Staff News

About 1,500 teachers new to Dallas ISD were welcomed with pep-rally fervor on Wednesday, Aug. 8, during the annual New Teacher Academy.

Student performances were a large part of the event. Cheerleaders from L.G. Pinkston High School greeted the new teachers as they entered the Music Hall at Fair Park. As the Hillcrest High School JROTC color guard presented the colors, Charles Rice Learning Center fifth-grader Skye Turner led the Pledge of Allegiance and Texas pledge. The Carter High School band pumped up the crowd, and the Skyline High School drill team entertained – all before lunch. In the afternoon, members of the Townview Choir, W.T. White Dance Company and Stockard Middle School Mariachi performed.

The teachers heard from Board President Edwin Flores, Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and keynote speaker Dr. Ernest Morrell, an accomplished author and the director of the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame. They also heard from district officials on the nuts and bolts of teaching in Dallas ISD, as well as learning about employee benefits. Before a “block party” to close the event, 2017 Teachers of the Year Beth Poquette Drews, Nedra Johnson and Josue Tamarez Torres offered words of encouragement and advice.

Wednesday’s event was a general orientation. During the previous two days, new teachers focused on professional development in their content areas at W.H. Adamson and Wilmer-Hutchins high schools.

Last week, staff members from Dallas ISD’s ACE schools convened to prepare for the coming school year.

ACE stands for Accelerating Campus Excellence and is a strategic staffing initiative that hires proven educators at perpetually struggling schools to boost student achievement and college readiness.

The core plan focuses on instructional excellence from teachers and high expectations for students. Other aspects of the plan include additional resources for students and designated time for staff development. ACE focuses on leadership through the use of teams comprising campus staff. A laser-focus on goals focuses on specific academic benchmarks, but the plan also aims for a much-improved culture at each school.

The initiative began in 2015 with six elementary schools and one middle school, where the ACE plan helped students make incredible academic gains. The second group of ACE schools were designated in 2017, and added five additional elementary schools and one middle school.

For the 2018-2019 school year, four ACE schools remain from 2017 (C.F. Carr, J.M. Ervin, Eward Titche and Thomas J. Rusk) and one remains from 2015 (Elisha M. Pease). Newly added to the ACE roster are César Chávez, Paul L. Dunbar, L.L. Hotchkiss, Martin Luther King Jr., Maple Lawn and J.J. Rhoads.

During the recent kickoff event, Damien Stovall, principal at Titche Elementary School, shared his philosophy for boosting student success.

That success begins in forming a positive relationship between teachers and students, which leads to confident children.

“Before you try to teach them anything, they don’t care what you know, until you know that you care,” Stovall said. “Once you boost their self-confidence, the sky’s the limit, I don’t care where they started or where they’re at.”

He recited a pledge students sign at the beginning of the school year. It says, in part, “I am somebody. I was somebody before I came here, and I’ll be a better somebody when I leave. … I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, places to go and people to impress. I will go to college and prove people wrong. I will follow my dreams and persevere.”

Learn more about Dallas ISD’s ACE plan here.

While enrolled in medical school and doing night rounds at a hospital, Michael Gayles came to a life-changing decision: he would follow his dream of becoming an educator.

After graduating from medical school, Gayles went on to serve as a teacher at North Dallas High School and, several years later, as an assistant principal at T.W. Browne Middle School. Today, Gayles is helping open and serving as principal at IGNITE Middle School, the new Dallas ISD Personalized Learning transformation campus opening in August.

For Gayles, his goal for IGNITE Middle School is simple: help students envision their best possible life, and set them on the path toward making that life a reality.

“Growing up I didn’t have anyone who helped me think about what I was passionate about or possible career paths I could pursue,” Gayles said. “What I’m most excited about is how Ignite Middle School will help students discover their passions at an early age.”

IGNITE Middle School is seeing tremendous interest: more than 700 incoming sixth-graders applied for what was originally 150 seats. Due to the high interest, the campus increased its inaugural class to 230 students.

IGNITE Middle School is a Personalized Learning campus that will provide individualized instruction, not only based on each student’s academic needs, but also on their interests and goals. The students will take field trips to high schools, colleges and workplaces to help them better envision their future.

“The most important resource in a child’s educational life is their own potential. If we can ignite that potential, they will be unstoppable,” Gayles said. “Ignite is dedicated to helping students discover their super powers.”

IGNITE Middle School is opening thanks to the Office of Transformation and Innovation’ Public School Choice Competitive Proposal Process. The process gives educators the chance to create high-quality, best-fit options for Dallas ISD students to realize their full academic potential.

The Public School Choice Competitive Proposal Process, Version 5.0, is currently underway for any educator interested in rebranding their campus or designing a new choice school.

Kelli Yonker will happily tell anyone who listens that she has one of the best jobs in the world.

As the library media specialist at Stonewall Jackson Elementary School—and the Dallas ISD 2018–2019 Librarian of the Year—she inspires a love of reading and researching in students. And while she appreciates the Librarian of the Year honor, nothing for her can top helping students succeed.

“Watching the lightbulb go off in students’ heads when they realize they know how to research and learn something new—or seeing their eyes light up when they pick out a book and get excited about reading—is the best feeling in the world,” Yonker said.

As the former technology teacher at Stonewall Jackson Elementary, which will be renamed Mockingbird Elementary School in July, Yonker infuses technology learning into the library. Students create “book trailers” on iPads and use the latest technology to research.

“The role of the librarian has dramatically changed over the past 10 years. You have to adapt to the latest technology so the students are equipped with the skills needed to succeed today,” Yonker said. “My daily goal is to make the library a warm and welcoming place where students enjoy reading and researching. This is truly a dream job.”