MRVED Business

Welcome Minneota to the MRVED in 2016-17
The MRVED and Minneota Boards have approved joining the MRVED starting in the 2016-2017 school year.  We wish to welcome Minneota on board with the other MRVED schools.  Both Minneota administrators and MRVED thought it would be a great pairing since Minneota is very similar in size and makeup of our other eight districts.  For those that attend best practice meetings, you will have new faces to meet with and gain ideas from.  We look forward to working with Minneota in the coming years.  If you know someone in Minneota, welcome them aboard!

Upcoming Meetings:
February 22, 2016  Science Best Practice
February 23, 2016  Teachers' Advisory Council (TAC)
February 24, 2016  Superintendent's Council

March 1, 2016  Ag Best Practices - CANCELLED
March 4, 2016  Industrial Technology - to be held in Hutchinson - NOTE THE DATE CHANGE
March 7, 2016  FACS
March 8, 2016  Business Best Practices - CANCELLED

Minnesota Council for Social Studies Annual Conference

Social Studies Conference
Attention teachers of the social studies, or people that are interested in anything social studies.  The Minnesota Council for Social Studies is having their annual conference on March 6 and 7 on the campus of St. Cloud State University.  There are some great sessions, presented by some of the best social studies minds and teachers in the state.  There is still time to register on the MCSS website.

Differentiation in the Secondary Classroom (or all classrooms)

Differentiation
So often we hear that differentiation cannot be done in my classroom because:

• I see 150 kids per day.
• The range in my classroom is so great.
• It's too much work.
• I don't have a para in my room.

When planning, many teachers shoot for the middle and hope to bring as many students with them as possible.  Is this what is really best for kids?  Are we creating an environment that is conducive to learning for ALL students?

ASCD has a great article on Five Tips for Getting Started with Differentiation in a Secondary Classroom.  The article provides some good pointers and reminders about differentiation.

We also often forget that there are three ways in which to differentiate in our classrooms (Process, Content, and Product).  If we do differentiate in our classrooms, we often only differentiate in one way and forget about the other two.  For instance, if we differentiate the product, we give our students choices as to how they want to show their learning, and we do this with all our assignments and never get to differentiating the process or the content.

Edutopia has quick list of examples of ways in which to differentiate by process, content, and product in the article 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do by John McCarthy.

Tech Tip - Dangerous Apps

Dangerous Apps
 A few weeks ago the Today Show did a story on Dangerous Apps.  The story talks about 5 Apps that may be on your children's phones or iPods that can potentially be dangerous.  Here is some additional information about these five.

Story on Kik

Story on Yik Yak

Story on Askfm

Article on Whisper

Ghost Apps

Better Conversations - Equals

Better Conversations
As mentioned a couple weeks ago, we will be starting our series on Better Conversations.  There are six beliefs that guide having a better conversation, and these beliefs will be the focus of this series.

1. I see others as equal partners in conversations.
2. I believe people should have a lot of autonomy.
3. I want to hear what others have to say.
4. I don't judge my conversation partners.
5. Conversation should be back and forth.
6. Conversation should be life-giving.

This week we will focus on seeing others as equal partners in conversations.

Equals

I think Jim Knight places this one first for a reason.  Seeing others as equals is the lynchpin to having a productive, life-giving conversation.  When someone is perceived as being superior, this creates unequal ground where the lesser of the two people feels continually "talked down" to and told what to do.  "Often, the reason people resist ideas in top-down conversations is that they are not getting the status they feel they deserve." (Knight, 19, Better Conversations Companion Book)  Jim Knight is absolutely correct in this statement.  If we don't feel our ideas and opinions are valued, what point is it in sharing them?  The hierarchy of our school system is necessary, but a detriment to professional learning, if it is the principal or superintendent who is responsible for carrying out the training or follow-up.  From the start, a principal or superintendent is seen as a superior, thus being a detriment to any conversation leading to professional growth.  All school administrators have great intentions when it comes to helping staff, but the fact they are seen as superiors makes it extremely difficult to be seen as equals in conversation.

Jim Knight also talks about the notion of "buy-in".  We have all heard people say, "all I need to do is get buy-in."  "Buy-in" assumes that your idea is better than anyone else's and in turn we are no longer equals in conversation.  People who truly "believe in equity, assume we will have a better solution if everyone's brain is involved." (Knight, 20, Better Conversations Companion Book)

As mentioned a couple weeks ago, beliefs drive behavior.  If you truly believe you are equal in conversation, your behavior and words will match this belief.  If we are not equals in conversation from the start, our conversation will just be a conversation, not a life-giving conversation.

MRVED Business

Superintendents Meet with Senators and Representatives
The MRVED Superintendents had the opportunity to meet and visit with a couple local senators and representatives on Wednesday, January 27th.  Senator Dahms, Senator Koenen, and Representative Swedzinski talked with the Superintendents and answered questions regarding the upcoming session. Overall, it was a positive meeting and both sides felt they learned something from each other.  Thank you to the Senators and Representatives for taking the time to meet with our school administrators and hear the issues facing rural schools.

Upcoming Meetings
February 17, 2016  Community Ed
February 19, 2016  Principals' Council (11:30 a.m. start time)
February 22, 2016  Science
February 23, 2016  Teachers' Advisory Council (TAC)
February 24, 2016  Superintendent's Council

Big List of Educational Grants and Resources

Big List of Educational Grants and Resources
One of my favorite educational sites to visit on a regular basis is Edutopia.  Edutopia provides you with many practical ideas and offers tons of resources and links to explore.  Last week, they came out with their list of Educational Grants and Resources.  The list is amazing and has some awesome opportunities for teachers.  Give it a glance-over today!

Big List of Educational Grants and Resources

Better Conversations Series

Better Conversation Series
I have spent the past year learning about what it takes to be an instructional coach.  Through the process of learning about instructional coaching, there has been one piece that has stood out to me more than any, and that is that conversation is the key to everything.  You can have the best instructional coaching process in the world, but it is truly the conversation between the coach and teacher that leads to the greatest gains.  I have also learned that by learning how to have a better conversation, it has affected all other aspects of my life, from socially to how I interact with my wife and kids.  This series we will focus on the 6 beliefs of better conversations as outlined in Jim Knights new book, Better Conversations.  This is a book I highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn how to have a better conversation.  Jim Knight does an excellent job talking about his new book in the video below.

Introduction to the 6 Beliefs

The six beliefs as outlined by Jim Knight are:

1. I see others as equal partners in conversations.
2. I believe people should have a lot of autonomy.
3. I want to hear what others have to say.
4. I don't judge my conversation partners.
5. Conversation should be back and forth.
6. Conversation should be life-giving.

These 6 beliefs should guide you in having a productive conversation with someone.  Beliefs drive behavior, so if you truly believe these 6 beliefs, your behavior will follow suit.  Each week we will examine one of the beliefs and see how we can all have better conversations.

Tech Tip - Google Add On's

Using Google Add On's
Google Add On's are created by a third party and are great ways to do things with your Google Doc or Spreadsheet that you normally can't do with Google.  There are some awesome Add On's for educators.

To find the add on's, open a new document, look on the toolbar and you will see the "add on" tab.  Click it, and then go to "get add on's".  From there you can search a variety of Google Doc add on's.  To find the add on's in Sheets, follow the same process.

Google Add On Lists
15 Best Google Drive Add On's For Education from The CoolCat Teacher
10 Good Google Docs, Sheets, and Forms Add-Ons for Teachers from FreeTech4 Teachers

Presidential Election, Primary, Caucus Resources

Election Resources

As the presidential election has been in the news all week, here are a few resources to help kids understand the process of electing a president.  Understanding the process of electing a president will help your students better understand and comprehend news stories about the primary or caucus.  Many adults do not understand this process, so maybe you can teach your students something they can go home and teach mom and dad!

Scholastic - What is a Primary (From 2004 election so dates are wrong)

Ben's Guide to the US Government

Primary Elections Explained (YouTube Video)