Weekly Communication from Central Office - 2/22

Wink’s Weekly Words

Click here to read my Blue Ridge community blog

Your Vote = Your Voice

Early voting begins on February 20, and election day is March 6.  

* HERE ARE EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS FOR COLLIN COUNTY
AND FANNIN COUNTY.
* YOU CAN VOTE AT THE ADMIN BUILDING ON TUESDAY, MARCH 6.

BRISD Boxed Food Drive

Please do what you can to promote the Boxed Food Drive.  The winning

grade gets an ice cream party after Spring Break.

Weekly Communication from Central Office - 2/15

Wink’s Weekly Words

Click here to read my Blue Ridge community blog

February 19 PD Day

On Monday, February 19, we will have our PD day.  

WE WILL HAVE BREAKFAST FOR YOU at 7:30.  Come hungry to eat and to learn.  

Also, you will have lunch on your own, so you can eat with your friends

or your team.  Below Amy will have information on what you need for learning that day.

My Podcast on Excellence in Every Classroom

Last week I had the opportunity to lead a Twitter chat on Tuesday night under the hashtag, #DivergED.  In addition I had a 25 minute podcast with Dr. Chris Weber, national renowned author on RtI and Professional Learning Communities.  I hope you will take a minute to listen.  This will give you a better idea to what our district is attempting to do to ensure that every employee is equipped with the skills to help every student learn, grow, and excel.

Your Vote = Your Voice

Early voting begins on February 20, and election day is March 6.  

If you are a registered voter in the BRISD area, you can vote at the BRISD Admin Building.

Amy’s Announcements

May 30-31

We’re having training on May 30-31. This will help you get 2 of the 5 flex days for 18-19

knocked out right at the beginning summer!

* May 30 - Vertical teams

* Alignment of 8-12 essential standards

* R10 content experts will be here

* May 31 - Rigor and Mastery Training

* If you’re PLP focuses on differentiation, questioning strategies, extensions,

interventions, etc. -  THIS DAY IS FOR YOU. Region 10 will be here to lead

these break-out sessions!

MAP

Below are Data Trainings for each campus. Make plans to attend.

* ES - Thursday, February 15 @ 3:45

* MS -  Tuesday, February 20 @ 7:15

* HS -  PD Day - February 19 @ 3:00

Allowable Accommodations

Are you logging the accommodations you are using with students? Links to

spreadsheets are found here - http://www.br-impact.com/p/blog-page.html

2/19 Staff Learning Day

Another Staff Learning Day is coming up on 2/19. We’ll continue our work with:

* Purposeful Lesson Planning

* Vertical Alignment of Supplemental Aids and other allowable accommodations

We'll start the day in the elementary cafeteria with BREAKFAST, then move
to Central Office to start our learning and collaboration.
See the agenda for the day HERE - https://goo.gl/G3eeMA

Make sure to bring your Chromebook and materials for lesson planning.

Celebrate Engineers Week February 18-24

How can we use this week to interest kids in science and engineering?
Tweet your insight and pictures to @blueridgeisd.

Weekly #TeacherTruth

Professional Learning

** If you identified Differentiated Instruction as your MOY PLP Goal,

you’ll want to sign up for this R10 training. I’ve signed up and I’m excited

to go through it! K-12 online training, Design for Differentiation, featuring

short, weekly lessons revolving around the five areas of differentiation.

This is a great training for any teacher looking to improve in differentiation.

6 CPE GT Update Hours over a one month  http://gg.gg/differentiation2018  

FREQUENTLY UPDATE YOUR EDUPHORIA WORKSHOP PORTFOLIO

Be sure you are frequently updating with any ‘outside the normal workday’

professional learning. The district always wants to keep a record of all

learning taking place by BRISD staff. Remember that when you

attend a BR offered class and do the survey, it automatically

grants credit to your portfolio.

Special Programs Announcements

Blue Ridge ISD Dyslexia on FB - https://goo.gl/dPkJiE

Business Office Announcements

Texas maximum mileage reimbursement rate for travel occurring on or after

January 1, 2018 is 54.5 cents per mile.  Please use this rate from this point
forward on any mileage reimbursements.

Amanda will be out February 26 - March 2 for a Conference.  Please submit all PO's and Travel Expenses Request by  February 21 for processing.

Weekly Communication from Central Office - 2/8

Wink’s Weekly Words

Click here to read my Blue Ridge community blog

February 19 PD Day

On Monday, February 19, we will have our PD day.  WE WILL HAVE BREAKFAST FOR

YOU at 7:30.  Come hungry to eat and to learn.  Also, you will have lunch on your own,

so you can eat with your friends or your team.  Below Amy will have information on

what you need for learning that day.

College & Career

I enjoyed reading Phillip Lentz’s parent message about being the first in his family to

go to college. If you haven’t read it, I strongly encourage you to check it out.  It is a

story that motivates me to be even better for all kids and those who directly impact

our students.

I would not be here if I hadn’t college, but to be completely honest, I wouldn’t

have gone to college if I hadn’t found my passion at the time, music. It was

music that drove me to be better.  It inspired me to aspire for better, and it literally

changed my life.

In order to fulfill our goal of ensuring that all kids graduating with a solid plan for

college and career, it starts with helping all students discover their unique passion.  

To do this we must ask ourselves these questions.  What passions do our kids have?  

What are we doing to support those passions, but more importantly what are we

doing to motivate kids to try new things so they can discover what makes them

unique?  The answers to these questions will lead us to help all kids find out their

purpose in life.  Take time this week to visit with students about passions that

they have or haven’t discovered yet.

Your Vote = Your Voice

Here is how you can register to vote.  The deadline to register is February 5.  

Early voting begins on February 20, and election day is March 6.  

Amy’s Announcements

FA4

Reminder...your FA4 is due in Eduphoria THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH.

Mock Benchmark for:

* 5 and 8 Reading/Math,
* English I and
* English II
* 4 & 7 Writing - WILL NOT BENCHMARK BECAUSE OF WRITING PILOT.

Download the 2017 Released Test for your content, then “Create a Test” in

Eduphoria - creating a Quick Test Key associated with your test - https://goo.gl/qCSLq4

MAP

The MOY MAP window has closed. THANK YOU very much for the effort staff and

students gave to provide us with helpful data that will show their growth,

strengths and areas that need attention. Below are Data Trainings for each campus.

Make plans to attend.

* ES - Thursday, February 15 @ 3:45
* MS -  Tuesday, February 20 @ 7:15
* HS -  PD Day - February 19 @ 3:00

Allowable Accommodations

Are you logging the accommodations you are using with students?

Links to spreadsheets are found here - http://www.br-impact.com/p/blog-page.html

2/19 Staff Learning Day

Another Staff Learning Day is coming up on 2/19. We’ll continue our work with:

* Purposeful Lesson Planning
* Vertical Alignment of Supplemental Aids and other allowable accommodations

See the agenda for the day HERE - https://goo.gl/G3eeMA

Make sure to bring your Chromebook and  materials for lesson planning.

Celebrate Engineers Week February 18-24
How can we use this week to interest kids in science and engineering?

Tweet your insight and pictures to @blueridgeisd.

Weekly #TeacherTruth

I love that we are evolving as a district that believes in collaboration.

The knowledge you all possess is more powerful shared with one another.

Thanks for being educators that want to share and learn!

Professional Learning

If you identified Differentiated Instruction as your MOY PLP Goal,
you’ll want to sign up for this R10 training. I’ve signed up and I’m excited
to go through it!
* K-12 online training, Design for Differentiation, featuring short,
weekly lessons revolving around the five areas of differentiation.
This is a great training for any teacher looking to improve in
differentiation. 6 CPE GT Update Hours over a one month
http://gg.gg/differentiation2018  

FREQUENTLY UPDATE YOUR EDUPHORIA WORKSHOP PORTFOLIO
* Be sure you are frequently updating with any ‘outside the normal workday’
professional learning. The district always wants to keep a record of all
learning taking place by BRISD staff.
* Remember that when you attend a BR offered class and do the survey,
it automatically grants credit to your portfolio.

Staff Shoutout

This week is National School Counseling Week and BRISD has 2 AMAZING counselors,

Missy Douglas and Rebecca Kay. These ladies do so much for our staff and students.

Where would we be without them? Why don’t you drop by and see them today or shoot

them an email and tell them why YOU love them!

Technology Announcements

We’re very excited to announce that materials have arrived and plans are underway

for upgrading our WIFI on all campuses! We are scheduled to have this work done

over Spring Break, so hopefully staff and students will see even better connection on

our wireless devices. We’ll provide updates as we have them.  

Special Programs Announcements

Blue Ridge ISD Dyslexia on FB - https://goo.gl/dPkJiE


Business Office Announcements
Texas maximum mileage reimbursement rate for travel occurring on or after
January 1, 2018 is 54.5 cents per mile.  Please use this rate from this point forward
on any mileage reimbursements.

Weekly Communication from Central Office - 2/1

Wink’s Weekly Words

Click here to read my Blue Ridge community blog

The Power of the Texas Legislature

This past week I attended the TASA Midwinter Conference and had the opportunity to hear finance information from the Equity Center.  Did you know that funding from the state is at one of its lowest levels.  In 2017, the state contributed 38% of the funding for schools while the remaining 62% came from local property taxes.  The original goal of education funding is a 50/50 responsibility between state and local funds.  To know more about this information, you can contact your legislators and state political candidates.

What this interesting video about the teacher that changed Dwayne Johnson’s life.

Your Vote = Your Voice

Here is how you can register to vote.  The deadline to register is February 5.  Early voting

begins on February 20, and election day is March 6.  

Amy’s Announcements

FA4

Reminder...your FA4 is due in Eduphoria on FEBRUARY 9TH. Mock Benchmark for:
* 5 and 8 Reading/Math,
* English I and
* English II
* 4 & 7 Writing - WILL NOT BENCHMARK BECAUSE OF WRITING PILOT.

Download the 2017 Released Test for your content, then “Create a Test” in Eduphoria -

creating a Quick Test Key associated with your test - https://goo.gl/qCSLq4

1819 Calendar

Please view the 1819 calendar here - http://brisd.net/domain/377

and provide your thoughts here: https://goo.gl/BBv7zZ

MAP

The MOY MAP window is drawing to a close. Please communicate any deadline issues  

to your campus MAP Coordinator. We’ll be closing out the test session at the end of the week.

This is where the data gets fun! In February, we’ll have training on each campus so staff

will have direction on which reports to run to show student progress and other useful

information. Be watching for the training date, which will be communicated by your principal.

Allowable Accommodations

Are you logging the accommodations you are using with students? Links to spreadsheets

are found here - http://www.br-impact.com/p/blog-page.html

LINKS:

** Accommodation Resources - http://www.br-impact.com/p/blog-page.html

** FA Instructions - https://goo.gl/kqmhBo

Staff Shoutout

The Special Education Department at the MS is doing an AMAZING job implementing

Snap and Read with our students who need oral administration. They have become

well-versed with how to use this technology resource on both iPad and Chromebook.

They were wonderful tutors for the rest of the staff at our MS Snap and Read training

on Wednesday. Thanks so much Mrs. Boyett, Mrs. Murphy and Mr. Williams.

Technology Announcements

* Remember to put requests in Eduphoria HelpDesk. Eduardo will respond as quickly

as possible.

* We’ve had requests from teachers to block YouTube. We’ve done some work on the

filter to still have YouTube open because we know you do use it for educational purposes.
It’s on ‘restricted’ mode, which hopefully filter out content you wouldn’t want
for your students to view. If you experience videos/channels blocked that should
be open, put a ticket in HelpDesk and we’ll address it.

Special Programs Announcements

Blue Ridge ISD Dyslexia on FB - https://goo.gl/dPkJiE

Business Office Announcements

Texas maximum mileage reimbursement rate for travel occurring on or after January 1, 2018 is 54.5 cents per mile.  Please use this rate from this point forward on any mileage reimbursements.