C&I August Newsletter by Garland ISD

Curriculum & Instruction “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow. ~John Dewey What’s new from the Curriculum & Instruction Department?

August 2014

A Note From Dr. Jovan Wells Associate Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment As we prepare to embark upon a new school year, I would like to extend a heartfelt 'Welcome' to all of our teachers and administrators. I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable summer with friends and loved ones. You certainly deserve the break with all of the dedication, diligence, and hard work you provide throughout the school year. Teaching is the most important profession, and we understand the sacrifices you make for the students in GISD. Special Thanks  Special thanks to our Curriculum Writers! During the summer, many of our teachers worked diligently alongside curriculum coordinators to enhance current curriculum documents.  Special thanks to all teachers submitting curriculum feedback during the past year. Curriculum coordinators will respond to curriculum feedback via email no later than 9/2/2014. Reminder: Please continue to provide your feedback related to the Garland ISD Curriculum. Your experiences working with the curriculum on a daily basis are very important, and you are a vital member of the instructional team. Your feedback is requested to help ensure that quality curricular materials are provided to all students throughout the district. Curriculum Feedback Link: https://docs.google.com/a/garlandisd.net/forms/d/1ljndTU3_Lt8eglAuMI3YMbcDe6qj2IWq8Shmd7lt49c/viewform We all have a very important role to play in the success of our students. I look forward to working closely with you throughout the 2014 2015 school year to ensure that this is an exciting, fulfilling, and rewarding year for all of our students. I thank you for your continued dedication and service to Garland ISD. Best Wishes for a Great School Year,

Never Fear Training Will be Here! #GISDSchoolnet

Unit Assessment Previews Open-ended assessment items will be made available, in the online curriculum planner, at the beginning of every unit. Unit Assessments District-wide common unit assessments will be available online, in the online curriculum planner, one week prior to the end of the unit as detailed in the year-at-a-glance pacing calendars. Semester Assessments Two cumulative Semester Assessments will be conducted during the 2014-15 school year Results Student performance on Common Unit Assessments will be reported through our new online content management system, Schoolnet. The content management system will contain variations of commonly accessed reports in previous data systems (i.e., Edugence), including summaries of performance, disaggregation by various student groups, and item/student expectation performance analysis.

STAAR…did you know?  

STAAR Modified is no longer an assessment. STAAR Accommodated is a new online assessment for Special Education students starting in Spring 2015. It has a similar format to STAAR L with built in online accommodations. Tutorials and eligibility criteria/ARD Resources will be made available this Fall. 1

GISD Resources

There’s an

New Resources for all GISD schools:  Image Quest from Britannica - images to use for all types of projects http://quest.eb.com/ Login: garlandisd PW: gisd  Student Resources in Context - from Gale here's the link: http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/j057909_elem?db=SUIC

For that… What’s new from the Bilingual Education/ESL Department? Exciting program changes for middle school ESL students!  Newcomer Program students will now be attending Sellers, Jackson or Bussey Middle School.  The AVID Excel program, AVID designed for ELLs, is debuting at O’Banion and Houston.

“…enable an augmented world, where every image, object and place has its own Aura!” “Magisto Video Editor & Maker automatically turns your video clips and photos into awesome edited movies, complete with your choice of music, cool graphics, and effects, in just a few magical minutes! Best of all it is free to download.”

Magisto

Lead Your School www.leadyourschool.com

Critical Warm-ups: Share/write down the strategy you would use to ____. Share/write down your prediction of what would happen if ___. Share/write down a better way to ___.

Question Stems and Writing Prompts: How would you describe… Outline the key elements of… How would you use… How would you modify… What would result if… Develop a plan to… Why do you agree or disagree with… How effective is… Justify why you selected… What is you opinion of… 2

Math 9-12

Social Studies 6-12

Languages Other than English

CTE

ELAR 6-12

Fine Arts Math 6-8 Health & PE Tech Apps 6-12

Library Science 6-12

Math K-5

Science

Cybersafety

PreK-5

K-12

ELAR 3-5 ELAR PreK-2

The KEY to successful teaching & learning…

If you have not already done so please scan or click on the QR Code to provide feedback related to your back to school professional development experiences.

Secondary Math:  We have new curriculum and resources for middle school math.  This year’s VPLCs will focus on unit assessments and how to implement instruction to support learning at an appropriate level.  We need curriculum writers for high school math courses. Applications will be coming soon!

Secondary ELAR:

 Congratulations to Tammi Stewart, AP teacher at Naaman Forest, who is our new NMSI Lead Teacher! She will be working with all of our Honors, PreAP, and AP educators throughout the 2014-2015 school year.  Mark your calendars! On November 11, Secondary ELAR will host Sharon Runge as she presents a professional development opportunity for Analytical and Persuasive Writing. This session will be for English II, III, and IV teachers, including PreAP and AP.  Remember to follow the posted Year-at-a-Glance documents; your Unit 1 Assessments will be aligned to those standards.

Elementary Math: 

New K-5 Math Curriculum is on its way. Units 1 and 2 are now available on the online curriculum.



Make sure you have an enVisionMATH 2.0 online account. Directions are available in the Information and Resource Materials folder on the online curriculum.



Intermediate ELAR:

The 2014 STAAR Math Tests have been released and can be found on the TEA website.

Elementary Science:

https://garlandisd.discoveryeducation.com/ *Desktop icons will be reconfigured to open in Chrome Teacher and Instructional Leader Login Information: Username: short email Password: computer login password Student Login Information (Ready Monday, August 25): Username: S+ Id Number Password: 6-digit network number New instructional materials linked in the online curriculum:  Year at a Glance Calendar Pacing Guide  Prekindergarten-6th grade Vertical Alignment  Scope and Sequence  New Unit 1 Grades 1st -5th  All new Kindergarten curriculum  Enrichment Think Tank materials  New Prekindergarten STEM kits

Secondary Science:  Congratulations to Denise Shupe, AP and PreAP Biology teacher at Sachse High School, who is the new NMSI AP Lead Teacher for Science.  Pacing Calendar, Scope and Sequence, and Assessment overviews can be found on the Online Curriculum Planner.  Curriculum writing has started for 6th and 7th grade science. It will begin for many other courses this year. Applications for high school curriculum writers will be coming soon. We need you!

The district’s first STEAMposium Conference will take place May 16, 2015! Collaborative groups of preK-12 grade students will participate in campus engineering design and/or a Maker Creator innovation challenges. Each campus can send two winners from each grade band on for district evaluation for each competition category. A district committee will invite STEAMletes to present their work at the STEAMPosium conference in May.

After school training opportunities Elementary: STEAM Challenge Training 9/2/14 Elementary: STEAM Challenge Training 9/3/14 (4:00-6:00 at the Professional Development Center)

Secondary: STEAM Challenge Training 9/9/14

(3:00-4:00 High School and 4:00-5:00 Middle School at the PDC)

Secondary Languages Other Then English (LOTE)  The ACTFL National Conference will be held in San Antonio-November 21-23, 2014  Language Lab Training for New Teachers coming soon! Social Studies

Please welcome Fang Wang to the Curriculum and Instruction Department! Mandarin Chinese Curriculum writing has begun.

 Caleb Tolleson is the new social studies coordinator (K-12). I look forward to meeting you all and getting to know you better. I appreciate the opportunity to lead the social studies department and am excited to serve you. Please let me know if there is any questions or concerns you have. 972-487-3142, cftolles@garlandisd.net  Curriculum writers for 6th Grade World Cultures and 8th Grade US History met this summer and helped develop and create important curriculum work. The finished work is now available through the Curriculum Planner.  Curriculum revisions/rewrites for other courses will be ongoing throughout 2014-2015.  During the 2014-2015 school year, teacher committees for most social studies courses will review instructional resources approved by the state. Those new resources are expected to be in classrooms in August 2015.

From the Desk of Nelson Orta Director or Professional Development The new Professional Development department was created for the purpose of designing and implementing innovative professional development opportunities geared toward supporting the needs of faculty, support staff, and leadership in Garland ISD. The department was also conceived for the purpose of creating decentralized learning capacity throughout the district based on the Strategic Plan goal number 5 and its action plan: becoming a Learning Organization. We strive to provide quality, research-based learning opportunities with renowned speakers and excellent facilitators, while organizing and managing all district professional development offerings through systematic protocols. Professional Development Specialists: Melissa Hill, Mary Huschle, Sherri Skelton, and Gale Tucker Content Specialists: ELAR: Specialists: Diane Loyd, Kristina Reyna, Kristi Schonefeld, Jimmy Sellars, Kyndra Tyler, Lynette Varrassi Science: John Ballinger, Jennifer Fowler, Sharon Hogue, Cara Nanez, Ashley Shine, Adam Varrassi, Tosha Thomas-Carter, Vashunda Warren Math: Duke Barnett, Melinda Crook, John Fishpaw, Jaime Luellen, Kevin Massey, Darcie Midkiff, Kim Webb Social Studies: Eric Haggard, Jenny Thomason, Rich Vickery

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Who! For questions related to content and instructional materials, please reach out to the appropriate curriculum coordinator. Myra Crump

Traci Vickery

Intermediate ELAR Coordinator

Elementary Math Coordinator

(Grades 3-5)

(Grades PreK-5)

TLVicker@garlandisd.net

Tina Garrett Elementary Science Coordinator (Grades PreK-5)

kpgarret@garlandisd.net

MECrump@garlandisd.net

Doris Montayne

Lori Elliott

Caleb Tolleson

Primary ELAR Coordinator

Secondary ELAR Coordinator

Social Studies Coordinator

(Grades 6-12)

(Grades K-12)

LAElliot@garlandisd.net

CFTolles@garlandisd.net

(Grades PreK- 2)

DMontayn@garlandisd.net

Laurel Dingrando

Standra Johnson

Secondary Science Coordinator (Grades 6-12)

Languages Other Than English Coordinator

LDingran@garlandisd.net

SNJohnso@garlandisd.net

Sandi Whitley Secondary Math Coordinator (Grades 6-12)

TLVicker@garlandisd.net

Teena Garvin Library/Media Services Coordinator TLGarvin@garlandisd.net

Louise Gartrell Health/PE Coordinator

(Grades PreK-12) LAGartre@garlandisd.net

Dr. Jasna Aliefendic Technology Integration Coordinator

(Grades PreK-12) JAliefen@garlandisd.net

1st Ever GISD iCon –modeled after EdCamp style unconference (July 24, 2014) Designed by teachers for teachers 22 Teacher-led sessions, a reflection room, student panel, a Twitter lounge More than 150 GISD teachers and administrators attended Excitement documented at #gisdicon