HISD in the News
- Best local photos showcase Travis ES students on last day
- Graduating Reagan HS twins thankful for supporters
- Discipline helped Bellaire High School student flourish
- More than half of HISD’s top students were English-learners
National News Links
- Free SAT prep now has the official stamp of approval
- Texas governor signs Pre-K bill considered top priority
- The quantified student: an app that predicts GPA
- The psychology of getting kids to eat better
Taryn Trotter
Taryn Trotter, a STEM teacher at Lockhart Elementary School, has been named one of five recipients of the Elizabeth Brand Teacher Excellence Award for 2015 by the Houston Association of Professional Landmen.
Trotter was selected in part due to the individualized attention she provides her students, many of whom come from broken homes and are economically challenged.
Learn more about Trotter and why she was selected here.
Congratulations also go out this week to:
- The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which has been designated a 2015–2017 Exemplary School by Arts Schools Network, the nation’s largest professional membership organization of specialized arts schools. Read that full story here.
- Katherine Miranda, a student at Sharpstown International School, who has been named the grand prize winner in Luby’s Achieving Character Together (ACT) program for demonstrating the qualities of leadership, compassion, and generosity of spirit. Get her full story here.
- Recent Davis High School graduate Nelly Mendoza, who was named one of five recipients of a Beat the Odds Award on May 21 by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) of Texas. The award comes with a $5,000 college scholarship and other prizes to help students who have managed to find success, even in the face of significant challenges. Read her story here.
- Students at Chávez High School, who accumulated 303,387 points collectively through a vocabulary building contest to claim the national title. Get that full story here.
- Students Christina Mao, Akash Shukla, Claire Weddle, and Kenneth Yu from Bellaire High School, who won the top prize at the National Personal Finance Challenge by demonstrating their mastery of topics such as earning income, buying goods and services, saving, and using credit, while the team competition dealt with investing, protecting, and insuring. Get that full story here.
| If you know someone who should be featured in Accolades, please email us at info@houstonisd.org and tell us why. |
This May, a team of HISD teachers was invited to participate in the Moderated Peer Review (MPR) pilot, a process to review the quality and rigor of teacher-created assessments that will help guide teachers’ professional development and increase their effectiveness in the classroom. Participants reviewed end-of-year assessments in their content area of expertise from samples submitted by their peers
The pilot is just one of the actions the district is taking in response to a recommendation made by the Professional Educators Compensation and Support Committee (PECAS), which discussed ways to expand opportunities for teachers to have a voice on how student performance is measured.
The motivation behind this month’s 4 for $40 iPad raffle winners ranged from health reasons (“to a certain degree”) to beach seasons (“it might take a few more challenges”). But an additional gentlemen’s agreement provided an even greater incentive to lose at least four pounds a month.
“We have our own clause that whoever does not meet their (weight-loss) number has to buy lunch for everyone,” said team captain César Rodriguez, a manager for Procurement Services. “Believe me when I say we are pretty cheap, so that in itself is a motivator.”
The team – which is made up of Rodriguez, Chris Cuellar, Chad Malone, Richard Nestor, and Anthony Truong – lost a combined 66 pounds during the four-month challenge. Rodriguez said they were able to lose the weight through some exercise (“it should have been more”) and smarter eating habits.
While many HISD students are just beginning their summer vacations, others need a little extra help before they can continue their educational journey.
To help these students stay on the right track, HISD is looking for additional teachers interested in teaching summer school at select campuses. Visit www.houstonisd.org/summerschool to view qualifications and download the application to teach. Teachers also can click here to view openings around the district, which includes contact information. Teachers are encouraged to contact the campus at which they’re interested in teaching directly.
If you have any additional questions, email summerschool@houstonisd.org.
Keri Wittpenn, an assistant principal at the Jane Long Academy, was named the winner of the Founders Award recently by the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program (REEP).
Wittpenn was chosen for the award by her fellow classmates due to her leadership in both the REEP and her educational community.
Get the full story here.
Congratulations also go out this week to:
- Students from Chávez, Lamar, Washington, and Wheatley high schools, who received top marks at the Texas State Track and Field Meet held mid-month. Just a few of the winners included top sprinter Julia Heyman (Lamar HS), who placed first in both the 3200-meter run and the 1600-meter run, and Takyera Roberson (Wheatley HS), who placed first in the 400-meter run. Get that full story here.
- Francisco Martinez’s Spanish immersion class at Twain Elementary School, which has been named a national winner in the DreamBox Learning Math Challenge, a competition that requires students in grades K–8 to solve various math problems in Spanish. Get that full story here.
- Almost two dozen HISD schools who won art supply kits valued at $1,000 each from the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA). The schools received the kits after submitting grant requests to George’s Art Closest, an initiative of the organization named for the well-known Louisiana-based artist who created “Blue Dog.” Read more about that here.
- HISD’s Office of the Controller, which has won the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting award for the 40th consecutive year. The district received the award for the exemplary quality of its comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR). Get that story here.
- HISD as a whole, which received a 2015 Learning Impact Award from IMS Global Learning Consortium for its pilot implementation of the HUB. The district was one of eight winners selected from K–12 school districts, colleges and universities, and education technology corporations from around the world. Get that story here.
| If you know someone who should be featured in Accolades, please email us at info@houstonisd.org and tell us why. |
The Office of Secondary Curriculum and Development is offering secondary teachers (grades 6–12) the opportunity to attend one of five training summer sessions designed to improve content development and instructional pedagogy.
The series of training sessions, called “Transformation Institutes,” is broken down into seminars for middle- and high-school teachers. School leaders also have the option of attending “lunch & learn” sessions.
In addition to content development and instructional pedagogy, attendees can learn about the HUB, project-based learning, formative assessments for instructional planning, secondary reading remediation, web 2.0 tools, and 21st-century classroom management. Teachers will receive a $400 stipend upon successful completion of an entire institute.
Interested employees should use eTRAIN to register for sessions. Click here to see a full schedule and course numbers.
The Elementary Curriculum and Development Department is offering a variety of professional learning opportunities for teachers during the summer. These training sessions are designed to support the district’s Literacy by 3 program, as well as math and science instruction.
Participants can discover the many resources available through the district’s Marcile Hollingsworth Science Center, or learn more about the “daily CAFÉ” of literacy (which involves Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary). Click here for descriptions (including registration information) and a full schedule of the sessions.
Additional training to support the Literacy by 3 implementation, including running records and small-group guided reading instruction, math and science content, and Pre-K instruction, will be provided during August pre-service events. Registration and course outlines for those sessions will be provided at a later date.
New Teachers will receive registration information directly from the New Teacher Team or they can email newteachersupport@houstonisd.org.
May 29 marks the end of another regular school year in HISD, but before teachers and other support staff pack up their rooms and head off to vacations, professional development opportunities, or other plans for the summer break, the Information Technology department is encouraging them to “clean out their digital closets” by completing a few simple tasks before they go.
Below is a checklist of things any district employee can do to tie up loose ends before they leave, and to ensure a smoother transition back into the workflow when they return. Also included are some tips on how to access technology over the summer months from home.
Technology end-of-year checklist:
- Back up all files and folders from your computer- How?
- Back up Internet Favorites- How?
- Delete un-used and un-needed files from your My Documents folder on your computer.
- Create an “out of office” for your Outlook email account-How?
- Set up voicemail on Cisco VoIP phones (if equipped in your classroom) – How?
- Be sure to remove all USB’s, CD’s, and external hard drives from the computers.
- Turn off and secure all electronic equipment in accordance with your school administration guidelines.
- Please DO NOT unplug, turn off, or move the Ricoh copiers.
- Sign-Up for Technology Training
How to access technology during the summer:
- Outlook Web Access for email from home
- Resetting your network password from home
- Employee Self Service
- Technology Support
Summer hours and learning opportunities:
The Technology Service Desk is available during the summer. Hours are Monday-Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., from June 1 until July 30. Call 713-892-SERV (7378) or access the web at https://servicedesk.houstonisd.org. For more information on training opportunities, please refer to eTRAIN.
