Show Notes:

Alyssa, Raymond, and other people from CDE's Office of Standards and Instructional Support offer their thanks in celebration of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Links:

Hosts: Alyssa Wooten ([email protected]) and Raymond Johnson ([email protected])

Guests:

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Raymond and Alyssa chat with Adam Collins from CDE's Office of Learning Supports about Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and the work that Adam and his colleagues are doing to bring professional development to teachers across Colorado.

Links:

Hosts: Raymond Johnson ([email protected]) and Alyssa Wooten ([email protected])

Guest: Adam Collins, Ph.D., CDE Office of Learning Supports ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Alyssa and Raymond talk with two middle school principals about their experiences leading their staffs and students through the COVID-19 pandemic. Julie Stephens is in her first year as principal of Skinner Middle School in Denver Public Schools, a job she comes to with 20 years of experience as a high school administrator and teacher. Joining Julie is Jim Butterfield of Bookcliff Middle School in Grand Junction. This is Jim's 7th year as principal of Bookcliff, having previously served as an administrator and teacher in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts. Together, we talk about what their school days look like, the challenges they've faced, and advice they'd give to other principals around the state.

Links:

Hosts: Alyssa Wooten ([email protected]) and Raymond Johnson ([email protected])

Guests: Julie Stephens, Principal, Skinner Middle School in Denver Public Schools, and Jim Butterfield, Principal, Bookcliff Middle School in Mesa County Valley School District 51.

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Alyssa and Olivia talk with Jacqueline Smilack, the new President of the Colorado Language Arts Society (CLAS). CLAS is Colorado's affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and Denver was set to host NCTE's 110th Annual Convention. With the COVID-19 pandemic, that conference has moved online, and Jaqueline discusses the features of the convention amidst all the challenges in shifting such a large event to a new setting.

Links:

Hosts: Alyssa Wooten ([email protected]) and Olivia Gillespie ([email protected])

Guest: Jacqueline Smilack, President, Colorado Language Arts Society

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Alyssa and Raymond talk with CDE's three arts specialists about their three-part virtual symposium "Social and Emotional Learning Through the Arts," which is currently underway. Although the current event is at capacity, we'll talk about what prompted the creation of this symposium, why it's so needed now, and plans for similar offerings in the future.

Links:

Hosts: Alyssa Wooten ([email protected]) and Raymond Johnson ([email protected])

Guests: Judi Hofmeister ([email protected]), Carla Aguilar ([email protected]), and Donna Goodwin ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Raymond is joined by CDE social studies specialist Dr. Stephanie Hartman, who talks about how she got into education and what's shaped her perspectives on teaching social studies.

Links:

Host: Raymond Johnson ([email protected])

Guest: Stephanie Hartman ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Raymond and Alyssa try to draw a line between "finding your groove" and "getting stuck in a rut" and provide some tips to teachers about engaging their students with some fresh strategies. They dive into a database of distance learning research studies collected by the U.S. Department of Education and, coming up somewhat empty-handed, offer three pieces of their own advice for not being boring in the classroom.

Links:

Hosts: Raymond Johnson ([email protected]) and Alyssa Wooten ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

It's unlucky Episode 13! CDE's Office of Standards and Instructional Support is trying to help teachers however they can, including hosting webinars about relevant instructional topics. In this episode, Alyssa and Raymond talk about the Setting the Standard webinar series and highlight a few of the teacher interactions from a recent webinar about building relationships with students.

Links:

Hosts: Alyssa Wooten ([email protected]) and Raymond Johnson ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Read any good books lately? Raymond and Alyssa talk about the abundance of book studies and book clubs they're seeing right now, including the books we're reading in the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.

Links (linking does not imply an endorsement by the Colorado Department of Education):

Hosts: Raymond Johnson ([email protected]) and Alyssa Wooten ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.

Alyssa and Raymond talk about how difficult it is to summarize what's happening in schools right now except to say that teachers are working at their limits. We offer some tips for making it a little easier to get through the day, even though we admit that sometimes we struggle to follow our own advice.

Links:

Hosts: Alyssa Wooten ([email protected]) and Raymond Johnson ([email protected])

The Setting the Standards theme music is courtesy of DjDocent.