Category Archives: District VI – Kendall Baker

District’s efforts to support refugee students gaining state, national attention

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Representatives from PBS News Hour film students at Mistral Early Childhood Center for an upcoming segment on refugee students.

Children who have fled their native countries due to war, drug-related violence, or other conflicts often need special types of support once they arrive in the United States.

That’s why two organizations came to HISD this week to learn more about how the district is assisting its refugee students. Representatives from Raise Your Hand Texas visited two campuses — Daily Elementary School and Westside High School — while producers from PBS News Hour spoke with leaders at Mistral Early Childhood Center (ECC) and Las Americas Newcomers School.

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Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT) set the stage for student success

This year, in nearly 200 classrooms at nine HISD elementary schools, parents are experiencing a new kind of parent-teacher conference that gives them the tools both to expand their children’s learning and to monitor their progress.

Schools in their second or third years of implementing the Academy Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT) program are continuing to perfect and expand the new model of meetings to empower parents to help their children learn outside of school.

Eliot, Gallegos, Kennedy, Mitchell, Piney Point, Shadowbriar, and Tijerina elementary schools, as well as Fonwood Early Childhood Center and the Wharton Dual Language Academy, all recently completed their first round of fall APTT meetings.

The model replaces traditional parent-teacher conferences with three 75-minute group meetings involving all parents in the class, and one 30-minute individual session with the student, teacher, and parents. During group meetings, teachers share student performance data and expectations for the class, review skills, and model hands-on activities parents can do at home to help their children master skills. Parents practice the activities at home with their kids over a 60-day period until their next meeting, when they can again review the data and see how their child has progressed. Continue reading →

DiscoverU expands the number of educational travel opportunities for HISD students

DiscoverU has increased the number of partnerships it has with HISD schools to seven for the current school year, allowing even more students to expand their horizons through foreign travel, college campus residencies, business internships, and more.

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Revere MS teacher showcased on Doug Lemov’s ‘Teach Like a Champion’ blog

Erin Krafft, a math teacher at HISD’s Revere Middle School, was spotlighted last year for her effective instructional practices. Now, she’s getting recognition from the very person whose techniques she has been implementing in the classroom: Doug Lemov, author of the bestselling book, “Teach Like a Champion.”

Krafft was the subject of a “Field Notes” entry on Lemov’s blog dated Oct. 19, in which Colleen Driggs highlights “how beautifully she built a positive, productive and efficient procedure for Turn and Talk,” and how skillfully she laid the foundation for a method she could build upon the entire school year.

To read the full story and see the video, please visit the Teach Like a Champion website.

Mark White ES community meeting offers update on construction, introduction to new principal

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Community meeting attendees for the new Mark White Elementary School on Thursday heard an important update on the construction phase of the project and received a formal introduction to the newly hired principal for the relief campus.

Lisa Hernandez, former assistant principal at The School at St. George Place, will lead the campus when the school opens in August 2016.

“We’re going to be looking at building a strong community for the school and really setting the mission for the school,” Hernandez said. “Our job as educators is to prepare students for the 21st century, and that is something I’m really looking forward to building at Mark White.”

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Sharpstown International School holds second bond community meeting

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Sharpstown International School held its second community meeting on Tuesday to brief more than 50 students, parents and community members on district plans to renovate its existing campus.

“The (Project Advisory Team) and design team worked very hard for the last eight months for the vision and future of Sharpstown International,” said Michael Sabouni, architect at Autoarch Architects. “We are very happy to share the journey of success of how will we transfer a school built 50 years ago into a 21st century educational facility that is going to serve us for an additional 50 years.”

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Nine schools to participate in Marching Band Festival Oct. 6

Nine HISD high school bands will be strutting their stuff in the district’s eighth annual Marching Band Festival on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The festival gives bands the opportunity to receive feedback on their music quality, sections, music effects, visual effects, and visual performance. The critiques will help the bands prepare for future performances and events.

Participating schools include: Continue reading →

Gridiron legends kick off National Literacy Month for Bush Foundation

Former Houston Oiler quarterback Dan Pastorini was accustomed to passing a football on the field. Now, he passes on knowledge and a love of reading by volunteering to read to a child. Pastorini and gridiron legend Charles Alexander joined The Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation, Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, and Phillips 66 at Walnut Bend Elementary School on Aug. 31 to help kick-off National Literacy Month.

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Every September, this national literacy initiative aims to raise awareness of the nation’s literacy crisis. Studies show that children who do not read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than proficient readers. That’s why volunteers are so vital to helping kids comprehend the power of being able to read. Continue reading →

Community meetings scheduled to share design concepts and site plans for 2012 bond schools

The Houston Independent School District has scheduled six community meetings for the month of September to discuss the progress being made within the 2012 bond program, which will renovate or rebuild 40 schools to create 21st century facilities.

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Drones taking students on flights of STEM fancy

Rice camp introduces students to careers related to these devices

Drones are making headlines more and more often in the news these days, and about a dozen HISD students have been learning about these high-tech devices — and the careers they’re used in — during a camp held at Rice University.

The sixth- to ninth-grade students, who attend DeBakey High School, HSPVA, Lanier Middle School, Revere Middle School, the T.H. Rogers School, and Valley West Elementary School, spent three days learning how to design, engineer, and pilot drones in mid-August.

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