The next Common Day is March 29 in Dawson-Boyd with George Couros as the keynote speaker. The day will start with breakfast (compliments of the administrators) and everyone will break off into district time to prep for Couros before attending his presentation. Everyone will receive a personalized agenda when they arrive so they know where to go and when. The full schedule:
- 9-9:45 District Time-Staff Prep for George Couros
- 10-11:45 George Couros Keynote Speaker
- 11:45-12:30 Lunch
- 12:30-1:30 Elementary with George Couros
- Secondary in District Time
- 1:30-2:30 Secondary with George Couros
- Elementary in District Time
March 16- Title III Paras
March 23-Principle Meeting
March 28- Superintendent Meeting
March 29-George Couros (Common Day)
April 11- MRVED Board
April 20- Title III Teachers
April 25-Superintendent Meeting
MREA News
The Minnesota Rural Education Association (MREA) offers districts a great news resource on their website. MREA does an excellent job at informing districts on legislative and school issues. Spend a couple minutes getting caught up on the latest in Minnesota education news by going to the news section of the MREA website.
Science Standards Review Committee Applications
Committee members will represent teachers, administrators, professors, scientists, business and
community. It will have geographic and diversity distribution. We especially encourage you to recruit
scientists and community members that could make a contribution.
The committee will meet approximately monthly from August through April, for full day sessions.
Applicants will have to commit to the full schedule of committee meetings. Technical writing teams
(mostly teachers) will meet more frequently and likely electronically. The committee schedule and
assumptions guiding the committee work will be posted at the same site. The review process and
considerations are described in a series of articles at the MnSTA Science Standards page. The deadline for submitting applications is April 13. Contact John.C.Olson@state.mn.us for questions.
5 Parent Resources to Support Children in Being Safe & Responsible Digital Citizens
In our ever more connected world, it becomes even more important that we are teaching our kids how to navigate the vast reaches of the internet. Tech & Learning came out with a list of 5 resources you can send home with parents or students to support them in keeping the kids safe online.5 Digital Citizenship Resources for Parents
Innovator's Mindset - Create Meaningful Learning Experiences for Educators
This chapter is a great reminder that if we expect our students to be self-guided learners, we ourselves need to follow suit. We need to take control of our own professional learning. Will Richardson says, "Kids wouldn't wait for a blogging workshop. Adults shouldn't either" (Couros, 184).Couros takes the same graphic from a previous chapter about 8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom and applies it to professional development. If we want things to change, our professional development needs to look different. Couros states, "...if lectures and traditional staff meetings ar the only way we try to improve the profession, we are more likely to maintain the status quo than move forward." (Couros 182)
The 8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom (Professional Development) are as follows (read the chapter to get examples from Couros).
1. Voice - Being able to share ideas
2. Choice - Choosing what to learn
3. Time for Reflection - Time to reflect on learning
4. Opportunities for Innovation - Time to be innovative and support
5. Critical Thinking - Questioning the status quo
6. Problem Finders/Solvers - Not only solve problems, but find problems that exist
7. Self-Assessment - Being able to assess if we are doing things correctly
8. Connected Learning - Being connected to others
Bottom line is that we expect our students to be innovative, but our students will never be innovative if our teachers, administrators, and schools are not innovative. Our schools need to take the same approach we want our teachers taking with their students. Couros says it best, "...people need to move from their point A to their point B. Learning doesn't happen by simply distributing information" (Couros 199). These are two critical pieces of information to understanding innovation and progress. We are all at different points, so the important thing is that we are able to go from our point A to our point B. Learning and innovation will not happen by providing a staff meeting on innovation, people need to experience it. Couros offers a variety of ideas on how to do that in this chapter.
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