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Happy holidays from CSTP! We hope you unplug this winter break and participate in activities that you enjoy and spend time with people that you love. With the New Year around the corner, we have a few early 2017 events that you will want to know about.
As always, be sure to
and encourage them to
sign-up for our emails
to stay on top of events and opportunities.
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CSTP's Advocacy Training for Teachers
Have an education issue you're passionate about? Want to impart your knowledge and expertise of that issue in a clear, concise and convincing message to others? You're looking in the right place! CSTP's Advocacy Training is an opportunity to create and refine a message, hone your systems-thinking knowledge and create an action plan for taking your message to decision makers and others who need to hear it.
Upcoming Trainings:
When: Saturday, January 21, 2017
Where: The Coach House at the Washington State Capital Museum, 211 21st Ave. SW, Olympia, WA 98501
Day 1: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $75
Registration Includes: All materials, coffee, lunch and snacks
Register Now
When: Saturday, February 4, 2017
Where: Yakima School District, Yakima, WA
Day 1: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $75
Registration Includes: All materials, coffee, lunch and snacks
Register Now
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Lake Washington Leadership Lab
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Lake Washington Leadership Lab
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Have you ever wondered what other districts are doing to grow teacher leadership to support both the initiatives and student learning in the district? On December 8th, 26 participants from around the state came to Lake Washington School District to do just that.
Lake Washington, and a team of 8 knowledgeable teacher leaders and administrators led the discussion around how they have used teacher leadership to support the effective and complex implementation and continuous improvement of the districts' MAS (Mobile Access for Students) technology support system.
One team member said, "Offering site-specific professional learning opportunities for teachers in order to differentiate based on need has made the most positive impact on how teachers get on board with the program... the learning is for teachers and by teachers."
The topic may have been about implementing a technology leadership plan, the take-aways for the participating districts were around the importance of developing effective skills, training and opportunities for teacher leaders.
We're looking forward to our next Leadership Lab later this spring. Watch for more information in upcoming newsletters... a great learning and leading opportunity to grow teacher leadership in your district.
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
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PESB Educator Retooling Scholarship
When:
January 6, 2017
Amount:
$3,000
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Advocacy Training
When:
January 21, 2017
Where: Olympia, WA
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Advocacy Training
When:
February 4, 2017
Where: Yakima, WA
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TPEP Best Practices Colloquium
When:
March 1, 2017
Where: SeaTac WA, TBA
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WEA National Board Home Stretch Seminar
When:
March 25, 2017
Where: WA Eastside (TBA)
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WEA National Board Home Stretch Seminar
When:
April 22, 2017
Where: WA Westside (TBA)
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PESB Educator Retooling Scholarship
When:
April 28, 2017
Amount:
$3,000
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CSTP's NBCT Leadership Conference
When:
May 2017
Where: Leavenworth, WA
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OSPI's NBCT Facilitator Training, Day 1, 2, & 3
When:
June 27-29, 2017
Where: Spokane Area, TBA
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CSTP's Camp CSTP
When:
July 2017
Where: North Bend, WA
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OSPI/WERA Conference ATLA and Student Perception Pilot Presentations
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WERA Conference 2016. Student Perceptions of Teaching and Learning - Another Facet of Educator Growth and Development presenters James Everett, Principal, Jose Rodriguez, Teacher, and Brett Latham, Teacher, Squalicum High School, Bellingham School District; Christine Firth, Teacher, Diana Hafterson, Teacher, Denise Isler, Teacher, Taylor Reynolds, Teacher, Mary Snyder, Instructional Coach, and Laurie Vallieres, Principal, Saltar's Point Elementary, Steilacoom School District
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C
STP participated in two preconference sessions last week at the Washington Educational Research Association's annual conference in SeaTac. The first preconference highlighted the Auburn Teacher Leadership Academy(ATLA), which was developed seven years ago based on CSTP's Teacher Leadership Framework, and a recent study conducted by the University of Washington looking at ATLA's impact. You can read more about the impact of ATLA on the CSTP website.
The second WERA preconference was on the Student Perception Project CSTP has facilitated the last year. Educators from Bellingham and Steilacoom School Districts co-presented with CSTP and discussed the power of student voices and perceptions about teaching and learning. Check out this video to get a snippet of what these elementary students think about this work.
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Saltar's Point Students Talk about Teacher Surveys
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CSTP at the Washington Teachers Advisory Committee (WATAC)
For several years CSTP has provided teacher leadership training opportunities for the Teachers of the Year program operated by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. We've been fortunate to partner more formally with OSPI as it has grown the program with a strong emphasis on elevating the accomplished voices of the Teachers of the Year through establishment of the Washington Teachers Advisory Council (WATAC).
Earlier this month, CSTP got to spend two days with WATAC made up of the current
2017 Teachers of the Year and alumni Teachers of the Year from prior years. The focus was developing their communication skills -- from branding, style and personal mission statements to elevating their voices through blogging and working with policymakers. You can read more by reading Teacher of the Year Alumnus
Shari Conditt's blog post. Get to know these teachers and listen to a podcast developed by the
League of Education Voters.
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NBCT Spotlight: Pamelia Valentine
In 2006, after putting in the most arduous mind-melting year of my teaching career, I became a Early Adolescent/ Young Adult, National Board Certified Visual Arts teacher. Immediately, I received a congratulations and invitation from a group called, "The Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession" (CSTP). So . . . I wondered, who are these folks? With that question, I was in for the ride of my life!
I applied and was accepted to the CSTP writing retreat. They helped me polish up an article about teaching art students to write, think, and discuss famous artworks. I sent it off to be rejected and ASCD chose to publish it in the online version of "Educational Leadership" magazine (2008;
Thinking Like An Artist). CSTP also published the article in a CSTP booklet and because of this experience, I was invited to be a guest blogger for "Partnership For Learning" and wrote for them for about two years.
In 2013, I was named as a Regional Teacher of the Year for Washington State and published in From Seed to Apple. "
The Tougher They Seem" was a story about a boy who was reluctant to learn but turned it all around after taking an art class from me. I then had a wonderful opportunity to publish a story about engaging students and embracing the state evaluation system (TPEP) for educators in the Washington Association for School Curriculum Development (Engage! Entice! Embrace Evaluation! 2014). In 2014 I participated in a CSTP sponsored project writing about
collecting evidence of learning in the arts for the TPEP.
I attended the NBCT Ambassador training and have had legislators visit my classroom as well as arrange a day for the school board to visit the NBCT classrooms in my Junior High School. We have the most NBCT's in the Shelton School District. Each year more of my colleagues work to become NBCT and Oakland Bay Junior High School now has 11 NBCT's including our Principal!
In 2015, I applied to and received a CSTP "
Teach to Lead" grant to develop and integrate a new classroom observation system based on the Teacher Principal Evaluation Project, called "TPEP". It was very successful in our school so when the grant ended, I started an educational consulting company with "Reflective Rounds" training as one of the products.
All of the support and encouragement from CSTP helped build my skills and confidence. In this past year I was chosen to be one of only 25 art educators to participate in the National Art Education Association (NAEA)School of Art Leaders". I will present my work in New York this spring! Along with that honor, I was named as the Middle level PLR representative for NAEA. My work with the NAEA Data visualization group was presented and published last year. I also successfully renewed my National Board Certification in 2016!
CSTP offers many opportunities for educators across the state and they train teachers to be more effective as educators. My automatic answer when I get a request or see an interesting idea that CSTP is promoting is, YES- because I know if CSTP is involved it will be a high quality endeavor that will help me grow as an educator and as a person! It has, indeed, been the ride of my life! Thanks CSTP.
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Lacey Elementary Utilizing Teacher Leadership to Impact Students
This August, CSTP had the privilege of supporting teacher leader work at Lacey Elementary in North Thurston Public Schools by leading a Teacher Leadership Framework workshop. In this brief video, Lacey is touted as having help close the achievement gap by working collaboratively across the building. What a great example of collaboration!
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| Lacey Elementary School | Pathways to Excellence 2016 |
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Stories From School Roundup
CSTP's Stories From School bloggers are always busy working on new stories. Here is a recap of new articles for the past month.
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