TO:
NC Public School Teachers
FROM: State Superintendent June Atkinson
DATE: Sept. 12, 2013
This morning, Department staff and I joined with UNC-TV to tape a one-hour program
called “NC Schools + You: What Changes in Our Schools Mean for Parents and
Students.” I hope that you will be able to view this program when it airs on Sept. 19 at
10 p.m. or on Sept. 27 at 4:30 p.m. We are producing this show to provide an additional
way to help parents in your school community understand the changes that are being
made in public schools to better serve students. I am especially pleased that the show
features traditional public school and charter school educators discussing their
experiences. We will send you a link to access this show online after the air dates.
Regards,
June Atkinson
In this Biweekly Teachers’ Message:
1. State Board of Education Meeting Highlights
2. Home Base Training Materials Online
3. Phase lll Online Professional Development Modules Update
4. EVAAS FAQ
5. Informing Instructional Improvement Through Data Literacy
6. New Services Available on NC WiseOwl
7. Frank Porter Graham Opens New Professional Development School
8. LEARN NC Offers New Online Professional Development Courses
9. NC Council of Teachers of Mathematics Schedules Fall Leadership Seminar/Annual
Conference
10. Coastal Carolina Indian Center Offers Enrichment Opportunities for Fourth and
Eighth Graders
11. NCDOT Offers New Curriculum on Walking and Biking Safety
12. NCDOT Sponsors Model Bridge Building Competition
13. First Freedom Student Competition
14. NASA Sponsors Exploration Design Challenge
1. State Board of Education Meeting Highlights - At last week’s State Board
meeting, members approved extending the deadline for the submission of paperwork for
advanced degrees to receive the supplemental pay to May 7, North Carolina’s Early
Learning and Development Standards, the General Assembly’s Read to Achieve
Comprehensive Reading Plan, an amendment to the North Carolina Elementary and
Secondary Act waiver, and grants for School Resource Officers in elementary and
middle schools and panic alarm systems. A summary of all Board action items is
available online at http://stateboard.ncpublicschools.gov/highlights/2013.
2. Home Base Training Materials Online - Teachers are reminded that there are a
number of online training materials to help you acclimate to Home Base. These include
taking attendance, locating materials to support instruction, creating lesson plans and
an overview of Home Base. Teachers also are encouraged to read the Home Base
Weekly Update you are receiving via e-mail to see the latest known issues and
resolutions, with follow-up documents posted online. These training materials and
others are available online at www.ncpublicschools.org/homebase/training/materials/.
3. Phase lll Online Professional Development Modules Update - Online learning
modules should be used over time as part of PLCs, during staff meetings, or
independently (over a series of days). The modules can be used in a variety of settings,
by individuals or by cohorts, with or without a facilitator, depending on local needs. The
NCDPI is pleased to announce the release of the following Phase III online professional
development modules for the 2013-14 academic year:
- Building and Sustaining Professional Development
- Data Literacy in Action
- Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, Part 2
- NC Principal and Assistant Principal Evaluation: Understanding the Process
- NC Teacher Evaluation: Understanding the Process
- Responsibilities of the 21st-Century Educator
- 21st-Century Mentoring
- Universal Design for Learning
All are available through the NC Education site at https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/. Please
review the updated implementation guide available online at https://rt3nc.org. Two
additional modules were released earlier this year:
- Measures of Student Learning: Common Exams, Grades 9–12
- Measures of Student Learning: Common Exams, Middle and Elementary Grades
For more information please contact Lynne Johnson, director of Educator Effectiveness
at lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov or Geetanjali Soni, Online Module developer, at
geetanjali.soni@dpi.nc.gov.
4. EVAAS FAQ - Answers to the most commonly-asked questions about EVAAS,
including the incorporation of EVAAS into the state's accountability and educator
effectiveness models, are available online at
www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/effectiveness-model/evaas/resources/2013-springfaq.pdf.
5. Informing Instructional Improvement Through Data Literacy - Informing
Instructional Improvement Through Data Literacy Wikispace pages are currently
providing educators with a five stage, cyclical process for data-driven decision-making.
A fillable fishbone diagram is available for download and can be used to identify causes
and effects in a classroom, school or district setting based on data analysis. A data
action plan template can be downloaded and used to develop a SMART goal, determine
specific strategies to be implemented, and identify data sources to be used to assess
goal achievement. Additional resources related to each of the five stages of the datadriven decision-making process also are available on the wikispace pages. The
Informing Instructional Improvement Through Data Literacy web pages can be found at
http://si2013.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Informing+Instructional+Improvement+Through+Data
+Literacy. For more information, please contact Lynne Johnson at
lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov or Lisa Amerson at lisa.amerson@dpi.nc.gov.
6. New Services Available on NC WiseOwl - The NCDPI Division of Digital Teaching
and Learning is pleased to announce new services are available on the NC WiseOwl
website. Due to changes in providers, we are now able to offer access to great
educational and professional databases, journals, newspaper articles and other
resources. This is in addition to almost 10,000 electronic books, and a primary source
database with millions of images, audio files, interactives and sound bytes. Want to
know more? Just visit www.ncwiseowl.org and click on the “New on WiseOwl” link. For
more information, please e-mail Dan Sparlin at dan.sparlin@dpi.nc.gov.
7. Frank Porter Graham Opens New Professional Development School - UNCChapel Hill recently opened a new professional development center to provide teachers
and administrators with a wide array of resources on child development and education.
The Professional Development Center at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child
Development Institute includes workshops, free courses and major conferences. The
Professional Development Center also delivers free online instruction on implementing
evidence-based practices in classrooms, as well as lessons on such topics as the early
identification of autism spectrum disorders. Check it all out at
http://pdc.fpg.unc.edu/online-learning.
8. LEARN NC Offers New Online Professional Development Courses - LEARN NC
is offering two new online professional development courses this fall:
Dream of a Nation. Through reading articles and watching videos by some of
today’s most innovative and inspiring scientists, economists, environmentalists and
others, participants will find materials aligned to both the North Carolina Essential
Standards and English Language Arts Common Core Standards that will engage them
and their students in empowering ideas. The first offering of this self-paced, interactive,
free online course begins on Sept. 25 and runs through Oct. 30. The course is for
educators who teach 8th-12th grade environmental science, American history, civics and
economics, and English language arts. Upon completion, participants will earn 2.0
CEUs. For more information and to enroll, please visit http://tinyurl.com/ogoufgr.
- Co-teaching that works! Best practices for the face-to-face and blended
classrooms. Co-teaching That Works! is an online professional development course
that explores methods to design an effective co-teaching environment. This course is
designed for all educators who want to better understand important strategies and skills
in developing effective co-teaching partners. Focus will include partnerships within a
brick and mortar style classroom, or a blended or hybrid instructional online
environment. This course is appropriate for general and special educators, STEM
educators, occupational course of study educators, administrators and counselors. The
first offering of this course begins on Oct. 23 and runs through Dec. 4. Participants will
earn 3.0 CEUs. For more information and to enroll, please visit
http://tinyurl.com/pvnhab3.
9. NC Council of Teachers of Mathematics Schedules Fall Leadership
Seminar/Annual Conference - The North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics
will hold its Fall Leadership Seminar on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the Joseph S. Koury
Convention Center, Greensboro. The Council has scheduled its 43 rd Annual State
Mathematics Conference for Thursday and Friday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, also at the Koury
Convention Center. For more information on either of these events, including
registration, please visit www.ncctm.org.
10. Coastal Carolina Indian Center Offers Enrichment Opportunities for Fourth
and Eighth Graders - Coastal Carolina Indian Center is offering its brand new 2013-14
Great Salt Water Educational Outreach Enrichment Program as an in-school field trip to
both 4th and 8th grade students. The program’s focus is on the Indians of Coastal North
Carolina and the Lost Colony. Teachers are encouraged to contact Coastal Carolina
Indian Center at indiancenter@gmail.com or 252/354-4187 to schedule Coastal
Carolina Indian Center's 2013-14 Great Salt Water Educational Outreach enrichment
program. For more information, please visit the
Coastal Carolina Indian Center Website at www.coastalcarolinaindians.com.
11. NCDOT Offers New Curriculum on Walking and Biking Safety - The NC
Department of Transportation’s Let’s Go NC! curriculum consists of free lesson plans,
materials and supplemental tools to teach elementary-aged children about the basics of
walking and biking safety. All curriculum and guidance materials are accessible online
at http://www.ncdot.gov/bikeped/safetyeducation/letsgonc/.
12. NCDOT Sponsors Model Bridge Building Competition - The NC Department of
Transportation invites all North Carolina middle and high school students to participate
in the 15th Annual NCDOT Statewide Model Bridge Building Competition. The
competition is designed to create a greater awareness of careers in transportation,
construction, engineering and the services provided by the NCDOT. The competition
also gives students an opportunity to work in groups to learn problem-solving strategies
and utilize critical thinking skills, while making the connection between what is taught in
the classroom and real world applications. The registration deadline is Nov. 15.
Regional competitions will be held on March 7 with the state final competition on April
11. To register, please visit www.ncdot.org/about/kids/BridgeComp.
13. First Freedom Student Competition - High school English and social studies
students may want to consider participating in the First Freedom Student Competition.
The First Freedom Student Competition offers students an opportunity to compete for
$2,500 awards as they examine the First Amendment and the history and
implementation of religious freedom in American democracy and the world today and
then present their findings through a written essay or video. The upcoming school year’s
topic, guidelines, student flyer and classroom poster are available online at
www.firstfreedom.org (click on the red button, center column). The online student
registration deadline is Monday, Nov. 18. The postmark deadline for mailing the entry
and its accompanying materials is Monday, Nov. 25.
14. NASA Sponsors Exploration Design Challenge - In March, NASA launched an
exciting new partnership with Lockheed Martin to engage students in America's next
phase of human space exploration. The Exploration Design Challenge (EDC) invites K12 students to learn more about one of the biggest challenges NASA faces before
sending humans beyond low-Earth orbit: space radiation. Through a series of ageappropriate activities, participants will learn about radiation and its effects on humans
and hardware destined for asteroids, Mars or other deep space locations. Orion is the
vehicle for these space destinations and will make its maiden test flight in 2014.
The youngest explorers (K-4) will complete NASA education activities related to
radiation. Upon completion, a teacher or other adult may submit the students' names to
be flown on the 2014 Orion flight as honorary virtual crew members.
Those same opportunities are open to students in grades 5-8, but they also will design
and develop a radiation shield prototype. Instructions, guidebooks and related content
are provided on the EDC website.
High school students have an even greater challenge – and opportunity! In addition to
the activities listed above, teams of students will design a radiation shield prototype that
meets established criteria and constraints. Teams will submit their designs, and the top
five designs selected will be tested in a virtual radiation simulator. The winning team will
travel to Florida for Orion's launch and have its design flown aboard the spacecraft. The
deadline to register students to participate is March 14, 2014. Full Challenge details are
available online at www.nasa.gov/education/edc . Students must be registered before
beginning the Challenge.
If you'd like to review past Teachers’ Biweekly Messages, please visit
www.ncpublicschools.org/teachersarchive/ .