Ellis Elementary teacher Eufracia Aragon received this photo message from one of her students (which says “Ms. Aragon I miss you” in Spanish). How have your kids reached out? Share your photos and messages from remote learning
here
!
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Take the Remote Learning Survey to Help Us Support You
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Dear Educators,
We are so proud of the tremendous time and effort everyone has invested in making remote learning a reality for our students throughout these challenging times. We know this is an ever-evolving process, and we want to ensure that we are providing you with the supports necessary to continue to make remote learning a success.
As such, we are asking educators to please complete this
brief survey
today. The purpose of this survey is to understand districtwide:
- Which remote learning tools and resources are the most helpful.
- How well these tools are meeting the needs of your students.
- What additional supports are needed.
The survey should take no more than five minutes to complete and will provide us with valuable information to continuously improve our support of you and our students’ remote learning experiences.
We’ll be collecting this data today and on an ongoing, bi-weekly basis, to measure changes in experience over time. Please keep an eye out for this survey link in future editions of Teacher Weekly, and continue sharing your feedback! As always, you can direct any remote learning questions to
Remote Learning.
Thank you for your partnership in this work.
Many thanks,
Tamara and Mike
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This Week's Top 5 Things to Know
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Tech Support for Remote Learning
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DoTS and EdTech are working hard to ensure all teachers, staff and families have access to everything needed for remote learning.
For teachers and staff
, note the following guidance to get the best service as efficiently as possible.
- For all hardware or systems access issues, please visit DoTS Help to submit your incident.
- For all academic application support and guidance (for platforms including Google Classroom, Google Meet, Schoology, etc.), please visit the DPS Remote Learning site, contact your digital coach or reach out to Lisa Lund.
For students and families,
please share this support process:
- For navigating a learning application (like Google Classroom or Schoology), teachers are asked to be the primary support.
- For all hardware and device problems, direct them to work with your school's STR or STP. For everyone's safety, please do not send them to any device distribution events for repairs or tech support. They must work with their school technology partners or work with DoTS (see next step).
- For all username or password support (or if a student can’t login to an application), have them contact the Parent Portal and Student Technical Support line at 720-423-3163.
Also, please note, as DPS continues to receive devices, we will continue to host technology distribution events for students who do not yet have devices. All distribution events,
dates, times and the information needed to pick-up devices will be shared with you as well as directly with families through automated messages and on
www.dpsk12.org
.
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Paper Packet Distribution to Students Without Technology
This week, paper packets with student resources from option one of our remote learning plan for mathematics, literacy and ELD will be sent to K-5 students without technology. The objective of these mailings is to ensure that all students are able to access instructional material, even if they do not have technology.
- Students will be receiving lessons for days 1-9 (April 7-17) of remote learning, which can be accessed at our remote learning website.
- Moving forward, the plan is for students who still do not have access to technology to receive mailings every two weeks, with two week’s worth of lessons at a time.
- Expectations for teacher follow-up with families on printed packets will be determined on a school by school basis.
An email will be sent to school principals indicating which K-5 students have been identified by their school as having no technology and in need of paper materials. This will also include the student’s designated language of instruction for school principals to confirm.
Please note, we can only send packets to students who have not been able to access learning due to a lack of technology, given the large expense associated with printing and mailing these materials. Please reach out to your school leader with questions.
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Automatic Google Log-offs for Students Starting This Week
With equity as our main driver, DPS is exploring ways we can measure student engagement in remote learning districtwide. One metric is to use the student Google account log-in information.
Currently, students are automatically logged out of their Google accounts every two weeks.
This week, the student Google accounts will be reconfigured so that students are automatically logged out on a nightly basis
, so that daily Google login information can be tracked. Google accounts will be reconfigured on the following timeline:
- All high school students will be logged off nightly, starting April 23.
- All middle school students will be logged off nightly, starting April 24.
- More information will be forthcoming for elementary students.
This updated login data will not infringe on student data privacy, and will be extremely valuable in ensuring that all students have equitable access to instruction during remote learning. Parent and teacher resources are currently in development to support younger students with logging into Google and will be shared soon.
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Parent Consent with Online Tools for Student Data Privacy
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Schools are now able to use Zoom, as long as parent consent is received.
(Please note that Zoom is not a districtwide-approved online tool and is not set up DPS-wide).
Best practices on setting up your Virtual Classroom can be found
here
. As a reminder, to utilize any online tools, schools must continue to follow the Student Data Privacy policy as outlined in the Academic Technology Menu (ATM).
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You're Invited: Second Superintendent Discussion Group
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As we shared last week, Superintendent Susana Cordova will be hosting a series of small discussion groups with teachers and SSPs to gather feedback. These virtual "face-to-face" conversations -- held over Google Hangouts -- will focus on a variety of topics, and feedback will be used to shape DPS supports into the future. To help ensure these are meaningful conversations, each session will be limited to 20 teachers.
This next round of meetings will focus on discussing what tactics have been successful in increasing student engagement.
Use this
link
to sign up for this topic; session dates and times will be filled in as they are available. Stay tuned for more topics and sessions in the coming weeks!
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BONUS ICYMI: Spring 2020 Grading Guidance
Last week, an update to grading guidance for the Spring 2020 semester was released in
Our DPS Weekly
. Schools were asked to communicate the updated grading policies to families this week. We have provided school leaders with resources to support grading guidance implementation and will continue to develop additional resources, specifically around feedback and use of Infinite Campus for this semester to support teachers.
DoTS has been working diligently to provide schools with data regarding student grades, and expects to get that data out to high schools this week. If you have questions about the grading guidance or need support, please reach out to your school leader.
Grading Guidance for Special Groups
In accordance with grading guidance for ECE-8 students, ECE families will receive developmental feedback for their students.
ECE teachers should provide feedback to families in the context of TSGOLD
. Since TSGOLD will not be assessed, teachers can use TSGOLD as the basis for any feedback and recommendations to families.
As of mid-March, teachers should provide feedback and think about where students are headed for their next step of development. Feedback should be given to families and caretakers regarding activities they can engage in at home to support their student’s next stage of development. Leaders should support teachers in using the existing reporting structure in place for ECE families. If you have questions, please reach out to your Regional Specialist or
Priscilla Hopkins
.
As a reminder, instead of numerical or letter grades, all ECE-5th grade students’ report cards will have qualitative feedback about how a student has or has not demonstrated understanding of the critical learning for the grading period. Schools with students in grades 6-8 will make the determination of how to approach grading based on their school context and in partnership with their communities -- adopting either a modified 9-12 model or following the ECE-5 model that best fits their context.
Special education teachers
are asked to follow the grading guidance
published last week
. In addition, Special Education teams must continue to provide progress reports on IEP goals attached to each report card.
Please contact your Special Education Instructional Specialist if you have further questions.
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Additional Resources and Information
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Click here
to learn more about these resources and opportunities:
- Sign Up for Susana to Visit Your Virtual Classroom
- Student Behavior Management in Virtual Classrooms
- Substance Use Prevention Program Resources
- Spring Professional Learning Update
- Trauma-Informed Remote Environments
- Social Emotional Tip of the Week
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Denver Public Schools sends all district newsletters and critical employee communications through Constant Contact. Please do not unsubscribe your dpsk12.org email address from any message; if you unsubscribe from one newsletter or one communication, you will be removed from all other district-managed email lists in Constant Contact. If you have any questions, please email
newsletters@dpsk12.org
.
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