Students are back in the classroom, and the 2014 football season has begun!
Sixteen high school varsity teams will take the field for their first games of the season Friday and Saturday. Check out the schedule and head out to a stadium to cheer on our student-athletes! Continue reading
HISD teachers at a select group of schools will be utilizing an online tool this school year designed to make their instruction more personalized and collaborative, while at the same time allowing them to do more in less time. The new online teaching and learning platform is called the PowerUp:HUB, or HUB for short, and is being piloted at 48 K through 12 campuses during the 2014-2015 school year.
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“The HUB is an LMS, a Learning Management System, that is a one-stop-shop,” said Annetta Modest, senior manager for Teacher Development. “Once teachers in our pilot schools sign on, they will have access to tools, curriculum, and lesson plans.” Continue reading
J.P. Henderson Elementary has new furniture in its teachers’ lounge, thanks to Gallery Furniture, Univision 45 and Children at Risk.
The furniture store is making over several teachers’ lounges throughout the Houston area. It asked Univision 45 to pick a school, and the TV station asked Children at Risk for a recommendation.
“When Univision called that I had really good news, I ran to my office and said that I need good news – it’s the beginning of school!” Principal Herlinda Garcia said. “This sends a very strong message from the community to the teachers that we do care about you.”
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Estefania Espindola Garcia with a student at Cunningham ES
A new academic year kicked off on Aug. 25 in the Houston Independent School District, and across the city, both brand-new and veteran teachers were getting to know their students, establishing new routines, and buckling down to the business of learning.
“I am excited and ready to begin a new school year,” declared Rosetta Calhoun, a returning teacher at Sharpstown High School. “I am anticipating the new personalities and challenges I will encounter.” Continue reading
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A demolition crew is hard at work at Milby High School to complete the next phase for a new 21st century campus: bringing down the old building.
Thanks to the generosity of Houston-area companies and community organizations, many HISD students have the supplies they need to start the new school year.
For the fourth year in a row, NRG, formerly known as Reliant Energy, helped local students with a donation of more than $20,000 worth of school supplies. NRG executives were on hand at the Martin Luther King Jr. Early Childhood Center the week before school started to personally distribute the school supply packets to students. Four thousand more backpacks that include grade-specific supplies for students in grades K-12, such as crayons, notebooks, pens, paper, or folders, will be distributed to more than 35 HISD schools.
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CTE teachers explore VirtualJobShadow at job-alike training
In addition to traditional job-shadowing visits, HISD students in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program will soon be able to use just about any computer or tablet in the classroom or at home to digitally follow engineering, health, oil and gas, and other professionals in high-demand careers.
The district’s Career Readiness Department has collaborated with VirtualJobShadow.com, an interactive career planning and exploration resource, to introduce students to career opportunities, prepare them for college and the workforce, and increase their awareness of local workforce development efforts. During the 2014–2015 school year, the tool will be offered to 100,000 students in the CTE program at 110 of the district’s secondary schools.
ALIAS vocabulary program helping students build literacy skills, understand the concept of ‘code-switching’
For students to be successful in the Digital Age, they must learn to distinguish between the abbreviated syntax they use in texting, the casual way they speak to their friends in person, and the more formal style of communication called for when writing school essays or drafting a business memo.
Fifth-graders at more than three dozen HISD elementary schools will soon be making those distinctions while building their academic vocabulary this year, thanks to a partnership the district forged with two educators from Harvard University. Continue reading
Celebrity readers share stories, set an example for community involvement
Walnut Bend ES partner Phillips 66, along with the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation and Lone Star Sports & Entertainment, got together at the campus on opening day Monday to raise awareness about the importance of literacy for Houston’s children. The star-studded event kicked off HISD’s Literacy By 3 program, a movement designed to turn around and end the literacy crisis in Houston.
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Westbury High School graduate Darling Romero’s busy work schedule kept her from registering for fall classes earlier this summer at a local community college.
“The summer went by fast, and I got caught up in work,” Romero said. “The next thing I knew, it was almost time for the (enrollment) deadline.”
The HISD College Readiness team helped students like Romero make the time to register for fall classes during the department’s “It’s Not Too Late” Application Day last week at Houston Community College-Southwest. A second event was held at HCC-Southeast.
The event, in collaboration with HCC, is part of a new initiative to help 2014 high school graduates who have not enrolled in college apply for community college classes and financial aid. Continue reading