Visual Art Professional Learning Session

4th Tuesday of the Month- October 27

At West High School, 4:30-6:30

Please sign up in Randa to receive inservice credit.

(Last 4th Tuesday meeting of the semester. Next meeting is Jan. 26.)

A huge THANK YOU to the presenters who helped make the In-Service on Septemeber 28th a success!  

• Christy Bock
• Allison Bradley
• Sarah Cummings
• Kenton Deitch
• Steve Simpson
• Wendy Skinner
• Jessica Strutz
• Brenda Swinson
• Edie Taylor
• Suzie Vaughan
• Janna Waldrupe
• Ashley Waller

Elementary Teachers:

1. Don't miss the Inservice opportunity on Tuesday, October 27th "Classroom Management and Rehearsal Techniques for the Elementary Music Teacher" from 4-6pm at Rocky Hill Elementary.  
2. Thank you to all of the teachers who will be taking their students to theYoung People's Concerts on October 28-30th at the Civic Auditorium.  What a great learning experience this will be!!

Middle/High Teachers:

1. Preparations are underway for the All-East Honor Choir event taking place at Maryville College from November 19-21st.  Looking forward to hearing good reports from our participants!

Welcome

We would like to officially welcome Whitney Barnett to the Educational Technology Department. She is serving in the role of Personalized Learning Environment (PLE) Facilitator. We are excited to have her on board our amazing team. 

PLE Advisory Council

Congratulations to the 2015-2016 Personalized Learning Environment Advisory Council! This team throughout the year will be learning more about personalized learning, networking, and finding ways to continue to innovate teaching and learning. Follow our journey through a year of challenges on twitter with #kcs747. The September challenge was a paperless classroom, and October is setting up a Mystery Skype. If you would like to participate, please contact anyone from the advisory council. 

Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities

Elementary, Middle, and High School teachers:

Celebrate:

• To all social studies teacher leaders who presented at the September 28 system-wide in-service, thank you!
• Thank you for the excellent lesson plans/resources you've submitted; please continue to share standards-aligned lessons for Schoolwires.
• Hispanic Heritage Month wraps October 15.
• American Indian Heritage Month begins November 1.
• November 11- Happy Veteran's Day and THANK YOU to all who have served our country!
• Congratulations to Amanda Sharp and Karen Stanish for being selected to present at NCSS and for representing Knox County Schools!

Resources:

• Schoolwires Module Resources are updated on a weekly basis. Check it out!
• Optional Module Assessments are housed on Schoolwires.
• Primary Source Tasks available on Schoolwires
• Comprehensive Blueprints (including Reporting Categories), Scoring Rubrics, Performance Level Descriptors, Practice Items, and additional supporting documents for the new state assessments available at tn.gov/education/assessments/ushistory/socialstudies

Content and/or New Assessment Support:

• Contact Judy at judy.newgent@knoxschools.org or Katherine at katherine.petko@knoxschools.org to schedule your team for content and/or new assessment support. 

Upcoming Professional Learning:

• Teaching With Primary Sources, Thursday, October 15, East TN History Center - Topic: Age of Exploration - best suited for 4th and 7th grade teachers 
• Teaching With Primary Sources, Thursday, November 19, East TN History Center - Topic: Economics and Culture of the 1920s  - best suited for 5th and 11th grades teachers
• Primary Source Strategies for the Primary Grades, December 3, East TN History Center, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Middle School Honors Teachers: please continue to submit assessment items for the upcoming Honors Midterm to either Katherine or Judy. Also, all honors teachers are invited to join us on Monday, November 2 at Bearden Middle from 4:00-6:00 to finalize all middle school honors midterms.
• Ongoing support for content and new assessments (contact Judy or Katherine for a school visit)

Upcoming Rangefinding, Item Review, and Passage Review Opportunities from TDOE (TIME SENSITIVE):

The TDOE is seeking educators for the following opportunities:

High School Rangefinding Committee:

• Overview: Rangefinders are educators who will work with the department to score student work samples against the rubrics and set the expectations at each score point. These guidelines will then be used by the testing vendor to score all student responses from the operational test.
• Eligibility: High school U.S. History educators
• The application process for rangefinders in grades 3-8 will launch laterthis school year.
• Time commitment: Rangefinders will need to be available for an in-person meeting in Nashville from Nov. 30 through Dec. 4 and should anticipate a commitment of approximately five full work days.
• Application process: history teachers can apply by following the link shared in an email or by clicking here. Applications are due October 29, and applicants will be notified of acceptance by November 6.

Elementary, MS, and HS Item and Passage Review Committee:

• Overview: Item and passage reviewers are educators who will work with the department to review passages and test items for content, standards alignment, appropriateness, and bias/sensitivity.
• Eligibility: Social studies educators in grades 3-11
• Time commitment:

Social studies reviewers will need to be available for an in-person meeting in Nashville from Dec. 15 through Dec. 17 and should anticipate a commitment of approximately three full work days. Additional hours of virtual review are not required.

• Application process: History teachers can apply by following a link shared in an email or by clicking here. Applications are due Oct. 29, and applicants will be notified of acceptance by Nov. 6.

If you have questions about the social studies committees or cannot access the application links, please email Kadie.Patterson@tn.gov. 

Samples for Social Studies Extended Response Questions:

TDOE has recently released samples of social studies extended response questions and a range of student responses for each tested grade on the TDOE website under the Scoring and Accountability section. These materials are a resource to help teachers better understand how to grade the extended response items.  Please visit www.tn.gov/education/assessment and click on the Social Studies/US History tab. If you have questions, please email Judy or Katherine.

October Secondary Department Chair Meeting:

• Secondary Social Studies Department Chair Meeting, Thursday October 22 at SSPDTC

Best Wishes:

• Best wishes to the 11th grade teachers and especially to our students who will be taking Part I of the new state US History assessment in November.

SEPTEMBER 28 In-Service:

Much appreciation to the numerous teachers and instructional coaches who provided professional development on the September 28 System-wide in-service day. Many thanks to teachers for time spent learning and planning in collaborative teams. It was a productive day of learning for ALL!

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities:

TN READY WRITING: Grade 3, READY to WRITE!

• Thursday, October 22^th 3:30 - 5:00 at the Brickey-McCloud
• Thursday, October 29^th 3:30 - 5:00 at the Reading Center

TN READY WRITING: Grade 4, READY to WRITE!

• Wednesday, October 21^th 3:30 - 5:00 at Hardin Valley Elementary
• Wednesday, October 28^th 3:30 - 5:00 at the Reading Center

TN READY WRITING: Grade 5, READY to WRITE!

• Monday, October 19^th 3:30 - 5:00 at the Reading Center
• Monday, October 26^th 3:30 - 5:00 at the Reading Center

 PARTICIPANTS MUST REGISTER ON RANDA!

Teacher Created Materials:

• Thank you, Lauren Clowers (Pleasant RIdge)! Lauaren created 1st grade decodable reader lessons for every week, every unit.
• Thank you, Ruth Lau (Gap Creek)! Ruth created Zaner Bloser Handwriting Cards for teacher reference

All teacher created materials are located on our ELA department page on School Wires.

MAJOR WORKS OF THE GRADE FOR GRADES K-2:

• Teacher Leaders from grades K-2 shared the ELA Major Works of the Grade with teachers at the system-wide in-service on September 28th.

Year Long Reading Course:

Shout out to the 308 teachers who are engaged in learning the science of teaching reading! 22 schools have representatives attending the Year Long Reading Course this year, implementing bridge to pracitce and seeing results! We are well on our way to meeting our goal of training all K-5 teachers in this important work.

CURSIVE WRITING TEAM:

In response to the TN State Board of Education Cursive Writing Legislation: The Elementary Reading & ELA Department invited a team of teachers to preview the research and to create professional development to guide practical implementation of cursive in Grade 3.

We want to extend our appreciation for the hard work and effort of our cursive handwriting team:

Liana Gibson – Sarah Moore Greene

Amy Brantley – Mount Olive

Nikki Blevins –Blue Grass

Tracy Barnes – Sarah Moore Greene

Whitney Farquhar –Pleasant Ridge

Julie Cabbage –South Knox

Four sessions were offered at our System-wide In-Service on September 28, and additional PD will follow.

Celebration!!

Congratulations to our Language! Live teachers!  They continue to draw national attention for the progress they are making with middle school reading.  Thank you to Andrea Ensor, Angela Taylor, and Judy Fugate and the administrations at Northwest Middle School, Career Magnet Academy, and Halls Middle School for allowing us to film for training videos.

Profile in Courage Essay Contest

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is holding its annual essay contest. There is a link to the contest and the requirements on the announcements section of the department webpage. Included in their information are four lessons in Curriculum Ideas for the Classroom. The lessons are aligned to our state standards and to the NCTE Standards for Language Arts.  This is a great cross-curricular opportunity for social studies and English/language arts teachers. Please let Shannon Jackson and Judy Newgent know if you plan to nominate a student essay.

TNReady Writing

Last month, the department chairs and coaches participated in a rubric calibrating activity, focusing on Development in the Informational/Explanatory rubric.  The presentation is ready for redelivery by chairpersons or by members of the TNReady Road show.  If schools are interested, please reach out to Shannon Jackson.

Vocabulary Task Force

Vocabulary is an access point for complex text.  The following teachers and coaches worked with William Van Cleave to study high quality vocabulary instruction and to develop an instructional routine. They are field testing their strategy for the rest of this semester.  If any teacher is interested in participating in their work, the leader of the group is Emily Jellicorse.  Members of the group include: Michele Abbott, Robin Bowman, Whitney Lawson, John Sides, Robin Bell, Nada Cox, Candace Farrow, Amy Evers, Meshon Crateau, Erin Powers, and Elaina Gutierrez. Department chairs from middle and high school recognized a need for this work during the leadership retreat on August 1, 2015.  It will continue to evolve, so it meets the needs of our secondary ELA teachers.

Vocabulary Learning Series

Karla Halcomb, Karen Irwin, and Linda Perry are ready to being a 4-part series on effective vocabulary instruction.  Their sessions synthesize the learning with William Van Cleave, the Big Word strategy from the Reading Course, and the research from Dr. Anita Archer on direct, explicit instruction. Sessions are on Randa. All sessions are at the Knox Central Building from 4:15 - 5:15.

Session 1: The Importance of Vocabulary Literacy, October 21

Session 2: Morphology Instruction, November 16

Session 3: Academic Vocabulary, January 27

Session 4: Implementing Instructional Strategies, February 16

Year Long Reading Course

Module 2 of the Year Long Reading Course is next week, October 20-22.  The focus of Module 2 is on Orthography.

Website Updates

Each month, we review the department website and update resources.  Please take a minute to look at the Text Complexity Placemats that are available under Teacher Resources.  While these are not necessarily approved texts, these placemats have been completed by your colleagues.  They may be useful as you determine the texts that you want to use to meet certain standards. Next month, we will highlight the Professional Development page.

Vertical Alignment of the Standards

Many teachers have asked for sessions to work K-12 to understand each grade level's role in the development of the literacy skills.  On October 22nd, Shannon Jackson will work with three schools to unpack the standards and to study the progression.  Should other feeder patterns be interested in this work, please email to schedule a time.

The KCS Magnet Department will host the annual District Magnet Showcase on October 15 from 6:00pm - 7:30pm at The Standard.  Administrators and Magnet Facilitators will share information about their magnet programming and host student demonstrations. 

Upcoming Magnet Open Houses: 

Commissioner McQueen visited Green Magnet Academy on October 8 to talk about the integration of STEAM into elementary schools.  When interviewed, she said, "it [magnet theme integration] just doesn't happen on its own, and I am a firm believer we must plan and be intentional and purposeful in how we integrate a magnet theme such as STEAM into the daily learning."  Principal Dexter Murphy, and GMA staff did a wonderful job showcasing all GMA has to offer.  

Thank you to all the PE, Health and Wellness teachers who planned and presented at the Sept. 28 system-wide in-service:

• Kara Monk, South Knox Elementary
• Josh Van Pelt, Norwood
• Jennifer Allen, Bearden High
• Ashley Powell, Bearden High
• Brianne McCroskey, Hardin Valley Academy
• Josh Ballard, Northshore
• Mandy Irvin, South Doyle High
• Gina Legg, Gibbs High
• Janna Newell, Farragut Middle
• Brenden Cleer, Farragut Middle
• Kerrie Byrd, West Hills
• Pat Fontenot, Belle Morris

Elementary PE Portfolio:  The elementary PE teachers are participating in a "practice year" for the PE portfolio.  Teachers are working hard to assess students in locomotor skills, overhand throw and other physical and cognitive skills. Thank you teachers for your positive attitude toward a new way to measure student growth.  A special thank you to our 4 Portfolio Mentors:  Kara Monk, Josh Van Pelt, Elizabeth Stone and Renee Graham.  Their support for their peers has helped make this practice year easier for everyone!  What an awesome group of teachers!

Wellness EOC Review Team:  Thank you teachers for your time and commitment to review our new (and improved) EOC for Wellness! 

Jeff Phillips, Austin East

Jennifer Allen, Bearden High

Nikki Baker, Career Magnet Academy

Amy Rountree, Carter High

Julia Russell, Central High

Lyn Powell, Farragut High

Stefanie Crawford, Fulton High

Jerilynn Carroll, Halls High

Brianne McCroskey, Hardin Valley Academy

Hannah Smith, Karns High

Debbie Bretscher, L&N STEM Academy

Rodney Ellison, Powell High

Mandy Irvin, South Doyle High

Debby Jones, West High

Jessica Lee, West High

More online webinars will be available soon for PE, Health and Wellness teachers to earn unscheduled in-service hours.  

Upcoming system-wide in-service opportunities from the Gifted and Talented Department include:

• Concept-Based Literature Circles Through Lenses – taught at Cedar Bluff Elementary by Tiffany Nicely and Tiersha Adkins (11/5/15)
• Exploring resources to prepare students for TNReady – taught by Heather Mounce and Jennifer Maryanski at West Valley Middle School  (10/19/15)
• Exploring resources to prepare students for TNReady – taught by Heather Mounce and Jennifer Maryanski at Vine Middle Magnet School  (11/9/15)
• Number Talks – taught at Farragut Intermediate School by Laura Burgard and Suzanne Richards (10/29/15)
• Making Thinking Visible: Thinking Routines for the Classroom – taught at Hardin Valley Elementary School by Callie Painter and Jessica Everitt (11/12/15)
• Making Math Meaningful – taught at Amherst Elementary School by Shayna Holmes (11/12/15)
• Managing Student Behavior – taught by La Rhonda Forsyth at New Hopewell Elementary (11/5/15)

These past few months have been very busy for the ELL Department.  Our enrollment of has reached an all time high of over 2,850 students! Our ELL teachers have worked diligently to test and place our new students. In addition teaching and testing, our teachers have also been busy sharing training with the classroom teachers at their schools. The following teachers have provided training since our last C & I Update.

Robin Nelson and Melissa Mann at Northwest Middle

Jenna Street and Caitlin Lunsford at Amherst

Selena Lawrence-Morrow and Caitlin Lunsford at Pond Gap

Anya James and Rachel Hutson at West Hills

Dana Turner at Christenberry Elementary

Carrie Arana and Claudia Sanchez at Farragut Primary

Karl Mohlman (guidance) at Fulton High School

The September In-Service was another opportunity for our ELL teachers to serve as leaders in the county. The following teachers provided training sessions for Knox County.

Lisa Rinehart -  Accommodations and Modifications for ELL Students

Selena Lawrence-Morrow -  ESL 101: Helping your ELL Student (for classroom teachers)

Robin Nelson - Writing Strategies for the ELL Student 

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Jamie Wolf at Halls Elementary!!!! She was recognized as WBIR's Educator of the Week on October 13, 2015.

A big thank you goes to the teachers who took their time to go and administer the W-APT at the local private schools: Jamie Brightwell, Meghan Bennett, Mike Ogle and Jenna Street.