Birdville ISD Interest Group

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Comment by Fursey Gotuaco on September 20, 2009 at 10:25pm

Tuesday September 22nd is our 2nd Specialists training. We are focusing on developing personally and professionally as educators. We will be at Richland High School's 50's Faculty Lounge. It's a great place to do some learning. Come join us!

Comment by Fursey Gotuaco on September 13, 2009 at 1:14pm

Here's a great Strengths Story: This year our entire hs staff is focusing on Strengths, hope, and well being! We are led by our principal Carla Rix and she has given us the green light to go full speed. No holds barred!

We started by having Sherry and Shane come down and speak to our staff and we have not looked back... except for us Context folk who look back to see where all this great success starts from!

Below is the invitation I am sending out to our staff. We are offering as many different options as possible for every learning style and schedule.

The Strengths bus is pulling in and everyone is invited to
jump on board!

Getting your themes
1) If you still don’t have your themes please contact me.
2) If you’ve done the assessment but forgot your themes.. contact me.
3) If you don’t know what your themes are and made them up during our last inservice… contact me.

Learn more about Strengths through a 1 on 1 session

I invite any member of our faculty and staff to join me in a person to person session to discuss how to validate and improve our teaching through our naturally occurring talents. This session will be in your classroom/office and will focus on viewing your teaching practices through a strengths based lens. It is not a ‘gotcha’. This experience is designed to fill your emotional bucket through positive psychology while fine tuning the educational experience you provide for the students of RHS.

Learn more about Strengths through a small group session

We will be hosting our Strengths Cafes. The atmosphere is social. The goal is engagement. Questions will be used to initiate reflective thought about pedagogical practices. Through Socratic Dialogue you discover yourself by learning about others. Personal stories drive these enlightening discussions.

We will be hosting them on different days of the week - in the morning and the afternoon to accommodate different schedules. Dates are forthcoming.

Learn more about Strengths through a large group session

Engagement Specialists from around the district will be attending sessions focusing on different Strengths topics. These will be over the next 6 weeks at different campuses. You may join us for as few or as many or few sessions as you would like.

Each will start at 4:30. You may attend without reservations or you may sign-up with ERO and receive credit for them. We will post the location of each session on the front door of the school so you will know which room to find. I am so excited about these workshops—I hope you are too!

The ERO session numbers are:

Sept 17 Get To Know All 34 Themes 20096111000
Sept 22 Personal Development 20096111001
Sept 30 Leading a Strengths Activity With Your Staff 20096111002
Oct 8 Working With Teams 20096111003


Learn more by LEADING: Strengths Cadre
Join the gang! This is for those who would like to help shape and lead the Strengths movement on campus. We continue to move forward with encouraging and engaging both students and faculty. ALL SIGNATURE THEMES ARE WELCOME!

Comment by Jennifer Gotuaco on September 10, 2009 at 8:10pm

I hope everyone has had a great beginning of the school year. I would love to hear if you have any great "strengths stories" so far. At North Ridge, our teachers were so eager to get started that the 6th grade social studies teachers gave up the second day of school to assess the students with strengths explorer. Now, every student has completed the assessment and the information will be accessed by all teachers early next week. We are also working on lessons to include in our advisory time and classrooms. One teacher had the students identify thier balcony/basement and write about it. I am so proud of the NRMS teachers!

Comment by Gail Long on August 20, 2009 at 9:49pm

I was most impacted by Dr. Lopez and what he had to say about building HOPE in our kids and our teachers and how much a difference HOPE really makes in our lives.

Comment by Fursey Gotuaco on August 20, 2009 at 9:43pm

Hello Birdville America!
What a great 24 hours! We had Sherry and Shane for 3 workshops and boy are we jazzed! The RHS and North Ridge staffs were moved forward light years!

And how about those Engagement Specialists?!!!! The turnout and intensity! "JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING!!!!" It is clear that we are on the right track to 'ENGAGE & ENCOURAGE'.
Thanks again to fabulous teachers who came in after a full day of professional development.
We are grateful for the campus principals who are investing in this Bucket Filling initiative.
And how about a BIG HAND for our district ad min: Dr. Thompson, David Bach and Richard Valenta!

We have already heard back from BHS. They've got their Strengths Cadre going and are in full swing.


My question to everybody in our group is: What activity or piece of information from our gathering made the greatest impact on you?

Comment by Fursey Gotuaco on August 18, 2009 at 12:39am

Hello BISD,
Richland Elementary has joined the ranks of schools that has chosen Strengths for their professional development. Wow! What a great way to begin your year!

Just 48 hours till Birdville Engagement Specialists kick off the year!

Comment by Jennifer Almeida on August 3, 2009 at 7:19pm

I'll be there! :)

Comment by Jessica Sandoval on July 30, 2009 at 7:46am

I have the 19th down on my calendar.Sounds great!!!

Comment by Fursey Gotuaco on July 29, 2009 at 10:35pm

Carol and Gail! You two are ALL OVER IT! Thanks for your enthusiasm. Feel free to spread the word to anyone else you think would be enthusiastic about being a specialist. I think administrators would be a very special group we'd like to invite.

Comment by Carol Smith on July 29, 2009 at 9:12pm

I will be there on the 19th!! Can't wait!

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