Weekly Teacher Download for February 26
ALL TEACHERS
SpEd Conference: The Office of Special Education Services will hold the Fifth Annual Special Education Conference on July 17 – 18. This year’s conference will focus on “Engage. Restore. Support. Every Student. Every Day.” Participants will hear about evidenced-based instructional practices and strategies that work for building inclusive school cultures and supporting all learners. If interested in submitting a proposal to present at the conference, click here. If you have questions or need additional information, call or email Kelli Charles at 713-556-7025 or kcharle1@houstonisd.org.
Attendance Tip of the Week: Do you struggle with making contact with hard-to-reach parents? With the testing season upon us, there is no time like the present to implement your best attendance strategies to help reach parents and encourage them to bring their children to school every day. Click here to get a jump on how to engage hard-to-reach parents. You can also contact the Student Assistance Department (Attendance Office) at 713 556-7017 or click here for questions.
Multilingual PD Events: Join Multilingual Programs this week to gain a deeper understanding on the best way to use Interactive Word Walls and Cross-Linguistic Connections in your classroom. You would also have the opportunity to learn about the ESL TExES Preparation and the ELL Data Entry and Documentation. Click here to explore upcoming PD sessions.
Grammy Music Educator Award: Calling all music teachers! Here’s your chance to win a grant for you and your music program by applying for the GRAMMY Museum’s Music Educator Award. Kindergarten through 12th-grade music teachers who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and have demonstrated a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education are encouraged to apply by March 31. Parents, students and faculty members may also nominate their favorite music educator by March 15. Winners will receive a $10,000 honorarium, a matching grant for their school, and a trip to the GRAMMY Awards Telecast. For more info, click here.
ELEMENTARY
Professional Development: Elementary Curriculum and Development is pleased to offer a variety of professional learning opportunities for teachers during the month of February, including literacy training to support Literacy by 3 (OneSource course #111001). For more info, see the course list here.
National Read Aloud Month: Did you know March is recognized as Read Aloud Month? In celebration, the Elementary Curriculum and Development Office is encouraging teachers to utilize 15 minutes each day to engage with students using read aloud activities. Reading aloud for 15 minutes a day is critically important during a child’s earliest years of life, and the benefits of reading aloud through the elementary years has been shown to instill a love of reading. Teachers are encouraged to use this English and Spanish flyer as a resource to get parents and students engaged.
SECONDARY
Guided Reading Training: Want to learn how to teach reading to struggling middle school or high school students to read and not sure where to start? Uncover the mystery of the reading process and guided reading as a method for growing your secondary students as readers. The two-part series will be offered on select Tuesdays beginning Feb. 27 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Hattie Mae White ESC. To find dates and OneSource course numbers, click here. If you have any questions, contact Kerry McArthur at kmcarthu@houstonisd.org.
HISD Tech Summit and Expo: HISD is excited to announce the Second Annual Together with Tech Student Conference for all high schools. High school teachers of all subjects are encouraged to get their students to participate by Feb. 28. This year’s tech summit topics include sound, nutrition, and community safety and will include two events:
- Open Expo – Students showcase their work in a preassigned presentation space during the event. Open Expo allows students to exhibit the skills they have developed without entering the competition component of the student conference.
- Tech Summit Competition – Students deliver a five-minute presentation in which they demonstrate the development of a solution to one of the guiding questions and its impact on the community, as well as demonstrate the competencies of HISD’s Global Graduate profile. Each campus is allowed two entries to the competition portion of the student conference.
To learn more about the competition, click here or consult your Campus Instructional Technologist.
