Anti-racism resources
"Mom, I heard that there were major protests in many cities and Minneapolis is on fire. What's going on?" This is what one of my boys asked me this weekend and I did my best to explain the complexity of racism in American history, inequities, systemic discrimination, protests, and privilege. Despite my own background in teaching and studying history and politics, this was not an easy task to undertake. While there are a number of resources and blogs currently being shared through social media, I wanted to provide all of you with some resources that are geared for educators regarding these topics.
MURSD Highlights
Check out these great videos from Clough Elementary School!
We also celebrated our Nipmuc Seniors during their Senior parade.
Grants
CLC Grant
The extended grant deadline of June 30th is fast approaching! If you haven't already done so please submit your proposal via e-mail to me directly to [email protected]. If you know of anyone who wants to submit a proposal or you think may be interested in submitting one, please forward this information to them. CLC Grant PD CourseFollow-Up from Staff Town Hall
In case you missed Dr. Maruszczak's e-mail:
I'm writing to follow-up on a few things from yesterday's Town Hall. First, if you missed the Zoom session, here is a recording of it. Second, I noted that I would be presenting the details about the budget reductions and the effects and Monday evening's SC meeting. If you are interested in seeing it and participating, here is the link where will it will be live streamed (our district's YouTube page) Monday night at 7:00 pm. Third, as I noted yesterday.... there are two factors which are leading to this serious degree of budget uncertainty. The first is the issue of the Mendon Proposition 2 1/2 vote which will occur on Tuesday, June 9. If you live in Mendon... or you know someone who lives in Mendon... please impress upon them how critical a successful outcome of this vote is for our district. The second factor is the uncertainty surrounding the state's FY2021 budget, which will start to be redrafted in the month of June. I think it would be helpful if you could reach out to your state rep and senator to let them know how critical it is to maintain the commitment to PK-12 public education in Massachusetts. Below is an email that you may copy and paste and send to your state representative and state senator. (Here are lists of all representatives and all senators with their email addresses.). The legislators that serve Mendon and Upton are the following: Mendon Representative Brian Murray [email protected] Senator Ryan Fattman [email protected] Upton Representative David Muradian [email protected] Senator Michael Moore [email protected] I have always found all four to be very receptive and supportive of public education. Reaching out to a local legislator REALLY does make a difference, and they do understand that your sentiments do represent a portion of their constituency. #PositiveSignThursday
To keep our positivity going to finish off this year, join in on the online movement of #PositiveSignThursday. If you'd like to join this week, print out the June 4 sign page and take a picture of yourself and share it out via social media. #MURSDThrives
Here is a link to the ongoing Positive Thursday Signs.
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Happy Memorial DayOur district highlights for the week honor the men and women who have lost their lives in service of our country. Please check out both tributes created by our MURSD students.
ParaProfessional/ABA Tech Online PDOur district has an account for online professional development with The Master Teacher four our paraprofessionals and ABA Techs. We have a district site license so all faculty and staff have the opportunity to take any of the courses as well. Everyone received an invitation email from them on April 7, 2020 from [email protected]. If you put that e-mail in your search bar in your e-mail you will find the invitation. There are 120+ one hour courses available from the library to choose from. Please use the following directions to to log-in and to get up and running in the system. Here is an overview of the modules. Update: For those of you who are unable to find the e-mail, you can send an e-mail to : [email protected] , give them your name and your district ans ask them to resend the link to you. Mentor Applications 2020-2021
Paraprofessionals/ABA Techs: We also will be offering mentoring for the first time (pending funding) for first year paraprofessionals/ABA Techs next year. We will be sharing out an application and more details about this new program within the next few weeks. Stay tuned! Informational UpdatesThe following are a few of frequently asked questions that have come up the past week. When can I go back into my classroom to retrieve items?
When is the last day of school?
Can I start early on the district's mandated training?
Do I need to fill out a mentor application if I filled one out this year?
Can I make changes to the curriculum charts of pre-requisite standards, for example, adding standards?
What will re-entry look like in the Fall?
ResourcesProfessional DevelopmentApple 1:1 Coaching. Apple is offering virtual one-on-one coaching sessions for educators for free. The virtual one-on-one coaching session, with an Apple Professional Learning specialist, is for 30 minutes and is designed to help educators hone their approach to online student learning and workflows. If you, or a fellow educator, can benefit, please send an email to [email protected] to request a virtual coaching session. PBL 101-Free Virtual Training We have three free spots to participate in PBL 101 Virtual Training or (PBL 201 for those who attended 101 already) with PBL Works with generous support by the One8Foundation. This is part of a "PBL World" event on June 16-18. With the timing being during the last week of school, it is not great timing, but I wanted to share it out in case it works for someone. Please let Maureen Cohen know right away if you are interested. Details about the conference can be found here: https://www.pblworks.org/services/events #PositiveSignThursday
Upcoming Events
Paraprofessional/ABA Tech Online PD
Our district has an account for online professional development with The Master Teacher four our paraprofessionals and ABA Techs. We have a district site license so all faculty and staff have the opportunity to take any of the courses as well.
Everyone received an invitation email from them on April 7, 2020 from [email protected]. If you put that e-mail in your search bar in your e-mail you will find the invitation. There are 120+ one hour courses available from the library to choose from. Please use the following directions to to log-in and to get up and running in the system. Here is an overview of the modules. MURSD Staff Town Hall
Below is a link to the Town Hall that Dr. Maruszczak provided to staff last Friday with information on the budget and re-entry.
MURSD Highlights
Nipmuc Graduate Together
Professional Development
MURSD Technology PD This Week
Monday, 5/18 @ 2:30 -- Apple PD: Audio Recording, Audio Feedback & Podcasts. Join Dave Quinn and Sue Burch from Apple as we explore audio tools for note-taking, providing feedback, and helping students to share their creative capabilities. Tuesday, 519 @ 1:00 Google Jam Board: Looking for a way to make lessons more interactive? Want to see what students think as they approach a problem? Looking for a way for students to collaborate beyond Google Docs? Come to this session where we will explore Google's Jam Board, an interactive shared whiteboard tool for collaborative problem-solving. Wednesday 5/20: @ 1:00 Apple PD Encore Session. A follow-up session to Monday's PD with Sue Burch. Dave will cover the audio tools from Monday's session, along with some of the annotation tools from prior Apple PD sessions. This session will be recorded for later use. Friday 5/22: @ 10:00 AM Fred Rogers Friday: "You'll have things you'll want to talk about I will, too." We'll close out the week with an "office hours" type session where colleagues can reflect on the week, pose questions, and discuss topics relevant to recent challenges and successes with remote learning. This is also the opportunity to provide input for PD during the week of 5/26. Individual, group, or team sessions are also available upon request. Add the PD Calendar to your Google Calendar. Below is a condensed version of the PD Calendar. Click on the + button to add this calendar to yours and you won't have to go looking for when the PD offerings are happening anymore, because the links and registration will be right in your calendar to access. If you don't see the plus sign in the far right, then scroll over to the right at the bottom of the calendar and then it will appear. Click on that and add that link to your own Google Calendar. To see a larger version of the calendar on the web, you can also access this using the following link. Resources#PositivesignThursday
To keep our positivity going in our remote learning, let's join the online movement of #PositiveSignThursday. If you'd like to join this week, print out the May 21 sign page and take a picture of yourself and share it out via social media. #MURSDThrives
Here is a link to the ongoing Positive Thursday Signs. Happy Mother's Day
For those of you celebrating, I hope you had a nice Mother's Day today. I was able to see my mom from afar today for the first time in two months, and my boys enjoyed putting a smile on her face and our dog was happy to see Gramma. Hope you had some smiles as well today!
MURSD Highlights
Our Nipmuc Faculty and Staff put smiles on the Senior faces with their deliveries of signs this past Friday. Here are a few snapshots.
Our Nipmuc Choir was also highlighted in the Boston Globe! Outstanding! Check out the article by clicking this link: Globe Article Professional Development
With the shift to remote learning, many online PD opportunities have opened up, it is sometimes difficult to keep all of the offerings straight. Therefore, I've created a PD Calendar that you can subscribe to and you will get access to various PD offerings taking place both in district but also externally. As I receive offerings that are coming up, I will add them to the PD Google Calendar. This PD Calendar pulls from other districts as well and has a mixture of offerings such as how to teach in remote learning, self-care topics, technology trainings, etc. If you have an offering you have found and think should be added to this calendar, please e-mail Maureen to be added.
Add the PD Calendar to your Google Calendar. Below is a condensed version of the PD Calendar. Click on the + button to add this calendar to yours and you won't have to go looking for when the PD offerings are happening anymore, because the links and registration will be right in your calendar to access. If you don't see the plus sign in the far right, then scroll over to the right at the bottom of the calendar and then it will appear. Click on that and add that link to your own Google Calendar. To see a larger version of the calendar on the web, you can also access this using the following link. Resources#PositiveSignThursday
To keep our positivity going in our remote learning, let's join the online movement of #PositiveSignThursday. If you'd like to join this week, print out the May 14 sign page and take a picture of yourself and share it out via social media.
Here is a link to the ongoing Positive Thursday Signs. |