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Showing posts with label October 18. Show all posts
Showing posts with label October 18. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

MRVED Update

MRVED MELT 2018 Call for Presentation Proposals

The MRVED Educators Learning Together (MELT) conference will be held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School on January 15, 2018. To help make this conference the best ever, we need your help. The MRVED is looking for enthusiastic people willing to present on something great happening in your classroom. This can be anything from Google Drive to differentiation techniques in your classroom. Technology or no technology proposals are welcome. Presenters will be paid a small stipend for your work. You may submit as many presentation proposals as you wish.

We are especially looking for any Pre-K teachers willing to present!


**By filling out this form you are not committing to presenting, just providing the MRVED with your name and topic.**
2018 Call for Presentation Proposals Link

October 18 Information

The October 18, 2017 day of professional development is set up slightly different this year.  It is being held at two different locations, the Kilowatt Center and Yellow Medicine East High School, both in Granite Falls.

Administrators have designated PLC leaders from their district who will attend an all day Solution Tree training at the Kilowatt Center in Granite Falls.  Your agenda is as follows:

7:15 - 7:55 a.m.     Coffee and rolls
8:00 a.m. - Noon    Solution Tree training
​12:00 - 12:30 p.m.  Catered lunch
12:30 - 3:00 p.m.    Solution Tree training continues
​Please note that your start and ending times are different then the teachers who are attending at the Yellow Medicine East high school.  You start earlier and end later.

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The remaining staff will be attending a day of professional development at Yellow Medicine East High School.  Your agenda is as follows:

8:00 - 8:35 a.m.  Coffee, juice, cinnamon rolls, yogurt in the YME gym

In the morning you will be split into 2 groups.  One group will attend Kayla Delzer's presentation first and then attend a breakout session.  The 2nd group will do the opposite.

8:40 - 10:20 a.m. Kayla Delzer presentation or breakout session
10:30 - Noon        Kayla Delzer presentation or breakout session
12:00 - 12:50 p.m. Lunch provided by YME Food Service
1:00 - 2:30 p.m.     District time - your district will be planning the afternoon portion of this day.

Only staff attending at Yellow Medicine East High School need to register.  Registration closes this Friday, October 6 at midnight.  Any questions on registration, contact Mary Brown at mbrown@mrved.net or 320-269-9297.

For those of you attending the PLC training, we are videotaping Kayla Delzer's presentation and will be posting it on a private youtube site.  Your district will receive information on how to access this presentation.

Tech Tip of the Week - PBS Learning Media

PBS Learning Media is THE destination for high-quality, trusted digital content and solutions that inspire students and transform learning. Developed in partnership with the WGBH Educational Foundation and supported by public media stations nationwide, PBS LearningMedia engages educators and learners at all levels with content from America’s #1 Educational Media Brand.

There are over 100,000 resources in this database for ALL grade levels.  From documents, to short video clips, to actual lesson plans and activities.  PBS Learning Media is a rich, FREE resource for any classroom!


Fire Prevention Week Resources

Fire Prevention Week is observed October 8-14 this year.  The theme is "Every Second Counts, Plan 2 Ways Out".  The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has some excellent resources to share with your classroom and with your community.  Even if you don't bring any of this into your classroom, it is good information for you and your family.


Innovator's Mindset

We continue our series on The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros.  This week we will talk about Chapter 2, which is titled, The Innovator's Mindset.

Couros starts by talking about one of the most impactful books I have ever read, Mindset by Carol Dweck.  Before I started the book, I anticipated, due to the title, Couros would bring Dweck's work into the conversation.  Dweck talked about the difference between a fixed and growth mindset.  With a growth mindset the learner believes that with hard work and practice you can learn anything.  Your intelligence is not "fixed", you are capable of learning anything.

Combine the definition of a growth mindset with that of what it means to be an innovator and you get someone that believes that they can learn anything and develop something that is new or better.  With this combination, you get the Innovator's Mindset.

Couros also talks about failure in this chapter.  He talks about failure being part of the innovation process, but cautions against focusing too much on failure.  Couros says, "Having the freedom to fail is important to innovation.  But even more important to the process are the traits of resiliency and grit."  This is so important!  Nobody will ever remember you for the 1,000 failures you have, they remember you for the 1 time you got it right.  The innovator still needs to persevere through the process and succeed.

Couros mentions many other things in this chapter, but I highly suggest you purchase the book and follow along.  Couros will be our keynote speaker for the common day this Spring!




Wednesday, September 20, 2017

MRVED Update

MRVED MELT 2018 Call for Presentation Proposals

The MRVED Educators Learning Together (MELT) conference will be held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School on January 15, 2018. To help make this conference the best ever, we need your help. The MRVED is looking for enthusiastic people willing to present on something great happening in your classroom. This can be anything from Google Drive to differentiation techniques in your classroom. Technology or no technology proposals are welcome. Presenters will be paid a small stipend for your work. You may submit as many presentation proposals as you wish.

We are especially looking for any Pre-K teachers willing to present!


**By filling out this form you are not committing to presenting, just providing the MRVED with your name and topic.**
2018 Call for Presentation Proposals Link


October 18 Common Day

Be looking for information on the October 18 Common Day held at Yellow Medicine East in the very near future.  Here is a brief synopsis of the day.

Training for PLC Leaders at the Kilowatt Community Center in Granite Falls.  This training will be from 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. and will be facilitate by Jack Baldermann, consultant with Solution Tree.

For people who are not PLC Leaders, Kayla Delzer will be a keynote speaker at Yellow Medicine East High School.  Kayla will be speaking to half the teachers in a 90 minute session, while the other half of the teachers are attending breakout sessions.  After 90 minutes the groups will flip-flop.  The afternoon will be spent in district teams, facilitated by your districts.

Be looking for more specific information in your email in the coming weeks.



Innovator's Mindset Series - Chapter 1

This week we will start the series over the book Innovator's Mindset by George Couros.  The series will feature some information from the chapters with my (Brandon's) own take on what it all means.  I highly suggest buying this book, it's a quick read and really makes you think.  Not to mention, George Couros will be our keynote speaker at the Spring common day.

Chapter 1 - What Innovation is and isn't
The chapter starts off with a very good example of Blockbuster going under because they were unwilling to give up an outdated business model (nobody rents movies from stores anymore...everything is streamed).  Basically, innovate or die!

We work in a world where the same holds true.  We need to either innovate our practices or education as we know it may die.  Think about what the Internet has done to the movie industry, it changed it ten-fold.  Think about what it should be doing to education!

The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by [Couros, George]Couros defines innovation as a way of thinking that creates something new and better (pg 19).  Couros puts emphasis on the "new & better" part, whereas, I also think that "thinking" should also be emphasized.  Couros says, "when we think differently about the things that we are used to seeing daily, we can create innovative learning opportunities" (pg 25).  True innovation is taking an idea, thinking deeply about it, and moving forward in hopes it creates a new and better experience for someone.  Often times, we forget about the "better" piece.  You may innovate a practice, but did it really make it better?  For example, a teacher believes they are innovative for scanning their worksheets and providing them to the students online.  This practice is #1 not innovative and #2 does not automatically make the experience better for the students.

Innovation is not simply doing something differently (see example above).  It's a way of thinking that keeps the interests of both the teacher and student in mind.  If it's not a solution that is better for both parties, it isn't innovative.

Questions to consider (pg 27)
1. What is an example of a practice that you consider to be innovative?  How is it new or better than what you did before?



Tech Tip

Google Classroom is gaining in popularity in our classrooms.  Not only for the ease of using Google Drive, but also organization & communication.  Google is constantly updating and changing things within their platform.  Use this website to see what was updated last month, and you can even look back to the updates over the summer.  If you are an avid user, you may not even know some of these features exist!

Google Classroom Updates




Article - How the Google Suite Can Enhance Open-Ended Math Exploration

This article was sent to me and offers some great talking/thinking points about visualization in the math classroom.  I think there are some great ideas in here for both elementary and high school as well as other content areas.  Give it a quick glance today!

How the Google Suite Can Enhance Open-Ended Math Exploration Article


MRVED Meetings
September 29, 2017 - Title III Paras
October 25, 2017 - Superintendents' Council
October 27, 2017 - Principals' Council
November 8, 2017 - Joint Principals' & TAC