I want to start this Administrator Connection with a huge thank you to every educational leader in the Heartland AEA service area. I have been in education since 1982 and I can’t think of a time when teachers, kids and families were more reliant on the leadership that exists in every school district. Over the last week, I have been humbled by the selflessness and service that I have seen from all corners of the educational leader community around Heartland AEA. Thank you for being in the arena. Thank you for being a leader.
Like all of you, our Agency leaders have been working to adjust to unprecedented circumstances over the last week. Our physical offices are all closed, but we are utilizing remote workplace practices to make every effort to maintain as much service to you and your districts as possible. Our regional directors are meeting with staff and reaching out to districts to see how we can help to meet ongoing needs as well as any new needs that may be arising in response to COVID-19.
In today’s Administrator Connection you will see further information regarding special education guidance. We are also providing a collection of digital educational resources and some sample messaging that you will be able to use to help families connect to those resources. Expect to see more resources in the future, as all of the AEAs are continuing to work to provide additional educational resources in the coming days and weeks.
My message to staff this week has been three-fold:
- Take care of yourself.
- Take care of your family.
- Stay connected. Stay connected to your colleagues. Stay connected to the districts and buildings you serve.
My message to school district and school building leaders is simple: We are here. We will be here to keep you connected to guidance. We will be here to help you with resources for your teachers and families. We will be here to help you with your professional learning needs.
As I said earlier, our regional directors will be reaching out, but we need you to reach out as well. Stay connected and thanks again for all you are doing for kids and families.
We know many of you have questions regarding Early ACCESS and Special Education services in the weeks to come. Given this work is driven by both federal and state policy and procedures, please refer to the following documents to address questions you may have at this time:
As students and teachers prepare for the new normal of learning and working from home, remember that Iowa’s AEAs provide a viable avenue for digital content for all Iowa students, teachers and families. Students and teachers are familiar with these vetted, age-appropriate and high-quality digital resources and use them in their daily work. These resources can be found in Library & Digital Resources on the Heartland AEA website. We are making changes to the website to make navigation easier for parents, yet familiar for students.
Use this link to the building-specific username/passwords to find your district’s username/password. You can copy/paste and share with educators and parents in your district. Please do not share the link.
Events are changing rapidly and some digital content vendors are allowing access without a username/password. As those changes are made the links to resources at the Heartland AEA pages will change on the backend. Students will click and be automatically connected. Link changes have already been made for: BookFLIX, TrueFLIX, ScienceFLIX, FreedomFLIX, NBC Learn, Culture Grams, Learn 360, TeachingBooks, and SIRS. Not all vendors are willing, nor technically capable of changing their access at this time. We will continue to work with vendors to make access as easy as possible.
Additional information was sent to teacher librarians. They will be updated regularly on any changes.
*As a friendly reminder, do not publicly post or share usernames/passwords.
If you have any questions, contact Susan Schrader, Heartland AEA Director of Resources and Library Services.
MESSAGE TO SHARE WITH PARENTS
Here is some wording that you may want to share with parents. Add your school’s log in:
As students will be doing more learning and reading from home, there are abundant helpful resources for parents and students through your local Area Education Agency (AEA). Iowa’s AEAs provide a broad variety of digital content for students, teachers and families selected by Iowa educators. Students and teachers are familiar with these vetted, age-appropriate and high-quality digital resources and use them in their daily work. These resources can be found in the Library & Digital Resources on the Heartland AEA website.
There are read-aloud ebooks, ebooks, digital audiobooks, videos, encyclopedias, articles, newspapers and more for our youngest and oldest learners.
The username/password that students use to access quality digital content at school <<insert building-specific username/password>>. Most require the username/password.
This just in! Some digital content vendors have waived the username/password so you may click on some resources and get right in.
*As a friendly reminder, do not publicly post or share usernames/passwords.
Spring arrived this week, and families with students on school break learned classes will not resume as expected. In light of these cancellations due to growing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Iowa PBS has collected a variety of resources for families and caregivers. All of these resources are available online.
Iowa PBS Education is hosting a Virtual Learning Camp on Facebook beginning March 23. Families from across the state can keep their children's skills sharp through a guided online learning camp.
Parents and caregivers can also visit iowapbs.org to find information on discussing coronavirus with children and educational games and activities to play with children during school closures.
And PBS LearningMedia has created a collection of videos, lesson plans and activities that support learning at home.
In addition, many of Iowa PBS's upcoming events have been postponed or canceled, either by us, or by our partners. This includes various education events around the state as well as events that were pledge thank-you gifts. A list of canceled events can be found here.
As organizations around the world are feeling the effects of the spread of COVID-19, many are having their teams work from home. This information from Maritz Motivation provides insights to help alleviate friction for your teams working remotely in this uncertain time.
