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A Message from the Home Base Manager
Welcome to the 2022-23 school year! The smell of new school supplies is in the air no doubt! There is no other profession that gives people fresh starts like education each year, and I know that you have worked hard this summer preparing for the opening of another great school year.
Over the past few years, many PSUs have worked towards a blended learning environment. Personalized learning has become more important as learning shifts from the traditional classroom. Home Base is an excellent hub of resources available to assist you as you educate NC’s students and as we continue to move forward together in 21st Century Learning.
Canvas continues to grow as the LMS in most PSUs! Having a statewide learning management system benefits students, families, caretakers, and teachers to have a familiar system. It also easily allows the sharing of courses for students and professional development.
Additionally, #GoOpenNC, the state’s open education repository, continues to grow. #GoOpenNC provides high-quality resources, which are shareable, adaptable, and created by North Carolina teachers. Hundreds of new lessons, videos, and activities have been added to #GoOpenNC in the past few months.
Schoolnet, the state’s instructional improvement system, supports personalized learning through its resource bank with materials that are appropriately aligned. Schoolnet was upgraded during the summer and many new features were added with this upgrade.
Another digital resource to support personalized, blended learning is Imagine Math. Imagine Math is a program that allows teachers to assess and monitor student math progress and provides a live ondemand math tutor. This real-time math tutor is available for immediate help during all hours of the day.
Learning .com provides digital literacy that helps students develop 21st-century skills. It is easy to implement and includes easy to follow and engaging lessons..
PowerSchool’s Parent Portal is key to ensuring parents can view their student’s academic progress and attendance. Parents can also download the parent portal app.
NCEES provides educators across the state a place to find quality professional development that enhances teacher’s skills in the classroom through online modules. The online modules provide teachers flexibility as they continue to grow professionally. The online evaluation and professional development plans are designed to promote effective leadership, quality teaching, and student learning while enhancing professional practice and leading to improved instruction.
As you gear up for the new year, I want you to know that our Home Base team is here for you. We are here to serve you in any capacity we can.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication! We look forward to another successful year working together to provide a high quality education for all students, everyday!
Sincerely,
Matthew Mayo
Home Base Manager
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NC NEW(s) Librarian Newsletter
The NC NEW(s) Librarian 101 was born of talks with several new librarians joining (or recently joined) the NC school library profession. There are countless ways to go about supporting new school librarians, but we're starting with launching this newsletter and hope it grows into a larger community, a network of new librarians sharing resources, ideas, activities and so much more. Keep an eye out for more opportunities to connect in the coming weeks, and please consider sharing this first newsletter with any other new(ish) librarians in your network.
As you'll see, there are places to contribute your thoughts & to network with other new librarians. If you have feedback or specific content you'd like to see in future communications, feel free to email Mollee Holloman (mollee.holloman@dpi.nc.gov) directly.
Additionally, to ensure you get a copy of future communications, please sign up using this form.
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Building Engineers in K-5 Classrooms
NCDPI has partnered with SERVE’s Region 6 Comprehensive Center to form a collaborative which provides implementation planning and ongoing support to NC districts interested in bringing high-quality STEM practices to their elementary classrooms. This ongoing work would be intentionally tied to 6-12 outcomes that align with local strategic plans and will be provided at no cost.
After a successful 8-LEA cohort launch this past year (Ashe, Edenton Chowan, Guilford, Hoke, Iredell-Statesville, Lee, Robeson, and Winston Salem-Forsyth), the initiative seeks 8 more LEAs to participate in Cohort Two. Districts that are interested in learning more should review this one-pager and plan on attending one of three information sessions in September (Registration here).
Steve Johnson is the primary contact for this work and would be glad to bring this information personally to any interested groups in August/September/October. This would be a quick 5-10 minutes of introduction / next steps. He can be reached at sjohnson@serve.org
CETL Certification Course
As part of the North Carolina Digital Learning Initiative, NCDPI is partnering with the North Carolina Consortium of School Networking (NC COSN) to provide a 2-day immersion course to prepare North Carolina’s Digital Teaching and Learning Leaders for the Certified Education Technology Leaders (CETL) Exam.
To sit for this exam, candidates must have a minimum of a Bachelor's degree plus four (4) years of education technology experience. Education technology experience is defined as demonstrable experience in the three overarching skill areas of the Framework of Essential Skills of the K-12 CTO.
The exam will be delivered at NCTIES on March 8th at 8:00 a.m. The 2-day immersion course will be held on Friday, November 18 and Saturday, November 19 at Crossroads 2, Wake County Public School System.
Through funding from the NC Digital Learning Initiative, NCDPI will be able to provide this course free of charge for the participants. This course would normally cost $655 dollars per person. For the school year 2022-2023, we can accept up to 40 new participants. Any person taking the course must also sign up and pay for the exam at NCTIES. The cost for the exam at NCTIES will be:
- Member Exam Fee - $349 (Every PSU has membership to CoSN Through the Digital Learning Initiative)
- Retake Fee, Each Session - $220
Registration will be first-come, first-serve up to 40 participants, with only 1 opening per district. If less than 15 people sign up for the course, the course will not be offered.
If you are interested, please fill out this registration form. If you have any questions please contact Dr, Ashley McBride at ashley.mcbride@dpi.nc.gov, 931-619-7941.
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Trusted Learning Environment Cohort 2
The Digital Teaching and Learning Department has partnered with COSN to provide PSUs with support as they work to obtain the COSN Trusted Learning Environment Seal. The Program requires school systems to have implemented high standards for student data privacy protections around five core practice areas: Leadership, Business, Data Security, Professional Development and Classroom. School systems that meet the Program requirements will earn the TLE Seal, signifying their commitment to student data privacy to their community.
The supports that will be offered through this opportunity include:
- Free Application for the TLE Seal
- Participation in a collaborative statewide cohort of PSUs who are all working to earn the TLE Seal
- Resources and collaboration with COSN through a workshop dedicated to supporting those going through this process
- Roadmap for applying for the TLE Seal
- Customized feedback and benchmarking report
Those who participate will need:
- Up to 2 people to represent their PSU in the COSN TLE workshop
- A team within their PSU who will work on the items needed to earn the certification
- Time to dedicate to this application
We have a limit of 10 PSUs for this opportunity. If your PSU is interested, please fill out this questionnaire by 9/2/22. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Ashley McBride at ashley.mcbride@dpi.nc.gov.
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Current Grants Open for Proposals
In an effort to support innovative ideas across the state, the Digital Teaching and Learning Department would like to share various grant opportunities that can help to fund your ideas.
Check out our living document at: https://bit.ly/GrantRFPs
If you would like support in writing a grant, you can reach out to Dr. Ashley McBride (ashley.mcbride@dpi.nc.gov) or your local Digital Teaching and Learning Regional Consultant.
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NCSLMA Leadership Opportunities: Self-Nominations for Board Positions
School Library Media Coordinators Demonstrate Leadership
(NC Professional Standards, 1A)
NCSLMA needs SLMCs to serve the NC school library community through elected office:
- President Elect (serves for three years as President Elect, President, and then Past President)
- Region 1 Regional Director (2 year term)
- Region 3 Regional Director (2 year term)
- Region 4 Regional Director (1 year term)
- Region 6 Regional Director (2 year term)
- Region 7 Regional Director (1 year term)
- Region 8 Regional Director (2 year term)
- Secretary (2 year term)
Job descriptions can be found in NCSLMA's Bylaws.
- You must be a current NCSLMA member to run for an NCSLMA office.
- Directors must live in the regions in which they are a candidate.
The form on the website is open August 10 through midnight on Friday, August 30, 2022. The election will be held September 1- 7, 2022. https://ncslma.wildapricot.org/event-4894970
Questions? Contact Cindy Sturdivant, cindysturdivant@ncslma.org
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