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From Bobby Jenkins, 2012 alum!
Applications for the Apple Distinguished Educator Program opened for the ADE Class of 2015. We are pleased to inform you that applications are now being accepted. If you're doing amazing things with Apple products in and out of the classroom, you should apply to be an Apple Distinguished Educator and join this active, global community of education pioneers. For complete application details, deadlines, and more information please visit: https://ade.apple.com Application periods vary by region. You’ll need to complete your application by your region’s due date to be eligible. From the MTLDs: Hi All! We are super excited about this upcoming ProSat on Saturday, February 28th! This ProSat’s disposition seminar will cover Strand 4: Constructivist Views. In order for you to be able to participate in the disposition seminar, there is prework that will take 30 minutes to complete. Please read below for more information & directions. For the disposition seminar about Constructivist Views of Learning, we are asking that you administer a survey to (at least) one class period that will 1) assess the current reality of your classroom in regards to constructivist teaching practices and 2) help identify 5 competencies that your students develop through lived and cultural experiences. These 5 skillsets are based off of research from an organization called E3 (education, excellence, and equity). Please see the attached handout for more information (optional). Please see below for the two different options or administering this survey. Through Google Survey (recommended)
Through a paper administration
Worried about finding time to administer this survey? Here are some ideas:
Worried that your students won’t understand the questions? Here are some ideas:
Please reach out to me with any questions!
This year brings the seventh annual Phi Sigma Pi Essay Contest, an essay contest open to students currently enrolled full-time in Teach For America sponsored schools (grades 1-12). As the Executive Director of the Rio Grande Valley Region, I’d like to make you aware of the essay contest as an opportunity for your corps members and their students to participate in.
Phi Sigma Pi is a gender inclusive honor fraternity built on a Tripod of three ideals: scholarship, leadership and fellowship. We want to hear how students put these ideals into action in their everyday lives. The first place winners in each grade category will be rewarded with an Amazon Fire Kindle bundle. In addition, winners will be featured in Phi Sigma Pi publications. Additional information about the contest and entry process can be found on our website. You can sign a petition in support of the students here.
To learn more about this act of violence, please visit the links provided below:
You can find the full statement below: On Saturday, January 24 a group of about 50 students aged 9-13 and their chaperones attended a professional hockey game in Rapid City, South Dakota (many for the first time). The outing was a reward; the students were part of the school’s 21st Century program and had demonstrated academic success. A fellow attendee not affiliated with the group described the students as “some of the best behaved he’s seen.” During the third period of the game, the group was forced to leave out of concerns for their safety. From the suite above where the students sat in the stands, intoxicated individuals allegedly poured beer on the students and peppered them with racially-motivated slurs. The management of both the hockey arena and the company who owns the suite have issued statements apologizing for what happened. Police are investigating the incident. And there’s a good chance this is the first you’re hearing of it. The students and teachers are from the American Horse School located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a community that works hard to foster a strong sense of self and Lakota-pride in its young people. What happened at that game wasn’t just racist, or a hate crime, or whatever words one might choose to describe the harrowing incident. What happened at that game made ignorance and brutality permanently parts of those students’ lives. It told them that they can’t travel to certain places, and that there are people who deem the Oglala Lakota Nation as less-than. The incident made the students unwitting victims of prejudice, instead of the incredible future leaders they are. The students were literally made to feel unsafe in their own ancestral home. And the hard reality is, this has been the case for Native communities for hundreds of years. As leaders of Teach For America’s Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships team, we refuse to stand idly by without raising our collective voice against this cowardly act. We represent communities across culture, content area, and grade level, and it would be easy for many of us to ignore this outrage. To say that it didn’t happen to our students; it happened to Native students many states away. But as Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We are one community, one that believes all students deserve an educational system that fosters academic and personal pride and accomplishment. There is no room for hatred in this community. The incident in Rapid City hasn’t received mainstream attention. One could speculate on why this is: Is it because our society has grown immune to these sorts of injustices, that they’ve become white noise? Or could it be that Native students aren’t deemed to matter the same way other students are? Whatever the reason—and there are many, and they are complex—we hope to spread awareness of what happened so that the students of the American Horse School know that they are not alone. We all stand with them. All kids matter. These students are all our children. In solidarity, Grant Besser Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Rachel Brody Managing Director, Diverse Learners Initiative Viridiana Carrizales Director, DACA Initiative Stacey Cleveland Director, African American College Access Initiative Robert Cook Senior Managing Director, Native Alliance Initiative Sid Ellington Director, Military Veterans Initiative Amanda Fernandez Vice President, Latino Community Partnerships Daniel Grant Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships Sarah Ha Managing Director, Asian American & Pacific Islander Initiative Evan McKittrick Director, Service & Engagement Initiative Laura Dallas McSorley Managing Director, Early Childhood Education Initiative Tim’m West Managing Director, LGBTQ Initiative Joseph Wilson Managing Director, STEM Initiative The Schusterman Family Foundation will host all-expenses paid leadership development experiences in Isreal this summer. All corps members are eligible, so make sure you apply by 2/16.
You can find more information here. Looking for opportunities to spend time in the Valley, expanding your resume, building your skill, pursuing your passion, and developing more knowledge about the community in which you work? TFA-RGV staff has compiled a list of all of the summer opportunities we know that you could participate in as teachers!
At my conference in Dallas, I had the privilege of sitting in a session on how to support undocumented students with Educators 4 Fair Consideration (E4FC), who dropped so much knowledge on me.
I have some posters from them that you could put up in your room. If you are interested, please send me student work/ teacher works that shows you are actively affirming students' identities in terms of being undocumented. For example, you could share a students' note with you, student reflections on why we've got to drop the i-word, a video of you as an educator talking about college opportunities for undocumented students, or a lesson plan of how you're incorporating E4FC's creative writing prompts! All work will be showcased on our Learning From Each Other page. |
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