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FEBRUARY 12, 2016
In Socorro ISD, our students experience the use of technology to create
meaningful, digital learning environments that engage them in high-quality
lessons, activities and projects every day! The official Digital Learning Day will take
place on February 17, however, area schools will be closed due to the safety and
security measures in place for the Papal visit to the borderland—but that will not
keep us from showcasing SISD digital learning to the nation! So we encourage
everyone to participate by taking pictures of your students in action using
technology at your campus so we can share them on Twitter. All Socorro ISD
schools are encouraged to showcase all of the wonderful opportunities we
provide our students to use technology in daily learning by posting tweets with
descriptive captions and the hashtags #SISD_DLD and #DLDay If you don’t have a
Twitter account, email your pictures to: [email protected] and we will take
care of sharing your pictures to the Socorro ISD Twitter feed.
See more at: http://www.digitallearningday.org
The Division of Instructional
Materials and Educational
Technology (IMET) at the Texas
Education Agency needs
assistance from teachers and
others across the state interested
in reviewing new instructional
materials for languages other
than English (LOTE) submitted in
response to Proclamation 2017.
These are the specific languages
and grade levels for which
reviewers are needed:
Chinese, all grades
French, elementary and
middle school
German, all grades
Italian, middle and high
school
Japanese, elementary
school
Latin, elementary and
middle school
Spanish, all grades
The materials are scheduled to
be reviewed during the summer
of 2016, adopted by the SBOE in
November 2016, and available
for use beginning in the 2017–
2018 school year. Nomination
forms for those interested in
serving on the state review
panels for Proclamation 2017 are
available on the IMET website.
If you have any questions,
please contact (512) 463-9601 or
Attached is a list of Summer
Professional Development to be
offered for teachers during the
summer intersession. Please share
with your teachers and
encourage their
attendance. More information
will be provided on locations and
all sessions will be available for
registration on the staff
development website in the next
few weeks.
Instructional Rounds – As a
reminder, Instructional Rounds for
the month of February have been
cancelled. Rounds will resume in
April.
Digital Learning Day - #SISD_GLOBAL February 2016
Reminder:
ROBOCOM 2.0 will take place at Pebble Hills High School, February 6, 2016
Updates to the challenge can be found at www.sisd.net/robotics.
Tech News
Page 2 Now Trending in Academics Important Dates:
Cognitive Coaching - Cohort I
For Principals Session I August 25-26, 2015
Session II September 9-10, 2015
Session III January 12-13, 2016 Session IV February 9-10, 2016
Cognitive Coaching - Cohort II
For Select Assistant Principals Session I February 25-26, 2016
Session II March 9-10, 2016
Session III June 1-2, 2016
Session IV June 6-7, 2016
T-TESS For Principals Session I - Principals
June 8-10, 2016
Session II - Asst. Principals and Other
Admin
June 8-10, 2016
Session III - Asst. Principals and Other
Admin
June 13-15, 2016
We are excited to announce that
our SISD Math BEE will be on
February 20, 2016 at Eastlake HS.
All campuses are to participate in
this new endeavor.
"Nominations now being accepted
for 2016 Presidential Awards in Math
and Science
AUSTIN – The Texas Education
Agency has announced that
nominations and applications for the
2016 Presidential Awards for
Excellence in Mathematics and
Science Teaching (PAEMST) are now
being accepted.
Administered by the National
Science Foundation on the behalf of
the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy, PAEMST is
the highest recognition a
mathematics or science teacher
may receive for outstanding
teaching in the United States. This
year, the PAEMST program will honor
mathematics and science teachers
in kindergarten - grade 6. Click on
the link for more information:
https://www.paemst.org
Early Childhood News
Number sense is an essential part of knowing how to manipulate numbers. When a
student acquires number sense they understand the following:
Meaning of numbers
Relationship of one number to another
How to perform mental math
Symbolic representations
Using numbers in real world situations.
In order to help our students in SISD succeed with number sense, we will be having our
First Annual District Math Bee on February 20, 2016.
Coming up in Pre-Kindergarten:
Child-Centered Centers Day 2 on March 7, 2016. Please be sure to sign up on the Staff
Development Website.
Advanced Academics Upcoming Trainings for GT, AVID, DI, and UIL
Academic Contest Corner:
Professional Development Title Date Time Location
Identification and Assessment of Gifted
and Talented Learners
February 13, 2016 ONLINE
AVID College Readiness System
AVID Senior Presentation February 4, 2016 9:30-10:30 am Americas HS
AVID Campus Coordinator Meeting February 8, 2016 4:30-6:00 pm DSC
AVID Tutor Training Part II February 13, 2016 8:30-3:30 pm EDC
AVID Elementary Workshop February 27, 2016 8:30-3:30 pm Mission Ridge/DSC
District 1-6A and 2-5A Cross Examination
Debate Meet February 6, 2016 8:00-7:00 pm Americas HS
SISD Academic UIL Practice Meet for grades
2nd-12th February 13, 2016 8:00-5:00 pm Pebble Hiills HS
Destination Imagination Regional Meet February 27, 2016 8:00-4:00 pm Awards Assembly
Eastlake HS
Page 3 Now Trending in Academics
Get ready for the 2016 Young
Achiever’s Forum…. Last year, more
than 900 area sixth grade students
participated thanks to your district’s
efforts. This year’s Young Achievers
Forum will take place on Saturday,
February 20 from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
at the University of Texas at El Paso in
the Magoffin Auditorium. More
information will be coming soon!
UIL announces statewide
Robotics program
The University Interscholastic League
will host the first ever UIL robotics pilot
program to begin during the 2015-
2016 academic school year. For
more information regarding the UIL
robotics pilot, visit www.uiltexas.org/
academics/stem/robotics Go
#TeamSISD!!!
For any information on
Professional Development
please refer to the
Master Calendar and
Summer Professional
Development for dates
and sessions offered.
Career and Technology
Socorro HS Health Professions Academy (HPA) prepares for Area Competition
Local business and industry partners met at Socorro HS on the morning of Friday, January 22nd to assist
students who are enrolled in the Health Professions Academy (HPA) and who are preparing to
compete in the Area Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) competition. Mrs. Dahlia
Acosta and the instructors for HPA reached out to request our local industry leaders and invited them
to participate as judges for the first SISD Mock HPA competition. The response from our health industry
partners was overwhelming as there were representatives from Walgreens, CVS, El Paso Fire
Department, El Paso Emergency Medical Services, UTEP, EPCC and even the El Paso Zoo. We also
had a third year medical student from Paul Foster School of Medicine who was a former HPA student
assisting with the competition.
The event started at 8:00 AM and ended at approximately 5:00 PM. During the event, students either
presented or performed their skills and were judged by our guests using the contest rubric. After each
contestant was finished, they were provided with constructive feedback by the judges which
enabled them to focus on areas of weakness within their presentation or demonstration.
The HPA student performance at the area HOSA competition has steadily improved over the past
four years. This year, the students are working to shut out fellow competitors. HOSA Area
encompasses El Paso and the panhandle which includes Amarillo and Lubbock. The Area HOSA
Leadership Conference will be held on March 4th and 5th at Socorro High School; this will be the first
time it is held at Socorro ISD. Over 700 students are expected to attend. If you would like to judge or
assist with the Area HOSA Leadership Conference, you can contact Dahlia Acosta at
[email protected] or at (915) 937-0351.
Dr. Sue Shook Elementary School Designated as a National Launch Showcase
School
Members of a site team that visited Socorro ISD made their way around our school district last fall to
see the multitude of STEM programs that have been implemented in elementary, middle and high
school. Two full days were spent visiting the facilities, talking with students, teachers and
administrators as well as occasionally reviewing student artifacts. The sentiment of the entire team
was that they were all impressed with all of the schools visited. The last visit on the tour was to Dr. Sue
Shook Elementary. The group was much smaller due to the departure of several of the visitors but the
visit was one of the most enlightening of the two days. The team was welcomed by Mrs. Donna
Smith, the campus principal, and was escorted to three different classrooms where the PLTW
engineering modules were being taught.
The lesson that day, covered energy and motion and the students were eager and ready with their
technology in hand. The module consisted of a vehicle coming to an abrupt stop and the
“passenger”, an egg, was not strapped in. After a few STEM questions were asked and written down,
the students videotaped the vehicle coming down the ramp and stopping abruptly. Once
completed and taped, all students returned to their tables, reviewed the videos on their iPads, and
continued to answer the questions on the module. Students were then prompted to read a story
about seatbelts and later were asked to make connections to the activity. The energy in each of the
rooms was at its peak as these third grade students continued through the activities. It was evident
that each of the teachers visited had trained and planned for the lessons as they were all seamless in
their implementation. After the visit, the team left the classrooms and proceeded to have a
conversation with Mrs. Smith. Ms. Smith led them to the planning room, where teachers had
organized and stored their STEM and Engineering modules. Her dedication to the fidelity of
implementation of the STEM curriculum had impressed the site team, leading them to designate Dr.
Sue Shook Elementary as a PLTW Launch Showcase School. School districts from surrounding states
can now visit the campus to witness the successful implementation of the STEM
curriculum. Congratulations to Mrs. Smith and her teachers for their accomplishments which will
ultimately earn them excellence within the Texas Accountability System.
Elementary
Why guided math? The benefits of guided math are similar to the benefits of guided
reading.
· Flexible grouping based on ability/needs/interests
· Scaffolding of more difficult concepts
· Reteaching and exploration of math concepts in a smaller
risk free environment
· Increased teacher knowledge of student abilities
· -Regan Tunstall Warm up
Whole Group Teach
Guided Practice
Small Group/Rotations
Reflect/Share
Upcoming Trainings and Events February 13, 2016
MSL4ELL
February 20, 2016
District Math Bee
Eastlake HS
Science News
Math News
Page 4 Now Trending in Academics
Secondary
Please take a look at the calendar provided by Academic Services in
regards to our campus visits. If there is anything in particular that you would
like for me to do while at your campus, please let me know.
Focus of the Month
Station Based Learning is a great way to tier assignments and activities. Try
and implement a station based learning day once a week.
Thank you to our high school campuses for a successful science fair;
we truly appreciate the time and hard work that goes into preparing
our students to compete. And thank you again to Pebble Hills High
School for hosting our events – we look forward to seeing you again
for ROBOCOM 2.0! Almost 200 projects will be making their way to
the Sun Country Regional Science & Engineering Fair to be held
February 20, 2016, at the EPCC Administration Buildings. Good luck to
all participants!
Congratulations Campus Sweepstakes
winner MECHS!
Did you know?
Extracurricular activities can benefit students
Students can learn time management and prioritizing.
Extracurricular activities can raise a student’s self-esteem.
Students are able to build relationships and practice
teamwork and social skills.
Students can explore various interests and become more
diversified.
Students can learn to commit themselves to long term
projects.
Extracurricular clubs often contribute to schools and
communities.
Extracurricular activities expose students to experiences
that colleges look for on applications.
Social Studies News
Page 5 Now Trending in Academics
Elementary
Integrating Social Studies and ELAR is a great way to “kill two birds with one stone,” especially since many of the Social Studies Process Standards align with
Figure 19. Careful planning can lead to successful activities where students learn writing skills and social studies facts at the same time.
Station Idea of the Month: Celebrate Black History Month or Presidents’ Day
Have students research a historical figure from their grade level TEKS that fit either celebration. Students can then create a lap book on different aspects of
the person’s life. Students can use foldables, Thinking Maps, and text features to cover a variety of reading comprehension skil ls.
This month in history: Did you know…? On February 1st, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart in flight over west Texas, killing all seven crew members on board. In 1848,
the war between the U.S.-Mexican War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. With the end of this war, the U.S. acquired California,
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas.
Secondary
5 Easy Steps to Teaching Vocabulary Development in Social Studies
As we move into the next phase of curriculum development in Social Studies across Socorro ISD, it would help us to remember some of the basic steps that
will become the focus for part 2 of our series on “Second Language Acquisition for Secondary Social Studies Students (SLA for S4).” The second, 3-part series,
will focus around strategies toward teaching vocabulary development through a 5-step process.
Step 1: Identify the academic language you want students to learn. This step is important because we oftentimes take it for granted that students know certain terms without actually analyzing whether or not we think it would
be beneficial to teach such terms. With an infinite number of resources, there are plenty of things that we can be doing to focus our teaching in Social
Studies around specific vocabulary – the first step in doing so is to focus on the right words.
Step 2: Tier the academic language. Our tendency as Social Studies teachers is to focus on unit specific academic language focused on Social Studies – oftentimes termed Tier 3
language. However, sometimes our students do not understand the use of certain terms and how they apply to Social Studies specifically. These terms are
oftentimes used across multiple content areas and have not always been taught explicitly in the classroom – these are oftentimes termed Tier 2 words. It is
important for us to categorize words as Tier 2 or Tier 3 words in order to make a conscious effort to actively, purposefully, and explicitly ensure that ALL of our
students are effectively learning and applying Tier 2 language.
Step 3: Define the academic language that you would like students to be able to apply. There is something to be said for “looking up” words’ definitions. However, by the time that students are at the secondary level (grades 6 through 12), it is
more important that students be able to apply the words’ definitions effectively. Therefore, it is in our best interest as teachers to provide a student-friendly
definition of the words that we would like students to be able to apply any given day. As a teacher focuses on 5-7 words per day, it is important that some of
those words be Tier 2, but it is also important that the students have an accurate definition that they can refer back to in order to apply the term
appropriately. This means that the teacher may be responsible for providing them with materials, tools or verbalization of teacher-paraphrased definitions for
key words.
Step 4: Have students apply the academic language purposefully. Similar to the 3rd principle for creating effective second language learning environments in Cruz and Thornton’s (2013) Teaching Social Studies to English
Language Learners, this step focuses now on ensuring that students are actively reading, writing, listening and speaking with the use of the specific
academic language that you want them to learn. Whether it is something as simple as applying their knowledge of a word to fil l-in-the-blank work (which
should be timed and limited in terms of application), utilizing a specific group of words to a short-response prompt, or speaking specifically about how
several academic language terms are connected to one another, students should be required to apply their terms purposefully in speaking, listening,
reading and writing.
Step 5: Determine whether or not the students applied the correct words through assessment. Teachers should always go back and assess whether or not students are able to apply the different academic language terms appropriately and/or assess
the degree to which they learned the word. The application of terms might have different purposes from exposure to its use through listening to the word in
context, to its application in analysis to a subject that encompasses lots of facets. In any case, the teacher should always assess whether or not the students
February is... February 15, 2016 is ...
Elementary
Crunch Time We are at the point in the year where we will start reviewing many of the skills you have already taught. A great way to do this is during
your guided reading/work station time. It is a good idea to regroup your students according to which skills they might need more
practice in. Reviewing the skills then having students practice using shorter passages and questions stems will reinforce what you teach
them. The following is a list of a few websites that have shorter passages. Just remember to use the STAAR questions stems instead of the
questions some of them provide.
http://www.k5learning.com/reading-comprehension-worksheets
http://mrnussbaum.com/readingpassageindex/
https://www.ncsu.edu/project/lancet/forms.html
Read Across America
SISD elementary students will be celebrating the NEA's Read Across America campaign to promote the love of reading. In March 2, 2016
is the date to celebrate Read Across America and the Birthday of one of the all-time authors, Dr. Seuss! We are asking that the
elementary and K-8 campuses advocate reading awareness with guest readers, author studies, and activities celebrating the cherished
children’s book author Dr. Seuss. Please invite the entire community to celebrate with you. We will be holding a contest to showcase
what each campus did to celebrate. We will send SCEI coaches more information in the coming weeks.
Dates to Remember
February 4, 2016
4:00-5:30 pm
Literary Anthology Meeting
February 9-11, 2016
4:00-6:00 pm
Write to the Point (choose one day only)
February 29-March 4, 2016
Read Across America
Organization Tip of the Month Do you need file folder and don’t have any on-hand? No worries. Binder clips to the rescue. Binder
clips are a great way to keep your files organized. Label the bottom of the clip with a students name or
subject (or any other way you which to keep your files organized) and place them in your files folders in
a way that shows the label. Viola! Instant organization!
Secondary
Literary Anthology Coordinators Meeting
A meeting will be held for district literary anthology coordinators on February 4th at 4:30. Location TBA.
Write to the Point: Writing for Special Populations
This is the follow-up for special education and bilingual teachers that attended the Empowering Writers training in January. However,
other campus teachers who are interested may attend as well. Teachers may register on the staff development website for one of these
three sessions: February 9, 10, or 11, 2016. The sessions will be from 4:00-6:00 pm.
Exploring Expository Texts
Secondary ELAR teachers are invited to attend this session on tackling expository texts. The session will be held on February 27, 2016, from
8:30-11:30 am.
STAAR Revising and Editing Session
Secondary ELAR teachers are invited to attend this session on how to best assist students with the revising and editing section of the
STAAR writing test. The session will be held on February 6, 2016, from 8:30-11:30 am.
Countdown to STAAR
As we get closer to STAAR, it’s important that teachers are recapping all genres by doing at least 2 guided passages and then one
independent “cold” passage. Passages should, as STAAR does, not be longer than 2 ½ - 3 pages long (maximum, including pictures/
graphs/charts) Students should be lead through a close reading, and they should also be timed as they work. Coaches were provided
with a PPT that contained close reading steps by genre and were asked to share it with their ELAR departments. Please contact Yvonne
ELAR News
Page 6 Now Trending in Academics
2015 STAAR Fall EOC Files We have uploaded the 2015 STAAR Fall Data File into Eduphoria.
The new performance standard fields include the years in which they will be applied. Remember, a student taking STAAR EOC is held to
the same standard that was in place when she or he first took an EOC. This means the new fields can be used for program evaluation
and planning, but they are not necessary at this time for determining which students met their EOC graduation requirements.
The new performance standard fields can be found in the Scores folder when editing a view that includes any Fall 2015 EOC results.
Research and Evaluation Department
Page 7 Now Trending in Academics
TELPAS and middle of year LPAC decisions are currently underway. Please make sure to contact your TELPAS CTC or LPAC administrator
for guidance.
Important TELPAS dates to keep in mind:
TELPAS holistic rating training will include changes for the 2015–2016 school year. Key changes beginning in January 2016 include the
following: • online training courses and calibrations will be available at a new website that will allow for a more streamlined train ing experience
• calibration must be completed in a monitored setting
• the number of opportunities to calibrate will be reduced from three sets to two sets
• supplemental support provider training requirements will be eliminated
• local procedures must be established for verifying the completion of training and calibration
• training history will no longer be available
There will be a TELPAS writing audit in spring 2016.
Bilingual Buzz
Training Date Time Location
Bilingual/ESL TIA Monthly Meeting (Mandatory) February 10 or 11, 2016 TIAs must attend one session
8:30-11:30 am 12:30-3:30 pm
DSC Contact: Virginia Carrillo
ESL Academy Training for selected teachers- March Intersession
February 23-24, 2016 4:00-6:00 pm DSC Contact: Rosemary De La Rosa
Visit Eduphoria Blog! Third Graders Turn Parent Night
Upside Down with Aware!
Professional Development
Coffee with the SPED Director Dates: February 23, 2016 - The Journey of Speech Therapy
February 26, 2016 - 1. Mindset: the new psychology of success
2. Childhood Anxiety
We will be offering CPI Training EVERY MONTH for the 2015-16 school year. This will facilitate the opportunity for every
campus to train their student crisis management teams.
Just as a reminder, every campus must have a student crisis management team that is currently certified in Nonviolent
Crisis Intervention (CPI) which should consist of (at minimum) one special education teacher, one general education
teacher, and one administrator. Every campus will have specific needs and may have to train additional faculty or staff in
order to best meet those campus issues or needs.
All training dates are currently posted on the Staff Development website. Each training date is restricted to ONLY 40
PARTICIPANTS, therefore it is best to register early. It is also recommended that if a campus plans to train a large number of
people, they stagger their staff to attend different training dates throughout the year.
CPI: Nonviolent Crisis Intervention
February 24, 2016
March 23, 2016
May 18, 2016
Autism Spectrum Disorders: Applications of Nonviolent Crisis Intervention
February 24, 2016
April 27, 2016
Attendance to and successful completion of any of the trainings listed above will certify that individual in CPI for one
calendar year.
What Teachers Should Know and Do:
Meet with your General Education Teachers in order to:
- Interpret the IEP.
- Review accommodations/modifications/PLAAFPS/goals and/or objectives/BIPs and any assistive technology.
- Create student/learner profile.
- Make sure that ARD dates, for the year, are scheduled and communicated to the appropriate personnel.
- Draft goals/objectives, which should be provided to parents 10 days before the scheduled ARD.
Experience & Learning Pyramid
Special Education Department
Page 8 Now Trending in Academics
Title Date Time Location Audience Presenter
ULS Training February 4, 2016 1:00-4:00 pm DSC IS Lab Teachers Penny Flores
During the December Leadership Meeting, there was an opportunity for Elementary, Middle, and PreK-8 Principals to
participate in a panel and ask questions from the various departments. The orange link below will take you to questions asked
and the responses. Please feel free to reach out if you should have additional questions.
Principals Open Forum Responses
December 2015
Federal and State Programs
