Week of August 9, 2024

Summer Updates from Avoca West

With the start of school just around the corner and staff returning to get their rooms ready to welcome students, there is an exciting buzz of energy in the building once again! Although the building has been quiet this summer, our staff have been collaborating with one another and working on District initiatives throughout the summer. A few things our staff has been working on include:

Professional Development around Amplify CKLA, Avoca West's new literacy curriculum which will be implemented K-5 this school year.
Reviewing the recommendations from last year's Advanced Learner Service Review (partnership with Northwestern's Center for Talent Development) and considering adjustments for how we provide challenging instruction for students (K-8).
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Committee to planning for instruction that continues to make SEL and wellness a priority for our students and staff.

Under the direction of Dr. Arreguin, our administrative team has been focused on learning more about one another and how we can provide greater connections within our school(s), caregivers, and community as a whole. The District will be leaning into the Portrait of a Graduate characteristic of "Socially Grounded: Developing healthy relationships with self and others, rooted in respect, empathy, integrity, and justice" this year and being really intentional about fostering relationships/partnerships with our caregivers and community.

Dr. Arreguin and I are looking forward to partnering with one another and with our community in the year ahead!

"Tech"nically Speaking - Device Updates for AW

Teaching during the pandemic required us to make many adjustments to life at Avoca West -- included making sure each student had their own school-issued iPad in order to access instruction virtually. Before then, our students had access to iPads at school, but students did not have 1:1 devices to bring home until fifth grade (and beyond).

What will 2024-2025 look like at Avoca West?

Students will all have an individual iPad issued to be used at school for school work.
iPads will stay at school and will not be sent home each afternoon.
iPads will still be used for personalizing practice/instruction, assessment, and opportunities to create.

Why the change?

This will help make sure student devices are charged, at school, and updated as needed -- and minimize much of the risk of possible damage, lost items, or missing accessories.
Reframing the school iPads as tools for school and not personal devices for games, videos, and entertainment helps align it with its original purpose in education.
We know that social skills and play are necessary to build off line and in real time with others. Though we cannot make sure each student has time to engage in real time, unstructured play, removing iPads as distractors for those connections is doing our part.

Note: Marie Murphy students will still have their school-issued devices to use both at school and home.