July CIA Update and Twitter Chat Invitation

Good morning,

I hope this post finds you all enjoying your summer.  It has been a very busy and productive summer as we prepare for an excellent start to the 2014-2015 school year.  Here are some things that I want to make you aware of.

July 23 - HMH Textbook Training

HMH will be coming to the district on Wednesday, July 23 to train K-8 teachers on the new textbooks.  If you have not signed up for the optional training, please CLICK HERE.  We haven't got the math textbooks loaded from HMH yet on the digital side, but it is coming.  Science is loaded for everyone.  If you have not received an email from me with you teacher account information, please shoot me an email and I'll get you set up.

August 5 - Lead4ward Training

All core teachers (K-12) will be participating in Depth of Knowledge training on Tuesday, August 5 from 8:00 - 3:30 in the TISD Community Room.  Prior to the training, you will need to have submitted the following to your principal:

• SE Analysis 
• Readiness Standard Analysis (K-8 Math only)
• Scope and Sequence
• Focus 3 + 1 (3 Focus Readiness Standards for 1415 and 1 Focus Processing Standard for 1415)

August 11 - New Employee Orientation

New employees to the district will receive more information on this day.

August 18 - 22 - All Staff Return

We will all return on Monday, August 18 where we will all come together as a district and begin making our plans to guarantee excellence for all.  More information about these days will be coming later this month.

Twitter Chat Tonight, July 10 at 8 p.m. (#atplc Chat)

I would like to invite you to participate in a Twitter chat that I will be moderating tonight at 8 p.m.  The topic will be Eliciting Excellence in Every Child.  Because of you and Tatum ISD, I am extremely motivated by our district's commitment to Excellence for All, and I will guide the discussion on what excellence is and how must educators work together to tap into the excellence potential within every child.  The chat will be on the #atplc stream, and the benefit of participating in a chat is that you will get different perspectives from educators throughout North America.  It is quite interesting to see how different people approach the same topic, and participating in a chat helps solidify your own perspective.

Here are the basics to participating in a Twitter chat.

1. You will need to create a Twitter account.  Click for a Quick Video to Get Started.
2. To View the Chat - Click the Search Bar & enter #atplc.  This will take you to the #atplc stream which is basically every Tweet that includes the hashtag, #atplc.  It is how everyone stays connected to the conversation in the chat.  This is how you watch the chat.
3. To Participate in the Chat - There are 4 Ways to Participate in the Chat.  See the picture to the right for clarification.
1. Favorite (The Star) - This is the easiest way to participate without saying a word. If you like a tweet that someone says, click the Favorite star beneath the tweet.  
2. Retweet (The 2 Arrows in a Box) - If you like a tweet that you think more people need to see it, click the Retweet button.  This also doesn't require a word from you.
3. Reply (The Arrow Pointing to the Left) - If you want to reply to a person's tweet, click the reply, make a comment and BE SURE TO INCLUDE #atplc so your tweet will be seen as a part of the chat.
4. Message (Box in Top Right of Picture) - If you want to make a comment to add to the chat, type your message and BE SURE TO INCLUDE #atplc so your tweet will be seen as a part of the chat. 

FYI, the @ symbol indicates a person and the # symbol indicates a subject.  Links will have random letters with characters like . and  /.