Learning Together

Message from Troy D. Olin, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction

We’re just one week away from our next Superintendent’s Conference Day! As I previously shared, this spring's assortment of learning opportunities will allow us to continue the important work of understanding others' experiences, removing barriers, and fostering relationships with each other, our students, and the entire Gates Chili school community. Look for more information about the conference day in the professional learning section of this newsletter below.

When we think about equity, it’s important to consider the association between equity and literacy. Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world. Reading is the foundation for all future learning. It is vital for critical thinking, problem-solving, writing and math.

All the work we have done thus far with the ELA Task Force and curriculum writing, diversifying our district and classroom libraries and offering more culturally responsive content throughout our lessons directly relates to the next important steps in our journey.

Yesterday, elementary and some middle school staff received an email from Director of Elementary Education Sara Mucino. That message included a video update on our elementary literacy program, including some of the work that has been underway as well as our next steps. If you missed that email and video, you can watch it below. Our next steps include forming the Gates Chili Literacy Team, which will help to propel the district into the next phases of our literacy program.

This is where we need your help.

Membership will be made up of building reading teachers, the K-5 Literacy Coach, one primary and one intermediate teacher from every school and one middle school reading representative. This team will play a critical role in shaping the aligning of our curriculum, assessments and instructional practices for our ELA program. Click the button below to sign up to be a member of the Literacy Team. The last day to sign up is Monday, March 6.

This year our Office of Instruction faculty meetings have been focused on two essential questions.

What does rigor in action look like in our classrooms?

You've had a chance to reflect on your own practices and share examples and lesson ideas with your colleagues. As a leadership team, we've been spending time twice each month doing informal classroom visits with your building principals. This gives us a chance to reflect on what students are learning, how they are interacting with the content, and what strategies are being successfully implemented to engage them in the learning process. We have collaborative conversations during these 'walking meetings' to discuss what we see and how we can help to guide future work. We love talking with students and hearing their perspectives on the learning activities. If we haven't been to your classroom yet, hopefully we'll see you soon!

How can our curriculum, assessment and instruction become more rigorous?

As we wrap up our faculty meetings in March, you will have a chance to collaborate with colleagues to take a closer look at a curriculum unit to see where there is evidence of rigor, or how the unit could be revised and improved. Secondary meetings will be held on March 7 at both the high school and the middle school. We will be sending out information about where your department will be meeting. Elementary buildings will all be meeting on March 22. We are working out the details of a horizontal collaboration experience across all four buildings and will send additional information out soon. We are excited about this culminating activity as we prepare for summer curriculum development.

Every few years we update our required curriculum development training to ensure consistent practices across grade levels and content areas. As we prepare for summer, teacher leaders will be submitting proposals for work that needs to be done to update, revise or complete curriculum units in Atlas. If you are interested in working on a curriculum development team, you will need to choose a session to attend from the dates and times listed below. Registration for these will be available in Frontline soon!

May 24, May 31, June 14 or June 21

Each date will have a morning and an afternoon session, 8-11 a.m. or 12-3 p.m.

You only need to attend one.

Curated by the Coaches

Click on any of the images to link to the coaches' Wakelet and find out more!

Design a Talking Prompt!

An easy, interactive strategy to get students out of their seats, talking and sharing. Contact a coach to find out more!

In-service course begins Monday! Register in Frontline!

For current account holders only: With access to Learning A-Z, RazPlus, and Science A-Z, we have access to a tremendous amount of print, screen, and remote resources that can be easily distributed to students in a multitude of ways.

Sora Audio and eBooks

You and your students have access to:

✔ thousands of eBooks

✔ thousands of audiobooks

✔ thousands of 'read alongs' - ebook and audiobooks combined

✔ books in Ukrainian, Russian, and Spanish

Whenever Ari’s Uncle Lior comes to visit, they ask Ari one question: “What are your words?” Some days Ari uses she/her. Other days Ari uses he/him. As Ari tries on different pronouns, they discover that it’s okay to not know your words right away–sometimes you have to wait for your words to find you.

If you have books, bits and bytes to share, please reach out to our coaches!

Jen Christensen, K-5 Literacy Coach | @GCReadWriteGrow
Matt Harvey, K-12 Library Media Coach | @GatesChiliLibs

Mike Munski, K-12 Innovation Coach @MikeMunski

Wendy Taylor, K-12 Innovation Coach | @GC_WendyTaylor

As you know, next Friday, March 10, is our next Superintendent's Conference Day. To the right is the schedule for the day. Below are a few important details about the keynote and breakout sessions to help make the day run smoothly.

The Keynote Presentation will begin promptly at 10:30 a.m. in the GCPLC so please plan your travel time in order to arrive on time.

Printed, individualized breakout session assignments will be available for pick up on Friday, March 10, in the HS Small Café before or after the keynote presentation. With those assignments, you will also receive a map of the high school to help you find your way to your session(s).

After lunch on your own, all staff members return to the HS and attend two (2) one-hour breakout sessions or one (1) two-hour breakout session listed on your individual schedules. Start time for breakout sessions is 12:45 p.m. so please do not be late!

At the conclusion of the day, a survey will be available by scanning the QR code or following a link located on the bottom of your printed schedules. Please note that the survey does not open until the day has concluded.

Looking forward to a great day of learning as we all continue our journey to equity!

Way to go, Lindsay DiMartino, Andraya Cutaia, and Angelina Brodie for correctly answering last months riddle! The acceptable answer for the GC blue Pantone was 282 or 282c

March Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?

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!