001Okay, it is Wednesday, June 4th. We are gathered here for our committee. Uh we are joined today by Jeff Venzio, elementary school principal. Uh Lisa Cardillo, our high school principal here, and the rest of our committee, Barbara Owens will be joining us remotely. All right, so I have the agenda up so y'all can see it and we'll get started. So agenda for today um principles are here because we want to talk about the MTSS plan actually um give a quick update on testing refusals. Karen has a really nice update on media literacy and then also cell phones. Uh just a quick conversation that I might switch before after MTSS since Lisa is here but that's all right Lisa. Sure. All right. So let's get into it. So the MTSS plan who wants Okay. So um
002so it kind of starts about a little over a year and a half ago. Uh a team of us went to um you know a few day training on MTSS um and really just getting you know more background. So switching from our current um you know whether you call it um espit or different structures moving towards MTSS which is which is multi-tered system of supports correct which is required right um but it's which we have a board policy on that um but it was understanding that it was going to be like a three-year process right so um created a timeline um of where we wanted to be and we're pretty much on track so this year um each of the buildings had um MTSS committees um we had a draft plan that we were building
003and looking at throughout the year um and spend a great uh deal of time discussing it and building that. So really in that structure looking at a more systems approach, right? So you're going to get your triangles when you think of RTI, you know, the pyramid, you get that information. Um the idea of, you know, having your tier one instruction, tier two instruction, tier three instruction, and of course, you hear a lot about interventions um all the time from there. most basically when you look at the systems approach you know is is looking at everything across uh the district um and or your buildings right having um MTSS teams but also having teacher teams and looking at our core instruction you know is our core instruction really meeting the needs of of the students and
004you talk about 80% so are we truly meeting the needs and I feel like some of the work that we've done at the elementary level um you know I don't want to leave out middle school high school but looking at some of our programs has better helped us to implement that 80% model to reach more students. So, changing instruction um as a part of that. Beyond that, I think the term interventions um or you know and who provides interventions, how that's done um gets convoluted a little bit. And I think MTSS is going to help clear that up for everyone. Meaning, you know, um you know, interventions do not only have to occur by a math specialist. They don't have to occur by a reading specialist. Interventions often occur and start with the classroom teacher.
005And that's where it should start. And there should be multiple levels of intervention that are taking place. Um and um you know so sometimes you hear tier one interventions, tier two interventions. I want to be clear um classroom teachers can do tier one interventions and can do tier 2 interventions as well. And in some cases they can do tier three interventions. Right? I want to also be clear this is a shift um from what we are currently doing at all the buildings um to a certain extent. Right? If you ask me if teachers are doing interventions in classrooms already, absolutely 100% they are. Um, do I do I think we do an amazing job of tracking those interventions that we're doing in the classroom? That's something that's a work in progress that I think everybody
006would agree we're we're building on. So, and having a multi-ter support system like this. Um, we also talk about having a data management system that goes along with that. Um, and again, we are in the beginning stages of that. We have a program called branching minds um that we have purchased and we are slowly um and I will say I've I've been a big part of the slow piece because for me as an administrator I want to fully understand the program myself so that I can better support teachers and understanding the program and how to use that. So the capabilities of this program is um you know down the road is that our teachers will be able to log those interventions into this system right beginning when they those those tier one and tier two
007level interventions in the classroom. Then that way, you know, when it becomes um a recommendation to the MTSS team and our MTSS team is made up um at each building level of a variety of professionals that provide specific support to students, whether it's in reading and math, classroom teachers, special education teachers, um you know, a team of professionals, social emotional support. Thank you, Lisa. Behaviors, attendance to look at everything, right? Because we're looking at academics, we're looking at health, we're looking at social emotional um and we're looking at attendance. So, can I break you up for a second? just kind of go over a couple key points that you said. One, sorry, I speak fast. No, you did a good job. It was very, very good. I just want to be clear on this. This
008is a K12 plan, right? So, one of the things that we've talked about for years is a continuity between all of it, right? What happens in the elementary school, making sure middle school is a clarity and high school. So, this MTSS planning really does help get that K12 mentality of all expectations across the board to hit all levels of students, right? and all the needs of the kids like you're talking about social emotional your academic the benchmarking program that they're talking not benchmarking the data program there is there has been no data system here that takes all of it together right now it's people have to do it on their own it takes time Kelly you live it it well it becomes a management and a and a time nightmare because you want focus on
009instruction not on record TV so bringing this system in will allow the district effort gets it up and moving you because it's going to take time it will allow teachers in the district to easily have all the interventions, everything put in place and say, "Oh, here's what that kid is. Here's what we know about this student." Instead of everybody wasting two days just trying to get that information and not losing that as they go from one year to the next. Exactly. And here's and here's what interventions have been put into place and getting supported over a multi-year period. Yeah. And I think another key component is this MTSS plan isn't something that's been worked in a silo. It's been years of conversation going through it, but also our PD also emulates that. So Dr. Kelly
010Brock has come in and she's worked a full year with staff. What has she worked a full year on staff with? Tier one interventions, right? Conversations about engagement. So all of these things intertwine in together. So like we've already been providing a lot of the resources for people as we started moving forward in these shifts and we know it's going to take time, but I just wanted to clarify a couple of those quick things. Yeah, absolutely. And slideshow too. So yeah, go to the next slide too. So um so this one kind of breaks down that pyramid a little bit further too. who talks more about schoolwide responsibilities, talks about teacher team responsibilities and it really does a great great job of breaking it down and the plan is more thorough and intricate um and
011details everything out. So um obviously there's teacherled teams and then like I said the schoolwide teams and again both are all are involved in the tier one and tier 2 um interventions. One of the things that I I find is huge and a great takeaway um from this is you know and I I'll just speak for the elementary level. So I think that there's times that we do a great job doing interventions. You know, so there's interventions that are occurring in the classroom and let's say that they're not working. Um then either math as andor reading as might start providing interventions to those students. Often those interventions come outside the classroom, right? When when they start those interventions, oftentimes our teachers stop doing their interventions because now they have a trained professional that's doing those
012interventions. This model is different. So when you have a tier one intervention, let's say it's being done by the classroom teacher. If you then move to a tier two intervention, that tier 2 intervention is in addition to the tier one intervention, right? So not in place of in addition to um and both by law are supposed to be in addition to your core instruction. And then again when you get to tier three and when you think about tier three, you know, it can look different. um whether it's a reduction of group size, the an increase in frequency, most often when you get to tier three um you may have a onetoone intervention for an extended period of time. Again, when you're doing that tier three intervention, it's in addition to the tier 2 intervention in
013addition to the tier one. That's something that is going to be a shift. It's been a challenge and it's always a question of resources when it comes to district, right? That's that's important to time, right? And time, right? Time and resources. But um I think that's where you see the most um the most significant changes. Um and if you don't see the significant changes, you can come back and say we've exhausted all these interventions and our students are still not making progress and growth. So it helps us to get to the next step. When you have this K5 usually does a very good job on this, right? Like this is where it's rooted from. You get to 68, you start bringing a lot more like the social emotional components, the attendance components, the academic components.
014it starts really driving it and 6 through 12. This is a struggle area. This is a struggle area for 6 through 12 organizations across the board. So this MTSS plan really will help solidify that plan to help kind of guide 6 through 12. And Lisa, you can even talk probably 9 through 12 doing tiered interventions even more difficult because it's so content based. And I think Robin, you're you get it right. And not having the common branch teacher anymore. You don't have all that time. That's why having a set plan really does help guide the staff and the district and buildings understanding where they need to go, right? And I think that's where will help a little bit with that because when we're providing an intervention, every teacher of that student will be able to
015see what the interventions are. So that'll help with that communication piece a little bit as well. And I think to Frank's point, right, we had Kelly Brock and she talked about engagement and I apologize. I'm an elementary guy. I I know it, right? I I know it inside and out. But some of the things that you hear you talk about when it gets to middle school and high school instruction um you know and we say the same thing at the elementary school. If we taught a 90minute reading block to the whole group the entire 90 90 minutes we lose the majority of our kids after the first 20 to 30 minutes. Lose it. We can't do it small group instru. Again, developmentally, you know, that's appropriate, right? Kindergarten students aren't going to engage as long
016as high school seniors and or AP seniors, right? But I think the point is whole group instruction should be done in small increments of time. And then that small group learning is really where you provide the opportunity for teachers to differentiate to provide those interventions and to provide enrichment to the students that need that. So that can and very well may be a shift for some of our middle school and high school teachers. The plan is 25 pages or 30 pages long and you know they're more in depth. So we're giving you a scope of it. Lisa, am I missing anything? Did you miss I don't think so. I think that one of the things that we've done at the secondary level this year is ask the department chairs and leaders to help us generate
017lists and ideas of interventions because as we're working through our plans and we're coming together as our MTSS committee for our meetings, you know, it it's one thing for all of us to be sitting at the table, but we we need ideas. So, we've been asking the teachers for more ideas for what, you know, your supports they want. And that's another piece that branching mind provides is that there's a ton of resources that you can pull from menus up within there of like here are suggestions on on if a student is struggling with this, here are some suggestions for how to meet that need. So, I think as we dive more into that, uh, like Jeff was saying, we're moving slow in branching minds. I think that we'll find more of those little resources that
018will be helpful. Right. Something that Jeff you you shared about a year and a half ago with our admin team when you were talking about after you came back from the the work that you did the PD um when I questioned about the AIS piece or the RTI piece you said well we didn't used to incorporate the those behavior the social emotional the attempt like that would be done separately but it wasn't tiered and that's something that really stayed with me that makes it a I think you talked about it being just like a a bigger umbrella Really? Yeah. Absolutely. And you know, I'll be speaking about this a little bit next week at the board meeting, but it encompasses PBIS as well, right? That falls under the MTSS umbrella. Um, and and you know,
019and I think joining them all together is is really what we need to do instead of looking at them in isolation or buckets. The other thing, so again, the document's kind of a work in progress. Um, but to to Lisa's point, you know, in the appendices of the of the document, it'll talk to um the different screenings and diagnostic assessments that we're using at each grade level K12 and the different resources that we have available to build to support our students K12 um which is fantastic. But again, branch in minds um gives a variety of resources and assessment tools in addition to what we currently have. And I think the one thing about MDSS I just want to kind of clarify is and what I'm very happy and proud of the work that the group's
020done is we've done this work in silos and it hasn't been done in a cohesive manner in a very you know structured kind of expectation across the board and this is the work that they're doing to really and you it's been a year and a half work to get to the this point of getting it there. So I think this is a step forward for the district and making sure that there's clear expectations on what it looks like. And this whole picture here I think kind of hits it all is it's the whole child. It's not just the academic component. It's not just a social emotional component because those are all done on individuals. This is all together looking at the whole world itself which I think again just takes all the work that people
021have been doing and puts it into one kind of place. And to give credit, I want I do want to say our teachers do do a lot of these things, just don't know how to name it that way or have the appropriate data tracking. So, um, that's a great place to build upon because that's often the conversation when we talk about, well, that's an intervention. You're like, oh yeah. So, because it seems like I have to take on 10 more things with that child and it's not. It's just tracking what you're already doing. So, that's because it's easy to become very overwhelmed. Is there any qu I know Jess has Jeff has a five. Is there any questions on MTSS? All right. All right. Right. Jeff. Yeah. Do you want to switch this up just
022before we we get into it? Just because Where are we? It's all the way at the end. All right. Thank you. Oh, all it is to them. I did not need to do that, did I? All right. I thought there was something else. Um, all right. So, as you all know, the plan's coming out regarding, you know, we have to have the change in our cell phone plan. We're working on it. We're talking to stakeholders, having conversations. Robin asked a great question the other day and um, we actually then shared that question out with our with principles and principles are sharing it. And the question was, how does this impact instruction, right? And one of the things that you can get in a policy and you can ask for is you can ask for a
023caveat for it to be used in educational purposes. So Lisa and Briana have actually reached out to people and then use it in their curriculum. And Lisa, do you want to kind of share some of the feedback that you've been getting because it was Yeah, you it was pretty insightful what you shared yesterday. So So we had surveyed students um I don't know maybe three months ago now about what their thoughts were about cell phones and then we had done a similar thing with staff. Um but then last week we did ask again to staff if you use cell phones in your curriculum now how do you see that looking different next year and what solutions do you have for that current situation? So you know a couple of big things that came up was
024that um audiobooks for example. So um we've got a lot of students um that might be students with disabilities. We've got a lot of students that don't really love reading hard books but they like listening to audiobooks. Currently our Chromebooks don't allow for Bluetooth to be enabled. To me, that seems like a really simple fix that we allow that to happen. Um, because we also know that some students use music as a coping mechanism. And so, if we can open up that Bluetooth technology, um, I think that that's a very easy fix. We had some biology teachers reach out saying that, you know, again, it came down to videos. They were watching things on their phone that they couldn't necessarily connect to. Um, but again, it was that Bluetooth capability. um some of our teachers
025were using cell phones to take pictures and then upload it to um Google Classroom of their assignments. So the teachers said, "Well, our Chromebooks can do that." So all of the responses from the teachers um at the secondary level were were that they don't want any academic exceptions because they don't want to be the one person they're allowed to use it in. And then it creates chaos within the students because, oh, I can use it in Miss Conway's class, but I can't use it in this class. And so they they don't want that. they want a set policy that there's no there's no phones so then there's no ambiguity. Um and everyone seems to be coming up with suggestions. So like when we are using uh robotics we can have iPads that are doing the
026same thing but there are iPads that are purchased by us that are managed by us and so we can do that within our system and middle school said like they've already not been using phones for a year so it really doesn't matter. Right. So there's no real impact. It was high school and that I thought it was a great question. So Lisa immediately reached out Yeah. and got some feedback on that. So, I appreciate that. I figured since we're here as a shar. Yeah, that's good. So, any thoughts questions on that? When you talk about the Bluetooth, that's an issue because they otherwise would be able to connect to. So, it it was I believe um that they had disconnected them because kids could figure out how to then connect to Prometheian boards. So they
027were interrupting classes by um connecting to the Prometheian boards while the teachers were trying to present. So it's kind of you know for you pre setting expectations had here. I think that was actually and I think that they were doing it in the comments. So they were then displaying things up in the comments that with their cell phones um or with with their Chromebooks. So that's going to be yeah. So that's why it was so that's why we have some more limitations is you have to have the code to be able to log into the per board and right because now they have some other I'm laughing a little because I don't have to deal with it but I could imagine and I might have been the kid doing that when I was horrible. I
028would have been that kid getting in trouble for it. Kids get bored. Yeah. But the other question that came up with this actually with the Bluetooth component of was do you allow Bluetooth headphones because some schools I was going to ask are saying when they say electronics the optional component they're saying no headphones at all. Right. Right. And I don't think based on the stakeholder input I have it's not what I'm hearing. I'm hearing that we headphones are something that people want to have. You know we're not going to limit that because it's so then it would limit other opportunities for us. But that in some schools they say no Bluetooth at all. They put it all in that yonder or whatever. Yeah. I don't know if that's the from what I'm picking up and
029hearing, I don't think that's the best recommendation. Reason I ask is because I'm looking at the kind of the NISB book. Yeah, we sample policy in terms of whether or not I thought I could be wrong that that okay, the yearbook. Okay. Yeah. So, that was one. So what we've been doing is going through bit by bit of the policy and saying how it impacts stakeholders. And that was one of the things that we went through was the optional component. And I don't think the stakeholders are really feeling that the optional component is where we need to go. Nor do I. I agree with it. It's like stick with what the state's mandating. And the state is mandating this smartwatches enabled internet devices. I don't think we should make any more issues with that and
030just keep what it is because people are making valid points of how it can impact instruction. Right. We don't want to impact construction. No, but you're totally right. That was one of the actual components of it. I've read that policy multiple times over the past few days. Yeah. Yeah. It's right there. So, awesome. Anything else for Lisa since we had her. Thanks. Thank you. All right. So, one thing I just wanted to kind of share since we are held accountable for it and it does it does go out about it is just our testing program itself and the refusals because that is something that the state does say you have to have them come they have to do it. So, it's good for you to know where our refusals are. Exactly. Right. And Karen kind
031of shared with me I'm like you know what that's something we should share is how you know how many refusals we have, how many kids take the test and just in general. Y so I will say I'll start off by uh reminding people that you know accountability purposes the state wants us to be at 95%. So just to follow up with what you're saying put that in there. Um the when you're looking at the math refusals it is not including anybody who was an algebra test taker. Um earth science test taker wouldn't be included as refusal. They are taking a test. So, um, we can move to this ELA. And, um, I thought it would be interesting just to see from last year to this year what things look like. So, the purple is, um,
032our refusal rate this year. And you can see the percentages for the most part except for seventh grade have gone up. Um, we were really in a good place um, for a while. And I do think that the widespread internet issues with the the state was having, not us. Um, it made the news. It was statewide. Um, it was really the third party vendor NWA that we were fortunate even though we were having the situation and things were freezing and not um, loading up for a while. Um, the day that we were we started in middle school, we were able to get everything all settled. Um, but I do think that that made people a little shy of wanting to if oh my student wasn't there that day, I'm not going to bother that kind
033of a thing. So, we had additional refusals come in or somebody did part of a test didn't necessarily finish it. So, we did have some refusals. Usually math tends to be a little bit higher in refusals because it's our second test and kids tend to talk to their parents. Oh my Robin didn't have to do it. Can you do that? So, if you go on to math, you'll see here that's not exactly true for us. And I that's what really makes me think some of those numbers for ELA were because of that crazy um internet issue. Um seventh. Yeah. Yeah. Very much so. Very much so. Um so, as I said, we usually do have a little bit uh more for math, but our science I did not make a chart, but grades five and
034eight, if you keep on math for one sec, if you go back um Five and eight look pretty similar. So, science for grade five had 13% I believe. I wrote it down. Yep. And grade eight had 23%. So, very close to what the math numbers look like. And then just bec I have one last slide which depicts the um percentage of the refusals that were special ed students. Um because I do get asked that sometimes. And um that that is interesting to me how how large that six like the refusals for sixth grade almost half of them were special ed students but you don't see that everywhere else. You do see some larger um components there in fourth and fifth but um I had to take a look. Sixth grade has 14% of the students
035are special education students identified. Um, so that is a big chunk and I don't know why, but I thought I would share that. Um, don't know if you guys have any other questions you'd like me to look into when it comes to the refusal of their participation or anything. Um, but that's really all I Thank you. Um, Karen Karen, I'm sorry. Did you did you say 23% of the eighth graders were refusals or 23% of the eighth grade refusals were special ed? Um, so I think so 23% refused uh the the science 8 test. Okay, got it. 23% of the students. Yeah, that eighth grade every year tends to be the the smallest group of students taking the tests. Um Wow. Wow. That's I mean that's that's like a quarter of them. That's that's like
036substantial. Yes, it is. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, and now what does it look like that day of testing for students that are refusing? Where do they go? What do they do? Kind of what's the procedure? So, the students um I believe this year we're down in uh maybe the cafeteriary common library. Yeah. They're not they do work. they have book, you know, they're they can read, they can do school work, they don't do anything on a Chromebook. They're calling people. There's no technology. Um because it the feedback sometimes is that it seems like the kids that aren't taking it are just hanging out and having fun. Now, mind you, this is the children's perception. I'm not telling you that's what's occurring, right? So, just something perhaps to consider. I think that's because
037if it seems like the more enjoyable option then we tried to persuade. Yeah, I know. Some I had seen Yes. It interesting because I remember years and years and years ago when um we first started seeing some of the the larger numbers of refusals. I think it was Ski City School District would say you can refuse a test but we still need to know how you're doing. So we're going to give you our own benchmark to do at this time so that we can have data because it's important to us. Yeah. So that was something that they did years ago. We in the elementary school they are all given a packet of work to do and there is someone supervising them and I have gone in to work with students that you know are on
038my case load that have refused that have refused and they're not doing anything fun. Yeah. So elementary school they're grade level specific. At middle at middle school, do they is it sixth, seventh, and eighth grade altogether or is it and in the elementary school when the tests do overlap? They are maxed. Yeah, but they're like they put up tables and they don't let them like max out the table. They have like two kids per table. It's kept quiet. It's a good thing to visit to I I agree. because that can definitely help our and again it very well you know we know that the kids perception of things that they then take home to their parents is very much not always the reality um so just you know that's why I was asking just curious
039looks like it's a good conversation for us to visit and are we getting the much out of that instructional time for those kids right right because is there something else we can be doing for I think it's a really good point that was it so we just this isn't something that I always get these numbers but I haven't shared them before with the board. So that's why Karen gave us the memo and I was like, let's just talk about a curriculum committee. Um because again, this is something that we're held accountable for. This is something that comes up. Um and having that conversation makes us think about okay, and I think again when we look at some of these numbers like 23% of the students don't take this, you know, that's that's a lot. That's
040all our percentage that we're not getting that that benchmarking for, right? And 47% of special education students in the grade. It just makes you it starts I want to say 47% of the special ed students I want to say of the kids who refused half of them almost half of them were I understand because yeah thank you I said they're wrong I don't want so media literacy right thank you um I want to start with this interesting what I thought was an interesting uh survey and this is shared from a New York state resource And forgive me for reading a little bit of this to you, but I do think it's interesting. It's from Stanford History Education Group and it's probably about seven or eight years old now, but more than 80% of middle school
041students could not differentiate between a news story and an advertisement. More than 80% of high school students could not effectively distinguish between legitimate and dubious sources of information. Nearly 70% of undergraduate students could not effectively explain how the political agendas of different organizations might influence the content of tweets. I think that's probably true. And you know what, Kelly, I like I love that you say that because I am going to tell you that when I'm on Instagram and and I'm seeing reals and come up and I think to myself, "Oh, that's interesting. Oh, yeah. Let me Oh, wait a minute. she getting paid to do that because she just looks like a regular old Joe showing me this cleaning cloth product or this these great shoes but on her link is bringing me right to
042somebody's so you know like you really you do have to think you do have to think so what I wanted to do now that we think about this is recognize that well this is something we really want to think about right with with our students. So I started with that survey bit but now I want to talk about what is media literacy and this comes from that same resource that I was just talking about New York State media literacy toolkit refers to the ability to access analyze evaluate create and act using all forms of communication. The focus is on building critical thinking skills and evaluating the credibility of information. So, next slide. The media literacy toolkit is something that Governor Hokll had released this January. Um, and she had this was done in I think
043in cooperation with New York State Department of Homeland Security and field um specialists specialists in the field. Um, and it really is an argument for um the importance of teaching these skills, these critical thinking and analyzing skills. Um, it's an ideologically neutral product, but it's a lot of resources in there for educators to be able to look at and use and to help them with their own, you know, with their own content. So, um, next slide. Many of the skills that you are thinking of with critical analysis are already broadly I want say broadly embedded into our content standards. Um let's take a look at the next slide. Going to go through a couple of them. Delineate and evaluate an argument and specific claims in a text assessing the validity or fallacy of key statements
044by examining whether the supporting evidence was relevant and sufficient. That's English language arts a reading standard for 910. And next one, gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple appropriate sources and assess the credibility, accuracy, and possible bias of each publication and methods used and describe how they are supported or not supported by evidence. That's our middle school science and engineering practices. And another one, analyze evidence in terms of historical and/or social context, content, authorship, point of view, purpose, and format. Identify bias. Explain the role of bias, context, and audience in presenting arguments or evidence. That's our grade eight practice. U socialized practice, gathering, interpreting, and using evidence. So, can I interrupt? Of course. There. So those three things that you just went through, what um those are what those are standards by which the the
045state suggests or those are those are mandated standards. Yeah, those are our standards that guide the curriculum in New York State. Okay. Yeah. Standards and practices, right? Because the those are I I have the first one is a specific standard. the others have been introduced as practices um that that we are engage in and that's how we deliver our content on some specifics but I will say these are broad you know we're doing this with text in in literature right I was an English teacher we did those kinds of analysis and you could probably even come up with some in world language can I say one thing to add to just because I'm making an assumption of your thought process man so so the curriculum itself is set by the standards and this is what
046the state says and then this digital literacy the media literacy, the civic stuff. That is an add-on that they're asking you to think about or consider as you're doing education, but it's not mandated. The ones that Karen is saying, they're mandated, but now they're giving you kind of a focus of where they want schools to kind of go, but to consider considering to do that, but it's not the mandate. The mandate is abroad, but now they're giving you more finite kind of ways to think about education. But this isn't mandated yet, right? Okay. So what I would say is that while those skills are mandated through these content area um focusing on media literacy what I I guess the way I think about this is that I think there have been concerns that with so
047much that we're consuming now all this all this information um through you know social media and news being online and everything that's embedded in that as well you know the advertisements the whatever um misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, which they go through all three of those right in that toolkit. There is a growing desire for our students to have more specific lessons, opportunities to try to learn how to decipher those things and that's really what the media literacy is. So, I just wanted to start by saying we do have these skills broadly in our curriculum and so there should be places for us to put this in and and embed. So um if you go to uh yes thank you very much. So over the past year, you know, we had been really looking um at the
048dig uh the computer science and digital Oh, no, Bill. Go back one if you wouldn't mind. Yep. Um to the digital fluency standards and I worked with the principles at the secondary level in particular with our our technology TOSA with our department chairs and leaders and we started going through all that work and then as we got the med media literacy toolkit was released now we have this other bit. So now we've kind of like teased out what is specific to the media literacy that we weren't really attacking in that right and we reviewed resources past few months we've been really getting into this where we've been reviewing the resources like news literacy project very good crash course common sense which I love the common sense site I think that's really great and in our
049discussions we talked about you know what do we want this to look like what how can we start working and building this and and providing these opportunities for students to have these critical thinking skills with this type of stuff. So, middle school, we're looking at a mini course for all sixth graders. Oh, yeah. Please. Nope. Go back. Go back. Go back. Thank you. Mini course for all sixth graders. Um, sixth graders in grade six. That's a little redundant. Sorry about that. Um, and also to weave in these lessons K12 and developmentally appropriate lessons, K12, and to start having these conversations. So, kids are hearing this again and again and spirals through in different different types of lessons, but with this idea of media literacy and really making students a little bit more savvy than than
050where we are right now. And so, we kind of came up with this uh cake plan. This is at a minimum, but this would be and you can go to that next slide. Thank you. For next for next year in the elementary, uh I as I said, we really like those common sense lessons. And at the elementary, um we're looking at K5 being done during the library special. Um and one lesson a year, one to two lessons a year, maybe two lessons a year for grades three and five right now, because as I said, Common Sense has one for this news and media literacy. um grades three through five there. You can see they would do their grade level and then the lesson from the year before just to build on it a little bit
051more. So it would only be a couple lessons, but they're really good. Like this third grade one is called is seeing believing. So they look at how photos and videos can be altered. Why would somebody want to like first of all recognizing that that happens? They they start with their like little do now is a the um a lemon cut open and each of the little sections of it are a different color. You know, look at what happens if you do this with a lemon, you know, and do you think this would really help? And they have that conversation. Then they start moving into looking at these videos that have been altered and talking about it. Um and you can see reading news online. I think very good. So grade six would be done in
052our business class that everybody has and crash course is kind of where we're leaning right now. kind of what Mary Farber Pack was looking at as well. Um there are 12 10-minute video lessons and then you can expand that into and and these are bias that have the algorithm one because that was amazing. That was Czechology. I was going to send that I was going to actually start by playing it but I decided not to start. Um and then grades 7 through 12 we have the grade level lesson and the lesson before. These are from common sense. Um, and right away as we were having these conversations, Mr. Stoneball, who's department chair for English, was like, "These are great for like we could easily do this in English." So, I'm putting in parenthesis because I
053think we don't want one place to have the burden. We want students to see this conversation in multiple places, but something like challenging confirmation bias, that's a grade 11 one, talks about the brain and how our brain looks to keep ourselves consistent with what we already believe, right? And so that could easily be in a in a science place. Uh we they're really interesting lessons. And what I did was on the next slide, unless you have any questions about this before, I just want to state something that I think is important is kudos to you and the work that you've done on this because it's it's solidifying it in a way that gives us somewhere to work from, right? It starts the conversation. Teachers can share what they're doing in these classrooms. Other teachers in
054other classes can learn from it. But it says as a district, here's what we're doing and we're focusing in on this as a team that there's still room to grow. So I think this is really good. We've done a lot of work. So and the other piece I guess with that, you know, with the work that's here is that we will be continuing the conversations with the department chairs and the teachers because I think building the awareness so that everybody will know what what we're already establishing. But I think when PE teachers get time to see the resources, they may say that's great. I think we should all be doing this one too, but they won't be touching the ones that we already know. It could be a one minute. It doesn't have to be
055exactly. This also sounds like an area that we could develop some electives for because we're always looking for absolutely and yes, there are things that we want to make sure everybody gets. Everybody gets there could be like a deeper level. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's a good idea. We and and really we all need to take the course because because we have to remind ourselves. We're human too. It's easy. This they're called influencers for a reason, right? Well, sent me an algorithm thing and I'm going to tell you I called her right after I got to watch. I'm going this was great. I go there are things here that I had no clue and the fact that we were we have kids coming out of high school who don't I'm almost 50 and I
056don't understand this stuff. Like I have kids living in a world by algorithms. Exactly. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say that I I think another reason yet another reason in addition to the ones that are just I think hopefully so obvious in terms of just being you this is where our information is now and and it's just so important to be able to function civically, you know, to be able to distinguish and understand information and to analyze it and and you to be able to sniff out so to speak information that just doesn't pass that that sniff test. Then in addition to that, I was having a conversation last night with my wife and my kids and a friend about just kind of this constant, you know, struggle you have about kids
057and social media and and phones. the conversation ended up, you know, in part pivoting to and it really it really kind of made a kind of profound impact. I mean, was that whether we like it or not, this is an area where people are now making a living. Yes. and and and you know college courses and careers are now better or worse according to your personal opinion and that's not relevant here but that's where you know careers are being made now and so if someone is going to commit themselves and their time and their their dedication to you know technological or to social media and to online news then I think it's even more great that they have a proper foundation to to you know make things better as opposed to worse which I think
058you know I don't think I I think objectively I don't think that people can disagree that the the state of um you know information differentiation is it's not good in this you know where we're at and so that's why you know to echo that comes out of right and and and I echo Frank's kudos I mean I think it's you know thank you for for all the work that you're doing in order to make make you know and faculty and staff everybody in ensuring that it's it's it's baked into the curriculum and and that and that students have exposure to those I think I think it's I mean I think the example you gave here fits everything we just said that the common sense news and media literacy the reading news online Grade five. Grade
059five gets to learn this now, right? Yeah. Understanding different parts of an online news page. Learn about things to watch out for when reading an online news page such as sponsored content, advertisements, it's coming from. I think this they even go right down to the little video that they have for this. They show the URL and they say, you know, um a valid news organization will usually have this this at the end of their that, you know, pay attention to what this looks like. And it it's just really well done. I think these lessons are really well done. The just this just in their their first five minutes they're due now is saying I'm gonna put up a slide and I'm to the class and I'm going to ask you I'm going to call on
060the first hand I see about what your thoughts are on this slide puts it on just as breaking news or whatever and just the idea that now the conversation is how did that make you feel? Why did you want to be the person that I called on? how do you and they talk about that and then they move into this little lesson that so that you wouldn't have to worry about the links I've printed for people to take a look at because I really think the these are uh good lessons. Um so what they do with this breaking news if you don't mind me um just quickly showing you they talk about what I think is happening and then what's missing or accur inaccurate and you've got three little places where people are getting information.
061One is this little Metro News social alert. Then you've got something that looks like um you know maybe like a tweet and something from my rights.com or something and students would sit down write down you know what they think is happening and then on the next page where they read the little news article they'll say ah people are jumping to conclusions they're saying this or they haven't added that and it's just I think a really thoughtful well done way to do this um you know um that they have for even like I looked at the the kindergarten one which was more like thinking about how much time we should be online and offline and playing outside and that and it was more like that but I thought that these came off very appropriate and and
062thoughtful. So that was that one. Um I think I mentioned in a couple of the other ones hoaxes and fakes. I didn't talk about that but I that gives kind of gives you a feel for those things. But do you have any thoughts uh about this or questions follow? No I do think this is excellent because it is definitely is definitely needed. Um you know even at the high school level that I see students some of them still you could tell are not really sure if what they're looking at is accurate at all. Is the person posting this? Is it from a company that's selling you something? Is it from a somebody, you know, you know, an animal rights group and so they're going to skew it one way as opposed to, you know, the
063NRA or, you know, like there's there's going to be a to understand that somebody comes in with her point of view. Yeah. Is it's interesting. I had my niece say now she's a um a freshman or she just finished her freshman year at Syracuse. And you know where she gets her news from? Same time. my older daughter reposting things. Oh, yes. I've heard. Yes. Which is fine with me. You know, I hear TikTok all the time. That's where they're getting, you know. So, like, you really do you really do need to be able to sort through an awful lot that's out there. Yeah. And in the same sense, I mean to that to that question, I mean, I I I really uh you know, well, I think Bob F's heart if you can't wait to
064get out of the way and times are changing and you know, I try not to be resistant to the fact that to some degree Tik Tok may very well have some very capable who are producing and researching content. But there in lies the issue because the people who are taking the information and need to know what it is that they're looking at. And I mean just today for example I you know um I saw something and I I can't even remember where it said oh you know Harvard is offering a free course on government or whatever and you can Google then of course my my you know detectors go off something's not right here and all you got to do is to move over to your next tab and Google it and you know one
065of the first results is a fact check that says Not quite. Yeah. You know, it's interesting because lateral reading was something that came up that they talk about, which is not something that I remembered and maybe I've heard of, but you know, we learn to read vertically and lateral reading is you're leaving this up and you're opening another tab and now you're looking it up. I've never heard of it put that way. Yeah. And so that's one of the lessons in this thing. Yeah. That's actually really smart, right? You tell us awesome thing tonight. So, thank you. Yes. Um, we're almost at 5:30, so I know any thoughts, questions or Barbara, I lost. Sorry about that. I was trying to unmute myself. Um, no, this is great. Um, thank you for for all of this.
066This is really um you know an amazing topic and I was thinking as you were talking about this I need to look at more of this because we're we're doing some of these things at the museum with with super early education um you know of um fact and fiction. So it's it's interesting that it's it's sort of everywhere. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you so much. I'm gonna stop recording. All right, Barbara. Have a great day. All right. Thanks. Bye. Byebye.