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2015-2016 - March 8, 2016
“...my self portrait is a representation of my feelings and personality. It may not look like me, but this is a self portrait.” - Jaya Reddy, freshman (read entire text by clicking image)

d.tech families:
 
Last week, I spoke about one piece that I consider to be part of the “d.tech difference” and that’s our learning cycle and design lab.  The other key part of the “d.tech difference” is the way we support curiosity projects.  Curiosity projects give students the opportunity to learn something of interest.  We began the year asking students to pursue passion projects and, through our empathy work, soon realized that the language we were using was decreasing student participation.  Asking 14 and 15-year-olds to pursue a passion sounded so large that students rarely started anything. We now ask students to pursue curiosity projects, which means that they should try to learn something about which they are curious.  We also see curiosity projects as a step in the manifestation of our mission: “to develop students who believe that the world can be a better place and that they can be the ones to make it happen.” Pursuing a curiosity project at school is a very different mindset for many students, but we are now seeing a culture of curiosity projects come to life.
 
One of the primary ways we support curiosity projects is through our weekly schedule.  Thursdays and Fridays are lab days in which students who are on track in their classes are given the opportunity to build their own schedules, while students who need extra help are either assigned to required labs for specific support or recommended for optional office hours. Students who are assigned to office hours have a much smaller need for help, and we allow these students to try to do the work on their own while counseling them in their @d.tech class that office hours can be a great way to gain clarification on an assignment.  We give students this option to build a culture of self-direction rather than compliance.  Students who are assigned to a lab must attend because they have demonstrated a significant need for help.  Students who are not assigned to a lab or recommended for office hours are encouraged to pursue curiosity projects in the DRG or during independent work time. All of these are key components of a personalized experience.
 
Lab days not only support a personalized academic experience, but also support our culture of creation as we are now starting to see a wide range of curiosity projects come to life.  Students have 3D-printed dragons, laser cut key chains, built a lamp, launched a popcorn fundraiser, planned the spring formal, completed artist sketchbooks, built a ping pong table, repaired the basketball hoop, coded games on Scratch, built robots, and many more things.  We strongly encourage students to use lab time to do things like this rather than work ahead in their classes.  While some schools may expect students to load up on A.P. classes, we expect kids to create.  The culture of creation is the essential component of the “d.tech difference” and we encourage you to ask your son/daughter about his/her curiosity project and what they will work on during lab days. 
 
Have a great week,
 
Ken


 
Register for the Auction and Gala.  Come meet members of the Fundraising Team at tomorrow’s Town Hall meeting. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, register, buy raffle tickets, donate, and sign up to volunteer. We’re looking for volunteers to help during the event: servers, auction check-out runners, etc. More information at Volunteer Spot. This is a great way to meet parents, bid on great experiential outings, and have a fun evening!
 

Unable to attend? Please consider donating to d.tech: click here to donate.



On Fridays, March 4 and March 11, d.tech is proud to present screenings of The Mask You Live In & Miss Representation to our students. Both documentaries are written, directed and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and have received critical acclaim for the insight given to the experiences both males and females go through in the world today. The Mask You Live In focuses on the “struggle males go through to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity” (The Representation Project).  Miss Representation seeks “to build knowledge and understanding around media to empower women and girls to challenge limiting labels in order to realize their potential and transform our culture for the betterment of all” (Siebel-Newsom, Miss Representation).
 
We will be using a modified schedule to accommodate these events in order to follow up with important student/staff discussions. The documentaries will be shown to all students after Design Lab on these Fridays. All content area Labs will take place on the prior Thursdays. If you have questions or concerns about your student participating in these events, please contact Christy Knott.
 


Camping is Awesome!

d.tech just finalized the dates for our second annual school-wide camping trip: Wednesday, May 11, to Friday, May 13. We had a great time on this trip last year (students have been asking me all year long when we’re going again!), and expect an even more amazing trip this time around! We will leave at the end of the school day on Wednesday (around 2:00pm) and return around 3:00pm on Friday. We are heading back to Casini Ranch at the Russian River as it worked out great for our group last year; Casini Ranch is excited to have us return! Most of the planning for the trip will be done by students in the "Camping & S’more" d.lab which starts after Spring Break.
 
Before then, there are a couple things I’d like to get a head start on:
  1. We are looking into buses for transportation this year. If you have a lead on a bus company, please email Christy!
     
  2. I need ALL families to please complete this quick survey so I can confirm our numbers with Casini Ranch. Once the d.lab is up and running after April 11, students will contact those of you who are willing to chaperone with more information.
 
Thanks! I can’t wait to take everyone camping again!  - Christy Knott
 

Buzz Tutorial Video

A refresher on how to use this tool to monitor your child’s class assignments and progress.
 

Red Zone: Dropping off and Picking Up Students

Parking in the red zone outside the school driveway endangers drivers exiting the parking lot. Parked cars in the red zone block the view of drivers leaving the parking lot, delay their exit, and essentially give the ‘red zone sitter” a jump ahead in line to pick up/drop off their child quickly.


SF Chronicle Highlights Oracle’s
Proposed School Building

A recent SF Chronicle article highlights d.tech’s curriculum. students, and partnership with Oracle Education Foundation.
 

Oracle Building Campus Support

Please express your support of Oracle Education Foundation’s plan to build d.tech’s future school building on Oracle’s Redwood Shores campus. Write to the Redwood City Planning Commission.  As a May Redwood City public commission meeting approaches, we’ll seek parent & student presence and support. More info to come.

 

Student Formal - The Great Gatsby Dance

Friday, April 15, 2016 - 7-10pm
Foster City Recreation Center's Lagoon Room
650 Shell Blvd., Foster City
Early Bird Tickets: $20 per person (March 7-March 20)
Regular Price: $25pp (March 21-April 10)
‘Week of the Dance’ Price: $30pp (April 11-15 at noon)
Click image at right to enlarge

d.Leadership is hosting this year’s formal at the Foster City Recreation Center's Lagoon Room. We’ll have lots of food, dancing, DJ, and a photo booth. Students are allowed to bring one guest each if they fill out a guest form. Guest forms will be available from the Front Office or in the student announcements. Guest forms must be completely filled out and approved by the school admin by April 13. Students may not purchase tickets for guests until the guest form is turned in. Tickets will NOT be sold at the door.  Parent volunteer opportunities available.


Swim Team Update

We are super close to having a swim team! We are in the final stages of getting a great coach cleared through the district so that we can use one of the district's pools! Hopefully this will all be settled by the middle of the week and our team will be able to get started. Upon finalization, Christy will send an email with details to all students who expressed interest via the swimming survey.

If you are interested in learning more but haven’t taken the survey, please do that ASAP.
 

Tomorrow’s Town Hall Meeting for Parents
March 9, 2016, 6:30-7:45pm

Please join us for an informative night. Topics include public funding review, spring fundraiser update, election of Board rep, Flex Schedule, BUZZ, concurrent college credit, Oracle build update, and a Q&A session. Food samples provided by Farmingo. If you’d like to submit a question for the March Town Hall, please write to us by the the morning of March 9. Every effort will be made to include your question.
 

d.tech Parent Board Rep Nominees

Please find the link for the candidates and their descriptive paragraphs. The selected parent will represent us (parent community) on the d.tech Board 2016-2017.
 
Please Vote for Your Candidate. Each family is allowed ONE vote per d.tech student. (If both your twins are d.tech students, your family is allowed TWO votes.)  Voting closes at noon on March 15.
 
Laurel Mousseau, 9th grade parent liaison in CoPaL, will manage the election survey. Voting is automatically tallied by Google Form and the results will be published in the Download after March 15. Laurel will email the tally and the candidate paragraphs to the d.tech Board for their consideration/selection of the next parent rep on their Board.
 

Path Finders
Grad Prep Program

“College Prep in Junior Year: Keeping it Wise, Healthy & Meaningful”
 
Wednesday, March 16, 6:30 - 7:45 pm
Doors open 6:00pm for refreshments
RSVP
 
Alice Kleeman, newly retired 20-year College Advisor for Menlo-Atherton High School, and Elise Maar, former Senior Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission at
Stanford University, welcome d.tech parents to an informal conversation around
healthy ways for parents to approach junior year.
 
 On March 11, all remaining open spots will be offered to the local community.
Naviance Tool Coming Soon!
 
Thank you, Parents! Because of your generosity, d.tech is able to implement the powerful Naviance College Database this spring. Naviance, in partnership with the College Board, is a one-stop student-centered vehicle to track and prepare students for national/international college and career choices. Our rising Juniors will be the first to benefit, and students in all grades will experience coordinated growth through this program. School Counselor Sunny Zhang, faculty, and students will exercise tools that include career research and personal inventories, tracking milestones, electronic management of transcripts, submitting college applications, and finding scholarships.
College Resource List
 
Keep your eyes on the Download. Approaching final production is a handy one-stop resource list for parents. It has been crowd-sourced by current families and is a living document. Parents will be invited to submit useful sites. Note: due to the proliferation of commercial companies/consultants that promise to prepare high school students for college, d.tech has a policy not to include/endorse commercial entities. There is growing evidence that College Deans of Admission readily identify students who have been commercially prepped, and it is not to their advantage.
 
There are non-for-profit organizations which offer excellent college services and should be kept in mind. One is Khan Academy SAT prep which works in partnership with the College Board. Students can use their College Board log-in email/ID to create a sign-in with Khan’s smart program to receive free practice/feedback which is individually tailored to their needs.
Santa Clara University
May 5 and 6
10th Grade Field Trip & Undergraduate Interviews
details to follow


Calling All Drivers: Intersession Needs You

As your student receives their upcoming March Intersession course assignments, please sign up to be an Intersession Driver!  We can use everyone's help, whether it be for just one day or the full session! Intersession classes will not happen without your support.  Please sign up now.  The kids are counting on you.
 
Drivers will transport one group of students between d.tech and one of the off-site class locations (Menlo Park/Redwood City, Redwood Shores, San Mateo, Foster City), in the hour between the morning and afternoon sessions (~11:30am-12:30pm).
 
To sign up, please fill out your availability, vehicle capacity and route preference details in the Intersession Driver Questionnaire.  Drivers need to complete volunteer driver documentation requirements before transporting students.
 
Thanks for helping to make this another successful Intersession!
 
-- Annie & Christina, Parent Intersession Coordinators

Parents Needed at the Great Gatsby Dance
If you’d like to assist d.Leadership with another successful dance and see how they get it done, please sign up to partake in the fun
 

Update: Potential Release of Student Personal Data

In a new order dated March 1, 2016, Judge Kimberly Mueller removed the option to release the information. Instead, the CDE will maintain control of student records, and plaintiffs in the lawsuit must submit queries to obtain needed information in response to an avalanche of parent objection letters.
 
San Diego NBC 7 News reported on February 11: “Millions of public school students will soon have their personal information and school records handed over to a nonprofit community organization. The Concerned Parents Association fought for the data in federal district court and won over the objections of the California Department of Education.
 
d.tech takes no position on this matter but is only informing the parent community of this development. If you object to the release of this data, you can fill out the Objection to Disclosure of Student Record form and mail via USPS to arrive by April 1, 2016.
 

see Public Lectures & Workshops at the end of d.tech Download

Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 6:30-7:45pm
Town Hall Meeting in the Hangar
 
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 12noon
d.Parent Board Nomination Deadline
 
Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 6:30-7:45pm
Path Finders College Prep Program presents “College Prep in Junior Year: Keeping it Wise, Healthy & Meaningful.”  RSVP
 
Friday, March 18, 2016
Deadline to complete class coursework for Semester 1. Otherwise, if coursework incomplete, student must retake the class the next time it is offered.
 
Saturday, March 19, 2016, 6-10pm
Annual Spring Auction and Gala - “Reaching for the Stars”
The VIBE Center at the Foster City Parks & Recreation Center
670 Shell Blvd., Foster City
 
Monday, March 28, 3:45-5pm
Community Partnership Leadership (CoPaL) meeting at d.tech
All parents welcomed to attend to discuss d.tech issues and updates with parents and staff.
 
April 4-8
Spring Break
 
Friday, April 15, 2016, 7-10pm
d.Leadership’s Formal 2016: The Great Gatsby Dance
Foster City Recreation Center’s Lagoon Room, 650 Shell Blvd., FC
 
May 5 and 6, 2016
Santa Clara University - 10th Grade Field Trip
 
May 11-13, 2016
Second Annual School-wide Camping Trip at Casini Ranch!
 

Extra Student Opportunities

These are events and programs which may be of interest to d.tech families.  Some are not school-sponsored or affiliated with Design Tech High School. We will be explicit with the information we have:
 
One-Day Young Women’s STEM Conference
March 12, 2016 at Skyline College
 
Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) is a conference for 6th through 12th grade young women to learn about career opportunities in math and science. Science and math careers are fun, exciting, and rewarding and so is EYH! Conference participants conduct lab experiments, wire high-tech phone systems, examine microscopic creatures, and design their own computer software. Each girl attends three hands-on workshops during the all-day conference.
 
Strong Girls Strong Women Leadership Conference
March 12, 2016 at School of Arts & Culture, Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose
 
Workshops on media advocacy, economic security, health & wellness, education, healthy relationships, body image, identity and leadership. Continental breakfast & lunch, private screening of a documentary, and networking fair to promote community resources and volunteer opportunities. Space is limited, registration is FREE but registration​ is required. This event is sponsored by the County of Santa Clara Office of Women's Policy and the American Association of University Women. Read more details.
 
Metropolitan Transportation Commission Internships
March 20, 2016 deadline
 
Approximately 40 internships are available throughout the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The work site locations, job descriptions, eligibility requirements and complete details are now posted on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s website. The hourly rate is $12.25 per hour and $13.00 per hour starting July 1.  Students may work full-time or part-time, for up to 250 hours, starting June 16. Attached, please find High School Internship Brochure and 2016 Internship Flyer. The deadline to apply is Sunday, March 20, 2016.
 
Practice SAT
March 23, 2016
 
C2 Education is administering a free, practice SAT. C2 Education is a for-profit American company that offers subject tutoring, and tutoring for standardized achievement tests. Register for limited seats at www.burlingame.org/library-events.
 
Stanford Splash!
April 9-10, 2016
 
Splash! is a two-day marathon of classes in a variety of subjects that are open to all students in grades 7-12. The classes you take are completely up to you as the goal of Splash! is to get students excited about learning and help them explore new topics. Hundreds of volunteer Stanford students come together for a single weekend to teach anything they want to students from all over California. Learn more about Splash!, registration, deadlines, FAQs, etc.
 
Practice ACT
April 23, 2016
 
C2 Education is administering a free, practice ACT. C2 Education is a for-profit American company that offers subject tutoring, and tutoring for standardized achievement tests. Register for limited seats at www.burlingame.org/library-events.
 
Maker Faire Bay Area
May 20-22, 2016 at San Mateo Expo
 
Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned.
 
Geek Girl Bay Area TechCon
New Date to be determined, Draper University, 44 E. Third Ave., San Mateo
 
Geek Girl Bay Area Tech Con brings together hundreds of women and men to grow and sharpen their tech skills. Workshops for beginners to advanced, guest speakers & panelists, “Sharkette Tank” for founders to pitch their ideas, giveaways, and lunch. Admission fee applicable. Limited scholarships available to d.tech on a first-come, first-serve basis. Scholarship registration code: DTECH
 
Geek Girl empowers women & girls (and dudes!) of all ages and all financial levels in technology, from beginner newbie to startup savant. We do this through full-day Tech Conferences, workshops, seminars, public speaking, consulting and Geek Girl for Hire.

 

Details may be read at Public Speakers & Workshops.

Wednesday, 4/27
SMUHSD Peninsula Parent Speaker Series Event:
"Upside of Stress" with Dr. Kelly McGonigal
Capuchino High School, 1501 Magnolia Ave, San Bruno
More info to follow
 
Saturday, 4/30, 1:30-4:30pm
NACAC 2016 SF Spring College Fair
Cow Palace Arena, 2600 Geneva Av., Daly City
Volunteer Editorial Staff: Niño Floro, Kristine Van Dusen, & Peggy Toye

Parents: We welcome school-related news submissions to include in the Download.
Submissions are due by Thursday, 5pm. 
d.tech Download Submission Guidelines.
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