iMiddle Deaf & Hard of Hearing Teachers Connect with Students Through Empathy Interviews

Innovation Middle School Deaf & Hard of Hearing (DHH) Teachers recently conducted one-on-one empathy interviews with students to connect with them as people and to better understand them as learners. The empathy interviews were the starting point for the DHH teachers as they learned how to use the design thinking framework to find solutions to problems/needs. Through the interviews, the teachers collected student thoughts and perspectives on school-related topics and general interests. The teachers then analyzed the data for patterns and insights that might reveal problems that students are facing or needs students have. The number of problems/needs that the DHH teachers were able to define was surprising to them. With potential problems/needs to address, they ideated by brainstorming potential solutions and chose a few to prototype. With prototype models designed, they each shared their solutions to get feedback from one another. Many new ideas surfaced and they applied their revisions to their models. The teachers shared designs for a Deaf Field Day to connect the Deaf Community, Buddy Boxes to allow students to create a safe space to communicate with a friend, and to have students make “Life Through Deaf Eyes” videos to help teachers and students understand Deaf student needs and perspectives. 

Next, the teachers will test what they have designed by implementing their models with students. 

Having had no experience with design thinking, The DHH teachers modeled what it means to be a lifelong learner and being a risk-taker by their willingness to learn by doing. Now that they have a framework for problem-solving that they can use and integrate into their classrooms.

ITN Increasing Student Agency and Voice Through Technology

The San Diego Unified’s Innovative Teaching Network (ITN) is a community of educators that share, learn, and grow with and from each other. Educators experience motivational guest speakers and gain new insights and resources for innovation. Over forty educators attended our 4th meeting this year on February 26th at Roosevelt Middle School. Each meeting includes peer presentations about real classroom experiences and breakout sessions on innovative practices. In February, teachers learned about Design Thinking, Maker Spaces, and digital tools such as PearDeck and Canva. Participants leave inspired and excited to innovate their classrooms and build capacity at their sites.

CS for All!

What does it look like to make computer science education accessible for students with disabilities? Fred Hilgers at Clairemont high is tackling that issue in his Integrated 1 Math class. Using Bootstrap, a hybrid math / computer science curriculum, Fred is exploring ways that his two visually impaired students can code right along with their classmates. Working directly with Fred, and including the opinions of his students, Bootstrap is creating a visually impaired software that takes input of the student and verbally describes the shape and structure of the output. Not only is this a win for SDUSD students, but potentially has impact with thousands of visually impaired students nationally!

Anyone CAN Do the Rubik’s Cube . . . But Some Patrick Henry Students Are Exceptionally Fast!

Ten Patrick Henry students will be competing at the Rubik’s Cube Competition for the first time this year at CSU San Marcos. You CAN do the Rubik’s Cube is the educational outreach program of the world-famous Rubik’s Cube which brings mathematical, cooperative, and art concepts together while empowering anyone to solve the Rubik’s Cube. Henry’s club has existed for three years and meets once a week where students practice solving Rubik’s Cube and engage in other types of mechanical puzzles. In the competition, eight students must solve 25 scrambled Rubik’s Cubes as fast as possible. Henry’s club advisor, Tom Knapik, says “Our current record for solving 25 Rubik’s Cubes is 3 minutes and 23 seconds and a few students can solve a single cube in under 30 seconds!” Let’s see if they achieve a personal best at CSU San Marcos. Go Patriots!

Literacy Across the Curriculum

Taft teachers gathered with Carisa Barnes, Kearny cluster Gear Up coach, and Sarah Petersen, California Reading and Literature Project consultant, to practice ways to integrate literacy strategies into their curriculum. As math, history, English, world languages, science, and PE teachers came together, they explored what it means to incorporate more effective opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening into their daily instruction. They discovered that strategies such as taking notes and looking for evidence during reading, participating in a listening protocol that encourages students to actively listen and paraphrase what their classmates say, and using graphic organizers to make connections between reading and thinking, can help equip students to be more mindful in their learning process. Throughout the training, teachers planned for ways to implement literacy strategies into their current and future teaching practices.

3 SDUSD Students Selected as “100 High School Students America Needs to Know About” by Workforce Career Readiness™

Workforce Career Readiness™ is celebrating “100 High School Students” across the United States. They are recognizing high school students who are on their way to taking the world by storm and they have found three right here in San Diego Unified. Congratulations to Sabrina Lee from Mt. Everest Academy, Jerry Yang from Scripps Ranch High School and Zachary Patterson from University City High School. These student leaders are making a positive difference and impact in our district, our schools and our community.

Peninsula Family YMCA swim classes make a big splash for Correia students in Point Loma/Ocean Beach

A partnership between the Peninsula Family YMCA and Correia Middle School is giving eighth-graders a chance to learn life-saving skills in the water — something a quarter of them have never experienced.

Click here: https://www.lajollalight.com/pointloma-obmonthly/profiles/places/sd-cm-pt-loma-swimming-correia-20181219-story.html

National History Day San Diego Winners

Longfellow Spanish Immersion 8th grade students Abegail H. and Malia L. will represent San Diego at the National History Day California competition in Rocklin, CA on May 10-12, 2019. They won at National History Day San Diego (NHDSD) on March 2, 2019 with their portrayals of Alexander Hamilton and Abigail Adams in the Individual Performance category. The students each researched their chosen historical figure throughout the fall semester, using both primary and secondary sources. They wrote and on NHDSD, they performed a first-person narrative as that figure, and connected it to the National History Day theme, “Triumph and Tragedy.” Since students are in a Spanish Immersion program, they first wrote and performed their skit in Spanish at Longfellow, and later reworked their presentations for performance at the County and now State levels.

These students also participated in NHDSD: Laura P. (Nancy Ward), Simone H. (Ann Bates), Tatiana B. (Benjamin Franklin), Avery R. (who received honorable mention and is a runner-up for her performance as Deborah Champion), Rosette K. (George Wythe), Lisbon Z. (Hercules Mulligan), Chloe J. (Mercy Otis Warren), Abigail C. (Peggy Shippen), Maya J. (Margaret Corbin). Congratulations to Longfellow 8th graders and their history-social science SLIM (Spanish Language Immersion) teacher, Kimberly DeBerzunza!!

Middle School students participate in E-Week with Northrop Grumman

One of San Diego Unified School District's valued partners, Northrop Grumman hosted a series of events during National Engineering Week for our middle school students in February! E-Week promotes the importance of career and technical education as well as encouraging students to pursue higher levels of math and science.

Students enrolled in the Gateway to Technology course at Bethune K-8 participated in a Snap Circuits Activity on the Northrop Grumman campus. Electrical and Mechanical engineers were on hand to walk the students through an overview of electrical circuits. After learning the basic theories of how circuits work, the students worked in groups to solve problems and then create a variety of projects using the Snap Circuits parts. Students learned how to make motors and fans work, turn on buzzers, and light up LEDs!

Marston Middle School students were able to work directly with the engineers to build Arduino Planet-Finding CubeSats and participate in two James Webb Telescope inspired experiments using luminosity and infrared sensors.

Northrop Grumman hosted Bell Middle School and Lewis Middle school for an Introduce a Girl to Engineering experience as well. The students were inspired by the many female engineers at Northrop Grumman and walked away knowing they could join them one day!
Students from Marshall Middle School participated in a modified egg drop challenge, modeling Northrop Grumman engineers that design devices to land a payload safely on a small target. The students designed a container to safely hold a "Smart Egg." Northrop Grumman collaborated with Fab Lab to create 3D-printed eggs containing an accelerometer and wifi-capability. The eggs measured force and acceleration, providing real-time data used to gauge the success of each group's device. Devices were connected to a quadcopter which attempted to lift the devices up and release them on a specific target.

E-Week concluded with a visit from Northrop Grumman to Challenger Middle school where over 250 sixth grade students learned about Operation #Polar Eye, a partnership between Northrop Grumman and San Diego Zoo Global. Three engineers and a graphic designer showed footage from the arctic, and how drones were used to monitor polar bears in relation to their habitat and the climate. Questions from students about the extremely cold climate led to a discussion on how an engineer's job is to design solutions to problems. Students were encouraged to look into careers in the field of engineering and also careers who work in partnership with engineers such as graphic design.

Many students remarked that these were the most memorable experiences of their school careers! Thank you Northrop Grumman!

Rowan Elementary & Bell Middle School Circle Youth Training Graduation Ceremonies

Congratulations to our Circle Youth Leaders from Rowan Elementary and Bell Middle School for completing their 10 week Circle facilitation course. Rowan students started facilitating circles in the classrooms last Thursday and Bell students will be beginning on the 19th of March.

For more information on the details of when the circles are actually taking place, please call the Restorative Justice Practices Department at 619-725-7394.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Mindfulness Activities at Challenger Middle School

Mindfulness activities in schools have surged in popularity due to the numerous benefits on SEL skills, such as attention and emotional regulation. Many researchers are trying to better understand the impact of mindfulness activities in schools. The research is promising, especially in an article by Jha, A. P., Krompinger, J., & Baime, M. J. (2007). Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(2), 109–119. Challenger Middle School and their counseling team coordinated a mental health awareness day that involved yoga, deep breathing and a labyrinth walk. Students who learned these skills will have additional tools to cope with the challenges of life.

The Visual and Performing Arts Department (VAPA) of the San Diego Unified School District announces winners of the 2019 VAPA Spotlight Awards

The VAPA Spotlight Awards celebrate some of the many successes happening in the visual and performing arts across our district, at all levels, and in all disciplines.  These awards highlight outcomes that are aligned with the goals of VAPA’s strategic plan, adopted by the Board of Education in 2016.  Awardees were nominated by the district’s VAPA stakeholder community including teachers, parents, community arts partners, administrators, and students.  The winners were selected by a committee that included a teacher and representative from the district's VAPA Advisory Council, a representative from the VAPA Department, and a representative from the VAPA Foundation.  In addition to the awards, the VAPA Foundation will also be sponsoring $250 scholarships to the four student award recipients.

This year’s VAPA Spotlight Award winners are:

·       Artistic Achievement Award

o   Kelly Hatfield, Student, Serra High School

o   Katherine Perrine, Student, La Jolla High School

·       Artistic Growth Award              

o   Erin Cortes, Teacher, Taft Middle School

o   Dr. John Reynolds, Teacher, San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts

·       Artistic Innovation Award

o   Carmen and Kevin Kasner, Parents, Mira Mesa High School

o   Bill McClain, Teacher, Carver Elementary School

o   Reyna Turner, Teacher, Loma Portal Elementary School

·       Creative Community Engagement Award

o   Catalina Valenzuela, Classified Staff, Crown Junior Music Academy

o   Daniel Kriley, Teacher, Mira Mesa High School

o   Jeanne Christensen, Teacher, Mira Mesa High School

o   Matthew Mulvaney, Teacher, Mira Mesa High School

·       Creative Leadership Award

o   Derek Murchison, Principal, Zamorano Fine Arts Academy

o   Aaron Blokker, Teacher, Serra High School

·       Rising Star Award

o   Noah Sanchez, Student, San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts

o   John Riley, Teacher, Crawford High School

o   David Robinson, Student, Crawford High School

Awardees will be recognized at the 2019 VAPA Spotlight Awards Presentation on Wednesday, March 13 at 6:30 pm in the Board Room of the Eugene Brucker Education Center located at 4100 Normal St., San Diego, CA 92103, immediately following the District Art Show opening on the 2^nd floor.

For more information, contact:

Visual and Performing Arts Department (VAPA)

Russ Sperling, Director – rsperling@sandi.net

Tim Benson, Program Manager – tbenson@sandi.net

Youth Advocacy: Follow us and Share on Social Media

The Youth Advocacy Department has been building our online presence as an important way to stay in touch with students, families, community organizations, and district staff online and across several social media platforms. Please follow us and share the amazing work you are doing with Youth Advocacy!



Twitter: @YOUTHSDUSD Instagram:youthadvocacysdusd Facebook:@sdusdyouthadvocacy

And check out some of the amazing resources on our website at https://www.youthadvocacy.us

We look forward to sharing all of the great things happening within our district!