Happy Friday!  

Site Visits 

Sue and I are wrapping up our visits to each of the sites. It has been great meeting with each principal to hear how your new teachers are doing and learn how we can better serve them through our mentoring and professional development efforts. We know how busy school leaders are, so we not only appreciate the time principals take to work with us in the endeavor, but we are always amazed by how attuned they are to the needs of new staff. It greatly enhances our ability to customize support. 

Got Behaviors? 

Grappling with challenging behaviors seems to be the issues of the day, for new and veteran teachers alike. Our Teach Like a Champion and Creating Effective Learning Environments trainings addressed many of the issues that teachers are struggling with, but unfortunately, many teachers did not have an opportunity to attend these when they were offered this past summer and earlier this fall. While we will be offering them again in the spring, and making them available as an online training opportunity soon, we know many teachers want help sooner--and that you may also hoping to have options for your staff to explore during the January Professional Development breakout sessions. To this end, we are working to develop a menu of online resources that will be accessible for teams to explore under the theme “Managing Challenging Behaviors.” We will share how you and your teachers can access these once they are available so that they can be investigated during the breakout sessions in January.  

Managing Professional Responsibilities 

As you may have heard, we have been offering a series of professional development opportunities for staff members geared toward California Standard for the Teaching Profession 6.6: Managing Professional Responsibilities to Maintain Motivation and Commitment to All Students. In the induction world, this standard focuses on maintaining energy and resiliency so that teachers can continue to meet the needs of their students. Supporting the physical and mental health of staff members is essential to meeting this objective.  Our well-being series focuses on some key areas that can help staff members maintain balance and keep regulated in the face of the many stressors encountered in the world of education. Topics include mindfulness, email and task management, and effective communication—all geared toward supporting stress reduction and emotional well-being (see the workshop opportunities below for specific information).  

I am often asked by administrators if they can join in on any of these sessions—and the answer, of course, is yes! In fact, administrators also have a standard related to their mental and physical health: CSPEL 5A-5: Sustain personal motivation, commitment, energy and health by balancing personal and professional responsibilities. Please consider using the registration links to join in on these or any other trainings you might be interested in—and note that if you are unable to come to any of the sessions coming up next month, we will be offering them again next semester! 

Workshop Opportunities 

We have the following trainings coming up over the next month: 

 

Teaching for Depth Using the 5 Practice with Word Problems, 11/20/19, 4-6pm  

 

Stress Free Email and Task Management, 11/21/19, 4-6pm 

 

Advanced Mindfulness, 12/5/19, 4-6pm  

 

Thinking Maps Frame of Reference Webinar, 12/12/19, 4-5pm  

 

Fractions for Understanding, 12/18/19, 4-6pm 

 

We also have several online trainings that can be taken at any time. To register for these or any training opportunities, teachers can access our Professional Learning Hub HERE. 

Support Stats 

As you may have noticed, our program has grown! Here are the current numbers: 

Mentors: 71 

Year 1 Induction Candidates: 33 

Year 2 Induction Candidates: 27 

New Hire Candidates: 46 

Intern Candidates (Including STSP & PIP): 16 

TPSL (Long-Term Subs): 5 

Thank you for your support—enjoy the weekend!