MRVED Update - January 23, 2019

MRVED Business

January 23, 2019  Superintendents' Council

January 25, 2019  Principals' Council - CANCELLED

February 1, 2019    Title III Teachers

February 13, 2019  MRVED Board (6 p.m.)

February 21, 2019  TAC

February 22, 2019  Principals' Council

February 27, 2019  Superintendents' Council

MELT Recap
Once again we couldn't fully escape the cold and snow, but overall it was a great day of learning.  Around 650 educators participated in the day and great collaboration occurred all day.  The MRVED would like to once again thank Lac qui Parle Valley for being such a great host.  The custodial staff does a fabulous job in preparing the building for 650 people and the kitchen staff prepares a wonderful meal for everyone.  Dave works hard to make sure all the technology is up and running not only throughout the day, but spends a couple hours the weekend prior getting everything ready.  Thank you to the administration and staff for allowing all the educators in your building.  It's not easy coming back into your classroom at the end of the day to see it torn apart.  The MELT committee thanks everyone and even those not mentioned.

MELT Evaluation
The MRVED hopes that all your MELT experience was a great one.  There were some awesome sessions presented throughout the whole day.  Please take a moment to fill out the MELT 2019 Evaluation.  Any and all feedback is appreciated.  The MRVED Teacher Advisory Committee (TAC) looks over the evaluations and makes adjustments to the day based upon the feedback.  The MRVED Principals and Superintendents also look over the evaluations.

MELT Evaluation

Rethinking Time in Schools

This past week I read a Tweet that asked the question, "What if our schools rethought the idea of time and scheduling?  What would it look like in your school?"  This really made me think and I started researching alternative scheduling in schools.  I came across this article on Reimagining the School Day by Meg Benner and Lisette Partelow from the Center for American Progress.  The article provides examples from elementary, to middle school, to high school.  I also stumbled upon this interesting resource as well. unlockingtime.org.  I think school schedules would be a neat PLC topic to investigate.  How do schedules impact student learning?

Testing 1,2,3 From MDE

Testing 1,2,3 is created by the Minnesota Department of Education as a resource to help district better utilize the data they are given.  The quote from the website is this:

"Test data is an effective tool for informing instruction. This website is designed to help teachers harness that data by providing helpful ways to understand, interpret and ultimately use test data in the classroom."

A quick browse through the website will give you a better idea of what it is all about.  This site has been in the works for the past couple years and brings many different aspects of MDE's website into one spot.  Bookmark it today!

Tech Tip of the Week - Tilt Brush by Google

In the "this is unbelievable" category, the Tilt Brush by Google is AWESOME!  The Tilt Brush allows you to paint in 3D.  The Tilt Brush itself is not too expensive, but the 3D goggles can get to be a bit expensive.  Check to see if your school has a pair of 3D goggles and then you will want to check out and purchase a Tilt Brush.  Imagine putting this in the hands of our kids and the things they can create!

Ditch That Textbook - Part 2 (Chapter 8-13) Ditch That Mindset

Last time we looked at the first part on "Why Go Digital" in the book Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller.  If you still have not gotten the book, I highly, highly, suggest it!  There are SO many great ideas in this book, it really can help you transform your teaching.

We will now look at chapters 8-13 in the section titled "Ditch That Mindset".  Miller talks about a variety of things in these chapters so I'll do my best to summarize my learning.

Miller talks about making learning personal for kids.  Find a way to connect the content to something relevant in their world.  There are many parallels we can make in almost every content area.  Think about events in their worlds such as, birthday parties, prom, homecoming, jump rope for heart, etc...  Anytime you can personalize learning and connect real-life to content, kids tend to retain that information better.  It also makes learning interesting for kids.

Chapter 9 talks about making learning fun. Miller mentions the works of Dave Burgess, which the MRVED had the awesome opportunity to see this past fall.  Basically, do what you can to involve your kids in the learning and make it fun for them.  Think how boring life would be if school wasn't fun!

Miller continues to talk about building relationships with kids.  He mentions that some days you do need to be a kids friend because you are all he/she has.  Building positive relationships with kids really does make everything else in the book so much easier.  If kids respect and trust you, they will take risks with you.  They will help you when you fail.  They will encourage you, much like you encourage them.

The last part to these chapters talks about integrating the technology.  Chapters 12 & 13 go hand-in-hand with what I have been talking about the past five years.  Choose task over tool and utilize the SAMR model.  I compare the task over tool portion to the "Golden Why" by Simon Sinek with the learning objective in the middle as the "why" the tasks in the second ring as the "how" and the tools on the outside as the "what".  Lesson plan from the inside out...What is my learning goal?  Then, what task do I need to do to accomplish that goal?  Lastly, what tool will I use to accomplish both.

Tech Tip - IFTTT

IFTTT
IFTTT stands for IF This Then That.  If you have never heard of IFTTT or have heard about it, but don't know how to use it, check out About page on the IFTTT website.  IFTTT allows you to connect multiple online services to seamlessly do things for you.  For example:

There are tons of pre-made recipes on IFTTT for you to use.  You can setup weather reminders, post to multiple social media accounts at once, save emails to Google spreadsheets, etc...  The list is really endless.  IFTTT is an awesome tool to help you do many things online.

Resources and Articles on IFTTT
Fractus Learning - Connect and Automate Your Digital Classroom using IFTTT
Cool Mom Tech - 15 IFTTT Recipes For Parents
5 Min Librarian - 15 IFTTT Recipes to Save you Time

First Days of School - Increasing Student Learning and Achievement

According to Harry Wong there are three major characteristics of an effective teacher:

1. They have high expectations that all of their students will succeed.
2. They are extremely good classroom managers.
3. They know how to design lessons to help students reach mastery.

We have spent 2 months on having high expectations and classroom management.  The last two weeks of the MRVED update will focus on lesson mastery.

"If the student cannot demonstrate learning or achievement, the student has not failed - WE have failed the student."

Increase Student Learning

The million dollar question is how do we increase student learning?  If there was a silver bullet answer to that question, everyone would be doing it.  What we, as teachers, can do is increase the amount of time the students are working in our classroom.  The research shows that the person who does the work is the only one who learns.  Wong says if you were to walk by any classroom, who is doing the work?  The teacher!  No wonder why teachers are so tired at the end of the day and students are so full of energy walking out the door.  The teacher has worked and the student has sat there doing nothing.  Wong states that according to research, most schools devote only 35% of their time to learning.  The other 65% is spent on "other" tasks.  If a business ran at 35% efficiency, it would be bankrupt!

It would be interesting to do a study in each of our MRVED schools and track actual learning time in the classroom.  I think we would all be astonished at the results.

To increase the amount of time the student works to learn:

• Have all assignments posted for students when they enter the room.
• Have "bell ringer" activities ready.
• Teach procedures and routines to minimize interruptions and maximize learning time.
• Constantly monitor students to keep them on task.

An hour is an hour and you will never get more than 60 minutes out of it, but you do have control over how you spend that 60 minutes.  Take a day or two and track actual time on learning in your classroom and I bet you will be amazed!

12 Touchstones of Good Teaching

9. Make the most of every minute

What it looks like: "Teachers plan lessons to ensure bell-to-bell learning for students.  Routines are established to ensure efficient transitions and classroom logistics."

Why it is important: "A few wasted minutes per class period can add up to weeks of lost learning time.  Time on instruction has a greater effect on student achievement than socioeconomic status.  Even more important is academic learning time- the actual time students are on task and learning."

(Goodwin & Hubbell, pg. 198)

The Well-Managed Classroom by Harry Wong

Recap of 1-8

1. Standards should be the guide

2. Student set personal learning objectives for each lesson

3. Performance expectations are clear

4. Measure understanding against high expectations

5. Engage student interest with every lesson

6. Interact meaningful with every student

7. Use feedback to encourage effort

8. Create an oasis of safety and respect