This message was sent to ##Email##
|
|
|
|
Education Week
"It's been two weeks since our school closed, and I need this to be over." That's what's on the mind of every principal in New York City during this coronavirus pandemic. We want to be back in our buildings, in front of our kids, greeting our families, collaborating with our staff. Of course, I know that's not possible right now. I know that closing schools is the right thing to do, and we need to remain closed until we flatten the curve.
READ MORE
The 74
As the unexpected Great Distance Teaching Experiment of 2020 extends into its second week, teachers and administrators have, for good reason, been heroically focused on creating some semblance of normalcy for their students. This has meant organizing laptop distribution, arranging internet access for families that were not previously connected and ensuring that all students have access to meals that they would otherwise have eaten at school and might not otherwise get.
READ MORE
EdTech Magazine
Over the past few years, many school districts have rolled out e-Learning days — also called remote learning or flexible learning days — to make up for instructional time lost to inclement weather and other unexpected events that push school buildings to close. With a strong e-Learning program in place, educators can continue teaching their curriculum online and help students stay on track academically outside of a classroom setting. It's also an opportunity for districts to see the impact of digital tools on student learning, train staff on educational technology and evaluate their data privacy and security measures.
READ MORE
Education DIVE
When Henry County Schools, along with the rest of the districts in Georgia, closed down because of the novel coronavirus, Jolie Hardin, executive director of leadership development and employment services for the district, knew there was one March event that couldn't be postponed. The 42,000-student district was expecting between 300 and 400 teacher candidates to its annual job fair — a gathering at which principals often identify who they want to interview and hire.
READ MORE
 |
|
Champions is an opportunity to exceed every parent’s expectations of what before and after school can be. Our programs immerse K–6 students in an inquiry-based, whole-child learning environment that supports academic and social-emotional learning. Support your teachers’ goals outside the school day without costing your district’s budget. Learn more
|
|
District Administration Magazine
School leaders navigating coronavirus closures have already made changes on-the-fly to online learning programs to help students and educators overcome the numerous challenges, including access and illness. The Northshore School District (23,500 students) near Seattle was one of the first districts in the country to close schools and move online, and has since had to cope with teachers falling ill, Superintendent Michelle Reid says.
READ MORE
By: Brian Soika (commentary)
 There are few things more rewarding than a career in education. Affecting change, instilling knowledge, inspiring hope and driving progress — these are all values on which our educational system is built. It's a noble path for those who are smart, determined and passionate about their career goals. But if you're just starting your career path, the options may seem daunting. Finding a position that aligns with your values ensures a long and satisfying career, but where do you start?
READ MORE
EdSurge
What will K-12 schools look like after social distancing is over and people reassess what they want from school systems after the pandemic? For this bonus episode of the EdSurge Podcast, we posed that question to Simon Rodberg, a former charter school principal and author of a forthcoming book from ACSD, "What If I'm Wrong? and Other Key Questions for Decisive School Leadership."
READ MORE
|
Promoted By
Move This World
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harvard Business Review
In the global transition from corporate hallways to home offices, we’ve left something behind: meaningful access to managers. Gone are the instant answers to unblock progress, information streams that managers are privy to before the rest of the organization, informal feedback and coaching while walking together after a meeting, and predictable process and structures for communicating about work and ensuring mutual accountability.
READ MORE
Inc. (commentary)
Geoffrey James, a contributor for Inc., writes: "I've been reading (and writing) business books since the 1980s and, as a pointed out earlier, much of the advice they give today seems hopelessly dated. Ditto with the advice of management gurus. The world has changed; things are different. Given that's the case, where should an entrepreneur (either internal or external) be looking to improve their leadership skills. Outside of reading about how great leaders (like Winston Churchill) managed during a crisis, I think there's only one place to turn: inward."
READ MORE
By: Terri Williams (commentary)
 Remote work has become essential for many organizations. However, it appears that some employees and managers are ill-equipped for this type of work arrangement. According to a new survey by leadership training company VitalSmarts, 21% of employees don’t feel their team members have good enough collaboration habits to work effectively from home and 20% of leaders are either unprepared or very unprepared to manage remote teams. Additionally, a VitalSmarts survey conducted before COVID-19 found that remote workers were already experiencing challenges when issues arise.
READ MORE
|
Promoted by
|
|
|
|
 |
Fast Company
To-do lists can be a good way to record tasks that need to be completed, so you don't forget to do them. For many of us, though, they can also become a distraction. It's easy to create a never-ending inventory of chores and projects that keep you so busy that you avoid doing big-picture projects that give you traction with your career. Sound familiar?
READ MORE
The Lead Change Group
In business, the right behaviors matter. But getting it right is tricky. Even when we acknowledge the need to change what we do and how we do it, life has a habit of getting in the way, upsetting even the best-laid plans. And just how do we manage those situations that can provoke even the most rational among us into behaving in ways we would rather forget?
READ MORE
Education DIVE
The proposed rules are part of a bigger regulatory overhaul that aims to give schools more flexibility in how they approach instruction while retaining eligibility for federal student aid. However, critics warn the move eliminates important oversight.
READ MORE
|
|
Education Week
In one three-week period, a pandemic has completely changed the national landscape on assessment. Every single state has won permission to skip the statewide standardized tests that are required by federal law, something that hasn't happened since 1994, when the federal government first required states to test students' achievement.
READ MORE
The New York Times
Tucked away in the $2 trillion coronavirus stabilization bill is a provision that allows Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to seek congressional approval to waive parts of the federal special education law while schools combat the coronavirus pandemic. How she might use that authority scares parents like Jennifer Gratzer, who lives in Seattle.
READ MORE
Education Week
On a recent morning in late March, Mark Racine, the chief technology officer for the Boston Public Schools, is huffing and puffing after bringing out a huge pallet of brand-new Chromebooks for volunteers to deliver to families across the city. It's part of a massive initiative to quickly distribute 20,000 laptops to Boston K-12 students, each device purchased weeks earlier in response to a widening coronavirus outbreak that, at the time, had yet to shut down most of the nation's schools indefinitely.
READ MORE
 |
|
School shut down? Looking to expand your teachers' professional learning? IRIS can help. Supported by the U.S. Department of Education, we offer free online PD, covering behavior management, differentiated instruction, accommodations for students with disabilities and more, to increase your teachers' knowledge of evidence-based
practices:
https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/pd-hours/
|
|
EdTech Magazine
Savvy K-12 district administrators and IT staffers know to plan for when, not if, a cyber incident occurs. That planning involves having a comprehensive response strategy for mitigating the effects of ransomware or other malware. Experts also advise that, in the end, people are a key part of any cybersecurity approach. It's important to develop a culture around cybersecurity. With the frequency of cyberattacks targeting K-12 schools, there is also a growing number of IT professionals and administrators who can share lessons learned from having to mitigate a breach and communicate the situation to stakeholders.
READ MORE
The Associated Press
Students struggling to get online in a rural South Carolina county received a boost last week with the arrival of six buses equipped with Wi-Fi, some of the hundreds the state has rolled out since schools were closed by the coronavirus outbreak. With routers mounted inside, the buses broadcast enough bandwidth in an area the size of a small parking lot for parents to drive up and children to access the internet from inside their cars. One of the buses set up outside the apartment complex of Lacheyle Moore, who had been limiting her own usage to leave enough data on her cellphone plan for her daughter's schoolwork.
READ MORE
MiddleWeb (commentary)
Tan Huynh, a contributor for MiddleWeb, writes: "In a world turned upside down by COVID19, many schools are now closed and some are offering virtual learning. The question I get most often is how do we determine which tech tool to use for online schooling? When thinking about the tsunami of ed-tech recommendations shared lately on social media, think less is more. You probably don't need more tech apps; you need to do more with the apps you already have."
READ MORE
Language Magazine
Amidst the flurry of social media updates about the COVID-19 pandemic, a chart illustrating the importance of flattening the curve has gone viral. The idea is that taking measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 lowers the chances of overwhelming hospitals and increases the chances that all of those who become ill will have access to treatment. The logic behind flattening the COVID-19 curve is intuitive – don’t panic, but be careful.
READ MORE
EdSurge
With the rapid spread of COVID-19, educators across the country and around the world have been tasked with shifting to emergency remote teaching—a move from in-person to remote classes made necessary by pressing circumstances.
READ MORE
eSchool News
As the number of cases of COVID-19 multiplies and the duration of school closures increases, school districts are struggling with the feasibility of providing students with online learning opportunities. In the rush to plan for online education hours, schools must consider equity and the quality of internet access available to their students.
READ MORE
|
|
Tech & Learning
In this age of Covid-19 social separation, kids still need to learn and teachers need to teach. For most districts this means a combination of online curriculum and video lessons delivered remotely. As in the classroom, the difference between a memorable lesson and an embarrassingly funny failure comes down to using your gear properly. Regardless of whether your school uses Skype, FaceTime, Zoom or Hangouts, making the most of the video technology is key. Here are my top five tips for teaching over a video link.
READ MORE
We Are Teachers
School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have launched educators headlong into unchartered territory. We're quickly attempting to translate our best practices into remote learning. Even though we can't see those little faces in person every day, individualized knowledge about our students still matters when we're teaching reading remotely.
READ MORE
By: Brian Wallace (commentary)
 Distance learning has been around a long time, but it has never been more important or more popular than it is right now. This infographic outlines the various technologies and techniques used in distance learning as well as the challenges to implementing it nationwide that are being overcome.
READ MORE
MiddleWeb
Along with expressing thoughts of wellness for everyone during this unprecedented time, this post suggests a focus for co-teachers to consider as they shift their teaching and learning to a remote process. First of all: how lucky are we?! If we're co-teachers, we have a naturally embedded partner to figure out this process along with us ... we are not alone!
READ MORE
Chalkbeat
Even under normal circumstances, Cheri Mann does a lot to help her students cross language barriers and make sense of an unfamiliar school environment. She teaches a half-dozen high schoolers who recently moved to the U.S. from Guatemala and Honduras, many as unaccompanied minors, in a small school district in north-central Kentucky. Most days, Mann helps her newcomers practice their English for one period, then accompanies them to their other classes to make sure they understand the instruction.
READ MORE
We Are Teachers
If you find yourself frustrated trying to keep up with the school packets, video chats, and virtual office hours, take a deep breath and a step back. Official school activities are important, but there are plenty of everyday activities that count as learning too. These kinds of activities have their limits (kids aren't going to learn calculus from cooking dinner), but overall, you can feel good about kids furthering their learning through these at-home activities.
READ MORE
Education World
Around this time of year, teachers are particularly prone to burnout, more so than in May or June. When Presidents' Day hits in the frigid darkness of February, teachers are looking at about a six-week stretch of school until spring break, which doesn't sound too horrible until we think about some of the other factors. For starters, testing often takes over in the spring months, and that alone adds pressure to the already fast-paced world of instruction. With up-and-down weather patterns, viruses tend to run rampant, and now that we face this year's addition of Covid-19 worries, anxiety is at a premium. Finally, people can be pretty tired, either from spring allergies or from just needing that break to come. How can teachers stay the course and keep morale up in the face of some pretty significant challenges to mindset and energy?
READ MORE
Edutopia
If you had asked me five years ago what phrases were used most in my classroom, 'That really hurt my feelings' would not have been on the list. 'Stop that,' 'please be quiet,' and 'hey!' — at a volume everyone but me would describe as a frantic shout — were in heavy rotation, but there was nothing about feelings. I was a teacher, gosh darn it, and teachers don't have feelings."
READ MORE
By: Saurabh Anand (commentary)
 Across campuses, amidst these dark days, one amazing thing is that the academic community is coming together and helping each other. Teachers and other instructors are interacting online, collaborating as teams, and guiding each other in designing course structures, among additional methods of help. Here are a few tips that one can consider while designing an online syllabus. Though these tips can be beneficial to all, they will be particularly helpful to those who are incorporating Zoom or similar applications for their asynchronous online courses.
READ MORE
The Associated Press
At school, Rose Hayes, 8, works with a team of teachers and therapists trained to help with her genetic condition. They set goals for her reading, give her physical therapy to improve her balance and make sure she stays on track. But for the last two weeks, her only connection to school has been through a computer screen. Rose, home amid the coronavirus pandemic that has shuttered schools across the country, now watches lessons her teacher posts to YouTube. Her therapists check in via video chat. In between, she works through daily assignments.
READ MORE
Education DIVE
While the survey returned only 700 responses, it's one of the first attempts to capture data on how teachers are adjusting to this shift. Such knowledge will become increasingly important with some experts suggesting that closures could extend into the 2020-2021 school year, or that at least additional closures will be necessary. The voices of teachers can help districts determine how to create ongoing support when all educators teach remotely — during this crisis or a future one.
READ MORE
Florida Atlantic University via Science Daily
When discussions occur face-to-face, people know where their conversational partner is looking and vice versa. With "virtual" communication due to COVID-19 and the expansive use of mobile and video devices, now more than ever, it's important to understand how these technologies impact communication. Where do people focus their attention? The eyes, mouth, the whole face? And how do they encode conversation? A first-of-its-kind study set out to determine whether being observed affects people's behavior during online communication.
READ MORE
Education DIVE
With states nationwide closing school buildings through April or extending closures through the end of the 2019-20 school year, districts are finding ways to continue special ed services remotely. Some have sent home instructional packets or are assigning work online while also routinely reaching out to families and offering additional supports through phone, video chat or email.
READ MORE
USA Today
Loren Feldkamp flashed a warm smile to about a dozen cafeteria workers last week as they prepared lunches for more than 350 schoolchildren in northeastern Kansas. Feldkamp, the superintendent of the Tonganoxie School District, thanked them each for their dedication to making the grab-and-go meals that were sustaining lines of children and parents. Nine school days earlier, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly had ordered all schools closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but school staff were still feeding kids.
READ MORE
NAESP
NAESP celebrates National Assistant Principals Week April 6-10, 2020, as we recognize the significant role assistant principals play in the overall academic achievement of students nationwide. In collaboration with the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the American Federation of School Administrators, we will honor the impact assistant principals have on the success of schools across the country.
READ MORE
NAESP
The start of the 2014-2015 school year was difficult, to say the least, for Westside Elementary School. The school had failed to meet state standards the previous year, dropping from a C to a D rating at the end of the prior school year and would have dropped to an F except for the fact that Florida at the time did not allow schools to drop two letter grades in one year.
READ MORE
|
|
|
|
7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
|
