MRVED Business

MRVED Meetings

September 30, 2014 - Agriculture (off site tour)

October 2, 2014 - Music
October 7, 2014 - Science
October 10, 2014 - Art (Ben Lecy farm) PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A NEW DATE
October 10, 2014 - Title III Paraprofessionals
October 15, 2014 - MRVED Professional Development Day
October 21, 2014 - Math
October 22, 2014 - Community Ed
October 23, 2014 - Business
October 29, 2014 - Superintendents'  Council
October 30, 2014 - Title I Teachers

Communication Briefings
I don't know about you but I always struggle with the words into and the phrase in to.  I came across a very easy test to determine which of these words to use.  Basically, if you can remove the word in, and the sentence still makes sense, use in to.  Example:  "It is time to go (in) to the meeting."  However, if you took the word in out of this sentence, it would not read correctly, "Your hard work turned this project into a successful venture."

I hope that clears up some of the confusion on these two words.

US History Cohort

The Minnesota Historical Society is hosting a teacher cohort for the 2014-15 school year. Build relationships with your fellow U.S. history teachers from around the state throughout the 2014-2015 school year in a series of professional development opportunities, created to provide resources and a unique learning environment. The U.S. History Teacher Cohort for 2014-2015 includes four required elements:

• an in-person workshop 
• an online webinar 
• a two-day summer experience 
• online communication throughout the school year

The theme of the cohort is "American Pop Culture: A Window to U.S. History." All experiences will focus on various aspects of pop culture and will include content and instruction from various organizations, and resources and materials for the classroom. The cohort will provide a small group of U.S. history teachers the opportunity to build networks of colleagues outside of their schools, and share resources throughout the school year and beyond.

All cohort participants will be expected to attend all three opportunities and be active in online discussions throughout the year with fellow cohort members and MNHS educators. Program cost is $200.

Cohort members will receive books and resources related to each of the workshop topics, Continuing Education Credits, meals and parking during the in-person experiences, and an individual Minnesota Historical Society membership. Some subsidy funds are available to defray the costs of sub fees and travel.

Workshop topics, dates, and locations:

• Wed., Dec. 10, 2014. 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.: "Baseball as America: Sports and U.S. History" Target Field, Minneapolis
• April webinar, weekday afternoon/evening (date to be decided by cohort group): "Teaching with Art"
• June 24-25, 2015: "American Pop Culture: A Window to U.S. History" Minnesota History Center, St. Paul and other metro cultural institutions. This two-day experience will focus on other aspects of pop culture, such as music, film, fashion, literature, etc.

This experience is intended for U.S. history teachers in Minnesota, teaching in grade 7 or in high school. Applications are due Mon., Nov. 3. Successful applicants will be notified by Mon., Nov. 10. Space is limited for this exciting opportunity! Apply online.

Fall Conference Dates

Fall Conferences
Art Educators of Minnesota - November 7 & 8 in Rochester
Minnesota Business Educators - November 6 & 7 in Bloomington
Minnesota Association of Health/PE - November 3 & 4 in Wayzata
Minnesota Council of Teachers of English - Fall Workshop October 27 in Brooklyn Park
Education Minnesota - October 16 & 17 in St. Paul

Tech Tip - ClassTools.net

Classtools.net offers some great tools to be used in the classroom.  If you want your students to create Facebook pages for historical figures and/or characters in a book.  You can also create fake tweets and fake text messages from people as well.  Aside from those things, students can do much more with the many different tools on the site.  The best part, it's FREE!

Repair Kit for Grading - Fix 3

Fix 3: Don't give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek only evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement.

Much like deducting points for being late, adding in bonus points distorts grades as well, especially if the bonus points are given for tasks that demonstrate no educational achievement.  Examples include; cleaning the whiteboard, bringing in Kleenex, dress like a _______, etc...  Ken O'Connor even states that giving bonus points on quizzes or exams should be avoided as well.  Many times the extra credit questions are high order thinking questions that all students should be required to show they know or do not know, it shouldn't be a choice.

Extra credit inflates grades and does not accurately reflect student learning.  Ask yourself, "Does this grade accurately reflect what the student knows and is able to do?"  It's a hard thing to throw out of your classroom especially if it has been a past practice.  Avoid providing extra credit for menial tasks that are not related to student learning.