MRVED Update - January 11, 2023

MRVED Business

MRVED Meetings

Monday, January 16th - MELT @ LqPV

Tuesday, January 17th - Community Education Directors

Wednesday, January 25th - Superintendents' Council

Thursday, February 2nd - Teachers' Advisory Council

Friday, February 3rd - Principals' Advisory Council

Friday, February 10th - Title III Teachers

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us at the MRVED. We hope that 2023 will be a great year for you and your students. We know it's been a slow start for many of you with snow days. Our hope is that Mother Nature has purged the snow from her system and we will have an uninterrupted rest of the school year.

MELT Information

The MELT conference is once again knocking on our doorstep!  

The MELT (MRVED Educators Learning Together) is only days away. MELT is held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School. The conference has over 600 individuals registered with around 100 sessions throughout the day!

Please look over these important points regarding the conference:

• First and Foremost, the WEATHER POLICY: If the weather is inclement, any cancellation or delay relating to the MELT will be posted by 6:00 am on the WCCO website under ‘School Closings’. We will be listed under MRVED (just the initials). This will also be posted on WCCO’s TV channel (CBS). It will also be listed on our MRVED website at http://www.mrved.com under “Latest News”.

• Enter through Door #5 (follow the walkway to the left of the eagle statue). The door has the number “5” on it.

• Be sure to stop by the registration table in the commons area to pick up your registration packet (personalized agenda with session selections, room numbers, clock hours, and lunch ticket, if applicable). We have over 600 people picking up packets, so if you would say your name when it is your turn or simply find your own registration, it will go that much faster.

• Breakfast will be available when you arrive, compliments of your administration. Breakfast will be available until 8:40 a.m.

• The first session will start promptly at 8:40 a.m.

• Please DO NOT switch sessions as the sessions become overcrowded and there will not be enough seating for everyone.

• Coats - The bleachers will be down in the gym for you to leave your coat. Please pick up your coat after lunch and bring it with you to your last session as the janitorial staff will begin cleaning up.

• Dress in layers. The commons area (morning refreshments and lunch) could be cool because the main doors are there and people are always coming and going. In addition, some of the rooms could be warm or cool depending on the number of people in the session.

• Coffee and hot water for tea/hot chocolate (you must bring your own tea bags and/or hot chocolate packets) will be available all morning in the commons area.

• Lunch - There will be 2 lines so that lunch can be served in a timely fashion. Both lines will form around the outer edges of the commons area, NOT down the middle. You MUST have your lunch ticket to go through the line. If you have misplaced it, see Katie Raymo at the registration table.

• If you are not eating the meal provided by LqPV, we suggest you bring a bag lunch. Per Minnesota Department of Health regulations, bag lunches CAN NOT be stored in the school’s cooler/refrigerator. Food CAN NOT be heated up in the school’s kitchen either. You may either carry your lunch with you or leave it in the gym with your jacket. The school is out in the country and nearby towns are not close enough to allow you to drive there, eat a relaxing lunch, and return in time for the afternoon session which begins promptly at 1:00 p.m.

• Please be aware that there is poor cell phone reception inside of LqPV school.

• An electronic evaluation will be sent out on Tuesday, January 17th. Please complete it as soon as possible. We listen to your suggestions and feedback.

• If you are attending a networking session during the day, remember there is no “expert” presenting at these sessions. This is a time for you to bring items (websites, lessons, apps, projects, etc.) to share with others. The facilitators in these sessions are simply to provide guidance and order to the session.

• There will be rooms available for nursing moms. Check with Pam Weber, in the high school principal’s office, for availability.

• Here are the session times in case you are not arriving right away in the morning.

            o Session 1: 8:40-9:40 a.m.

            o Session 2: 9:55-10:55 a.m.

            o Session 3: 11:10-12:10 p.m.

            o Session 4: 1:00-2:00 p.m.

• There will be students located throughout the building to assist you in getting around the building.

• The students will be selling pop and candy in the hallways for your convenience.

• There will be press at the conference taking photographs or video. Presenters may be taking photographs or videos as well.

• We ask for your patience and understanding in the case that a presenter(s) becomes ill at the last minute.

We are looking forward to a great MELT!

#WeAreMRVED

MRVED Meeting Updates - Weather Woes

The Teachers Advisory Council (TAC) and Principal Advisory Council were set to meet in December. However, due to school being cancelled in all the MRVED districts on those days, these meeting were not held. The TAC meeting was rescheduled to January 11th. The group will be discussing and devising a plan for the April MRVED common in-service day. The principal meeting was not rescheduled. The Superintendents met briefly during their regularly scheduled monthly meeting, but the meeting was cut short due to many schools releasing early due to snow and wind. We are crossing our fingers that all our snow days are behind us and it's sunny and 75 very soon!

MN ELA and Math Standards Update

ELA

Rulemaking Public Comment Period for Proposed K–12 Academic Standards in ELA

The public comment period for ELA’s Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR) in the statutory rulemaking process started on Wednesday, Dec. 28, and will run for 30 days, closing on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 4:30 p.m. To provide feedback on the standards as a part of the statutory rulemaking process during this period of Dual Notice, review the Request for Comments document posted on the MDE rulemaking webpage for the proposed Minnesota K–12 Academic Standards in English Language Arts. Comments must be submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings’ e-comments system.

Next Steps in the Statutory Rulemaking Process

The next step of the statutory rulemaking process is that MDE will review the public comments submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) during the 30-day statutory public comment period. If there are 25 requests for a hearing to discuss the K–12 Academic Standards in ELA, a public hearing will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Math

Rulemaking Public Comment Period for Proposed K–12 Academic Standards in Mathematics

The initial public comment period in the statutory rulemaking process began on Wednesday, Dec. 28, and will run for 60 days, closing on Monday, Feb. 27, at 4:30 p.m. To provide feedback on the standards as a part of the statutory rulemaking process review the Request for Comments document posted on the MDE rulemaking webpage for the proposed K–12 Academic Standards in Mathematics. Comments must be submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings’ e-comments system.

Additional Public Comment Period for Mathematics Benchmarks

The public comment period on the supporting benchmarks will last 30 days and will close on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 4:30 p.m. To provide feedback on the benchmarks as a part of MDE’s public comment process, complete this Public Comment Survey or email mde.academic-standards@state.mn.us. Comments sent via postal mail will also be accepted.

Next Steps in the Statutory Rulemaking Process

It is still early in the statutory rulemaking phase of the standards review and revision process. There are multiple opportunities throughout this phase for the public to make comments and provide feedback on the proposed standards language and for changes to be considered and made to the initial proposed standards draft. Learn more about the K–12 Academic Standards Development Process.

The next step of the statutory rulemaking process is that MDE will review the public comments submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) during the 60-day statutory public comment period. Next, MDE will draft the Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR), which has traditionally taken 14-17 months. The full statutory rulemaking process can take up to 24 months.

The statutory rulemaking process for the Minnesota K–12 Academic Standards in Mathematics is not complete until the Notice of Adoption is published in the State Register. Each content areas includes an implementation date in the adopted rule language. If adopted, the proposed K–12 Academic Standards in Mathematics will be implemented in the 2027-28 school year.

Resource of the Month

Minnesota Questions Tool

The Minnesota Questions Tool (MQT) provides access to the released questions from past MCAs (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) in math and reading across all grade levels. The MQT includes released items for Science MCA IV in grades 5, 8, and HS.

Users can search questions by standard, benchmark, and grade; read rationales for correct/incorrect answers; review student performance data; and download questions for use in planning classroom assessments and instruction.

• The questions in the MQT are provided as examples of questions that probe students’ knowledge and skills of a specific content area in different ways
• a way to see how our students have performed on the question

In order to maintain test security and ensure validity of results, a certain number of questions must be kept secure and are not released for public use. The released questions in this tool do not represent a complete assessment that meets the blueprint outlined in the test specifications, including the range of cognitive skills assessed and difficulty level. These questions are not intended to be used as practice tests for future MCA assessments. Rather, they are intended to support educators in understanding how the academic standards are assessed on the MCA, to help identify student misconceptions, and to provide examples of questions that assess student understanding at different DOK (Depth of Knowledge) levels

Interesting Read

The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2022

I found this article posted on Edutopia and compiled by Youki Terada and Stephen Merrill interesting because it covers a variety of different topics of significance to the world of education. There are studies on effective highlighting to understanding and using brain breaks in the classroom. I highly suggest glancing at the article and then digging deeper into one of the topics that interests you.

The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2022 by Youki Terada and Stephen Merrill

EL Resource

Language Objectives for English Learners

Teachers and administrators are familiar with content objectives, that is the specific content that will be taught in the lesson. There are also Language Objectives that can be written for the purpose of supporting Multilingual Learners (MLs, English Learners). The purpose of Language Objectives is to articulate for learners the academic language and skills they will need to fully participate and meet the grade-level content standards (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

Writing Language Objectives

• Language Objectives involve one of the four domains of language, speaking, listening, reading, or writing
• Considerations when writing Language Objectives
• Choose key vocabulary, concept words, and other academic words
• Think about language functions (how will students be using the language?) and language skills
• What task or assignment will the students be completing after the lesson? What language will they need to be successful?

Objective Examples

(https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-objectives-key-effective-content-area-instruction-english-learners)

MRVED Update - March 17, 2021

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

March 18, 2021 - Title III (Virtual)

March 19, 2021 - Principals' Council (Virtual)

March 25, 2021 - Superintendents' Council

April 1, 2021 - MRVED Common Inservice (Virtual)

April 1 Common Day

With warmer weather on the horizon, April 1st will be here before we know it. The MRVED will continue to work towards our Social Emotional Learning goals for our common days. Since we can't all come together again, the MRVED is creating a website that will include SEL activities, as well as a handful of webinars that teachers can watch with specific discussion questions. Teachers are encouraged to utilize the activities and/or videos in groups (PLC, Grade Level, Content Area). There are some excellent, high quality activities, and videos for teachers to access. Look for the website roughly a week prior to the event.

Also, as part of the April 1st date, the MRVED will be piloting an idea to try to effectively collaborate amongst our districts from a distance. The collaborative time will take place between 10:00-12:00 on April 1st. Instead of the MRVED controlling which virtual platform will be used, we are leaving that up to the teachers who wish to start a collaborative meeting. Teachers will have the power to decide what and when they want to collaborate, all you have to do is place a video call link into the document listed below. Please have your collaborative group and link listed on the document no later than Friday, March 26 at 3:00 PM.

If you wish to collaborate around a certain topic, or grade level, or even content area, please sign-up using the document linked below. 

Collaboration Zone Sign-Up

Look for more information from your district pertaining to a schedule for the day. The SEL videos and activities can take place at any time during the day or even after. The Collaboration Zone will take place from 10:00-12:00 on April 1st.

Professional Learning Opportunities

The Hormel Foundation Gifted and Talented Symposium

The annual Hormel Foundation Gifted and Talented Education Symposium provides an opportunity for educators, counselors, administrators and parents to gain greater understanding of the unique needs of gifted and high potential learners. Participants attend in-depth sessions focusing on foundational knowledge, creativity, curriculum strategies, and social/emotional needs of gifted and high potential learners provided by the field's finest regionally, nationally and internationally recognized presenters. All are welcome to register and attend the symposium.

When: June 15-17, 2021

Where: Virtual

Registration: $100

Website & Registration Link

What Have We Learned From COVID - 1 Year Later

As we soar past the 1 year anniversary of COVID-19 shutting down our schools, I have begun pondering the question, "What have we learned?" I have also wondered what aspects of COVID teaching will we take with us into the future? What things will we leave behind? What shifts have we made? The questions go on and on. As I was thinking about this, a very succinct article about this very topic scrolled past my Twitter feed, so I thought I would share it here. I would like to hear your thoughts about what we have learned one year later.

Five Things we Learned about Schools during the Pandemic by Chalkbeat

Resources

Supporting Students During the Derek Chauvin Trial

The upcoming trial of Derek Chauvin might be one of the biggest trials in the lives of your students. This case has the potential to be as big as the OJ Simpson case, although the contents of the trial are much different. The one thing we, as educators, need to remain cognizant of is how different groups of people will react to the trial and eventually the verdict. Some people will simply ignore the trial and not want to talk about it in their classrooms. Others will see this trial as a teachable moment for our students. With the contents of the trial being racially charged, it's important that we provide accurate information as it is presented. Intermediate District 287 has put together a variety of resources about supporting students through the trial. The bottom line is that as educators, we don't need to force our opinions of the trial on to our students. Our job is to support them through their emotions about the trial as well as provide them with accurate information. You can sign-up to receive updates about the trial by going to the trial website.

New Test Specifications for English Language Arts & Science

With new standards released the past couple years in Science and English Language Arts (ELA), means a new MCA test eventually. The ELA test will first be administered in the 2024-25 school year and the first administration of the Science test will be the 2023-24 school year. With each test, MDE must create a test specifications document. This document in the legislatively controlled document that guides the test creation. You can access the drafts of the new ELA and Science Test Specifications below. Please note, both documents are still considered to be in "draft".

Reading Test Specifications

Science Test Specifications

MRVED Update - September 9, 2020

Upcoming Meetings

September 9, 2020 - MRVED Board Meeting (Virtual)

September 17, 2020 - Teachers' Advisory Council Meeting (Virtual)

September 18, 2020 - Principals' Advisory Council Meeting (Virtual)

September 23, 2020 - Superintendents' Council Meeting

September 25, 2020 - Title III Teachers' Meeting

Welcome Back

Welcome back to the 2020-2021 school year! We hope you had a rejuvenating summer and were able to put school in the rearview mirror for a little while. Last year was tough and this year looks to be just as difficult. Please know that the MRVED is here to provide support for you and your district wherever/whenever we can. If there is anything we can do, please do not hesitate to ask. Many times, if we don't have the expertise to help in a certain area, we can direct you to someone who does. Although this year looks to be just as challenging as last school year, know that you are surrounded by many people that support the tough work you are doing every day.

As with everything else, the MRVED Common In-Service days will most likely look a little different. The October date will feature a keynote message by Carla Tantillo Philibert. More information will be coming on the October date. The MELT Conference in January will still happen, however it will look different and offer virtual options. The April 1 date is a long ways off and our Teacher Advisory Council will be developing a plan throughout this fall.

The MRVED Common In-Service Dates

October 14, 2020 - Virtual

January 18, 2021 - MELT (TBD)

April 1, 2021 - TBD

MRVED Paraprofessional Conference Recap

On August 19, 2020, the MRVED hosted their first ever virtual conference for the paraprofessionals. The day started with a keynote by Carla Tantillo Philibert from Mindful Practices. Carla spoke about the importance of SEL and provided the paraprofessionals with a handful of awesome strategies they can use with their students. Teachers will have the opportunity to see Carla virtually during the October common inservice. After the keynote, the paraprofessionals participated in a handful of breakout sessions from trauma to good posture when working online to math and reading support. Overall the day went really well. The MRVED staff learned much about hosting a virtual conference and look to make improvements for each event. A huge thank you to our presenters, participants, and Katie in the MRVED office for handling registration and questions. You are all ROCKSTARS!

Minnesota Standards Update

Minnesota is in the middle of a massive standard review process. I thought it worthwhile to take a look at where each content area is at on the Minnesota Department of Education Timeline

Arts - Revised in 2018 - Was making its way through rulemaking to determine implementation. 2018 Standards

Science - Revised in 2019. Approved by the commissioner in 2020. Still in rulemaking to determine implementation. Commissioner recommends full implementation by 2023-24. 2019 Standards

Language Arts - Revised in 2020. Awaiting commissioner approval. Implementation will be made in rulemaking this year. 2020 ELA Standards Draft

Social Studies - Revised this year. Review Timeline

Math - Will be revised in 2021. 

Physical Education - Revised/adopted SHAPE America's in 2017. Reviewed every 10 years.

Health, Career and Technical Education, and World Languages - Established locally

Distance Learning Tool of the Week - Google Meet Breakout Rooms

If you are looking for a way to do breakout rooms within Google Meet, try the Google Meet Breakout Rooms extension. If you are looking for more information on how this works, join the Google Meet Breakout Rooms Facebook Group or visit the website.

MRVED Update - March 4, 2020

Upcoming Meetings

March 20, 2020 - Title III Paraprofessionals

March 25, 2020 - Superintendents' Council

March 27, 2020 - Principals' Council

April 3, 2020 - Title III Teachers

April 7, 2020 - Community Education Directors

April 9, 2020 - MRVED Common Inservice Day at Dawson-Boyd Schools

April 9, 2020 - MRVED Common Inservice Day

MRVED's spring Common Inservice Day is quickly approaching!  It will be held on Thursday, April 9, 2020, in Dawson at the Dawson-Boyd school.  The morning keynote speaker is Carla Tantillo Philibert.  Please watch for the registration link to be sent out on Thursday, March 12, 2020.  The registration link will come from your principals.  Registration will close on Thursday, March 26, 2020.  If you have a student teacher this spring, please make sure you register your student teacher.

April 9, 2020 Schedule:

8:00 a.m. - 8:35 a.m.:  Registration and Breakfast (Compliments of the administrators)
8:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.:  Carla Tantillo Philibert (Self-Care Strategies)
11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.:  Lunch (Catered by Trish Kruger Katering)
11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.: Carla Tantillo Philibert (Group 1) and Tanya Yerigan (Group 2)
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Carla Tantillo Philibert (Group 2) and Tanya Yerigan (Group 1)

Staff will see both Carla Tantillo Philibert and Tanya Yerigan in the two afternoon breakout sessions on self-care strategies.

Registrants will receive an email one week prior to the inservice with detailed information for the day.  Everyone will also receive a personalized agenda/CEU at the registration table on the day of the inservice.

Professional Development

Public Comment on Draft #2 of the English Language Arts Standards

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is soliciting public opinion as part of the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in ELA Education Revision process. This is the second of three drafts. The results will be reviewed by the ELA Standards Review Committee and will be used for preparing the third draft, which will be presented to the Commissioner of Education in May, 2020.

Additional information regarding the standards process and the assumptions for the committee are posted on the MDE website under English Language Arts Standards. To complete this survey, refer to the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in ELA Education, Draft Two documents on the MDE ELA page at https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/ela/. This survey closes on March 6, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. CST.

Survey Link

Twitter for Educators

Twitter can be an awesome professional development tool for any professional.  There is a whole world of ideas out there just for you on Twitter.  Matt Miller does a great job of explaining Twitter and providing lists of people and hashtags to follow.  A Beginners Guide to Twitter for Educators by Matt Miller.

I participate in #smsutlap.  It gives me the ability to grow as a professional as well as spark conversation for upcoming teachers to consider.  Just by clicking on the #smsutlap link, it will take you to an archive of the chats.  If you are available during their class, stop in and just say hi!

Tyson Fury on Mental Health

I came across this the other day and thought it was worth sharing.  Even if you don't know the story of Tyson Fury, it's worth the watch.  The importance to of asking for help and doing what we can to stop the stigma behind asking for help.  If Tyson Fury, the best boxer in the world, can ask for help, anyone can!

Book Study - Sanctuaries - Self-Care

We will start the section on self-care in Dan Tricarico's book, Sanctuaries.  My thoughts and reflection on these chapters are, in no way, a replacement for buying the book and reading it.  I will admit that a book on self-care is not high up on my list of things to read.  It's simply out of my comfort zone.  However, it has been a very beneficial read.

The first chapter in this section hit home to me.  It is titled, "The Busy Choice".  Think of a conversation you have had with someone recently.  Did either of you talk about how busy you are?  There is a good chance that schedules and obligations were talked about.  We compete with one another to become the most busy person.  Stop and think about how ridiculous that sounds!  If I am more busy than you, what do I get?  You get more stress!  But we wear our busyness as a badge of honor.  However, if you examine your schedule, everything you have to get done, or places you have to get to, is all a choice...your choice.  I know many of you are saying, "no I don't have a choice".  But yes you do!  The majority of things on your calendar are a choice.  Your job, running kids to basketball practice, volunteering at the church, shopping, etc...  Seeing your schedule as a choice doesn't make it any easier to schedule things, but it is a mindset and can drastically change how you schedule things.

Tricarico then goes on to talk about making tiny shifts in your life.  I liken the idea to a diet.  When we start a diet, it is usually a drastic change in how and what we eat.  But if we make a tiny shift in our diet - say take out 1 piece of bread per day, it is more likely we will create the habit.  The problem with making a massive shift is that we hit a roadblock and go back to the way we did things.  With tiny shifts, roadblocks are easier to move, get around, or go through.

The last chapter is titled, "Your Mental Mix Tape".  We all remember making the mix tapes of our favorite songs we played over and over again.  We need to create our own "mental mix tape" of positive thoughts to play in our minds over and over again.  We need to tell ourselves that we are smart enough, pretty enough, etc...  We need to play that "mental mix tape" in our minds over and over again all day long.

MRVED Update - November 20, 2019

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

November 17, 2019 - Superintendents' Council Meeting

December 3, 2019 - Community Education Directors' Meeting

December 6, 2019 - Title III Teachers' Meeting

December 11, 2019 - MRVED Board Meeting (6:00 p.m.)

December 12, 2019 - Teacher Advisory Meeting

December 13, 2019 - Principals' Council Meeting

December 18, 2019 - Superintendents' Council Meeting

MELT Update:  January 20, 2020

MELT 2020 is quickly approaching and the MRVED staff has been working hard to ensure everyone has a beneficial educational conference!   There are approximately 30 sessions to choose from each hour.  As always, there are numerous new sessions offered this year, as well as some favorite sessions from years past.  Some groups will also have an opportunity to network.  

Please note that there will be a 'Cultural Competency Training'.  This is a new session and is a two hour session that will be offered once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  This will fill up fast!  Seating is limited and the session will be closed once it reaches maximum capacity.   

Registration:  

The MELT brochure will be sent to you on Thursday, December 5th.  The registration link will open on Tuesday, December 10th at 7:30 a.m.  Your principal will forward you the email with the brochure and registration link.  Principals, please keep your eyes out for this email and send it out as soon as possible.  The registration link will also be available on our MRVED website under "Latest News" - www.mrved.com.

Again, we CANNOT stress enough the importance of registering as early as possible.  Once you register for your sessions, you WILL NOT be able to switch sessions.  With over 650 registrants, it becomes difficult to make all of those changes correctly.  Thank you for your understanding!

English Language Arts Standards Update:

1st Draft of New Minnesota ELA Standards

The First Draft of the English Language Arts (ELA) Standards represents the work of the ELA Standards review committee. This group of 32 individuals includes K-12 teachers, administrators, college faculty, representatives of educational organizations, and community members. The committee membership, timeline and assumptions that guide their work are found on the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) ELA webpage, [https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/ela/].

We encourage you to provide feedback and comments about this draft of the standards via the online feedback survey from November 11 – December 6. Town Hall Meetings are scheduled at several locations across the state. These meetings provide background about the standards revision process and provide an opportunity for input. The survey and the meeting schedule are posted at the above link.

The second draft of the standards will be published in February and the final draft will be available in May. The final draft will be available for planning purposes and the standards become law through the Minnesota rulemaking process. More information on the standards development process is at the MDE English Language Arts (ELA) webpage linked above.

Minnesota Statutes require that there be statements of standards and benchmarks. Anchor Standards are a summary description of student learning. The Kindergarten - Grade 12 benchmarks identify the learning that is to be accomplished by all students by the end of each grade.

Professional Development

SEL Movies

If you are looking for something inspiring to watch this holiday season, Love Them First by KARE11 and Paper Tigers are two excellent movies that will pull at your heart strings.

Love Them First
With unprecedented access over the course of a year, Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary follows the determination of a charismatic north Minneapolis school principal, Mauri Melander Friestleben, as she sets out to undo history. Not only does Minnesota have the largest achievement gap between black and white children in the United States, Friestleben faced another seemingly impossible obstacle, with Lucy Laney at the bottom of the state's list of underperforming schools for two decades. Under Friestleben's leadership, standardized test scores from most black students began rising for the first time, but when the school encounters a heartbreaking setback, Friestleben is forced to confront the true measure of student success at Lucy Laney. It's a story of inspiration, heartbreak, perseverance, and the power of love.

Paper Tigers

Paper Tigers follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence, and disease that affect families.

Book Study

Lead Like a Pirate - Chapters 13-17

As we continue through Lead Like a Pirate, this is a reminder that my synopsis of the chapters in no way should take away from reading the book.  This is simply my thoughts on each chapter in hopes of getting you to think and reflect on your own leadership style.

Chapter 13 is all about change.  How do we change without capsizing our ship?  This is a question all leaders ask themselves.  How much & what type of change can my organization endure before the ship tips?  George Couros says in the Innovator's Mindset that "Change is an opportunity to do something amazing".  Any time we introduce something new, whether it be in the classroom or districtwide, we need to be deliberate about our steps and clear about our goals and expectations.  If you don't have the trust of your crew, then you need to work that much harder to help them see the end.  A crew that has trust in a captain, will blindly follow.  But a crew that doesn't trust the captain, needs to see what the end looks like.

Chapter 14 was a quick read.  It talks about putting faces and stories to the data and/or change you are trying to implement.  Think about a time when you were in a staff meeting and someone was throwing around data at you like crazy...25% of our kids are ELL, 30% are SPED, etc...  In order for people to get emotionally tied to the data, we have to put faces and stories to these numbers.  That is what will motivate people to change...stories and people, not numbers.

Chapter 15 is all about utilizing social media to tell your story.  This is a topic I have had numerous conversations around.  The number one thing I tell people, and it is reiterated in Lead Like a Pirate is, "If you aren't telling your own story, other people will".  Control your story as a school, as a classroom, as an activity.  Show and tell people what you are doing.  Because if you don't, other people will and it might not be the story you want told.  I think it goes without being said that any social media platform is a good place to tell your story.

Chapter 16 & 17 talk about doing what is best for kids and professional development.  Bottom line, we must be doing things that are in the best interest of our clientele, the kids.  I once heard a quote that made me really stop and think, "School was created for kids to get an education, not for adults to be employed".  Whether it's bringing in the latest PBIS strategy or sitting through a professional development session on bloodborne pathogens, everything must be done with a "kids first" mentality.