Bite of Reality

Financial literacy is something our students need help with, and frankly something many adults need help with as well. In partnership with Cal Coast Credit Union, the Education to Employment lab (E2E) at Kearny High School hosted a “Bite of Reality” workshop for 10th grade students around this concept. The lab got transformed into a shopping mall with booths representing the essentials, such as food and housing, as well as the fun aspects of life, such as trips to Hawaii and luxury cars. Students were given a persona with a salary, family members, and debt upon entering the experience. Each booth was represented by volunteer “merchants” tasked with trying to upsell students on their choices, just like in real life. “Wouldn’t it be fun to own this brand new car, all shiny and fancy? It is under warranty, not this like used old, dirty car that is going to need a lot of repairs,” student volunteers were overheard saying as others shopped at their booth. The learning was two-fold. 10th grade students that participated in the program learned a bit more about how much things cost and how to budget wisely especially when they went over budget and needed to visit the credit union booth to get some counseling. The volunteers learned communication, empathy, and negotiation. Many volunteers even ended up wanting to go through the program themselves. Everyone had a great experience and E2E is excited to host Cal Coast Credit Union again in the future. If you are interested in booking a Bite of Reality at your school contact Candice Fee, E2E Coordinator, at cfee2@sandi.net.

The Human Rights Campaign of San Diego

The Human Rights Campaign of San Diego had a busy January! The organization donated over 400 backpacks filled with hygiene products to the Office of Children and Youth in Transition for students experiencing homeless. The Human Rights Campaign makes yearly donations to organizations and school districts that support families and children in need. We’re excited to be added to their yearly donation list!!

Careers at my Best

After learning about their strengths, interests, and values over the last three years though College and Career lessons, students at Kearny, DMD had a culminating experience. Students were able to connect their interests to their strength to find the best career for themselves. Using their iStartStrong results students deeply explored careers that matched the interest inventory. Connected to the o’net, students looked at salaries, job descriptions, and education required for these positions. However, it didn’t end there. In order to find a career that is going to make you happy, you need to find something that you are not only interested in, but good at as well. Students connected the job responsibilities to their StrengthQuest results and created “Careers at my Best.” Students will be presenting on their past, present, and future in a Senior Defense during the second week of January. Showing their identity and growth over the last four years will conclude with showcasing their ability to apply those skills outside the classroom.

Healthy Cooking Class at ALBA

Students at ALBA were treated to a healthy cooking lesson by the resources teachers from the departments of Physical Education, Youth in Transition, and Counseling.  Students in small groups analyze the nutritional information of pizza and created their own using fresh ingredients. This was a great learning opportunity for the students and was made possible through the support of Program Manager Jennifer Coronel, Children and Youth in Transition.  

Montgomery Middle School-Wide Exhibition 2017

On December 14th, 2017, students from Montgomery Middle School exhibited their projects from the fall semester to peers, parents, and community members during an all day school-wide exhibition. Projects included Cancer: Now What (6th grade), The History of Linda Vista (7th grade), Natural Disasters (8th grade). While preparing for an exhibition can be a lot of work, it is an incredible learning opportunity for students and helps to increase student engagement and motivation.  Thank you Montgomery Middle for making this opportunity possible for your students. Check out shareyourlearning.org to learn about how to help showcase student work.

Student Teaching to a New Level

Who knows the most about a school? The teacher? The principal? The counselor? Or is it actually the student? Kearny’s E2E lab has designed a way for students to show off their expertise gained through their tenure at the school to other students. Through an internship in partnership with San Diego Workforce Partnership, Jenna Pekny DMD Class of 2018, designed and taught a lesson on the school’s ESLRs or Expected School Wide Learning Results to the freshman class at her school. It was great to see the learning that happened when she was challenged with describing her learning. The 9th graders were engaged and excited about learning from an older student. Jenna was happy to share and get more experience for a possible future career in teaching.

Umoja Community: Together We Rise

The Umoja Community at San Diego City College is a program designed to assist African American and other historically underrepresented students who desire to transfer to four-year colleges and universities, and earn their degrees. Course materials, discussions, and activities focus on African-American culture, literature, and experiences. Through Umoja, students can prepare for transfer while taking culturally relevant coursework and participate in enriching activities with students who share similar goals.   Students that participate in the Umoja community can receives additional supports services while at City College to include: orientation, counseling, mentoring, supplemental instruction and tutoring.

Currently the staff of the Umoja program at City College will be working high schools sites to arrange meetings for all African American students grades 11 & 12.  These meetings will take place at the high school sites and parents are welcome to attend.

https://www.sdcity.edu/CollegeServices/StudentSupportResources/Umoja.aspx

Empowering Students to Participate in the Democratic Process

On December 5th, 2017 a handful of San Diego Unified high school teachers attended a training with the non-profit organization Generation Citizen to explore an action civics curriculum aligned with standards and the core components of PBL. According to Generation Citizen, “Over the course of GC’s in-class program, students choose an issue they care about, develop a focused, strategic plan to address the issue, take real action, and then reflect on their successes, challenges, and plans moving forward. Each semester culminates in a Civics Day, in which student representatives from classes in each city present their plans to other students, community members, and public officials, celebrating their work and gaining feedback to further their efforts.” The teachers in attendance will pilot this curriculum either this upcoming Spring or in the Fall. If you are interested in learning more about the organization or curriculum, you can head to their website https://generationcitizen.org/ or contact Liz Perry at eperry@sandi.net

Scripps Ranch Food Drive

During the month of December, Scripps Ranch High School's AFJROTC and Associated Student Body successfully collected 15,055 pounds of food for the San Diego Food Bank.  The combined effort and outstanding dedication of Scripps Ranch AFJROTC, Associated Student Body, Faculty, Students, and the Scripps Ranch Community ensured that less fortunate families were able to better enjoy the holiday season.  The success of this canned food drive continues the yearly tradition of giving back to the greater San Diego community and the dedication of Scripps Ranch High School towards helping others.

San Diego Automotive Teachers Summit

On December 8th, six SDUSD CCTE Automotive teachers attended the official kick off of the San Diego Automotive Teachers Summit.   The summit attracted more than 30 San Diego County automotive instructors which also included several professional local automotive support groups.  In the near future the group plans to have 2 to 3 meetings per year so that both College and High School automotive education programs across San Diego and Imperial County can collaborate regularly and build a strong network of support groups to enhance automotive education and attract local automotive business to work with our programs. Ultimately, the group wants to build a seamless transition so that our students can continue on to college and identify local automotive businesses willing to provide future employment opportunities for our student graduates.  

Showcasing San Diego MET High School

Did you know that San Diego Unified has a high school located on the campus of San Diego Mesa College? 

The San Diego Metropolitan Regional, Career, and Technical High School (known affectionately as "The Met") is a public, innovative, student-centered school in the San Diego Unified School District, and part of the Big Picture Learning network.

Students at the MET have access to:

Advisory - Every student joins an Advisory when they enter the MET. This is a tightly knit cohort of about 15 to 20 students who work with the same advisor throughout their time at the MET. This provides the space to build a family atmosphere, and allows advisors to understand each student's interests and needs, which leads to authentically personalized learning for the student.

Internships - Every student (grades 9-12) has an internship, which is our "classroom in the community." Internships serve as the basis of career exploration and work experience. Students choose internships based on their interests, and develop strong relationships with mentors who are professionals and experts in their field.

College Classes - Every student, starting in grade 10, has the opportunity to enroll in college classes at San Diego Mesa College, and earn transferrable college credits. All fees and textbooks are paid for by the SD Unified School District.

The San Diego MET is currently accepting applications for students in grades 9-12 for the Spring semester as well as the 2018-2019 school year.  For more information, please contact Jason Moravec (Counselor) at jmoravec@sandi.net

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.”  - Bobby Unser, Racecar Driver

We all want to be successful, and parents dream that their children will find even more success than they have.  The world is full of opportunities for those who are prepared to meet them, and the first step towards that preparation is simple:  regular school attendance.  Young people may tire of the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up.”  The truth is – they don’t need to know that yet.  What they do need to know is that the better they do in school, the more prepared they’ll be when an opportunity presents itself. 

In a push to better support our school sites in efforts to address chronic absenteeism, the District Attendance Team meets monthly to bring together key players from various departments with a common vision.  The goal of this team is to provide guidance and support to staff members working to improve attendance at our schools by increasing understanding and calibrating of tiered supports for attendance, establishing a toolkit for sites at each level (elementary, middle, and high), and sharing best practices.  School staff members are also invited to participate in the District Attendance Team, and all input is welcome – we are all here to support our students and families!

If you or someone you know struggles with getting to school on time every day, here are a few tips that may be helpful:

• Establish a regular bedtime routine, and make sure you’re getting enough sleep.
• Put screens away (TV, computer, phone, tablets) before preparing to go to bed.  Turn off any phone notifications that may disturb you.
• If you use your phone as an alarm clock, put it across the room so you physically have to get out of bed to turn it off.
• Poor attendance is usually a symptom of other issues.  Our school sites are rich with resources and support.  Connect yourself to someone who can help – school counselor, nurse, etc., and take advantage of tutoring, counseling, CASSAS (Saturday School), and anything else that can help you stay on track to a bright and successful future!

Code Week in SDUSD

Information Communication and Technology teachers in SDUSD had multiple activities during the week of Code Week (December 4-8). Here are just a few of the many activities:

Crawford: More than 600 students at Crawford High School have done the hour of code this week. The Crawford Cyber Colts Coding Club assisted and acted as technical support in various classrooms. The week started with Crawford Graduate Diana Nguyen, providing a presentation on the pathway to software engineering. Diana highlighted the statistics about the field: only 12% of those employed in software engineering are female, and the average annual salary is nearly $100,000. She obtained her BS in Computer Science with a minor in Math from Mills College, and is now a full time software engineer. She credits her career to the Web Development and CAD engineering courses at Crawford. On Wednesday the California National Guard provided a demonstration of tactical computer equipment mounted in a Humvee.

 

Hoover: Personnel from the Control Group led by Kacey Nomura visited the Academy of Information Technology (AoIT) to do Hour of Code activities with the first year academy students. Also a IT professional, Rick Worthen, visited AoIT classes to do Scratch lessons and to share his industry experiences.

Kearny SCT: All students spent over an hour battling it out using Code Combat and learning JavaScript along the way. It has been a great way to end our CS Education Week. The coding still continues at Kearny SCT. www.codecombat.com

Morse: On Tuesday Dec. 5 at Morse the Foundations of IT classes had Dr. Leo Porter, Assistant Teaching Professor in Computer Science and Computer Architecture from UCSD.  He talked about the different areas of computer science and well as had the students do some programming using PicoBots.

On Thursday Dec. 7 at Morse the Foundations of IT classes hosted the cybersecurity team from the San Diego County Office of Education - 2 CyberSecurity Analysts - Vong Sopha and Ed Kipp as well as Christy Johnson, the project manager.  They did a hacking of a computer demonstration and then discussed topics such as phishing, ransomware, passwords, public Wifi, USB sticks, and IOT.  They also explained their career paths and the demand for cybersecurity analysts in the future.  

SDHS International: Foundations of IT Classes did Hour of Code activities on code.org