Summer PD Opportunties

Hello all!

Summer is a great time to advance your own professional learning. It's also a great time to relax and recharge before the next school year. In the spirit of professional learning, I am recommending some courses for you this summer. Scroll down for full descriptions of the classes. Click on the PD Catalog link on the right to register!

CCSS Implementation of CCLEs

PD Catalog: 1318, 1319 Summer Session 1: June 25-16 Summer Session 2: August 13-14

Targeted Math Instruction

PD Catalog: 1350 Summer Session: August 17-21

K-5 Writing Seminar

PD Catalog: 1371, 1377 Summer Session 1: July 13-16 Summer Session 2: July 20-23 

Responsive Classrooms

If you're interested in this, ask your Principal. There are limited spots available!

CCSS Implementation of CCLEsMMSD Teacher Leaders will lead analysis and planning for CCSS-M through the CCLEs and MMSD Developmental Guidelines, K-5. 

In this 2 day course, teachers will deepen their mathematical understanding and 
instructional skills through practicing, analyzing and digging deeper into CCSS-M 
with the MMSD Common Core Learning Experience (CCLEs) and the Investigations 
curriculum. 
Teachers develop a deep level of content knowledge along with professional 
reflection and planning. Time will be dedicated to active exploration, modeling 
and planning to support the Great Teaching framework. The course is designed for 
teachers to first learn the content, how to practice ongoing formative assessment 
and then practice effective instructional activities in a culturally relevant context. The course focuses on the Danielson Framework’s domains 1, 3 & 4.

Targeted Math InstructionUnderstanding Number & Operation Development for Effective Differentiation, Intervention & Targeted, Asset Based Instruction

Day 1-3: Teachers will study how students develop important early concepts about
number and operations including counting, ordering and sequencing numbers,
composing and decomposing numbers, place value, addition facts, and strategies for
solving story and number problems. Using this developmental knowledge teachers
will assess students' understanding of number and use assessment information to
plan for differentiated, targeted instruction.
Days 3-5: Teachers will study how students develop important concepts and
strategies for the four basic operations. Participants will learn how to assess
students' concepts and strategies in addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division and use this assessment information to plan for differentiated,
standards-based instruction in mathematics, within Tier 1 of the MTSS Framework.

K-5 Writing Seminar

MMSD has adopted new writing curricular resources to support writing instruction

with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts in order to provideevery student with well-rounded, culturally responsive and coherent instruction
that leads to college, career, and community readiness. Great Teaching Matters,
the Teacher Team Toolkit, and the 3-Year CCSS Plan frame the K-5 ELA Writing
Seminar. This four-day seminar supports participants’ deep learning around
standards-based instruction and assessment within a workshop model (Day 1),
narrative writing (Day 2), informative/explanatory writing (Day 3), and opinion
writing (Day 4). Participants will be able to create a classroom environment that
fosters student independence, identify grade-level expectations for writing,
understand how to scaffold instruction with research-based instructional practices
and strategies, use engagement techniques to support all learners, and use
components of a comprehensive assessment system to monitor, measure, and inform learning. Participants will apply their learning as they engage in instructional planning and will leave each day with ready-to-go resources that they can use in their classrooms. Participants will need fully-charged laptops and the recently adopted MMSD writing resources.

Growing Roses in Concrete

Tupac Shakur writes:

The Rose That Grew From Concrete 

Did you hear about the rose that grew 

from a crack in the concrete? 

Proving nature's law is wrong it

learned to walk without having feet. 

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, 

it learned to breathe fresh air. 

Long live the rose that grew from concrete 

when no one else ever cared.

The conference I was at last week, New Teacher Center Symposium on Teacher Induction, was informative, inspiring, and empowering. We had the great privilege of hearing from Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade, a classroom teacher in East Oakland, CA for 21 years, and current Associate Professor of Raza Studies and Education at San Francisco State University and Co-Founder of the Teaching Excellence Network. Don't know much about Oakland? Google it. It's the definition of urban teaching and Dr. Duncan-Andrade was beyond inspiring to listen to.

One quote from Dr. Duncan-Andrade that stuck comes from his conversation around Socratic Hope ("show the sermon, don't preach it"):

Are we reflective enough to be on the painful path with our students?

Not just, "Do we care about their pain?" or, "Are we ensuring we understand their pain?" Are we willing to truly walk with them, each and every step of the way?  Because that, my friends, is what this takes. 

I want to share this 14-minute video clip with you. It's one of Dr. Duncan-Andrade's speeches, called Growing Roses in Concrete, and it illustrates how absolutely vital it is that we know and love the children we spend each day with.

I do hope you take the time to watch this video and allow yourself some space to think about it.
Do you believe in and love your students? Do they know that you love them? What do you do, each and every day, to prove to your students that you're on their path beside them? How does each of your students know that you believe he or she is important? And why does it matter?

http://rosesinconcrete.org/

Dave Chappelle's interview with Maya Angelou (5:35 - 8:26)