Department Meeting: Scheduled for Sept 26th in FX 135
Professional Development day: Friday - Sept 20th. Freshmen and BSI instructors will attend IXL training. All other grade levels will participate in one of 2 Newsela webinars (one is offered in the morning and one in the afternoon). There will be NoRedInk sessions in the STEM building that you can attend. The rest of the time will be spent in grade-level team collaborations. A full list of PD opportunities is listed on the professional portal - here is the link: PD Day Schedule
You may attend any of the other sessions that fit into your schedule that day.
IXL Training
This will be held in the FX Lecture Hall (FX 135). Please arrive by 8:30. Please make sure to bring a charged laptop with you. This is an all-day training with a lunch break. You will be using this program in your classes this year and we will use it to help determine grade 10 placement as well. The following instructors are scheduled to attend:
- All Freshmen and ICS Freshmen instructors
- All Language Arts Lab instructors
- ESL instructors
NewsEla Webinars
We have a premium site license for Newsela so log in and set up an account before Friday. Newsela will eventually be linked to Canvas but we are waiting to hear back from Julissa on this. Everyone needs to attend one of the hour-long webinars (except for the instructors in the IXL training). Please make sure you have a charged laptop for these sessions. Here is the schedule:
Webinar 1 - 9:00 am in FX 218
Sophomore and AP/honors instructors
Webinar 2 - 1:15 pm in FX 218
Junior and Senior Instructors
Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the webinar. All you need to do to log into the training session is to access these "zoom" hyperlinks for the session and you will be added to the webinar...You will log in using that link at the time of the Webinar. Frank Santora will be there to coordinate with the webinar leaders at Newsela to facilitate the event.
We just linked Newsela to Canvas (Thursday afternoon). Here is the info to get started by accessing Newsela through Canvas... Use the following links:
NoRedInk
We have a NoRedInk site license this year. Scott Cumberbatch in STEM will be leading sessions on how to set up accounts and how to use this platform in your classes. It has a great writing component that you may find very helpful for addressing the workload of teaching writing in your classes. Mr. Lawshe used it last year and finds it helpful. You do not have to sign up for these sessions. The sessions are offered as follows:
Location - STEM Room 303
- Session 1 - 8:30-9:15
- Session 2 - 9:20-10:05
- Session 3 - 10:10-10:55
- Session 4 - 11:00-11:45
NoRedInk will automatically activate Premium on teachers’ accounts. All you need to do is log into your existing account at noredink.com or, if new to NRI, create an account following these directions NoRedInk Directions
If you see the Training button after logging in, you are good to go! If not, you will need to enter this code (lime-5559) on your Settings page.
WebEx Training
8:30 am to 9:30 am B104 All Home Instruction Teachers
10:30 am to 11:30 am B104 Any teacher with approval from their supervisor
PLCs
If you are not scheduled for any of the above sessions, you should meet in your grade-level teams to plan and collaborate on your coursework, SGOs, benchmarks, etc... I have booked rooms FX 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, and F112 for you to use for your PLCs.
*FYI... I am still in the process of securing the FX conference room as our designated PLC space. I will let you know when the room will be ready for you to use on a regular basis.
ESL Referrals
All English I teachers... Please begin keeping a list of any students that you think need to be evaluated for possible placement in ESL. Over the next few weeks, please give some kind of in-class writing sample so that you can evaluate their raw writing ability. Also, it would be helpful to give them some kind of assignment that requires them to speak aloud in class so you can evaluate them in this regard as well. I will ask for your recommendations by mid-October.
Attendance reminders: Attendance must be input within the first 10 minutes of class every day, for all classes. New Procedure – teachers must enter “A” for absent or “P” for present. leave it blank for “present.”
Grade-level Teams
We are in the process of securing a PLC room in FX2 for you to meet with your grade-level teammates. You will arrange your own meeting times with colleagues to plan and collaborate. I ask that you meet 2-3 times per month. I will only send out suggested topics for your discussions when the need arises.
SGO Pre-Assessments
Pre-assessments should be completed by 9-30. Please assist colleagues with the sharing of grade-level folders, assessments, etc…
After Hours Professional Development
If you would like to offer after-hours PD for November, please submit a proposal through MLP. Joaquim and Dr. Parent are looking to offer sessions on instructional technology tools, SmartBoard, and other interesting sessions.
SES PROGRAM - Begins Oct 17th!
If you have struggling students, please suggest that they sign up for the Supplemental Educational Service program. If you feel a student requires tutoring services, please direct the student to the PCTI website. They can find the registration link on the "Student" or the "Parent" tab. If a student is reluctant to attend, please contact the guidance counselor and parent and suggest that they urge the student to sign up. Please make these recommendations early as the program fills up quickly and space is limited.
The program will run for three sessions every Monday and Thursday from October 17, 2019, through May 14, 2020, from 3:00 pm until 4:30 pm. Busing and snacks will be provided.
The fall session runs from October 17, 2019 - December 16, 2019. The winter session runs from January 6, 2020 - March 5, 2020. The spring session runs from March 9, 2020 - May 14, 2020. Students may sign up for one, two, or all three sessions.
Students are required to attend 75% of the sessions, as space is limited, and continuity is vital. This constitutes no more than 4 unexcused absences for each session. However, as a Title 1 government-funded program, priority placement is given to Title 1 students.
Class Coverage Attendance
If you are asked to cover a class, you must take attendance using the following method:
Use this link: Coverage Attendance Link
Log on: Select "PCTI" as the school - Select the Teacher
Password: enter the day of the month and then "Bulldog"
Example: 5Bulldog is the password for the 5th day of a month.
Example: 20Bulldog is the password for the 20th day of a month.
3. On the start page, click the desk icon in the class you wish to record
Attendance
4. The drop-down menu for each student will give options
“P” means present
"1" means "ABSENT"
"T" means "TARDY"
5. You MUST click SUBMIT to save attendance
Important: Students who are failing
or "on the verge"
(these are things that we must do in order to cover ourselves...)
We must make contact with parents/guardians about students who are failing whether that be through a phone call or email. We must also make contact with a guidance counselor - I would prefer you did that via email. These things must be documented in the teacher's log in Power School.
If it comes to the point where an IR&S form is submitted, please follow these guidelines:
- Refer students who are failing or struggling and have difficulties with things such as responding to written or verbal information, organizing, focusing, and/or completing work without constant teacher intervention. You can also refer students who have exhibited behavior that interferes with learning.
- You must have made at least 2 forms of intervention.
- You must have had contact with a parent/guardian AND contact with guidance and/or CS team caseworker. My suggestion is to have contacted all of these entities.
- Instructional/behavioral interventions - differentiated instruction, extra time, homework or test/quiz reminders, strategic pairing or grouping for collaborative tasks, notes posted on Canvas or Google Classroom, allowing the student to make-up assignments or re-take quizzes or tests, etc...
- You must state that you made contact with the parent/guardian and a counselor/case manager somewhere on the form. I realize that it does not request this specifically anywhere on the form, just find a logical place to put it.
- All of the categories on the IR&S form must be filled in.
- Use as much detail as possible
- Please enter a comment in the teacher log in Power School that notes the date that you submitted the IR&S form.
- Here is a link to the form I&RS Form
- You can also find the form on the Professional Portal under "forms, memos & documents"
PLEASE SCREENSHOT THE I&RS FORM PRIOR TO SUBMITTING AND KEEP IT FOR YOUR RECORDS! LAST YEAR THERE WERE ISSUES REGARDING CERTAIN FIELDS ON THE DOCUMENT - SOME LINE ITEMS WERE NOT SAVED AND IT APPEARED AS IF WE LEFT IMPORTANT INFORMATION OFF OF THE FORMS!
