Culturally Responsive Ways to Close and Open the Year? by Sarah Southard https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo Made with the best of intentions en-us 2020-06-03 23:26:55 UTC 2025-01-31 17:00:24 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619119381 Closing the Year]]> 2020-06-09 15:58:50 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619119381 by Marisa Croucher https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619128861 2020-06-09 16:04:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619128861 by Marisa Croucher https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619129828 2020-06-09 16:04:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619129828 By Tara Johnson tara_johnson1 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619135299 To end the year in a culturally responsive way, I could ask my EL students to teach me a few words in their first language. I also just want to end the year being connected to all families and make sure all families are feeling supported going into summer and 1st grade. ]]> 2020-06-09 16:07:09 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619135299 by Tara Johnson tara_johnson1 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619137766 To start the year off in a culturally responsive way, I will be doing WAkids meetings before we start school. At this meeting I will learn more about my students backgrounds and languages. I would love to learn 1-2 words in each students first language and incorporate that in my greetings and closings for the day. ]]> 2020-06-09 16:08:29 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619137766 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619232956 Beginning the New School Year]]> 2020-06-09 17:00:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619232956 Closing the Year-Mentor Teacher https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619266920 As a mentor teacher, I am supporting teachers with reflecting on their practice during this remote learning experience. Many teachers have named that they have learned so much about families and the need to do a better job of partnering with families at the start of the year. I was able to help them name concrete ways they have been able to build relationships and get to know their families-teachers shared phone calls, letters and notes being mailed home, regular and frequent contact. The important thing that was named is that they found that they couldn't rely on one method, but rather had to find a way that worked for individual families. This connects with my learning from this course. Is that we have to be willing to partner with families, by getting to know both our students and families and use that information to support students growth and education in the classroom. I also think it is important for teachers to reflect on the implicit biases they bring to teaching and the classroom and how that shows up (beliefs they have about students and families and our willingness to support students). So as this year comes to an end, I am reflecting on how I need to self reflect and continue to have my teachers, so that we can work to get to know our students/families, build on their funds of knowledge and then work to intentionally plan how we will move forward. 

]]> 2020-06-09 17:20:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619266920 Opening the Year-mentor teacher https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619279742 To open my year next year, I will support teachers with building family partnerships early. I will support them with resources and coaching conversations, because getting to know their students and families is the foundation for the learning partnerships Zaretta Hammond names. I also want to support teachers with building predictable routines at the beginning of the year (in remote learning and or in the classroom) because I want to support students becoming independent learners and creating an independent atmosphere from day one. ]]> 2020-06-09 17:27:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619279742 Closing the year--Joyce Zeigen jzeigen https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619498108 As I'm closing the year, I'm starting a funds of knowledge inventory for each of the students I will have next year. I work with all the ELs, grades K-5, at my school so I know my of the families already. However, there is more I need to learn! I'll be doing some summer visits to student neighborhoods and hope to add to the inventory with what I learn being near their home.]]> 2020-06-09 19:53:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619498108 Opening the year--Joyce Zeigen jzeigen https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619503548 To open the year, I plan on meeting with parents, aided by bilingual staff, to demonstrate what online learning will look like. This year we really missed this do to the suddenness of it all. Our school closed without warning and families didn't have any idea how to navigate SeeSaw or Google Classroom. Teachers received trainings, yet parents were left out. Parents with more than one child in school got bombarded with notifications and emails. As a result, many just shut down and requested paper packets. I want to start the new year off fresh, viewing everything from the families' lens--how is online learning going to match parent work hours, how can parents support their children, how to ask for help, etc. ]]> 2020-06-09 19:57:41 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619503548 Support--Joyce Zeigen jzeigen https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619517951 One of the ways I'm closing the year is making sure my families have the resources they need. One of my families had both parents diagnosed with COVID last week so I've lined up rent assistance, financial support, and meals. My ELs will have their chromebooks all summer, so I'm recording more read alouds for them to listen to. I've been using a lot of culturally diverse books with positive messages and my list has grown recently with recommendations of more books addressing race. I'm really looking forward to Kendi's "Antiracist Baby" book being released next week.]]> 2020-06-09 20:07:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619517951 I don't have my usual ways of gathering info on the students. So in addition to a personal inventory form, I am going to have the students come up with a "six-word summary" of themselves. I recently did a book study where one of the strategies was to write a six-word summary of what they had read. Students would be cognitively challenged to distill the reading into six words. If I have the students do this for themselves, then I can teach them those six words that are relevant to themselves in the target language (I teach French, Spanish, and Japanese.) https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619538975 -- Pamela Parks, Riverview School District]]> 2020-06-09 20:23:34 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619538975 Omri Nimni https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619592405 After taking this course and keeping current events in mind my plan to close the year in a culturally responsive way has two pieces to it. First my plan is to continue to give my students the time, space and resources to process the current protests and the United State's history of systematic racism. Through discussions and targeted information it is vital that student are able to process what is going on through the historical context of today's current moment so that they can better understand the whys connected to what is happening now. The second part of my plan plays to what we have learned and discussed about translanguaging.  I plan to close out the year with information and further resources that are available for families and students to use over the summer as well as into next year that support their funds of knowledge as home language use.]]> 2020-06-09 21:07:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619592405 Pamela Parks, Riverview School District https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619594239 Closing the year will be difficult.  First, I decided that my last two classes are just going to be no-pressure, "Hey, how are you doing?  I miss you." sessions.  Today and yesterday went very well; students seem beaten down and just needed to vent.  Second, I've got two of my classes working on a family tree project.  I told them to make it whatever they wanted:  Does your neighbor act like a surrogate aunt?  By all means, put her in.  Do you never see your second cousin of your father's side once removed?  Leave him out.  I want students to  include only the people who are meaningful to them.  So far, it's going great.

]]> 2020-06-09 21:09:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619594239 Omri Nimni https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619598016 I would like to open up next year ( which at this present moment will be at least partially online) with really pursuing an understanding of my students' funds of knowledge in a fun and engaging way. Coming off of a drastically different school year I think it is vital that we as teacher are even more aware of what our students can do and what potential gaps exist. I think this starts with drawing out funds of knowledge. I hope to begin the year with a student biography project that gives them the space to share pieces of culture, background, and language. I hope to do this with student created videos!]]> 2020-06-09 21:13:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619598016 Augustine Kim https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619668671 To close the year with a culturally responsive approach, I plan on leading summer learning professional development that includes a "launch form" that teachers will use to collect information on students and their families to help inform our support during the summer. A new purpose is to honor and gain understanding of the Funds of Knowledge that the students and families bring to the table. As a teacher leader that is part of planning and facilitating theses trainings, I see an opportunity to spread the belief in an asset-based mindset when building relationships with students. ]]> 2020-06-09 22:28:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619668671 Augustine Kim https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619679961 One way I plan to open the year is with a more intentional way of supporting digital learning for students and families that have been less active online.  With the possibilities of different re-opening models for school districts, I want to advocate for learners that are not connected to online learning opportunities.  One of the opportunity gaps that I fear will perpetuate achievement gaps for students of color is the lack of devices and connectivity to engage in digital learning that is being offered.  I will work with the schools that I support to systematically identify students that have been hard to reach or engage in the class' learning activities.  Then, we can identify an action plan with increased intensity based on the needs of the students.

]]> 2020-06-09 22:41:50 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619679961 Support, Derrick Lewis https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619717300 Asking families how they are doing and what they need. Making clear that I am still available to email with questions. My shipment of books with more diverse main characters just came in, so making some recordings and posting on Google Classroom. Trying to let my students know how lucky I was to be their teacher and how lucky their 3rd grade teacher will be. ]]> 2020-06-09 23:29:27 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619717300 Derrick Lewis https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619719666 Not sure what our building will look like next year. In August start reaching out via Zoom to meet 1-1 and build relationships. Also learning what the culture is like in the student's homes and what support they will need when school starts. ]]> 2020-06-09 23:32:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619719666 New Beginning https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619725766 I am not too excited about the possibility of starting school online. I miss working with the students and building relationships with them. On the bright side I have learned so much during our 6 sessions. I definitely know that I will be able to share the information with my staff. Thanks for a great course.

]]> 2020-06-09 23:40:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619725766 K-12 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619733879 Family support - provide training and information events for families that are linguistically diverse 
Student and families - building relationships take time when school starts to build the connections and make sure families and students have the resources, knowledge and training on what they need and how to do it for the year (advocacy, trust and information)

]]> 2020-06-09 23:50:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619733879 Art with students https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619734315 To start the year, I will do a family take home home interview to determine the family's current level of art interest as well as in what areas.]]> 2020-06-09 23:50:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619734315 Closing the year https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619735542 To close the year in the art room, I sent home all of the art work, art portfolios, and in process work that students had done over the year. I also created a slide show of work that students did over the at home learning time period. This gives the students some recognition for their hard work with at home learning.

]]> 2020-06-09 23:52:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619735542 Reflections rekhir https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619738081 Raman Rekhi, ELL Teacher MS
I have learned so many new strategies from this course that I used in my remote teaching this year. I am using translanguaging and communicating with families more than before.  I am going to end the school year by doing the following:

o    The students will make a video on what they have learned during this remote learning that helped them for future. They will record it in both English and their native language. They will submit it using the Flipgrid app.

The students and families will submit a feedback form that I have created using MS Form and it has the option to translate it in their native language. I will email the families explaining them on how to do that in English and translated version in their native language using Google translator. 
`
]]> 2020-06-09 23:55:44 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619738081 Raman Rekhi, ELL Teacher,MS rekhir https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619741115 My new school year will be based on the feedback that I will get from students and their families. I will consider more interaction with families and provide them with resources to support their child at home and ask them to be a part of their child’s education. I will be using both English and Native language while communicating with the families. I have noticed that I get a quick response when I email the families in their native language. I will assign some project that will need input from the student’s families that way they will feel connected 
Raman Rekhi

]]> 2020-06-09 23:59:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619741115 Closing the year https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619746229 I will make sure to provide an opportunity for closure for my students that I have developed a relationship with this year. ]]> 2020-06-10 00:05:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619746229 Opening the year-Julie Strickler https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619747882 I plan to share with my staff the information learned from this course. If we are still doing distance learning, I want to be able to collaborate on lessons/instruction to support students engagement. ]]> 2020-06-10 00:07:16 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619747882 Melissa Dean-Treseler https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619787580 For each of my courses, I framed the final online learning modules using essential questions with the goal of igniting students in inquiry/discussion ]]> 2020-06-10 00:53:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619787580 Rachel Kelly https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619793658 To close the year I think it is important to give students a chance to reflect on the school year. This week I have an assignment that they can do that is optional (using student choice) for students to reflect on the school year using Google slides, docs, or FlipGrid. We also have a few zoom meetings planned as a class as well as a grade level so they can see each other and maintain the relationships established during the school year.]]> 2020-06-10 00:59:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619793658 Rachel Kelly https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619795407 One thing that I am taking from this course in terms of opening the year is getting to know my students' families and their funds of knowledge better. I feel I connect with students and get to know them, but I would like to be more intentional in creating those bonds and having knowledge of their family. I think based on what next year holds, being intentional about teaching the online tools as well as connecting with families as much as possible will help. I am hoping we are in person as much as possible to help build those connections.]]> 2020-06-10 01:01:41 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619795407 Christina R., ISD https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619936026 I plan to close the year with an optional poetry reading for my students. We are wrapping up a poetry unit in my classes and I want to give students the opportunity to invite their families to join in to hear their children read poems in English and their home language. I've invited students to leverage their translanguaging capacities in the poem by including words in their home language and/or intermingling the languages in a way that resonates with them. I've also asked them to include academic language they acquired in their classes. They had the option of reflecting on the quarantine or the racial justice protests. Students who decide not to share live will have the option of sharing their Flipgrid or Abode Spark recordings. ]]> 2020-06-10 03:52:06 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619936026 Christina R., ISD https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619939865 I look forward to establishing norms and thinking routines in both a remote and in-person context next fall (if we are following a socially-distanced hybrid model). What will be positive about this is we will have the opportunity to plan ahead to implement more culturally-responsive practices in an online environment. Our district will be using Canvas so it has been really valuable to have this course model for me what it is like to engage with Canvas in a culturally-responsive way as a student. I will look for ways to integrate the strategies modeled, especially the thinking routines, in my classes this fall. ]]> 2020-06-10 03:57:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/619939865 Dawn Boyden, Lake Stevens School District dawn_boyden https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620509862 wIn my Zoom classes, I've found that when I demonstrate preparing a recipe that students would usually prepare in class, they're highly engaged. Students ask questions and respond to my inquiries. In this final week of class, I will continue to prepare food. This time it's another version of the first recipe we made in class in September. It should be a fun way to wrap up the year. When we have cooked together, only a few students have attended, but it's been a chance for us to get to know each other better and to have fun preparing the same food. It's given insight into their families, homes, likes, dislikes and more. Definitely worth the time and effort!]]> 2020-06-10 11:25:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620509862 Dawn Boyden, Lake Stevens High School dawn_boyden https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620517549 In the Fall, there will be an increased emphasis on developing relationships with students and really getting to know them. It sometimes overwhelms me trying to learn about 180 students and takes a while. Next year with whatever changes we need to make, it will be even more necessary to understand my students and to find ways to assist them when we again need to have digital instruction. Especially with a student teacher, sometimes it's hard to make those bonds with students, but I will need to be more present so that I really know them. I also plan to determine their funds of knowledge at the start of the semester to determine what they can teach their peers. So excited to implement these plans.

]]> 2020-06-10 11:32:01 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620517549 6th grade science, North Mason School District https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620886991 Reading everyone else's posts is inspiring to see what I could have done! I was asked to let our language learners focus on their EL coursework instead of science class, but still had a few students engage through the Remind texting app. We're having an end of the year Zoom call today (6/10) for students to see their friends one more time, but it's been discouraging to have so few students with the bandwidth to join synchronous streaming. 

If the year had ended in the classroom, we were planning on ending with a robotics unit that uses barcodes as programming languages. In the past, this has been so empowering for our students who struggle to find the right words in the science context. I would love to empower students to use their existing language skills.
-LP]]> 2020-06-10 14:59:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620886991 6th grade science, North Mason School District https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620901961 My biggest takeaway from this course was the phrase: "Student's funds of knowledge have not been taken away." I am dealing with so much uncertainty about how next year will begin and obsessing over the structures and supports that may be taken away. It's a powerful reminder that students still have their funds of knowledge, regardless of whatever else is missing from a "normal year". I usually start the year with a family contact survey and contact all families within the first two weeks. I think this year will need more intentional conferencing to leverage family support and determine what additional supports the school can provide.

As students may not be in the classroom much (or at all) in September, I want to explore their peer relationship supports, too. Asking questions like "who do you talk to during the day?" Middle school is such a social time and I want to help facilitate social experiences to engage language learners with native English speakers, as possible.
-LP]]> 2020-06-10 15:06:57 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/620901961 Alicia Tonasket https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621129542 To close the year, I plan to give each student time and space to express themselves concerning the school closure, including the loss of attending school-sponsored camp this spring, and the current civil unrest in our nation. I will give options during live meetings, on FlipGrid, and in the Google Classroom stream. ]]> 2020-06-10 17:10:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621129542 Alicia Tonasket https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621136716 I want to open the year with an open-ended survey to gauge the funds of knowledge present in the students' families. I will present it as part of general get-to-know-you activities. I haven't heard how I will be teaching in the fall, on, off, or hybrid, so I haven't made very detailed plans as of yet. ]]> 2020-06-10 17:14:42 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621136716 Closing the Year scottma10 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621260937 To close the year, I'm planning to have students reflect over the year by sharing or showing with others during our last Zoom meeting. I would like to hear students' thoughts or concerns about what learning might look like at the beginning of the new school year. ]]> 2020-06-10 18:34:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621260937 by Karen Park karenpark1 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621262742 To end the school year in a culturally responsive way, I am going to host Zoom Virtual field trips of places that my students are from, and activities they are interested in. I will then give time for students to share their funds of knowledge about those places and things.]]> 2020-06-10 18:35:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621262742 by Karen Park karenpark1 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621268774 To start next school year in a culturally responsive way, I'm going to adjust my Family Intake Questionnaire to focus on family funds of knowledge and student interests. Especially if we are going to start the school year virtually, I would like to schedule a one-on-one "Meet the Teacher" with each family to learn more about them, and build a strong partnership from the beginning. ]]> 2020-06-10 18:39:34 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621268774 Genet Simone, Seattle Schools Skills Center: Careers in Education ~ Closing the Year with Rites of Passage Collage and Family "Toast" https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621279500 I explained to my students that a rite of passage has 3 phases: Separation, Liminality, and Incorporation. Their assignment is to create a collage with photos, a drawing or other piece of artwork, or selecting three objects -- to represent each of those phases. Separation = What are you leaving behind? Liminality = What are you experiencing now during this transition from junior to senior or as a high school graduate? Incorporation = How do you want to be incorporated (welcomed) back into your family or community, now that this school year is complete? (or what can you offer to your family and community now?) When students are finished sharing online with each other, family members are invited to join us by toasting the students and congratulating them for completing this school year. We will see how it goes!]]> 2020-06-10 18:46:57 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621279500 Melissa Dean-Treseler https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621377182 Next year I will start the year teaching World History, which is an entirely new course for myself and my building. I'm really excited to be able to have the time over the summer to design the course based off of my learnings from my students this year & this course. To build culturally responsive teaching and anti-racist teaching into the course, identify Tier 2 & Tier 3 vocabulary students will need to understand in order to engage in rigorous online/in-person discussions rooted in essential course questions, such as "how are systems of power created & maintained?" & "what is culture? how do we experience & value different cultures?" 
I also want to work with our immersion teachers to create materials and opportunities for students to engage in translanguaging. ]]> 2020-06-10 19:58:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621377182 Melissa Dean-Treseler (Take 2!) https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621383262 Apologies--my Internet puttered out mid-posting yesterday. Let's try that again: 

I think this question is asking for concrete steps I am taking, but if I am honest I think I am closing this year in a culturally responsive way by leaning into the discomfort of having unanswered questions. For example, since reading about individualism/collectivism in the classroom, I'm suddenly very aware of how individualistic my online teaching practices are. This has me wondering how I can change these practices to be collectivism and relationship-focused despite the limitations of access for class community members.

On a more practical note, this course helped me frame my final online learning modules using essential questions to "ignite" student interest. Previously I had struggled finding ways to bring in-classroom inquiry protocols to online learning, but this step helped me make the learning more responsive & relevant to student's lives. 


]]> 2020-06-10 20:02:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621383262 by Erin Wilson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621528458 To end the year in a culturally responsive way, we plan to work with a paraeducator who speaks and writes in Chinese to communicate to our Chinese speaking families what resources are readily available over the summer for students to utilize. ]]> 2020-06-10 22:24:24 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621528458 by Erin Wilson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621534361 I would like to host 1:1 meetings with family at the beginning of the year is a great way to build connections and relationships. Rather than send some kind of survey home, it would be great to gather information about student's Funds of Knowledge from actual interviews with families. I imagine you would learn more about students, families and cultures by taking the time to have those conversations. ]]> 2020-06-10 22:31:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621534361 Closing the Year - Krista Goudy-Sutterlict, Wapato HS kristag3 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621567159 So, we have 2 more weeks until this school year comes to a close. The amount of students that I am working with is little to none, so my focus will be passing on as much knowledge as I can with my PLC team. I have taken away a ton from this course and downloaded videos and articles that are extremely beneficial. I've requested time during our weekly PLC time to collaborate and share. I know that the PLC team that I work with will more than willing to do what's best for students.]]> 2020-06-10 23:15:44 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621567159 Opening the Year - Krista Goudy-Sutterlict, Wapato HS kristag3 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621573251 Asynchronous Video 
Hopefully the more I do, the more comfortable I will become with it!]]> 2020-06-10 23:24:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621573251 N. McGibbon https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621666475 I will end the year in a culturally responsive way by holding our last class meeting next week to be a space for students to choose how they want to reflect on the school year. I will be assigning them to prepare a couple sentences and choose one thing to "bring" to the meeting. I want to allow students to reflect on the school year in any way they want to—I am not pushing it to be a goal on just academics; it can be about distanced learning, COVID times, school before COVID, friends, family hardships, anything. ]]> 2020-06-11 01:24:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621666475 N. McGibbon https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621667145 I plan to start next year in a culturally responsive way by getting to know my students and their funds of knowledge from the very first moment. I will start with the basics and as we build trust, go deeper into each students' funds of knowledge, inviting them to present on their families, backgrounds, and cultures and inviting their families into the classroom. ]]> 2020-06-11 01:25:53 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621667145 Kaylee Nelson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621800110 To end the year in a culturally responsive way, I plan to have a class meeting where students can reflect on the year and share concerns about summer and the fall. I also plan to write each student and their family a postcard in their home language that acknowledges their Funds of Knowledge and my thankfulness to them for working together. I want to share resources in their home language that can assist them in any learning they want to continue over the summer.]]> 2020-06-11 04:17:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621800110 Kaylee Nelson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621804045 Opening the school year, I would like to spend time building a foundation for my relationship with families and students. Figuring we will probably continue online learning, I would like to navigate a way to do one on one Zoom meetings with families to establish that I want to learn about them and how we can work together this year using their assets. Building trust is so important and I want this to be my primary goal.]]> 2020-06-11 04:23:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/621804045 Closing the Year https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/622920695 To close the year in a culturally responsive way I will host a class meeting celebrating everything students have learned during distance learning. I plan to emphasize the cultural and family learning that has taken place. I also will translate my report card comments into families' primary languages and encourage the specialists I work with to do the same. Finally, in my comments I will include encouragement to families to keep speaking their primary languages with their students because strengthening their home language over the summer is a great way to support them come the fall!
-Ande Martin]]> 2020-06-11 18:02:39 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/622920695 By Abbey Alessi https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623092941 To end the year in culturally responsive way,I plan to guide students in a reflective conversation to describe the year, identify ways they have improved throughout the year, and set goals for how they will grow during the summer. I am working on a choice board to help students  in setting those goals. I also want to encourage them to make those decisions from the choice board with his/her family since many of those choices will involve engaging family time, ]]> 2020-06-11 20:13:54 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623092941 Opening the year-by Abbey Alessi https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623114963 I will start the new school year at a different school as EL Teacher with higher number of EL Students. Getting to know my new students' funds of knowledge and building a trusting relationship will be my priority. I am feeling hopeful, confident and inspired by the resources and tools shared in this course. which will give me a headstart toward this effort. I really liked the type of information outlined in the "Multilingual English Learner Continuos Learning Plan. There is a placeholder for student's strengths, domain goals and stage of language acquisition to inform and document instruction. I want to collect all this information in one place for each student in my caseload. If all goes well we will also have purchased the technology tool to help us enter this information as well as access for all educators serving those students. As for my own teaching practice I want to refine my understanding of each stage of language acquisition and better align with tier questioning strategies. I think that will improve how we assess and monitor incremental growth from the start of the year.]]> 2020-06-11 20:31:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623114963 Starting the Year https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623161372 I have noticed that although I have attempted to send out questionnaires to get to know families funds of knowledge that these forms have been in English and not culturally responsive. This year I want to replace this form with a one on one meeting with each family (in whatever format is possible next year). I hope by removing the barrier of written English I will be able to connect more deeply with families and learn more valuable information about their families' funds of knowledge. I also want to support translanguaging by using multilingual resources (like a multilingual word wall) in the classroom and encouraging student use of their home language at school. Finally, I want to incorporate CTR like see, think, wonder from the beginning of the year as ways to engage students in content and as formative assessments that are more culturally responsive.
-Ande Martin]]> 2020-06-11 21:13:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623161372 Tresa Watson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623179022 As this year comes to an end, my instructional para and I plan to include a little note to each of our EL students to include with the last delivery of school materials from teachers.  I plan to review the lessons that were completed before we were sent home to include in my thinking for next year.  I'm very excited about all of the new and revisited learning along with so many great resources!

]]> 2020-06-11 21:32:50 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623179022 Tresa Watson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623183944 2020-06-11 21:38:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623183944 Lindsy De Mello https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623255303 Over the next week, I would really like to check in with my families I feel have had a lot of challenges with distance learning. I would also like to check in with those whose students need the greatest amount of support. I think it is vital that the transition for their students from 1st to 2nd grade go as smoothly as possible, particularly when I reflect upon the beginning of the year and the time spent on establishing learning behaviors, classroom expectations, and most importantly, trust. I think it would be tremendously beneficial to do what I can to support my students’ teachers for next year in knowing important information about them and their families. I would like this to look like facilitating communication and introductions so that the first day of school is less of a shock. I also want to ensure that I am conveying to my students that I will continue to be a person they can talk to, come to with questions and that will be checking in on them as they head into a new grade. Finally, I want to consider how I can provide opportunities for my students to reflect upon the successes they had in first grade and to celebrate their accomplishments and hard work. In doing this, I want to make sure they are aware that this is what we will be doing in our next class meeting this week, so they have plenty of think time before sharing with the whole class. ]]> 2020-06-11 23:13:46 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623255303 Lindsy De Mello https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623256168 I would like to immediately start off by seeking out more opportunities to represent students’ home languages and cultures within the classrooms and opportunities for them to see themselves operating within the context of academics (pictures of them, multiple languages represented, etc.). I also want to work on implementing some of the strategies I learned when getting my ELL endorsement (increasing visuals, translanguaging, etc.). I also want to try to be more thorough about utilizing continuous learning plans to help myself track students’ development and progress. Finally, I want to think about how I can be intentional about positioning students L1 and culture as assets. I’d specifically like to highlight this in a way that positions parents as experts because they speak multiple languages. ]]> 2020-06-11 23:14:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623256168 Closing the Year - Lauren Dolby https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623263954 I am ending the year with providing students with a “Tic-Tac-Toe” choice board to demonstrate their understanding of our final math unit. This will give them choice in which activities they want to complete.
In the past I have given end of the year surveys during the last week of school. I am going to continue to do this by transferring it to a Google Form and I am going to revise the questions to be culturally responsive.

]]> 2020-06-11 23:25:22 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623263954 Opening the Year - Lauren Dolby https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623264323 I want to start the year by providing both families and students (both ELL and non-ELL) with a survey to identify funds of knowledge. I already have students fill out “get to know you” surveys on the first day of school, however, I would want to include questions that more specifically identify funds of knowledge. If we start the school year online, this survey will be huge in trying to get to know students and building relationships with them. ]]> 2020-06-11 23:25:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623264323 Cristina Evangelista - Closing the Year https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623399682 In order to build a sense of classroom community and give a sense of closure, I will have students do flipgrid reflections of the trimester. Some prompts I will give them will be:

In this class, I appreciated it when . . .
This class helped me think about . . .
One thing I learned how to do well this year was . . .
I enjoyed learning about . . .
This group helped me overcome . . . 
Thanks for . . .

]]> 2020-06-12 02:22:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623399682 Cristina Evangelista - Opening the Year https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623401374 Because the brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others and because positive relationships keep our safety-threat detection system in place, I will:

·       Call or visit students the week before school starts to introduce myself and check in on family’s basic needs. I will also give students a personalized welcome to the class.
·       Prepare a FAQ for families and have it translated into their home languages or made available in video format, with plenty of visual aids
·       Send out a family and student survey to determine funds of knowledge
·       Organize Zoom meetings for my ELL families across common languages, with interpreters available, in order to build a sense of community and safety among same-language students, as well as to explain school logistics
·       Request priority for our rising 9th grade ELLs to receive their laptops early so that they can attend these Zoom meetings. We are also offering a face-to-face summer “jumpstart” week for our ELL and SPED students in order to teach them how to use Canvas and other common learning platforms, and give them an orientation to the school and its expectations and procedures.

Because students come to us with their own funds of knowledge, I will:

·       Send out student and family surveys, asking what is something that they can teach the class, show or share with their classmates?
]]> 2020-06-12 02:24:27 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623401374 Celebration of our learning by Toni Harmer toharmer https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623510036 To end the year with CRT in mind, I asked students in small groups of 4-5 to name positive attributes of their peers.  We went through a list of every student in the class.  Then, I made each student a word cloud with their words & created handmade bookmarks for them.  This is culturally responsive because I had mostly white students & only three students of color.  I want those students in particular (my students of color) to see how they are viewed by their peers.  Their words include things like "trustworthy, athletic, funny, kind, cooperative, good friend."  These students played together a lot at recess and during choice times and I think it will bring joy and a sense of belonging to hear how others view them.  

]]> 2020-06-12 05:08:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623510036 Word Wall Revamp by Toni Harmer toharmer https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623513502 One thing I've really realized after this course is the importance of visuals/ pictures with academic language and vocabulary for my ELL students.  This is not something I did well during this year.  I'm going to work on this over the summer so my cards are prepared and can be used for Science and Math.  

]]> 2020-06-12 05:14:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623513502 Closing out the year-Madison Thomas https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623755808 This year has been so eventful, but as it's coming to a close I plan to make sure I email and let parents know how thankful I am for having patience and understanding through this rough time. I will email parents in their native languages and also. let them know that they can contact me for whatever questions they may have in the future. ]]> 2020-06-12 09:35:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623755808 Opening up the year -Madison Thomas https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623759622 I went to my classroom today and thought about how I would start out the year that is coming up. So many things may seem different, but I think as long as there is open communication with parents, it should go smoothly. I hope to learn about where parents are from, whether in this country or another. Last year I had parents bring a picture of each student. I might extend that and put up a world map that shows where each family is from, so that sense of geography is not lost. ]]> 2020-06-12 09:38:50 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/623759622 Closing the Year scottma10 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624063981 To close the year, I'm planning to have students reflect over the year by sharing or showing with others during our last Zoom meeting. I would like to hear students' thoughts or concerns about what learning might look like at the beginning of the new school year. Also I intent to share with students the different models or possibilities for school next year. My older ELs they want to know what is going to happen with school. I would like to give them the opportunity to ask or reflect over these unknowns.]]> 2020-06-12 13:54:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624063981 Opening the Year scottma10 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624070716 I would like to open the new school year with the focus on students and their families. This will be a challenge since the model for school openings will be different than previous years. My hope is to create a better system to teach a hybrid model- teach in-person and use technology for some lessons. ]]> 2020-06-12 13:58:27 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624070716 Professional Learning for Next year- Kelly Pruitt https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624336637 I've felt compelled to support teachers in their efforts to create a racially equitable classroom. I"m developing a schoology course that will help participants investigate race, white privilege, and equitable teaching practices. I've placed many of these resources in that course. It's helping me process this information as well as all that is going on in the world right now. 

]]> 2020-06-12 16:43:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624336637 Jennifer McCoy https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624438374 2020-06-12 18:05:38 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624438374 Jennifer McCoy https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624446062 2020-06-12 18:12:20 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624446062 Marci Eubanks eubanksm5 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624506744 2020-06-12 19:10:56 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624506744 Marci Eubanks eubanksm5 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624507109 Since it is very likely that opening the year will be at least partially online, I want to include activities that can be done online that will really build our classroom culture and allow my students to get to know each other and to know that their funds of knowledge are valued. Since we just had some really good training on using Padlet, I would like to use that with my students and allow them to share about themselves with the other students. I am fortunate that some of my students already know me, so it will be easier for them to open up. I am hopeful that this will make it easier for my new students to do this as well.]]> 2020-06-12 19:11:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624507109 Closing the year-Mark Orr mark_orr https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624509466 As part of the closing of the school year, we are collecting feedback from our EL families through multilingual surveys and focus groups.  As we evaluate our program and consider how to improve for next year, I will be sharing with my team many of the strategies discussed in this course on how to make our work with ELs more culturally responsive and effective.

]]> 2020-06-12 19:13:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624509466 Mark Orr-Opening the year. mark_orr https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624511131 I really like the idea of partnering more with families.  I also like giving students more choice in how they respond to learning.  From this week, I am excited to learn that ALDs are available in many of our home languages (No Russian, though?) and I'm already thinking of how we can send those out to parents with our continuing service letters.  On our parent feedback survey several parents said they were unsure about what their child's ELD goals were; this would make that clearer.

]]> 2020-06-12 19:15:02 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624511131 In order to close the year out with a culturally responsive way, I hope to continue connecting with families using multiple formats or ways to reach them because some prefer texting, or phone calls with translators or even "porch visits" at their homes and I feel it's important to reach ALL families no matter how much effort it takes on our part. 244552 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624536854 2020-06-12 19:42:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624536854 Richelle Hendrix rhendrix4 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624549487 I ended the year by giving a Choice Board that let all students explore the idea of  "What is my passion?"  I used the categories of Ignite, Chunk, Chew and Review.  Each activities asked kids to use their home language, so two students wrote their responses and final poem about their passions in Spanish.  I asked that they use a translation app to translate their poem from Spanish to English.  I really liked that they tried the assignment.  I also asked some questions which encouraged kids to ask their parents/guardians about their passions and pursuits.  Each column and row asked kids to use the Frayer model to define key vocabulary words, asked kids to list words using some of the modules' apps, and kids were asked to view videos about people  discussing their passions.  I could find one version of a video in Spanish and I offered that link.  I really liked the idea of translanguaging.  So, I tried to follow some of the principles found in that module.  I really enjoyed producing this Choice Board.

]]> 2020-06-12 19:57:16 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624549487 Richelle Hendrix--Opening the Year rhendrix4 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624557544 I am now a part of a new committee in our district that will explore our inclusion of ELL students into the regular classrooms and the regular ELA classrooms.  This new ELD committee will explore all of the work I completed in these modules.  I can now discuss the inclusion issues with some critical knowledge.  The one idea that I really appreciate is the discussion of translanguaging and the discussion about asking the appropriate level of questions to all students.  I am wondering how I can better network with our ELL teachers (2) to get critical information about our ELL students.  Our coordinator showed the committee members how to access the ELPA21 date, so that was helpful.  But, I need to further investigate the proximal levels of our ELL students.  We discussed how ELL students can be a part of the regular ELA class with instruction and still receive some extra practice in language acquisition in the regular ELA classes.  One strategy I know I will be using at the beginning of the year is the Choice Board Thinking Routines.  This is a great way for kids to explore what they are interested in, and at the same time achieving the goals of the lesson.  I appreciate that I need to be very intentional and explicit with the directions and activities.  I will also conduct more small group instruction before a lesson to scaffold some critical vocabulary and information necessary for students to be successful in the day's lesson.  
 ]]> 2020-06-12 20:06:19 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624557544 Robert Coy (ISD) https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624589482 I created a series of math lessons summarizing everything that we covered since leaving school on March 13th.  The purpose of these lessons was to assist my ELL and ASL students grasp the most important Algebra I topics that they will see as they progress through additional math topics throughout their high school career.

]]> 2020-06-12 20:44:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624589482 Robert Coy (ISD) https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624592609 I am starting out with the assumption that we will be back in school and meeting with our students in person versus over Zoom....  With that assumption, I am going to open the school year focusing on the unique characteristics of all of my students, gaining knowledge of their backgrounds, dreams, and future plans.  Not only is it important to hear the voices of my ELL students, but it will be good to hear the voices of all my students and for all students to hear the voices of all their classmates.  We will then dive into the math curriculum.


]]> 2020-06-12 20:49:02 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624592609 McKenna Rinta https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624665281 I closed the year with a choice board for my students that focused on funds of knowledge. All of the options were for them to teach ME something, whether it was something about their family, a topic they are passionate about, their favorite thing they learned in middle school. 

]]> 2020-06-12 22:33:26 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624665281 McKenna Rinta https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624665503 2020-06-12 22:33:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624665503 Sabiha Khan https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624745705 At the beginning of the year I get information about Ell students and families. I will collect information about their needs and availability of resources. I will create a welcome video which includes a list of school supplies that students may need, include information about how families will receive technical support in their preferred language and during distance learning. I will share the information collected with other high school teachers as well.

]]> 2020-06-13 01:40:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624745705 Heidi Miller https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624753140 I loved this course. I am looking forward to getting to try out what I learned. I have sent all my staff cards for the end of the year. I am excited to get back to school and continue to build relationships.]]> 2020-06-13 01:59:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/624753140 287632 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625293232 I am going to close the year by calling all of my families to ask them to reflect on the school year and to let them know how much I have enjoyed working with their student and family.  I am going to provide them with some resources specific to their child that can be used over the summer break and let them know that I am still available to answer their calls and e-mails throughout the summer.  ]]> 2020-06-13 19:48:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625293232 287632 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625295128 I am going to create a better system for welcoming new comers to our school. I am going to review the resources provided in the last module, adapt them for use at my school and share it with our staff. ]]> 2020-06-13 19:52:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625295128 Cindy Falla: Closing the Year cfalla https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625316187 Closing the year. Reflection for both me and my students.
I set up a flipgrid to gather any information students would like me to have. I have picked up the Hammond book and Tamisha Williams' Summer WORKbook for educators. I am gathering resources in addition to the resources at the end of each unit. (VI there were many GLAD strategies) and resources in multiple languages.... But, the thing that I have been working on the most this past week and into next will be the items in Module III: processing of information and thinking practices. In all that I do this summer that will be the lens I use with AVID digit and KICKSTART etc... In what part of the learning cycle are we, what questions am I asking, what choices do the students have and so on. I gave the students two games this week to play "5 dice" and "entrapment" and then when we zoomed I really worked on allowing their thinking to lead the problem solving.]]> 2020-06-13 20:28:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625316187 Cindy Falla- Opening the Year cfalla https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625324150 We want to start the 2020-21 school year more organized. I want to have the images/vocabulary cards ready to go for the year on tier 3 words and tier 2 words picked out for each unit.  We want to have thought about the learning cycle for each of the 24 larger concepts that are the CCSS for math and have the tools and resources "tried out" and streamlined for the learners.
We will continue to build on funds of knowledge, but recognize now that is only the first part of the model as rigor must be added to it. We will use brain science to guide the activities and the chunking of the material with revisiting for putting it into long-term storage. 
We will work towards building a cross-content collaboration.
We will work with our district to find out more about our students and their ELPA21 scores, to better notice their needs, but to also celebrate their growth.]]> 2020-06-13 20:44:24 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625324150 K-5 Closing the Year by Kristin Kim https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625463179 During last small group Zoom meetings next week, I plan to tell each student how special he/she is (i.e. positive quality, growth mindset, progress in learning, etc). 
 
I watched parts of our district’s alternate high school virtual graduation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwPqY2jHkWo last week and although I did not know the students, I was so touched by the genuine and mutually respected relationships between teachers and students. The teachers told each student how special he/she was and the student was either beaming with pride or getting emotional. It was apparent that the teachers knew the students at a personal level and students were so appreciative of the teachers as they shared their high school experiences.
]]> 2020-06-14 03:38:39 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625463179 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625463316 2020-06-14 03:39:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625463316 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625463386 2020-06-14 03:39:24 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625463386 3-5 Closing the Year-Denise Wilson dwilson68 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625470012 I definitely want to continue working on activities to give my students and myself closure. This year was challenging due to the pandemic and at times I felt my students slipping away from me. I'm going to try to show my kiddos how much I care and how I'm there for them as we close. ]]> 2020-06-14 04:02:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625470012 Opening the Year - Denise Wilson dwilson68 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625471880 I am very excited about the opening of the school year. I want to see my new students and I'm going to work at establishing relationships with my parents and students even before the first day of school. I am going to work hard at building and maintaining connections even if we have to go to a hybrid model. I am going to interview students and parents and have both digital and paper get to know me activities.]]> 2020-06-14 04:06:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625471880 K-5 Opening the Year by Kristin Kim https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625516029 Anticipating that schools may reopen with a hybrid model or remote learning again, I will be creating resources (welcome videos, informational videos, resources for newcomers such as important staff list with photos) for new families. As an EL teacher, I usually meet the new families before school starts for testing, but if that is not possible, I will arrange to meet them via Zoom within the first two weeks of school.  ]]> 2020-06-14 05:46:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625516029 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625516242 2020-06-14 05:46:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625516242 https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625516257 2020-06-14 05:46:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/625516257 Meghan Milam meghanmilam https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626442394 When I think about closing the school year in a culturally responsive way, I truly struggle. I struggle each week even just making contact with each of my students and/or families. At the end of each year, we normally have an awards ceremony and family is invited to come. This awards ceremony will now be over Zoom. I attended one such session for seniors, and they did a good job of translating much of the ceremony, both verbally and also in the chat box. But it was only translated into Spanish. For our awards ceremony (10th and 11th graders), we were asked to record a video of ourselves presenting one of the awards, and it will be compiled into something families can watch during a synchronous Zoom or during another time, if they can’t make it. I suppose this type of ceremony falls into the category of creating a caring community for our students and families. Upon reflection, perhaps it would have been something we should have co-created with families, rather than have it be something that they will simply come watch. ]]> 2020-06-14 23:00:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626442394 Meghan Milam meghanmilam https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626456445 When I think about starting the next school year in a culturally responsive way, I first think about making genuine connections with my students and their families. My district has told us that the new school year will most likely be some kind of combination between in person and distance learning. I am interested in doing a survey with students and families about what they hope to get out of distance learning, what they see as the pros and cons – areas that will work for them and places where they will struggle - and I hope to incorporate the students’ authentic lives into their learning. I imagine we're going to have to re-envision seat time. I don't know entirely what OSPI is saying about the matter, but I am interested in knowing how I can work with students and their families and incorporate what they're already doing in their lives into the learning they're doing to meet and exceed standards. 

I am also looking forward to doing more intentional work around academic vocabulary and academic language. I've never really used word walls successfully, but I strive to incorporate word walls and translanguaging into my social studies units. 

Overall, I'm kind of nervous to start the new school year with so many things that are still unknown, but I believe that this course has given me a lot to chew on and to think about, especially in this time of Covid-19. 

]]> 2020-06-14 23:27:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626456445 Closing the year - Summer Jupin https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626517169 I am going to close the year in a culturally responsive way by continuing to have space for the students to share how they are feeling about the end of the year, next year, and all that is going on in the world.

We are going to have an end of the year celebration by showing a video of the 5th graders and their families, pictures of our school year, and videos students created wishing each other well.]]> 2020-06-15 01:06:44 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626517169 Opening the year- Summer Jupin https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626519593
I'm thinking a lot about what our new comer kit will look like. I want to prepare those for students who will be coming in. I want to incorporate Flipgrid in our beginning of the year a lot. I will give students spaces to share who they are. We will also work together to create both an online and in class guidelines for ourselves that we will follow.]]> 2020-06-15 01:09:30 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626519593 Janae Brewster https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626671144 I am still feeling sad about closing out the year with my EL students. It has been difficult to manage remote learning, particularly with families who don't have reliable internet access. I am grateful for the many suggestions offered in this course, and I think I have been able to implement some of them with relative success. I also think this course highlights the importance of building strong family connections at the beginning and throughout the year.]]> 2020-06-15 04:57:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626671144 Janae Brewster https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626673143 There are so many helpful things this course has given me as considerations to building a strong EL program. This was my first year teaching, so...it was a lot! I am excited to use what I've learned to be able to draw out my students' strengths and build strong relationships and rapport. While I'm feeling pretty burned out on distance learning, I am excited for a new start in the fall, and knowing that establishing strong routines will help in the event of another school closure.]]> 2020-06-15 04:59:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626673143 By Vanessa N https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626899339 To end the year this week I will be  sharing how proud I am of my students, they have made it through this crazy ending and I want to acknowledge all of their hard work. I haven't decided of a book but I want to share a read aloud that shares about community and how each and every one of use can support and help each other like in this classroom.]]> 2020-06-15 07:54:01 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626899339 By Vanessa N https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626907402 To start off the year I want to start building on my relationship with my students and their families. Sending out a newsletter about me and how to get in contact with me. I want to be available for families and have them feel like they could reach out to me. Also just hearing about all the funds of knowledge and strengths my students bring. Perhaps a interview task where they interview a family member or an about me slide that they can make in whatever language they prefer. ]]> 2020-06-15 07:59:24 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/626907402 Amanda House-Tapuy https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/627449868 Closing the year has been rough- I struggled despite multiple calls home to get kids online. I tried zoom classes and no one came, and then after school announced that nothing counts, I lost any engagement I had. I finished the year off with a simple assignment asking my students to reflect and tell me what went well and what didn't go well for them. How can teachers be different and how can students . This was about the only way to end it. I wish I could have ended it with a zoom meeting or a fun project that allowed them to dive into who they are (that is what I was planning), but due to lack of engagement I could not.

]]> 2020-06-15 14:33:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/627449868 Amanda House-Tapuy https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/627468974 I am looking forward to the fall! I fresh start and new norms! 
This course has offered me so many ideas on how to start and continue being an effective educator during this difficult time. Last year I started the year with the I am poem. It was a huge success! But I can't do the same thing for the same students. So another similar idea that gets them engaged would be great. I was working on creating a project using the 100 people project and i loved it. I lacked engagement for it to work though. I plan to reimplement that though and focus on them creating their own nominations from their family. I think that will be such a fun project. ]]> 2020-06-15 14:45:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/627468974 Andrea Redmond- My comments don't actually align with any of the columns, I work with adults/ elementary school teachers. A reflection on how you will end the year in a culturally responsive way. I made goals with teachers regarding CRT and their practice pre the remote learning and their small group CRT learning with other teachers. teachers collected resources ans decided which they'd plan to use versus ones they wanted to use eventually/ to plan for, goals Please consider all that we have discussed during this course. A reflection on how you plan to start next year in a culturally responsive way. Next year I will l start with CRT resources at the top of the year, make CRT goals with teachers and follow up on them and reflect. Please consider all that we have discussed during this course. Please comment on at least one post by a classmate.Please include your name in the title or post, so we can see who it's from! https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/627994384 Andrea Redmond

My comments don't actually align with any of the columns, I work with adults/ elementary school teachers.  A reflection on how you will end the year in a culturally responsive way.  I made goals with teachers regarding CRT and their practice pre the remote learning and their small group CRT learning with other teachers. teachers collected resources ans decided which they'd plan to use versus ones they wanted to use eventually/ to plan for, goals Please consider all that we have discussed during this course. A reflection on how you plan to start  next year in a culturally responsive way. Next year I will l start with CRT resources at the top of the year, make CRT goals with teachers and follow up on them and reflect.  Please consider all that we have discussed during this course. Please comment on at least one post by a classmate.Please include your name in  the title or post, so we can see who it's from!


]]> 2020-06-15 21:21:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/627994384 Closing the Year By: Zen Morrison https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628000337 I have gotten so many great ideas! I am going to evaluate where my current EL kiddos are right now, where do they fall in Bloom's Taxonomy. Also, I will send out a goodbye email in home languages . ]]> 2020-06-15 21:28:01 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628000337 Closing the year bushawamber https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628017571 I plan on continuing to communicate with families in ways that work for them.  This could be by phone, email, zoom calls, or even stopping by their home (following social distancing guidelines).]]> 2020-06-15 21:44:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628017571 Opening the year bushawamber https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628020208 I am planning on learning more about my families and finding ways to incorporate the students culture into our lessons. I find that when I do make the lessons personal I have more investment from students.]]> 2020-06-15 21:46:19 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628020208 by Emily Waits emilywaits https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628025700 I plan to close the year in a culturally responsive way be sending a letter to each of my newcomer families translated into their home language. This will be a way to close the year as well as maintain the relationship we have built over the last several weeks during the closure.]]> 2020-06-15 21:53:02 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628025700 by Emily Waits emilywaits https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628027700 I have many ideas for beginning the new year. One way I want to open the new school year in a culturally responsive way is to interview my new students to gain information about their funds of knowledge. Also to incorporate a component that goes home so students and families understand the value of the knowledge they already have at home. ]]> 2020-06-15 21:55:40 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628027700 K-2 Opening Year by Zen Morrison https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628066756 2020-06-15 22:50:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628066756 By Ashley Oliver https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628097999 I plan to close the year by really focusing on family partnerships and communication. Although we only have a few days left I want my families to know that I am here to support them. I plan on reaching out and checking in with my families in their home language, and continuing to translate resources that I can. I also plan on giving my ELL families resources for the summer in their home language as well, and advocating for families while we explore what teaching will look like in the fall.]]> 2020-06-15 23:39:12 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628097999 By Ashley Oliver https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628101456 I am very fortunate to get to loop with my class this year, so my action steps for closing and opening the year are very similar. I definitely want to continue to emphasize my family partnerships and meet students where they are. I hope to send home many more resources and support in families home language all throughout the school year, and advocate for ELL families during the planning portions for the fall. I also got an idea from another post to work on figuring out where students are in Bloom's, and I plan to work with our ELL teacher using ELPA scores to figure that out and differentiate some instruction for students based off of that as well. I also really loved the idea of interviewing my students, so I plan to try that at some point too.]]> 2020-06-15 23:43:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628101456 Xan Johnson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628105630 Closing the school year in 2020 is unique and far different than anything else we have experienced as educators.  Reflecting on and planning for cultural responsiveness in our practice is more relevant now than ever.  I plan to do 3 things in different areas: My personal growth as a teacher and citizen, my relationship with my emerging student with whom I have been engaging with most during closures, and my relationship with my 3-5 ELL caseload.
Personally, I plan on opening up to self-exploration and reflection on my cultural and racial biases by listening to and reading words from voices of color, and those impacted most by inequalities in the school system and beyond.  I am currently reading "White Fragility" and hope to engage with my community this summer.
With my emerging student, I plan to send via email some summer resources, including a Choice Board and activities to learn more about her family and culture.
For my 3-5 students as a whole, I plan to write "pen pal" letters to each of them, as a way to share some of my own family background and learn more about theirs.  In this way, I can jump into the fall with expanded view of their Funds of Knowledge after (hopefully) corresponding with them throughout the summer.]]> 2020-06-15 23:49:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628105630 Xan Johnson https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628107931 Opening the year this fall, I hope to have a lot more information about student Funds of Knowledge through my summer correspondence to jump right into teaching in a more meaningful and culturally responsive way. I plan to start the year as always with Tier 2 vocabulary, but this time using the Picture-Word Inductive model as a more inquiry-based way to give students agency rather than a prescribed list of words that I explicitly teach. I also plan to collaborate with my colleagues to bring "I see, I think, I wonder" Thinking Routines into our distance learning models using sentence frames. I am hoping to do this as a grade level or team, so all students use and get used to these routines. I have also been asked to be part of my school's Social Emotional Learning team to represent and share about cultural responsiveness, so I will get a lot of practice in collaborating with colleagues and plan to use so many of these resources! This course has been extremely helpful and I am grateful for the opportunity to pause and reflect, especially at this time in our country.]]> 2020-06-15 23:52:46 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628107931 Tracie Kelly https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628120048 As a professional learning leader, I do not have my own classes of students with whom I interact, but I am currently meeting with a group of teachers, some of whom are also taking this course, to share our takeaways and learning each week.  Our group is growing to include other teachers not in this course, but we are all interested in being more culturally responsive in our practice.  When we meet this coming Thursday via Teams, we will be selecting some professional texts to read together over the course of the summer so that we can continue to connect, share ideas, and grow our practice as we prepare for next fall.]]> 2020-06-16 00:08:56 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628120048 Tracie Kelly https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628172799 As our Teaching and Learning department looks forward to next year, there is a lot from this course that I am tying into our work around the state mandate of being prepared at any time to move back into a state of remote learning. We are going to be focusing on identifying power standards for each grade level/content area and working with teachers to create Learning Pathways so that teachers play a more facilitative role and can work with students one-on-one and in small groups to support student growth and learning as students work their way through learning modules at their own pace and interact with content in ways that make the most sense for them. Student choice, including Choice Boards, and thinking routines will be a key pieces of these Learning Pathways, and I am thinking about how to include the Bloom's taxonomy across stages of language acquisition to push teachers to ask higher-level questions of all students when conferring with them about their learning. ]]> 2020-06-16 01:24:20 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628172799 Luis @ TSD https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628203655
To close  the year, I want to support teachers in developing their aspirations for next year.  As we begin to wrap up reflections, centered on my mentees successes with race, equity, and cultural responsive practices, I'm hoping to capture their "dreams" and hopes for next year.  While I'm not looking for specifics, I am hoping that these  are seeds that can be planted now and allow to sprout with ideas once Aug and Sept come around.

]]> 2020-06-16 02:08:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628203655 Luis @ TSD https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628207803 Opening the year, with my 2nd year teachers, I want to be able to review aspirations from June 2020, and begin the process of making culturally responsive practices as part of classroom teaching.  With regards to this PD, I want to focus in the areas of emphasizing brain science AND thinking routines as ongoing practices through which to collect student data.

]]> 2020-06-16 02:14:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/628207803 Before the year starts I am thinking to rework my spreadsheet for all of my progressing students. Since level 2 progressing students has such a wide range of domain skills and assets it would be helpful for teachers to see what specific assets and skills they bring vs goals they can continue to make progress on. I know that using the ELD review and Blooms Taxonomy grid would be helpful to find specific skills for students and families to visually see. Also after seeing the comments from other students, I definitely want to incorporate the family interview to build connections.-Karen Wong https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/631380414 2020-06-18 00:50:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/631380414 By Rebecca Wirtzberger https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/652020744 To close out the year in a culturally responsive way, I felt the best thing I could do for my students was to offer support and encouragement of their efforts regardless of how much they accomplished or completed. I found that if I was really honest with myself I felt pretty disappointed in the level of engagement during the school closure. I didn't receive hardly any communication or feedback and even less completed work. By typical teaching standards, it was a dismal effort. Since first grade students are not really independent learners just yet, I felt frustrated with the parents, whom, it seemed, were not taking any initiative into their children's school work. However, I knew I had to look at this situation a little more objectively, since it is a historical occurrence and quite life-altering at that. So I decided to assume that since I don't know everybody's situation, they probably are doing the best the can or know how to do at this time. I know I'm actually one of the lucky ones that continued to have an income during the quarantine period and I can't imagine the stress and anxiety suffered by those that didn't have an income. I also don't have any small children at home (only a dog), so I also rationalized that it would be very difficult to stay on top of multiple children's schoolwork, while being stuck at home and going stir-crazy with those very same children. In the grand scheme of things, I realized that my situation was really quite different that that of my students and that it was important for me to meet them where they were and offer them my support and encouragement without judgement. I sent them each a postcard letting them know that I loved and missed them and I congratulated them on getting through the year by focusing on whatever was important to them in their own lives.]]> 2020-07-10 20:30:43 UTC https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/652020744 by Rebecca Wirtzberger https://padlet.com/ssouthard3/4u8wng2hmfibe3wo/wish/652029465 Now that we've been through our first ever pandemic, I am realizing the importance of making early connections and building relationships with families .  To be clear, I already knew this was important, but holy cow!  It's super important during times like these!
To open the school year in a culturally responsive way, my number one priority is going to be building relationships with families....for so many reasons!
For one thing, I believe we will go into the school year in the most uncertain way that we've ever gone into any school year.  We will be operating under unfamiliar circumstances, with altered schedules and routines and we know going in, that we might all have to stay home for months again.  In that event, we will be reliant on those relationships to carry us through that period--however long it is.  We will need to be comfortable enough with all our families to call them on the phone on a regular basis to find out what they need.  Without that relationship, families are not going to trust us enough to be honest about what they need, and they aren't going to value what we're doing enough to make it a priority.
Also, I believe that we've seen so much ugliness in the world lately that our families are going to need to get to know us on a more personal level in order for us to have a level of trust and buy-in on their parts.  So many personal and political agendas have made enemies of people that I think we are very distrustful of everyone right now.  As educators, we're going to need to really roll up our sleeves and make an effort to put personal and political agendas aside and focus on kids and families.  They have to know that we are in this for them.
Finally, getting to know families and building relationships is the only way that we're going to have any impact in the event that we do have to close schools again.  Remote learning was hard...SO HARD!  If I don't have a relationship with my families, they have absolutely no reason to engage in something so difficult.  BUT, if we do have a relationship, my hope is they will do it.
I will be sending post cards to each of my families before the start of the school year.  I plan to share a little of myself with them and invite them to reciprocate.   Whether they engage or not, I won't stop there.  I will continue to build and strengthen the relationship for the remainder of the year.

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