MRVED Update - February 3, 2021

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

February 5, 2021 - Principals' Council 

February 10, 2021 - MRVED Board

February 19, 2021 - Title III Teachers

February 24, 2021 - Superintendents' Council

MDE Science Call with MRVED Recap

John Olson from MDE met with MRVED teachers on January 18. John talked about implementation timelines and standards rollout.

John shared the following documents

MDE Science Documents

Social Studies Standards Update

The 2nd draft of new Minnesota Social Studies standards was scheduled to be released sometime in February has been delayed until spring. MDE cites the reason for the delay is for MDE and the committee to review a "significant" number of public comments. With this delay, it was subsequently delay the final adoption of the standards into next school year. The first draft of the standards can be found by going to the MDE Social Studies website. It is high recommended that if you are a teacher and/or parent of school-aged children that you review the document to become fully informed of the proposed changes. The next public comment period will be available after the review of the 2nd draft this spring.

Hot Topics

Grading During the Pandemic

Talking with educators, one of the common questions many people are wrestling with is "How do I grade kids during the pandemic?" With gaps in learning, kids at different spots academically, some kids learning from at home, etc...How do you fairly grade everyone and everything? Below you will find a short, but powerful article from Joe Feldman and Doug Reeves.

ASCD Educational Leadership Article on Grading

Children's Screen Time Has Soared During the Pandemic

The headline is probably not shocking to anyone, but as we revert back to "normalcy" what effect has all this screen time had on our kids? The New York Times published an article in mid January about this very topic. It is a very thought-provoking piece, one that has ramifications in the classroom. How do we "detox" our kids from their screen time addiction?

Children's Screen Time Has Soared During the Pandemic - Matt Richtel

Technology

13 Virtual Games to Play in Your Elementary Classroom

Now that many of our elementary schools are back to in-person learning, the question now shifts to, "How can we utilize the at home devices effectively in our classrooms"? Here is a great article from Emelina Minero from Edutopia with 13 virtual games for the elementary classroom.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/13-virtual-games-play-your-elementary-classroom