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Native American Heritage Month - Land Acknowledgement
Native American Heritage Month - Land Acknowledgement
Photo by Mike Penney
The Auburn School District exists on Indigenous land. Just as our schools and offices exist along the Green and White Rivers, so too did the Smalkamish, St'kamish, and Skopamish, and other Indigenous people, who lived in places like the large village of Ilaqo, Soos Creek, and Burns Creek. We acknowledge the ancestral homelands of the descendants of those who became the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, who were original caretakers of this land, keeping balance and beauty for thousands and thousands of years. We are grateful to respectfully live and work as guests on these lands with the descendants and members of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, who have called this land home since time immemorial and forever more.
This land acknowledgement is one small act in recognizing the importance of continuing to care for the land and acknowledge our important relationship with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
To learn more about the history, people, and languages of the native inhabitants of North America, you can view an interactive map at the link below:
Distance Learning Classroom Culture
Distance Learning Classroom Culture
Among the challenges of distance learning is the difficulty in building relationships with students who we can't see face-to-face. The ITSS group has produced a slide deck of quick culture- and relationship-building activities that teachers may wish to use in their online lessons:
Have Your Say!
Add a post to the Padlet below to share your own activities for culture and community building. Click anywhere on the zig-zag wallpaper to get started.
Tech Tools
Tech Tools
Google Meet - Best Practices and Troubleshooting
Google Meet - Best Practices and Troubleshooting
The Virtual Meetings help page has been updated to provide best practice guidelines for teachers using Google Meet. By following these three steps, most of the student management issues should be resolved:
* For K-2 teachers using Seesaw, Google Meet links should be generated through Outlook to ensure host controls are provided.
3. Be the last one to leave your meeting
3. Be the last one to leave your meeting
Visit the Virtual Meetings page for more in-depth troubleshooting help, and information on all the new Meet features.
Instruction
Instruction
Since Time Immemorial Online Module
Since Time Immemorial Online Module
"Since Time Immemorial" is the OSPI curriculum for Native American Education. To learn more about the curriculum and integrating it into your classroom, check out the Since Time Immemorial Online Module.
The STI module was a collaborative project between ASD's Native American Education Program and the Department of Technology.
Native American Resources
Native American Resources
To help staff and students celebrate Native American Heritage Month, Robin Pratt from ASD's Native American Education Program has provided a slide deck of many great classroom resources. These are particularly helpful for lessons surrounding Thanksgiving, but are relevant and applicable all year:
Data Security & Privacy
Data Security & Privacy
Digital Communication Guidelines
Digital Communication Guidelines
The ASD Digital Communication Guidelines document is updated to include new language about students in virtual classroom meetings:
It is acceptable for students to opt-out of displaying their camera when in virtual meetings. This is in service of our district commitment to equity that accounts for differences in students’ personal circumstance, social-emotional health, and religious preferences. There may also be technical restrictions on students that prevent them from using certain live, online tools.
While turning on cameras can be encouraged, it should never be enforced, nor should teachers question why a student has their camera turned off. Classroom participation norms (not rules), and accountability agreements can be used as tools to drive greater engagement.
Auburn classrooms provide great experiences for students to achieve great outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to find other ways to engage students and elicit evidence of understanding that do not depend upon a live video feed. (ITSS, tech coach can help provide professional development to staff.) If student engagement is affected by a lack of video, a one-to-one meeting with the student and their family is recommended to discuss ways to accommodate and engage online.
Teachers should alert students to when class meetings are recorded so that they may elect to turn off their camera for privacy. Per 6550P, as a general rule, students, parents, the public and the media may not video or audio record classroom instruction or any other instructional activities that occur in school.
Securly Home
Securly Home
Quarter 2 has just begun for secondary schools and parent conferences are here for elementary. Now is a great time to remind families that they can have an active role in monitoring their students' online activity through Securly Home. Securly Home allows a family to see their student’s digital footprint in real time on the sites they have visited, review flagged content, and also control their student’s access to websites. To learn more about setting up Securly Home click here to get started in the Letter to Families- Winter 2020.
Help Desk
Help Desk
Google Meet Outlook Plugin
Google Meet Outlook Plugin
Some Outlook users will see two icons for adding a Google Meet to an email or calendar invite: the older-style green speech balloon, and the newer, multicolored camera. (See right)
Several users have reported issues with the newer icon, which has been confirmed to have an issue with Office 2016. Please use the green icon to add Meet events to Outlook, and ensure that Drive File Stream is running.
Use this...
...not this
The End of Flash
The End of Flash
While it's been known this is coming for quite some time, on December 31, 2020, Adobe Flash will finally stop working on all major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera). This may cause certain educational sites to cease functioning also. Staff who use sites with interactive games and animations should check to ensure that they do not depend on Flash - as of 2021, there will be no means to access them and alternatives should be sought. (Content publishers have known this was coming for about two years.)
Shout Out!
Shout Out!
Fall Math and Distance Learning Training Series
Fall Math and Distance Learning Training Series
In collaboration with many incredible educators and curriculum partners, ASD administrators and teachers have provided access to quality professional development relevant to classroom needs and the new K-5 math adoption. Offered three times this school year, asynchronous and synchronous sessions focused on math and distance learning needs are providing teachers innovative solutions to the unique needs present in their online classrooms. For more further information on sessions offered and Classroom codes visit the Fall Math and Distance Learning Training Series agenda.
Computer Science Fundamentals Virtual Workshop
Computer Science Fundamentals Virtual Workshop
Kudos to the eight elementary school teachers choosing to pursue further learning around introducing Computer Science Fundamentals into their classroom experience while in distance learning. This furthers the equity of opportunity for all students to engage in STEM learning.
On the nights of October 26th, 27th and 28th, teachers joined a virtual workshop hosted from Montana ensuring these eight participants will be ready for the Hour of Code next month! For future Computer Science Fundamentals workshops check out the Code.org map of upcoming professional development offerings.
Teachers attending CSFundamentals during week of 10/25:
Roxanne Harlor (ALP), Jennifer Snider, Naomi Elliot (AJ), Magdelena Montiel (EH), Toni Latawiec (LV), April Arrieta (LLH), Erica Pogue, Carrie Prock (WA)
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