PE Portfolio

All elementary PE teachers submitted their PE portfolio by the April 15 deadline!  A huge thank you to Kara Monk, Josh Van Pelt, Renee Graham and Elizabeth Stone for being the best portfolio mentors anyone could ask for!  They answered many phone calls, texts, emails and held training sessions at their schools to support our teachers.  They truly are rock stars!  A huge thank also goes to Heather Casteel, Art Specialist who has given us all great advice and support during our "practice year".  The process has begun to review all the PE portfolios in the state.  Each district is expected to have 10% of it's teachers as portfolio reviewers.  Final scores will be sent to teachers later in the summer.  

The Knox County PE Portfolio reviewers are:

Josh Ballard

Elizabeth Cross

Kristin DeLapp

Renee Graham

Susan Hibbett

Kara Monk

Sarah Pickett

Elizabeth Stone

Josh Van Pelt

Elementary Track
We had another exciting and successful elementary track season.  Thank you to all the elementary PE teachers who all the hard work you put in to bring your students to your area track meet and then to the Elite Meet of Champions.  This year was bittersweet with the passing of our dear friend Larry Graham.  Mr. Graham has been a wonderful ambassador for elementary track.  He was at the finish line of every race encouraging every student personally.  This year, Mr. Graham was honored at the north area meet at Halls High School.  His wife, daughter and pastor were present to honor his life and unwavering support he gave to students and the community.  Mr. Graham was also honored at the Elementary Elite Meet at Hardin Valley Academy on April 21.  The two first place trophies that were given are named after this remarkable man.  Mr. Graham, you will be missed.  

PE, Health and Wellness Mini Conference

 Please join us for the PE, Health and Wellness Mini Conference at West High School on Wednesday, June 1 from 8:30-11:30.  Sessions included topics on Drug Trends in Knoxville, Anti-Tobacco Programs from the Health Department, Inquiry-Based Instruction using Technology and many more.  We also welcome the KCS school counselors who have been invited to attend.  

"Let's Move"

Thank you to all the participants for the annual Let's Move that was held on Saturday, May 8 at Victor Ashe Park.  Thank you to Ramona Dew, Coordinated School Health and to Kara Monk to keeping us all organized! 

Summer K-12 social studies professional learning opportunities have been posted on Randa PD! Check out the vast offerings and make plans to attend! 

PD offerings may be found on the following link: http://knoxschools.org/Page/14004

If you are attending a College Board Advanced Placement summer training or other out-of-district PD, please submit an Out-of-District request to ensure proper credit is granted.

Thank you in advance to Rebecca Nutter, Lou Gallo, Gordon Sisk, Ashley Corey, Kristin Risdahl, Audra Gurtler, Dr. Betty Blanton, Katherine Petko, Tami Russell, Amber Moser, Lisa Oakley (East Tennessee History Center), Studies Weekly, Gibbs-Smith Publishing, and to the following UTK professors- Dr. Charles Sanft, Dr. Vejas Liulevicius, Dr. Marina Maccari-Clayton, Dr. Margaret Andersen, and Dr. Amadou Sall, for contributing content support for our teachers at the upcoming summer social studies PD!  The department is grateful for the vast community of support extended to our teachers.

Additional local pd opportunities are listed on our Schoolwires webpage and include multiple offerings at East TN History Center, including Teaching With Primary Sources, June 9-10, Support for TN History Standards, June 30, and National History Day support in July; contact Lisa Oakley with ETHC for additional information. 

The department extends a shout out to Austin East and Fulton High APUSH students and teachers for participating in the 2015-2016 UTK Bridge to Advanced Placement United States History Program! We also extend our gratitude to the UTK History professors for supporting our APUSH students and teachers.

Congratulations to all Advanced Placement teachers selected to serve as AP readers and to all elementary, middle, and high school teachers selected to serve on TDOE Social Studies content, item, and passage review teams. Thank you in advance for this important work!

Congratulations to Lou Gallo, Karen Stanish, and Katherine Petko- all three will represent Knox County Schools on various TDOE Social Studies Standards Review committees. Thank you for contributing in this capacity!

Civics Committee- Linda Stooksbury, Jyl Smithson-Riehl, Mark Chenot, Dean Burress, Paula Franklin, Paegan Turner, and Gordon Sisk comprise the local Civics Committee. These elementary, middle, and high school teachers will help guide our district as we ensure each fourth, eighth, and tenth grade student engages in a Civics PBL/PBA. Additional information, including curriculum resources and teacher training, will be shared during summer and fall PD. 

High School US Government and Civics Teachers: Additional information, including the local Plan of Action, will be shared with all stakeholders, regarding State of Tennessee, PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 499 HOUSE BILL NO. 10

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 1; Title 49, Chapter 2 and Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to civics education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 4, is amended by adding the following language as a new section:

(a) Beginning January 1, 2017, except as provided in subsection (c), a student, during the student's high school career, shall be given a United States civics test composed of questions from the one hundred (100) questions that are set forth within the civics test administered by the United States citizenship and immigration services to persons seeking to become naturalized citizens.

(b) An LEA shall prepare a test for its students composed of at least twenty-five (25) questions and no more than fifty (50) questions from those questions described in subsection (a). The LEA may prepare multiple versions of the test for use in different schools and at different times.

(c) A public high school may provide each student with the opportunity to take the test as many times as necessary for the student to pass the test. A student who has an individualized education program (IEP) under which the civics test is determined to be an inappropriate requirement for the student shall not be required to take and pass the civics test.

(d) A student shall pass the test if the student correctly answers at least seventy percent (70%) of the questions.

(e) A school all of whose seniors receiving a regular diploma, except for those exempted from taking the test under subsection (c), make a passing grade on the United States civics test required under subsection (a) shall be recognized on the department's web site as a United States civics all-star school for that school year.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2017, the public welfare requiring it.

To all K-12 social studies teachers- thank you for the many contributions to our Schoolwires teacher resource files. Please continue to submit electronic copies of your standards-based resources to either Judy or Katherine.

Contacts:

Judy Newgent  judy.newgent@knoxschools.org

Katherine Petko  katherine.petko@knoxschools.org

Vickie Beckers  vickie.beckers@knoxschools.org

 865.594.1730 (Office)

Congratulations to Karen Anderson (Spring Hill Elem) on her retirement! We wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Upcoming Summer Professional Learning Opportunties

• Collective Impact Conference put on by the TN Arts Commission. Please register and pay using this link: http://tnartscommission.org/statewide-conference/
• TN Arts Academy. Please register and pay using this link: http://www.tennesseeartsacademy.org/
• To receive unscheduled inservice credit, please complete the "out-of-district workshop" form in Randa. Upon completion, upload the attendance certificates provided by the event planners.

We are now accepting applications for 2 Visual Arts Professional Learning Specialists. Please complete the applicaiton sent in our newsletter, From the Palette.

A big congratuations goes out to Tressie Norton (Magnet Facilitator, L&N STEM Academy), Sandy Morris (Magnet Facilitator, Green Magnet Acadmy), Luke Bell (English Teacher, L&N STEM Academy), Shannon Siebe (International Baccalaureate Facilitator for Bearden Middle and West High School), Bevin Gresham (Magnet Facilitator, FulCom Communications), and Casey Robison (Innovation Specialist) who presented at the Magnet Schools of America Conference in Miami, Florida, May 3 - 6.  Schools from across the Nation applied to present.  Of the 84 sessions offered, Knox County Schools were chosen for five, meaning that our county made up approximately six percent of the conference.  

The Summer transfer window to apply for a KCS Magnet School is now open and runs through July 1.  If you know of families interested in attending a school of choice, they can contact casey.robison@knoxschools.org for more information.  The transfer application can be found at 

https://transapp.knoxschools.org/

Library Media Services is proud to unveil its new departmental vision:

Knox County School Librarians are the friendly faces of knowledge acquisition.  Our libraries are growing, multiservice, dynamic school centers that welcome, motivate, and inspire everyone in our community of users.  We invest our time and skills in nurturing, promoting, and advocating for a learning environment that maximizes services and equitable access to resources. Our library programs are essential to a school-wide culture of innovation, achievement, and collaboration.  Knox County School Librarians are forward-thinking leaders who model inquiry, information literacy, technologies, and trends in reading and instruction.  Our professional charge is to inform and empower by fostering a safe environment where users can read, explore, question, solve, and create, leading to Excellence for Every Child.

Our new vision was written by the twelve members of the KCSLMS Vision Team, a group of librarian teacher-leaders established a year ago to contribute to transformational leadership work for our department.  Input was solicited through conversations about our collective identity, values, and beliefs with the whole department of librarians, and synthesized by the Vision Team.  Six new librarians will be appointed to rotate in to two-year terms on the Vision Team starting this summer.

 We're excited to reflect our commitment to a school-wide culture of collaboration by sponsoring these cross-curricular professional development opportunities this summer:

Music and Dance Update:

Congratulations and thank you to Judye Hollingsworth, Laura Wallace, Terri Hogan and Janet Roach for their many wonderful years of service as music teachers in the Knox County School System.  Thank you for all that you have done to provide your students with the best music education possible.  These four outstanding and dedicated music teachers combined have more than 100 years of teaching experience.  Ladies please enjoy your well deserved retirement.  We will miss you.

Congratulations to all of the Knox County Middle School Choral Programs the participated in the ETVA Middle School Choral Festival this year.  Combined, the KCS Middle Schools that participated in the festival received a total of twelve (12) Superior ratings and one (1) Excellent rating.  That is some outstanding work by our middle school music teachers and their students.  Teachers, congratulations for a job well done, your students performed magnificently.

Congratulations to The Knox County Elementary Honor Choir for putting on a great concert.  Ms. Christine Bock, director of the Elementary Honor Choir put together an amazing musical learning experience for the students and the performance was outstanding.  Thank you Ms. Bock for the great teaching that you do everyday and thank you for directing the Knox County Elementary Honor Choir.

Congratulations to all of the Dance Teachers and their students for putting on another Outstanding Dance Showcase.  The performances by each school's group(s) were magnificent.  Teachers, thank you for all the hard work that you do everyday to provide your students with the best Dance Education possible.

Teachers, there are two great opportunities for professional development this summer.  The ETGMEA will hold a one day professional development "Are We Having Fun Yet? Taking the Mystery and Stress Out of Planning, Portfolios and Evaluations."  The session will be held at Farragut Intermediate School on Thursday, July 21, 2016 and will be presented by Janis M. Aston, from the Music Makes Us Foundation in Metro Nashville Public Schools.  You may register for the session on RANDA.

The Tennessee Arts Academy will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, from Sunday through Friday, July 10-15, 2016.  The TAA is open to all music, dance, drama and visual arts teachers.  You may register for the TAA on RANDA. 

I hope that all music and dance teachers will have an enjoyable and restful summer and come back in August ready to take on another great school year.  Thank you for all that you have done to make this school year an outstanding year.  Thank you for being TEACHERS and caring about Kids.

YEAR LONG READING COURSE

• Congratulations to approximately 290 elementary teachers who graduated from the Year Long Reading Course on May 11, 2016. These teachers invested 8-10 half-day sessions engaging in ongoing professional development on the science of teaching reading. In addition, the teachers completed bridge to practice exercises to embed the learning into classroom practice.

• Please join me in recognizing Danielle Hamilton and Krista Lee. As instructors for the Year Long Reading Course, Danielle and Krista work diligently to plan sessions that are timely and meaningful for teachers. Teachers continue to share feedback on the positive impact of the course and how it improved content knowledge and instructional practice. Kudos to Danielle and Krista for providing excellent professional development!

• SAMPLE COMMENTS FROM TEACHERS:

      I just wanted to say thank you so very much for coming to help us today.  We are so excited about implementing all of this even farther next year.           Your input and insights were extremely helpful. We really do appreciate y'all coming out and taking your time to help us! 

      The Year long reading course has  greatly impacted my whole group reading as well as my small group reading lessons..I have learned several new           comprehension and vocabulary strategies that my students are really embracing such as the guided highlighting with the basal or text as well as the         very focused vocabulary webs.   I love having a very structured lesson plan for my small groups that hits all components of reading building as we go         through the lesson. This course was by far the BEST course offered by Knox County.  I look forward to taking more courses that build off this           course in the future.  I will be reading the book this summer! 

      When I was told that I would be going to the YLC, I was not sure what to expect. On the very first day I was taught a whole new language. This                 simple activity opened my eyes to the challenges my students who are struggling readers face every day.  It gave me a whole new perspective on             what I should be doing during my reading block each day. The YLC has helped me with whole group lessons, centers, and small groups. How to                 develop better lesson plans has been one of the best parts of my YLC experience. I look forward to implementing and using all of the new ideas                 presented during the YLC.

      The two things that stood out to me about The Year Long Reading Course are the phrase cued reading and voiced/unvoiced letter sounds. The                   YLRC helped me understand how to support student comprehension through phrase cued reading as well as label voiced and unvoiced letter sounds to       better understand how students decode.

      The Year-Long Reading Course impacted my ELA instruction by adding effective strategies and practices to my toolbox.  The Bridge to Practice                   Assignments allowed me to apply what was presented in class in my class. I believe that my students have shown growth in reading and writing due         to information and activities presented such as the small reading group Phonic Lesson Framework, fluency activities, and Spelling Inventories.  I have       made a routine of using a number of these strategies/activities daily.

 PreK-5 MATH/ELA SUMMER ACADEMY

      July 26, 2016 

      8:00-3:45

      Bearden High School

      Please register on RANDA

Summer K-12 Mathematics professional learning opportunities have been posted on Randa PD! Check out the vast offerings and make plans to attend! 

PD offerings may be found on the following link: http://knoxschools.org/Page/14004 

If you are attending a College Board Advanced Placement summer training or other out-of-district PD, please submit an Out-of-District request to ensure proper credit is granted.

Secondary ELA Summer Learning

Block Party

• May 24^th from 7:30 – 4:00 at Sarah Simpson. Lunch will be provided.
• Theme: Alignment of Standards, Instruction, and Task
• Miah Daughtery- Presenter
• Register on Randa for each of the morning sessions and your choice of the 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. session:

                  Poster Session – Great Room 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

                  Keynote Session – Great Room 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

                  Intervention Strand 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

                                                      OR

                  Alignment of Standards, Instruction and Task 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Writing Camp with Freshman Composition Instructors from UTK

June 6-9 from 8:30-11:30

Location: Austin East Magnet

1 Teacher from each middle and high school

2 Groups/ divided by feeder pattern

June 6- Unravel the Writing Standards and Crosswalk Skills to UTK Writing Assignment

June 7 – Work in groups to complete the UTK Writing Assignment and Vertically align tasks for grade appropriate progression

June 8 – Work with Freshmen Composition Instructors

June 9 – Discuss Implications for 6-13 Alignment/ Work on Workshop for each grade level for August In-service

Collaboration with UTK- Digital Reading

June 6, 2016

Episcopal School

Audience: 1 ELA teacher and 1 librarian or media specialist per school

E-mail Susan Groenke to register

TNReady Writing- Repeat from Summer 2015

All Day Options

May 25: 8:30 – 3:45 (90-minute lunch break) Bearden High – room 340

July 25: 8:30 – 3:45 (90-minute lunch break) Knox Central – Reading Center

TNReady Writing Follow-Up: Revision Decisions

75-Minutes

May 26: 10:00 – 12:00 OR 1:00 – 3:00 Bearden High – room 340

July 26: 10:00 – 12:00 OR 1:00 – 3:00 Knox Central – Reading Center

Intervention Training

• Language!Live - 2 days of training (1 day of training/ Follow-up training)
  • July 13 Initial Training- ROOM 215 SSPDTC
  • July 27 Initial Training - ROOM 215 SSPDTC
• Rewards – 2 days of training (1 day of training/ Follow-up training)
  • July 12 Initial Training ROOM 107 SSPDTC
  • July 26 Initial Training ROOM 215 SSPDTC
• Reading Plus – 1 day of training
  • Erica Jones – July 28 at Vine Middle Magnet
  • Erica Jones – August 3
• Step Up to Writing - JULY 25
• Flex Literacy - July 14

Leadership Retreat

• Friday, July 29^th from 9:00 – 3:00
• Location TBD

ELA Year Long Course 

Comments from teachers who completed the ELA Year Long Course this year:

• As a SPED teacher, I feel this course has allowed me to understand the foundations of ELA which I have not been exposed to in great depths before.  I have learned new strategies to help me scaffold intervention activities and lessons as well as graphic organizers, vocabulary, etc.  I have learned to love intervention even more!

• This course has given me the tools and knowledge how to respond to "He is just lazy."

• Foundational Reading is extremely important for an intervention teacher to understand.  Having this knowledge will enable teachers to identify student deficits and assist students who are struggling with specific needs.  "Struggling" can have multiple meanings.  Therefore, foundational reading provides specific measures to implement with students.  I believe I am as smart as my intervention now that I have completed this course.  The course has been very beneficial.  I still have more to learn.  I enjoyed how the courses were arranged.  It provided adequate time in between classes to think about the information learned and adequate time to reflect before the next class.  Thanks for everything!

• Provides a better understanding of why students struggle / process to work on individual needs.  I can now answer parents with educational terms.

• I feel so much smarter!  I can clearly see the process of reading and how all the parts fit together.  I'm able to stress what I need to for my kiddos.

• I am learning to be as smart as my intervention.  Knowing the science of reading makes me a better teacher in many ways.  Understanding the developmental stages of learning to read helps me know what areas on which me know what areas on which to focus for each of my students and for my intervention class as a whole.  You're the best!

Going Live with Ellevation

This summer the ELL Department will be training our staff for the Ellevation rollout.  This software program is specifically designed to assist ELL teachers in communicating stratigic learning goals with classroom teachers. The following teachers served as the data expert team for our Department:  Darlene Davenport, Stephanie Richter, Bill Meidl, Susan Dalton, Elizabeth Choi, Jackie Cohn, and Kira Brewer.

Access 2.0:  We did it!

A huge thank you goes out to every ELL teacher, test coordinator, and prinicpal for your work in completing ACCESS 2.0 testing. I also want to thank Laurie Driver and Lisa Rinehart for their hard work.  

ELL PD Specialist for the Summer

Carrie Arrana will be serving our ELL Department as the PD Specialist this summer.  She will be leading several trainings and be posting on Canvas. Thank you Carrie Arana.

We would like to thank the following teachers who have served on the PLE Advisory Council for the 2015-2016 school year (attended 3 or more meetings): Audra Warner, Matthew Davidson, Sherie Dudley, Missy Warden, Laura Miller, Monica Hayes, Jenny Holt, Gretchen Edwards, Heather Presley, David McGinnis, Emily Butterfield, Angie Manis, Amber Wall, Laney Hill, Rachel Johnson, Amy Lyttle, Connie Boyd, Kelly Lee, Shaun Kelly, and Sarah Heatherly. 

Congratulations to our TPaCK Coaches who have been selected as members of the Leadership Academy- Zack Brewer, Jennifer Garrett, Sara Harris, and Denise Watts. We wish them well in their new endeavor. 

Upcoming PD Sessions for Summer 2016

Registration is availabe on Randa or the Classified website http://bit.ly/kcsclassified.