community supportWe had a number of community activities that took place this weekend in support of our students and schools. Thank you to all the teachers, administrators, staff who participated in these and thank you to our supportive Mendon-Upton Community! We Care Miscoe was in full swing with the landscaping day at Miscoe and our music boosters had a great fundraiser to support the music program. We are so fortunate to have such a caring and supportive community! October 11 PD DayThank you to everyone for submitting your proposals by the deadline of last Friday, October 4th. We have a diverse line-up of offerings. Here is a link to information on the October 11 PD day. Now that the proposals have been entered into Teachpoint, you can go into the Teachpoint PD Tracker to enroll in the sessions you will be participating in. VERY IMPORTANT--Enroll. You must enroll for the sessions prior to the October 11th date. It will not let you enroll in the sessions once the date/time of the session is reached. For now, you need to enroll into the Teachpoint sessions, found under the Available Events tab. Then it will show up in your My Activities tab. For some of the closed sessions we have already enrolled the names that were submitted so it should then show up in your My Activities tab. Sign-In. On October 11th, you go back into Teachpoint to sign-in and can only sign in during the hours of the session. We will forward sign-in instructions again at the end of the week to assist you with this process. Logistics We will be providing breakfast items and coffee/tea at each of the building locations. Lunch will be on your own. At the conclusion of the day you will complete a feedback form that provides an overview of your learning outcomes for the sessions/work you participated in. CurriculumMaking the Most of Wonders The following is an opportunity for our K-4 educators to join a DESE-sponsored network to discuss the implementation of Reading Wonders. Click here for REGISTRATION Audience: Teams of teachers and literacy coaches, with at least one building or district administrator, using Wonders by McGraw Hill as part of their Literacy program Location and dates: All participants: Kickoff and Closing sessions Central, MA: Holiday Inn Marlborough Dates: 10/15, 10/16 and 5/27 Time: 9:00am to 2:30pm Questions: Susan Kazeroid, [email protected] The Making the Most of Wonders Network will support educators in schools and districts who are currently implementing Wonders by McGraw-Hill as part of their curriculum. Participants will:
Curriculum Review Last year we launched our curriculum review cycle of a review of social studies and a review of our wellness programming. The self-study reports will be presented to the School Committee this fall. Our next curriculum review to be launched this upcoming month is ELA as well as specialized reading support. The first ELA/Reading curriculum day is scheduled for Monday, November 4th. We have some volunteers so far who expressed interest at the end of last year. We are seeking ELA representatives from across all grade levels to participate. Please discuss with your ELA curriculum leaders and principals to determine who will be participating on the review team this year. PD OpportunitiesSocial Studies Seminar Series We are pleased to partner with the Mass Council for Social Studies and Center for Civic Education to offer professional development for K-12 teachers. This seminar series is designed to provide professional development on topics, methods and resources for teaching social studies in the K-12 classroom. Each seminar will focus on a specific theme: Global Issues, History/Civics and Research and Literacy Skills. Three workshops will be presented each evening with participants choosing two of the three offerings. Dates: Tuesdays - October 15, October 29 and November 12, 2019 Time: Each session will run from 4:00 - 7:45 PM Location: Bridgewater State University, Science and Mathematics Center Fee: $100 per participant for all three seminars. Refreshments and dinner will be provide Additional information can be found on our website https://microsites.bridgew.edu/earthview/earthview-institute PBL It’s not too late to register for our 10th annual Project-Based Learning Conference! PBL10 will be held at centrally-located Regis College in Weston, MA, on Friday, October 25th. Our one-day, low-cost conference is designed to make it easy for teachers and administrators to immerse themselves in best PBL practices. This year promises to be extra special as we have Rob Riordan, co-founder of High Tech High and retired head of its Grad School of Education, sharing his wisdom about PBL and his school, which is perhaps the most iconic high school in the USA. We’ll wrap up with time for Rob to guide participants in crafting P-BL concepts for their own classrooms. And, as always, the stars of the show, students from Massachusetts elementary, middle, and high schools, will impress and delight you as they share their projects, and engage with you in Q+A. Here is a link to the Registration Information Inspired Learning Digital Conversations. Our monthly author conversations have returned with a new look and a new platform (Skype). Our first interview was held last week with Mike Caulfied (sorry about the echo!). We discussed supporting students as they build their information and media literacy skills. We also discussed his free e-book Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers and his open modular course, Check, Please, which teaches students how to evaluate the credibility of online texts. If you're interested in implementing it with your students, I'm happy to run PD on using the course in your classes. We have two interviews coming up in the next few months. The dates, times and descriptions of the books are provided below. Please email me if you are interested in participating and we can provide you with a copy of the book. Space is limited. If there is an author you'd like us to try to have on the series, we will be more than happy to reach out to schedule an interview. 10/28 @ 4:00 PM | From Curiosity to Deep Learning: Personal Digital Inquiry in Grades K-5 with Julie Coiro From Curiosity to Deep Learning: Personal Digital Inquiry in Grades K–5 reveals the powerful learning that results when you integrate purposeful technology into a classroom culture that values curiosity and deep learning. The centerpiece of this practical guide is Personal Digital Inquiry (PDI), a framework developed by Julie Coiro and implemented in classrooms by her co-authors, Elizabeth Dobler and Karen Pelekis. Clear, detailed examples offer ideas for K-5 teachers and school librarians to support their teaching. 11/5 @ 4:00 PM | Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities by John Warner A book written by the editor of McSwwney's online magazine, John Warner provides useful strategies for improving student writing and supporting them in their craft. An extended description can be found here. ResourcesArticles/Blogs from Twitter Self-Care Practice: Create a Visualization Practice "Visualization techniques have been used by high achievers for ages. They can help you create your dream life by accomplishing one task or goal at a time with a laser focus and confidence. When you create a future board, journal, or develop a "me in five years" plan, you will build internal motivation, fire up the law of attraction, and reprogram your brain so you are ready to recognize the resources and opportunities needed to achieve your goals. Visualization allows you to change your beliefs and assumptions about yourself" (p. 45, Fear is My Homeboy, by Judi Holler). Inspiration "The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be."--Reid Hoffman Upcoming district Meetings/events
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |