PSAT - How’d it go?

The reviews are in - - - and they’re as diverse as the students who made them! “It was hard! It was longer than I expected! It wasn’t so bad. The reading portion was easier than the math! I can do this!” Thousands of San Diego Unified High School students took the PSAT on Wednesday of last week and were able to think about what they know now and what they still need to learn in math and reading. When asked what they learned from taking the PSAT, students said “I gotta pay attention more in class!” and “I feel like I’m on the right track - - I’m not that worried” and “I’m going to need to study for the SAT!” English teacher Dana Klein said, “The students in the room she proctored really worked hard to do their best.” Students at Clairemont High School are grateful they had a chance to experience the test and said that it makes them feel less anxious about taking the SAT in the future. Their advice to current freshman, make sure to get a lot of sleep before you take the PSAT next year!

Classroom Without Walls: Project Tuning

“Classroom Without Walls” is a project that challenges seniors in the School of Digital Media and Design at Kearny High School to design product for a professional client. This individual project provides students with the opportunity for a truly authentic learning experience. Designing a product on a professional level is real world work and is preparing these students for their next steps into college and career. 

Improving products to a professional level requires collaboration, feedback, and revision. These seniors support one another by using a project tuning protocol. This protocol helps guide the students through a critique and revision cycle. One student’s project is at the center of the conversation. The students shares the mission of organization/internship they are working, provides the other students with the context for the project and their design choices, and then poses a question(s) they want other students to consider for feedback. Once the context has been given, other students ask clarifying questions and then have a discussion about the project. While the discussion is going on, the student with the project the group is focused on, listens and takes notes. When the discussion is over, the student then explains to the revisions they plan to implement. This type of collaborative project tuning can transform and level up the products that students design and create for their professional client.

Alternative Space

Teachers trickled in intrigued by the space and a bit excited as well. Brick walls of different colors and a sense of urbanism permeated the place. What an innovative idea for a “Design Thinking” workshop, having it in the “Bread and Salt Art Gallery,” which is a former bread factory in Barrio Logan. The workshop was led by Regina Kruglyak and Reuben Hoffman from the Office of Innovation and Integrated Youth Services. The environment was relaxed and creative as the first activity was for teachers to make their own name tags with many different materials provided by Ms. Kruglyak. 

As the the day went on teachers were super engaged in creating different prototypes with their partners with the sound of international music in the background. They participated inBuilding 3d models, gallery walks, online discussions, face to face sharing out, and of course a NGSS focus walk around the neighborhood in Barrio Logan. Teachers observed today’s issues in this neighborhood and collectively brainstormed solutions to help alleviate the problems they had encountered. 

The Tooth Keri Visits Curie Elementary

On Monday, October 8, the TK and kindergarten classes at Curie Elementary got a visit from the Super Dentists’ Tooth Keri. She brought along two friends to teach students about dental hygiene through story and song. Students sang along with the Tooth Keri to describe the ways to keep their teeth healthy. The fun, energetic, and interactive presentation kept the classes engaged and reminded every student that there is nothing scary about visiting the dentist. Each student received a goody bag (containing a movie, toothbrush, floss and stickers) to help them practice good dental hygiene. Students peppered the Tooth Keri with questions and flocked around her for photos. They loved to have a super hero in their midst who spent time to teach them. One student enjoyed it so much, she volunteered to deliver the thank you card from the class to the Tooth Keri at her Command Center herself. If you would like the Tooth Keri to visit your school for this FREE presentation, email schoolrep@thesuperdentists.com.

Local Artist Supports SDUSD STEAM - Promoting Creativity and Literacy

Local artist and painter Grant Pecoff has been inspiring people with his beautiful vibrant paintings for years. Grant uses big bold colors to reflect his travels around the world and of San Diego. Grant recently donated 300 copies of his book Live Your Dream to San Diego Unified Kindergarten teachers. The teachers are taking part in the district’s STEAM Initiative. Teachers will now be able to use Grant’s art to inspire students to engineer and design a paintbrush in class. Bringing out student creativity and imagination in the classroom and reinforcing the Art in STEAM projects. You can learn more about Grant by visiting his website at: https://shop.pecoff.com/

Students at Rowan Elementary love STEAM!

The Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten students at Rowan Elementary are enjoying their STEAM experiences! Ms. Trout and Ms. Marrone co-teach during their STEAM block and the classrooms participate together each afternoon for a STEAM lesson in Rowan’s makerspace. The TK/K classes are learning about caring for living and nonliving things. Students used LEGO to create models as they explained how animals like a woodpecker (pictured) uses their beak to eat food.

Celebrating National Principals Month

Join the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the American Federation of School Administrators this October as we honor the hard work and dedication of America’s principals all month long.

National Principals Month is your opportunity to say “thank you” to principals everywhere and to share with the community all the great things that principals do.

The key to student success is a great school, and the key to a great school is a great principal.

See what people across the country are saying about their principals, and be sure to #ThankAPrincipal yourself!

Mira Mesa High School Hosts a KUSI Alarm Clock Pep Rally

KUSI’s Allie Wagner started off PPR Friday at Mira Mesa High School as they prepared for their game against Morse High School.

https://www.kusi.com/alarm-clock-pep-rally-mira-mesa-high-school/

EdTA Model Curriculum Framework Project premieres at UC High

University City High School theatre teacher, Matt Moody, was selected to participate in the EdTA Model Curriculum Framework Project. This is a year-long pilot in which 10 two-member teams of secondary classroom theatre educators and teaching artists, from across the nation, will work with mentors to create a standards-based curriculum framework and embedded instructional units based on the 2014 National Theatre Standards. It is part of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Model Cornerstone Assessment (MCA) Project in partnership with the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) and the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS).

Matt Moody has partnered with Julia Cuppy, Associate Director of Education and Outreach, and Teaching Artist for La Jolla Playhouse. Their unit is a six-week study of Devised Playwriting Strategies.

The goal of this project is to expand instructional practice for both teachers and teaching artists. All teams will pilot their units of study and collect evidence of student learning. In the UC High School project, students will first learn how to devise a story using various theatrical techniques, and then learn playwriting techniques to capture their scenes in a script format. The scripts will be created, revised, rehearsed, and performed by the students in collaborative teams with designated roles: dramaturg, actor(s), director, and stage manager. Two actors will take on the role of designing lights, props and costumes. Each mini-play is inspired by a New York Times image from their creative writing series. This project will eventually be recreated in theatre programs across the country.

A public staged reading of the student-developed works will be held on October 12th, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the UC High School Theater. An audience talkback will follow the performance and is an important part of the revision process for these young playwrights.

Join Us for the 2018-19 Student Equity Coalitions!

Parents, staff and community members are invited to join our students at this year's three Student Equity Coalition events. The first Coalition is being held on Wednesday, November 7th at Clairemont High School, the second Coalition is being held on Thursday, December 13th at Patrick Henry High School and the third Coalition is being held on Wednesday, February 6th at Morse High School. All Coalitions are scheduled from 5:00-6:30pm. For more information, contact Stacey Seiders at sseiders@sandi.net or 619-725-7125.

Kearny and University City High School ASB Presidents Serve as Honorary SDUSD Student Board Representatives

Jennifer Garcia, the ASB President of Kearny High School, and Sammie Staples, the ASB President of University City High School, recently served as San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Student Board Representatives. The students joined the Board Members on the dais and provided reports about what has been happening at their schools both socially and academically.

Who’s Who in the Nursing & Wellness Department

In 2018-19, Health Offices across San Diego Unified School District are staffed with members of the Nursing & Wellness Department nearly every day, in nearly every school. School Nurses, paraprofessionals, and our District Physician work as a team to provide daily consistent support and care to students. School Nurses are professional Registered Nurses (RNs) who hold a Bachelor’s Degree and a California Health Services Credential, the “nursing version” of a teaching credential. Most of our nurses also have a Master’s Degree in Nursing or Education. Some of our school nurses are also Nurse Practitioners (NPs), who are Advanced Practice RNs with a specialty in Family Medicine or Pediatrics. Our paraprofessionals are Health Technicians (HT) and Special Education Health Technicians (SEHT) who are highly trained classified staff that work closely with their school nurses to provide quality and consistent care to our students. They receive formal training every year in departmental practices and specific health care procedures (catheterization, diabetic care, emergency seizure care, etc.).
Both RNs and paraprofessionals are supported by a Professional Development program provided by the Nursing & Wellness Department throughout the year. Our District Physician is a Pediatrician associated with UCSD and works closely with our School Nurses to provide recommendations for complex health care plans, facilitate communication with community physicians, consult on complex IEP and 504 services, train our paraprofessionals on administering OTC medication, and collaborate with American Academy of Pediatrics in San Diego, to bring current best practices into SDUSD and educate local physicians on school-related issues. The SDUSD Nursing staff works under a written philosophy of embracing Trauma Informed Care, Restorative Practices, and Mindfulness to achieve optimal health and well-being of our school community. Healthy kids make better students, and the Department of Nursing & Wellness is committed to the educational success of our all of our children.

Top Football Players Invited to Alex Spanos All-Star Classic

The Alex Spanos All-Star Classic has named the first group of players invited to participate in the 29^th annual high school football game.  The following San Diego Unified School District student athletes are part of this group:

Running backs — Raiden Hunter (San Diego) and Kenan Christon (Madison)

Quarterbacks — Daniel Stokes (Madison)

Receivers — Casey Granfors (University City) and Jamahd Monroe (Lincoln)

Defensive backs — Shamar Martin (Morse), Don Chapman (Lincoln) and Javelle Brown (Mira Mesa)

Athletes — JL Skinner (Point Loma) and Jayden Wickware (San Diego)

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/high-school-preps/sd-sp-preps-all-star-classic-20181009-story.html