Curriculum Corner

Warrick County School Corporation - May 2021

Thank You

Educators know that fostering grit and encouraging growth mindset in our students is critical to their success. How do we grow gritty kids and encourage growth mindset in our students? One of the best ways is to model for our students. Let students know when you are trying something new and that you might be nervous about it. If you do fail, openly share your frustrations but go out of your way to point out what you learned from the experience and how you are modifying your next attempt. This year provided an overabundance of opportunities to model grit, perseverance, and growth mindset for our students. Warrick County teachers continued, despite challenges and changes, to keep students learning. Students will reflect on this year and remember that you never gave up on them and their academic, social, and emotional growth despite the obstacles.

As we reflect on this year and what we as educators have learned, we can apply those lessons learned to help shape a successful 2021-2022 school year. What newly discovered or utilized strategies, procedures and resources can help make future school years even better? In their new book, Rebound: A Playbook for Rebuilding Agency, Accelerating Learning Recovery, and Rethinking Schools, authors Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, Dominique Smith, and John Hattie write, "The greatest travesty that can arise for schools after 2020-2021 is to rush back to the old normal, and learn nothing, or little, about what worked well."

Simply put, thank you for not giving up on your students, persevering, and continuing to meet the varying needs of all learners. I hope you have a restful, healthy summer, and I look forward to working with you next school year.

Exciting things to come....

As we wrap up the 2020-2021 school year, we have many things to look forward to as we head toward the 2021-2022 school year.

We will be welcoming our new Superintendent, Dr. Todd Lambert, in July.
Students in grades K-5 will have increased technology-based learning opportunities with Chromebooks for all students K-12 next year. Note: Elementary devices will not be going home with students.
We will have increased mental health support for students across the district.
Standards based report cards will continue in Kindergarten and we will be exploring and working toward creating standards based report cards for 1st and 2nd grades next year.
Teachers and program assistants will have the opportunity to choose professional development sessions tailored to their needs at the 4th annual WCSC Summer PD Fair on July 28th and 29th.
Middle school language arts teachers will be gaining new strategies at a virtual Smekens conference this summer.
Tech Tuesdays with Jeff Tron this summer will allow teachers the opportunity to choose sessions based on their technology learning needs.

Study Island and Exact Path: Year in Review

Students in Kindergarten through 8th grade mastered 21,694 skills in Exact Path this year! In Study Island, students in 3rd through 8th grade earned 22,499 blue ribbons for demonstrating mastery on teacher-assigned skills!

Exact Path is linked to individualized NWEA data to grow students from right where they are. Study Island is designed to support classroom instruction and is teacher-driven. With the integration of devices in the elementary schools next year, these programs can become a more readily available part of the instruction cycle. Additionally, Study Island will now be available at the second grade level next year.

If you have a parent reaching out for practice materials or summer resources for their child, students can access both programs from home until the beginning of August. Students will have their path in Exact Path until new NWEA data is uploaded next school year. In Study Island, students have the ability to self-select material from the "IN Programs" option. Please reach out if you have any questions about supporting summer learning with these programs.

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Summer Professional Learning Opportunities

There will be excellent opportunities for professional learning over the summer! Both the curriculum and technology departments have opportunities planned that will allow you to individualize your professional learning to your needs.

Jeff Tron will be hosting virtual Tech Tuesday meetings on a variety of topics. Be sure to sign up in Professional Learning (the new system that replaced ERO). See dates and topics below:

June 29th: AM - Google Forms Beginner, PM - Google Forms Advnaced
July 6th: AM and PM - Everything Google Classroom (including Meet and Synergy Syncing)
July 13th: AM - Google Forms Advanced, PM - Google Forms Beginner
July 20th:AM and PM - Everything Google Classroom (including Meet and Synergy Syncing)
August 3rd: AM and PM: Tech Work Orders, Securly, Loom, Jamboard, Desmos, Pear Deck, Accessibility Features on the Chromebook

Keep Indiana Learning is hosting their virtual conference, #VirtuallyDifferent, on June 29th and June 30th. You can choose your sessions to best meet your needs. Check out the link for more information. Click Here!

The Curriculum Department will be hosting the 4th Annual WCSC Summer PD Fair on July 28th and 29th at Castle High School. Be sure to join us to hear from your Warrick County colleagues, IDOE experts, and Amplify and Edmentum presenters. Be looking for schedules and sign up information from your principal soon!

Don't forget to check out the wealth of resources available on the WITTS: Warrick Innovative Technology Teacher Support site! Everything from training videos for specific applications to an archive of our old newsletters can be found on the site. Be sure to check it out here.