High School Literacy
ELA and Reading for the Week of April 27th 2020
Featured in this month's newsletter
- We Appreciate You
- Quote of the Week
- ELA Honors Courses- optional assignment
- Reading: Achieve3000 Post LevelSet Information
- Reading: Tips and Resources
- Tampa Bay Times for Teachers-NIE
- DBQ Resource
- Certification Exam Fees Waived
- ELA Planning forward with HMH using Notice and Note
- Together We Learn- All Call for Proposals
- TEDx -Update- #PascoCountySpeaks
- Mental Health Requirement- Update
- Current Pasco Literacy Job Openings
- What We're Reading and Watching
- Learning Forward Supports during Distance Learning
- SEL Activities for April
- Office Hours
If you have information or a highlight you'd like me to share in an upcoming newsletter (or you're interested in being a guest columnist!), don't hesitate to reach out via email.
We Appreciate You
Quote of the Week
“Trust me on this: There’s a good chance that, years from now, you will feel a bit sentimental for these weeks spent in social isolation. We’re built for challenging times. We are writing the stories we will tell our children and grandchildren. Driving down a suburban street waving to elementary school children may not have the historical gravity of landing on Omaha Beach or working on a wartime assembly line. But when the children of the pandemic are old and gray, they will reminisce about the time their teachers paraded past their house because all the schools were closed. It will be a warm memory, even though so many people got sick, lost their jobs, and were afraid. They don’t have the vocabulary today to describe it, but the lessons will stick and become clearer in the retelling. It’s about social cohesion, love and loyalty, and how good people step up when we need them to.”
Robert Pondiscio in “The Lessons That Last in the Time of Pandemic” in Education
Gadfly, April 8, 2020, https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/lessons-last-time-pandemic.ELA Honors Courses- Optional Assignment- Communication sent to Administrators
These assignments should not be graded and should not be required. To see the optional assignment for Honors English students, click here.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Reading: Achieve3000 Post LevelSet
All MS and HS students will be taking the post- levelset
HS window will officially open on May 4th
MS window will open on May 18th
Students can complete this anytime between the window opening and the end of the year.
Please stress the importance of this post levelset in that it is a great measure of all of the hard work they’ve accomplished this year.
The levelset post-test should be done without assistance from others, as it is meant to measure a student’s true performance (please use the linked Parent Letter below to help support this process).
Reading: Achieve3000 Tips and Resources
Tampa Bay Times Access for Students and Teachers
We have heard from a few schools regarding access to Tampa Bay Times for their teachers/students so I wanted to be sure to share the following information.
If you are interested in receiving printed copies of the Tampa Bay Times, you can contact Sue Bedry at sbedry@tampabay.com or 727-893-8969.
Teachers can also register for the digital edition. To order, the e-Editions of your local newspapers they need to complete the order form @ https://nieonline.com/tbtimes/order.cfm.
A few additional resources:
DBQ's are here for all until July 1st!
We have access to DBQ online until July 1st. You might have seen the DBQ icon pop up on your myPascoConnect dashboard. You can feel free to peruse the resources by logging in as you normally do to Microsoft365. This is an optional resource that we wanted to make available. Feel free to use it as you plan enrichment activities or begin planning forward.
Getting Started Resources
Student Instructions for DBQ Online
Webinars
We are currently doing daily webinars. Here is a link to sign up. Below are the instructions for how you and your students will log into DBQ Online. You will be using your district's Classlink/Launchpad portal to login.
Now you're ready to set up classes and create assignments. Click the link to watch a 5-minute video to learn how to get started with DBQ Online. Watch our Getting Started Video!
We are currently doing daily webinars. Here is a link to sign up.
Reading Endorsement and Certification
If you are currently pursuing your Reading Endorsement through the district pathway, please note that summer courses will be released the first week in May.
The state has waived all fees for certification exams through July 31st, which includes the K-12 Reading Subject Area Exam (035). Here is the link:http://www.fl.nesinc.com/testPage.asp?test=035. You can register now and receive a voucher during the appointment scheduling stage of the registration process to take the test once test centers are reopened.
ELA Planning Forward with HMH using Notice and Note
Together We Learn: Call for Proposals
Are you doing awesome things in your school or classroom?
Do you have innovative ideas to share with colleagues?
Pasco County Schools would like to take this opportunity to invite you to share your expertise with educators from around the county by presenting at our summer learning events
happening this July.
Our call for proposals is open to all staff who would like to host sessions to be held during Together We Learn which will take place from July 27th – July 29th with a target audience of teachers, coaches, school support staff, SRP, and school leaders.
Submit your proposal to present a session and join your colleagues in exploring best practices
happening right here in Pasco County!
Proposal deadline is May 8, 2020
Click here for more information and to submit your proposal.
Update: TEDx Pasco County Schools
TEDxPascoCountySchools Update:
As you know, our sixth annual TEDx Pasco County Schools Event was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 2, 2020 at the Center for the Arts at River Ridge. Since Governor DeSantis has issued a statewide safer at home order and schools are currently scheduled to remain closed through May 1st, we have made the decision to cancel our local event. Our first priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students and their families. As a result, we canceled our TEDx license for this year, so we will need to notify students that were selected to represent their school in this showcase of speeches. Due to TEDx rules and regulations, we are prohibited to use the TEDx or TEDxPascoCountySchools logo in any publication of student speeches on any online platform (including social media platforms).
We will communicate additional strategies and ways for our students to have their voices heard through a new forum, using #PascoStudentsSpeak and will keep the topic, “A Change You Want to See in the World,” so students that have already prepared can participate. Please be on the lookout for additional information next week.
Mental Health Instruction Requirement
What We're Reading and Watching
Doug Fisher Introduces, "30 Days To Improve Instruction"
Check out this video on engaging students in Reciprocal Questioning in the classroom
Learning Forward Supports During Distance Learning
Learning Forward has tons resources we have available to support you through these uncertain times.
Webinars: Each week, we’re offering a free webinar focused on specific aspects of schooling in the time of COVID-19, from SEL for educators and students, to teaching online, to leading in uncertain times.
Community: The chat box feature in our webinars show that what educators crave most right now is connection to other educators. Please join today to share your questions and wisdom.
Blog posts: Like the webinar series, the blog posts explore specific aspects of virtual collaboration, digital teaching, and coaching from afar.
Gradebook Tips Sheet
Included here Gradebook Pro Tips.pdf are some helpful tips to assist you in as you grade and respond to student learning.
Academic Integrity
Regrettably, some students will make a poor decision to submit work that does not reflect their original thoughts and understanding of the course content. Plagiarism and cheating may take several forms, and teachers can use measures (including Unicheck, a plagiarism detection software) to identify work that has been published or submitted before. Subsequent violations will adhere to the Pasco County Schools Student Code of Conduct. Please consult your administration.
Focus for the Week: Compassion, Grace and Flexibility
As we move in to week three of Distance Learning there are so many lessons we have all learned through this experience. Most importantly, we have learned that the human connection is more important than ever and that each of us faces different circumstances and situations during this time. While it is incredibly important that our students continue to pursue high levels of learning at all times, we also realize and recognize that working with students in this manner is very different and takes a lot of adjustment and getting used to. We trust you to make decisions that work best for you and your students. We trust students and families to prioritize learning time, subjects and assignments based on what is manageable and feasible. Included in this week's newsletter you will see additional information on what Compassion, Grace and Flexibility mean in Pasco County Schools during this time. Please reach out if you need assistance, we are here for you!
SEL Activities for April
SEL/Compassionate Schools
As we continue to focus on how to maintain relationships even during distance learning, we encourage you to take the opportunity to ask your students for some feedback on how things are going. Allow them to share what is going well for them, and what is one thing they might need to change or readjust to help them feel successful. By including them in the feedback process, you are communicating to them that their opinions and feelings matter!
Contact Us
Cassie Hernandez
Literacy 6-8
Email: crhernan@pasco.k12.fl.us
Twitter: @herncas22
Tressa Lima
Literacy 9-12
Email: tlima@pasco.k12.fl.us
Twitter: @TressaLima