Med Mindset Interns Placed!

Recently Seniors at the School of Biomedical Sciences and Technology at Kearny High School were placed in the Med Mindset internship program.  This is an 18 month program where students will have access to personalized mentorships and become part of a supportive community.  Students will learn about different career pathways in medicine and learn about life in college.  Students will be mentored by healthcare professionals who have an interest in creating future leaders in the healthcare field.  These students were chosen by Med Mindset because they exhibited the talent, drive, leadership, skills, and qualities to thrive in the program. We are excited that our seniors will have the opportunity to experience this program, we wish them the best of luck!

San Diego Apprenticeship Expo

Over a hundred and fifty SDUSD Career Technical Education (CTE) students attended the 2nd Annual Apprenticeship & Vocational Training Career EXPO. Students had the opportunity to hear directly from a panel of speakers and representatives from various San Diego Apprenticeship organizations.

This year the event included over 30 agencies represented in the Expo Hall where students received career information on mid to high paying jobs in; Energy and Utilities, Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing, Clean Energy and dozens of other technical skilled trades and careers here in San Diego. Throughout the school year, SDUSD CTE students will have the opportunity to visit the electrical training center and participate in workshops and learn more about technical careers and the application process.

Rady's Annual Lab Coat Ceremony

Rady Children’s Hospital FACES for the Future Program held their annual Lab Coat Ceremony on Thursday, September 19th. Three of our district’s biomedical programs will be participating in 6 week rotations at the hospital that include 26 departments that range

from supply chain to neonatal intensive care units. These seniors accepted their lab coats and the commitment that entails as they began their internships with Rady’s. This year, 24 students from Kearny will be given the opportunity to join 31 students from Crawford and 64 students from Hoover. Rady Children’s Hospital launched the FACES program back in 2009, over the years the support of this program and the work-based experiences have impacted hundreds. We thank Rady Children’s Hospital for providing these incredible opportunities for our students. Our students are very excited to continue their journey toward careers in the healthcare industry!

Career and Leadership Night with the Padres at Petco Park!

On Tuesday September 10th, high school students from across San Diego Unified were invited to attend a Career and Leadership Night with the San Diego Padres! The night began with a Career Panel consisting of executives from the Padres, Hewlett-Packard and Fox Sports San Diego. Each panel member explained their personal career journey and inspired our students to persevere through obstacles to follow their dreams! During the Career Fair portion of the program students met with executives in small groups to have informal conversations about specific careers and seek career advice from professionals. Students were encouraged to bring their resumes to the event and members of the Padres Human Resources department to review and offer feedback. Thanks to a donation from Hewlett-Packard, 200 of our students attended the event for free. Schools that were represented included San Diego HS, Madison HS, Serra HS, Mission Bay HS, Marcy HS, Lincoln HS, Crawford HS, Scripps Ranch HS, Henry HS, and Hoover HS. After the Career and Leadership program students were invited to stay for the game against the Chicago Cubs that resulted in an extra innings 9-8 victory for our San Diego Padres!

Launching into STEAM 2019-20

Last year, the San Diego Unified School District STEAM Innovations office, led by Executive Director Cheryl Hibbeln, Program Manager Michael Goodbody, Strategic Partnerships Nate Sachdeva and STEAM Architects Lacy Szuwalski and Zoë Randall, launched a “small” pilot supporting 32 Elementary Schools, 109 Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten teachers, and over 2,500 students. It was a great success thanks to the many individuals and partners who supported a novel new approach to engaging our youngest learners. This year, we are proud to launch into the new school year with 45 elementary schools, 300 Transitional Kindergarten, Kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers, and over 7,000 students. This August, we kicked off the year at Taft Middle School with over 200 teachers who dedicated themselves to learn while still technically on their summer vacation. Superintendent Cindy Marten applauded the STEAM efforts with encouraging words of support for our teachers: “STEAM has been successful because of collaboration, and the desire to do what is necessary to best prepare our students for a rapidly changing world. Departments have come together, and with your input, designed learning experiences that have challenged what some thought was possible for our youngest learners. We are now seeing TK/K students taking the lead and advocating for change in communities across the district.” Our STEAM Innovation, Instructional Technology, Visual and Performing Arts and other district and business partners have envisioned a program that aims to empower students to go out and change the world. STEAM is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, inquiry approach to learning. It enables students to see opportunities, build empathy, and create innovations with the potential to impact their world in real and powerful ways. Unified TK-12 STEAM experiences are grounded in grade level standards and driven by future opportunity in the San Diego region resulting in college, career, and life readiness. We are so excited to see our students thrive in STEAM and look forward to sharing how our youngest learners are paving the road for our future.

Visioning the Future of Science in SDUSD

San Diego Unified School District is one of 8 lighthouse school districts and 2 charter management organizations in the state of California who have been a part of the CA Next Generation Science Standards K-8 Early Implementation Initiative. We are now entering our sixth and final year of the grant supported by the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, WestEd and the K-12 Alliance. 

In the last five years of the grant, San Diego Unified has been a district leader in the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): Over 400 teachers have been trained in implementing NGSS through district-wide lesson studies and capacity builder training. We have a core teacher leader network of dedicated teachers K-8 who are spearheading science efforts for the district. Students are benefitting from an inquiry-driven approach to standards that is three-dimensional: learning content in the context of science and engineering practices as well as cross-cutting concepts that span all disciplines of science. Middle school science is integrated. Life, physical and Earth science are not taught in isolation but in the context of real world phenomena. 

This September, our Regional Director facilitated a visioning session around the future of science education with members of the Core Leadership Team, Program Managers for STEAM and School Innovation, as well as STEAM and Science Resource Teachers. 

As we enter into this sixth and final year of the grant work, we hope to share a clear vision and mission for science education for the future and gain new partnerships for sustainability to ensure that all kids have a quality science education everyday. 

Why is this work imperative? Students like Greta Thurnberg lead the charge; "Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfill something, we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses." - Greta Thurnberg, Climate Activist, 16 years old.

Illumina Cares Supply Drive for STEAM

One of San Diego Unified’s valued partners, Illumina, supports our schools in multiple ways. Our high school BioMed pathways have been visiting Illumina’s beautiful campus in University City for years. The off campus experiences provide students with an overview of Illumina and their commitment to Genomics research, a tour of the campus and manufacturing area, and concludes with a career panel with a diverse set of employees. Each year the Illumina team gives back through their Illumina Cares program. Aimed to share time, talent, and technology with the communities where their members live and work. Efforts are focused on genomic literacy through STEM education and rare genetic diseases. When Illumina learned about San Diego Unified’s commitment to STEAM in our earliest Elementary grade levels, they immediately reached out and asked how they could support. During the Summer of 2019, the Illumina Cares drive provided over 1,400 school supplies to support students in our STEAM schools! Each of the 25 STEAM schools who participated were given a backpack with supplies for students to begin the year with everything they need to learn! We are very appreciative of the generosity of our partners who believe in supporting education in any way possible!

This week in STEAM!

This week students had the opportunity to have their first taste test in the cafeteria with Harvest of the Month, with our AmeriCorps volunteer Julie Prince. Every month students can try a new food, and vote if they like it or not. This is a part of her wide work at Linda Vista STEAM Magnet School which includes, maintaining our garden, teaching garden lessons as part of our STEAM program, and offering an after school garden club. The programs at Linda Vista would not be possible without the help of our incredible parent volunteers like Marissa Grant! Linda Vista STEAM Magnet School created a school garden and outdoor learning space as part of their magnet award in 2013. Having students learn to capture their observations and pose questions is a building block of their STEAM curriculum.

Knox Receives Chargers Champion Grant!

Knox is the proud recipient of a grant for an outdoor fitness center. This $40,000 grant has supported the construction of an outdoor workout center on their Knox field. The fitness center has finalized in construction and will open in the next couple of week to Knox students. Congratulations!

Welcome to Bell Middle School

The first day of school is always super exciting! At Bell Middle School, students and parents walked in with a mixture of nervous excitement and wonder as they looked around the clean and beautifully painted campus, full of possibilities. Principal Precious Jackson-Hubbard strolled around greeting new and returning students with a warm welcome making sure they knew where their classes were and attending to their needs. Mr. Lewis, the Vice Principal, counselors, teachers, and many others were greeting students and assisting them as well. It was a great morning to be around such positive energy. Best of luck to all students and staff at Bell Middle School!

MTM Feature Teacher

Ms. Mejia is starting her fourth year of teaching with a bang. Like many teachers, she dedicated several hours over the summer to create a classroom that is welcoming to all students at Millennial Tech Middle School. Her walls are covered in wallpaper making students almost forget they are in a classroom. Decorative touches, such as plants and desks arranged in small groups, provide an atmosphere of safety and camaraderie. Ms. Mejia’s classroom library mimics Barnes and Noble, displaying a variety of new and culturally relevant books waiting to be read. This classroom does an excellent job of promoting literacy! Keep up the good work Ms. Mejia!

SDEM Pilot in Full Swing!

Many students in Integrated Math 1 classes across district are kicking off the new school year participating in SDUSD’s mathematics initiative, San Diego Enhanced Math (SDEM). SDEM starts with the curriculum most highly rated by EdReports, Illustrative Mathematics, and enhances it with additional projects, connections, and deeper and more complex problems to challenge students. Both teachers and students are excited to try on new instructional routines that get kids up and moving, talking, and digging deeper into the Common Core Standards. Warhawks, Tigers, Chieftains, and Pointers are taking on the challenge, and everyone is eager to learn with the new materials. Step One? Community Building Activities to foster a sense of belonging, acceptance, and trust in peers. Now that students have built solid working relationships, rigorous work lies ahead, and there’s no stopping their success!

9th Graders Start High School Exploring Identity

Ninth graders at Hoover, Mira Mesa, Morse, and Mission Bay are getting to know more about themselves at the same time as they learn new literacy skills. Many 9th graders at these schools spent the first three weeks of school exploring the meaning of their name, the different facets of their personality, the way they work in groups, and the events in their lives that have shaped who they are. After studying Chimamanda Ngochi Adichie’s TEDTalk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” they learned about different ways to tell a balanced story about who they are. Soon they’ll be exhibiting their hard to work their peers in other classes. Impressive start 9th graders!

Designing Real World Learning at the PBL Institute

From June 17-June 28th, 139 teachers came together from SDUSD middle and high schools at PBL Institute to work in interdisciplinary teams to design rigorous real-world projects to implement with students during the 2019-2020 school year. During the two weeks, teachers engaged in a design challenge, job shadow, workshops, brainstormed, created meaningful essential questions, and used the Six A's of PBL as they collaborated to develop a new (or improved) project.

An example of an interdisciplinary project is "Energy Independence: The Future of City Heights" designed by the Sustainable Academy of Building and Engineering (SABE) of Hoover High School for their 9th graders. The project integrates Green Up and Go, Integrated Math 1, and English and challenges students to consider the question: "How can the use of renewable energy to promote economic self-sufficiency in low-income communities?" Through the project, students will explore renewable energy sources, sustainability principles in housing, and how renewable energy and sustainability principles can help communities be self-sufficient. Students will utilize renewable energy (wind and solar) to power an EnergiPlant from Primo Energy that is off-the-grid and will provide clean electricity to Hoover students and community members. Additionally, students will be writing proposals to City Heights CDC to potentially establish partnerships between City Heights CDC and Primo Energy for the purpose of fostering economic self-sufficiency in City Heights through the practice of sustainable principles.

This is just one example of the 35+ real-world and client-based projects created by teachers this summer. View more - PBL Institute Projects Click here to learn more about the SD Unified PBL Institute.

VAPA Insiders’ Event Draws Over 100 Teachers

Over 100 educators attended the annual VAPA teacher pre-service day, entitled “VAPA Insiders’ Event”, on Tuesday, August 20 at CPMA Middle School. The Insiders’ Event is designed to enable VAPA teachers throughout the district to continue their incredible arts educational efforts in pursuit of VAPA’s vision, which is “Transforming Lives Through the Arts.” The Insiders’ Event, which is optional and for which teachers are paid, is provided by SDUSD’s Visual and Performing Arts Department to kickoff the school year with a day of creativity, reflection, and connection.

The day opened with a general session featuring Superintendent Cindy Marten, Office of School Innovation Executive Director Cheryl Hibbeln, and VAPA Director Russ Sperling. Tony Weaver Jr., founder and CEO of comic company Weird Enough Productions did the keynote, sharing his personal story about the power of the arts in students’ lives.

For the rest of the morning, attendees enjoyed a variety of sessions in a conference-style format. Each session featured an expert whose presentation covered ways to transform the lives of teachers and students. Workshops on Adobe Spark (a program now available districtwide), Pranayama breathing, Laban Movement Analysis, Visual Thinking Strategies, social media campaigns, grant writing, and connecting community to student artistic practices all connected VAPA’s mission and the superintendent’s focus on arts education and employee wellness. 

After lunch (in which teachers had access to an optional food truck and free Kona Ice), teachers met in discipline groups for networking and professional development. The day closed with a raffle and a reading from “The Element” by Sir Ken Robinson, in promotion of the “One Book, One VAPA” book club available for teachers this year. Over the course of the day, teachers had the chance to stop by a station for participation in an interactive art project, which will hang in the VAPA Department office as a reminder of the passionate and creative work of VAPA teachers and students districtwide.

Dinner is a Community Event!

Every month, Montgomery Middle STEAM Magnet students, families and neighbors gather in a former home economics classroom to share a meal. But this isn’t just any meal; this is a community event! 

The monthly Family Dinner is a tradition that has been hosted by the school for years. It started out as a small gathering and has quickly become the place to be every month. A typical family dinner starts at 6pm with everyone bringing ingredients for their favorite dishes. Diners get to help prepare the meal and learn about foods and traditions they may not have experienced before. 

It really is a time to experiment with new flavors, savor new cultures and make new friends. “Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.” -Guy Fieri 

Montgomery Family Dinners are held the third Wednesday of every month.

Reflecting on Identity

Students at all grade levels at Taft Middle School started the year in their English classrooms by thinking about identity and who they are as learners in the Taft community. They read, annotated, and reflected on a variety of non-fiction and narrative texts, watched a video called “The Learning Pit,” and used these readings to reflect on themselves as learners. The goal of this opening unit is to better see themselves as agents of change in their own academic communities, as well as to practice reading and writing strategies they will use throughout the school year. This powerful start has shown students across campus the value of using common language and expectations for learning and has been a powerful way for students to better understand themselves as we launch this new year of learning.

“Unified Sings” Initiative Promotes Singing and Wellness

The research about singing is in. It releases endorphins, increases oxygenation in the blood, positively affects the immune system, and improves neural-plasticity of the brain. It lowers stress, improves your posture, and builds self-esteem. And perhaps more importantly, singing is a form of personal expression, an outlet for emotions and identifying who we are in the world. And when singing in a group, it increases our feeling of connection with others, collaboration, communication, and overall well-being. In an effort to promote wellness, connection, and collaboration, the VAPA Department announces the districtwide initiative "Unified Sings". In this initiative, all students and district staff will have access to and encourage usage of positive music for ensemble singing and confidence-building. Anyone can sing, and science shows that singing makes us feel good both physically and mentally. Let’s do more of it. The VAPA Department has partnered with North County composer Ruth Weber, who performs with her daughter as the duo Ruth and Emilia. Their song “We’re Gonna Be Legendary” is the headliner song for Unified Sings for the 2019-2020 school year. The song is upbeat and contains a positive message about trying to make the world a better place. (Appropriate for all grade levels.) Music tracks, music notation, and supporting materials for this song (such as lyrics sheets) are available at https://www.sandiegounified.org/unified-sings-0. Ruth and Emilia can also be booked to do live performances at district schools; please see https://www.ruthandemilia.com/ for more information about them. All district staff, and specifically elementary classroom teachers, are encouraged to use these resources in their classrooms this year. As your site’s music teachers may be using the song as part of their curriculum, consider partnering with them for cross-curricular or interdisciplinary projects. The website also contains links to several other positive songs that are appropriate for children’s voices. Please contact Choral and General Music Resource Teacher Laura Williams at lwilliams5@sandi.net if you have any questions, or if you and your students would like to participate in our end-of-the-year district music video for “We’re Gonna Be Legendary”. We welcome not only singing groups of all ages, but instrumental music groups and dance groups, too. “The only thing better than singing… is more singing.” –Ella Fitzgerald

New Culinary Facility Open at Hoover

A highly anticipated culinary facility opened for Hoover students. With two classroom spaces, a training kitchen, a professional grade kitchen, and an inside and outside eating area, Chef Tina Luu and Chef Pamela Dahlin are able to bring high end culinary education to their 280+ students. A grand opening is being scheduled for late October to reveal this amazing space to the Hoover community. This updated facility will make it possible for Hoover students to experience a complete pathway of courses in the culinary arts. Integration with the many academies at Hoover is already happening. Yum, yum!

KYXY 96.5 Mornings with Rob & Joss at Carson STEAM Magnet!

Last week during KYXY 96.5’s Mornings with Rob and Joss, radio host Rob shared a traumatic cafeteria experience he had in the fourth grade. On his first day at a new school he had an encounter with the dreaded cafeteria lady that did not end well and forever changed his opinion of school lunches. The radio host then invited listeners to call in and share their own school cafeteria experiences growing up. The first on air caller happened to be Gary Petill, San Diego Unified School District’s Director of Food Services. Gary had been listening to the morning show and decided to help Rob overcome his fear of school cafeterias. He invited the morning crew to visit Carson Elementary STEAM Magnet in Linda Vista. With some trepidation, Rob accepted Gary’s offer for lunch. Upon arriving at Carson Elementary, the radio team was greeted by enthusiastic students and Principal Courtney Young. The radio hosts were treated to the café experience where they got to sample new food selections including the salad bar with house made dressings all presented with a smile by Carson’s incredible cafeteria staff.

Innoventors Summer Camp

The Education to Employment (E2E) lab at Kearny High School held an Innoventors Summer Camp for students in grades 3-12. The three to four day camps focused on computer science and electrical engineering. Elementary students built circuits and programmed littleBits to create several games and a guitar. They applied their innovation, knowledge and skills to design, build and code their own invention for a final project such as a hand waving machine and an automated bedroom using servos, LED matrix, sensors and buttons. Middle and high school students developed mobile apps and Arduino circuits during the three day camp. After developing games and a drawing app, they learned how to connect and code LEDs, servos, proximity sensors and more to an Arduino. The students’ final projects ranged from their own inventive mobile app games based on Pokemon and Endgame to Arduino devices engineered to communicate in Morse Code with lights to one controlled by a mobile app. All students recorded demos and presented their final projects the class.

Principal Wins State Music Administrator Award

Peggy Lewis, principal at Toler Elementary School, was awarded the 2019 Outstanding Administrator Award by the California Music Educators Association (CMEA). This award honors a school administrator who has contributed powerfully to the support of music education. She was previously given the same award by the local Southern Border Section of California Music Educators Association in 2018. The regional award qualified her for the state award, which was presented at the CMEA Awards Gala at the California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC) in Fresno last February. 

The anonymous recommendation for her award stated, “Ms. Lewis recognizes how instrument study improves attendance, grades, and skills in [her] Title I school and fully supports the music program, making sure that music teachers have rooms to teach in, and all necessary supplies. The school buys the class books and will pay to rent instruments if the district inventory cannot cover the demand [for certain instruments]. In addition to their two or three evening concerts at school each year, the students have performed in Clairemont community events and also for a concert with Classics For Kids orchestra. Students have also attended concerts by that orchestra.”

Ms. Lewis has been an educator for over thirty years, teaching at every grade level. Her philosophy is to focus on classroom learning at all levels. She attended San Diego State University, Chapman University, and United States International University, and chose a career in education in order to make a difference in children’s lives.

Senior Interns Placed!

The first week of school was a busy one at Kearny, DMD as each senior selected an internship for the semester and introduced themselves with a letter of introduction, written in their ERWC course, and a digital portfolio created in their media course. The students will work with these companies to produce graphic art packages and videos. This program runs throughout the semester with a culminating event in January where all students formally defend their work and their growth in front of a panel of industry members, teachers, and underclassmen. This opportunity allows students to demonstrate their college and career readiness and pushes them to the next level of rigor.