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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

MRVED Update - March 4, 2020

Upcoming Meetings


March 20, 2020 - Title III Paraprofessionals
March 25, 2020 - Superintendents' Council
March 27, 2020 - Principals' Council
April 3, 2020 - Title III Teachers
April 7, 2020 - Community Education Directors
April 9, 2020 - MRVED Common Inservice Day at Dawson-Boyd Schools

April 9, 2020 - MRVED Common Inservice Day


MRVED's spring Common Inservice Day is quickly approaching!  It will be held on Thursday, April 9, 2020, in Dawson at the Dawson-Boyd school.  The morning keynote speaker is Carla Tantillo Philibert.  Please watch for the registration link to be sent out on Thursday, March 12, 2020.  The registration link will come from your principals.  Registration will close on Thursday, March 26, 2020.  If you have a student teacher this spring, please make sure you register your student teacher.

April 9, 2020 Schedule:

8:00 a.m. - 8:35 a.m.:  Registration and Breakfast (Compliments of the administrators)
8:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.:  Carla Tantillo Philibert (Self-Care Strategies)
11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.:  Lunch (Catered by Trish Kruger Katering)
11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.: Carla Tantillo Philibert (Group 1) and Tanya Yerigan (Group 2)
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Carla Tantillo Philibert (Group 2) and Tanya Yerigan (Group 1)

Staff will see both Carla Tantillo Philibert and Tanya Yerigan in the two afternoon breakout sessions on self-care strategies.

Registrants will receive an email one week prior to the inservice with detailed information for the day.  Everyone will also receive a personalized agenda/CEU at the registration table on the day of the inservice.

Professional Development

Public Comment on Draft #2 of the English Language Arts Standards

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is soliciting public opinion as part of the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in ELA Education Revision process. This is the second of three drafts. The results will be reviewed by the ELA Standards Review Committee and will be used for preparing the third draft, which will be presented to the Commissioner of Education in May, 2020.

Additional information regarding the standards process and the assumptions for the committee are posted on the MDE website under English Language Arts Standards. To complete this survey, refer to the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in ELA Education, Draft Two documents on the MDE ELA page at https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/ela/. This survey closes on March 6, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. CST.

Survey Link

Twitter for Educators

Image result for twitter logoTwitter can be an awesome professional development tool for any professional.  There is a whole world of ideas out there just for you on Twitter.  Matt Miller does a great job of explaining Twitter and providing lists of people and hashtags to follow.  A Beginners Guide to Twitter for Educators by Matt Miller.

I participate in #smsutlap.  It gives me the ability to grow as a professional as well as spark conversation for upcoming teachers to consider.  Just by clicking on the #smsutlap link, it will take you to an archive of the chats.  If you are available during their class, stop in and just say hi!

Tyson Fury on Mental Health

I came across this the other day and thought it was worth sharing.  Even if you don't know the story of Tyson Fury, it's worth the watch.  The importance to of asking for help and doing what we can to stop the stigma behind asking for help.  If Tyson Fury, the best boxer in the world, can ask for help, anyone can!

Book Study - Sanctuaries - Self-Care

We will start the section on self-care in Dan Tricarico's book, Sanctuaries.  My thoughts and reflection on these chapters are, in no way, a replacement for buying the book and reading it.  I will admit that a book on self-care is not high up on my list of things to read.  It's simply out of my comfort zone.  However, it has been a very beneficial read.

The first chapter in this section hit home to me.  It is titled, "The Busy Choice".  Think of a conversation you have had with someone recently.  Did either of you talk about how busy you are?  There is a good chance that schedules and obligations were talked about.  We compete with one another to become the most busy person.  Stop and think about how ridiculous that sounds!  If I am more busy than you, what do I get?  You get more stress!  But we wear our busyness as a badge of honor.  However, if you examine your schedule, everything you have to get done, or places you have to get to, is all a choice...your choice.  I know many of you are saying, "no I don't have a choice".  But yes you do!  The majority of things on your calendar are a choice.  Your job, running kids to basketball practice, volunteering at the church, shopping, etc...  Seeing your schedule as a choice doesn't make it any easier to schedule things, but it is a mindset and can drastically change how you schedule things.

Tricarico then goes on to talk about making tiny shifts in your life.  I liken the idea to a diet.  When we start a diet, it is usually a drastic change in how and what we eat.  But if we make a tiny shift in our diet - say take out 1 piece of bread per day, it is more likely we will create the habit.  The problem with making a massive shift is that we hit a roadblock and go back to the way we did things.  With tiny shifts, roadblocks are easier to move, get around, or go through.

The last chapter is titled, "Your Mental Mix Tape".  We all remember making the mix tapes of our favorite songs we played over and over again.  We need to create our own "mental mix tape" of positive thoughts to play in our minds over and over again.  We need to tell ourselves that we are smart enough, pretty enough, etc...  We need to play that "mental mix tape" in our minds over and over again all day long.