January 7, 2020 - Community Education Directors
January 10, 2020 - Title III Paraprofessionals
January 20, 2020 - MELT @ LqPV High School
January 22, 2020 - Superintendents' Council
January 24, 2020 - Principals' Council
January 31, 2020 - Title III Teachers
MELT Information
Thank you to everyone who has already registered for MELT ~ we had close to 500 people registered in the first day! Registration closes on Thursday, December 19th at 4:00 p.m. If you have not registered, please do so today!
If you are hosting a student teacher this spring, please forward the registration information to them! They need to also register using the registration link!
If you have any questions regarding MELT 2020, please contact Katie Raymo at 320-269-9297 or kraymo@mrved.net.
Happy New Year
What do Teachers Really Do During the Holiday Break
I came across the article, "What do Teachers Really Do During the Holiday Break", from Teaching Channel. It simply asks the question, "What do you do on your holiday break?" It is evident that teachers need to take the time for themselves during the holiday break and not feel guilty about it.
Classroom Resource
Native Knowledge 360°
Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures. Most Americans have only been exposed to part of the story, as told from a single perspective through the lenses of popular media and textbooks. NK360° provides educational materials and teacher training that incorporate Native narratives, more comprehensive histories, and accurate information to enlighten and inform teaching and learning about Native America. NK360° challenges common assumptions about Native peoples—their cultures, their roles in United States and world history, and their contributions to the arts, sciences, and literature. NK360° offers a view that includes not only the past but also the richness and vibrancy of Native peoples and cultures today.
Book Study
Lead Like a Pirate - Chapter 20-26 & Conclusion
The last section of the book is titled "Be a Better Captain". We will paraphrase the last 6 chapters of the book and offer a conclusion to wrap up our book study on Lead Like a Pirate by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf.
The last section of the book provides practical advice on how to be a better leader. My favorite quote from this section comes right at the beginning, "You never actually arrive at greatness; it's a moving target, a lifelong pursuit" (Burgess, 186). We want to be great, we want our teachers to be great, we want our school to be great, etc... But we also need to realize that if we see greatness as an end, once we achieve it, we'll never have anything else to shoot for. Greatness is a moving target, so we should always be trying to reach it!
You also need to surround yourself with supportive people. Often times as a leader, you are left on a pedestal all by yourself. It can be a lonely place. One of the best places you can surround yourself with support is Twitter. Believe it or not, Twitter is a great place to grow your own Professional Learning Network (PLN). Twitter can be a place where you can connect with some of the best people in your field. It gives you direct access to those people. It also gives you an avenue to grow professionally with articles and links. There are so many powerful things on Twitter, that if you are not on it, give it a try today!
Conclusion
After reading Teach Like a Pirate (TLAP), I initially thought Lead Like a Pirate (LLAP) was going to be much of the same. I liked TLAP, but wanted something different. Lead Like a Pirate offers some of the same concepts, but shines a whole new light on things. It is well worth the read, even if you haven't read TLAP. If you have read TLAP, you will enjoy LLAP. Any education leader should read this book.
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.**
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
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".
September 25, 2019 - Superintendents' Council
September 17, 2019 - Title III Teachers
October 16, 2019 - MRVED Common Inservice (Dawson-Boyd Schools)
October 16, 2019 Information
Registration for the October 16th MRVED Common Inservice was sent out last week to your local superintendents and principals. You should have received an email from them with the registration link and information regarding the inservice day. The registration link is below or it can also be found on our website: www.mrved.net under "Latest News".
It will be held in Dawson at the Dawson-Boyd Schools. Willow Sweeney Flaherty will be the keynote speaker. The afternoon will be district time focused on Social-Emotional Learning implementation. Some districts will be staying at the Dawson-Boyd Schools, some will be returning to your home district, as directed by your principal.
Registration needs to be completed by Friday, September 27th at 4:00 p.m.! An email will be sent out one week prior to the inservice with details outlining the day. An agenda will also be handed out when you arrive to the inservice, along with your name tag and lunch ticket, if applicable. We will need to know which DISTRICT and PRINCIPAL you primarily report to. If you are unsure, please check with a principal.
Trish's Katering will be catering the lunch for the inservice. The menu will be a chicken breast (mixed with stuffing, carrots, & gravy), baby red potatoes, green beans, mixed greens strawberry salad, bar, and lemonade. The cost is $10.00 and is to paid to your district. DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO THE MRVED. The last day to cancel your lunch is Friday, September 27th at 4:00 p.m. After that date, you will be held responsible for the lunch cost.
The schedule for the day is as followed:
8:00 - 8:35 a.m. - Registration (Agenda, Name Tag, Lunch Ticket)
8:00 - 8:35 a.m. - Coffee, juice, and muffins, compliments of your administrators
8:40 - 11:30 a.m. - SEL Kickoff by Willow Sweeney Flaherty
11:30 - 12:30 p.m. - Lunch by Trish Kruger
12:30 - 2:30 p.m. - District time focused on SEL implementation
New Science Standards Workshop
On November 20th, 2019, Lakeview Schools will be presenting a "New Science Standards Workshop". It will be facilitated by Jay Meiners and Joan Foley. The goal for the day is to give science teachers an opportunity to establish plans for how the implementation of the new standards will look in the classrooms and districts. If you are interested in attending, please email Courtney Frie, Curriculum Director, at courtneyfrie@lakeview2167.comby October 1st.
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.**
If you enjoyed the Dave Burgess and/or George Couros keynotes from the past couple years, then DBC Pirate Con is for you. It will be held June 12-14, 2020 in San Diego, California. The lineup for this conference is AMAZING! You will have the opportunity to hear from the likes of Dave Burgess, Matt Miller, Adam Welcome, Jimmy Casas, etc...
The best part the conference is only $379! Looking at the value of speakers at this conference, you are getting a great deal at $379. You can find out more about the conference by visiting the conference webpage.
Book Study
Lead Like a Pirate - Introduction, Passion, & Immersion
We all heard Dave Burgess speak last year on Teach Like a Pirate. He talked about the acronym of PIRATE and what that means for teaching. Using the analogy of a pirate ship, the pirates are the hard working people that run the ship on a day to day basis, but all ships need a captain - a person to steer the ship and make decisions about course and destination. Lead Like a Pirate is about how our leaders can use the PIRATE principles to steer the ship. Don't assume this book is only for principals, it's applicable for anyone in a leadership role.
Passion
This week, we are going to talk about the P and I in the PIRATE acronym: Passion and Immersion. Shelley Burgess starts the Passion chapter with a quote by Simon Sinek, "Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion" (Burgess, 3). I think this quote is so true! As educators and leaders, we need to reframe our thinking about what we consider "work". Dave Burgess asked educators the same three questions, but in different terms:
1. Specific to leadership, what are you most passionate about? (Content Passion)
2. Within the profession of education, but not specific to leadership, what are you passionate about? (Professional Passion)
3. Outside of your profession, what are you passionate about? (Personal Passion)
Immersion
The "I" in PIRATE stands for Immersion. Immerse yourself in whatever you are doing. This section talks about how to do that, but more importantly talks about how to free up time in order to fully immerse yourself in whatever it is that you are leading. Burgess uses another acronym here; LEAD:
Leverage Systems Elevate the Impact Activate a Team Delete, Delete, Delete
Leverage Systems - Find what tasks take up most of your time. Are there systems that can be improved upon, or new systems that can be created to alleviate the time it takes for the task.
Elevate the Impact - Think about low impact tasks that do take up your time. Can we make these tasks more impactful? For example; lunch duty - instead of simple supervision, can you use this time to strengthen relationships with kids? Deal with misbehavior from earlier in the day? Elevate it's impact.
Activate a Team - Recognize the tasks that can be accomplished by a team and activate a team.
Delete, Delete, Delete - Sometimes you just have to lighten your load. What are you doing to yourself to suck precious time away from the impactful tasks?
Next time we will cover the rest of the PIRATE acronym (RATE).
The annual MELT is fast approaching and the MRVED has been busy making arrangements for the big day. The MELT will be held on January 21, 2019 at the LQPV High School. Registration will open on December 5th and it will close on December 19th. Please remember to register early as sessions will fill up fast! There are 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 sent 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 3 from your Principal. The link to register will come to you on Wednesday, morning from your Principal. Principals, look for this information from Gloria 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.
Upcoming Meetings
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 January 11, 2019 Title III Paras January 21, 2019 MELT January 23, 2019 Superintendents January 25, 2019 Principals
Developing a Shared Understanding of the 2018 Physical Education Standards and Benchmarks 2019 Training Schedule
In this training, actions and resources are recommended to help educator teams* develop a shared understanding of the 2018 Minnesota physical education standards and benchmarks, and initiate the curriculum review process. By attending this training, participants will develop a shared understanding of:
The 2018 Minnesota K-12 Physical Education Standards and Grade-Level Benchmarks
The shifts that drove changes in the standards
The knowledge, skills and rigor represented in the learning progressions in the benchmarks within and across grade levels
The curriculum review process and action planning as part of a continuous review cycle
*It is highly recommended that physical educators attend this training in school district teams.
Registration begins at 8 a.m. Training is from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants are asked to bring a brown bag lunch and beverages.
There is no cost to attend these trainings, but registration is required. Please register individually, even if attending as part of a school team.
To register, click below on the training you wish to attend.
The first draft of the revised Minnesota K-12 Science Education Standards-2019 is now available (see below). The public is invited to provide feedback during its Public Review and Comment Period, November 9-26, 2018. Submit your feedback using the online form, or attend one of the Town Hall meetings (all have already been held) and provide your feedback in person.
Contact Terry Alvarado to request a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event. Please note: The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) requires a two-week advance notice to provide accommodations and 48-hour notice to cancel the request.
The date by which all schools must implement the new standards will be determined during the rulemaking process.
For more information about the standards review process, contact John Olson 651-582-8673.
I came across this short film series entitled ReMoved. It's a story, from the kids perspective, about being placed into foster care and then going through having a brother adopted. It's a very touching short story, and one that will make you think about how trauma affects our kids. If you have 30 minutes, give both parts a watch today, it is well worth it!
Teach Like a Pirate - Part III Building a Better Pirate & Conclusion
Part III of Teach Like a Pirate provides us with a challenge to be better, tips on how to get started, and advice to surround ourselves with positive people.
My biggest takeaway out of Part III was in the chapter Where do I start? Burgess talks about the five most common reasons why we never get started with something.
1. The fear of failure - people won't start something if there is a chance they can fail. We don't have to embrace failure, but we can learn from it and not be afraid of it. He uses the example of if a lesson fails, nobody dies, it's OK. You are a teacher, not a brain surgeon, failure is OK in our world!
2. Believing you have to figure it all out before you begin - In reflection on my own life, this is a tough one for me. I want to know everything before I start something. I have worked hard in my personal and professional life to fix this attitude of mine.
3. Perfectionism - Some people wait for the "perfect" time to start something. It goes back to the analogy from one of the previous chapters about creative people walking around getting "struck" by brilliant ideas. If we wait for the perfect moment to strike, we'll never get started.
4. Lack of Focus - It's all about prioritization. Being able to prioritize the truly important things in our lives, and not allowing the small things to take up the majority of our time. We lose focus on what truly is important.
5. Fear of Criticism and Ridicule - Starting something new is not only different for you, but different for the people around you. The people around you might not be ready for the change, don't let those people get in your way of progress.
Conclusion Teach Like a Pirate is a book chalk full of strategies you can implement in your classroom tomorrow. You don't have to be a great performer like Burgess to take the strategies and implement them into your classroom. I felt the book was much deeper than just the strategies though. One of the biggest "aha" moments for me was really thinking deeply about ALL aspects of the lesson plan. The analogy of the BBQ is spot on, we have to bring all elements to the table on every single day in order to have a successful BBQ.
The other part of this book that really got me thinking was the aspect of presentation. In the chapter about the 3 circles, Burgess is absolutely correct. We spend so much of our professional development time on best practices and content, but never focus on the actual presentation of the material. Without proper presentation, there is no engagement, without engagement, there is no learning. This book made me think more deeply on how I do my own professional development. How do I engage the learners in the audience? How do I make my content sizzle? Do I bring enough passion and energy to the table every day?
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)
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!
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!
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.
Dave Burgess presented Teach Like a Pirate to the MRVED on October 17, 2018 in Dawson-Boyd. Burgess went through the PIRATE acronym and provided educators with practice ideas they can bring back to their classroom. The afternoon was spent discussing the message from the morning and hearing more creative ideas from Burgess. You can follow along with a little challenge the elementary schools have going. Follow #mrvedtlap on Twitter to see what they are doing. If you have not filled out the evaluation for the day, there is still time to do that. Select the link below to access the evaluation
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)
It's always fun to incorporate holidays into your classroom. With Halloween coming up, here are a few places to find some great Halloween resources to use in your classroom.
Matt Miller is on the rise as one of the most influential people in education. He has written a book, which is on the same token as Teach Like a Pirate (and published by Dave Burgess), Ditch That Textbook. Along with his book, Matt also writes a blog and speaks. His blog is full of AWESOME ideas. Ideas that you can easily pair with "hooks". Check it out today!
Teach Like a Pirate - Part II Creating Engaging Lessons
In Part II of teach like a pirate, Burgess introduces us to the concept of the "hooks". He sets the stage as to why the hooks are one of the most important aspects to a lesson.
He talks about "The Third Circle" that nobody is talking about. Much of our professional development is focused on gaining content knowledge and learning new classroom techniques, which is true! Nobody is talking about how we present material. Presentation, he argues, is just as important as the other two. There is a small part in this chapter that talks about "everything is a choice". After reading this section, it made me reflect. Everything I do within that hour is a choice. Are the lights on or off? Is the door open or shut? Are kids standing, sitting, or moving around? Do they have paper and pencil?
It made me think about the old adage, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Everything we do within the hour of our lesson has a reaction, whether intended or not. We simply need to train ourselves to ask the reflective questions when planning a lesson. I was taught the Madeline Hunter lesson planning format and this simply ramps up the lesson planning. It really doesn't matter what lesson planning you do, asking yourself reflective questions as you plan will only strengthen what you do.
The other "aha" out of this chapter was the section on transitions. As a former high school teacher, transitions is not something I have really ever thought that much about. Burgess is correct, and I have observed it many times, and I have also been guilty of getting to peak engagement in my classroom and then have something kill that engagement. Getting out a pencil and paper, announcement from the office, turn to page ___ in your book, projector warming up, etc... Transitions have a HUGE impact on student engagement.
The MRVED Common Day will be October 17 in Dawson at the high school. Dave Burgess will be the keynote speaker. Registration closes October 3 at 4pm. The last day to cancel lunch for the day will be October 5, after that you will be held responsible for the price. The day will begin at 8:40 with Dave Burgess speaking until lunch. The afternoon will consist of staff broken into two groups. Group 1 will be with Burgess while Group 2 is in specified rooms discussing content areas. Then Group 2 will be with Burgess while Group 1 is in specified rooms discussing content areas. Everyone will get an agenda when they arrive letting them know where they will be during the day.
On Monday, October 22, everyone will receive an email with a link to an evaluation for the day. Please take the time to fill this out as we use it the information for planning future MRVED Common Days.
Upcoming Meetings
October 17, 2018 Dave Burgess-MRVED Common Day
October 24, 2018 Superintendents’ Council
October 26, 2018 Principals’ Council
November 9, 2018 Joint Principal and TAC
November 16, 2018 Principal's Council
November 28, 2018 Superintendent's Council
2019 MELT Call for Proposals
The MRVED Educators Learning Together (MELT) conference will be held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School on January 21, 2019. 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! 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 anyone that Teaches Like a Pirate!**
**By filling out this form you are not committing to presenting, just providing the MRVED with your name and topic.**
Flippity is a great tool to use in the classroom. If you can get over having to use a Google Sheet, this tool can transform how you do things in your classroom. You can easily turn spreadsheets into flashcards, quiz shows, crosswords, etc... There are so many different things you can do within Flippity. You really need to experience it to see the power it has.
If We Don't Allow A Redo, What Are We Teaching?
Rick Wormeli tweeted this article out the other day on redos. It is well worth the read. It is an account from an English teacher on why he allows redos. There are some really good points in here. Take the time to read this article today, especially if you are on the fence about allowing kids to redo assignments.
Teach Like a Pirate - Ask & Analyze, Transformation, Enthusiasm
For those of you on Twitter, there is a great Teach Like a Pirate conversation that happens all day long! Follow #TLAP.
Ask and Analyze
Burgess talks about the ability to think creatively in this chapter. In a hilarious anecdotal example, he talks about how "creative people" simply walk around and are smacked with creative ideas out of the blue. Being creative is not something that you are born with, it's something you can become better at. Carol Dweck - growth mindset vs fixed mindset! Being creative is all about what questions you ask yourself as well as the ability to change. The bottom of page 34 and top of page 35 offer an awesome way to ask yourself questions that can guide you to be creative. Once you find that creative change, you must then have the ability to change your lesson.
Transformation
"Safe lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best" (Burgess, 48). I love this quote! It is so true...we need to be able to take risks in our lessons. Burgess talks about the 1000's of lessons that have been disasters. It goes back to the Ask and Analyze chapter though. When we fail we need to ask ourselves questions about the failure, analyze what we did, and then make adjustments. We shouldn't continue to teach the bad lesson again and we shouldn't settle for mediocrity as well. Our kids don't deserve mediocrity - they deserve our best!
Creating engaging lessons is also in the chapter on transformation. I wanted to share a few quotes that hit home with me.
"If you can't explain why someone should pay attention to what you're saying, maybe we shouldn't be saying it." (Burgess, 62)
"History isn't boring, their history class was" (Burgess, 62) I think of the phrase that I heard in my classroom, "this is boring". What the student really meant, and I wish he/she would have said it, was "YOU are boring". Burgess is right, your content area is not boring, it's the delivery that is boring.
Enthusiasm
Bottom line - you need to be enthusiastic about what you are teaching. If you are not enthusiastic, then you need to fake being excited. This is a big part to this book, so I'm not going to beat it to death here. You really are an entertainer in your classroom. You need to have enthusiasm for what you do, or the kids won't want to be there.
I'm going to leave these two thought provoking questions from the transformation chapter for you to think about:
If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching in an empty room?
Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?
The next MRVED Common Day is fast approaching. It will be October 17 at the Dawson-Boyd Public School. Dave Burgess will be the keynote speaker. Registration has been sent to the Principals for them to forward on. The registration will run from September 19 -October 3 with October 5th being the last day to cancel your lunch if you so choose. The day will start at 8:40 with Dave Burgess addressing all staff in the Auditorium until it is time for lunch. Staff will receive an agenda for the day when they arrive letting them where to go in the afternoon.
September 21, 2018 Title III Paras September 26, 2018 Superintendents’ Council September 28, 2018 Title III Teachers
October 17, 2018 Dave Burgess-MRVED Common Day October 24, 2018 Superintendents’ Council October 26, 2018 Principals’ Council
MRVED Principals and Teacher Advisory Council Meeting Update
The MRVED Principals and Teacher Advisory Council (TAC) were recently at the MRVED for their first meetings of the year. It was nice to see new and returning faces in both groups. There was much catching up to do from a busy summer at the MRVED. Much of the time in both groups was spent putting the finishing touches on the October 17 day with Dave Burgess as well as providing Brandon with possible sessions for MELT 2019. Both groups are an enormous asset to the MRVED and provide the MRVED with valuable feedback as well as help in planning our common days.
2019 MELT Call for Proposals
The MRVED Educators Learning Together (MELT) conference will be held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School on January 21, 2019. 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! 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 anyone that Teaches Like a Pirate!**
**By filling out this form you are not committing to presenting, just providing the MRVED with your name and topic.**
Be sure to follow the MRVED on Twitter. Anytime you do something with the MRVED or anytime you want the MRVED to see what you are Tweeting feel free to use the hashtag #WeAreMRVED. We will also be using the hashtag #TLAPMRVED to go with our professional development this fall with Dave Burgess. TLAP stands for Teach Like APirate.
Teach Like a Pirate - Passion, Immersion, Rapport
Let's set sail and start our adventure!
Passion
Burgess starts the chapter in an interesting way. He states that, "we are not passionate about everything we teach". As an example, I am passionate about social studies, but I'm not so passionate about World War I and World War II. It's shocking because in every class I taught, it didn't matter if it was Sociology or US History, the same question emerged at some point..."when are we getting to Hitler and World War II?" Don't get me wrong, WWI and WWII are super important topics in the scope of world and US history, but I just don't have the passion for it as some of my colleagues. I do, however, love the Civil War. I am also very passionate about Sociology (but not the chapter on the fathers of sociology).
It is OK to admit you are not passionate about everything you teach. It's nearly impossible to be passionate about EVERYTHING. The trick is to finding a way to bring passion into the area of your content you are not as passionate about. To do this, Burgess asks us to think about 3 questions:
1. Within your subject matter, what are you passionate about teaching?
2. Within your profession, but not specific to your subject matter, what are you passionate about?
3. Completely outside of your profession, what are you passionate about?
For example, if I am not passionate about WWII, but I am personally passionate about baseball, can I somehow meld the two to create a passionate lesson/unit about WWII?
Immersion
This is one of my favorite sections in the book. Immersion is SO important to not only teaching, but in every relationship and interaction we have. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and you KNOW that person is not present in the conversation? How did that make you feel? Imagine being in a classroom where the teacher is not present. Where the teacher is thinking about what is going on next hour, creating practice plans for an after school activity, or thinking about the staff meeting from that morning. The kids can tell when you are not fully present in your teaching, and they feel exactly how you feel in a conversation with someone that is not present. It's a HORRIBLE feeling!
Rapport
The majority of this section talks about the way Burgess plans the first three days with his students. It's all about building rapport with students. Making sure they feel emotionally and physiologically safe. Showing students that your classroom environment is a safe place to take risks and ask questions. If you don't have rapport with the students from the beginning, you will be fighting an uphill battle from the beginning. You'll have to buy the book if you want to read in depth about his first 3 days (this part is totally worth the cost of the book by the way!). Building rapport helps minimize misbehavior in the classroom and allows students to "buy-in" to what you are selling. Think about a door to door salesman...what is one of the first things the salesman will do? Build trust and rapport. The kids will never "invite" you into their minds, much like you would never invite a salesman into your home, if they don't have the trust and rapport.
Welcome back! The MRVED staff hopes you have had a restful and rejuvenating summer. The MRVED staff has been busy all summer getting ready for the upcoming school year. Here are some dates to put on your calendar:
October 17,2018 - MRVED Common Day - Dave Burgess @ Dawson-Boyd
January 21, 2019 - MELT @ Lac qui Parle Valley High School
April 18, 2019 - MRVED Common Day -
We look forward to seeing all the familiar faces throughout the year as well as meeting new friends. If there is anything the MRVED can do to assist you in meeting any of your goals, please let one of us know.
Minnesota River Valley CTE Collaborative
Over the past couple years there has been a group of administrators, counselors, higher education, and business people that have been meeting bi-monthly to administer a variety of CTE courses for our students. This program has mainly been housed out of Minnesota West in Granite Falls. Over the past year, this collaborative has seen tremendous growth. As the program grew, administration of the program by a committee became very difficult. It was decided in the Spring of 2018 to start the process of looking for a director for the collaborative. The MRVED was chosen as the entity to "host" the program and hire the director. Bruce Bergeson, longtime Montevideo high school principal, had been a member o the committee since the beginning decided the director position would be perfect for him as he enters retirement. Bruce was hired as the Director of the Minnesota River Valley CTE Collaborative and began work in early July.
Bruce has been busy creating and communicating the Minnesota River Valley CTE Collaboratives brand and mission. The collaborative currently consists of RCW, Lakeview, YME, Montevideo, and MACCRAY. If you would like more information on the program, or would like Bruce to visit with your counselor about the courses, please let him know. His contact information is:
bbergeson@mrved.net
320-269-9297
Tech Tip - FlipGrid is FREE
Early in the Summer, Microsoft purchased the education tech start-up Flipgrid. With this purchase, Flipgrid is now FREE! Flipgrid is an awesome educational tool to incorporate in your classroom. Students can create selfie videos for a variety of projects. There are 1000's of examples on their website. This announcement is huge for a couple reasons. First, it shows the Microsoft is finally starting to make a play into the educational app market. This will drive competition and spur so much more development in the Ed Tech world. Second, Flipgrid is a Minnesota company, and it's always great to see Minnesota companies thrive in the Silicon Valley world of technology.
Teach Like a Pirate - Introduction
Dave Burgess will be our keynote speaker this Fall for the MRVED common day. Burgess is a phenomenal speaker who will catch your attention from beginning. If you don't know who Dave Burgess is or have never heard of Teach Like a Pirate, we'll spend the next couple months examining the book.
I highly recommend buying the book and following along. Last year, we spent most of the Winter/Spring on Innovator's Mindset by George Couros and then had the opportunity to see Couros speak as our Spring keynote. There were a handful of people within the MRVED that followed along as we highlighted each chapter. Many of the people that did this, said it made seeing Couros so much better. They were able to understand and comprehend so much more of the keynote.
Teach Like a Pirate is broken into three parts:
Part 1- Teach Like a Pirate (Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transformation, Enthusiasm)
Part 2 - Crafting Engaging Lessons
Part 3 - Building a Better Pirate
The ship will set sail in the next update. We'll examine the first 3 parts to teaching like a pirate; passion, immersion, and rapport.
Show us how you "Teach Like a Pirate" on Twitter by using the #TLAPMRVED or #WeAreMRVED
This is the last update of the 2017-2018 school year. We hope you gained something from reading the updates this past school year. We strive to create and pass along content that is relevant to our member school districts. If you ever have a topic or something you think other teachers would enjoy reading or attending, please let Brandon know and he will gladly place it in the update.
Have an enjoyable break! As every year, the MRVED offices will be open all summer, so stop by, grab a piece of candy (or a cup of coffee) and say hello. We always enjoy summer visitors and hearing about all your adventures during the break. If you need anything over break, do not hesitate to let us know. Get rejuvenated and some rest for another school year. Thank you all for another great year and we will see you in September!
Paraprofessional Conference
The Paraprofessional Conference is going to be on August 15, 2018 at the Benson Schools. Walking Tacos will be served for lunch that day. Registration information has gone out to the districts, please register if you have not.
Upcoming Meetings May 23 Superintendent's Council
June 13 MRVED Board
June 27 Superintendent's Council
August 15 Paraprofessional Conference
Last Update of the School Year
Wow! Another school year has come and gone. It's amazing how fast a school year can go. This year we had some amazing opportunities in the MRVED. We started the year in August with your annual paraprofessional training for over 150 paras from our districts. We then jumped right into our October professional development day which featured a variety of sessions. One of the biggest names in PLC's, Solution Tree, joined us to help strengthen the PLC process in our schools. We also were able to hear from one of the hottest and upcoming stars in education, Kayla Delzer. The October day also featured a variety of curriculum breakout sessions throughout the day. A couple months later, in January, the annual MELT conference was held at LQPV High School. This year was bigger and better than ever. The MELT featured over 100 sessions from local teachers to a professor from Duke University. From the MELT it was "full-steam" ahead to our spring common day, held in Dawson. Here we had the opportunity to hear from one of the best minds on innovation, George Couros. Couros hit a note with many of our teachers and provided the MRVED districts with what they needed to hear to move forward in the area of innovation.
The MRVED would like to thank all the teachers and staff in our nine districts who participated, help plan, and worked the common days. It is no easy task to host these events and each district that hosted did a phenomenal job.
Next year is the year of the PIRATE! Teach Like a Pirate! Dave Burgess will be our keynote in October and we will keep the Pirate theme going all year. If you have not had an opportunity to see Dave in action, spend some time on his website or looking at YouTube videos. His book, Teach Like a Pirate is a book you won't be able to put down either. We look forward to "arrrrrgubly" the best year ever!
You can see all the great action from this year by following the Twitter hashtag #WeAreMRVED.
Summer Reading List
Every year I like to provide a summer reading list for those that are looking for some casual reading throughout the summer.
Let us know what you are reading by telling us on Twitter with the hashtag #WeAreMRVED.
A Powerful Way to End the School Year
Year-end mapping! What a great idea to end the school year. You could do it in a variety of ways, but it could be a collage of the most memorable learning throughout the year. I picture a collage of pictures in the hallway outside my classroom for everyone to see what we learned throughout the year. It's a great way for kids to see the progression of learning. Here is an article on the idea of year-end mapping.
By the end of July many teachers are wondering where their summer has gone. Here is a short list of things you can do on your summer break (that is, if you are not working already).
Tweet us this summer with the hashtag #WeAreMRVED to show us how you are rocking your summer break. In all the busyness of summer, don't forget to get in a little "me" time as well. Enjoy it, every summer seems to go faster and faster!
Native Knowledge 360°
The last section of the book is titled "Be a Better Captain". We will paraphrase the last 6 chapters of the book and offer a conclusion to wrap up our book study on Lead Like a Pirate by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf.
