Register today for $99! Join us for a networking mixer on November 8th from 7-10 p.m. Conference will be held November 9th and will focus on learning standards through a keynote speaker, breakout interactive learning sessions, networking and a Lunch ‘N Learn panel session on Social Media. One graduate credit with follow up is available. To register, go to: bit.ly/LFNDConf.
Conference registration deadline October 25. Registration fee includes social, breakfast, lunch and snacks throughout the day. Secure your lodging now at the reduced rate of $95/night by calling 701-663-7401 (conference rate expires October 25). Payments are made payable and can be sent to Learning Forward North Dakota – MREC at 3001 Memorial Hwy, Ste B Mandan, ND 58554.

Learning Forward 2012 Conference Flyer

By: Lois Myran

The ND Department of Public Instruction has recently developed a North Dakota Statewide System of Support (NDSSOS) document.  A team of department staff representing Coordinated School Health, Special Education, Standards and Achievement, Teacher and School Effectiveness, and Title I was involved in the development and writing of this document.

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By: Lois Myran

The North Dakota Professional Development/Learning Advisory Committee (NDPDAC) is pleased to announce the DPI has endorsed the newly revised Learning Forward Standards for Professional Learning and encourages schools and districts to use the standards in their professional learning work. DPI endorsed these standards as they are based on solid research and evidence-based practice that ensures equity and excellence in educator learning.  As districts embrace the standards as indicators that guide the learning, facilitation, implementation, and evaluation of professional learning, districts will experience Learning Forward’s goal of “Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students.”

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A Balancing Act

A week before school started this fall I had the amazing opportunity to attend a performance of the Cirque du Soleil’s show, LOVE. This show was done to a multitude of Beatles songs. It was my first experience at a Cirque du Soleil performance. The show was beautiful, loud, inspiring, chaotic, unsettling, and there was motion everywhere. As I tried to take it all in, I was struck by the amount of coordination, collaboration, planning, and practice that must have transpired before this performance. How did the person on a trapeze in one corner of the theater know that the person on the floor across the stage would catch her when she needed to be caught? How did the man going back and forth on a platform suspended from the ceiling know that he would not fall to the floor?

About a week later, I was teaching, and the Cirque du Soleil performance seemed like ancient history. I was trying a new lesson plan that I had worked on during an online, collaborative professional development opportunity through the American Physiological Society (APS) called Frontiers in Physiology program at www.frontiersinphys.org/. The lesson was consistent with the “Six Star Science” approach proposed by APS (http://www.the-aps.org/education/sixstarscience/index.htm) and included inquiry, diversity, authentic assessment, reflection, and relevant topics.  At first, the lesson did not seem to be going very well.  I needed to clarify, re-teach, and make some revisions.  I might have given up, but I needed to report to my “Frontiers” class about how the lesson went, so I persisted.

Finally, on the last day of the unit, I paused, for just a moment, to take in what was happening in my classroom.  No one was swinging from the ceiling, but it was loud, it was a bit chaotic, and there was motion everywhere. I paused a bit longer and listened to the conversations. Students were talking about the lab!  They were asking each other questions. They were clarifying. They were saying things like, “what do you think?” It was beautiful… even with out Beatles music in the background.

At the end of the day, after all three of my classes seemed to have found success in the lab, I thought about the Cirque du Soleil performance and my successful classroom experience. My lesson was the result of communication and collaboration with other science teachers across the country. I proposed a basic idea, and I received feedback and suggestions, which I implemented. It might not have worked at all, and that would have been OK, things do not always work. This lesson did work, however, and it was every bit as exciting as that amazing performance on stage.

As another school year gets into swing, I keep thinking about the balancing act that we do as teachers.  We plan lessons for our students, and meals for our families.  We challenge our students, and we look for signs that they need time to process information. We assess progress and modify lessons and keep our classrooms organized, and juggle multiple responsibilities each day, including finding time for meaningful, accessible professional development.

For me, teaching is an amazing, exhausting, exhilarating balancing act.  Since my balance is nothing like those Cirque du Soleil performers, I am so grateful for opportunities to collaborate with other teachers. None of us has the time for anything except for professional development opportunities that will enhance teaching and student learning.  I hope that we can use this blog to share ideas about great professional development opportunities. Please comment and talk about your plans, hopes, and wishes for professional development this year. Let’s work to build a solid foundation of professional development opportunities and choices that are available to North Dakota teachers during this busy year. Also, please feel free to share your favorite Beatles song…

Keep posted for information about upcoming PD offerings from the APS!

(Photo taken from Morgue Files: A Morguefile free photo: http://mrg.bz/j1GOOC

Red Ribbon Week is right around the corner!

This year, the North Dakota Department of Human Services’ Prevention Resource and Media Center (PRMC) distributed a N.D. Red Ribbon Week Toolkit to all schools in North Dakota full of great ideas, tips, and other ways to kick off the year of prevention at your school! In addition to the toolkit, visit http://www.nd.gov/dhs/services/mentalhealth/prevention/education.html for additional classroom activities/ideas where you can tie in substance abuse prevention into your regular lesson plans.

This blog is intended to supplement the ideas included in the toolkit and provide teachers across the state an opportunity and place to share ideas and ask questions about Red Ribbon Week and other substance abuse prevention initiatives that can help our students make healthy and safe choices.

In the light of professional development, information on effective substance abuse prevention strategies and other ways to infuse messages of substance abuse prevention into your core curriculum can be obtained by contacting Rachelle Loda, Prevention Education Specialist for the N.D. Department of Human Services, at rload@nd.gov or 701-857-8576. We are also eager to hear from teachers from all grade levels to not only learn about their plans for implementing Red Ribbon Week, but to learn ways about how we can continue substance abuse prevention efforts throughout the rest of the school year.

Have you received your copy? For an electronic copy or for more information on substance abuse prevention materials, visit the PRMC Web site at www.nd.gov/dhs/prevention or call 701-328-8919.