Friday, October 3, 2014

Our Mission
To provide services and leadership, in partnership with families, schools and communities, that improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth.

Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success

Registration Deadline Extended for Iowa Culture and Language Conference

November 10-12, 2014 • Coralville Marriott Hotel & Conference Center 

We heard you and are now EXTENDING the pre-registration deadline to October 20, 2014

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear national experts on English Language Learners and related topics! 

Conference Presenters 
Miriam Burt 
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C. 
What I’ve Learned Since 1975: Seven Strategies for Teaching Adult English Learners 

Wayne Wright, Ph.D. 
Purdue University, Indiana 
Strategies for New ELL Teachers 

Roger Rosenthal 
Migrant Legal Action Program, Washington, D.C. 
Rights of Immigrant Students and Other Topics of Interest 

Brenda Custodio, Ph.D. 
Newcomer and ELL Services, Ohio 
Best Practices for Newly Arrived Immigrants 

Kathy Olson 
Consultant and Author 
Brain-Based Learning 

First Person Voices Panels 
Bor Women of South Sudan Monica Nathaniel (President of the Executive Office) and Monica Akuien (President of the Board) 

Refugee and Immigrant Panel of First Person Voices and Parents 
Facilitated by Deng Tiir, multilingual 
Refugee Case Manager First Person Voices from EMBARC Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center 

Charles Pratt 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Washington, D.C. 
Citizenship 

Abeny Kucha Tiir 
Author: Tears of a Mother: The True Story of One Woman’s Determination 

Joanne Knapp-Philo 
National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, Washington, D.C. 
Early Childhood 

Rita Platt and John Wolfe 
Wisconsin & Minnesota 
Assessment for ELL 

Mark Grey, Ph.D. and Michele Devlin, D.P.H. 
University of Northern Iowa 
Trends in Immigrant/Refugee Relations with Iowa Law Enforcement and Emergency 

Judy Kinley 
Consultant, Iowa 
Differentiating Math Instruction for English Language Learners 

Doreen Underwood 
Great Prairie AEA, Iowa 
Identification of ELL Gifted 

Aiddy Phomvisay 
Marshalltown High School, Iowa Iowa 
ELL Force Activities and Plans 

Danielle Garegnani 
WestEd, San Diego, CA 
ELL Literacy Strategies 

Tonnie Martinez and Jessie Myles 
Midwest Equity 
Kansas State University 

To register, please visit www.iowaclc.com

FAQ from AEA Elementary and LEA Building Leadership Sessions on Chapter 62 and ELI

We have compiled a document of frequently asked questions regarding Chapter 62 requirements. 

Topics include: 
  • Chapter 62 requirements and resources 
  • Universal Screening 
  • Progress Monitoring 
  • Early Childhood and Transitional Kindergarten 
  • Intensive Instruction 
  • Parental Notification 
As additional questions arise, responses will be added to this resource. If you have further questions, contact your Regional Director.

Superintendents: No Regular October HAA Meeting

The October HAA meeting was held in conjunction with the Oct. 3 Iowa Dept. of Education Mini-Summit, so please note that there will not be a separate HAA meeting on Oct. 7.

We Are Social! Are You?

Have you followed Heartland AEA and the AEA system on social media yet? If yes, great—now tell a friend! If not, what are you waiting for? 

Heartland AEA 
Facebook 
Twitter

AEA System 
Facebook 
Twitter 
Blog 
Pinterest

Would Your Science Teachers Like to Use a STARLAB Planetarium? Get Them Signed Up for Trainings

Classic STARLAB consists of an inflatable room that can hold about 30 children or 25 adults. Inside is a novel projector, which can show the night sky with very realistic stars, planets and the moon. By changing the projection cylinder, the projector can also produce constellation outlines, a globe of the Earth or a diagram of a human cell. For astronomy, the changing motions of the sun, moon, planets and stars can be shown with a whole year condensed into a few minutes. 

Classic STARLAB Training 
Oct. 8, 2014 
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. 
Lakewood Elementary School, 9210 Happy Hallow Drive, Norwalk 

The Digital STARLAB portable planetarium projects high-resolution images of celestial bodies of the night (and daytime) sky. The Digital STARLAB consists of an inflatable dome that can hold about 30 children or 25 adults. Inside is a digital projector (with speakers) that can display celestial images and even movies onto the dome. This STARLAB is powered by Starry Night software that is run on a MacBook Pro computer that comes with the STARLAB. The seasons, the solar system (including the sun, planets, moon, constellations, etc.), as well as numerous other celestial bodies can be observed. There are mythology, weather and biological cell cylinders included with the software, as well. 

Digital STARLAB Training 
Oct. 27, 2014 
3:30 – 6:30 p.m. 
Lincoln High School, Small Gym, 2600 S.W. 9th St., Des Moines

Coon-Rapids Bayard Hosting Oct. 22 West Central Iowa Tech Institute

Heartland AEA area educators are invited to attend the West Central Iowa Tech Institute at Coon Rapids-Bayard on Oct. 22, 2014. The Tech Institute’s goal is to provide learners with four to five sessions over the course of the day that will introduce them to a new application, Web 2.0 tool or online resource. The sessions will be organized into brief 15-20 minute session with another 40-45 minutes for teachers to collaborate with the expert presenter and fellow session attendees to develop a lesson/project/assessment that uses the application/tool/resource they just learned about. 

If you would like to attend personally or send a team of teachers, please sign-up by going to this link. If you have any questions, contact Brent Jorth at brent.jorth@crbcrusaders.org.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Our Mission
To provide services and leadership, in partnership with families, schools and communities, that improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth.

Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success

Reminder: Register Today for Iowa Culture & Language Conference; Heartland AEA Will Reimburse for Attendance

Iowa Culture and Language Conference (ICLC) 
November 10-12, 2014 • Coralville-Marriott Hotel and Conference Center • Coralville, Iowa 

Awards Nomination deadline has been extended until October 15, 2014: 
Dr. Carmen P. Sosa Leadership Award • Dan Chavez Beyond the Horizon Awards The Individual Advocate Award • The Organization Award • The Teacher Award 

Visit the ICLC website for Conference and Pre-Conference Registration links PRE-REGISTRATION ENDS SEPTEMBER 30! 

Reminder: District support/reimbursement available from Heartland AEA Title III for attendance at ICLC 
Heartland AEA will reimburse districts for early bird registration costs of district staff to the conference, substitute teacher costs and a one-per district stipend of $200 toward expenses. (Participants will be responsible for picking up one district reimbursement claim form, completing it and mailing it to the address listed on the form by Nov. 21. A district administrator must sign the form.) The allowable number of teachers/administrators per district is based on the following rough estimates of the district’s ELL enrollment: 
  • 0-30 ELLs: 2 
  • 31-100 ELLs: 3 
  • 101-200 ELLs: 4 
  • 201-300 ELLs: 5 
  • 301-400 ELLs: 6 
  • 401 or more ELLs: 7

Morningside College ESL Licensure Opportunity

Morningside College has been getting inquiries from teachers needing AD licensure for ESL. The college’s course sequence has already started, and in their program, students have to start in the fall to complete 9 credits by next summer. To meet this need, the college is considering starting a late section of the first course, as it did last year. In order to do this, it needs at least 12 participants for a late section. Right now there are six on the list. 

Please let teachers know about this opportunity, and if they would like to participate, they should contact Linda Goode at Morningside College as soon as possible. 

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.

Upcoming Social Studies Opportunities

Shared by Stephanie Wager, Social Studies Consultant at the Iowa Dept. of Education 

Iowa Council for the Social Studies Conference 
Takes place October 6 (evening) and October 7 (all-day) at the Prairie Meadows Events Center. The 2014 conference theme is “Sailing the Cs: Getting to the Core with Social Studies.” The Cs include sessions about the C3 Framework, Iowa Core, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, etc. Over 25 sessions are being offered on social studies topics in these areas. Keynote speakers include Dr. Bob Bain (University of Michigan) and an expert on historical thinking and Dr. Scott McCleod (Prairie Lakes AEA) speaking on technology integration in the 21st century. To register go to www.iowasocialstudies.org

FREE Online (MOOC) Courses 
There are two online courses being offered on social studies that start in the next month or so. These courses are MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses). This means that the courses are open to anyone and that they are FREE. See below for more information. 

The first course is focused on the C3 Framework and is a partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum for American History, entitled Teaching Historical Inquiry with Objects. It runs six weeks starting October 7 and is co-taught by Dr. Kathy Swan and Naomi Coquillon of the museum. Check it out at https://edge.edx.org/courses/SmithsonianX/ED1.1/2014_T1/about 

The second course is focused on disciplinary literacy and is offered by the New Literacies Collaborative at NC State. The course is entitled, Disciplinary Literacy for Deeper Learning, and Dr. John Lee is featured. This course begins October 28. Check it out at https://courses.mooc-ed.org/dldl1/preview