November 2018

Welcome to the November edition of the PL Lighthouse! 
This monthly email blast and webpage has been designed to serve much like a lighthouse, to serve as a way forward and help in navigating through the busy school year. Nothing else speaks of safety in the face of adversity and challenge quite like the lighthouse. 

MAP Testing
Unfortunately, as of Sunday, November 5th, there are still no updates on progress made towards MAP testing. As soon as there are updates, you'll hear from our team! Crossing my fingers it will be this week! Once we're able to begin testing again, we'll share out new testing windows.

December Design Studio [December 6th]
Our winter design studio will be held on Thursday, December 6th from 8:30AM-4:00 PM and will be held at Edison Learning Center [2940 Singleton Blvd.,Dallas, TX 75212]. 

• [Action item]: Please submit team members attending no later than Friday, November 16th COB by adding names + contact information to the spreadsheet here. We'll use this list to send out final communication to attendees Friday, November 30th. If you have any questions about who should attend from your campus, please reach out or join the PL monthly huddle to ask. 
• [Action item]: Forward the design studio calendar invite to team members attending. 
• We will be providing lunch for design studio this month, so it's extra important for us to receive your RSVPs by November 16th. ​

3rd Annual Holiday Baking Championship
It's time for the third annual Holiday Baking Championship! This will take place during lunch at December's design studio. Each campus is allowed one entry. If you're curious on what rubric the judges will be using, check out last year's here. To relive Chapel Hill's victory last year, don't miss the video here -->. 

Campus Support Visits
Exciting news! The central PL team has finalized personalizing each campus support visit based on input and feedback from the September design studio. [Action item] Please plan to join the PL monthly huddle on Tuesday, November 6th from 9:00-10:00 AM to schedule your fall visit. 

Teacher Emails 
​We need your help to collect emails of teachers at all PL cohort and emerging schools. We will use these emails to send exciting opportunities (Book Clubs, Edcamp Personalize DISD, etc.) directly to teachers so you don’t have to. [Action Item] Please update your campus information on the spreadsheet here no later than Thursday, November 15th. 

Opportunity for Assistant Principals 
The Stanford d.school is coming to Dallas ISD in the spring of 2019 to facilitate the third cohort of the School Retool fellowship. School Retool takes a design thinking approach to spreading Deeper Learning practices and will equip participating APs with tools, processes, and resources to intentionally and creatively tackle campus challenges using small experiments called “hacks."

The fellowship includes the following commitments from participants: 

• Four day-long, in-person workshops on Tuesday, January 15th, Tuesday, February 12th, Tuesday, March 5th, and Wednesday, April 3rd (at a TBD location in Dallas ISD).
• Your principal should plan to join you for the first half of the day on Tuesday, January 15th to better understand the fellowship design and how to support you through the experience. For APs selected to be part of the cohort, specific details about the first workshop on January 15th will come your way before winter break.
• One day (chosen at your discretion) to shadow a student at your campus to better understand how he/she experiences school.
• Dedicated time in-between workshops to put what you learn into practice at your campus.​

Here are a few short videos that highlight the experience of other principals that have participated in the fellowship:

• Marthaa Torres: Adopting a Hack Mindset
• Retooling for Equity

​Interested in being a part of School Retool's third cohort in DAllas? Your next steps include:

• [Optional] Join an informational webinar on Thursday, November 15th from 4:00-5:00 PM to learn more about the fellowship and ask questions. Information on how to join is below.
• Submit a short application here by Tuesday, December 4th at 5:00 PM. Up to 20 assistant principals will be selected for this cohort. 

Directions for joining the info webinar Thursday, November 15th from 4-5PM

• Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/124092745
  • Or iPhone one-tap :
    • US: +16468769923,,124092745#  or +14086380986,,124092745#
  • Or Telephone:
    • Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
    • US: +1 646 876 9923  or +1 408 638 0986
    • Meeting ID: 124 092 745

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SMU Blended Learning Graduate Course for Teachers
To support Dallas ISD teachers who are working to implement Personalized Learning in their classrooms, Southern Methodist University (SMU) will offer a course in Blended Learning for the Spring 2018 semester, taught by Dr. Tony Cuevas. The Blended Learning course will take place on Wednesdays from 5:15 to 8:05 PM and will include both in-person sessions at SMU and virtual sessions.  Spring classes at SMU begin in January 23, 2019.

If you are interested in enrolling in the course, please complete the form here below by Friday, October 19th. There are 30 available seats in the course, and they will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Instructional coaches and Instructional Lead Coaches are also eligible to submit an interest form; however, teachers will be given first priority. 

Once you have submitted the form, information on next steps to officially "enroll" at SMU will be sent to your Dallas ISD email address with 1-2 days. SMU has the deadline of application submission on November 1st.  You will also need to submit an official transcript to the university by November 15th. 

Questions? Email Vanessa Rodriguez at [email protected].

Join the PL Family Slack Channel
We’ve created a PL Family Virtual Community via Slack to continue the collaboration across PL cohort schools. Slack is a collaboration hub that allows you to connect with groups, pose questions, and share resources (learn more about Slack and how to use by watching this video. Click here to create a free account and join. Once you join, you’ll find different channels for each grade level and domains on the PL rubric. We’re hopeful that this will allow you to continue the conversations and collaboration. Also, feel free to share with other teachers on your team/campus. There might even be a reward for the campus with the most active members coming up soon.

DATE CHANGE: PL Summit 
We've moved the first-ever PL Summit to Saturday, February 23rd- more to come soon! This will help us accommodate some conflicts shared with the previous date in January and give us more to celebrate during PL's 5th birthday week. Be on the lookout for more information coming soon via social media and email. 

If you're interested in joining the PL Summit Steering Committee, we're looking for a few more members. This is open to administrators and teachers! Email Kristen ([email protected]) if you'd like to join the committee. 

PL Educator Tours 
Registration is now live for our 2018-19 monthly PL Educator Tours at www.thepltoolbox.com/tours. 
If you're interested in attending, I would sign up soon as tickets go fast once we start advertising. Also, feel free to advertise the tours website and/or the direct link to your campus educator tour from your campus website (reminder, these are just for educators).