MRVED Update, November 11, 2020

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

November 13, 2020 - Virtual Title III Paraprofessionals

November 18, 2020 - Virtual Principals/Teachers' Advisory Council

         *Please note the 3:15 p.m. start time!

November 20, 2020 - Virtual Title III Teachers

November 25, 2020 - Virtual Superintendents' Council

MELT 2021 Cancelled

The 2021 MELT Conference, originally scheduled for January 18, 2021 has been cancelled. This past summer it was determined that the conference would be virtual. The heart of the MELT has always been our local teachers willing to present and share the great things happening in their classrooms. Due to the current COVID situation in our schools, with districts changing learning models, this has put added stress on our teachers. The MRVED Superintendents and Principals both thought it would be in the best interest of the MRVED teachers if we cancelled the 2021 MELT. Presenting at the conference is stressful for many people, and there is no reason to add to the stresses of everyday life. The MRVED believes professional development is very important, but the health and well-being of our schools is of greater importance. The MRVED assures everyone that MELT 2022 will be better than ever!

Other News

Sourcewell's Impact Education Conference

If you are in need of clock hours, the Impact Education Conference (previously known as the TIES Conference) will be held January 11-13 virtually. There will be 2 days of live keynotes followed by 60+ breakout sessions. The cost of the conference is only $75 if you register prior to December 4th. This is a great deal for some high quality professional development. The focus of the conference this year is learning from the challenges of 2020 and how the pandemic as accelerated new ideas, enabled creativity, and drove innovative thinking. Click below to find the registration and to learn more.

Impact Education Conference 

Veterans Day Activities

Today, November 11, 2020 is Veterans Day. Veterans Day is a day for honoring all those that are currently serving, or have served in the armed forces. It is a great time to bring awareness to our students about the sacrifices the men and women of the armed forces make. It is also a great time to learn a little about WWI and why we celebrate Veterans Day on the 11th day of the 11th month every year. Below are a few activities you can do you with your students to learn about Veterans Day.

Scholastic (Grades 1-5)

WGU (All Grades)

Teacher Planet (All Grades)

History Channel Video (High School)

Google Applied Digital Skills

Google Applied Digital Skills tagline on their website is, "Teach and learn practical digital skills needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow with our free video lessons". There are awesome projects to do, while learning technical skills. If you are looking for projects to do while in distance or hybrid learning, Google Applied Digital Skills might spur a great idea for you. Watch the video below for a brief overview.

Tech Tip: Whiteboard.fi

Have you ever wanted to use a digital whiteboard in your class, but did know what to use? If so, checkout Whiteboard.fi. This site is so easy to use, no sign-up necessary. You can create a room and your students can be in it in a matter of minutes. As a teacher, you can see all their boards. This would be great for a hybrid classroom where some kids are at home and some are in the classroom. It doesn't matter where they are, all they need is a device.

MRVED Update - December 4, 2019

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

December 6, 2019 - Title III Teachers' Meeting
December 11, 2019 - MRVED Board Meeting (6:00 p.m.)
December 12, 2019 - Teachers' Advisory Council Meeting
December 13, 2019 - Principals' Council Meeting
December 18, 2019 - Superintendents' Council Meeting

MELT 2020 Information

The MELT brochure will be sent out tomorrow, 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.

We typically have 400-500 teachers register on the first day!  Please make sure you register early to try and ensure you are able to attend your top session choices.  In each session description, it will be indicated if it meets a particular relicensure area.  

If you will be hosting a student teacher this spring, please forward the registration information to them!  They will need to register with the same registration link.

Professional Development

Impact Education Conference

The Impact Education Conference, formally TIES Conference, will be happening December 14-17 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis.  If you are not able to attend, follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #ImpactEDU19.  Twitter is a great place to be able to follow along with all the happenings of the conference.  Great resources are always shared, as well as takeaways from the keynotes.  With over a week to go there is already a great collaborative conversation happening behind the scenes.

Share My Lesson

Many teachers use Teachers Pay Teachers to find excellent teaching resources.  TPT is a great site and has some awesome things on it!  Share My Lesson is a similar site, but offers materials for free.  The TPT quality might be a little better, but SML has some great ideas that might spur your own creative thinking.

Book Study

Lead Like a Pirate - Chapters 18 & 19

Chapter 18 and 19 are all about having effective conversations and how powerful words can be.  These two chapters resonated with me as I have read a number of articles and books on having effective conversations, namely Jim Knight's book title Better Conversations.  The gist of the chapter is about how can we help people move forward through our words and conversations.

In Lead Like a Pirate, they talk about the nature & hierarchy of a school really make it difficult from the start to have effective conversations.  This is because most of the professional conversations are centered around observations that are typically used for evaluation.  Teachers and administrators have the "fix-it" attitude.  The administrator wants to "fix" deficiencies in their teaching.  One of my favorite lines comes on page 142, "...nobody wants to be fixed" (Burgess & Houf, 142).  Nobody wants to be fixed, but people want to get better.  There is a stark difference in those two statements.  LLAP mentions that if we are going to help people get better, we have to have a good professional conversation or ANCHOR conversation as outlined in LLAP.

There are three goals of an ANCHOR conversation

1. We want our crew to know we value them while engaging in conversation.

2. After the conversation we want our crew believing we added value.

3. We want our conversations to push practice forward.

A - Appreciation

N - Notice the Impact

C - Collaborative Conversations

H - Honor Voice and Choice

O - Offer Support

R - Reflection

For sake of wanting you to read the book and this chapter, I'm not going to dig into great detail of each part, but it is well worth the read.

Chapter 19 talks about the power of words and provides some suggestions on how to avoid some of the major pitfalls of leaders and their words.  As a leader, you lose the ability to think out loud.  The minute you start providing your input and ideas, it can stifle creativity and participation.  The suggestion LLAP gives is to make sure leaders talk last and simply craft questions to lead others through their thinking.  Think of a time when you were in a setting where the leader shared their idea first.  What happened?  Now think of a time where the leader provided their suggestion last.  What happened?  There are other suggestions in this chapter, but the one other aspect to talk about is to "remove judgement language from your feedback".  Judgement language builds walls.  This is where resistance comes in.  "I wish you would...I didn't like...If only"...are all sentence stems that bring judgement into the conversation.  Avoid these at all costs!

MRVED Update - October 9, 2019

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings:

October 16, 2019 - MRVED Common Inservice Day at Dawson-Boyd Schools
October 23, 2019 - Superintendents' Council
October 25, 2019 - Principals' Council

November 12, 2019 - Community Education Directors
November 15, 2019 - Principals' Council & TAC

October 16, 2019 Information:

Thank you to everyone who registered for the October 16th MRVED Common Inservice Day!

The schedule for the day is as followed:

8:00 a.m. - 8:35 a.m. - Coffee, juice, & muffins in the Dawson-Boyd Commons Area
                                           (Compliments of your administrators)
8:40 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. - Morning Session
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Lunch in the Dawson-Boyd Commons Area
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - District Time (Location determined by your administration)

Notes:

1.  Enter through door #4 (located on 9th street - this is a ONE WAY STREET)
2.  Once you arrive, be sure to stop by the registration table near the commons area to pick up your registration packet (agenda with room numbers, clock hours, and lunch ticket, if applicable).  Your agenda is your CLOCK HOUR CERTIFICATE.
3.  Dress in layers.  Some of the rooms could be warm or cool depending on the number of people in the session.
4.  If you are not eating the catered meal, we suggest you bring a bag lunch.  If you are planning to eat off campus, please remember the next session begins promptly at 12:30 p.m.
5.  An electronic evaluation will be sent via email on Monday, October 21st.  Please complete it as soon as possible.  The feedback from the evaluation is used in planning future MRVED events.

*Please look for an email regarding additional details of the day coming soon!

If you have any questions regarding the October 16th MRVED Common Inservice Day, please contact Katie Raymo at 320-269-9297 or kraymo@mrved. net.

We are looking forward to a great fall inservice!

MELT 2020 Call for Presentations

The MRVED Educators Learning Together (MELT) conference will be held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School on January 20, 2020.  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.  Show us how you Teach Like a Pirate or incorporate Social Emotional Learning into 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 actively seeking any Pre-K people that would like to present, as well as Social Emotional Learning topics!**

**By filling out this form you are not committing to presenting, just providing the MRVED with your name and topic.**

Link to Proposal Form

Professional Development

Impact Education Conference (Formally TIES)

The TIES conference which is held every December is now called the Impact Education Conference as the TIES corporation no longer exists.  It's the same conference, just a different name.

Date: December 14-17, 2019
Location: Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

Registration Link

Book Study

Lead Like a PIRATE - Rapport, Ask & Analyze, Transformation, Enthusiasm

As I mentioned in the introduction to Lead Like a Pirate, this book will be beneficial to anyone in any leadership role, not just school administration.  What follows is simply my thoughts on the chapters, that will hopefully spur some thoughts of your own and maybe challenge your thinking and/or practices.  My little synopsis is by no means a substitute for reading the book!

Rapport
This chapter talks about the importance of making connections and building relationships with the people you lead.  The chapter provides a variety of strategies to make connections with people.  However, the one thing that stuck with me was the word "trust".  If people don't trust you, there is no way you can build relationships.  The authors provide a great example about the supply closet being locked in a school.  I'm sure there is a reason why it is locked, but the underlying tone is that we don't trust you to go into the supply closet.  Without trust, people will never get behind any ideas you have or anything you say.  Everything you say or do will be questioned.  A leader needs to develop the trust of their people before anything else can happen!

Ask & Analyze
"Good questions inform; great questions transform (Burgess & Houf, 48)."  This quote says it all.  An example of this would be to think about how you ask the following question:  "What are your goals for this year?"  One way to do this would be to ask, "What is something you have always wanted to do in your class, but haven't tried yet?  How can I help make that happen?"  Think about what different type of responses you would get for each type of question.  Now apply this thinking to any of the questions you ask.  How can we elevate our questioning?

Transformation
To be an effective leader, sometimes you need to truly transform your tasks.  I use the analogy of a toy Transformer.  The toy looks like a vehicle at the beginning, but by the time it fully transforms it looks like a robot.  Our tasks need to do the same.  They need to look nothing like what they looked like at the beginning.  True transformation is not tweaking one thing and calling it good.  It's changing the status quo.

Enthusiasm
The "E" in PIRATE stands for Enthusiasm.  Bottom line; if you aren't excited as a leader, the people that follow you aren't going to be excited as well.  Being a leader is hard work, and some days are not as fun as others, but the day is what you make it.  Your attitude is contagious with the group.  As Dave Burgess said, "Fake it until you make it if you have to".

Picture taken from https://leadlikeapirate.net/bookresources/

This wraps up section I in the book Lead Like a Pirate.  I'm excited to see what the rest of the book has to offer!

MRVED Update - November 7, 2018

MRVED Business

Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out the October 17 Common Inservice Day Evaluation.  Our Superintendents, Principals, and Teachers' Advisory Council will be reviewing the evaluations from the day.  It is the hope of all these groups that we can provide something that is meaningful for all the teachers in the MRVED.  Our next Common Inservice Day will be MELT on January 21, 2019 at Lac qui Parle Valley High School.  Look for more information on the MELT in the next few updates. 

Upcoming Meetings

November 9, 2018  Joint mtg Principals’ Council & TAC

November 16, 2018  Principals’ Council

November 28, 2018  Superintendents’ Council

December 7, 2018 Title III Teachers

December 12, 2018  MRVED Board (6 p.m.)

December 13, 2018 TAC

December 14, 2018 Principals’ Council

December 19, 2018 Superintendents’ Council

MELT Call for Networking Facilitators

The MRVED is looking for facilitators of networking groups  As a facilitator you are not expected to be the expert in the room, but rather move the discussion along.  The goal of a networking group is to share resources and ideas with people who have the same interests.  They are meant to include a "give & take".  Bring something to share and take something away that someone else shared.  The only networking groups that will be offered are those that have a willing facilitator.  If a networking group does not have a facilitator, it will not be held!  If you would like to sign up, please click the link below and add your name to the list next to the group you would like to facilitate.  The networking sign up will close at 3:30 PM on November 15.  If you have any questions or cannot access the form, please contact Brandon (braymo@mrved.net)

MELT NETWORKING FACILITATOR SIGN UP LINK

TIES 2018 Conference

Don't forget to register for the 2018 TIES Conference held December 8-11 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis.  The TIES Conference is one of the best educational technology conferences in the midwest.  The sessions are great and the networking is awesome!  Jaime Casap, Educational Evangelist at Google and Kimberly Bryant, founds and Executive Director of Black Girls CODE are the keynote speakers this year.  The TIES Conference website is linked below.  Head over there and check out the lineup of breakout sessions, view the bios of the keynote and featured speakers, and get registered!

2018 TIES Conference

Snapchat for Teachers & Schools

In the previous MRVED Update we highlighted a great blog by Matt Miller entitled Ditch that Textbook.  He has a couple awesome blog posts on utilizing Snapchat in the classroom.  I know many of you are thinking that there is no place in the classroom for Snapchat, but I think you would be surprised.  Check out the blog posts today!

Snapchat 101 for Teachers

15 Ways to Use Snapchat in the Classroom

Teach Like a Pirate - Hooks

Over the next couple chapter Burgess highlights his "hooks".  Hooks are strategies to get kids engaged in the learning.  It's his take on Madeline Hunter's anticipatory set.  How do we get kids "hooked" into learning the content for the day?

After seeing Burgess, he went through many of the hooks in his presentation and demonstrated how to use them.  I'm not going to highlight the hooks in this post as I believe Burgess does it much better in his book.  The book does an awesome job of providing different examples on how to use the hooks in the classroom as well as reflection questions to think about as you are lesson planning.

The hook is probably one of the most important parts to the lesson.  If you don't have your kids engaged from the beginning, they aren't going to be with you at all throughout the lesson.  Too often we dive straight into our content without providing hooks for our kids.  I know I was guilty of starting my lesson like this; "Where did we leave off yesterday?  Oh yeah, turn to page 147 in your book." and that was the beginning of my lesson!  Talk about not engaging my kids at all!  The hooks in Teach Like a Pirate are great strategies you can use tomorrow!  Going a little deeper than the tangible hooks, we need to really examine our lessons and take a DEEP look into EVERY aspect of the lesson.

Hooks Resources
Thinglink of Ideas
Hook Ideas
TLAP Chat

#mrvedtlap gets better and better every week!

MRVED Update

MELT Update

Melt 2018 is fast approaching and preparations are well underway.  This year there are over 30 sessions to choose from per hour.  There are many new sessions offered this year as well as some popular sessions from years past.  Some groups will also have the opportunity to network.

Registration
Last year we experimented with sending out the MELT brochure a couple days prior to sending the registration link.  This allowed people to set their schedule and read through the descriptions prior to registering.  This seemed to work really well.  The process will be the same this year.  The brochure will come to you on Monday December 4 from your Principal.  The link to register will come to you on Wednesday morning from your Principal.  Principals, look for this information from Mary please.

We cannot stress enough the importance of registering as early as possible.  Some sessions fill really fast, therefore the later you are in registering, the greater the risk of not being able to get into those sessions.

TIES Conference

The biggest educational technology conference in the midwest is happening December 9-12 in Minneapolis.  The TIES 2017 Education Technology conference takes place at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis.  This conference is jam-packed with tons of breakout sessions and excellent keynote speakers.  You can preview the breakout sessions by looking at the schedule.  You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #TIES17.  If you are going, feel free to send Brandon an email or a Tweet as he will be attending as well.  If educational technology interests you at all, this is the place to be in Minnesota in December!

Simple Ways to Help Young Kids Develop Self Control

I stumbled across this article on Edutopia the other day.  It is about ways in which to help kids develop self control.  As a parent of a nine, four, and one year old, the tips provided here were very helpful and easy to do.  This is a great article for any teacher to read and could also be something to provide parents in your newsletters home.

Simple Ways to Help Young Kids Develop Self Control by Dr. Donna Wilson and Dr. Marcus Conyers

Tech Tip of the Week - Peergrade

Have you ever had students provide feedback on their peers work?  Peergrade allows you to do just that, but digitally!  Students can turn in their assignment, and the program will randomly distribute the work to students to provide feedback on.  The basic plan is free!  Check it out today!

Innovator's Mindset - Learn, Lead, Innovate

We are on Chapter 5 of the Innovator's Mindset by George Couros.  This chapter is full of great information, so we'll cover only a snippet of the chapter.  If you haven't already obtained the book, you still have plenty of time to get it and get caught up through chapter 5.

Chapter 5 is titled Learn, Lead, Innovate and the main purpose of this chapter is to show the characteristics of someone who can lead people through innovation.  It rings loud and clear throughout the chapter that you first must be a learner in order to lead.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is in this chapter, "Would I want to be a learner in my own classroom?" (Couros 83).  This is so true!  You need to put yourselves in the shoes of your students to feel empathy toward their school experience.  If you know what they are feeling, you can create real and authentic learning experiences for them.

Couros identifies 8 characteristics of the innovative leader:
1. Visionary - You need to see beyond the obvious
2. Empathetic - Feel for the learner
3. Models Learning - Be a learner yourself
4. Open Risk-Taker - Model risk taking
5. Networked - Open your mind to new ideas and people
6. Observant - Really look at the world around us
7. Team Builder - Need to be collaborative
8. Always Focused on Relationships - Foster the relationships

If you are going to lead innovation, you need to model learning & risk taking.  If people see you doing it, they are more likely to follow along.  Open your mind to new ideas and people and be willing to venture into the uncomfortable to make innovation happen.  It wouldn't be innovation if it wasn't uncomfortable.

MRVED Meetings:
December 1, 2017    Title III Teachers
December 14, 2017  TAC
December 15, 2017  Principals' Council
December 20, 2017  Superintendents' Council
December 20, 2017  MRVED Board (7:00 p.m.)

TIES 2016 Conference

TIES 2016 Conference
The TIES 2016 Education Technology Conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis December 10-13, 2016. Over the course of four days, attendees will have access to information and resources covering hundreds of educational technology-related topics. Presenters have hands-on experience with the subjects they address and attendees will leave ready to hit the ground running with students and staff. From Makerspaces and Google apps to professional development and digital portfolios, TIES 2016 workshops and seminars shed new light on innovative classroom technologies.

You can register by going to the TIES Conference Website.

Tech Tip of the Week - TIES Twitter Hashtag

TIES Conference Twitter Hashtag

The largest educational technology conference in the state will be happening December 12-15 in Minneapolis.  This conference has the best lineup of educational technology sessions in the state.  If you can't make it this year, don't feel left out.  You can follow along with the Twitter hashtag #TIES15.  People will be sharing resources from the breakout sessions and great insights from the keynote speakers.  This is a great way to fill your tech toolbox without having to go to the conference.  You can check out the conference lineup by visitng the TIES conference website.

TIES 2013 Technology Conference

Don't miss out on the 2013 TIES Education Technology Conference, December 14-17.  The featured speakers this year are Marc Prensky and Dr. Mizuko Ito.  If you are a fan of educational technology, this is the conference for you!  There are 100's of breakout sessions to choose from throughout the day, and time to connect with some of the greatest minds in educational technology from around the state and world.  This year the MRVED is lucky to have a couple presenters in our midst.  Brandon will be presenting 50 Tools for 21st Century Skills on Monday morning at 8:00 AM and Krista Isaacs and Melissa Wilber from Lakeview will be presenting the Best Free Websites for the Upper Elementary Classroom at the same time.