Learning Walks - authentic Professional Learning
Educators learn so much from watching others teach and support students, so we make Learning Walks a regular part of the professional learning we provide to educators in their second and third years in our district. We do this in collaboration with Ashland and Milford, which enables educators to not only visit classrooms within our district but to see what educators in other districts are doing. We are hosting Learning Walks this Tuesday, so you may see visitors in your schools this week. We wouldn't be able to do Learning walks without your ongoing willingness to open your classrooms as laboratories for the learning of others. So we are shouting THANK YOU!!! on behalf of so many folks who have and continue to benefit.
Time and again, we hear educators tell us that they saw something that they will bring back "tomorrow" and feel that the time they had to visit classrooms and discuss what they saw with others is some of the most valuable professional learning they have experienced. As a result, we continue to expand opportunities for other educators to participate in Learning Walks in the past several years. for example, music and physical education teachers have visited colleagues in neighboring district, elementary teachers have traveled to view literacy instruction. And, we are working on developing ways to make Learning Walks a more common part of all professional learning, so that we can see how others are implementing the the strategies we learn during PD, and that we have incorporated into our professional learning goals. Later this year, we'll be organizing Learning Walks in district to focus on co-teaching, and to refine our understanding and support of deeper/authentic learning experiences and inclusive practices. Stay tuned for more information, and connect with the Instructional Partners in your school if you are interested or have questions. Cybersecurity Awareness MONTH
This month is cybersecurity awareness month and through these weekly updates I have been providing some tips and tricks to protect yourself against cyberattacks. We also are part of the state program to train all of our staff through simulations to become more knowledgeable and prepared to avoid cyberattacks. Just this past week members of our school community were impacted by a phishing email attack which was multi-layered.
Beyond recognizing phishing attacks and having highly secure passwords, another definite way to protect your information and student information is through 2-factor authentication with Google. It is really easy to set it up and to turn it on to provide an extra layer of protection. The majority of us have our phones nearby so having the 2-factor authentication with your cell makes it easy. Also, once you set it up on a device like your laptop you are not asked for it over and over again. It generally only asks for it with any use on a new advice, which is where it protects you, as if someone was trying to hack into your accounts, they'd be doing it from another device. I just set mine up through google and it was really easy to set-up. Here are the directions for securing your account. student privacy-google update
We were just recently informed that Google is being required to tighten up its privacy policies and as a result it has asked schools to confirm any app using google sign in to follow all privacy guidelines by 10/23. We have researched each of the tools on the Google sign-in list to ensure these sites and vendors have confirmed and signed all proper student privacy agreements before allowing such access. This is done to ensure that our students' (and staff) personal identifiable information is protected and not sold off by vendors to third-parties. As of today, October 23, if you run into any issues accessing a website or app that seems to be related to a google sign-on please let Colleen Terrill know and she can guide you further.
educator-directed PD - submit your proposals
We are a couple of short weeks away from our next PD day which is November 7th and is educator-directed. I sent an email on Friday, but for those who might not have seen it, here are the details:
Reach out to Kim Lowther or I if you have any questions or TeachPoint challenges. -Cheryl General Educators focusing on Special Education
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