EPIC Connections

District Purpose: Our purpose is to inspire, empower and graduate students ready to contribute to society as productive, responsible citizens.

District Vision: United for every student to succeed.

District Mission: Our public schools provide equal access to quality education that embraces the uniqueness and potential of each student.

• We live this mission through our actions:

• We engage all stakeholders in a shared commitment to our purpose and vision.

• We create a safe, equitable, and accessible learning environment.

• We empower students to break through barriers and overcome challenges to achieve their fullest potential.

• We build learning environments that facilitate closing the achievement gap and increasing the learning proficiency of all students.

• We deliver a future-focused curriculum with options, choices, and resources that equip students to successfully compete for jobs in the ever-changing marketplace.

• We graduate students ready to make a positive difference in their families, their communities, and the world..

2022-2027 Area of Strategic Focus:

1. Students: All students graduate ready to become productive citizens
2. Employees: Healthy Culture that Supports High-Performing Teachers, Leaders and Staff
   
3. Leadership: Unified, Results-focused Leadership
4. Business: Financial and Operational Stewardship
5. Community: Informed, Engaged Stakeholders as Advocates

Professional Learning Vision: Create a culture of joyful learners who passionately pursue professional development that meets their needs and interests and improves the quality of their work and life.

November Calendar:

Nov. 2 - Early Release Day

Nov. 21-23 - Fall Break

Nov. 24-25 - Thanksgiving Holiday

If a link in the articles below do not work while on the district network, you will need to log into your myiboss first then access the link provided.

The holiday season is approaching in a few weeks but in reality are just a few days away.

Some will celebrate October 31st as Halloween while others will celebrate Reformation Day, yet others will not celebrate anything on October 31st. There will national holidays and holidays that are based on various religions.

As a public school system, we must recognize that we serve a diverse group of families and employees who will have various beliefs and traditions associated with the upcoming holidays. We also serve students and employees who do not celebrate any holidays.

So what to do? It is fine to celebrate the holidays, as long as we provide accommodations for students and employees who do not celebrate the specific holiday you are with your class or employees. As professionals we must make reasonable accommodations to honor those who think and value the holidays differently. The steps we take to accommodate our students and employees do not prevent us from celebrating with those who are good with celebrating, it simply means we honor and respect the views of those who don't and that we do not put them in a situation that compromises their beliefs.

So let's enjoy the festive seasons that are ahead of us. It truly is a wonderful time of the year.

District’s Employee Appraisal Website

Submit all TalentED questions and requests through our Helpdesk Ticket: TalentED@ecsd.zendesk.com

Post-Observation Survey:

1. In general, how successful was the lesson? Did the students learn what you intended for them to learn? How do you know?
2. If you were able to bring samples of student work, what do those samples reveal about those students’ levels of engagement and understanding?
3. Comment on your classroom procedures, student conduct, and your use of physical space. To what extent did these contribute to student learning?
4. Did you depart from your plan? If so, how, and why?
5. Comment on different aspects of your instructional delivery (e.g., activities, grouping of students, materials, and resources.) To what extent were they effective?
6. If you had a chance to teach this lesson again to the same group of students, what would you do differently, from planning through execution?

Most people are aware that you can share a Google file or drive rights in the following three ways:

1. edit
2. comment
3. view

Did you know you can also edit the file/drive link to share additional rights?

Amit Agarwal shared a blog post for Digital Inspiration entitle Simple URL Tricks for Google Drive You Should Know

He shares several tips and i have listed two of them that I think you will find most useful are:

Reader Mode for Google Drive Files

You can view native Google documents in reader mode (sans the Google UI) by simply replace /edit in the Google Drive file URL with /preview.

So if the original share link of a file in Google Drive is:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/SHEET_ID/edit

You can view the same document in a clean, reader mode using the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/SHEET_ID/preview

Here’s a Google Sheet, Google Document and Google Slides presentation in preview mode that is less-cluttered without any menus and toolbars and thus loads faster.

Copy and Make any shared Google Drive File your own

Replace /edit with /copy in the URL of any native Google Drive file and anyone can click that link to quickly make a copy of that file in their own Google Drive. Try here.

Original Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/FILE_ID/edit

Copy Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/FILE_ID/copy

The /copy URL trick works for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Google Scripts. Add ?copyComments=true if you would like the copied document to include the comments from the original document. Set includeResolvedCommentsOnCopy=false to skip copying resolved comments and copyCollaborators=false to not share the copied document with the original collaborators.

You can use it for Google Forms as well but the form will be copied to another user’s Google Account only if the form owner has granted access to the form.

Highly Effective Practices:

• Teacher Plan: Using questioning and discussion techniques

Questions reflect high expectations and are culturally and developmentally appropriate. Students formulate many of the high-level questions and assume the responsibility for the participation of all students in the discussion.

• Instructional Specialist Plan: Engaging teachers in learning new instructional skills

Teachers are highly engaged in acquiring new instructional skills, and take the initiative in suggesting new areas for growth.

Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up is a structure from Kagan Cooperative Learning training. The purpose of this structure is to have students talk to other classmates to help solve problems with a partner or to share ideas.

This structure can be used in meeting settings where committee members help solve problems with a partner or share ideas with his or her partner.

Steps for Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up:

1. Teacher says, When I say go, you will "stand up, hand up, pair up!" Teacher pauses, then says "Go!"
2. Student stands up and keep one hand high in the air until they find the closest partner who's not a teammate. Students do a "high five" and put their hands down.
3. Teacher may ask a question or give an assignment, and provides think time.
4. Partners interact with each other to answer the question or complete the assignment together.

Below is a video to see an example of how one teacher uses this structure in her classroom.

RTI Glossary of Terms

The link above contain common words used when talking about and applying RTI. It is shared by the National Center on Response to Intervention.

This report was produced under U.S. Department of Education Cooperative Agreement H326E070004with the American Institutes for Research. Grace Zamora Durán and Tina Diamond served as the project officers. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred.

The late Steve Jobs, former founder and CEO of Apple Computer understood well the importance of people in any system. Our District is Blessed to have so many people united to work together for the betterment of our students, families, employees, and community. We as District staff appreciate you. The tools we have help us carry out our services to our customers, yet it is the people that makes everything happen. Thank you for all you do.

End Your Workday With These 4 Questions by Kat Boogaard for Inc Magazine

Four reflection questions shared by the author:

1. What went well for me today?
2. What can I improve tomorrow?
3. What's the first thing I want to do tomorrow morning?
4. What was my favorite part of the day?

Elementary ELA Updates Newsletter

Link updated10/5/22

Secondary ELA Newsletter

Link updated 10/6/22

Science Dept Newsletter

Link updated 9/2/22

Elementary Social Studies Newsletter

Link updated 10/27/2022

Innovation Specialists: Monday Message

Link updates each Monday

ESE Quarterly Newsletter "Specialized Scoop"

Link

IT News for Leaders

New Google Sites Link updates as needed

Former Google Docs Link updates as needed

District Fitness Center Newsletter

Link updated 10/31/22

Title I Professional Development Virtual Room

Link

World Language Quarterly Newsletter

Link updated 9/30/22

Tutor-Ville Newsletter

Link updated 10/28/22

#ecsdFL

Email: balaback@ecsdfl.us
Website: https://ecsd-fl.schoolloop.com/PL
Location: 2005 North 6th Avenue, Pensacola, FL, 32503
Phone: (850) 595-0031
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ecsd.proflearning/
Twitter: @ecsdPL