Announcements August 28, 2014

I hope you had a great start to the week.  I know that you built some strong relationships with the kids and are laying the foundation for Excellence.  Remember that what we do with 180 days of instruction changes the trajectory of the rest of a child's life.

That being said, I want to remind you that you are #GAMECHANGERS.  

Chase Excellence, Expect Excellence and 

Settle for Nothing Less than Excellence from Every Child Every Day!

Getting to DOK Level 3

We have had a week to challenge ourselves and our kids to think at deeper and more complex levels.  I have been very pleased with our first attempts at writing DOK Level 3 questions.  As we move forward with this idea, we need to lean on one another as we all are trying to get better at getting our students to think at deeper and higher levels.  So to show you where we are at DOK, I included a few DOK 2 & 3 level questions from our fellow colleagues that will really challenge our kids to think.

• Fields at TPS - Try to guess what the poem is about just by reading the title. 
• Mauritzen at TPS - How is the character like you?  How is she unique?  How are you unique?

• Mock at TES - What facts would you select to support the idea that Camilla Cream is self-conscious? (using the book A Bad Case of Stripes)
• Kiraly at TES - (5.6B) - How does the setting impact the conflict faced by Stanley in the story?

• Crim at TMS - How can our classroom rules help students outside of the classroom?
• Rogers at TMS - How do the 5 themes of geography tie together?

• O'Neal at THS - 2A: Using a compass, how would you draw a segment congruent to a known line?
• Galloway at THS - How is the concept of carpe diem reconciled with planning for the future?

Lesson Plan Templates

I know some of you are not able to pull up the most recent lesson plan template because you had written lesson plans prior to the template being changed.  If that is the case, please make sure that you enter DOK 3 questions in the template at the top.  Also, on page 2, we have removed the "Teacher will" statements so you can focus your planning on student outcomes in all parts of your lesson.  If you need more clarification on submitting lesson plans, please see your principal.

TIP (Tech Integration Pic) of the Week

THS English students get acquainted with new Chromebooks

Welcome to College (Check it Out!!!)

It's Never Too Early to Plan for College

Welcome to College (Click Here) is a great tool to help students plan their post-secondary journey.  Users first start a free account where they choose and keep track of the colleges they're interested in.  The site lists nearby hotels, restaurants and campus hotspots to check out.  After visiting the schools, students can rate the college and read what other students had to say as well.  - See more at: http://www.techlearning.com/site-of-the-day/0050/welcome-to-college/55327#sthash.ChiqYV9g.dpuf

Students can also check this site out on Instagram (Click Here) & Twitter (Here) & Facebook (Or Here)

LPAC Training, August 21, 2014 (For participants in today's training only)

• LPAC Framework (Powerpoint)  We will use this for our training today.

• PDF of Handouts

CTE Teachers Work for Staff Development Week

This week, we will begin the process of getting our endorsement pathways solidified for our freshman class and for future THS students.  Each of our endorsement pathways and the courses within them must be aligned or organized in a way that leads all kids to the following targets:

• Student organizations
• CTE certification
• Virtual high school courses that we might not have certified staff to teach that could be proctored to promote endorsements & certifications
• Workforce Area of Demand (East Texas & beyond)
• Kilgore College Workforce Development
• Dual credit courses (Kilgore & Panola)
• Technical school degree
• Associate's degree
• Bachelor's degree

To help you create these pathways, here are some resources that you need to be familiar with.

• Current CTE Pathways at THS (CLICK HERE) 
• This is our current status with HB5
• Please make additions or changes with respect to courses to be offered.
• Please include the college / career target for each pathway.
• Pineywoods East Texas Consortium (CLICK HERE)
• A great resource to help you find anything with respect to CTE
• THS CTE Courses & Certifications / Endorsements Document (CLICK HERE)
• This is what we currently offer.  
• Anything in red font indicates things we do NOT offer.
• CTE Curriculum Resources (CLICK HERE)
• This will give you links to create your curriculum.
• These links are tied to colleges with CTE degree programs.
• List of state articulated CTE courses (CLICK HERE)
• Colleges participating in ATC (CLICK HERE)
• CTE Matrix tied to ATC & Certifications (CLICK HERE

Our goal is to ensure that we create the best pathways for every child to graduate from THS with one foot if not both feet planted firmly in a college or career pathway that will guarantee them a life of stable employment which will yield them a prosperous future.

CHAMPs Training - Monday, August 18, 2014 (Grade PK-8 only)

Here are the handouts for our CHAMPs training on Monday for grades PK - 8 only.  The training will be in the community room immediately following the convocation.  I look forward to seeing you all there.

SPECIAL NOTE - I'm sending these in advance, you are NOT required to do anything before Monday.   

• Slideshow on Google Slideshow (CLICK HERE)

• Bell Ringer Activity on Padlet (CLICK HERE)

• CHAMPs Pinterest Ideas (CLICK HERE)

• PDFs of CHAMPs Reproducibles from CHAMPs Book (CLICK HERE)

• Example of CHAMPs Daily Schedule (CLICK HERE)

• Positive / Negative Responses on Google Form (CLICK HERE)

• Daily Teaching Tools (CLICK HERE)

Tools for Tech Integration

• QR Code Generator (CLICK HERE)

• Padlet