August 2022 Lighthouse

Welcome to the August 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. ​​

Welcome our new PL Coordinator, Angie Leal!

Angie started her career in education in 2011 in Monterrey, Mexico as a technology teacher. In 2015, she moved to Texas where she taught bilingual kindergarten and first grade, as well as led dance and Folklorico. As a lower-grades advocate, she always incorporated technology and innovation into her instruction, leveraging new learning models. She is excited to join the PL Team as her next new adventure in Dallas ISD. Outside of work, Angie loves watching movies with her family, reading webtoons and manga, and growing her social media knowledge.

 1:1 Quarterback Check Ins

It's time to schedule your first 1:1 check-in with your PL Coach!
Quarterbacks, see coach + Calendly information below to schedule 45 minutes with you and your PL coach. During this time we'll identify supports YOU need from our team to be successful in your role this year.

Use the links/information below to schedule 40 minutes with your PL Coach between August 2nd-12th.

Coach	Calendly
​Nicolette	Calendly Link
Mary	Calendly Link
Vanessa	Calendly Link
Kristen	Calendly Link
Angie	Calendly Link
Brittny	Calendly Link
Lily	Rogers, Gaston, Tasby, and PL Prep, please email Lily directly ([email protected]) to set up time. Lily's calendly is being used for support meetings 😀.

 It’s time to sign up for your PL Support Kickoff Meeting!

These meetings will be 75 minutes with Lily, your PL Central Coach, principal, + QB during August 15th -September 14th via Zoom or in person, your choice. During this meeting we’ll review your support plan, schedule supports, and norm on campus priorities for the upcoming year. If you’d like to include others on your leadership team, please feel free to forward them the calendar invite once you've selected your date. 
Click here to sign up for your meeting.

Submit your campus administration team Information

We need your administration team members for the upcoming school year. Please update using this form by Friday, August 12th. 

PL Cohort Master Calendar

The PL calendar dates have been been finalized and can be accessed here. We will be finalizing locations in the next couple of weeks. If there are any conflicts, please share with Lily as soon as possible. 

Want to add the Personalized Learning calendar to your Outlook? Follow the directions below!
Note: These directions are for those who have the Outlook program installed on their device. 
1. Click File > Open > Shared Calendar
2. In search bar, type in [email protected]
3. Click open. You will then find this calendar under the dropdown, shared calendars.  

Readiness Continuum Feedback

We are requesting your feedback as we refine our Readiness Continuum.  You can access the Readiness Continuum Feedback Document here.

Use the  comment feature to leave feedback on each domain within the document. Please provide feedback by Friday, September 9th. During our August PL Lantern school meeting and September PL QB operational huddle, we will  provide any updates or changes made, based on your feedback.

 *New* Blended Learning Coaching Progression: Lab Rotation

We are excited to introduce a new BL model progression to our growing collection! ​For more information on the lab rotation progression, visit: www.thepltoolbox.com/labrotation. ​The Lab Rotation Progression is a tool that identifies the necessary steps to take when implementing a Blended Lab Rotation Model.

We look forward to seeing the Lab Rotation in action on your campuses and stay tuned for the rollout of the Flipped and Enriched Virtual Progressions later this school year!

PL Homecoming Week

Beginning August 5th, campus leader team members will receive individual campus teacher feedback from PL Homecoming. QBs and principals will be cc'ed on the final email to participants with access to session recordings and notification that Cornerstone PD hours have been awarded for participation.

Schoology Need-to-Knows

As many of you maybe already be aware, Schoology is now being used districtwide to share curriculum with teachers and leaders. This means that Schoology is now officially being managed by the Information Technology [IT] Department and that Kristen Watkins is no longer the district administrator. 
  
See below for some important technical updates:

• As of Monday, August 1st the nightly sync for all Schoology accounts still has not been processed. This means that new to district teachers do not yet have Schoology accounts. If a teacher is transitioning to your campus from another campus in Dallas ISD, they will still not show up under your campus. IT has communicated that this should go live during the week of August 8th. If teachers need access before next week, they will need to submit a ticket through the Service Portal. 
• Districtwide Curriculum Access | Bit.ly/dallasisdschoology
  This is the site that includes directions and all the group codes for curriculum. 
• Since many PL campuses currently or plan to leverage Schoology with students, teachers can sync grades from Schoology with PowerSchool Learning. Teachers will have to set this up once and it should work for the remainder of the year. Directions to share are here.
• Teachers no longer can create their own courses. This is intentional so that they use the courses that are rostered for them to ensure grades can sync seamlessly. Courses will be created own master schedules are set on campus and students are assigned to teachers. Your teachers should build and create materials in the Resources tab in Schoology.

 
Schoology Teacher PD
If your teachers attended the 3rd day of PL Homecoming in July, they received two hours of Schoology training. We flipped this session in the event you need to use it with teachers. Click here to access the sharable recording and slides from recording here.​
Access the Self-Paced Learning Checklist from the session:

• Schoology | bit.ly/plschoologylist 
• PK-2 Schoology + Seesaw | bit.ly/schoolseelist

All PL teachers are encouraged to join PL Collaborative Groups so that they can meet and plan alongside others in the PL Cohort in their grade level and/or content area. Click here for these group codes. 

If you have any Schoology questions, reach out to Kristen at [email protected].