Friday, Aug. 12, 2016
Make Sure You're Allowing for Failure, Other Advice for Teachers
Dear Team DPS:

Supt. Tom Boasberg
As students buy back-to-school supplies, teachers map out their classroom themes and we all gear up for the official start to the school year, it's an exciting time to think about all that's ahead and all that's possible in 2016-17. And there is no one better to share some great advice, motivation and excitement than one of our many amazing teachers, Janine Logar.
 
Janine, who's entering her ninth year at Sabin World School, discussed the importance of putting Students First and shares some great guidance for educators -- first-year and otherwise -- in a thoughtful Q & A with Chalkbeat Colorado. Enjoy, and thanks to Chalkbeat for permission to share.

Best,
Tom

Pictured above: Janine Logar accepts her Leadership Lamp Award at the DPS 2015 Night of Honor.

" If you don't have their hearts, you'll never have their heads."
An excerpt from Sabin World School's Janine Logar's interview with Chalkbeat Colorado. Read the complete interview.

Janine Logar
When Janine Logar first stepped into a classroom as a career-changer studying to be a teacher more than a decade ago, she remembers thinking, "Oh, this is what I want to do."
 
"I felt like when LeBron James discovered a basketball," she said recently. "This is what I was put on Earth to do. ... I'm not artistic. I don't find myself to be particularly good with finances. I'm a terrible driver. But I have a specific set of skills that really meshes with teaching."
 
What was your first year of teaching like?
I came in at a low morale point for the school. The week I got there, they'd been told that they had two years to get it together or they were going to go into turnaround. (State test) scores had just come out and people were crying because they were awful. It was a rough transition.
 
I found out pretty quickly that the kids at the school were awesome. They'd had some pretty checked-out teachers for a really long time. They'd say things to me like, 'It's nice that you always have lesson plans.' I was like, 'Yes but you should expect there to be lesson plans.' So in a lot of ways, they were like a little desert: They were so thirsty for rain.
 
What was the best thing about that year?
Without a doubt, the kids. Those kids were so patient and forgiving with me because I was a first-year teacher. Because we went through so much together, we were incredibly bonded. It felt so urgent. They knew the pressure was on them to try to keep the school open.
 
Janine takes a selfie with her students in an app that adds cartoons.
What was the most important thing you learned that year?
That if you don't have their hearts, you'll never have their heads. If they don't love you and believe in you and look up to you, you can move them intellectually but I don't think you make long-term intellectual connections with them. I don't think you draw out their gifts and talents and help them understand their uniqueness if you don't have a relationship with them.
 
How do you establish that relationship?
You have to treat them like they're people. Sometimes in teaching, we talk to kids in a way that is unauthentic. Kids need to know that you're a person. A big thing is to say you're sorry. Not, 'I'm sorry, but --.' But, 'I messed that up and it's going to take some time for me to fix that with you and here's how I plan to do that. Is that going to work with you?' Or, 'That lesson was horrible and how can we make it better tomorrow?'
 
Some of my tougher kids -- the kids on the class list that people say 'oh my gosh' about -- I usually try to reach out to them over the summer under the guise of, 'You can help me set the classroom up,' because it's not threatening, their image and ego isn't there, they don't have to perform for anybody. It's just them and I, and I can say, 'What hasn't worked with teachers before?' If they've laughed with you and picked music while you're painting the room and you take them to Cicis Pizza, you're going to start on a very different foot.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization that covers education changes. For more, visit chalkbeat.org/co.

Community Conquers Freshman Fear at 9th Grade Academies  
With just a few weeks before classes start in DPS, hundreds of rising ninth-grade students traded precious time off to meet new friends and prepare for high school at several 9th Grade Academies held across the city.
 
"This is part of having that vision of where you're going next," said Marcus Lee, a teacher at George Washington High School.
 
For the 10th year, DPS provided the targeted academies to help freshmen students successfully transition to high school. Research shows that the academies -- which focus on supporting academic, emotional and social needs -- improve a student's academic performance and chance at graduating high school while helping them build a stronger attachment to their new school and peer groups.
 
Watch our DPS Features report on George Washington High School's 9th Grade Academy, which was hosted by the University of Denver. 

'Cookout with Cops' BBQ and School Supply Giveaway 
Stock up on school supplies while getting to know our local police department during the Denver Police Department's "Cookout with Cops & School Supply Giveaway" event on Saturday, Aug. 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the City Park Esplanade near East High School,1600 City Park Esplanade.

The police department is hosting this free event as an opportunity to engage students and parents in celebrating the start of a new school year. Open to anyone who wants to attend, police officers will serve barbecue, brisket, hot dogs and chips at no charge. Officers will also give away school supplies, gift cards, backpacks and other goodies. And the Denver Sheriff's Department, Denver Fire Department and DPD will have their vehicles on site so visitors can see their cool tools.

Learn more about the cookout and school supply giveaway at Denver Police Department's Facebook page.          
Learn More
DPS Celebrated as College Board AP District of the Year 
In July, DPS was recognized for increasing access and performance -- particularly for underserved minority students -- at the 2016 Advanced Placement (AP) Annual Conference held in Anaheim, California.

Now, watch the video spotlight of DPS, representing a culmination of school visits and AP interviews last school year.

DPS was named a College Board Advanced Placement District of the Year for being the national leader among large school districts -- defined as 50,000 or more students -- in expanding access to AP courses while simultaneously improving AP exam performance. DPS students, teachers, school and district leaders, and the AP College Board celebrated their achievements on March 10 at Thomas Jefferson High School.

DPS was one of a 425 school districts across the U.S. and Canada that achieved placement on the sixth annual AP District Honor Roll. From this list, three AP Districts of the Year -- one for each category of district population size -- were selected based on an analysis of three academic years of AP data. Great job, Team DPS!

COMING UP...