Weekly Teacher Download for October 12

ALL TEACHERS

Teacher Service Days:The next Teacher Service Day (no students) is on Wednesday, Oct. 21. This is a virtual professional development day. The Oct. 21 professional development catalog is posted on the HISD eLearning website and will be updated with any new courses offered. The final catalog will be posted on Monday, Oct. 19. Pre-registration is required. Register for courses in OneSourceMe Learning through Tuesday, Oct. 20. Courses are available for administrators and teachers throughout the day as full-day, half-day, or quarter-day sessions. For any questions, contact your campus administrator or PSD@HoustonISD.org.

Additionally, there will be no virtual or in-person classes for students on Tuesday, Nov. 3, which is Election Day. Nov. 3 is now a student holiday and virtual staff professional development day. The student holiday and staff professional development day now scheduled for Nov. 3 replaces the previously scheduled date of Wednesday, Feb. 24. All students and staff should report to school as normal on Feb. 24.

Campus administrators and teachers may choose from the following three options for staff professional development:

• District pre-approved staff development
• Campus or other staff development approved by their area superintendent
• Comp day for teachers or campus administrators who have accumulated the required number of staff development hours as approved by their manager (Only applicable to the Nov. 3 staff development day).

Teacher Appraisal and Development System (TADS): Teachers, it’s time to reflect on your individual students and set realistic and ambitious goals for them within TADS. By now your appraiser has set your measures in the new AIM Portal. Now it’s your turn to set goals for your students within the AIM Portal. While this process is done in collaboration with your appraiser, please take a moment to check out the TADS Toolbox under Student Performance to access a number of resources to guide you through the student performance goal-setting process. Within the TADS Toolbox, you will find navigational guides on how to log into the AIM Portal and acknowledge your measures, as well as set goals for your students. You will also find the 2020-21 Student Performance Guidebook.

TADS Calendar Update: Due to adjustments made in the 2020-21 academic calendar, the annual TADS calendar has also been modified. Dates have been adjusted to provide additional time to complete TADS appraisal activities. Please access a copy of the revised 2020-21 board-approved TADS calendar in the TADS Toolbox. Additionally, to support teacher transitions from virtual to in-person learning, a 10- working-day grace period has been applied when a teacher transitions from virtual to in-person learning. During this grace period, no formal observations or formal walk-throughs are permitted.

Social Emotional Learning Department: Teachers, you have risen to the challenge of supporting students’ academic and social-emotional learning goals from a distance. Soon, you will welcome many students back to school after months of learning from home. The new Social and Emotional blog is geared toward helping you continue to stay strong during a time when you are juggling multiple demands. We hope to fill your figurative “bucket” so you can keep doing the same for our students. Please check out our blog for ideas on how to support yourselves and your students and keep the learning “going” for all of us. View the SEL blog.

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): The national organization has been a leader in the work of social-emotional learning since 1994. CASEL is a trusted source for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL). CASEL supports educators and policy leaders and enhances the experiences and outcomes for all PreK-12 students. The Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Department follows the CASEL Core SEL Competencies, on which all SEL training is based. Please find pre-recorded and upcoming training sessions to support integrating SEL into your classroom on our Social Emotional Learning Department Google Training Site.

New Teachers: Each month, we will spotlight one of the Instructional Practice (IPR) criteria within TADS. This month’s IPR focus criterion is I-6 Communicating Content and Concepts. Join us for a live webinar session where we will dive into effective practice strategies that will support your ability to:

• Explain concepts and skills clearly and coherently.
• Convey accurate content to students.
• Emphasize key points needed to master lesson objectives.
• Use technology to support language acquisition.

Two sessions will be offered via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 5 to 6 p.m. To register, please click here.

SECONDARY TEACHERS

Say Something Guide: During October, HISD recognizes the Say Something initiative. The educator’s guide is free for all teachers to use and provides a flexible curriculum of lesson plans that are differentiated by grade level to engage students in interactive activities that deepen understanding of the three Say Something steps, as well as provide students ways to integrate Say Something into their school’s culture. All lesson plans are aligned with the social and emotional learning competencies developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.

Amplified Linguistic Supports: The Career Readiness Department is offering morning and afternoon sessions on Oct. 21 titled “Amplified Linguistic Supports.”Participants will learn why we should implement supports and how to implement amplified linguistic supports in the CTE classroom. We will also briefly discuss strategies to support ESL and English Learners during remote learning. This session is for CTE instructors who only teach ESL/English Learners and other special populations.

The HON-Code: The Career Readiness Department is offering a session on Oct. 21, 9-10 a.m.: “The HON-Code: Principles of CTE Website Evaluation.” Participants will learn techniques and tools to help students evaluate CTE information online. The engaging and interactive presentation will focus on the eight principles of the HON-code (Health on the Net), which can be applied to all CTE fields to teach students how to find and use reliable and trustworthy information online. Participants will learn HON-code principles and be able to apply the concepts in CTE classrooms to improve students’ critical thinking and website evaluation skills. This session is for Health Science and other interested CTE instructors.

Promoting STEM with Drones: The Career Readiness Department is offering a professional development session on Oct. 21, from 10 to 11 a.m.: “Promoting STEM with Drones.” This session is for all CTE middle school instructors and CTE high school instructors, STEM instructors, and technology instructors. Participants will understand the necessity of drones in the STEM field and how to engage high school students. Industries include First Person View (FPV) navigation, media coverage, programming, and surveying. Our drone competition incorporates all the industries that drone technology provides while getting students involved in STEM learning.

Basic Microsoft Skills: The Career Readiness Department is offering a professional development training session on Oct. 21, from 2 to 3 p.m.: “Basic Microsoft Office Skills.”During this session, participants will learn basic Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) skills. Participants will also learn how to integrate these platforms into their daily routines. This session is for CTE middle school instructors and CTE high school instructors.

Sheltered Instruction from Beginning to End in the CTE Classroom: The Career Readiness Department is offering a professional development session on Oct. 21 from 2 to 3:30 p.m.: “Sheltered Instruction from Beginning to End in the CTE Classroom,” hosted by the Multilingual Department. Participants will explore and interact with instructional strategies that support conceptual understanding and academic language development in the CTE classroom. Participants will leave ready to implement language-development activities that reinforce an interactive class environment with their ESL/EL students. This session is for CTE middle school instructors and CTE high school instructors who teach ESL and English Learners.

Project-Based Learning (PBL): We will host an eDynamic Learning Project-Based Learning professional development session, invitation-only for CTE instructors who teach a Project-Based Learning class. This is designed to support teachers applying PBL to any curriculum in their classroom. Session topics will include the benefits of PBL and ideas that integrate digital tools; PBL strategies that foster students’ thinking, teach technology skills, scaffold project planning, and facilitate project presentations; how to develop project rubrics and provide meaningful feedback; and planning project-based lessons. HISD will have access to the EDL Workplace Internship & Readiness course to demonstrate connecting project-based planning and teaching to a curriculum.

CTE PGP Trainings: Each of the three sessions has a specific audience, including only the campus counselor or administrator submitted by the principal to be the PGP designee for the 2020-2021 school year and everyone with scheduling access in SIS or PowerSchool (principals, deans, assistant principals, registrars, counselors, and special education chairs).

Devising Your Certification Plan: During the two “Devising Your Certification Plan” sessions, CTE administrators will learn about the purposes and processes for developing a campus certification plan for CTE programs of study. Industry-based certifications are valuable in multiple CTE career clusters. Please join us to discuss and think about your 2020-2021 CTE certification plan. Look at a model plan as guidance. There will be a Q&A period toward the end of these sessions.

Virtual Mentorship Opportunity with Five Network: The Career Readiness Department is offering a professional development session on Oct. 21 from 1 to 2 p.m.:, “Virtual Mentorship Opportunity with Five Network.” See how FIVE Network connects talented ninth-graders to a team of VIP mentors and motivational learning content via their free mobile app. During the course of a five-year program, VIP mentors will connect students with top companies and other professionals to help meet their career and life goals. See how mentees earn points and prizes, engage in virtual events, panels, and are provided with the tools and opportunities to become leaders in future careers.