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Professional Learning Support for Hybrid Transition
Professional Learning Support for Hybrid Transition
Launching on January 25th, the Winter Training Series created space for staff to develop their understandings around more than 50 different topics ranging from phonemic awareness in primary grades to AP College Board digital resources. With over 750 participants enrolled in asynchronous sessions hosted via Google Classroom and more attending synchronous sessions, staff are capitalizing on impactful resources to pivot towards future shifts in instructional design.
To access resources relevant for the students you serve click the following links:
Concluding the Winter Training Series beginning on March 2nd is a unique experience to learn from national leader in literacy, Tim Shanahan. Dr. Shanahan is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and past president of the International Literacy Association. He served on the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007! More information around Dr. Shanahan and his presentations with the Auburn School District will be shared via email and on the Winter Training Series website.
Black History Month Resources
Black History Month Resources
February is Black History Month — an important opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the individual and collective accomplishments, legacy, and impact of Black Americans throughout history and today. This month is celebrated not just in schools but in all walks of life. Online companies, celebrities, video game developers, and the Auburn community are all honoring and celebrating the work of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, “The Man Behind Black History Month”.
Here are three key resources that you can use to bring Black History Month into your classroom:
Our Computer Science partner is celebrating Black History Month by lifting up Black voices on the importance of computer science. As we know, there is a diversity problem in CS that begins in school (only 6% of AP Computer Science students are black) — this resource can help you find ways to help our Black students see themselves in a future-ready career.
This lesson from Scholastic contains short, daily activities that can be used in synchronous or asynchronous settings to help students learn some key events and figures in Black American history. From the 14th Amendment to Brown vs. the Board of Education; from Crispus Attucks to Barack Obama, it covers a much broader scope than most other elementary resources.
Teachers can create a free account in the Learning for Justice (formerly known as tolerance.org) website that is full of lessons, articles, and other instructional resources that you can add to your Personal Learning Plan. This website is not only full of educational resources to celebrate Black History Month, but provides strategies for student action and social justice in the classroom.
Tech Tools
Tech Tools
Accommodations for All Learners
Accommodations for All Learners
Research shows that accommodations and supports that teachers provide for students with individual needs can also help their general education students. To that end, a group of specialists from Clarkesville, TN put together a page with common SpEd/EL support tools that can be applied to all learners. It's a great way to learn some new technology tools through the lens of student support.
Google File Stream is now Google Drive
Google File Stream is now Google Drive
Google File Stream -- the PC application that allows you to access Google Drive directly in Windows -- has been renamed to Google Drive. You will see the new app listed in your Start Menu.
With this change, you will also see that the Google Meet add-on in Outlook has a "rainbow" icon instead of the previous green icon. (Some users may have two rainbow icons. Use the "Add a Meeting" one whenever possible.)
Instruction
Instruction
Podcast: How to Teach When Everyone's Scattered
Podcast: How to Teach When Everyone's Scattered
Renowned educational podcaster Jennifer Gonzalez recently took to her professional learning network on Twitter to ask two questions:
When teaching a group where some are in class and the rest are at home, how do you facilitate student-to-student communication? How do you build community?
Let's pool some ideas for teachers trying to teach face-to-face AND broadcast to kids at home at the same time. What have you learned?
What followed was a podcast sharing a host of concrete ideas to make hybrid learning successful for students. Ideas and resources within the podcast will provide you a host of ideas to draw from to support hybrid transitions.
Listen to Cult of Pedagogy’s Episode 155: How to Teach When Everyone’s Scattered.
Hybrid Teaching Modules (Winter Training Series)
Hybrid Teaching Modules (Winter Training Series)
As staff prepare to transition to hybrid learning, DoT and DSL have fielded many inquiries about what a hybrid classroom may look like, and the best way to reach online and in-person student concurrently. For those staff wishing to look at some recommended technology tools and models of instruction, the following Winter Training Series modules may be of particular interest:
Instructional Models to Enhance Hybrid Teaching - learn how to flip and rotate your classroom groups to work more effectively with the hybrid schedule.
Instructional Videos and Streaming - break away from Google Meet and learn more effective ways of presenting and streaming video to your online students.
Asynchronous Tools for Engaging Content - explore tech tools that can provide an array of engaging activities for online, asynchronous students while building independence and collaboration skills.
Data Security & Privacy
Data Security & Privacy
Tax Season is Phishing Season
Tax Season is Phishing Season
Now that we are into tax season, email scammers are looking to steal tax documents, file fraudulent returns in victims’ names, and extort payment with false threats of IRS action due to outstanding tax bills. Here are a few tips on how staff can avoid these schemes:
File your taxes as early as you can
File your taxes as early as you can
By filing your taxes early, scammers aiming to use your personal information to file a fraudulent return in your name will be unable to do so. They can’t file if you beat them to it!
Never click a link in an email notifying you of available tax documents
Never click a link in an email notifying you of available tax documents
Always go to Skyward to retrieve your W-2 to avoid many common phishing scams. This will ensure you go to the right website and get your documents safely.
Avoid IRS impersonation scams
Avoid IRS impersonation scams
The IRS will never contact you over email to ask for payment of an overdue tax bill. Criminals frequently send such emails and can request payment by normal means or by prepaid gift cards, and any contact like this should be ignored.
To report suspicious emails in ASD
To report suspicious emails in ASD
Forward the email to: postmaster@auburn.wednet.edu
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Help Desk
Help Desk
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Lost Emails? Check Your Spam Filter!
Lost Emails? Check Your Spam Filter!
If you are expecting an email from a parent or a company that never arrives, it may have been trapped in our district spam filter. To check that no legitimate emails have barred from your inbox, follow the DoT Helpdesk instructions to review your spam filter quarantine.
Shout Out!
Shout Out!
Success with Screencastify
Success with Screencastify
Since the closing of schools in March of 2020, teachers have continually shifted their practice to adhere to the constraints of distance learning. In the year prior to COVID, 4,503 videos were created through the Screencastify online screen-capturing program by Auburn staff. In the last ten months 35,398 Screencastify videos have been created. Teacher creativity has never been higher with evidence of shifting pedagogy showing up in student screencasting skills as well. Below are the top 2020-21 Screencastify users and the number of videos each have created to shift their work online.
Top Teacher Screencasters:
Top Teacher Screencasters:
743 - Michelle Nagel (Lea Hill)
663 - Michelle Simon (Elem PM Program)
455 - Sally Koenig (Mt. Baker)
451 - Tammy House (Bowman Creek)
424 - Jeremiah Carter (Mt. Baker)
Top Student Screencasters:
Top Student Screencasters:
511 - Daniel V. (AMHS)
400 - Marisabeth D. (Chinook)
255 - Jose C. (Lea Hill)
218 - Adelyn P. (Terminal Park)
183 - Tashanee E. (AMHS)
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