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
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 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.
