Platinum Partner Spotlight: Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary.com is the newest addition to our Platinum Partner Program! Their work in Tennessee is off to a great start, and we are thrilled to see it continue to grow.

Vocabulary.com improves literacy through vocabulary instruction. Vocabulary.com is adaptive - each student works at their own level. It aligns to your curriculum - in addition to over 2,000,000 vocabulary lists, teachers can take any text and instantly create vocabulary exercises around the text. It’s fun! Students earn points and badges and compete against each other. Their schools compete against other schools as well in our annual Vocabulary Bowl.

They are already working with several districts in Tennessee, including:

• Williamson County

• Maryville City

• Lincoln County

• Giles County

• Lexington City

• Shelby County

• Metro Nashville

• Campbell County

• Sevier County

• Soon to be in Houston County & McKenzie Special!

“Vocabulary.com has become one of my favorite online tools in my ELA classroom. We all know the research says that students learn vocabulary the best when it is taught in context. I love how Vocabulary.com allows me to do that with ANY text. I have so much flexibility to create materials for students, and my students actually get excited about acquiring points. I've had students tell me they started using some of the vocabulary words in writing their songs, and they have also used them in their essays. One told me that he was in a conversation with an adult who used one of the words we had learned in class. "I actually knew what they were saying!" he said. These kind of pay offs are what really matter to my students because, as I always say in my room, ‘Your words matter.’” - Joylyn Patton (Teacher, Renaissance High School, Williamson County Schools)

“Our teachers use Vocabulary.com to improve the word-learning culture of our students through the process of pre-reading exercises. This enables our students to become familiar with the vocabulary of a text in ELA, Science, Social Studies, and even Mathematics prior to classroom instruction. We are in the third year of using this program, and teachers in multiple subject areas use it to enrich instruction and learning in their classes.” - Dr Ben Clabo (Principal, Pigeon Forge High School, Sevier County Schools)

Want to learn more? Reach out to David Mickelsen at dmickelsen@vocabulary.com or 254-566-5545!

SUPERINTENDENT SPOTLIGHT: Jonathan Criswell (Milan Special School District)

Our October Superintendent Spotlight is Jonathan Criswell! He has served as the Director of Schools in the Milan Special School District for two years.

Milan Special School District has a rich tradition of success that Mr. Criswell has worked to continue over the past two years. Their elementary and middle schools have both been recognized as level 5 schools, and their high school has moved from a level 1 to a level 4 in two years.

Recently, their district fully implemented a dyslexia program designed to increase the reading level of all students in our district. Their students have experienced great success with the program. One student was recently quoted saying, "I did not find out I had dyslexia until I was a Freshman in high school. I always struggled and did not have the best grades, but when I finally found out what was wrong I felt a huge weight lift off my back."

Mr. Criswell enjoys making the job of teaching easier for teachers. His goal every day is to eliminate as much of the business side of education as possible for his teachers, allowing them to focus on impacting student learning.

He shared one of his favorite memories from his time as superintendent with us:

Being superintendent reduces the daily interactions that I am able to have with our students, but I have committed to be in the buildings as much as possible and to greet students as they arrive at school at the bus drop off locations and from the car lines. I enjoyed my morning car line time as an elementary school principal so much that I continue this practice as a superintendent when possible. One morning, I greeted a student and his mom as he was exiting the car. After the student exited the car, the mom pulled up, parked, and asked to speak with me. We made introductions. Chuckling, she then said that she asked her son who I was. The son replied, “I don’t know mom, but he is always in our school and he’s always smiling. I think he may be the President.”

Keep up the great work, “President Criswell!”

Platinum Partner Spotlight: Scholastic

Scholastic has long been a valuable Platinum Partner of TOSS, and we look forward to many more years of partnership!

Scholastic has partnered with educators, children, and families for nearly 100 years to inspire lifelong reading and learning with a focus on:

• Balanced Literacy Resources to reinforce and sustain instruction with our comprehensive, customizable print and digital blended literacy solutions. From whole class to small group to independent learning, we have the research-based resources you need to differentiate instruction and maximize success for every learner.

• Professional Learning Services to help you design and deliver a targeted, systemic plan to enhance instructional skill sets and content knowledge around literacy.

• Family & Community Engagement Resources to harness the power of fully integrated learning supports. We’ll partner with you to assess and remove the barriers interfering with student success, build capacity, and create critical connections between home, school, and community—boosting literacy development and fostering positive learning environments for children wherever they are.

They are currently doing business with almost all public and independent school districts in the state of TN!

“Lit Camp provided a fun, super engaging literacy experience for our summer camp. Our students enjoyed the literacy-rich, thematic studies. Each camper improved in reading fluency, comprehension, and overall self-confidence. Our teachers loved the Lit Camp program and requested to used it again this summer!” - Barbara King, Sewanee Elementary (Franklin County Schools)

Interested in working with Scholastic? Reach out to Dr. Felicia Fowler (ffowler@scholastic.com)!

2019 Regional Superintendents of the Year

Sunday evening, at the 2018 TOSS Awards Banquet, the 2019 Tennessee Superintendent of the Year will be announced.  The 8 finalists, one from each region of the state, are listed below.  Congratulations to you all on your hard work and dedication that has led to this recognition.  We are so proud of each one of you.  

EAST

Dr. Brian Bell (Alcoa City Schools)

MID-CUMBERLAND

Dr. Linda Gilbert (Murfreesboro City Schools)

SOUTH CENTRAL

Dr. Dan Lawson (Tullahoma City Schools)

SOUTHWEST

Warner Ross II (Hardeman County Schools)

FIRST

Steve Starnes (Greeneville City Schools)

NORTHWEST

Neel Durbin (Dyersburg City Schools)

SOUTHEAST

Dr. Linda Cash (Bradley County Schools)

UPPER CUMBERLAND

Tony Boles (Macon County Schools) 

Platinum Partner Spotlight: Odysseyware

A recent addition to TOSS's Platinum Partner Program is Odysseyware, and we're so excited to be working with them! 

Odysseyware is committed to providing educators the most flexible, customizable, effective curriculum and instructional tools in K-12 education.  They focus on the whole learner including blended learning, social-emotional learning, competency learning, academy services, college and career readiness, and credit recovery.

Right now, they're working with several districts, including Anderson County, Campbell County, Cannon County, Cheatham County, Chester County, Shelby County, DeKalb County, Greene County, Grundy County, Humphreys County, Jefferson County, Johnson City, Kingsport City, Lauderdale County, Fayette County, Haywood County, Loudon County, Marion County, Polk County, Roane County, Smith County, Tipton County, Warren County, and White County. 

"White County is in its 3rd year of contracted software services with this company and have been very pleased with the functionality of the program, quality of courseware, delivery of training services, and technical assistance we have received from the Odysseyware team. Currently White County uses the Odysseyware program to support middle and high school students. This program is pivotal in our alternative education setting, credit recovery, and RTI program. This coming year, we have expanded our arsenal to include Class Pace, a new individualized portion of the Odysseyware platform. We expect that Class Pace will meet many of our needs in terms of differentiation in our K-8 classrooms. Training and site visits are well coordinated and tailored to fit the needs of our teachers. In addition, we know that our assigned Odysseyware consultant is always a phone call away when we have questions or concerns about curriculum and support for our teachers. White County Schools recommends Odysseyware as an online service provider. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or concerns." - Kurt Dronebarger (White County Schools) 

If you would like to learn more, reach out to their representative Dr. Rosemary Williams (rwilliams@odysseyware.com).