MRVED Update - February 28, 2018

MRVED Business

The next MRVED Common Day is March 29. It will be held at the Dawson-Boyd Schools with George Couros as the keynote speaker. Registration for the March 29 common day opened on February 26. Just a reminder this will close on March 9 @ 4pm. Here is the link again to register. Registration Link

Upcoming Meetings

March 16-Title III Paras
March 23-Principal's Council
March 28- Superintendent's Council
March 29- George Couros (Common Day)

April 11- MRVED Board (Note DATE change)
April 20-Title III Teachers

Minnesota State Standards Update

There are going to be many changes in state standards in the upcoming school years.  Make your voice heard and apply to be on committees or attend town hall meetings.  If you have any questions, please let Brandon know.

Arts - 1st Draft in comment period until March 1 - Link (Don't miss the opportunity to comment)
ELA - Next review in 2019-20 School Year - Link
Health/PE - New Standards in 2018 - Link
Math - Next review in 2021-22 School Year - Link
Science - Next review in 2018-19 School Year - Link
Social Studies - Next review in 2020-21 School Year - Link

In short - you should see new standards in:
Science - 2019
ELA - 2020
Social Studies - 2021
Math  - 2022

Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health Annual Conference

When: April 15-17
Where: Duluth, MN
Who: Anyone who works with children

The MACMH Child & Adolescent Mental Health Conference features an awesome lineup of keynotes and breakout sessions.  It's one of those conferences that has a little bit of everything for everyone.  You can take advantage of early-bird pricing until March 8.

Conference Website

Tech Tip of the Week - Using Alexa in the Classroom

Over the past month I have had a couple teachers ask me for ideas on how to use an Amazon Echo (or Alexa) in the classroom.  My children each have an Echo Dot and they love it.  I enjoy sitting and listening to my 5 year old ask Alexa all sorts of questions.  We use ours so much that our 1 year old actually tries to tell Alexa what to do - from time to time the 1 year old will enunciate well enough that Alexa catches on.  Here are a couple things you can do with Alexa in your classroom and then a variety of links that will provide you with more ideas and/or skills to teach Alexa.

1. Set a timer
2. Random number generator
3. Roll dice
4. Flip a coin
4. Lookup a definition
5. Tell a joke
6. Ask for weather forecast
7. Set a reminder
8. Do math problems

Alexa Skills for the Classroom - Erin Ermis & Emma Kopitzke
Voice Commands for Alexa
Alexa: Your New Teacher Assistant - Dr. Bruce Ellis

The Innovator's Mindset - Embracing Open Culture

The chapter on embracing open culture is mostly about how to make meaningful connections.  One of my favorite quotes in this chapter is right at the beginning.  Couros says, "today, isolation is a choice educators make" (Couros 168).  This statement couldn't be more true.  Connectedness and collaboration should be the norm, not the exception.  With 24/7 access to experts on any topic, teaching in isolation should no longer happen.

I was reminded again the other day about the concept of 21st century skills and how many people still look at them and talk about them as if they are futuristic.  We just started the year 2018 - 18 years into the 21st century.  I think we can start talking about 21st century skills as if they are the skills our students need today.  The same goes for our teaching.  Are we still teaching as if we are in the 20th century?  Are we still in our silos?  Have we embraced the open culture of today?  Have we allowed our students to harness the open culture for learning?  Are we showing our students how to navigate the 21st century world of open culture?

Couros uses the examples of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc... to show how some schools have embraced this open culture.  Most teachers would agree, they learn best from other teachers.  There is a vast network of teachers on Twitter willing to share their content, teaching strategies, and ideas.  On Twitter, the information flows to you - you don't even have to search for it!  Couros talks in depth about how to make the learning in your classroom go viral.  He provides one example, and it phrases it in a question; "What if all teachers tweeted about one thing a day they did in their classrooms and took five minutes to read other teachers' tweets?" (Couros 177)  Think about that!  Think how powerful that could be.  Think about the ideas that could be generated.  That is an example of an open culture.

There is obviously much more to this chapter and I encourage anyone to read Innovator's Mindset before George Couros speaks with the MRVED on March 29th.