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Instructional Materials Adoption Update – Action Needed

On December 4th from 4:30-6:00 at the district office in Building 2, Oak Room, we are inviting teachers, coaches, and administrators to attend a showcase of the resources for K-8 Mathematics, M/J World History, M/J Theatre 1-3, Theatre 1-4, Acting 1-4 that have gone through a rigorous review process conducted by school staff and the Office for Leading and Learning. This will be a time for staff to ask any questions before making the final recommendation for adoption.

Click Here for the list of narrowed choices.

If you have questions and are not able to attend on December 4, please enter you vendor questions here

Vendors will be sending materials to each school site by December 4 addressed to the principal. You may have already received some materials for World History, Fine Arts, and K-5 Mathematics. The remaining resources are on the way. You all have digital access to the resources.

If you have questions, please contact Zsuzsi McGovern.

Please complete this Mach Form to send the name and e-mail of a SAC member for your school who would provide us feedback about the instructional materials under consideration.

Winter/Spring 2019 Reading Endorsement Course Offerings: Share with teachers

Registration opens in myPGS on December 17, 2018.

Pasco County Schools offers five reading endorsement courses throughout the school year and summer to provide our teachers an opportunity to add the endorsement to their teaching certificate. In order to receive the endorsement, teachers complete courses that develop their understanding of the foundations of language, research of best practices, assessment, and differentiation in reading, as well as a semester practicum. Once all five courses are successfully completed, teachers can add the endorsement to their certificate. 

The attached document lists the courses offered this winter/spring, their myPGS course number, and details about dates that the courses run for the winter/spring session. For additional information about endorsement requirements, please review the FAQ document.  Please share this with anyone who may be interested in your buildings.

We are anticipating high enrollment in these courses; please encourage teachers to register quickly.  If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Hatten.

Secondary Math and ELA Learning Walks: Share with teachers

Teacher Professional Development Day 2 Information

Thank you for your support of Day 1 learning for secondary math and ELA teachers.  Day 1 participants are welcome to attend Day 2 of professional development in January 2019.  Like last year, Day 2 will consist of learning walks with teams of teachers in partner schools to practice using the IPG to see shifts and standards-aligned instruction in our Pasco County classrooms.  Ben Aguilar and Rachel Hatten will be sending a sign-up to all Day 1 participants to determine who will be participating in Learning Walks. They will then finalize logistical details in an effort to create a draft schedule for principal review.  Please note that participating teachers must both be willing to open their classroom for others to walk and be willing to walk in others’ classrooms.  Teachers who do not wish to participate in learning walks at this time will still have the option to open their classroom for others to visit.   Please email Ben Aguilar (math) orRachel Hatten (ELA) with any questions.

Clinical Educator Refresher Training: Share with teachers

Clinical Educator Refresher Training on 12/6 from 8:30 – 3:30 in Building 2, Mangrove Room.  This training is for teachers that have already attend the 3-day Clinical Educator training more than 5 years ago.  This one-day training serves to refresh participants on highly effective mentoring practices and ways in which to engage in those strategies more often.  If you have teachers you would like to recommend to attend, please complete the Principal Recommendation form for the Refresher training and email to Jenny Rinck.

Celebrate Literacy Week 2019: FYI

Celebrate Literacy Week is January 28-Feburay 1, 2019. The theme is Spreading Literacy, One View at a Time. With this theme in mind, we are encouraging all schools to participate in the Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! contest and encourage students to help spread the love of reading and the importance of literacy. Schools in each category (elementary, middle and high) are invited to compete in the YouTube video contest. Students from each school can create a school YouTube submission that communicates how they share literacy or the importance of reading in their lives. Because the focus is on sharing a love for reading and getting the word out, submissions will be judged by the number of YouTube views. If your school chooses to participate, please send us a link to your video so that we can share it widely to increase the number of views each video receives!  More information is attached. 

Middle School Accelerated Literacy Newsletter– FYI
Rebecca Younglove: FYI

Rebecca Younglove, our Leadership Development Program Coordinator will be moving to Gainsville where she will work as a Senior Leadership Development Specialist at the University of Florida. We are so sad to see Becky go, but know that she will do amazing things with her passion, knowledge and commitment to leadership development. We are so grateful to all of you who have worked so well with Becky over the past couple years to advance our leadership development programming for our system.  As such, we will be advertising for Becky’s replacement to start in January. Additional information about the position will be found in the posting in TalentEd in coming days. 

Important Dates
11/26-12/14 State EOC Window (FSA & NGSSS)
11/29 Priority School Meeting
11/29 Pasco Pathways WCHS
 12/3 ELA Coaches PD
12/4 Gallup Scorecards released
12/5 Secondary Principal Meeting
12/8 Time and Effort A-87 certifications for November due
 12/10 – 12/14 Priority School Walkthroughs
 12/10 – 12/21 Quarterly Check Window
12/13 Secondary Design Team Meeting
12/18 Math Coaches PD
On the Horizon
Upcoming: 12/21 – End of Quarter, 12/22-1/6 – Winter Break
Instruction at a Glance

Click the links below to access the Instruction at a Glance document for each content area. 

Language Arts Courses

Mathematics Courses

Reading Courses

Science Courses

Social Studies Courses

 

Content Area myPGS Section # Date & Time Location Target Audience Focus/Learning Goal
Classroom Management: Understanding and Managing Behavior 13541 11/29/2018 8:30 – 3:30 District Office, Portable 22 All Secondary Teachers Participants will work collaboratively in exploring key intrapersonal, interpersonal and environmental variables that impact student behavior and will identify specific strategies and systems for use in their classroom to manage student behavior.  Participants will understand and apply basic behavior principals to improve student behavior in class, and develop and implement a classroom reinforcement system to improve student behavior in class.
Classroom Management: Managing the Classroom Environment 13539 12/6/2018 8:30 – 3:30 District Office, Building 2, Cypress Room All Secondary Classroom Teachers Participants will be able to explain executive functioning and its effects on learning, identify and utilize effective techniques for managing groups of students (heterogenous, homogenous, random, student selected) and design a layout of the classroom space to maximize student learning.
Science Grade 6- 13440 Grade 7- 13443 Virtual Virtual Grade 6 & 7 Teachers To experience model science lessons as learners with a de-brief on the lesson structure, strategies and teacher/student moves for an upcoming unit. There are opportunities to collaborate on unit planning, student engagement strategies and activities to engage students in the Science and Engineering Practices as well as the 5e model. Teachers will leave with activities and strategies they can use in an upcoming unit.
Accelerated Literacy 9-12 & 6-8 IRLA Classrooms 12/04/18-12/07/18 Learning Walks Teachers using IRLA in a Reading Classroom The goal of learning walks is to create an opportunity for Reading teachers to be able to visit other Pasco IRLA classrooms to learn from each other and see how their colleagues approach close reading lessons, conferencing, small group instruction, classroom management, monitoring for engagement, and building a reading culture.

 

Training Title Teachers who Attended Information/ Training Received What to Expect in the Classroom Questions to Ask
Placing Text at the Center of the
Standards-Aligned ELA Classroom
(and Asking the Questions that Matter Most)
Core Actions 2 & 3 – IPG

This professional learning opportunity was available for all secondary ELA teachers.

For a list of teachers who attended by school, please click here.

  • Understand what text-centered instruction in a standards-aligned ELA classroom looks and sounds like
  • Practice writing and sequencing standards-aligned questions that keep text at the center of the lesson
  • Collaborate with grade-alike peers from other buildings
  • Intentional sequences of questions that drive students to what matters most about each specific text
  • PLCs planning together discussing the qualitative features of each text and collaboratively writing questions and tasks.
  • Class discussions and students writing in response to text that spirals through multiple grade-level standards
  • How did you plan for this sequence of questions?
  • What was the central understanding of this text that you wanted students to comprehend?
  • What qualitative aspects of this text did you anticipate would be most challenging for students and what scaffolds did you plan for in anticipation of those challenges?