Learning Together

Message from Troy D. Olin, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction

As we reflect on the recent Staff Appreciation Week, we wanted to extend our heartfelt gratitude to each of you for your unwavering dedication and commitment. During our monthly administrative walk-and-talks, there have been countless examples of you going above and beyond to support our students and each other.

In particular, we have seen remarkable evidence of our instructional focus areas in action:

• Empowering Student Ownership: We've observed students confidently discussing their learning targets and success criteria, clearly understanding their educational journey. Your efforts to set high expectations and encourage students to articulate what they're learning, why it matters, and how they will demonstrate their understanding have been truly inspiring.
• Active Student Engagement: Classrooms are buzzing with energy as students actively participate in their learning. From peer-to-peer interactions and small group discussions to whole group activities, your commitment to placing students at the heart of the learning process is evident. Students are not just passive recipients of information but are fully engaged, questioning, collaborating, and experiencing authentic learning moments.
• Responsive Tier I Instruction: We've seen you tailor your teaching to meet the diverse needs of our students, ensuring that every learner feels included and supported. The consistent expectations aligned with our curriculum, coupled with the use of assessment insights for targeted support, highlight your dedication to responsive instruction. Your flexible approach to small group and individual work, utilizing varied materials, is making a significant impact on our students' progress.

The new standards focus on five key concepts:

• Impacts of Computing
• Computational Thinking
• Networks & System Design
• Cybersecurity
• Digital Literacy - this is a section that everyone should review!

As we wrap up the book study that teacher leaders have been participating in all year, we are making plans to move forward in our learning so that we can make recommendations for enhancing our grading practices, fostering an equitable experience for all students, and becoming more consistent in our expectations.

Secondary teachers and instructional staff that are interested in contributing to this work are invited to join a task force that will kick off this summer and continue throughout the next school year. Your participation and insights will be invaluable in this endeavor. Summer dates will be August 8 and 9 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be paid at the contractual summer rate.

Please fill out the form below if you'd like to get involved.

Teacher leaders will be submitting proposals for summer curriculum development by May 31. The work needs to be aligned to our curriculum process and focused on one or more of the stages outlined in Atlas.

Stage One - Desired Results

What do students need to know, understand and be able to do?

This stage is based on NYS standards. If your standards have changed, if you are creating a new unit, or adjusting expectations for students, you will need to be working in stage one.

Stage Two - Assessment Evidence

How will you measure students' progress towards the goals set in stage one?

If you need to create or revise common assessments, clarify scoring rubrics, add variety to your assessment methods, or create performance tasks, you will be working on this portion of your unit(s).

Stage Three - Learning Plan

What activities, experiences and lessons will students engage in to develop their understanding of the concepts and skills in stage one? What resources will you use to introduce, reinforce and differentiate when needed?

If you will be working on adding instructional strategies, technology resources, suggested scaffolds or outlining when and how to use district resources, you will be working in stage three.

You can access Atlas through ClassLink or the Staff Intranet. Your username is your email address and you set your own password. These do not update automatically or sync with your network login, so if you forgot your password, you can click "reset password," and you will be prompted to change it.

Please be aware that we are in the process of updating emails for those of you who still have an Atlas username that uses the old GC email. If you have trouble logging in, please reach out to

Lindsay DiMartino.

All curriculum work will take place in the high school library, beginning on July 1 and ending by Aug. 16. After proposals are received, we will confirm approved projects and dates with teacher leaders during the week of June 10. If you plan to work this summer and you did not participate in the curriculum development training in the spring of 2023, you will need to sign up for the AM or PM session on June 25 in Frontline.

Curriculum Development Training - June 25 AM

Curriculum Development Training - June 25 PM

We know that GC has amazing educators doing great things! Sometimes staff are interested in sharing this work by applying to present at state or national conferences. There is now a new form in Frontline that must be submitted prior to submitting a proposal to an organization to present at a conference. Submission of this form will provide an opportunity for building and district administrators to review the content and costs associated with this request, taking into account the equitable rotation for state and national conferences. This form will go through an approval process and can take several weeks, so please submit as soon as you can. The following are important to note:

• Proposals should be submitted at least three (3) weeks prior to a conference proposal deadline
• Not all proposals will be approved based on content and associated costs
• Staff should be willing to share gained knowledge with colleagues upon return

Want to become a GC mentor? Interested staff must be approved through an application process and if approved, attend a mandatory BOCES training (Tuesday, Aug.13 OR Tuesday, Aug. 20).

Please see the flyer and attached documents below for more details, or refer back to the email sent on May 7 from Teri Marsh

Application deadline is Friday, June 7!

Congratulations to Lindsay Fitter, Kristen Joseph, and Jason Ressman, who were the first three to respond to last month's riddle correctly - E N T

If you know the answer to this month's riddle, click HERE to submit your answer. The first three (3) people who answer the riddle correctly will receive a special prize in their mailbox next week!

Good luck!

May Riddle: This belongs to you, but everyone else uses it.