"Every kid is just one caring adult away from being a success story." ~Josh Shipp
|
|
|
Katie Kamplain, Vocational Education Specialist
|
|
On Track is a vocational and life skills program for adults ages 18-22 with moderate to severe learning disabilities. While in the classroom, students work on independent living skills such as laundry, dishes, cooking, and cleaning. Students and staff take daily community outings which provide students an opportunity to transfer skills learned in the classroom into practical, every day use. Safety in the community, grocery shopping, and budgeting are just a few of the valuable skills practiced on outings. Through this program, Turlock Unified School District offers a vocational educational program where students are able to work off campus in a work experience program. Voc-Ed supplies a multitude of work experiences across varying fields of industries. While on job sites, students have the opportunity to work on social skills, reading, problem solving, math, as well as gross and fine motor skills. Every job site presents a valued opportunity to work on specific skill sets to help these student workers gain necessary expertise to carry into their adult life and workplace.
Current job sites and tasks include:
- Turlock Irrigation District-sorting, running and delivering inter-office mail
- Turlock Irrigation District-recycling- sorting, collecting, and breaking down office recyclables
- United Samaritans-bagging different foods to go out on food trucks
- Mundo's Latin Grill-cleaning tables, chairs and sweeping the patio, washing dishes during the lunch rush
- City Hall-shredding files, dusting, wiping windows/glass counters, vacuuming and dusting
- Salvation Army-basic janitorial tasks including dusting, vacuuming and mopping
- Napa Auto Parts-restocking shelves, front facing product, and basic janitorial work
- Jessica’s House-doing basic janitorial tasks and prepping for therapy groups
- Sacred Heart Thrift-folding, hanging, and organizing clothes by size, color, and department
- Child Nutrition Education Center-prepping food to send to TUSD cafeteria’s
- Turlock High School Bookroom-organizing, cleaning, and sorting books
|
|
Mary Asgill, District Writing Instructional Coach
|
|
Last week was my dad’s birthday…and you probably enthusiastically do not care about this, right? And why should you? What does this have to do with you? How can you use this information? What in the world was my purpose for telling you this?
The question of purpose for writing is the most important question a writer must ask before putting pen to pad, fingers to keys. My purpose here is to discuss one aspect of explanatory writing – and to give a few easy formative assessment tips that will gauge your students’ progress without making your grading life crazy.
- You gave your pithy World War II mini-lecture: give students 3-5 minutes to summarize the lecture and explain the main points. Walk the room as they write to ensure pens are moving or keyboards are clacking…(in the case of keyboards, you might tell them that you’ll ask random writers to post their summaries to the class’s electronic journal). Ask them to highlight the main ideas – then, share with two seat mates to compare and clarify notes. Finally, go whole class. Get volunteers and non-volunteers to share what they learned. Clear up misunderstandings as you go.
- You showed the 20 min. video excerpt: give students a Give One/Get One graphic organizer (pick one of the zillion templates online, or shoot me an email me if you want one of mine). Give students 3-5 minutes to write (on the left side of the organizer) what they learned from the video. Then ask them to walk the room and speak to students they rarely, if ever, talk to – to discuss the points they wrote. If they learned something new, they should write what they learned on the right side of the organizer, giving credit to the student they learned from. Then, move on to (maybe two different students). Walk the room to ensure that students are discussing the material, rather than merely exchanging papers and copying notes. Listen to their clarifying conversations. Then, go whole class to ensure they got it.
- You read to them or assign the reading: give students 3-5 minutes to write one question and one comment. The question can be a higher order thinking question that could have multiple answers, or it could be a clarifying question where the answer is right there on the page, but wasn’t understood. Depending on your purpose, ask students to comment by agreeing, disagreeing, explaining, analyzing, evaluating, observing, synthesizing their ideas with the writer’s ideas, or connecting the reading to personal experiences, to another text, or to current events in the world. Give them time to partner share. Then, take the discussion whole class.
- These writing-to-learn activities are interchangeable, can be used in any content-area, and can be modified to support younger students by asking them to write down the key words or phrases they remember from a mini-lecture, video, or reading. They can serve as a quick check for understanding – or can take the whole period, depending on your purpose. Either way, they are a good way to engender frequent, but short bouts with writing that will garner deeper understandings for your students – especially when your content or topic might be dense and complex.
If you have other writing-to-learn strategies, please share – so that we build our writing community.
…oh, and my dad, a laborer, and my first writing teacher, who wrote letters for his Navy buddies, thank-you notes to his friends, and poetry in the bathroom of our one-bathroom house, would have been 91.
|
|
Catching Up with . . . Anthony Harding
|
|
What schools did you attend in TUSD?
Brown Elementary School, Turlock Junior High School, and Pitman High School
What year did you graduate?
2006
What schools did you attend after high school?
Fresno State
Major?
Kinesiology
What are your career goals? Or your career?
Career goals are expanding my fitness business and one day having multiple locations.
What teachers/classes made an impact on you?
Teachers Amy Curd and David Jack as well as coaches Brandon Harris, Larry Nigro, Chris Wolfley, and John Derr.
Any advice for students?
Give 100% in all of your efforts in the classroom as it will pay off. Realize that everyone learns differently and you need to find the way you learn best.
Hobbies? Things you enjoy in your spare time?
Working out, planning how to "torture" my clients at Harding Performance Boot Camp, going to the lake, and traveling.
Anthony Harding is one of several athletes who will be recognized at the inaugural Pitman Development Foundation Hall of Fame Dinner/Dance on November 3, 2018 at the Assyrian-American Civic Club. Congratulations Anthony!
|
|
We’re visiting Turlock High School today! Here are some facts about their school: ✔Est. 1906 ✔Principal: Gabe Ontiveros ✔Assistant Principals: Joe Cusenza, Aaron Mello, Cristy Rickets Dean: Donnie Swanson ✔110 Teachers, 6 Counselors, 91 Classified Staff, 2,539 Students ✔Mascot: Bulldog ✔Hashtag:
#weALLbleedblueandgold Have a great year, Bulldogs!
The Turlock High School English Language Development PLC met with Assistant Principal Cristy Rickets today to discuss the needs of the diverse group of students in the EL Newcomer Academy. Their goal? For ALL students to have what they need to be successful learners!
#TUSD
|
|
How long have you worked in TUSD? I have been teaching for 25 years, 15 at Osborn and 10 for Patterson Unified.
What is your job title? Kindergarten Teacher
Where did you work prior to TUSD? My teaching experience began at Grayson Elementary in the Patterson School District. Grayson holds a very special place in my heart; not only was it my first placement but is was also my own childhood school where I grew up. I met some of my life-long best friends there.
Any info you would like to share about your job? While at Osborn I have been part of the leadership team and I have also worked with several student teachers. Being a cooperating teacher and working with adults has been something I have really enjoyed during my career as a teacher. Student teachers bring new and positive energy!
T
hings you are most proud of? Working with the younger kids has always been my favorite! I look forward to walking onto campus every day to be greeted with hugs and smiles from current and former students.
What are you reading? I enjoy reading short stories and novels. I like to alternate from Spanish to English.
What are your hobbies? Taking long walks on the beach is one favorite ways to relieve stress and relax; the other is to dance my heart out at home. I have special memories of dancing with my young kids in the kitchen!
Any personal stuff you’d like to share? I come from a family of 12 children—I’m #10! Since I grew up in such a large family I am very family-oriented. One of our favorite things to do is cook as a family together.
|
|
Wakefield Elementary School's 5
th
grade teacher Kyle Nicholson shared this amazing picture of a 9/11 bulletin board in his classroom. Thank you to all our TUSD staff who helped keep the memory of 9/11 alive for a new generation of Americans.
|
|
|
Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!
|
Counting down to the TUSD Farm Harvest Festival, we will have a weekly trivia related to the TUSD Farm! Unfortunately, there were ZERO winners last week. There are 17 varieties of tomatoes grown at the TUSD Farm. Hope you try again this week!
|
|
|
Share Your Awesome!
Marie Russell
Chief Communication Coordinator
mrussell@turlock.k12.ca.us
209.648.0968
@tusd_mrussell
|
|
|
We would love to have ALL staff help share our TUSD story to the world, but if that is not really your thing, just click on link below to download an opt-out form and return to "Marie Russell, D.O." via district mail.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
