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    Due to the challenges of COVID-19, please follow-up with the organization before attending.

     

    🕳  MN Conference on Science Education
    In just eight days, the Virtual 2020 MnSTA Conference on Science Education (MnCOSE) will kick off. Our conference team has been hard at work creating an experience to help you through the challenges of this teaching year. Some features designed with you in mind: 
    ·  No sub costs; all sessions held after school and evenings. 
    ·  Reduced cost. 
    ·  ALL YEAR ACCESS! Your registration allows you to watch any session whenever you want until June 1st 2021 and use them for professional development.
    ·  Over 50 engaging speakers and timely topics. 
    ·  Conference strands designed to help you with content and our current teaching environment, including: Distance Learning; Three-Dimensional Teaching and Learning; and Equity Diversity and Inclusion in Science Education in addition to our regular content strands. 
    ·  Many sessions support the new science standards, including an introduction to three-dimensional learning and sessions on phenomena-based instruction.
     
    Some highlights we are excited to share with you: 
    Thursday, November 12th Conference opening with special guest Governor Walz at 6 PM; strand sessions from 7 - 8 PM
    Friday, November 13th Conference Keynote with Maynard Okereke  of Hip Hop Science at 5 PM; strand sessions from 6 - 9 PM 
    Saturday, November 14th Unconference, planning begins at 9 AM followed by Keynote with Dr. Jules Nolan: Mental Health and Coping in COVID for Educators at 11:35 AM 
    Monday, November 15th: Strand sessions 5 PM - 8 PM  
    Tuesday, November 16th: Strand sessions 5 PM- 7 PM followed by Closing Session at 7 PM. Tune in for the MnSTA Annual Meeting, Exhibitor Passport Contest CA$H Drawing
     
    Preview the schedule and register for the conference at: bit.ly/MnCOSE20.  We look forward to seeing you soon!
    You are receiving this message as a contact for you district, school or organization. Please forward to science educators.
    Thank you,
     
    John Olson
    Science Content Specialist
    651-582-8673 |  John.C.Olson@state.mn.us 

    🕳  MDE: Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Series

    Are your professional learning communities (PLCs) feeling a little flat? Do your meetings lean heavy on the professional and light on the community? Do you want to review or catch-up on the PLC series on building and sustaining a collaborative culture that was presented last year? This workshop series is for PLC facilitators who want to add meaning and purpose to their current PLCs to help move teaching and learning further. Each session will focus on essential elements of the PLC process including the four critical questions that guide the work of PLCs and explore the implications of those elements on the school setting (in-person, hybrid, and online). During each session, participants will have the opportunity to share local practices and network with each other.

    Audience:  PLC facilitators, Q Comp coordinators, and administrators (We highly recommend the full team of PLC facilitators attend.)

    Registration: Participants can register for the following sessions based on their needs. Two options will be offered on each day. One from 9:00-10:30 am and the other from 2:30-4:00 pm. Participants will be asked in the registration survey which option they prefer to attend.

    • September 29: What is a PLC? Norms, protocols, and trust

    • October 29: Unpacking: What do we want students to know?

    • December 8: The role of a guaranteed and viable curriculum in what we want students to know

    • January 19: Unpacking: How will we know when students have learned?

    • February 23: Data systems and how we will know when students have learned

    • March 30: Unpacking: What we will do when students don’t learn?

    • April 27: Unpacking: What will we do when students already know?

    • May 18: Assessing PLC systems

    • June 15: Planning for 2021-22 PLCs

    Please contact Kristie Anderson at kristie.anderson@state.mn.us or 651-582-8860 at least two weeks prior to the event to request reasonable accommodations.

    For questions about any of the PLC sessions, please contact Kristie Anderson.

    🕳  MDE: Observation, Coaching, and Feedback Series

    Are you in search of the skills, tools, and support you need to shape a new coaching practice in this ever-changing learning environment? In an effort to support coaches, Q Comp coordinators, and administrators who now find themselves shifting between different support models for teachers, we are offering a coaching and feedback series for the 2020-2021 school year. This series will offer opportunities for participants to hear directly from colleagues with experience coaching and delivering feedback in an online environment and time to problem solve and plan through networking with others.

    Please contact Angela Mansfield (angela.mansfield@state.mn.us or 651-582-8371) at least two weeks before the event to request a reasonable accommodation.

    Audience: Peer reviewer/coaching teams, Q Comp coordinators, and administrators. We recommend the full team of peer reviewers and evaluators attend.

    Registration: Please take a look at the outline below and follow the links to register for any of the webinar sessions that interest you. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation message from Google Forms with information on how to join the webinar.

    This series will be offered every other month, with two sessions in September, following the schedule below:

    For questions about any of the Observation, Coaching and Feedback Series, please contact Angela Mansfield.

     

     

     
    🕳  Leadership from the Inside Out
    Denny Smith has launched his new weekly video series "Leadership from the Inside Out."

    "Leadership from the Inside Out" is a web series of motivational and personal development videos for teachers and educators for fall. Each week, the school or district would receive a one to three-minute video that they could forward to staff. There is no cost for the program.

    Check out one of his videos: Be Your Own Best Coach

    Subscribe the video series at www.dennysmith.com

    🕳  Women on Wednesday - St. Cloud State University

    About the Program

    Thirty years ago, the first Women on Wednesday session was held in the basement of the former Women’s Center (which was north of Mitchell Hall). This launched a now 30-year history of introducing new generations of students to one model of exploring and educating about women’s and gender issues—and considering the impact of gender on women’s lives in particular. The series “took.” In other words, it paved the way for WoW’s "signature series" status. By organizing presentations on a vast array of feminist issues and highlighting diverse women’s perspectives, the Women’s Center has offered amazing opportunities to learn from women’s lived experiences, as experts in their fields, and about feminist social, political, economic, and legal efforts towards social justice and change.
            
    For more episodes, visit the Women on Wednesday Archive

    🕳 Looking for a book study for your leadership team?
    MASA's "What We Are Reading" Blog is a great resource. Thanks to our book blogger, Steve Malone, Superintendent of Becker Public Schools for being our Reader Leader! Check out a sample today.