Friday Memo: January 12, 2018

Second semester has started and we're off to a great start.

Education Faculty Meeting - Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Dr. Terry Harris, Executive Director of Student Services at Rockwood School District spoke to us about the RSD Thrive program at Rockwood. This learning series is for teachers and administrators and focuses on social and emotional learning, restorative practices, trauma-informed care, and self-care for educators. He invited our faculty and students to attend the meetings whenever possible. Click here for more information and the series schedule.

CharacterPlus offers Character Education Certification
Dr. Terry Harris also spoke to our faculty about the importance of having the Character Education Certification. His district looks for this certification on resumes. We are blessed to be able to offer this certification workshop here at MBU. This certification will benefit future and current teachers and administrators. Please encourage your students to attend. The two-day workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, February 21 and Saturday, February 24 from 8:30 a.m. - 3 :30 p.m. at a cost of $125.00. The workshop will be held in Room 308 in the Field Building. Day one focuses on building the strong foundation necessary to begin your culture transforming journey. Day two introduces new advanced practices on social-emotional learning, trauma informed education, and restorative practices. You and your students can register by going to this website.

Upcoming PD Opportunities with EdPlus
The Education Division is excited about partnering with EdPlus and the benefits we are reaping.

1. We are members of Ed Plus so students and faculty will get member pricing. 
2. We are getting three hours of free PD. Trauma Informed was selected by the faculty and will be presented at our April 10 faculty meeting. 
3. We were part of the CEEDAR Grant and those funds went to EdPlus, who will be offering a four-part PD series which will be part of our remaining faculty meetings this year. 

CAEP Update

We have received our formative feedback report and have until February 2 to respond. We have areas that need more evidence or have a weakness, but no stipulations. This was great news! We are in the process of putting together the schedule for the CAEP visit on February 24 -27. Some of you may be chosen to be interviewed by the CAEP team. These interviews will take place on Sunday, February 25 and Monday, February 26. You will only be required to be here for one day for approximately two hours. You will be contacted soon if we need you. Thanks to all who have contributed to this process by supplying data and support and please continue to pray that all goes smoothly.

Field Experience Orientation
Field Experience Orientation was held Tuesday, January 9. We're excited for these students to get out into the world of teaching to glean the knowledge that only hands-on experience can give.

Chromebook Usage
On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to visit Dr. Hladky's ECTA 323 Curriculum, Assessment, & Data-Based Decision Making class where the students were using our Chromebooks that were purchased through our CEEDAR Grant funds. Here are some short videos that I took while observing. The clips below show Susan opening her class giving the students clear instructions as she modeled how to have students access chromebooks from a chrome cart for the first time. She had the students working in a shared google slide document as they researched various curriculum related vocabulary words. It was a pleasure to visit her classroom and see how actively engaged the students were for the entire class period.

Don't forget that the Chromebook cart with 20 Chromebooks is available for you to use in your classroom at any time. See Nancy Sickler for checkout procedures.

Upcoming Meetings
January 23: EdPlus PD - Making Learning Visible at 11 - 11:55 a.m. in the Performance Hall
January 30: Directors' Meeting 10:15am - 11:45am in FLD 115

Closing Thoughts
Lessons learned about teaching while watching my husband shark fish

I shared the following during the faculty meeting, but thought I would it include it in my closing thoughts today for those of you who couldn't join us. Over the Christmas break, our family went to Florida where my husband likes to fish.

My husband likes to fish for sharks. He purchases large bonita fish to use for bait. He has three large reels working at the same time to increase his chances. After carefully preparing the bait, he paddles the bait out into the ocean about 300 yards in a small kayak, where he drops the bait. After paddling back into shore (while I am holding the pole praying that a shark doesn't bite until he gets back) he patiently waits for a bite. We sit, chat, read, and wait patiently listening for the high-pitched whir of a bite on the line. He jumps from the chair and begins the thirty minute process of bringing the shark to shore, where he carefully wrestles the shark, unhooks the shark, lets people take pictures, and then sets it free. Yes, this is a dangerous and crazy hobby, but he loves it!! I was thinking about how shark-fishing and teaching are actually quite similar.
1) It takes much preparation.
2) It takes much patience.
3) It takes practice.
4) It takes optimism.
6) It is important to celebrate success.

As you have prepared for this new semester, I pray that you are able to have patience and optimism with this new group of students. Optimistically face this new term knowing that some students will need more practice than others. Celebrate the many successes in your classroom just like we did when Brian caught this big one!!