MRVED Update

MRVED MELT 2018 Call for Presentation Proposals - LAST WEEKS

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!
Call for Presentation Proposal Link will close on November 3 at 3:00 p.m.

**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

MELT Networking Session Facilitator Sign-Up

The MRVED is looking for facilitators of networking groups for the 2018 MELT in January. 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 interest. 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 3:00 p.m. on Friday November 17. If you have any questions or cannot access the form, please contact Brandon (braymo@mrved.net).

MELT NETWORKING SIGN UP LINK

October 18 Follow Up

Thank you to everyone that participated in the October 18 Best Practice Common Inservice Day.  Early reviews of the day seem fairly positive.  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 15, 2018 at Lac qui Parle Valley High School.  Look for more information on the MELT in the next few updates.  It's shaping up to be a really great conference once again.

Information on New Minnesota Science Standards

MNSTA has developed a nice website that talks about how and when the new Science standards will be adopted.  If you are a teacher of Science, I highly suggest you check it out.

Preparing for the New Minnesota Science Standards

Tech Tip of the Week - wizer.me

wizer.me allows you to build an interactive worksheet.  The worksheet builder looks really intuitive and easy to use.  You can learn more about wizer.me HERE.

Innovator's Mindset - Characteristics of Innovator's Mindset

The 3rd chapter in the book Innovator's Mindset talks about the characteristics of the innovator's mindset.  Couros provides a story to illustrate and provide a picture as to what can encompass the mindset of an innovator.  You'll have to read the book if you want the full story, but in short it's about a teacher using video for a lesson for the first time.  There are two quotes at the beginning of the chapter that really hit home for me.  

The first being, "Great educators can work within the constraints of the system and still create innovative learning opportunities for their students".  Often times we are quick to blame the "system" for not allowing innovation, but if one thinks deeply about it, you CAN be innovative within the constraints of the system.

The second quote that provoked some thoughts and feelings was, "Effective leadership in education is not about moving everyone from one standardized point to the next but moving individuals from their point "A" to their point "B"".  This is so true not only for effective leaders, but effective teachers.  How do we meet each individual/student where they are and then move them individually along to their individual goals?

The two quotes above really made me think about my own practice before I even read the rest of the chapter on the characteristics of the innovator's mindset.  Below I will list the characteristics and dive briefly into each one.

1. Empathetic - An educator NEEDS to know what it's like being a student in their own classroom.  I have heard Couros speak on numerous occasions and he always brings in a slide that says, "Would you want to be a student in your own classroom?"  Think about it!

2. Problem Finders/Solvers - I love the fact he includes "finders" into the equation.  Too often our innovators are charged with solving problems and not necessarily finding them.  What if we allow our innovator's the opportunity to present their own problems and then encourage or support them when trying to find solutions? 

3. Risk Takers - This characteristic is fairly easy to see in innovator's.  They are willing to take risks for the benefit of solving a problem, or simply trying something new and different.  He uses the example of Apple taking the risk of creating the SmartPhone.  It could have easily been a "flop" like so many other technology innovations, but it wasn't.  Look at where that "risk" got them today!

4. Networked - The innovator is a networked person.  They rely upon the knowledge and skills of the people around them to help them solve their problems.  Today being networked means joining Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Blogs, etc...  Couros has a great quote here, "Sometimes, the most valuable thing you get from the network isn't an idea but the inspiration or courage to try something new."

5. Observant - The innovator is able to recognize a great idea and mold that idea into their own thing.  They are open-minded to new ideas and can make connections to education/their classroom through listening to great speakers or thought leaders.

6. Creators - Innovators are able to create products from their ideas.  "Learning is creation, no consumption."  The tools that surround us today gives us the ability to create magnificent products we could never have dreamt of doing 10 to 15 years ago!

7. Resilient - Innovators don't give up after a failed attempt.  They learn and try again.

8. Reflective - The innovator is able to reflect on what they are doing and then make adjustments.  Reflection is not only important for innovators, but for everyone!

MRVED Meetings
October 25, 2017  Superintendents' Council
October 27, 2017  Principals' Council

November 8, 2017    Joint Meeting of Principals' Council & TAC
November 17, 2017  Principals' Council
November 22, 2017  Superintendents' Council

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.

***************

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!

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!

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

#WeAreMRVED

Welcome Back

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school!  We hope that your summer was relaxing and rejuvenating.  2017-18 is going to be the best school year ever.  We can't wait to interact with the 650+ teachers of the MRVED in the coming school year.

This year is going to be an AWESOME year as a MRVED.  One of the highlights this year is that we have not one, but TWO top-notch big name speakers coming to speak to us.  This Fall Kayla Delzer will be in attendance at our first common in-service day.  If you have not seen or heard Kayla, she is phenomenal and you are in for a real treat.  You can check out her website HERE.  More information will be coming about the October common day soon, in the meantime, here is her TEDx talk from 2015.

Then, this Spring, George Couros will be keynoting our Spring common in-service day.  Couros is another rock star presenter that delivers a great message to all educators.  You can find more information about him HERE, or check out his TEDx talk from 2013.

We also can't forget that MELT 2018 is going to be the best yet!  Featuring some of our very own rock star teachers sharing and showing inspiring things happening in their classrooms.

We can't wait for all the great opportunities we have before us this year.

#weareMRVED

#WeAreMRVED

For those of you on Twitter, we are encouraging the use of the hashtag #WeAreMRVED to promote great things happening in your school or classroom.  If your classroom or school uses Twitter give us a follow and we will follow you back.

@MNRVED

Arts Standards Review Process

Are you interested in helping to review and revise Minnesota’s K-12 arts standards? Consider joining the Arts Standards Review Committee! Before applying to the committee, please read the Assumptions for Guiding the Standards Committee’s Work and the Standards Review Timeline documents posted below. Serving on the committee requires an intense time commitment of at least one two-day and nine full-day committee meetings from October 2017 through May 2018. The initial two-day meeting is scheduled for October 30-31, 2017, at the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), and is required of all committee members. Applications will be accepted August 22-September 19, 2017. Committee members will be announced on the MDE website on September 29, 2017.

MDE and the Perpich Center for Arts Education will cover mileage costs for all committee members as well as meal and lodging costs for those travelling from great distances. MDE and the Perpich Center for Arts Education also will cover the cost of substitutes for all teachers selected for the committee. For more information about the standards review process, contact Alina Campana (763-279-4183).
Minnesota Department of Education Website

Tech Tip - SeeSaw

If you have been looking for a way to use the tablets in your classroom?  Look no further than SeeSaw.  SeeSaw is an AWESOME App that allows students to capture their work and then easily submit to the teacher.  SeeSaw is great for K-12, but probably geared more toward the Elementary level.  If you think signing in to the app will be an issue for the kids, it's not.  You can setup your class list and student log in is a breeze.  Students can also scan a QR code or create their own accounts, depending on age.  The app works if students have their own device, or if you have a classroom set.  It does not matter your age group or how your devices are distributed, this app works in ALL environments!  Teachers who have used this app, absolutely love it!  It's free, give it a try right away this 1st quarter.

Innovator's Mindset

For the past couple years we have highlighted a couple books in the MRVED Update.  Last year we looked at What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker.  This year we will examine The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros.  Couros will be the keynote speaker for our common in-service date in March 2018.

I highly recommend purchasing the book The Innovator's Mindset and following along as we examine a chapter for each MRVED Update this year.  This book is amazing and could possibly change the way you approach your classroom on a day to day basis.  Give it a try, you will not be disappointed.

Last Update of The Year

This is the last update of the 2016-2017 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 nine 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 and restful 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.

MRVED Meetings
May 15, 2017  Principals' and Teachers' Advisory Council combined meeting (8:30 a.m. start)
May 24, 2017  Superintendents' Council

June 21, 2017  MRVED Board (7:00 p.m.)
June 28, 2017  Superintendents' Council

MRVED Summer Professional Development

MRVED Summer Professional Development
The MRVED will be offering a couple professional development opportunities over the summer.  See the brochure for more information.

June 20 - Google, Google, and More Google - Brandon Raymo
June 29 - Suicide Prevention - Brian Skogen
July 17 - Vocab Everyday - Laura Byard
July 19 - How to Become a Substitute Teacher - Karen Jacobson & Brandon Raymo

Brochure

Registration Link