Teacher Weekly
March 24, 2021
Resources Following the Recent Shooting

Dear Educators,

We are deeply saddened as we once again try to make sense of another senseless act of violence in our community following the shooting Monday in Boulder. We hope you and your families and school community are OK.

Please review the resources linked above for the Board's statement on the shooting, as well as a resource bank for school leaders and staff to support our students and school communities. As always, if you find yourself needing emotional support, please access DPS' Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for free and confidential counseling, as well as other resources. 

Thank you for the support you are providing our students during this difficult time.

Many thanks, 
Tamara and Mike
CollaboRATE Leadership Feedback Portion Launching April 5
The engagement portion of CollaboRATE, DPS’ all-employee survey, closed last month -- and we heard from 66% of team members who shared their voice and provided feedback on DPS as an organization. Thank you for your support! We will share more about the findings soon. 

Looking ahead, we are getting ready to launch the leadership feedback portion of the survey starting April 5. Please make time to complete this important portion of the survey. We know this has been a unique and challenging year. We ask that everyone keep in mind these challenges, and our district crisis priorities and the equity cornerstone as you complete the survey. This is an opportunity for team members to identify celebrations and lessons learned from this past year.  

To learn more about this year’s changes to the CollaboRATE survey and read through the FAQs, visit thecommons.dpsk12.org/collaborate.
This Week's Top 5 Things to Know
Last Call: Encourage Participation in Student and Family Surveys
Please remind students and families to take our latest survey, which opened on March 10. The deadline for students to complete the survey is today, March 24, and the family/community survey deadline is Friday, March 26. Initially, student survey invites went to students' spam folders, but the issue has now been resolved and students should have a new link to the survey in their dpsk12.net inboxes. Given this technical difficulty and the importance of this survey, we appreciate your support in helping boost response rates and student participation.

As a reminder, this is an optional and confidential survey that asks questions related to each of the district’s crisis priorities of health and safety, social-emotional support, and accelerated learning -- and includes questions to inform our search for DPS’ next superintendent. Thank you for encouraging your students and school communities to take this important survey.
ICYMI: School Year Calendars Now Available for 2021-22 and 2022-23
The Denver Board of Education voted to approve the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school year calendars. These are now available on The Commons School Year Calendar page. Additionally, translated versions of the calendars will be available in nine languages on the DPS website Calendar and Publications page as soon as possible.
Nominate a Fellow Educator: Touchdown for Teachers and Schomp Automotive's Teacher of the Year
Touchdown for Teachers Program
DPS’ partner Delta Dental of Colorado has partnered with the Denver Broncos to launch Touchdowns for Teachers, a program that recognizes local MVTs (Most Valuable Teachers) for outstanding service to their schools and communities.
 
All members of the DPS community are invited to nominate an educator (K-12) to be considered for this recognition.

Ten honorees will be selected each semester by a panel of community members, the Denver Broncos and Delta Dental of Colorado. Nominations are due by 5 p.m. March 26. Visit www.denverbroncos.com/teachers to learn more and share your nomination.
Schomp Automotive Teacher of the Year Program
This year, Schomp Automotive is expanding their annual Teacher of the Year program to include all Schomp dealerships in Colorado and surrounding school districts in the Denver Metro area. 

One deserving teacher will win a three-year lease on a new car of their choice, with a maximum value of $500 per month! They'll also receive complimentary maintenance for the duration of the lease, and Schomp will make a $5,000 donation to the charity or scholastic program of the teacher's choice. Click here to learn more and nominate an educator by March 26. The finalist selection and voting period will run from April 12-April 30.
PDU Application and Workshop Available Now
Get a head start on your 2021-22 PDU! There will be a spring review cycle for those wanting to lead a PDU in the 2021-22 school year. Applications are due April 28. Access the PDU webpage for more information. Need help with your application? Come to the PDU Application workshop on April 19! Find more information and register for the workshop here.
K-5 ELD Supplemental Slides Available
To supplement the release of EL Achieve slides, the MLE department has created additional K-5 ELD lessons in Google Slides for teacher use. The purpose of these slides is to support teachers in explicit language instruction of the five high-yield language functions -- Sequencing, Compare/Contrast, Describe/Explain, Proposition/Support, Cause/Effect -- as well as to teach language portable to other settings. Teachers are encouraged to adjust and expand upon the language identified per the needs of their Multilingual Learners. Slides are available here.
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