Professional Learning Needs: Mental Health and Facilitating Challenging Discussions

We had 70 staff members respond to the survey last week related to professional learning needs.  Below are the results.  Today's blog has some resources to support some of these needs, including mental health and facilitating challenging discussions. (You can still add your votes to this poll.  You will find it at the end of today's blog).

Mental Health Webinars           

The Iowa Department of Education will be holding a 3-part series of webinars to help cope with ongoing stressful events and the ever-increasing number of mental health needs. To continue to address this issue, the Iowa Department of Education will be holding a 3-part series of webinars in the month of November from 3:00 PM-4:00 PM.

• November 4th: Mental Health Needs and Resources
• November 12th: Prevention and Intervention
• November 18th: Self-Care and Social-Emotional Learning Competencies

Again, all 3 webinars will be held from 3:00 PM-4:00 PM.  To participate, you may join these webinars via Zoom.  

ZOOM INFORMATION:
Zoom link: https://IDOE.zoom.us/j/97556284768?

pwd=ZjFrdmgyK1VQcmFDLzhyM0dqaG00Zz09
Passcode: 890012
Topic: Mental Health Supports Webinar Series

Facilitating Challenging Discussions

With the election being held next week, there will be much discussion around the results.  Students (and teachers) will experience a number of emotions, including happiness, sadness, joy, anger, disappointment, fear, and hope. It will be important to facilitate discussions to help honor these feelings and support students in processing them in positive ways.  Southeast Polk's At Risk Coordinator, Amy Anderson, has provided some resources to help facilitate challenging conversations in productive and respectful ways.

Fostering Civil Discourse: How Do We Talk about Issues that Matter? (Facing History & Ourselves)

Current Events Checklist   (Facing History & Ourselves) (includes strategies for navigating emotionally difficult or complex topics - see #5 on the list)

Let's Talk: Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students (from Teaching Tolerance)

(p.30-31 give tools for handling strong emotions that come up)

Responding to the 2020 Presidential Election

Professional Learning Needs Survey

What types of professional learning would support your work right now? (choose your top 3)

Student Engagement

Health and Safety

Learning Management System Support

Closing the Achievement Gap

Mental Health for Students

Mental Health for Staff

Best Practices for Remote Learning

Family Partnerships

Classroom Discussions and Controversial Topics

 

pollcode.com free polls

Elementary Grade Level Collaboration: October 28th

As we approach the first trimester grading period, remote teachers and teachers at the building will have a chance to collaborate and discuss grades for students who have been in both pathways for this reporting period.  Meetings will be held virtually for teachers from Centennial, Delaware, Runnells, and Willowbrook on October 28th, and Altoona, Clay, Four Mile, and Mitchellville on November 4th.  Each building team has been scheduled individually, and you may join the Zoom link at the time for your grade level.  Below is the schedule for tomorrow, October 28th.

Grade Level	Schedule
K Zoom Link	10/28/2020 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45 Runnells 3:00 Willowbrook 3:15
1 Zoom Link	10/28/2020 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45 Runnells 3:00 Willowbrook 3:15
2 Zoom Link Meeting ID: 850 3566 0696              Passcode: 254036	10/28/2020 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45 Runnells 3:00 Willowbrook 3:15
3 Zoom Link	10/28/2020 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45 Runnells 3:00 Willowbrook 3:15
4 Zoom Link	0/28/2020 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45 Runnells 3:00 Willowbrook 3:15
5 Zoom Link	10/28/2020 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45 Runnells 3:00 Willowbrook 3:15
Special Education Zoom Link	10/28/2020 Runnells 2:00 Willowbrook 2:15 Centennial 2:30 Delaware 2:45

The schedule for the remaining 4 buildings will be published in the blog next Tuesday.

Professional Learning Follow Up

We met with the Professional Development Steering Committee this week, and discussed the value of having time to collaborate and plan on Wednesdays this year.  We will continue to support teams with collaboration as well as provide learning opportunities as they meet your needs.  The committee responded to the survey below.  You are invited to add your ideas as well in the blog comments.

What types of professional learning would support your work right now? (choose your top 3)

Student Engagement

Health and Safety

Learning Management System Support

Closing the Achievement Gap

Mental Health for Students

Mental Health for Staff

Best Practices for Remote Learning

Family Partnerships

Classroom Discussions and Controversial Topics

 

pollcode.com free polls

As a follow up to our pd last Friday, below is information on the sessions that were provided.  If you did not get the chance to attend sessions you were interested in, you may participate 'on-demand' as it works for you and your collaboration team. 

There is a page on the Southeast Polk Professional Development site dedicated to the October 16th professional learning.  

This page includes the presentation from the overview as well as recordings and support materials from the breakout sessions. The link above will take you to the following sessions.

Thank you for your engagement and feedback last Friday.  Please let us know if we can provide follow up support for any of these learning sessions. 

October 16th Professional Development

We are looking forward to our day of professional learning this Friday, October 16th.  All district learning sessions will be virtual, and the Zoom links are included on the schedule below.

Elementary Schedule

8:00 AM - 11:00 AM Building Professional Development

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Lunch

12:00 PM - 3:30 PM District Professional Development

Secondary Schedule

8:00 AM - 11:30 AM District Professional Development

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Lunch

12:30 PM - 3:30 PM Building Professional Development

Secondary District Professional Development

8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Overview (All Teachers)

ZOOM LINK

(Teachers choose a breakout option for each session)

8: 30 AM - 9:20 AM Session 1 

9:30 AM - 10:20 AM Session 2

10: 30 AM - 11:20 AM Session 3

Breakout Session Options

• Pear Deck

• Building Student Ownership of Learning with Tiered Task Cards

• Classroom Strategies for Helping Students Cope with Stress and Anxiety

• Xello (3 options)

• Mastery Connect

• Authentic Learning with Newsela

Elementary District Professional Development

12:00 PM - 12:15 PM Overview (All Teachers)

ZOOM LINK

12:15 PM - 1:25 PM Grade Level Collaboration (All Teachers)

(Teachers choose a breakout option for each session)

1:30 PM - 2:20 PM Session 1

2:30 PM - 3:20 PM Session 2

Breakout Session Options

• Pear Deck

• Building Student Ownership of Learning with Tiered Task Cards

• Classroom Strategies for Helping Students Cope with Stress and Anxiety

• Mastery Connect

• Authentic Learning with Newsela

Breakout Sessions

Descriptions and Links

Pear Deck

• Join in to learn the basics of Pear Deck - an interactive presentation.  You will learn ins and outs of Pear Deck along with learning how to utilize it with Google Slides.  We will also explore both teacher and student views to get familiar with both sides of the application.  

Zoom Link   

Presentation Link

 

Building Student Ownership of Learning with Tiered Task Cards

• Participants will understand that tasks can be designed to support student learning as they move from the online to the onsite setting.

• Language Goal: Participants will design a Tiered Task card using the learning progressions from proficiency scales. 

ZOOM LINK

 

 

Classroom Strategies for Helping Students Cope with Stress and Anxiety

• Participants will recognize common and less obvious signs of anxiety in students.

• Participants will take away three strategies to support students in persisting through discomfort in the classroom or remote learning environment.

ZOOM LINK

 

Introduction to MasteryConnect

• Participants will learn the basic skills needed to use MasteryConnect as an assessment tool to help guide instruction in their classrooms.

Topics covered will include:

• Navigation

• Creating a Tracker

• Tracker Basics

• Adding a Community Assessment to Your Tracker

• Delivering an Online Assessment

• Performance Grader

• Reports

For teachers who aren't able to attend on the 16th, all of these topics and more are covered in the MasteryConnect - Introduction module of MC online PD.  

ZOOM LINK

 

 

Getting Started With Xello (1 hour)

Audience  - All HS, JH & SC Counselors & JH TAG

 

Set yourself up for success with a recorded training to help you confidently use Xello with your students.

See how Xello's tools help educators support student success. The session will cover:

• Accessing student profiles

• Creating and managing student groups

• Customizing students' dashboard

• Running reports on student progress, work, and engagement.

ZOOM LINK

 

 

Xello - Course Planner Training (50 minutes)

Audience  - All HS, JH Counselors, 8th Grade TAG

 

Set yourself up for success with a recorded training webinar to help you confidently use Xello with your students.

Everything you need to know about Xello's incredibly powerful 4-year Course Planner. This session will cover:

• Adding and removing courses

• Course rules

• Graduation and specialization tracking

• Submitting course requests

• Exemptions and educator overrides

• Reporting

ZOOM LINK

 

 

 

Xello - All About Lessons (1 hour)

Audience - HS Counselors, 9th Career Seminar Teachers, SC/JH Counselors, JH TAG

 

Xello's lessons are interactive, engaging, future-readiness activities designed to arm students with the tools necessary to address life transitions and decisions with a critical eye. They can be woven into curriculum plans, assigned as self-paced activities, and used as milestones of progress. In this session you'll learn:

• What Xello's lessons are and how they work

• Tracking lesson completion and viewing student work

• Strategies to help your students get the most out of lessons

ZOOM LINK

 

Authentic Learning with Newsela

• Participants will understand that Newsela is a tool to support authentic learning across all content areas and across all levels of learning.

• Participants will demonstrate their learning by identifying ways to use Newsela to strengthen student learning.

ZOOM LINK