VanWeekly

Vanguard members had a fabulous time at GaETC last week. There were many first-time Vanguard GaETC attendees, as well as presenters! Congrats to all who took the leap and shared their knowledge at the conference!

If you found yourself listening to others, but not getting as much out of it as you would have liked, it's time for you to consider presenting next year! Start working on your ideas and when the application opens, you'll be ready to go!

As a reminder, shirts that were not picked up during GaETC will be sent to your school. There are quite a few that need to be sent out, so please be patient. We will get them to you as soon as possible.

We are continuing to review the Nearpod completion and coaching plan completion. We will reach out to you if there are questions or concerns about either of those items.

Because many coaching logs were turned in after the due date, and some are not yet turned in, we will be delayed in distributing the stipend. When an official date is ready, we will let you know!

Remaining Cohort 5 iPads: The iPads are ready for distribution. They have their SIM cards and will get their Vanguard tags this week. The goal is to bring many of them to schools during the week. We'd like to get them in your hands before Thanksgiving. You will receive an email before I head to your schools with them.

Cohort 6 iPads: Your iPads have been ordered and we'll keep you updated on their arrival.

Cohort 3 iPads: Those of you with 16GB iPads will have to wait a bit longer. We will try to order and refresh them as soon as possible.

Cohort 2 iPads: There is no immediate plan to refresh these iPads until all others have received theirs.

During the 2015-2016 school year, the Vanguard team had many members recognized as the Teacher of the Year or Employee/Professional of the Year! On Friday, November 11, they were recognized for this honor. Congrats to all of you and thank you for making Vanguard so proud!

At the end of October I had the opportunity to visit Westlake HS and Dr. Valerie Bennett. Dr. Bennett is using different formative assessment tools to support her students across various physics classes.

Thank you, Dr. Bennett for allowing us a look into your classroom!

Microsoft is partnering with our district and is offering a Microsoft Innovative Educator Trainer Academy on December 6-7 at North Learning Center.

This workshop will explore the tools of Office 365 (OneNote, OfficeMix, Sway, Forms, Skype and more) and how they can impact teaching and learning. The goal is for all participants to redeliver the information learned to others. This could be at your school, at Vanguard events, or district level events.

Mindy Ramon is looking to increase the number of trainers that we have in the district. If you are interested in this opportunity, please complete this form ASAP. Spots are limited.

http://tinyurl.com/mietrainerdec6and7

Unfortunately, despite a chat being schedule, there was no attendance. Because UDL and Assistive Technology is important in Fulton County, we will reschedule the chat. A big thanks to Gigi Whiteside for her understanding and flexibility!

Thursday's chat will be led by Vanguard member, Jenny Johnson, and VanChise member, Brenda Paul. They'll be helping us wrap up and reflect upon our time at GaETC and how the new knowledge gained can be tied in with personalized learning! Didn't attend GaETC? You can still participate in the chat and get some new ideas!

Andrea and Megan, the NELC leads, will again host a live tweet-up at 5 Seasons Brewery on Old Milton Pkwy. Join them to learn how to participate in a chat, or just to have a good time!

The Atlanta Families' Awards for Excellence in Education are now accepting nominations for 2017! This is an incredible opportunity to recognize someone amazing at your school or in our county. In fact, the Vanguard team is FULL of members that would make deserving recipients.

In 2015, Vanguardian Megan Endicott was recognized for the work she's doing at Dolvin ES. Take a look at her feature on their website!

Since we began the Vanguard team, we've started to throw VAN in front of everything - VanChise, VanWeekly, VanLeadership, VanWaitlist, and so on.....

Thank you to Vanguard member, Kevin Cooke, for providing us with this video and to help us laugh a bit at ourselves!

Our mission as a Vanguard team is to build the capacity of FCS educators and leaders to provide innovative instruction which meets the needs, skills and interests of all students.

Email: heather@ksuiteach.org
Website: fcsvanguard.org
Phone: 678-902-5782
Twitter: @FCSVanguard