X1 Yoga! You will stand out in a crowd with this specially branded Vanguard laptop!

This transition will happen in phases over several years as current iPads are due to be refreshed. Here are the details of the plan:

1. 2019-2020 Vanguard new members will be the last new member class to receive a Vanguard iPad with data plan.

2. Beginning in 2020-2021, new members will be awarded a Vanguard laptop to replace their standard issue teacher laptop when they complete their new member requirements.

3. As iPads are due to be replaced (beginning Fall 2020), members will receive a Vanguard laptop instead of a new iPad. (Note: members must be in good standing in order to receive a new device.)

Members who currently have an iPad will be able to continue using them while employed by Fulton County Schools. However, the data plan will be discontinued when the device is replaced by a laptop. The iPad will be transferred to the school’s inventory, and the iPad will no longer be supported.

Vanleads, do you see any vanguard members at your school doing something awesome? Were they struggling with a tool before and are now using it? BRAG on our Vanguard members. If you see something awesome, please submit about your team member.

Please share your success stories with us! You may see your "Spotlight" in an upcoming Vanweekly!

Share Your Success!

To ignite creativity in our students, Fulton County Schools is hosting our second annual student design competition in collaboration with Bridge Innovate’s Bright Spark program, and we need volunteers to help! This year, we have sixteen teams of students in grades 4-12 from twelve schools across Fulton County registered for the 2nd Annual Bright Spark Design Competition. These teams have been tasked with developing a prototype that addresses one of three design challenges:

• How might we re-imagine the student game-day experience?
• How might we eliminate food insecurity for the children of Atlanta?
• How might we develop an innovative paper food packaging that reduces food waste?

We need industry professionals, community leaders, educators and more to serve as prototype reviewers to provide valuable feedback to the participating teams. We will also need additional volunteers to serve as room captains and help ensure the day runs smoothly.

The Fulton County Bright Spark prototype review is scheduled for February 1, 2020 from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Riverwood High School (5900 Raider Drive, Sandy Springs, GA 30328). If you are interested in volunteering, please complete this form to let us know that you plan to participate. Once you’ve completed the form, you will receive a confirmation email. Certainly feel free to forward this opportunity to others who may have an interest in helping. If you have any questions, please contact Heather Van Looy at Vanlooy@fultonschools.org or 470-254-6899.

The Teaching Museum is looking for a teacher to design and judge a technology design challenge for Night @ The Teaching Museum. The event will take place on Saturday, March 7th from 4 to 8 pm at Teaching Museum North (Roswell). The event is an competition for middle school academic bowl teams to compete in academic, creative and fun challenges. We would love to include a “TECH Challenge” to this year’s event.

The activity should last 20 minutes and be designed for a team of 10 students. The activity will be offered repeatedly during the event, with two teams competing at one time (2 teams per “round”). There will likely be 16 – 18 teams competing (we are still receiving RSVPs from schools). A standard FCS computer lab will be made accessible for the activity. The Teaching Museum will try to provide any additional materials needed for the activity. The teacher will receive $224 in additional pay to cover the time needed to create/plan and then judge on the afternoon of the event – plus, free pizza and a t-shirt!

Interested? Please send a 1-2 paragraph description of the activity/challenge and a judging rubric to Amanda Smith (smitha17@fultonschools.org) by Feb. 1st.

If you have any questions, please contact Amanda Smith (smitha17@fultonschools.org).

Don't forget our meeting is February 6th at 7:00 pm! "See" you then!