“As leaders our ability to do what’s best for kids often lies within our ability to inspire, influence, and support the adults in our system.” ~Shelley Burgess

Upcoming Dates:

3/11: UAS Ed Demo @ DMS

3/16: Professional Development Day; 8am-11am

3/18: Clearview Technology Committee Mtg.

3/19: End of the 3rd Grading Period

3/31: State Testing Start at VES

1. 2. 3. PBIS

UAS Coming to DMS Next Week!

On March 11th The Interactive Unmanned Aerial Systems Simulation Project is coming to present on UAS technologies, applications and careers, highlights of research projects, plus they’ll run a UAS simulation session for our 6th graders. This should be a unique learning experience regarding the mobile flight simulator and unmanned aerial science! For more:

UAS Link!

Clearview District Leadership Meeting

The Clearview District Leadership Team met this past week for their 3rd meeting of the current school year. The team discussed many important initiatives in the district and reviewed progress toward several goals moving forward. A responsibility of this group is to support Building Level Teams and to support Teacher Based Teams. In addition to review-ing state test and SWIS data the DLT also listened to updates on the status of the Key Initiatives established by each BLT for the 2019-2020 school year. All should be stewards of these initiatives and support these efforts collaboratively. Interspersed throughout the meeting was several team building, critical thinking activities. What we model is what we get! Doreen Morell gave a Special Education Update also. A key agenda item was the identification and documentation of our MTSS plan. BLTs reviewed a flowchart template for interventions in place for Reading, Math, and Behavior at tier 1, 2, and 3. This info will be sent to the district MTSS committee to help form that document and plan. The afternoon served as BLT meeting time and support. Each BLT reviewed initiatives, analyzed various sources of data, and took part in planning for the future. Thanks to all DLT members for their efforts! The power point from the meeting is attached for your review. Question? Just email.

DLT Members: Jerome Davis

Doreen Morell

Noeleen Rothacker

Robin Dahman

Alicia Howard

Deb Molnar

Jason Steadman

Marie Ternes

Laura Manning

Kari Cooley

Denise Lesh

Chrissy Foster

Molly Streator

Kelly McMillion

Lynne Stark

Andrew Holland

Wendy Lachman

Jessica Mazelis

Veronica Feicks

Stephanie Leonhardt

Instructional Strategies Review: Question Formulation Technique QFT In each issue of the Connection I will review a particular instructional strategy: The Question Formulation Technique (QFT), created by the Right Question Institute, helps kids create, work with, and use their own questions — building skills for lifelong learning, self-advocacy, and democratic action. What happens when students learn to ask the right questions? Engagement and ownership!! The QFT technique can be used in kindergarten to 12th grade; questions and curiosity drive instruction; in QFT the kids are the ones generating the questions. Start with a Question Focus- a stimulus for jumpstarting questions; this is your lesson topic. The Question Focus may be a statement, phrase, image, video, math problem, equation, or anything else that gets the questions flowing. Rules of QFT: 1) Produce as many questions as you can 2) Do not stop to

discuss, judge or answer 3) Record exactly as stated 4) Change statements into questions. Conduct a lesson where students ask more questions than the teacher!! More Info: QFT LINK

State Testing Update: Testing Dates

Each edition of the Curriculum Connection from this point forward through the spring will contain a section regarding state testing. I will include various details about test sched-uling, test preparation, etc… Each school building has their state test schedule identified for this spring session. Various logistics exist that are unique to each building exist and it is important to have all teachers on board and well aware of these logistics in advance of testing. Thanks to the hard work of building administration and other support staff for organizing logistics with state test schedules. Leadership must consider many factors in state test scheduling: rooms, lunch, proctoring, technology, etc.. This takes time and ef-fort to organize and they are to be commended for these ef-forts. Please allow flexibility with the school schedules, lo-gistics, and all of the accommodations that must be orga-nized. All staff will need to work in collaboration. Please continue to secure your state test proctor certification; the link is again below for your use. TIDE TEST PROCTOR CERTIFICATION SITE

VINCENT ELEMENTARY:

ELA GR3: MARCH 31ST & APRIL 1ST

ELA GR4: MARCH 31ST & APRIL 1ST

MATH GR3: APRIL 29TH & 30TH

MATH GR4: APRIL 29TH & 30TH

DURLING MIDDLE SCHOOL:

ELA: APRIL 21ST

MATH: APRIL 28TH

ALGEBRA: APRIL 29TH

SCIENCE: MAY 5TH

CLEARVIEW HIGH SCHOOL:

ENG II: APRIL 2ND & 3RD

BIOLOGY: APRIL 29TH

US HISTORY: APRIL 23RD

ALGEBRA: APRIL 28TH

GEOMETRY: APRIL 30TH & MAY 1ST

GOVERNMENT: MAY 5TH

Semester Book Study PDs in Full Swing in Clearview

Book studies have been offered through Ashland University for the past five semesters in Clearview. The idea is to establish capacity for the ideas and strategies shared in the educational texts offered in this regard. Vincent Elementary is currently conducting a study on Kids Deserve It! By Adam Welcome and Todd Nesloney. Adam was our keynote speaker back in August! Durling Middle is currently conducting a study on Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. Both texts are ideal for learning great ideas to improve classroom instructional practice - it’s all about putting kids first and putting passion into lesson activity. Special thanks to Jennifer Fazio and Laura Manning for facilitating the book studies in their buildings. Look for such PD and share in the learning!

1.

2. Simple View of Reading

3. Writing

Increased Technology Resources Soon the district will have a meeting of the Clearview Technology Commit-tee, March 18th. That group will create a document that identifies and outlines several key components of instructional technology in the district. The goal will indeed be to increase our inventory and capacity for using technology resources to aid instructional practice! As we increase these resources, such as the added Chromebook Carts in each building, we are asking for assistance to secure and develop and system of check-in and check-out procedures for students. These may already exist but if they do not, please develop or revisit the procedure for this process. We all want to keep the laptops and computers we have in top working condition for efficient use for years to come. From Vinson reports reviewed each month we are able to see increased cases of vandalism that takes place on machines and must be fixed. Kids can be responsible for machines and they are capable. Let’s work collaboratively to ensure this takes place as the number of laptops and carts increases. Questions? Let me know.

Grades 4, 5, and 6 to Incorporate Wonders for ELA

Curricular resources will continue to be pursued K-12. Teachers do a great job of researching and utilizing Open Resources (which has many advantages as well; see Connections January 10th 2020!) In collaboration with McGraw Hill grades 4, 5, and 6 has secured and will be using Wonders for English Language Arts. Wonders, is a comprehensive PreK–6 literacy resource designed to meet the challenges of today’s classroom and reach all learners. A wealth of research-based print and digital resources provide unmatched support for building strong literacy foundations, accessing complex fiction and nonfiction texts, writing to sources, and building social emotional learning skills. Whether in the core classroom, an English language learner, or benefiting from intervention support, Wonders provides students equity of access to rich texts and rigorous instruction (McGraw Hill). ELA teachers in grades 4, 5, and 6 will do further review of materials and dive into connecting standards and lesson plans with the resource. Special thanks to Haley Bednarski, Veronica Feicks, Jennifer Parker, Alex Ritter, Jenny McMahon, and Jennifer Koehn for their extra efforts in working to review, analyze, and collaborate with McGraw Hill to attain Wonders. Further resources will continually be reviewed moving forward. Resources are important - but people, not programs, make the true difference!! Questions? Just let me know.

Teachers Kindergarten to Grade 2 to Utilize Reading A-Z!

Guided reading is a teaching strategy that continues to be improved to help our young Clippers in their pursuit to be strong, confident readers. The teachers in grades kindergarten to grade 2 work hard to build the foundational skill required through many strategies and programs. This is challenging and important work! To assist their efforts for literacy instruction Reading A-Z has been secured for their use as a resource. Reading A-Z is a digital resource. It is a website that offers comprehensive implementation resources for differentiated reading instruction. There are also a wealth of other resources for teachers, including lesson plans, worksheets, graphic organizers, assessment tools, comprehension quizzes, fluency passages, and readers' theater scripts. Since it is a digital resource Reading A-Z is continually updated and improved to assist educators in this regard. Soon our K-2 teachers will have access to a

wealth of digital and downloadable reading instructional resources!! Questions? Let me know.

Dr. Raj Shah will provide Math PD for VES Teachers March 16th 8:00-11:00 in the CHS Media Center. He will

review many strategies and ways to engage young mathematicians!

Active, Engaged, and Innovative Lesson Activity

Each issue of Curriculum Connection will include reports from our classrooms around our district. We want to do our best to promote active, engaged, and innovative lesson plan activity. What are your colleagues doing to engage Clearview students? The idea is to show appreciation for the hard work it takes to plan and develop such lessons.

Mindfulness activities can help reduce stress and anxiety, strengthen attention and focus, support social and emotional growth, and better resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise. Vincent Elementary has been conducting such activity with kids; perhaps such practice can be expanded throughout Clearview! Catherine Castor and Doris Davila recently visited third grade classrooms to review calming and breathing strategies that teachers can incorporate or ones that kids can incorporate on their own. It serves also to calm the mind to get ready to learn!! This can be valuable in many ways, a lifelong skill. Plus, mindful-ness addresses Social Emotional Learning that must incorporated aldo. Relax, Refresh, Revive.

Students in Karrie Stafford and Chad Szalay’s ELA class at DMS conducted a unique poetry activity this past week. Getting 13 year old kids to engage in poetry can indeed be a challenge. However, Karrie and Chad used a few key strategies to engage them. First, they allowed for choice. Kids were to use the theme of Black History Month but were able to study and read poetry from traditional authors and musical artists. Second, they had students create a power point and present their author to the rest of the class, building capacity like a jigsaw. Third, kids also had to memorize (the best they could) a poem to read aloud to the class. Thus, kids practiced their Clearview Literacy Plan Speaking/Presentation skills!! Regardless, students made many connections to author’s purpose and poetry themes.

The teaching of 21st Century Skills is a curricular focus. This includes: Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Creativity. Incorporating these skills into lesson planning often results in DOK 3 and 4 activity. Robin Dahman recently had a new Biology unit introduction on Muscle Tissue that was quite unique in this regard. Students were given an Escape Room challenge that required cooperative groups to crack several codes to win. This was a fun and effective way to introduce new vocabulary and connect new and old content. Kids worked together and research solutions to the challenges online and in books - resourceful! The kids were engaged in discussing new course content and terms. Robin found this activity on TPT and did the work of game set up. (Much like BreakOUT EDU!)

Andrew Pinney from MAX will provide PD for teachers grades 5-12 on March 16th 8:00-11:00 in the CHS cafeteria.

He’ll review Literacy strategies to connect across all curriculums!

Doreen Morell will provide PD for select classified staff on March 16th 8:00-11:00 in CHS room 103. She will review

the important topic of using student de-escalation strategies.