April 3, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• I continue to get "bucket filling" messages from families about all the things you are doing to make their days.  This is a picture that came through my Dojo messages from the Soldner Family.  I can never thank you all enough for how you have stepped in to take care of our students.

• I watched a teacher encourage her students to try a science experiment in their home, with parent permission of course.  Providing them additional opportunities helps pass all this time that they have.

• Teachers creating and publishing videos and directions to help students know what to do during the day.  You are helping them to learn time management skills, independence, and patience throughout this situation.

• So many teachers are reaching out to me to work together to connect with students that are not connecting with the school.  Your professionalism and compassion is very much appreciated!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday-Friday, April 6-10
• Spring Break - Have a relaxing, safe break!

• Monday, April 13
• Virtual Learning Resumes for all grades
• Target Based Grading meetings start (see below for more information)

• Wednesday, April 15
• Staff meeting on BlueJeans at 11am

Nitty-Gritty

• Tech Tip from Christina


• Common Sense Media, the platform we use for our digital citizenship curriculum, has launched a new resource for families and educators. The program Wide Open Schools, provides some great resources for educators PreK-12 such as emotional well-being, science, reading, math, art and music lessons. Some of these resources we already use as a district, but you may find others a fun alternative as we continue our digital learning after Spring Break.  Have fun exploring!!




• Staff Resource Page
• Click here to see a Resource page for staff members to help answer common questions for students or parents during the school closure. The document shows password patterns, information about getting tech support, and other how-to options.

• Down Dog App
• Did you catch Mrs. Johnson's email about the app called Down Dog where you have access to a free membership until July 1.  It provides options to help with the increase in sitting that comes with our virtual teaching. Click in Self Service on your iPad to install the app.  The directions are here.

• Teachers Pay Teachers School Access
• Tomorrow I have a meeting scheduled to discuss TpT School Access and what it could mean for our school.  It currently is free for schools affected by the closures due to Covid-19.  After I learn about it, I will send out more details for you in case you are interested in using this.  If you have used it in the past, (I have downloaded things from TpT before, but I do not know exactly what the school access means yet) feel free to let me know what you think of it.

• Target Based Work
• Schedule a time for your grade level or department to meet with me about our Target Based grading work.  Please collaborate with each other to find a time that works for your team. The goal of the meeting is to check on what we have accomplished already, ask/answer questions your team has and discuss the next steps for your team/department.  The documents do not have to be totally completed for this meeting with me.  

PD Spotlight

Today was the first day of the Power of Positivity Summit.  What I liked best about the summit is that it had 4 links that come through my email and each one is between 7-15 minutes long, yet it packs a punch and left me really thinking.  The first one that I watched was from Jon Gordon.  His was very applicable to what is happening in our country right now about challenging situations and adapting to change.  He describes his book called The Shark and the Goldfish where the goldfish has to figure out how to survive in the ocean like a shark.  It also made me think of the hundreds of teachers including those at Dodgeland that have embraced this situation and are working to make it work for our students.  It is not the way we typically educate students, but we are making a difference.  We are connecting with students and families and we can see learning continue to take place.  Below are the two quotes from his presentation that resonated most with me and made me think.  What does this make you think about?

1. The people and organizations who thrive are those who embrace change during challenging times. 
2. Discomfort leads to growth. Embrace the challenges and get better from them. 

~Jon Gordon~

Friday Funny