April Happenings

You may see several reports of the success of the recent Nebraska Educational Technology Association (NETA) conference at the LaVista Convention Center. The conference is one of the largest in the midwest and continues to provide excellent resources for our school.  We are proud to say that both Sandy and Lynne have been instrumental in the development of NETA into the conference it is today.  In addition, we congratulate Lenny from our staff and all the presenters from our schools.

We encourage our area principals to take advantage of the annual Principals’ Retreat scheduled for June 13 and 14.  Day one will feature training by Dr. Phil Warrick from Marzano Research Laboratory (MRL) on Supervision and Coaching.  We believe this will have value to all of our principals as they provide instructional leadership.

Over the past several weeks, Lynne co-led the NCSA/ESU TAG Administrator Technology Bootcamps in Milford, Scottsbluff, Kearney and Norfolk.  She led a session on QR Codes in the classroom at York, discussed Google+ hangouts and educational resources on Pinterest with Norris elementary teachers, and worked with Milford 7th grade students on a new tool, Thinglink. Lynne also represented NETA members at the annual Ed Tech Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC, where she met with Nebraska Congressional delegates to voice support for expanded erate funding, and renewed Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) funds.  She participated in interviews for the new ESU 6 PD consultant and supported technology use at the ESU 6 HOUSE meeting. She continues to support the adoption of Axis 360/Blio e-books for participating ESU 6 schools, and to help guide the process forward.  As part of the NETA board, Lynne worked to host another successful conference and spotlight contest winning teachers and students for their model work with technology in the classroom.  She continues work toward the July Google Summit to be held in Lincoln, and is in the process of scheduling the presenters and sessions.  

In April, Jen facilitated the first World Language Network where teachers gathered to share resources and ideas for teaching foreign languages.   In addition to continuing district projects such as York’s MRL Cohort and Centennial’s curricular work, Jen invested time in professional growth by attending NETA and a powerful seminar on formative assessment with Dylan William. Jen is an executive board member for the Nebraska chapter of ASCD, which hosted a luncheon for Nebraska’s Legislators on the Education Committee.  Finally, Jen has been preparing for the NCLB ESU 6 Title III monitoring visit scheduled for early May.

This past month, April has participated in many professional development opportunities herself such as the 3rd session of the Marzano Academy, the NETA conference, and a state-wide reading cadre network.  So it’s been a full month of learning for April.  In addition, she continued to provide her coaching and data facilitation services to Dorchester and Wilber-Clatonia.  She was also able to participate in a UNL Research Project by being interviewed at Dorchester Public Schools regarding her services there pertaining to the impact of Title I services.

Lenny gave a presentation “There is a Math App for That” at the Nebraska Educational Technology Association Conference (NETA).  He demonstrated several apps for the iPad at a variety of grade levels.  Handouts and links to the apps can be found on his web page at http://nmpdsagenda.wikispaces.com/Apps .  Lenny also had an opportunity to present at the NDE Data Conference.  “Using NeSA Reports, Correlations, and other Graphs to Improve Student Learning” was designed to help teachers and administrators use the information they have to help students learn.  He also shared spreadsheets that could be used to create graphs.  Handouts and links can be found on his web page http://lenny-data.wikispaces.com/ .  Lenny also had an opportunity to attend a training by Dylan William, a spokesperson for NWEA and formative assessment.

This past month, Tammy has been finalizing contracts for summer/fall presenters: Phil Warrick, Tammy Heflebower, Sue Presler, Lee Jenkins, and Shelly Torrell.  She is also collaborating with Sue Knickman at ESU 4 in planning for the Principals’ Retreat.  She has also been working on coordinating the 2013-2014 Professional Development Trainings.  Thus far, we have planned  for approximately 50 trainings.  An ongoing list may be viewed at http://profdevtrainings2013-2014.wikispaces.com/home.  Tammy, along with sixteen colleagues, participated in the National Walk at Lunch, pictured. Tammy also appreciated the gift given to her in honor of Professional Assistants’ Day!