DTSD Webinars: Good afternoon. I'd like to call today's curriculum Council meeting to order.
DTSD Webinars: and we will begin just with roll call attendance. So i'm just gonna go around the room and then do the folks online so
DTSD Webinars: clearly.
DTSD Webinars: Mrs. Funk.
Yeah.
DTSD Webinars: Mrs. Schmidt. Here.
DTSD Webinars: Mr. Bennett. here. Mrs. Royal here.
DTSD Webinars: Dr. Cook here.
DTSD Webinars: Dr. Winslow here. This is true. Here. Joy, Grace.
Joy Graeff: Here
DTSD Webinars: this is Doyle.
Lauren Doyle: Sorry here.
DTSD Webinars: Okay, and I believe
DTSD Webinars: I believe that is everyone. So before we jump into our meeting today. It's just a couple of items. Dr. Cronin's unable to be with us today, so Mr. Bennett is gonna co-chair the meeting with me and
DTSD Webinars: we also have Ms. Drew sitting in, because this is Mimi also is unable to be here. So before we start our meeting, we should just take a vote from our Board members to acknowledge that Miss Drew is going to join us as part of our meeting today, sitting in for the other 2, and then we'll get started with our business. So if I could, could I get a motion
DTSD Webinars: from the floor for Lindsey Drew to join us on curriculum Council today.
Okay.
DTSD Webinars: All in favor. I
DTSD Webinars: Okay. I've been awkward. I mean, I go home for a couple of hours.
DTSD Webinars: so we will move into our agenda. The summary notes are there. From our last meeting. We don't have any informational items or items for discussion, but we do have
DTSD Webinars: 4 items of new business that will be presented today, and those are all materials for you at the High School next year. The first one on the list is novel, dear Evan Hansen, and that's gonna be presented by Mrs. Emily Reiner.
DTSD Webinars: Hello! So i'm here to present dear Evan Hanson Today it would be added to our heroes journey curriculum, which is an eleventh grade course. College prep course.
DTSD Webinars: and the unit that I was looking to add it to is the last unit of the year which is focused on young heroes. So we focus on kind of learning what the hero's journey is at the beginning.
DTSD Webinars: Go into war, heroes, female heroes, and then we end with young heroes, so the kids can kind of reflect on their own journey in their place in the world, and how that ties into just Campbell's heroes journey.
DTSD Webinars: The reason that I wanted to introduce dear Evan Hansen is, we currently have a John Green book called An Abundance of Catherine's, which we've used for several years.
DTSD Webinars: but in the last
DTSD Webinars: couple years the kids have kind of, I think, pittered out with John Green. He was a hot commodity
DTSD Webinars: 10 years ago, but they see him all the time in other places other than an English classroom, and so they seem kind of
DTSD Webinars: tired of him a little bit, and I wasn't getting a lot of engagement with that text anymore.
DTSD Webinars: So last year, when we were reading that book.
DTSD Webinars: I had the kids kind of throw out some different ideas, and I had read this book before, and i'll tell you honestly I've never seen the musical. I've never heard the music. I have only read this book, and I read it a couple of times, and it just really spoke to me as a teacher of young
DTSD Webinars: adolescents and kids that are trying to find their place where they fit in that are awkward that are lonely. which Evan Hansen is. And as he stumbles into a really tragic and horrible situation.
DTSD Webinars: He finds that he can't speak up for himself, and it just starts the snowball of him
DTSD Webinars: where you're kind of cringing and wondering what's going to happen, but also he's finally feeling accepted. But it's in all the wrong ways.
DTSD Webinars: and so how he manages that throughout the book, and I wasn't sure how many spoilers I was supposed to give. So if anybody has specific questions, i'm happy to answer them. But I just I remember the first time I read it, the first feeling, I thought, and I shared it with a colleague. I said everybody
DTSD Webinars: should read this book. I feel like everybody should read it because mit ctl, and not only just teachers of of high school kids, but I think high school kids themselves. For sure. I think parents to sometimes understand what maybe some of their
DTSD Webinars: children might be going through, or things that they might be feeling. And
DTSD Webinars: even though the book it doesn't really pinpoint a timeline, but you know their cell phone usage and things like that.
DTSD Webinars: I think the idea of trying to figure out where to sit at lunch, of trying to figure out
DTSD Webinars: how you make friends, how you put yourself out there, the kind of self talk that you give yourself are all things that students go through at some point in their high school career.
DTSD Webinars: That was kind of my jumping off point for the
DTSD Webinars: Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Mrs. Reiner.
DTSD Webinars: I'll just say this is Lindsay. I'll just say I've read most of the book, but have seen the movie and listen to the music. And I do think that it speaks to all of those things. It also has a really interesting component about dealing with social media and learning about. You know kind of the ways things can spiral out of control there, as well as amongst peers in the building. So I think there's a lot of really relevant
DTSD Webinars: situations for students, right? And the way that that can make you feel so good that it can also feel really bad, right? And the the pressure of a lie, or, you know.
DTSD Webinars: Okay, if there's
DTSD Webinars: no other questions. Could I get a motion from the floor to move the novel? Dear Evan Hansen, on to the next step in the process for First Street.
DTSD Webinars: So moved Lindsey Cuck.
DTSD Webinars: All in favor.
DTSD Webinars: Any opposed
DTSD Webinars: Okay. Motion passes. Thank you. Mrs.
DTSD Webinars: Okay. Next, we have another novel recommended for you at the High School by the English Department, and Mrs. Taylor Stuck. He's going to present born a crime.
DTSD Webinars: Hello! My name is Sherry Taylor Stoki I'm. The English department chair at the High School, and I'm. Presenting today on behalf of Nathan Estes, who is a peer of mine and a fellow English teacher who could not be here today.
DTSD Webinars: The book that he would like to recommend is Trevor. Noah is born a crime, and he wanted to recommend this book for multicultural literature, which is a college prep. English 11 course. So juniors would be studying this this book.
DTSD Webinars: Trevor Noah is was the host of the Daily Show after John Stewart. But Trevor Noah is known as a comedian and a funny guy, but he has a very, very serious story, and in this memoir details his life growing up in South Africa during apartheid and Trevor Noah overcomes many things. His life. He was born a crime he was never supposed to exist.
DTSD Webinars: because his mother was African of the Zothu tribe, and his father was a white European. And so we see this young man growing up and coming to terms with who he is.
DTSD Webinars: Throughout the course of this memoir, though one thing that I really appreciated is
DTSD Webinars: that every single chapter. There is historical information given about apartheid in South Africa at the very beginning of each chapter, and although it is not told in a chronological manner, we do see his whole story come together, and his mother taught him how to overcome poverty
DTSD Webinars: mit ctl, and how to love and empathize with people who were different than he, and also the power of education. She taught him to speak 4 different languages, and because of that he was able to empathize and
DTSD Webinars: appreciate those cultures that he did not grow up in. And then he made something of himself, and he became a Dj. And they someone saw in him a talent, and then he came to the Western world and and and made a name for himself. So it is a tremendous book. One of my students just read this in ap Lang, and he could not speak highly enough of this as well, and I, too, have read it, and was very touched by Trevor Noah's story.
DTSD Webinars: Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Mrs. Stucky?
DTSD Webinars: I've never heard of the book. But
DTSD Webinars: am I on? Yeah. Oh, but I think that the students would be familiar with him, and so to kind of study it through that lens with the historical elements and the themes you mentioned. I I think that it would be really engaging. So i'm glad that we're making this switch and addition.
DTSD Webinars: Thanks, Dr. Cook. It. It is funny, too. I mean, there are things where he's talking, and you're like. Oh, my gosh! I can't believe that happened. And the kids, I think, will really find it engaging. But then he ties it into the culture of South Africa, which I really really appreciated. So these stories are not just told in isolation.
DTSD Webinars: and he's not making fun of his culture, he is actually celebrating his culture. So let's see.
Yeah.
Joy Graeff: this is
DTSD Webinars: I've I actually listen to the book on Audio book on which was on audible, which was fantastic, because Trevor Noah reads the book, and he speaks in the quick language and some of the other languages, which is not something that we would be able to replicate.
DTSD Webinars: I wouldn't be able to pronounce
DTSD Webinars: the words in the language, and it's really cool to hear it spoken.
DTSD Webinars: So I would. I would hope, if this gets approved, that some of those clips maybe, would be able to be used so that the kids could hear that it's great.
Joy Graeff: This is joy, grief I just wanted to mention. I read it as well, and one of the things that
Joy Graeff: I think students will really really appreciate is his candid moments with his mother and his father, meaning. I think, when.
Joy Graeff: like I remember emerging from my family, I just thought my family was extremely normal. This is what most families faced, and you really see that every family, when you start to talk to people and read his story, every family is pretty different. So I think kids will appreciate how we all come from different places and gain a perspective from that.
DTSD Webinars: Thank you, Joy. Any further questions or discussion.
DTSD Webinars: I just this is Lindsey Drew. I just wanted to add to Dr. Cook's Point. I think a lot of students will be very familiar with him, but maybe only know him in his current day kind of persona and the context around that. And so I think that it provides an important perspective
DTSD Webinars: for everyone of realizing that you don't know what someone's back story is. That's not in them to where they are today, and how they've overcome. You know, in the face of diversity and that type of thing. So I think it's a a great lesson in humanization as well.
DTSD Webinars: Okay. Could I get a motion from the floor to move. Born a crime into the first read phase of the process.
DTSD Webinars: Second, Lindsey, Cook.
DTSD Webinars: All in favor. Any opposed.
DTSD Webinars: Okay, motion passes. Thank you.
DTSD Webinars: Okay. Next, we have Mrs. Klauser, who is going to present team us. I'm hoping I pronounce that. Alright, Well, I tried. And this is for you in ap Spanish, and it is a a
DTSD Webinars: resource that we currently use. But we're renewing it, and it's changed so much. We thought we should go through the renewal process again. So everybody's aware so far.
DTSD Webinars: Hi, everyone i'm Barb, Klaus, or the we're Language Department chair for the High School. And as Dr. Shimon said, this is tam us.
DTSD Webinars: and it's based on the 6 themes that go with the Ap Spanish language and culture course that is totally the the whole syllabus comes from the college board, so it's very directed, and what we need to teach with it to prepare the students to be successful for the test. As Dr. Schumann said, we do have this resource, but we have the very first edition. I believe this one is going to be the third one. It's been over a decade. The test has changed. It's also based on very current
DTSD Webinars: things that are happening around the world and uses current things from all different spanish-speaking countries, and pulls that all together for teachers to use this resources. So it really is a a big time saver in that regard, plus it also can reflect
DTSD Webinars: all the countries that speak Spanish, which there are over 21 out there that officially do so so, and there's a lot of resource there. There's a 6 year license that goes along with this textbook purchase for students to be able to use the super site that goes along with it, which again helps prepare them for the different parts of the Ap. Language, test Spanish language tests.
DTSD Webinars: and has a workbook with more resources as well. We are proposing to purchase a set of 30.
DTSD Webinars: Currently, I believe we've got 43 or 44 students signed up for the test next year, but I would just need the resource to have in the classroom for them to be able to access, and I can make use of the other things for all the students. Then, like I said. The super site license, I believe, is good for 6 years. Then.
DTSD Webinars: Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Mrs. Klauser?
DTSD Webinars: Well, I think you just answered it. But these are workbooks that they would be.
DTSD Webinars: These don't need to be renewed. You you're gonna You're asking for 30 that you're gonna just keep in your classroom that they can correct. Yeah, we're just gonna have them to resource when you get the license for it. As the teacher, I will have access to all the things digitally as well. So the audio and everything that goes with, and i'll be able to use some class to class and and post things for extra practice is needed. So
DTSD Webinars: it's just we got to purchase it in order for me to have access to that that information.
DTSD Webinars: Any other questions.
DTSD Webinars: Okay, then, could I get a motion from the floor to move
DTSD Webinars: Team Us: yeah. Very good to the first step in the process for First Street.
DTSD Webinars: all in favor.
DTSD Webinars: Any of those
DTSD Webinars: okay motion carries.
DTSD Webinars: Okay. And then we have one final presentation. Ms. Smith from the High School will presenting the program character strong to be used in a couple of different areas of
DTSD Webinars: our high school program. an afternoon Lindsey Schmidt, principal at the High School, so, as Dr. Schumann mentioned character. Strong is a program that is actually currently used at the Middle school, and we are looking to bring the high school components. There's
DTSD Webinars: the character strong expands from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, curriculum or scope and sequence that is already used, and it expands into ninth through twelfth grade. Our main focus would be our freshman seminar class, which is something that we brought to curriculum council before it's very intentional around each marking period when freshmen are assigned to take the course. We thought that, having character strong, be a piece of the Freshman seminar also, then really aligned well with our community
DTSD Webinars: period, that we've had throughout the entirety of this year, and we had last year as well where we do focus our scl learning that occurs for students during that time. So what would happen is we would focus lessons directly from the scope and sequence of character strong in our freshman seminar. And then our tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students in their community periods would be building upon those lessons sequentially, but also not repeating, because what we find with our teenagers in high school.
and i'm sure Claire could probably attest this. They hear the the themes every year belonging, and time management, and those executive functioning skills, and often the feedback from students is that it repeats. And oh, I've already done this. I've learned this information, but what we really liked about character strong is
DTSD Webinars: their scope and sequence builds deeper. So you get exposed to an area like leadership capacity and building your leadership skills as a freshman. And then, by the time you're in twelfth grade. You're really deepening the understanding of what does it mean to be a leader, whether within my community, whether with you know in myself how I can use my strength to really build upon those skills to allow
DTSD Webinars: my leadership to take off in different directions. There's focuses on belonging. So what does belonging mean might be the message to a ninth grader. But then, as a twelfth grader, how can I leave an impact? You know Letters to myself, Letters to my fellow students. So it takes these themes, such as stress, management, perspective, taking collaboration, time, management, empathy, leadership, building and belonging, and really deepens and expands them over the course of what would be 4 years for students in high school.
DTSD Webinars: The program itself will be used as a tool for our freshman seminar. We're not focusing solely on what character Strong has to offer. It's also going to be a tool for community periods, but not the sole component of community periods.
DTSD Webinars: We really feel like the direction we've moved this year within the community periods. We we need to beef up some of the actual instruction around Scl, and we've been tasked
DTSD Webinars: several years ago from Dr. Winslow to look and explore on programs and curriculums around Scl, and hearing from the middle school what they really like about character. Strong really led us to explore it more for the High School, and find relevant content that actually students can connect with, because that time. If we're taking the time away from their classes, we want to ensure that it's time well spent and time that's meaningful to the students and also impactful. So that's where a character Strong comes from.
DTSD Webinars: One thing that I found to be really powerful as I was exploring it.
DTSD Webinars: Is it that growth piece when I talk about belonging, and I mentioned it, it starts talking about how do you belong and connect to a community. But then, by the time you're a junior and a senior with the theme belonging. You're exploring barriers that limit students to feel that connectedness and to feel belonging, and then they develop solution. So it's connecting that leadership, skill, the community building, and also helping students in younger grades or underclassmen, really start to feel that sense of belonging
DTSD Webinars: because they are feeling empowered to remove those barriers for their peers which that's just one piece of the program, but really shows the progression of the sequence along each grade level.
DTSD Webinars: and we'll be utilizing our link crew leaders to help deliver some of these lessons in our community period, as well as in our freshman seminar. And then there'll be hearing it at that deeper level, because there are up our classmen. So we think that the connection between the community period and freshman seminar will be pretty powerful, because it will also be student led.
DTSD Webinars: Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Miss Smith?
DTSD Webinars: I have a question, but I think if before I ask that, could you just give a really brief overview of what students are doing in community period, i'm just not that, familiar with that, and specifically are there teachers currently, who are
DTSD Webinars: like facilitating it? Is it something they get all year, or just for a marking period?
DTSD Webinars: That's a great question. So community period happens every Wednesday here at the High School. It starts at the very beginning of the school year, and runs through the end of the school year. Each Wednesday is planned a little bit differently. So
DTSD Webinars: there's an Scl focus at least one Wednesday a month, and that is really driven from our Scl coach, so she will send either the topic, and the teachers will have the materials to deliver that topic. Sometimes she delivers the lesson, and sometimes it's delivered by the home room teachers themselves. So community period happens when students are in their home rooms
DTSD Webinars: other ways we've used. Community period is we've used it as a way to build our community and build a connectedness as a high school. So we have student council that runs and leads community periods. They talk about upcoming events and ways to get connected. We did a whole community period around what clubs are available to kids, and how can you, if you're interested in this club. How can you connect with them? At the end of the second marking period? We did a community period on time management, and how can you connect
DTSD Webinars: with where you're at with your academics? And who do you need support from, and where do you go? We did a whole week of community periods when it was our course selection time, and that was a way for us to talk about the process, talk about
DTSD Webinars: course offerings, and really hit all of our elective offerings, so that there is a clear understanding from students, all of the things available to them. We have our link, crew leaders that go in once a month, once a week.
DTSD Webinars: once a month, on a Wednesday, 2 ninth grade home rooms, and they've been connected with them all school year, and so they're doing leadership building, and they're doing team building within the home rooms. And then the other grade levels have grade specific things. So that's a time when our juniors are building their artifacts that are needed for graduation. Our seniors worked on their senior scholarship, so we sort of map it out throughout the course of the year. It happens on Wednesdays typically.
DTSD Webinars: but sometimes we've had community periods happen on a Tuesday and a Wednesday, because we've just felt as a leadership team that there's a need for some more time such as like that Course selection week, where we took the entire week.
DTSD Webinars: First 2 weeks of school. We did a community period every day, and that was time where we we went over. What expectations of high school looked like our counselors did. Some time we had our link crew leaders in with the home rooms really taking time to build relationships we had opportunities for. Oh, gosh! We had
DTSD Webinars: trying to think home coming. It's really an opportunity to just build the community and get kids excited about the activities. But also we do spend some time. Most recently we've done talk stems or STEM talk, so we've given the kids, you know. Here's something that's happening in the school.
DTSD Webinars: Connect with the peer next to you and tell us how that's going. And here's some some stems to use to have that conversation, if you're just not sure how to engage in that. And so that's more connected to our SEO. Okay, no, that's very helpful. I didn't, really. I wasn't that familiar with it. So really, essentially, this would be a good tool that the home room teachers could utilize during that time to kind of hone in on some more sel, like Specific.
DTSD Webinars: who designs and sends out the topics or the Powerpoints, or sends out the videos that the students are watching. All of the teachers would have access to the toolkit. But we would really be doing more of guided instruction this first year, just to ensure that the staff feels comfortable, we would do like a train, the trainer they offer training, and it would be to a small group of staff members, and then we would train our home room teachers, which is
DTSD Webinars: truly our entire staff, which makes home room pretty powerful because it's small, and everybody's invested in that time, which is really nice. So then we would train the staff, and then in the future, we would say, All right, let's focus on belonging. And then they would pull the lesson out of their toolkit from here.
DTSD Webinars: Yeah, of course, Tracy Roy out so in terms of scheduling on Wednesdays you have that 27 min, and then the rest of the day is all the classes, but just shorter. Correct, so it's that they only lose 1 min right the way it has mapped itself out. So each
DTSD Webinars: day. Monday, Tuesday Thursday, Friday. There are 42 min i'm sorry it's 2 min, and then on Wednesdays it's a 40 min class period, and it's just instead of their home room. They have community period in their home room. We just call it a different name.
So
DTSD Webinars: this is Lindsay Drew. I was looking at the different offerings for character, strong and knowing that it's something that has worked in the middle school wanting to carry it over. Is there
DTSD Webinars: a particular reason for kind of it? It looks like the the cost listed here is their kind of basic program, and I notice that the next one up includes
DTSD Webinars: on demand professional development outside of that initial training and some tier. 2 solutions incorporated to that is there. Like as we look at, kind of
DTSD Webinars: holistically wrapping everything around and the focus with some of the development in the Sel areas. Is there a benefit
DTSD Webinars: to having that over? You know the the trainer situation with just a couple of folks
DTSD Webinars: receiving the direct training. So we had. We've decided or administratively, we've decided, because of time. Constraints they are. They're willing to do the training, the 2 h training for our entire staff, and that can be an add on at any time in future years.
DTSD Webinars: just to bring the entire staff together and to get it started at the start of the year. We've identified doing a small group and then training in-house, just because getting everybody over the summer together for a 2 h training is rather difficult, and I didn't budget for it.
DTSD Webinars: With that being said, I think they have options, not. I think I know they have options that we can add on as we start diving in like the professional development package. That's something we could add on at any other time in any other year. So at that once we have, you know, a year under our belt. If we feel like we need additional on demand training, we can add that no problem. They've said, okay, thanks. I noticed that from a cost perspective
DTSD Webinars: it drops off significantly for the renewal and further years. And so I didn't know if
DTSD Webinars: sometimes the benefit of like front loading and then dropping down. But the one thing we really liked was, we can always add stuff back in the one thing that we did feel very passionately about was the character strong gym. That's that library of resources available to everybody, and that's in that package that we've selected, and then that stays. But the professional development could be something we add on at any time.
DTSD Webinars: Okay.
DTSD Webinars: thanks. I I think ultimately for me. It's just making sure that our staff and home room teachers, coaches that are going to be delivering, that have the resources that they need to feel like they're fully equipped to be able to do it. So that's why
DTSD Webinars: I was asking that to question your judgment. No, no, absolutely. And that's why. Next year will be more guided, because we want to ensure that everybody feels comfortable and feels like this is something that they have the knowledge to present, so that they're not caught off guard while presenting the material, so next year will be more guided through our Scl coach, and she'll be sending out. Here's what we're going to focus on. Here's the Powerpoint, or, you know, come to me if you have questions prior to delivering
DTSD Webinars: the content. So thanks, thank you.
DTSD Webinars: So
I've
DTSD Webinars: in your
DTSD Webinars: and then, like the the
DTSD Webinars: I don't know if they're taking it in because they're on their phone, and my, I feel like
DTSD Webinars: not that it's not.
DTSD Webinars: They're not
point.
DTSD Webinars: I feel like as a team you kind of learned from doing, and so like hearing that we've been talking about that isn't as impactful as doing something.
DTSD Webinars: And so I was wondering how
DTSD Webinars: So it has a lot of activities. That's a great question. And that's the feedback that we've gotten to that. We want to empower more opportunities for students to be engaged in the actual work and in the actual content. So what we really liked about character strong is that it has
DTSD Webinars: many ways, so it might start with. There's an overview of the topic. But then it's more activity based. So let's let's really dive into what are like I had mentioned before. What are the barriers? Why, Aren't, you connected to a club or an and talk to us about that? And then what are some solutions that we can actually put in place that make it more applicable than just hearing about it.
DTSD Webinars: And that's what we really liked, that it sort of takes it to the next level of applying what you're learning to, how it impacts you directly as a student.
DTSD Webinars: Any other questions for Miss Smith?
DTSD Webinars: Thank you for sharing that feedback.
Yeah.
DTSD Webinars: Okay. Could I get a motion to move character strong to the first 3 stage in the process? So moved to Lindsey Cuck. Hmm. Second Lindsey. True.
DTSD Webinars: All in favor.
Lauren Doyle: bye, bye.
DTSD Webinars: Any opposed
DTSD Webinars: Okay, motion passes. Thank you. Ms. Smith. Thank you.
DTSD Webinars: And that brings us to we don't have any old business. So we're to the public portion of public comment portion of the meeting, and I don't believe there is any public present, either online or in the room, so we will ain. There is one person with our hand raised.
DTSD Webinars: Oh, there is
Phil Ayala: there it is.
Phil Ayala: I will give them permission to speak, and
you can unmute and talk when ready.
Lauren Doliner: Thank you, Phil. Hi! This is Lauren Dolner. I'm one of the citizen advisors. I just unfortunately couldn't be there in person, and when I my zoom connected I had just missed the roll call, so I just wanna let you know that I I was here, and I heard the meeting. If it matters.
Lauren Doliner: Thank you.
DTSD Webinars: Thank you, Lauren. Sorry about that.
DTSD Webinars: Thanks again, Phil. You are. and if there is
DTSD Webinars: no further public comment. Our next meeting will be May eighth at 4 Pm. Here in the Board Room, and I would just need a motion to a turn.
DTSD Webinars: Okay, and we don't actually have to vote on that one. So have a good afternoon and enjoy the weather.
Thank you.
Joy Graeff: Thank you.