Friday, May 18, 2012

Iowa Educators Consortium and Instructure Announce Statewide Pricing for Canvas

The Iowa Educators Consortium (IEC) and Instructure invite you to explore how to extend teaching and learning beyond your classroom using Canvas, the advanced, easy-to-use online education platform.

The Heartland area face-to-face conversation about Canvas and the IEC contract is next Wednesday, May 23. Bring your questions about using Canvas to support online learning, distance education and 1:1 programs at your school or district. Registration is due today and can be done here.

Rosetta Stone Pricing through the Iowa Educators Consortium

Recognizing that language and technology skills are important even as budgets are tightening, the Iowa Educators Consortium (IEC) is continuing its partnership with Rosetta Stone® Education. As a result of this partnership, you have the opportunity to provide your school with access to more than 20 languages at a special price. This rate is open to all Iowa schools with two purchasing windows from May through August.

To be invoiced prior to July 1, 2012
Orders must be received by Rosetta Stone by May 21, 2012 and will have an estimated start date of June 1, 2012.

To be invoiced after July 1, 2012
Orders must be received between May 22, 2012 – August 21, 2012 and will have an estimated start date of September 1, 2012.

For more information about this opportunity or to learn more about new offerings from Rosetta, contact one of the following:

Micah Battino
mbattino@rosettastone.com
(800) 788-0822 ext. 7117

René Nicolle Murphy
rmurphy@rosettastone.com
(800) 788-0822 ext. 7712

To download the order form, go to: http://www.iec-ia.org/pages/IEC/Technology/Software/Instructional/Rosetta_Stone

IEC Note: This offer is targeted for foreign language classroom instruction. The product is a one-year web-based license. Content is accessible 24-hours a day. One student may use the license at a time, but it can be assigned to multiple students throughout the year. Example: Your school purchases one license. ‘Student one’ uses the license first semester, ‘student two’ uses the same license second semester and ‘student three’ uses the same license again during summer school. School funding could come from a foreign language student lab fee. Rosetta Stone has set the minimum purchase at 50 licenses per year. If you would like to purchase between 25 and 50 licenses, contact Jerry Cochrane at jcochrane@iec-ia.org.

Registration Deadlines Coming Soon for PLC Sessions

Registration for the Professional Learning Community (PLC) sessions offered through Heartland AEA and Solution Tree will be closing soon. Click here for a flyer with more information about these opportunities.

Leading Professional Learning Communities
Registration Deadline June 1, 2012
This is a two-day session with a focus on the leadership needed for Professional Learning Communities. Day one is for administrators. On day two administrators may bring up to four members of their leadership teams. The fee for administrators is $175. The fee for teachers is $10. Click here to register.

PLC Coaching Academy
Registration Deadline June 15, 2012
The Coaching Academy is a unique training opportunity designed by Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker and a team of PLC Master Coaches. Led by a PLC Master Coach, the PLC at Work™ Coaching Academy is a six-day (three two-day sessions) capacity-building professional development experience. Participating school teams will leave each academy session with a new skill set, activities and an action plan for implementing what they’ve learned. Click here for more information.

Draft Next Generation Science Standards - Ready for Review

The first public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is available at www.nextgenscience.org from May 11 to June 1. They welcome and appreciate your feedback.

The NGSS have been written as student performance expectations grouped by topics, and can be viewed in the topical groupings or individually. The draft performance expectations are composed of the three dimensions from the NRC's Framework for K-12 Science Education. These draft performance expectations describe how students will demonstrate their understanding.

To review the draft standards, go to www.nextgenscience.org. When you are ready to provide comments, click on any of the links that say "Go to the NGSS Survey." Be sure to submit your survey by June 1. Feedback collected during the comment period will be organized and shared with the leading states and writing team members. After the feedback is considered, a feedback report will be issued that will explain how feedback was handled and why.

Feedback from across the nation will be used to fine tune the next generation science standards. The anticipated final standards will probably not occur until early 2013. At which time states may begin their adoption of the standards.

C-Plan Technical Assistance Webinars

The Iowa Dept. of Education is hosting four webinars to provide technical assistance to local schools and districts as they input their data into the new C-Plan application. The dates and times are the following:

Thursday, June 14, 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Wednesday, June 20, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Monday, June 25, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, July 10, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Please visit the DE website to register and for additional information: http://educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2583

Iowa Dept. of Education's June Issue of "Each and Every Child"

Find ways of engaging students throughout the summer in the June issue of the Iowa Department of Education's "Each and Every Child." The newsletter is designed to enhance communication between parents and teachers and eliminate the achievement gap in the State of Iowa. Please let parents know that the newsletter is available at http://www.educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2518.

“Teaching Deliberatively” Workshop Fosters Tools to Promote Student Civic Literacy

Want students to learn to deliberate over important contemporary issues? Want them to learn how "civility" can be better practiced in classrooms and school communities? The "Teaching Deliberatively" workshop is a joint project of the Iowa Writing Project at University of Iowa, the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) and the Iowa Partners in Learning. The institute will be held July 9-13, 2012 at ISEA headquarters in Des Moines. Participants will develop a take-home guide for deliberation over the timely issue of "bullying in schools and communities." Click here for more information about the workshop.

The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.

Registration Extended for UNI/Google Scratch Computer Science Training

Although the registration deadline has passed, the University of Northern Iowa will continue to process applications for their two Scratch workshops as long as seats are available. See below for information of the two offered workshops. To apply for either of them, teachers can submit an application at http://www.cs.uni.edu/connections/cs4hs/.

Questions can be directed to Ben Schafer, Assoc. Professor in Computer Science, at schafer@cs.uni.edu or (319) 273-2187.

Introduction to Scratch in Education - 1 cr. hr
Date: July 11-13, 2012
(plus one follow-up Saturday in November 2012)
Preparation for teachers in Grades 7-12 to have their students use Scratch in the classroom (all disciplines). This workshop will address the basics of Scratch (mostly by example), ways to introduce Scratch to students and a discussion on general classroom integration. No computer science or programming background required. Teachers will be expected to have their students use Scratch and to report on that use during a follow-up meeting in November 2012.

Teaching Programming Using Scratch - 1 cr. hr.
Dates: July 16-18, 2012
(plus one follow-up Saturday in November 2012)
Preparation for teachers in Grades 7-12 to teach a unit on computer programming using Scratch or a similar graphical languages. This workshop will discuss Scratch and several Scratch-based variations. We will review the basics of programming as well as discuss the challenges and methods of teaching introductory programming. Participants are expected to have prior experience with Scratch or some other programming experience. Teachers will be expected to plan and begin teaching a unit on computer programming to an appropriate group of students and to report on that use during a follow-up meeting in November 2012.

The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.

Money Mammal Financial Literacy Program Geared to Young Audiences

Money Mammals is a financial literacy presentation designed for 4-to 6-year-olds that fits in well with the Iowa Core Curriculum requirements. The program has been well received by educators and they often call requesting presenters return year after year. Click here for more information on the Money Mammals program. The first page gives a great description of the program, followed by referrals from educators, an article from a local newspaper and finally, a description of what is covered in the presentation.

The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.