Courtesy photo
The Plano ISD Board of Trustees was introduced at convocation. They are President Lloyd “Skip” Jenkins, Vice-President Brad Shanklin, Secretary Missy Bender, Marilyn Hinton, Nancy Humphrey, Carrolyn Moebius and Tammy Richards. Jenkins and Shanklin were among the convocation event presenters.



Plano ISD’s 7,000 faculty and staff members kicked off the school year at the district’s annual all-employee convocation, held Aug. 17 at Prestonwood Baptist Church. The event highlighted a week of back-to-school workshops and planning.

“I believe that every definition of the word ‘teacher’ should include the word ‘learner’,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Doug Otto said during his back-to-school message. “We are learners just as much as the students are learners. We are all about getting students and staff ‘plugged into’ learning.

“We get better every day at what we do because of what we do and who we serve.”

Otto told employees that learning is what happens every day in classrooms among both students and teachers. “We are professionals who continually enhance our skills,” he said. “This school district is phenomenal because it’s built on a culture of high-level instructional practices. That’s why we do so well according to anybody’s competitive ratings – our SAT, ACT, Advanced

Placement exams, in anything we do, we come out number one because of our high-level instructional practices. We understand how learning occurs, best practices in curriculum and instruction and about the types of assessments needed to make sure that our students are learning as much as they can.”

Otto also mentioned challenges ahead, including the normalization of alternative schooling and the looming $18 million state budget deficit that legislators will tackle this school year. He also showed a brief video about the reality of the social media revolution and its affects on today’s world, including students in our classrooms.

“The more we learn about reaching students through social media, the more we will become illuminated learners ourselves and the less teaching we will have to do because our students will be more engaged and more involved in their education,” Otto said.
“We need to teach less and learn more,” he continued. “I’m not talking just about just your content area but knowing how kids learn. Our students want to collaborate and contribute more as they learn together, and they want to be engaged.”

During the convocation event, employees were asked to text a one-word description of the type of learner they are. The resulting employee “Wordle” word cloud was presented by Otto during his address.

“We’ve got to find ways to educate teachers on the appropriate uses of the tools that students bring into the classrooms and how we can leverage the kinds of tools, curriculum and instruction that we have right now to allow that to happen,” he said, assuring teachers that the academic and technology services department has been working with principals and teachers to explore the many uses of social media in the classroom. “You will learn more about this during the school year,” he said.

Otto ended his speech by reading from a Plano ISD classroom teachers’ blog. “I don’t know who you are, but I appreciate your words,” he said, reading the blog:

“Too often, we as teachers want our students to sit down, shut up and take notes. It is the easiest way for us to get through the day. But, when we do this, are we really doing our jobs?

“It has been documented time and time again that meaningful experiences, cooperative engagement and authentic activities are how students learn best. As teachers, isn’t that our number one goal? If it weren’t for creativity and the ability to try new things, none of this technology stuff would be possible.

“Did the founders of Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, etc., learn this stuff in the traditional classroom? Heck no.

“I have a mission this school year to make my class a positive place where everyone shares in teaching and learning. Giving students a chance to voice opinions, make mistakes and try new things is the best gift we can give to them as teachers.”

Otto encouraged faculty and staff to “embrace with the right attitude” the following common sense practices to improve schools:
* utilize team level and departmental meetings for planning together;
* intentionally work on an instructional practice;
* discuss student work (and learn from each other); and
* use data to make judgments.

Every school will have power walks through this year. “These will provide a mosaic for how learning and teaching occurs in our classrooms. This will help us get better,” Otto said. “Learn from one another ... visit each others’ classrooms to learn to get better, inside and outside of your buildings. And visit classrooms outside of your building through technology. The world literally is in your hands. Get your students engaged.”

2010-’11 district initiatives include:
*    Personal Learning Networks – “Because that’s the best thing we can do to share with one another,” Otto said.

*    Instructional Rounds – Borrowing from the book “Instructional Rounds” by Richard Elmore of Plano ISD, “We will have teams of people diagnose areas of concern in our schools and develop a prescription for what needs to be done,” Otto said, “so we’re all on the same page to improve. The prognosis is going to be the same – success.”

*    Visioning Document – In September, the school board will adopt goals for the school year under the six premises in the visioning document developed by several superintendents.

*    Organizational Structure – The district will look at the central office and be sure the administrative structure is organized to best serve  schools.

*    Academy Visioning Committee – This new committee will meet every week September through October to research what can be done to give more opportunities to students. “We’ve got to make sure we’re the best place for kids and any opportunity students want they can find in Plano schools,” Otto said. “Creative new programs we haven’t though of in the past. We’re going to do that. I look forward to the recommendations that will go the board this year and possible implementation in the 2011-12 school year.”

Several Plano ISD employees won door prizes secured by the district’s academic and technology services team.
Convocation sponsors were Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, a five time sponsor of the event and The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, a four-year sponsor.

Plano ISD convocation is being shown on cable TV at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday on Time Warner channel 99 and Verizon channel 33 in Plano and Richardson.

This article courtesy Plano ISD communications