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CSTP wishes you a jolly holiday season and happy new year!
We have a great newsletter lined up this month. CSTP has a few book recommendations to add to your winter reading list. We are halfway through the school year and and encourage you to check out the free Student Perception surveys.
Check out the exciting things happening on our Instagram account (@wa_cstp) and
sign-up to takeover
our account to highlight an aspect of your teacher leadership.
Do you have new teachers in your district or colleagues who should have this information? Be sure to
and encourage them to
sign-up for our emails
to stay on top of events and opportunities.
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CSTP Winter Reading Recommendations
Winter break is just around the corner and a good time to crack open a book from your reading pile or re-read a favorite. For those looking for a new book we have several staff recommendations.
Written by Camas High School student Mackenzie Snell (whose dad is CSTP Board Member and Camas Superintendent Jeff Snell!) this recently published book is a heart-warming story about her younger brother Micah, who despite his challenges, perseveres to run marathons and inspire others. This is a children's book that is perfect for all ages.
Educated This powerful memoir by Tara Westover details her amazing upbringing in a survivalist fundamentalist family in Idaho. Forbidden to see doctors or attend school until she's well into her teen years, this is a story of persistence and perseverance and the power of education.
The Hate U Give
Starr is a high school student who toggles two worlds - growing up in a low-income neighborhood and attending high school at a prestigious prep school across town. When she's witness to a police shooting of her best friend, her two worlds collide. It has recently become a movie.
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
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WEA's NBCT Teacher of Color Grant
Date:
Ongoing
Grant:
$500
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Fulbright Leaders for Global Schools Program Nominations Due
Date:
December 13, 2018
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PESB's Educator Retooling Scholarship
Date:
January 11, 2019
Scholarship: up to $3,000
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WEA Home Stretch
Date:
February 23, 2019
Location: Camas, WA
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WEA Home Stretch
Date:
February 23, 2019
Location: Kennewick, WA
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Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching Nominations Due
Date:
March 1, 2019
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WEA Home Stretch
Date:
March 23, 2019
Location: Spokane, WA
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Save the Date: Exceptional Educators Night with the Mariners
Date:
April 14, 2019
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WEA Home Stretch
Date:
April 20, 2019
Location: Federal Way, WA
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Save the Date: WATAC Spring Conference
Date:
May 4-5, 2019
Location: SeaTac, WA
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Student Perception Surveys - Free Tools for WA Teachers
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| Video: What is the Student Perception Project? |
Have you ever wondered what your students perceive about instruction and classroom practice? If you answered "YES!", keep reading. Developed by educators and experts in Washington along with OSPI and CSTP, the survey is connected to the three state-approved frameworks. Teachers can easily access survey items in eVAL and choose items to design an online survey based on specific areas in which they would like student feedback.
"Thank you for making this survey available. My students are the best judge of my practice- they see the good, the bad and the ugly! I went over the results with them and asked them for ideas on how I can improve. It has been an awesome experience!" -
Middle School Teacher
Where do you find this survey tool? What if you don't have access to eVAL? What's the benefits of student feedback? All of these questions and more are on the
CSTP website.
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Teacher Input Needed on Professional Growth Plans (PGPs)
Professional Growth Plans are a free way to earn clock hours from the state and renew your teaching certificate for work you are already doing in your professional development journey. As the Washington Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) works to promote and update the PGP process and requirements, we are looking for feedback from teachers in the field. The survey takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and the deadline to respond is January 18, 2019. If you are not familiar with the Washington State Professional Growth Plan, please take a few minutes to review them at this link,
http://bit.ly/2mb8beI, before completing the survey. It will also save you time in the survey to preview the InTASC standards found on page 8 and 9, of this document,
https://ccsso.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/InTASC_Model_Core_Teaching_Standards_2011.pdf, before beginning.
The PESB would like your feedback whether or not you have completed a Washington State Professional Growth Plan in the past.
Link to Survey:
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NBCT Candidate Score Release
On Saturday, December 1, teachers from around our state and country eagerly signed into their National Board for Professional Teaching Standards account to check their NBCT candidate results. Congratulations to those who have certified!
For information about the National Board for Professional Teaching assessment, visit the
NBPTS website.
For information on becoming a NBCT in Washington state and conditional loan, visit the
OSPI website.
For information on courses to get started, visit the
WEA website.
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La Conner School District with Whitney Meissner, Andy Wheeler, Bev Bowen,Todd Torgeson and Jan Auman |
On November 7th in Tukwila, CSTP and OSPI held its second Leadership Lab focusing on "Putting the G (Growth) in TPEP." Over 50 educators seized this opportunity to learn from each other as well as districts that are effectively leveraging TPEP as a way to support teacher and administrator growth. The format of a fishbowl conversation followed by role alike groups, allowed participants to hear from teams of educators who are currently engaged in shifting the evaluation mindset from compliance to growth and make relevant connections to their context.
The morning session featured a fishbowl conversation centered around growth conversations between building administrators and evaluators. Participants later moved into role alike groups to continue the conversations and to begin to apply what they heard to their own context. Highlighted districts included:
- Peninsula with John Hellwich and Stephanie Strader
- Kelso with Greg Gardner and Gunnar Guttormsen
- La Conner with Whitney Meissner, Andy Wheeler, Bev Bowen and Todd Torgeson
The afternoon session utilized the same format of a fishbowl conversation followed by role alike groups. However, this session focused on
how teachers and administrators can leverage the focused evaluation as a growth opportunity for teachers.
Participants left energized and with fresh ideas on how they think about growth, the instructional frameworks and the focused evaluation process.
Educators from presenting districts included:
- Tumwater with Jack Arend, Kim Doughty, Tamara York and Lauren Roberts
- La Conner with Whitney Meissner, Andy Wheeler, Bev Bowen,Todd Torgeson and Jan Auman
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CSTP's PLC Winter Retreat
Educators from across the state gathered last weekend at Rainbow Lodge in North Bend for a restful and thoughtful retreat centered around Professional Learning Communities. The weekend was full of laughter and learning while teams planned a small test of change, reflected on how to measure that change and value all perspectives of those impacted of any change within the system. Some teams and teachers were new to the work with CSTP around PLCs and some returned from the summer workshops ready for next steps. Everyone was excited about going back to their districts and schools at this pivotal time in the school year to make positive steps toward stronger collaborative teams.
Gretchen from Othello said on Facebook that it was a, "Fun winter retreat- very professional yet fun!! The best!"
To see more pictures and stay up on the next opportunities follow us on Instagram and see our stories at
@wa_cstp.
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Follow CSTP Instagram
Follow CSTP on Instagram and consider participating in our Educator Takeover. On October 16, we featured NBCT Shannon Cotton from Camas as she hosted her weekly after-school professional development session coined "Let's TACO 'Bout Teaching and Learning". O
n November 8 as CSTP blogger, NBCT and Fulbright Teacher, Lynne Olmos, shared a special visit to her classroom from Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna.
Do you have something exciting coming up in your classroom or school that you would be interested in highlighting on our Instagram? We are looking to line-up monthly takeovers through the end of the school year. If you are interested in potentially taking over our account during the 2018-19 school year, please apply at https://goo.gl/forms/m8me3LMAWrMan1C53.
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Stories From School Roundup
CSTP's Stories From School bloggers are always busy working on new stories. Here is a recap of new articles for the past month.
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