NCWiseOwl eBooks! Over 40,000 Titles!
Did you know NCWiseOwl includes over 40,000 eBooks? The High School Collection includes over 12,000 titles and the K-8 Collection includes over 15,000! Also, over 11,000 classic novels, short stories and poems are available in the Literary Reference Center with accompanying resource materials such as synopses, critical essays, book reviews, literary journals and author biographies.
Just go to the NCWiseOwl site and navigate to the eBooks page. Remote access requires password - wiseowl19. This chart should make planning easier with eBook titles downloadable in either Excel or Sheets. Tutorials and this presentation are also included in the chart.
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NC Broadband Survey
The NC Broadband Infrastructure Office (in cooperation with the Friday Institute at NC State) has developed a tool to allow residents to test and report their home internet connection speed. This tool is not intended for students but would be appropriate to share with employees and parents. Users are asked to provide their address so that the demand can be aggregated and targeted for investment through policy and grant programs. For parents and staff that have no internet access, they may call or text a phone number and have their location added to the database. Exact addresses will not be published. Email addresses are not collected. Users are asked to answer a few quick questions and presented with a 30 second speed test.
Complete details are here:
https://ncbroadband.gov/survey
Georgia has done a similar mapping of their residents, which we hope to replicate for NC:
https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2020-07-01/state-launches-broadband-availability-map
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Our Children’s Place of Coastal Horizons Center
Our Children’s Place of Coastal Horizons Center is a statewide program committed to the children of incarcerated and returning parents. We strive to be the leading North Carolina advocate and educational resource focused on these children and the need for a statewide response to ensure their well-being.
Our Children’s Place conducts workshops (in person and virtually) across the state, provides resource materials (printed and electronic handouts, book lists, Sesame Street tool kits, etc.) for professionals and community members, and works to create opportunities to support the relationship between children and their incarcerated parents.
Melissa W. Radcliff, Program Director of Our Children’s Place of Coastal Horizons Center, Inc. will be presenting a workshop at the NC School Library Media Association’s virtual conference on 9/24/20-9/26 /20.
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Podcast PD NC
The DTL Innovative Learning Catalysts (ILCs) are launching PodcastPD NC in August 2020! PD doesn’t have to always be sit-n-get - how about PD on the go, instead, so you can "listen and launch" great ideas, strategies and concepts!
The purpose of this podcast is to model a format that can be used for professional development, as a communication tool, and a vehicle for learning. Take a listen to the PodcastPD NC trailer episode now.
Just as we did with the first season of our Moments of Inspiration podcast, we will be featuring experts from the field: that means educators and administrators from every corner of NC, sharing best practices, ideas, and success right from their classrooms, schools, and districts.
The opening episodes, focusing on remote and blended learning, will be available in mid-August. Check out the DTL Insider and the DTL social media sites for updates.
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Coaching for Remote Learning Cohort
The need for teachers to have a support system that includes an instructional coach versed in remote learning is more evident than ever. In an effort to make sure that our instructional coaches are prepared themselves to support teachers and act as a resource for school leaders, NCDPI has partnered with the Friday Institute to facilitate Coaching for Remote Learning, a semester-long virtual professional learning opportunity. Using the Principles for Remote Learning as the foundation, the cohort will focus on developing participants in the following areas:
· Supporting teachers in designing high quality blended and online instruction
· Creating a culture of coaching in a virtual environment
· Developing effective remote professional learning
The cohort will begin with a kick off in August and continue through the fall semester. Participants need to be prepared to participate in all learning sessions as the content from each session will build upon the previous session.
When will the sessions occur:
All sessions will occur on a Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on the following dates:
· August 4 and 6
· September 1 and 3
· October 6 and 8
· October 27 and 29
· November 10 and 12
· In addition, participants will have the opportunity to work one-on-one or in small groups with the facilitators the weeks of September 14th and October 19th.
In order to ensure that all districts have an opportunity to participate in the Coaching for Remote Learning cohort, each district will be given a specified number of participant spaces according to their Annual Daily Membership. See this spreadsheet, Slots by ADM, for your district's number of participants.
Selecting the right participant(s) from your district
The cohort will serve participants who currently have a role that directly works with teachers. The right individual to participate in this is outlined below:
· Individuals with district-level coaching experience or school-based coaching experience with the ability to work with district-level personnel to support other coaches in their district.
· While this is not a formal train-the-trainer program, instructional coaches with the ability to share their learning with other educators in similar roles within their district will be able to have a greater impact district-wide and be able to reach more teachers.
· Instructional coaches, content-specific coaches, Instructional Technology Facilitators (ITFs), and School Library Media Coordinators (SLMC’s) who are seeking leadership opportunities.
· Cohort participants will implement coaching cycles with teachers so the participant must be currently working with teachers.
· Participants must have flexibility in their work schedules to fully participate in all sessions.
Once you have selected your participants from your district you will need to register them by filling out this short registration form. Registration must be completed by July 27, 2020. If you have any questions, please reach out to Jill Darrough at Jill.Darrough@dpi.nc.gov with the subject: Coaching for Remote Learning.
Thank you for all that you are doing to support the students of North Carolina. We are excited about this opportunity to support instructional coaches and hope that this will help your district during the 2020-21 school year.
Planning and Implementation Grants
Is your PSU ready to dive deeper into Personalized Learning?
There are currently two grant opportunities that any North Carolina PSU can apply for:
1. Planning Grant:
-One year to plan how your PSU is going to utilize personalized learning, as defined by the four pillars
-Up to 50,000 for one year for traditional PSUs
-Up to 15,000 for one year for Charter, Lab and Regional PSUs
2. Implementation Grant:
-Two years of grant funding for PSUs that are already utilizing Personalized Learning, as defined by the four pillars, but would benefit from coaching, professional development, hardware/software, etc. to make an even greater impact within their PSU:
-Up to 150,000 over two years (75,000 per year) for traditional PSUs
-Up to 50,000 over two years (25,000 per year) for Charter, Lab and Regional PSUs
Application Deadline:
All application materials must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 31, 2020 to Julie.Gurganus@dpi.nc.gov and Lindsey.Sipe@dpi.nc.gov.
Please email Julie.Gurganus@dpi.nc.gov and Lindsey.Sipe@dpi.nc.gov with any questions, you may have!
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Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning has made the site clear and simple for the young mind. Their mission is to produce the best educational materials that focus on creativity and heighten the enjoyment of learning. After reviewing the site, you’ll agree that they accomplished the mission and more. Commonsense Media has given them an A+ for educational value and 4 stars for positive messages
Although it may not offer the wow factor of the more popular sites, parents and teachers will agree that it comes through on what is most important and that is the educational content.
Enchanted Learning is self-directed, providing academic development and set objectives for ages six and over. It covers a variety of subject matters for this age group. Take a trip around the world exploring the biomes (environments and organisms) flags and languages of other countries, geology, oceans, rain forests, the weather and geography around us. If you want more for students to discover, there is a section on astronomy, the solar system, planets and the stars.
To aid in student learning and understanding of the subjects, Enchanted Learning has a variety of printable worksheets, a printable calendar with activities for every day of the year, and a picture dictionary with links to more fun activities. They also have summer crafts that can be made from ordinary items found in most homes.
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