Author Archives: HISD Communications

PowerUp teachers learn how easy it is to create video productions

Educators from almost two dozen high schools got a lesson in super-quick video production and “flipped” classrooms recently, when their peers from the Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina came to Houston to share their expertise on one-to-one student/laptop initiatives.

This cute video, created by the team from Mooresville to show how easy short films are to produce, features teachers from the Phase II schools who completed the training.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/101859054″ responsive=”no”]
Continue reading →

Brookline ES gives ELL students extra help this summer

(Houston Independent School District)Brookline Elementary School held a literacy challenge this summer to give 65 selected second- and third-grade English language learners a little extra help.

Teachers recommended students to invite to participate in the challenge. School officials said all the students had passed their grade level but needed some English language reinforcement.

Continue reading →

Bond Oversight Committee updated on quarterly progress

BOC_072914HISD’s two building programs are busier than ever, but in very different stages.

The 2007 bond program is busy winding down so all original work is done by the end of the year. At the same time, the 2012 bond program is ramping up, with construction starting on all 17 schools in the first phase by the end of the year.

Continue reading →

New Teacher Academy gives district newbies their first look at HISD culture, expectations

[su_vimeo url=”http://vimeo.com/101969768″ width=”320″ height=”180″ responsive=”no” ]

Whether they are new to the classroom or just to HISD, nearly 1,000 eager educators gathered at the Kingdom Builders Center on July 28 to begin the New Teacher Academy in anticipation of the coming school year.

The week-long workshop is held every summer to give the district’s newest recruits a head start on their first day of school—and this year, the focus is on using one’s special talents and stories to forge authentic connections with students.

Continue reading →

Camp helps boost high school students’ literacy skills

[su_vimeo url=”http://vimeo.com/101571901″ width=”320″ height=”180″ responsive=”no” ]

About 160 rising freshman and sophomores are spending two weeks of their summer participating in a Houston ISD camp at Challenge Early College High School designed to boost their reading and writing abilities.

“The purpose of the camp is to provide the students with literacy strategies that they can take back with them to their schools and to get them excited and engaged with the acts of reading and writing,” said Erica Harris of Carnegie Vanguard High School, the program’s curriculum writer and lead teacher.

The students take four classes a day at the camp, each themed around the young adult book Divergent by Veronica Roth. Each class focuses on a different area of literary development.
Continue reading →

Mark White ES community hears about green design plans for new school

The new Mark White Elementary School, formally referred to as Relief Elementary, held its second community meeting on Tuesday to discuss project details of the upcoming campus.

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000CO4nxq8uEs4″ g_name=”White-gallery” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]

Continue reading →

‘Green-minded’ students earn money while giving back to nature

Performing manual labor outdoors in July is probably not the way most Houstonians would choose to spend their time, but for some HISD students, there’s nowhere else they’d rather be.

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000ZYeP_vypvV4″ g_name=”20140721-SCA” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]

Continue reading →

Meet HISD’s new Literacy Director, Cindy Puryear

On June 9, Cindy Puryear became HISD’s new director of literacy. We sat down with her recently to talk about how she overcame her own reading difficulties as a young person, when she first knew she would be a teacher, and what her goals are for the first year of Literacy By 3. Following is a condensed transcript of that conversation.

Continue reading →