Inside Dallas ISD

Submitted by The Dallas Education Foundation L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School is the latest recipient of a book vending machine thanks to Whataburger through their Feeding Student Success program. The Hotchkiss Hawkettes cheerleaders demonstrated excitement for their library’s new addition by cheering on visitors and kicking off the ribbon-cutting ceremony with a high-intensity performance. Although the book vending machine’s lights and design are bright and eye-catching, the real treasure is what’s inside – books curated specifically for the Hawks by the Early Learning and Library & Media Services departments. When the ribbon was finally cut, students crowded around the machine to…

Walking through the hallways at Sylvia Mendez CREW Leadership Academy, you will find a colorful student-made mural mosaic with the message of “Four Houses, one CREW,” which students in Mary Vongvivitpatana’s art classes take pride in. Inspired by the Ron Clark System, Sylvia Mendez is one of the Dallas ISD schools that has the house system in place. Vongvivitpatana says the mosaic mural project, which took several weeks, inspired unity and built a sense of community for the students. The mosaic, composed of tiny squares that were shrunk to about an inch, is what the students worked on to create…

Walking into Rodney Dittmar’s Modern Band classroom at Seagoville High School, you will find his students fully engaged in their work—discovering and honing their musical talents as composers, songwriters, sound engineers, musicians—and developing all types of skills that will prepare them to find their voices as artists. In fact, they are the only school in the district, and only one of three in the nation to receive the Hometown to Hometown grant, which provided $45,000 worth of instruments and training through the Save the Music Foundation. Dittmar, who is the Fine Arts Department chair for the school, applied for the…

The Beat has interviewed Master Teachers across the district to share their stories and introspections about their careers, including tips for teaching. Meet Master Teacher Bob Adams. Adams, a Master Teacher at Rufus C. Burleson Elementary School first came to Dallas ISD in 2007 after spending six years teaching at an international school in China. Originally from Marlin, Texas, a small town near Waco, Adams said his plan was always to teach at Dallas ISD. Out of the 28 years in education,17 of those have been at Dallas ISD, not counting the three years in the U.S. Peace Corps working with…