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February 2014 Vol. 21 No. 2
edNews is a quarterly publication of Metro ECSU (Metropolitan Educational Cooperative Service Unit) |
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Metro ECSU partners with McREL and SearchSoft Solutions to support educator excellence Get ahead of the fall rush with a special promotion from McREL
and SearchSoft
Sign up and pay now for a year of either our Teacher or
Principal Evaluation services and enjoy free service until June 30, 2014. First
renewal payment not due until July 1, 2015. SearchSoft is currently providing evaluation services to
the following school districts: Eastern Carver County, Hopkins, Mounds View,
St. Anthony-New Brighton, West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan, and White Bear
Lake. For more information, please contact Metro ECSU
Regional Education Specialist, at 612-638-1533. For more information, please contact Metro ECSU
Regional Education Specialist, , at 612-638-1533. For more information, please contact Metro ECSU
Regional Education Specialist, , at 612-638-1533. For more information, please contact Metro ECSU
Regional Education Specialist, Chris Correa, at 612-638-1533. |
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| Save the dates! 2nd Annual Adolescent Literacy Summit: August 12 & 13, 2014
Metro ECSU will again offer a two-day summit to assist teachers in meeting the challenges of supporting adolescent literacy in content area classrooms with diverse student populations.
Dates: August 12 & 13, 2014
Location: TIES Training Center/St. Paul
Earn: 12 Continuing Education Units
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| | Calling all paraprofessionals!
Register for the March 8, 2014 Winning Strategies Conference!
The 9th Annual Winning Strategies Conference for Paraprofessionals and Future Teachers will take place on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at Normandale Community College in Bloomington.
Wayne Urbaniak will keynote the conference -- the topic is "Reslience: The Para's Edge." In addition to the keynote, participants will attend three break-out sessions of their choice. Topics will include motivating students, ASD, social media, reading fluency, mental health, behavioral strategies, and more. The cost is $15, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch.
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| | | Next MPA In-Service: Surviving and Thriving in Today's Schools
Are you thriving in your role as a leader? Mike Ford and Stephen Uebbing are the April 9 presenters for the Metropolitan Principals Academy (MPA) Leadership In-Service. In this session, they will explore the three leadership stages of survival, creation and legacy.
Ford and Uebbing will teach strategies that will help participants move beyond survival in order to create change and cultivate a culture of commitment to deep learning. With these tools in hand, leaders can intentionally move from survival to creation to a positive legacy.
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| | | Success Beyond the Classroom student program updates: |
| | SBC's Creativity Festivals were packed with students and enriching experiences.
Wow! Over 1,300 students attended the Creativity Festival for grades 5-7 (December 3-6, 2013) at the Science Museum of MN.
Over 1,200 students attended the Creativity Festival for grades 3-4 (January 14-15, 2014) at Ted Mann Concert Hall (U of M).
Creativity Festival students attended a variety of interactive sessions, including watercolor painting, aviation, mime, Arctic exploration, chalk art, Native American storytelling, step dance, graphic novel illustration, SketchUp, earthquake engineering, and body percussion.
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| | | Record number of teams compete in 14th annual Minnesota Regional Future City Competition
Fifty-two teams of 6th-8th graders from around Minnesota and North Dakota brought their engineering prowess to the University of Minnesota on January 18 to present their visions of ideal futuristic cities.
The team from Lifelong Learning Center, a home school cooperative in Maple Plain, took first place. The students, teacher, and engineer mentor will head to Washington, DC this month to compete in the National Future City Competition.
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| | Knowledge Bowl students flex their academic muscles
With nearly 140 teams registered from across the Twin Cities metro area, Middle Grades Knowledge Bowl is booming! Senior High Knowledge Bowl also continues to steadily grow with over 100 teams competing this year. SBC continues to provide Twin Cities students with a platform to strut their academic stuff.
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| | | Are you on Facebook? Check out our new outreach efforts for Help Me Grow! Metro ECSU hosts the Help Me Grow Region 11 Interagency Early Intervention Committee which is responsible for public awareness and child find efforts in the 7-county metro region for infant early intervention and preschool special education services. Partnering with the Risdall Advertising Agency, Region 11 has developed an updated look as part of a major marketing campaign for Help Me Grow.
Our goals are to increase knowledge of developmental milestones and when to refer a child if there are delays as well as to provide easy access to online referrals.
Help Me Grow MN on Facebook is one of our primary strategies to reach young parents and share information about child development. Since starting the Facebook page in July, we have had an amazing, enthusiastic response with over 6,500 followers and this number is growing each day.
We have links to YouTube videos about each developmental stage and a user-friendly web presence at www.helpmegrowmn.org
"Like" us today! |
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Academic Language for ALL Learners: a relevant topic for all school districts
As our classrooms become more culturally, linguistically, racially and socioeconomically diverse, the linguistic expectations of our students continue to grow. Furthermore, the implementation of CCSS in language arts and WIDA’s ELD standards is forcing districts to address academic language in a more formal way.
Julie Krohn, Regional Education Specialist in the Center for English Language Learning (CELL) at Metro ECSU, presented Academic Language for ALL Learners at the Curriculum Leaders of Minnesota Conference in Brainerd on November 14, 2013. This session emphasized the importance of building language in all content areas for all learners in order to meet those increased linguistic expectations. Julie defined academic language and provided practical strategies to increase intentional use of academic language by teachers and students.
Julie is currently working with elementary intervention teachers in North St. Paul helping them integrate strategies that build students’ academic language.
Contact Julie Krohn at 612-638-1522 to learn about how Metro ECSU can provide professional development for your school/district.
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| | Tech Talk Newsletter from your Assistive Technology Network
Tech Talk is an Assistive Technology (AT) newsletter with a mission to “Help children learn to their full potential."
Writing for Tech Talk is done by 5-6 members of the Assistive Technology Network in MN Low Incidence Project – Region 11 housed at Metro ECSU. Tech Talk is e-published twice a year for AT Network District representatives. It is edited by each district representative to include the school district’s information to promote follow up with AT staff at the district level.
Titles that have been published in the past include “Assistive Technology can help your child in class, at home,” “Literacy and Assistive Technology” and “Help Your Child Become Organized.” The editions for 2013-2014 are scheduled to address Assistive Technology and Math, and Assistive Technology and Reading. Each edition includes a house icon that encourages parents to explore certain AT items at home. It also has a section for Information Resources and Parent Questions.
The Tech Talk Newsletter is only available to those districts having an Assistive Technology representative in the network. If you are interested is sending a district representative, please contact Kathy Pittelko at 612-638-1527 to make arrangements.
Funding for this publication is made possible with a grant from the MN Department of Education. The source of the funds is federal award Special Education – Programs to States, CFDA 84.027a.
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