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Fort Worth ISD Celebrates New DIstrict LogoFort Worth ISD Family, Color-wise, I did a lot of research and chose the blue because it is a distinct shade and represents stability and trustworthiness. Red is a more exciting color and is representative of a few things: courage, change, vitality. The gray is a new design trick: over time designers have moved away from the red/black combo if at all possible because market studies have found it to have a more negative feeling. At the same time, one needs an “anchor” shade, so people have been moving to a charcoal gray, another stable, trustworthy shade. As for fonts, I combined the clean Interstate font with the serifed Lucida Bright Bold. Another designer trick: combine a sturdy, classic look with a more modern look. The apple was the last decision. I asked around and many felt that the apple needs to make an appearance to give a nod to education and wisdom AND our books/apples logo. Although it was an oak tree, an apple was placed at the top of the tree to represent the fact that we want our students to truly achieve and our teachers to place that bar high. Last summer, our intern Melissa Rawlins went through a good portion of Texas public school websites and collected their logos for me. She also looked at major urban districts across the nation. She separated the logos into common icons and we discovered that a goodly portion (almost 80%) contained an apple or a book (and sometimes a combination of the two). As a designer, you walk a fine line with logos: you want it to tap into the social consciousness and use symbols that have meaning already but, at the same time, you want to steer away from clichés. With this in mind, the tree serves a purpose: it represents wisdom and knowledge. The trunk of our tree is pretty thick— I wanted to make it look like an older tree with some roots, like us! It is a tree that has weathered a few storms and has come through, limbs still intact. When I look at the books, I’m reminded of a lesson I learned when I first started designing at a firm in San Antonio. One of our clients was Dell and they were looking for a design for a new brand they were producing. Our job was to combine two looks: the iconic Dell look with a hip piece of art. I came up with what I thought was an awesome logo: a mouse (complete with cord) radiating energy. It was colorful and young. One problem: Dell was quickly heading wireless— the mouse of the future would be smaller and sans cord. The books are similar in my mind to the mouse with the cord: while books are still very important in our classrooms, technology is here and it’s everywhere. White boards. Blogging. Teacher websites. Thus, I believe in the tree and I’m enthusiastic about our re-branding campaign. While the books and apple logo will be missed, I feel that the new logo will infuse our District brand with excitement. Our District is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our kids — the new logo compliments these changes and helps to re-energize our image not only in our community, parents, and students, but with dedicated employees as well. Thanks for your support, July 24, 2008 | 1:57 p.m. Board of Education AppointmentsMichael Steinert - Executive Director, Student and Social
Services July 22, 2008 | 7:19 p.m. Fort Worth Teachers and Administrators Plan Outdoor and Place-Based Learning For Their Schoolsby Leslie Cook, Coordinator - Teacher Learning Center
“I will never forget how exciting it was to catch macroinvertebrates in the creek.” “I will never forget the importance of journaling for connecting to a place.” At the closing circle of Teton Science Schools’ Place-Based Education Teacher Workshop last week, twenty-eight teachers and school administrators from the Ft. Worth, Texas area shared some of the memories and experiences from their week at Teton Science Schools that would impact their work forever. Seven schools, with funding from the Rainwater Charitable Foundation, sent two teachers and an administrator to Teton Science Schools to provide professional development opportunities for the schools to continue to use their outdoor learning environments. During the week, the group traveled throughout Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. They spent time engaged in personal explorations, shadowing field groups of students, crafting and presenting research projects, sharing ideas about how to integrate place-based learning and planning how to transfer their learnings about place in Wyoming back to their schools in Texas. One of the focuses throughout the week was on journaling. Each teacher and administrator received a journal and a journaling kit to use while they were here to reflect on their experiences of this new place and on their growth as educators during the week. In our closing circle many teachers shared how much they valued having time to journal and that it will become a focus in their classes in the upcoming school year. The culmination of the week came as groups of teachers and administrators from each school had an opportunity to create an action plan for their school to transfer their learning from their week in Jackson. Facilitators from REAL School Gardens and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas will meet with the school groups throughout the year to help the schools in meeting their action plans and to celebrate the successes in integrating place more deeply into their schools. I will never forget the passion and excitement this group brought to every experience they had at Teton Science Schools connecting to this place and how eager they all are to integrate time outside and learning about place across the curriculum at their schools back in Texas! Article taken from Teton Science Schools Journal July 15, 2008 | 12:26 p.m. If It's Tuesday It Must be China
The Chinese Bridge Delegation is just one result of a partnership, formed in April 2006 between the College Board and China’s Office of Chinese Language Council International (also known as Hanban). The goal of the trip is to build sister school ties and network with other U.S. educators who have, or hope to build, Chinese language programs in their schools. Ultimately, the program aspires to foster better understanding of Chinese culture and fluency in the language among U.S. students. A brief synopsis of the adventure is provided below, in their own words: Our group of 25 included 23 superintendents, principals, vice-principals and district leaders from Texas and two principals from Oklahoma. We were in Beijing for 5 days then went to the city of Tianjin. While in Beijing we visited the Hanban organization, viewed educational resources for Chinese culture and language, attended a lecture on Chinese history and culture at Peking University, were greeted at the Great Hall of the People by government officials, and were hosted as educational delegates at a formal dinner reception. We also visited numerous historical /cultural sites, including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Ming Tombs. While in Tianjin we toured the city (including seeing Olympic sites). The highlight of the trip was our visits to two high schools in Tianjin where we were able to interact with teachers and students. Three educators from Tianjin accompanied us for the full trip, and we became close friends with all three. July 11, 2008 | 2:09 p.m. Fort Worth ISD Teachers Travel to Grand Teton National Park
>> Read more about their experience at the Teton Science School Journal. July 11, 2008 | 8:54 a.m.
Highlander HighlightsSubmitted by Sha'Ronn Mitchell, Parent Liaison Would like to congratulate the Class Of 2008 job well done! This year Highlander students received over $500,000.00 in scholarship funding an increase of 30% from last year. Way to go Highlanders! Congratulations to Coach Robinson!!! On May 31, 2008 he held Eastern Hills High School 1st Annual 7 on 7 football tournament, it also was FWISD's 1st high school to ever host a football tournament at their school. Not only was it a huge success but our Eastern Hills Highlander 7 on 7 football team won the overall tournament! Way to go hills! On May 9, 2008 Eastern Hills varsity track team won the state track meet held at the University of Texas in Austin. They ran 1:25.9 in the 4x200 and have now ranked as the 6th fastest time in the nation. Way to go guys!
July 1, 2008 | 12:29 p.m. |
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“I will never forget the personal experience of learning about a place.”
Two Fort Worth ISD educators traveled to China this summer as part of the third annual Chinese Bridge Delegation. Using their own time and resources, Dr. Cindy Sedam and Risa Payne, both from Advanced Academics, spent five days on an eye-opening exploration of the Chinese education system.
Teacher traveled throughout Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park for the Teton Science Schools’ Place-Based Education Teacher Workshop. Twenty-eight teachers and school administrators had the opportunity to develop new ways to continue to use their outdoor learning environments.