October 1st, 2019

Welcome to the October 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. 

Introducing our New Manager of PL Campus Coaching

Lily Ruble 
Lily is the Manager of Personalized Learning in the Dallas Independent School District. She primarily focuses on coaching and developing school leaders and instructional coaches to support teachers moving towards personalized learning. Lily began her career in education in 2012 as an elementary teacher. Through her roles in the classroom and serving as an instructional coach at the campus and district level, she developed a passion for innovation and empowering all learners to find ownership in the classroom. Her dog Huckleberry, reading, and reality TV keep Lily entertained when she’s not at work.

GOOGLETUDE
Saturday, November 9th from 9:00AM-3:00PM at Hill Middle School

All teachers listed on your campus teacher email rosters received an email this morning at 8:00 AM inviting them to register for this opportunity. This will be a day rooted in gratitude, mindfulness, and Google's G Suite Tools. Throughout the day participants will have choice in sessions focused on leveraging gratitude and mindfulness in the classroom through the use of G Suite. Sessions will be tagged for beginners to advanced Googliers. This opportunity is open only to the first 250 teachers and leaders at current personalized learning, Math Innovation Zones, and Verizon Innovative Learning schools in Dallas ISD. 

To register and learn more, check out www.thepltoolbox.com/googletude. 

Opportunity for Assistant Principals 
The Stanford d.school is coming to Dallas ISD in the winter of 2019-2020 to facilitate the fourth 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 Friday, December 13th, Thursday, January 16th, Thursday, February 6th, and Tuesday, March 3rd.
• Your principal should plan to join you for the first half of the day on Friday, December 13th 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 December 13th will come your way at least two weeks in advance.
• 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.
• Participation in our annual Innovation Fellowship Showcase and Celebration hosted on Tuesday, March 10th from 4-8PM.

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 4th cohort in Dallas? Submit a short application here by Friday, November 15th at 5:00 PM. Up to 20 assistant principals will be selected for this cohort. ​

Spring 2020 Graduate Course Application
SMU is no longer offering the Graduate Blended Learning courses. This spring they will be offering a NEW course [information below]. We recommend sharing the course and application with specific teachers who are proficient with technology. 

Teaching and Learning with Technology EDU6384
Description: This course prepares teachers to integrate technology into their teaching in a way that enhances learning based on current research and the application of a structured model for technology integration. Students learn about the National Educational Technology Standards and 21st-century skills and explore a variety of technologies for developing and applying these skills. In addition, students learn about legal and social issues related to technology integration and plan for the integration of assistive technology to address the needs of diverse learners. 
 
To learn more and apply, go to www.thepltoolbox.com/smu. Applications are due by Friday, November 8th at 5PM.

We're STILL on the Search for all Google Certified Educators!
We're looking for all teachers and leaders who have earned their Level 1 and Level 2 Google certifications! Please encourage your staff to complete the quick form at www.thepltoolbox.com/googlecert to let us know which certification[s] he/she has earned so far. TOP SECRET:We're planning to surprise all educators this fall in their classroom [or office] with some Google swag to help recognize their dedication to learning. We will also be awarding the campus with the highest percentage of staff certified with the first Google Guru at September's design studio. 

PL Coaching + Development Rubric 
The PL Coaching + Development Rubric has been updated to reflect the newly released TEI Teacher Performance Framework. All updated coaching tools and rubrics are available for access and download at www.thepltoolbox.com/rubric. We'll be sharing updated PL Coaching Guides for all campus leadership team members as soon as we get them back from printing.