Enjoy the November 2014 issue!
Authenticate Your NBC Learn Teacher Account!
GPAEA has many great professional development opportunities scheduled for this winter! Course categories include behavior, literacy, math, science, autism, early childhood, TAG and fine arts.
Courses are still being added, so please check the catalog in MyLearningPlan for new additions.
Contact Katie Gavin (Burlington and Ottumwa) at Katie.gavin@gpaea.org for details.
Over the past 2 decades Iowa has experienced a rapid shift in number of English Language Learners* and percent of growth as compared to other states in the nation. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics Core of Common Data, Iowa’s EL numbers have doubled twice over a 20 year period. In 2012, Iowa schools reported just over 25,000 ELs, almost doubling our population of English Language Learners again in 8 years. This trend is predicted to continue in a more exponential fashion over the next decade.
What does this look like at GPAEA?
GPAEA Enrollment for ELLs is 2% of the population agency wide. There are 22 different languages spoken across the agency and 22 out of 36 districts (public & non-public) are actively seeking support from GPAEA.
NBC Learn is a subscription database provided to schools in Great Prairie AEA. Digital video can be used for analysis, researching background information or for writing prompts.
NBC Learn has so many learning resources related to Halloween, it’s scary! In our award-winning collection, Chemistry Now, students can learn about the chemical reactions behind three hallmarks of the fall season: fear, foliage, and everyone’s favorite treat, chocolate. The Chemistry of Fear and Fright illustrates how “fight or flight” responses rely on adrenaline and cortisol to send a shiver down our spines. The Chemistry of Changing Leaves reveals how the pigment molecule chlorophyll tints autumn leaves to a dazzling gold or a zesty red. And The Chemistry of Chocolate uses the process of chocolate-making to demonstrate chemical reactions like melting point and the formation of crystalline structures.
We are pleased to announce a two-day Jim Knight Institute being held at the Coralville Public Library on November 17 & 18, 2014. This institute is for teacher leaders and their administrators and is the first in a series of instructional coaching training opportunities being held in eastern Iowa. Attached you will find registration information and additional details to register teacher leaders and administrators from your district.
This opportunity was offered first to TLC districts, and is now open to any interested district! Registration is closing November 5.
Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck recently introduced IowaCore.gov, a new website created to increase public understanding of the Iowa Core standards and to help educators put the standards into practice in schools statewide.
Waco Jr/Sr High Special Education Department hosted a Secondary Transition event for parents of children with special needs. A panel of speakers were invited to share information about their programs with families.
Speakers at the event included: GPAEA 4 Plus Program Coordinators, Job Corp, SE IA Case Management, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Central Point Coordination and GPAEA Transition Coordinator and Parent Educator Coordinator. The event was held during parent teacher conferences and had a wonderful turnout of parents and students with support from special education teachers and the GPAEA consultant.
If your school district is interested in hosting a similar event please contact Parent Ed Coordinators Kelly Wallace or Annette Clarahan at 800-622-0027 ext 3034.
Iowa’s AEAs and the Iowa Department of Education announce the opening of a new virtual community to support the Teacher Leadership and Compensation system. The purpose of this site is to bring teacher leaders and administrators across the state together to access resources and learning opportunities and to collaborate as we strengthen teacher and administrator leadership.
This community is an Agora site developed by AEA PD Online. To participate in the community, click here.
Self-Assessments – Teachers and administrators will be able to complete surveys, which will help identify areas of need in relation to the Learning Supports Framework.
On-Demand Learning – Community participants will find learning opportunities that address the seven focus areas of teacher leadership. The searchable database includes articles, learning modules, websites, videos and more.
Community Forums – Participants will have different forum spaces in which to participate, each with a different overall focus. Join in on the discussion, or just choose to follow the conversation.
Events – This is a state-wide calendar of learning opportunities for teacher leaders and administrators to support the seven focus areas. Participants can search the calendar and find professional development opportunities to address identified areas of growth for teachers and administrators.
All resources on the site can also be explored by each focus area: Adult Learning, Collaborative Culture, Communication, Content Pedagogy & Assessment, Systems Thinking, Data and Organizational Leadership.
Resources and learning opportunities will continue to be added to the TLC On-line Community. The Event Calendar is currently the most developed section. Events will be added as they become available. The other areas are at the beginning stages of development but will soon be a robust source of resources. Please visit our community. If you choose to enroll in the community, you will be able to sign up for notifications as well as to participate in community activities.
Please contact Lora Rasey at lora.rasey@iowa.gov or 515.281.6719, if you have questions about the Agora site.
To help you plan these celebration days, National Education Association has developed this online toolkit with background information, activity ideas, and tips for working with the media, as well as downloadable resources, templates, and promotional materials. Click here to access the online toolkit.
William Penn University and Drake University’s South Central STEM hub is hosting a Make-and-Take night for south central Iowa adults geared towards education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Our goal is to influence as many adults as possible who will, in turn, share their knowledge with children.
Please visit this link if you would like to attend the festival as a participant.
Is your elementary leadership team using data to make decisions? Do you want to get a head start in building the necessary MTSS infrastructure for participation in later phases of statewide implementation?
If you answered yes, then your elementary literacy leadership team should plan to attend Great Prairie AEA’s November 17th MTSS Overview and three future professional learning dates. Not sure? Attend the November 17th Overview and then opt-out of future sessions. See attached flier.
We just learned that NTC has partnered with Coursera to offer two new MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for free to any teacher anywhere.
These two courses are two of the five that will be offered this year through NTC and they start today! Feel free to pass this link on to anyone that you think would be interested: https://www.coursera.org/ntc.