Connector Newsletter June July 2015 by Adam

Our focus is on serving you!

The

A Message from Dr. Bell

Connector June/July 2015

ESU 10 Administrative Assistant, Valerie Gwin, and I just finished finalizing the budget to operate this business for at least another year pending board approval on June 15th. It looks like we will manage to keep the doors open and meet the required needs of the school districts we serve as we “partner with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support”. Now comes the fun part as we transition from one fiscal year to the next. The ESU 10 fiscal year begins July 1. I have decided to dedicate this column to ESU 10 funding since I don’t think most people understand how we get funds to operate. The total yearly ESU 10 budget of expenditures has been running about $13.5 million. There are four budget revenue categories that supply funding to pay those expenditures: Basic Services, Core Services, Special Services, and Grants. Basic Services encompass the greatest variety of ESU 10 programs and use about $4 million each year. 75% of those funds come from property taxes where the ESU can collect up to $.015 per $100 of valuation. Last year ESU 10 had a valuation of $18,887,937,758. The rest of the funds come from direct sale of services, flow-through funds from various sources, and reserve funds if they are needed. The tax levy has always been at the $.015 rate until last year when valuations increased at a rapid rate and our levy dropped a bit to $.0147. We are restricted as how much tax we can request.

Special Services is the next largest category and costs about $3.6 million this upcoming year. All of the funding for this category comes from the users of the program. School districts contract with ESU 10 each year so they know exactly what yearly costs can be so that they can budget appropriately. Grants provide the ESU with about $3.2 million of annual income. That figure is about half of what was five years ago. The present level is stable and we do not anticipate much future change in state and federal grant support. We do look for other grant sources constantly. Core Services is the most recent category and state funded by the ESU Core Services and Technology Infrastructure Certification. In other words, it is state aid. This fund has fluctuated since it was initiated in 1998. The latest revision in 2007 was beneficial for ESU 10. We have been averaging about $1.5 million in payments each year from the state since 2007 to support a $2.7 million effort, but our funding took a big hit this year and we lost almost $250,000. Any lost funding this year is then shouldered through local property taxes just to maintain current programs. 57% of this budget is funded by flow-through funds. This is also the area where we budget to support NDE programs such as AQuESTT. My latest rough calculation would indicate that the state now funds only 37% of this state mandated program. The juxtaposition of the state needing and requesting more ESU support and at the same time reducing state financial support causes an increased burden on local property taxpayers. This type of thinking is not congruent and should probably be addressed soon in a legislative session. I hope this information helps provide some clarity as to how ESU 10 operates. Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any budget questions. This organization still delivers on the original charge of providing economy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. We appreciate your continued support.

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

ESU 10 Workshops June 15 Reading Instruction that Makes a Difference (5 days) 16 An Introduction to Verbal Behavior and the ABLLS-R (2 days) 18 Engage with Schoology 22 Vocabulary Comes Alive with Tony Vincent 23 NSSRS Workday 23 Powerful Projects with Tony Vincent 23 Title IX Coordinator Required Training

29 Flipped Learning

July 07 PowerSchool Users Conference (2 days) 10 A Google Breakout 13 Mixed Messages:The Changing Face of Discipline in School Systems 14 Write Tools 16 Explore Science: K-8 Science 20 MANDT Workshop (3 days) 21 Accelerating Literacy & Content for English Learners

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Early Development Network Babies Can’t Wait

by Karen Verraneault, Resource Teacher Coordinator

Are you concerned about the health or development of a young child? Most parents wonder at times if their children are growing and developing like other children the same age. No two children develop at the same rate or learn to do things at the same exact time. However, if you have concerns about the development of a child (birth to three years), or if a child has been diagnosed with a disability or health condition that affects developmental growth, it is better to seek answers sooner than later through the Early Development Network. What is the Early Development Network? The Early Development Network (EDN) serves children from birth to age three and their families. EDN is a collaborative effort shared by the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as co-lead agencies. These agencies are responsible for planning, implementation, and administration of the Federal Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C of IDEA). How do you find out if a child is eligible for services? After receiving the family’s permission, a referral may be made by anyone concerned about the child’s development (e.g., a family member, child care provider, physician, social worker, or others). The call is made to a Services Coordinator, who will contact the family within seven days to determine if they are interested in receiving EDN services. With the family’s consent, the Services Coordinator contacts the school district, in which the family resides, to arrange for a multidisciplinary team (MDT) evaluation. The parents, Services Coordinator, and educational professionals from the local school district comprise the MDT that determines eligibility.

What happens next? If the child qualifies for special education services, the team (of which parents are key members) will develop an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). This plan contains prioritized goals, based on the unique needs of each child and family, and then family-centered services needed to achieve these goals are identified. Educational services are provided by the school district in the home through coaching by one or more of the following: an early childhood special educator, a speech-language pathologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist. The Services Coordinator works to link the family with community resources and supports. How can you get involved? There are 28 Planning Regions in Nebraska. Each Planning Region Team (PRT) is made up of parents and representatives from School Districts, Educational Service Units, Head Starts, Health and Human Services, and other community agencies and persons responsible for assisting in the planning and implementation of the Early Intervention Act in each local community or region. You can serve as a member of your local Planning Region Team. You can be part of a “grass roots” effort to locate children and to make parents and the public aware of the assistance available through the Early Development Network.

Continued on next page

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Early Development Network Babies Can’t Wait (cont.) What is ESU 10’s role? Educational Service Unit 10 is the local Lead Agency responsible for Planning Region 10 team activities, while CHI Health Good Samaritan is the Services Coordination Contracting Agency responsible for providing coordination of services. These agencies serve infants, toddlers and their families in Buffalo, Dawson, Garfield, Greeley, Loup, Sherman, and Valley counties. CHI Health Good Samaritan is also the Services Coordination Agency for Planning Region Team 28, serving Blaine and Custer Counties. Who do you contact? To request information or to refer a child in the Planning Region 10 service area, please contact an EDN Services Coordinator at (308) 865-7131 or (800)-689-7131. If you live outside the PRT 10 service area, please call the Nebraska Statewide Early Development Network Child Find number at: 1-888-806-6287 or visit http://edn.ne.gov/cms/ If you are interested in being part of Planning Region Team 10, contact John Street jstreet@esu10.org or Karen Verraneault kverrane@esu10.org

Science Workshop

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

OverDrive eBook Library ESU 10 is excited about our second year subscription with OverDrive K-12 eBook Library. Several hundred titles of eBooks and Audiobooks for all grade levels were purchased in August 2014 and we have continued to add more titles in the shared library throughout the year. To complete this daunting task of choosing the best titles for our library, we invited several librarians from within the ESU 10 boundaries to come together as an eBook Advisory Group. We believe you will be very pleased with their choice of titles. There are two plans available for your school to choose from: ESU 10 eBook Shared Collection Plan (SCP): •Participating districts will have access to all titles in the SCP. •The ESU 10 annual eBook Service Agreement - includes cost of $0.50 per student or minimum of $500 depending on amount of students and staff. SDL Advantage Program - (Your school must be signed up with the ESU 10/SCP to join the SDL Advantage Program) •The SDL (School Digital Library) Advantage Program Enrollment a “private” library collection shared only among your school district. The school works directly with an OverDrive representative who will set-up all the needed preliminaries. The cost to begin the contract is $500.00, which is used to purchase eBooks. There are no hidden fees or added costs. Schools have the option to purchase more titles to build up their own library, or opt not to purchase beyond the initial $500. 6

OverDrive App features Dyslexic Font Option OverDrive has recently released a new version of the OverDrive app with a number of enhancements including the option to select a dyslexic font when reading eBooks. Standard typefaces are often difficult to read for people with dyslexia as the letters are hard to differentiate and words tend to jumble together. Dyslexic fonts provide greater contrast in letters which solves this problem. This new font option will make reading easier for students with dyslexia as well as library patrons who struggle with the condition. Determining letters is now much easier, allowing readers to concentrate on the book’s content instead. To select the dyslexic font tap the center of your device’s screen when reading a title and choose the font options button. Then simply select which dyslexic font you’d like to use. As always, you can also adjust the spacing, font size and screen color to make your reading experience more enjoyable. This update is one of many enhancements planned for the app – with more coming later in the year – that will continue to help users get the most out of their digital reading experience.

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

OverDrive Learning tools for staff When the Madison Metropolitan School District decided to start an OverDrive collection for all of their patrons, one of the concerns was how to train the 46 school librarians so that they could be the local experts on this resource. In addition to some large group training sessions and using targeted e-mails to highlight the many resources that OverDrive provides online, a LibGuide page was created as a central spot that librarians could go to when they needed an answer to an OverDrive question “right now.” Since the district’s librarians already used a privately shared LibGuide to warehouse other important district library information, a new page was simply created in the “Librarian e-guide” to provide specific OverDrive information.

Recently one librarian wanted to know how to remove a title from a patron’s name before the checkout period has expired. With help from an OverDrive Account Specialist, the needed directions were found and shared not only with that librarian, but also posted on the OverDrive libguide so that others could learn that process as well. Links that allow librarians to go to a spreadsheet to request access level changes for a specific title or request purchases of new titles have also been added. This streamlines the district requests so that one person can check the lists periodically and handle them in a very efficient manner.

The initial LibGuide focused on general information about OverDrive such as what it was, how it might be utilized by district students and staff, and how district patrons would access it. It also included links to many of the excellent resources that OverDrive provided, such as device specific directions. In addition, screencasts and documents that were specific to MMSD (such as the district’s ordering process for OverDrive shopping carts) were posted here. A year later new boxes have appeared as needed, such as “Simple Login” information when that became an option.

The LibGuide is a work in progress, but is really has helped to cut down on the questions that may be directed to central library media services staff members. It helps the school librarians learn things on their own when they need to find an answer for either themselves or a patron.

Madison Metropolitan School District is located in Madison Wisconsin and has been using OverDrive with their students and staff since January, 2014.

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Summer Preview As students and teachers look forward to the upcoming summer months, ESU 10 staff turn their attention toward summer workshops and new services for our schools next fall. One such service is expanding remote learning to the desktop. Desktop conferencing availability to every classroom and sharing a vision for BlendEd learning using desktop conferencing will be on the summer and fall instructional workshops. Beginning two years ago, ESUs throughout Nebraska began using desktop applications for meetings. Google Hangouts, Zoom, and Lifesize Cloud turned everyone’s computer or smart device into a $12,000 video conferencing cart. As each month passed more ESU staff and K12 teachers downloaded these applications allowing them “to bridge gaps of time and distance through maximum utilization of resources” (An ESU 10 unit improvement goal) Because most teachers’ classrooms have a computer with a built-in camera, and a projector or TV as a display, ESU 10’s vision is that all teachers and their students now have the technology to add video connections to enrich learning. If technology enables remote connection, how might teachers use this resource?

by John Stritt, Distance Education

ESUs of Nebraska will increase awareness of video conferencing programs through an email notification system announcing upcoming opportunities from a number of Nebraska educational providers - Durham Museum, Morrill Hall, Homestead National Park, Museum of Nebraska Art, and more. (http://goo.gl/ A4PoI9) Free video conferencing national programs are offered on demand by many of the 58 US National Parks, the 13 NASA facilities, and many other virtual field trips throughout the US and even abroad. As career readiness is targeted as an essential area of study by the Nebraska Department and Education, area and state businesses such as the Buckle, Adams Land and Cattle Company, NRG Media, NPPD and others are interested in sharing about careers in these Nebraska based companies. Finally and most importantly, the imaginative ideas that teachers will think of can open their classrooms to their town, region, state, and beyond.

Through desktop conferencing, teachers and students will become more connected as desktop conferencing extends their educational experience beyond their classroom, school, and community.

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Kearney

http://scimath.unl.edu/nmssi

Nebraska Math and Science Summer Institutes

ADVANTAGES ADVANTAGES FOR TEACHERS FOR TEACHERS Current Nebraska • Current teachers qualify Nebraska teachers for qualify a 20 percent for a 20 discount ondiscount in-state percent tuition at UNL tuition on in-state at UNL Teachers can • Teachers apply for tuitioncan apply for a fellowships tuition fellowship from the NMSSI from the NMSSI Free lunch will be • Freeeach lunchday will provided be provided each of class day of class

Primarily Math’s MATH 800P: Number and Operation for K-3 Math Specialists Location: ESU 10, Kearney Dates/Times: June 22-26, 2015 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Primary Audience: Grades K-3 Teachers

Credit Hours: 3 Class #: 13778 Section #: 952

Benefits: Lunch will be provided each day of class at ESU 10.

Description: This course is the first course offered in the highly successful Primarily Math program of the NebraskaMATH grant at UNL. It will strengthen teachers’ conceptual knowledge of number and operation in the K-3 mathematics curriculum. The course connects the intuitive mathematical understandings that children bring to school and links them to an understanding of place value in the K-3 curriculum. The significance of base 10 in our place value system, along with its role in arithmetic operations and their properties is a major emphasis of the course. Primarily Math courses have proven to make a positive impact on the mathematical knowledge of teachers and on student learning. Questions? Contact Lindsay Augustyn at laugustyn2@unl.edu or Dianah Steinbrink at dianah.steinbrink@esu10.org

For For more information on how to register, apply for fellowships and review the other NMSSI courses across the state, please visit: scimath.unl.edu/NMSSI UNL Center for Science, Mathematics & Computer Education

Supported by: UNL Office of Graduate Studies, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education & Human Sciences and College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is an equal opportunity educator and employer with a comprehensive plan for diversity.

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Title III Consortium My first school year coordinating the Title III federal grants for Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Immigrant students is drawing to a close, and I have enjoyed the new opportunities for learning that have accompanied this task. This year, the ESU 10 Title III Consortium served 688 LEP students and was made up of 31 school districts from ESUs 9, 10, 11, 15, and 16. Member districts had K-12 LEP populations ranging from 1 student to 114 students. The consortium offered a variety of services, including regional trainings held at ESUs 10 and 16, on-site trainings for individual districts, administrator training via webinar, materials acquisition by request, and both remote and onsite individual consultation. 28 out of 31 member districts took advantage of at least one of these services, and 15 out of 31 member districts accessed two or more types of service offered. Some changes were made to the consortium, including the creation of an advisory committee. The purpose of this committee is to give input and guidance regarding consortium-wide purchases, training content, and the overall improvement of consortium services. Currently, the advisory committee is made of about 15 volunteers and consists of:

• • • •

Representatives from ESUs 9, 10, 11, 15, and 16 Elementary and secondary general education teachers Elementary, secondary, and K-12 administrators Elementary, secondary, and K-12 English Language Learner (ELL) teachers

A major area of need across the consortium identified by the advisory committee was that of curricular materials. Because of this, I ordered several sample materials for our consortium to review and also offered advisory committee members the opportunity to attend a conference with me in Denver April 14-15 where we had the opportunity to review other options for curricular materials. Six representatives accompanied me, and they have shared their response to this conference below: “Networking (enroute to and from the conference, as well as atconference) was very enjoyable and informative for me too. … When they showed the sample lesson on Wednesday morning, my favorite takes from the format was the collaborative application of learning, and focusing on enabling students to think, discuss, read and write. I also like the application of relevancy of what they are learning

by Emily Jameson, Teaching and Learning Coordinator

attached to other areas of their lives, not just at school. Building foundational knowledge of English for daily life, classroom interactions and content expectations are necessary for ELLs to become successful.” – Melvina Bundy, Broken BowCoordinator “This conference was an excellent choice to gather information and learn about serving English Language students in our schools. I thought the E.L. Achieve conference supported the English Language Development teachers as well as the content teachers who serve EL students. I think I benefited the most by learning how to incorporate the structures and functions of language into useful lessons for students.” – Jamie Garner, ESU 15 Staff Development Coordinator “I felt the conference gave me a great insight to the workings of a good ELL classroom. The EL Achieve Program appears to take these students to a very high level without leaving gaps and holes at the 3rd and 4th level of their achievement. Having great ELL materials 13 and curriculum is a huge need in our school district. I will be an ELL teacher next year and I have been anxious as to where to start! The conference was wonderful but being with a group of ELL Educators from Nebraska was the frosting on the cake. I had people to ask for ideas as well as to listen to their thoughts and insights about this program.” – Terri Meyer, Chase County Elementary ELL “My perspective is a little different as I am looking at it not from a teacher of ELL but rather a content area teacher with ELL students in my class.… I see cross over between the strategies EL Achieve uses and ALP (Adolescent Literacy Project). From a professional development standpoint, the chance to network with other professionals across the nation not just the state was a huge benefit. … To hear what they have done and are doing with their ELL students, what works and what did not just solidifies what we need to have in place for the few students we have in our district.” – Vickie Johnson, Broken Bow Jr. High “I would say for me, I think the benefit was seeing what they are doing and learning about a new resource. … From a professional development standpoint, it was good to get to network with other ELL teachers, administrators, … and curriculum directors Continued on next page

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Title III Consortium (Cont.) and hear what they are doing. It gives me ideas about what other schools across the nation are doing, what has been successful, and what they’re struggling with too. Because there is not really anyone else in my area who understands the needs of ELs, it’s nice to have that opportunity to get to network!” – Becca Moore, Wood River “My perspective on it all would be that since I’m ‘NEW’ to teaching ELL that the E.L. Achieve Materials would be wonderful. ‘d have a set ‘scope & sequence’ to follow that aligns to our Nebraska standards and not leave me with any gaps.” - Myra Rahmann, Gibbon

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Join nationally recognized ELL Teacher Trainer Jo Gusman for

Practical Strategies for Accelerating the Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students July 21, 2015 – ESU 10 – 76 Plaza Blvd. Kearney July 22, 2015 – ESU 16 – 1221 W 17th St. North Platte This workshop is designed for Classroom Teachers, ESL & Resource Teachers, Reading Specialists, Instructional Assistants, Student Teachers, and Administrators

Participants from ESU 10 Title III Consortium Member Districts will receive $150 Contracted Services Pay. Registration Fee:

Title III Consortium Members – $10 ESU 10 Non-Title III - $30 Other - $75

Materials Fee:

Title III Consortium Members – Free Non-Title III Consortium Members - $20

During this workshop, Jo will share dozens of practical ideas for creating a highly successful and inclusive learning environment for all ESL students. You will learn new and innovative techniques for helping your ESL students acquire key literacy skills, as well as proven teaching strategies for making content material more comprehensible.

You will learn how to:  Utilize the Multiple Intelligences Theory and Brain Research to Make your Content Area Lessons more Comprehensible  Modify Content Area Lessons to Better Meet State Standards and the Language Acquisition Needs of Your ESL Students  Increase Active Participation During Your Content Area Directed Instruction Lessons  Increase Your ESL Students’ Retention of Content Area Concepts, Skills, and Vocabulary  Teach Basic Language Arts Skills in a Content-Rich Context  Design an inclusive and productive language learning environment

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Reflection

by William Bolen, Videographer

As the young girl bent over gazing into the water, she saw a beautiful adventuresome young lady smiling back at her. This is an exciting time of year. Students are looking toward the summer with excitement and families are making plans for activities that will take them on new adventures. As educators, this is a time of looking back over the year and defining lessons that were awesome and those that didn’t quite go as planned. Summers are a busy time of renewal and asking how can we improve on the impact we are making with our students. At NETA this year Adam Bellow made a brief but noteworthy comment to “Take time to Reflect.” So often we rush from activity to activity, staying busy and believing we are making great progress. If we fail to evaluate where we have been and what effect our lessons have created, we are gambling with our students’ future. What changes did we make this year and were they worthy of refinement? Next year what can we do to better help our students shape their own future? Are we helping them to be creative and find their voice in this world? These were questions asked by George Couros at NETA 2015. George challenged many of our concepts of education. “Learning is creation, not consumption”; even more it is “meaningful creation!” He talked about the need for students to take risks; “Find a safe way for your students to have an audience”. “Kids need our guidance”, we are not bystanders, disconnected, uncaring and unconcerned. We need to keep them safe, there is a lot of danger out there but without guarded risk, growth will be diminished. How can we help them find their voice in the world?

As a videographer I often see the world through a lens. When you look in a mirror you see who you are for a brief moment but through a camera you come to life, both the good and the bad. Through the lens your students can reflect on themselves and their world, a first step to discovery, creativity and sharing their voice. I leave you today with a thought that George Couros challenged us with: “To inspire meaningful change, you must make a connection to the heart before you can make a connection to the mind.” Gently the grandmother knelt by the side of lake, once again gazing into the water as she had done decades before. This time her granddaughter was by her side smiling down at the reflection of the two connected figures. A tear dropped from the grandmother’s eyes rippling in the water as she reflected on the years that had passed. May your reflections guide your path as you enjoy your summer and prepare for another year of exciting enrichment with your students. https://flic.kr/p/6ua457

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

Supporting English Language Learners in the General Education Classroom July 23-24, 2015 in the North Platte High School Library 8am – 3:30pm Participants will leave these sessions with:    

A knowledge of ELL-friendly instructional strategies Units prepared with adaptations for ELL students Tools/resources for teaching ELL students An understanding of the process of educating ELLs from when they walk in the door on the first day to when they exit the ELL program

Topics include:         

Rule 15, Title III, OCR and NCLB Requirements Introduction to Stages of Language Acquisition ESL Learning Theory Unique ELL Needs Language Structure vs. Language Function Writing Language Objectives Nebraska English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards Role of classroom teacher in education of ELL students Traditional and Digital Resources

Participants need to bring:  ELL support components of curricular materials (if applicable)  Outline of unit to be taught at the beginning of the school year  Computer

Register at odie.esu10.org by July 9 to secure your spot! This training is sponsored by the ESU 10 Title III Consortium. Members are entitled to contracted service pay of $150 per day. 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

My Summer Preview The summer months are quite busy for the Teaching and Learning Department as we provide multiple training opportunities for the teachers and administrators in our service area and beyond. The trainings that I will be directly involved with include Rigorous Curriculum Design, the Strategic Leadership Conference and Write Tools. On June 2nd and 3rd, Peg Coover and I will be facilitating the Rigorous Curriculum Design process with the St. Paul Language Arts teachers. These teachers have already prioritized the standards and wrote units of study.During this time, we will overview formative assessments, examine a variety of examples, identify qualities of weak vs. strong assessments, and teachers will begin writing formative assessments for each of their units of study. The Strategic Leadership Conference will be held June 9-11 for administrators looking to build their capacity in the three statewide initiatives which

by Dallas Lewandowski T&L Coordinator

include: Teacher/Principal Evaluation, Data Literacies, and Blended Learning. The Teaching & Learning Department will provide hands-on experiences and the topics for each day will include: Day 1– Using Data to Improve Learning Day 2– Providing Feedback for Effective Classrooms Day 3– Enhancing Instruction in a Digital World During the three days, administrators will engage in reflection about building their own capacity and the capacity of their staff concerning statewide and district initiatives. Time will also be spent strategically planning for their 2015-16 professional learning and support. The T&L staff will follow up with each of the administrators to assist with the development of their professional learning plan.

enhance their writing curriculum. These two days will focus on informative/explanatory writing and responding to informational text. Participants will vigorously engage in reading and writing strategies designed to help teach the art of informative/explanatory writing and reading informational text across the curriculum and at all grade levels. During the workshop, they will focus on the entire writing process, the organization of informational/explanatory text for reading and writing purposes, and note-taking skills. At the conclusion of the two days, teachers will be prepared to put these strategies and techniques to use when they return to their classrooms and 18 will see great improvements in their students’ writing.

On July 14-15, Jen Letheby from Write Tools will provide training to K-12 grade teachers looking to

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org

ESU 10 Workshop

A Framework for Understanding Poverty Sponsored by: ESU 10 & ESU 11 When: August 6, 2015 Where: Educational Service Unit 10 76 Plaza Blvd. Kearney NE Time: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Cost: Fees include: Book, Workbook, and Lunch ESU 10 Title IIA Schools – Free ESU 10 & 11 Schools - $75.00 Schools Outside of ESU 10 & 11 - $100.00

This workshop gives you in-depth information to help you understand class differences and 10 actions you can implement the next day in the classroom to achieve impact. This workshop is based on the book A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. After attending this workshop, participants will: •

Better understand how economic class affects behaviors and mindsets.

•

Develop stronger relationships with students to impact behavior and achievement.

•

Identify several key instructional strategies that meet the needs of the under-resourced learner.

•

Understand the hidden rules of economic classes and how they apply to their classrooms.

•

Reduce discipline referrals.

•

Use concrete strategies that impact the achievement of students from poverty.

Facilitator: Patti Albright of Baytown, Texas, has been an educator for 31 years. Patti has taught kindergarten through junior high school and has served as her campus language arts coordinator for the past 25 years. Patti also served as a district trainer in critical thinking skills, vocabulary strategies, effective questioning strategies, and curriculum writing. She worked with at-risk students and struggling readers for the duration of her teaching career and developed curriculum for slow learners at the district level.

To Register for this workshop, please use the following Registration Link: https://odie.esu10.org/workshops/SectionDetails.aspx?SectionID=3152

76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org