Sunday, August 25, 2019

Professional Learning: Teacher Quality Opportunities

It was a great start to the school year, and we are looking forward to another great year with exciting learning experiences for students and staff.

TQ

Many of you engaged in professional development opportunities last year. There will again be some options for teacher quality funding to support your professional learning this year.

As was the case last year, there will be one window for teacher quality funds to support coursework this year. This window will extend across the school year (August 23, 2019-August 22, 2020).

There is a $375 limit for teacher quality funding during this timeframe. In order to be eligible for TQ funding, an application must be submitted. Each teacher may submit one TQ Course Application during the 2019-2020 school year.

When your course is completed, please submit your transcript and a payroll sheet to Nikki Christianson in the district office. Payroll sheets may be found on the mySEP page. Please follow the guidelines below to make sure you receive your payment in an efficient manner.

PAYROLL GUIDELINES

  • Payroll sheets may be found on MySEP under the Human Resources/Payroll link.
  • Under the description put "TQ: THE NAME OF THE COURSE"
  • Make sure you complete 'time in', 'time out' and the total hours (up to 15)
  • If the course is more than 15 hours, only submit up to 15 hours.
  • All submitted times must be outside of contract hours.
  • A separate payroll sheet should be submitted for each month if the course is held across multiple months.
  • Be sure to sign your payroll sheet.
  • Your instructor should not sign the payroll sheet--your transcript will serve as the verification needed.
  • Please submit your payroll sheet within 1 month after completing the course.
You may submit an application through the link below. This form may also be found on the mySEP page under "Teaching and Learning Resources." 





TIME

A second opportunity for funding will be an option for teachers to participate in additional hours of professional learning throughout the school year (TIME-Teacher Initiated Meaningful Engagement). Certified teachers may receive up to 8 hours of additional per diem pay for collaborative work completed outside their regular contract time during the 2019-2020 school year. The criteria for these hours is below:
  • Extension of the District/Building PD Plan
  • Supportive of Building CSIP
  • Responds to one of the 4 PLC Questions
    • What do we want students to learn?
    • How will we know when they have learned it?
    • What will we do if they do not learn?
    • What will we do if they have already learned it?

To receive payment for this work, please submit the form below. This form may also be found on the mySEP page under "Teaching and Learning Resources." There will be 2 pay periods for TIME hours during the school year--in November and May. 

Please review your collaborative plan with your building 
principal prior to beginning this work.



Please let me know if you have any questions about teacher quality funding. Your commitment to building and extending your professional learning is very much appreciated!

Thursday, August 15, 2019

August 21 Professional Learning

Welcome back to a new school year!  We are looking forward to learning opportunities for both students and staff.  Our first district staff development day will be Wednesday, August 21st.  The learning sessions for this day were planned based on feedback from teacher teams.  In addition, all staff will be completing the online suicide prevention training.  Below is information related to this day.  It will also be reviewed during preservice on Monday.

  • The hours for this day are 8:00 AM-4:00 PM.
  • All sessions will be held at Southeast Polk High School.
  • Lunch is on your own from 11:45 AM-1:00 PM.
  • Please bring a charged laptop and earbuds or headphones for the online training portion of the day.
  • Make sure you know your username and password to AEA Learning Online prior to August 21st.*

*Please note: It takes 24 hours for a new account to be registered so that you may take online courses.  If you do not have an account, please set one up as soon as possible.



The day will consist of a keynote and 4 breakout sessions.  During the morning sessions you will attend one session as a follow up with the keynote speaker and you will choose one breakout session. During the afternoon sessions you will take the online suicide prevention training for one session and choose one breakout session.  Some breakout rooms can hold 50-60 people.  Classroom breakout rooms can hold 25-30 people.  It will be helpful to have a first and second choice in case a session is full. You may want to strategically plan with your team to attend a variety of sessions and share your learning during team time and collaboration. Session leaders are from Employee Family Resources, Heartland AEA, and Southeast Polk. Below is a link to the schedule and room assignments for the day: