Essential Info - Week of 4/27/18

·       Annual Goals and Objectives Form - Please be sure to update your Form A by adding your summary of accomplishments and submit it to your evaluator by May 15th. If you were on a formal evaluation year, please schedule a meeting with your evaluator to go over your annual evaluation prior by May 15th.

·       PLC Time on Monday, April 30- Be sure to arrive by 7:30, ready to engage in the four essential questions.

·       Teacher Pre-service Schedule- Planning ahead? Here's the pre-service schedule for when you return in the summer.

·       Testing Reminders

o   IB exams are underway, and AP exams begin May 7 -  If you are an AP teacher, make sure your students know when and where they go for the exam, what to bring and what not to bring. Reminder sheets will be in your mailboxes to share with students. You might want to post the IB/AP schedule somewhere in your classroom as well, and refer to it often.

o   CAASPP ELA/Math/Science - 1 of 4 tests should be closed to finished for the majority of juniors 4/27. State testing may continue Monday/Tuesday depending on student progress. The remaining ELA CAT, Math CAT, Math PT, and CAST (seniors only) will resume May 21 in ELA and US History classrooms. FOLDER including schedule, resources, etc.

·       ​PLC Calendar 18-19- Please be sure to provide feedback and input to your department chair about next year's PLC calendar by Tuesday. Specifically if you are interested in designating any PD days. Here's the tentative calendar.

·       Department Chair Meeting - Tuesday, May 1. 3pm in the College and Career Center.

·       Nepris - Your OC Pathways Hub account provides access to this as well as subscribes you to this newsletter, etc.An online platform that connects business and industry partners to your classrooms virtually and in real- ‐time to engage with your students on potential careers, have classroom projects evaluated  or take virtual workplace tours.

·       Teacher Sound Byte @ pylusdsoundbyte.org - updated weekly

Shout Outs

Give a shout out to someone you’d like to recognize by writing a quick message on this Padlet: bit.ly/VHSShoutout. Bookmark the link. Your messages are embedded weekly in the Tiger Telegram. Simply write the name of recipient as title + twitter lengthed message to that person.

Academics, Activities, Arts, & Athletics

Professional Growth - Fair Isn't Always Equal- 3 Grading Malpractices

Notable grading guru Rick Wormeli challenges some common grading practices that may get in the way of learning or may not provide a true assessment of learning. You may disagree with some of his assertions, but we should constantly examine how we derive grades, and whether or not our grading systems help learning and provide an accurate reflection of a student’s current fluency in a subject.

• Fair Isn't Always Equal- 3 Grading Malpractices

Tech Tip - 5 Great Gmail Add-ons for Teachers

Alot of interesting things are taking place in Gmail. Besides the new powerful features introduced yesterday (e.g, the ability to access attachments without opening emails, new security improvements, email snooze, smart reply and nuddging, a new confidential mode and many more), Gmail users can now integrate and access third party add-ons that work directly on Gmail. ‘Rather than toggling between your inbox and other apps, use add-ons to complete actions right from Gmail. With Gmail Add-ons, your inbox can contextually surface your go-to app based on messages you receive to help you get things done faster. And because add-ons work the same across web and Android, you only need to install them once to access them on all of your devices.’ In today’s post, we have curated for you some of what think are good Gmail add-ons relevant to us as teachers and educators. Check them out by Clicking HERE

Handbook Highlight - Val Tech

Val Tech

The Val Tech Program is for students with special interest and aptitude for technology. There are six pathways including Media & Design, Production, Business, Computer Science, Information & Computer Technology and Robotics. The Val Tech Program requires 240 credits for graduation including a minimum of 50 credits in technology from the prescribed pathways including an internship. The 150-hour internship can occur during the summer between the junior and senior year or during the senior year, and it will culminate in a research paper and presentation. This internship will represent 10 credits. A student will have to complete these requirements as well as construct an electronic portfolio to be eligible for a tech diploma. Tech students must meet all district graduation requirements. Students pursuing a tech diploma can also fulfill both University of California and California State University entrance requirements.

Essential Info - Week of 4/20/18

·       PD PLC Monday - Begins at 7:30am. Sign-Up

·       CAASPP/CAST Administrator Training - Mike will be offering training for administrators 4/23, 7:30-8:15am. If you are administering tests, please attend one to get trained and sign the required affidavit. Also read this important EMAIL (sent via email separately as well)

·       ​PLC Calendar 18-19- Please be sure to provide feedback and input to your department chair about next year's PLC calendar. Specifically if you are interested in designating any PD days. Here's the tentative calendar.

·       Staffulty Pot-Luck BBQ lunch Monday April 23 - In the Memorial behind the Library.

·       How to create the Best Slide Presentation for Lecture - VIDEO

·       Teacher Sound Byte @ pylusdsoundbyte.org - updated weekly

·       Emergency Response / Student Accountability Forms - How To Video  

Shout Outs

Give a shout out to someone you’d like to recognize by writing a quick message on this Padlet: bit.ly/VHSShoutout. Bookmark the link. Your messages are embedded weekly in the Tiger Telegram. Simply write the name of recipient as title + twitter lengthed message to that person.

Academics, Activities, Arts, & Athletics

Professional Development - Story Corps

Educational researchers have recently focused their attention on the vital role of social/emotional learning in schools. Deliberately building empathy into our instructional routines to develop and maintain safe environments for learning. Story Corps recently developed resources for teachers/educators to meet this goal. Great listening opportunities for classrooms/students and springboards for discussions and/or projects. 

• Discover the power of their own voice and know that their experiences and stories matter
• Learn about the power and importance of listening
• Gain empathy and understanding for people who are different from themselves
• Find strength in stories of people like themselves who succeeded despite personal challenges and social barriers.

Tech Tip - College/Career/Trade Exploration

Liz and Mike attended a training @ OCDE a week ago. The topic was increasing the number of seniors who apply to a post-secondary education (CCC, CSU, Private, Trade, Military, etc.). The trainers shared some great resources with us and expressed the importance of weaving in opportunities for students to explore and understand their options throughout high school. Here's a list of resources shared that you can build into your class/grade level:

·       Search

o   Naviance

o   https://www.bls.gov/k12/students.htm

o   act.org/profile

o   Bigfuture.collegeboard.org (available as app too: College Now)

o   Mystudentpath.com

o   Collegeresults.org

o   https://www.californiacolleges.edu/#/

·       Financial

o   https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/

o   http://www.icanaffordcollege.com/

o   https://collegeabacus.org/

·       Hispanic/Immigrant

o   Padres.collegeboard.org

o   http://www.thedream.us/

o   http://e4fc.org/ - Resources for undocumented students

·       Testimonials

o   https://store.imfirst.org/

o   http://roadtripnation.com/

o   http://whynotusfilm.com/

·       Other Resources

o   Up Next