As I have said many times, change is good in that it provides new challenges and hopefully makes the needed improvements in our educational system. I have to look in the mirror and keep telling myself that, as ESU #17 has made another staffing change in December. New to ESU #17 is a change in staffing for the positions of both technology integration and administrative/special education assistant.

For the past two and a half years, Stephanie Bernthal has served as administrative/special education assistant. She has done an excellent job in surpassing the requirements of that position and at the same time has worked with staff at the

downtown office with technology issues.

Administrators in the ESU 17 area schools continue to place a high priority for technology in the schools. The BrightBytes surveys by teachers and students also have indicated a need to advance the use of technology in schools by using a higher level of integration in the classroom. After interviewing several good candidates for the position of technology integration, Ms. Bernthal was chosen to fill the position. As long as everything goes according to plan, Stephanie will complete her Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology at UNK in May. Her focus will be to work with area educators in Cherry County. The good news is that we are adding a new technology position at ESU #17 with a great person, but the bad

news was that we had a vacancy for an administrative assistant.

The bad news changed to good news after we interviewed several excellent candidates and chose Stephanie Randall as the new administrative/special education assistant. Most of her work experience comes in the field of banking although most recently she has worked for the local radio station. Now if you want to hear her voice you will have to call the ESU and then wonder which Stephanie you are talking with. Please introduce yourself and welcome Stephanie Randall to our organization.

- Dennis Radford

P.S. In the past eleven years we have had five administrative assistants. Can you name them? Four of the past five are still working at ESU #17.

Stephanie moved to Ainsworth in June of 2014. Prior to living in Ainsworth she lived in southwest Kansas and worked for Bank 7, a Branch of Montezuma State Bank, as Assistant Vice President. She studied Psychology at the University of Phoenix and Business and Economics at Garden City Community College.

Stephanie and her 3 children, Gavin, Sydney-Amber, and Everleigh, are enjoying living in Ainsworth and find that it feels like home already. Stephanie’s hobbies include camping, baking, church activities, and traveling.

Dennis Radford (ESU #17 Administrator) and Tom Becker (Rock County Schools Superintendent) were both honored for their longstanding service in the field of education in Nebraska. Both men have been education administrators for 15 years and were recognized by the Nebraska Association of School Administrators in November.

Dennis started his administration career at ESU #15 as a special education director. He has spent the last eleven years serving our local area as the Administrator of ESU #17

Tom began his work as an administrator in Nebraska at Emerson-Hubbard Community Schools. He spent a total of 11 years there. Three years were spent as a secondary principal and eight years as a superinten-dent. He also served as a superintendent in Iowa for two years before moving to Bassett, Nebraska. He has been the Rock County Schools Superintendent for two years.

ESU #17 would like to thank both men for their dedicated service to the field of education!

Dennis Radford and Jeff McQuistan attended the 2014 AESA (Association of Educational Service Agencies) Conference, which was held December 3-5 at the San Diego Bay Hilton. Nearly 800 attendees including agency administrators, board members, vendors, and others attended this annual conference. Nebraska was represented by a contingency of 63 attendees, the fourth highest number of attendees from the 34 states participating in this conference.

Each day began with a keynote speaker followed by a breakout session, lunch, and two additional breakout sessions to conclude the day. Each session featured an educational service agency (ESA) sharing a best practice, often with a partner vendor, addressing such topics as school improvement, data systems, technology integration, personnel, etc. Click here if you’re interested in viewing the full gamut of

breakout sessions.

One of the most interesting sessions was presented by the Genesee Intermediate School District in Michigan (similar to Nebraska ESUs). The presentation, entitled Providing Online Professional Development Opportunities for Staff, highlighted content that naturally lent itself to an online environment, including anything from documents to videos and actual online courses. This is a concept that ESU #17 would like to have in place, so seeing how another agency has worked through the process was very helpful.

Nebraska was represented in the breakout sessions by ESU #15 in Trenton. Paul Calvert (administrator) and Kelly Erickson (staff developer) presented a session on how ESU #15 is coordinating agency-wide PLC groups with all like-educators from each school district to raise student achievement.

Curriculum revision is an ongoing process that allows schools to confirm and articulate essential knowledge and

skills that students need at each level of their education. This year’s ESU #17 staff development goal is to implement a curriculum articulation process that reflects current best practice.

Step One - Review at least two models: Build Your Own Curriculum (BYOC) and Rigorous Curriculum Design

(RCD); completed

Step Two - Prepare training materials; in progress

Step Three - Begin training; Spring 2015

The training materials currently under development are based on the Rigorous Curriculum Design model. Jeff

McQuistan attended a 2-day training at ESU #3 on November 11-12 (accompanied by Cindy Wobig, Principal at Valentine Elementary School), and is building esu17curriculum.wikispaces.com to guide area schools in their

curriculum revision processes. Onsite assistance will be provided as part of this goal.

The curriculum revision framework is comprised of five Modules:

1. Prioritize the Standards Identify the key standards for each course that are vital for all students to master as

well as any supporting standards.

2. Name the Units of Study Identify the primary components/experiences that will be used as a learning

framework for each course.

3. Assign the Standards Correlate the Priority Standards and Supporting Standards with the appropriate Units of Study.

4. Create a Pacing Calendar Map The timeframe that plots each Unit of Study.

5. Construct a Units of Study Template Identify the components needed to visualize and deliver each Unit of Study, including such items as

Essential Questions, Big Ideas

Priority and Supporting Standards

Assessments (pre- and post-)

Resources, Strategies

Vocabulary

Enrichment/Extension, Interdisciplinary Connections

Contact Jeff at jmcquistan@esu17.org regarding questions or assistance in getting started.

Get enough sleep.

Exercise regularly. Just 30 minutes a day of walking can boost mood and reduce stress.

Build a social support network.

Set priorities. Decide

what must get done and what can wait. Say no to new tasks if they are putting you into overload.

Think positively. Note what you’ve accom-plished at the end of the day, not what you’ve failed to do.

Try relaxation methods. Mindfulness, meditation, yoga, or tai chi may help.

Seek help. Talk to a mental health professional if you feel unable to cope, have suicidal thoughts, or use drugs or alcohol to cope.

- Reprinted with permission from NIH

News in Health, December 2014 Issue, http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/

dec2014/feature1

“The humble question is an indispensable tool,” says author Warren

Berger in this Edutopia article, “the spade that helps us dig for truth, or

the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps

us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change.” And yet schools

don’t value questions as much as they should, says Berger; the premium

seems to be on answers. Here are his suggestions for increasing question-

ing in the classroom:

Make it safe. Students shouldn’t feel that asking a question shows

ignorance or a lack of competence. They need a classroom climate where

questioning is welcomed and seen as a strength and students constantly

build their “questioning muscles.” One second-grade teacher has her

students do “10 by 10” exercises, generating ten great questions on a

topic in ten minutes with no obligation to answer them. Berger suggests

The Right Question Institute as a resource – http://rightquestion.org.

Make it cool. Some students think it’s cool to already know – or not care

about knowing. Teachers need to point out that inventors, musicians,

artists, and movie-makers are often mavericks who break new ground by

asking provocative questions. This website can be a resource: http://

amorebeautifulquestion.com.

Make it fun. “There are countless ways to inject a ‘game’ element into

questioning,” says Berger – the 10 by 10 exercise; asking Why? five times;

asking Why, What If, How? with any problem; turning an answer into a

question; opening closed questions; closing open questions; and more.

Make it rewarding. “A great question can be the basis of an ongoing

project, a report, an original creation of some kind,” says Berger. “The

point is to show that if one is willing to spend time on a question – to not

just Google it but grapple with it, share it with others, and build on it –

that question can ultimately lead to something rewarding and worth-

while.”

Make it stick. The goal should be to get students in a questioning

groove, reflecting on how they use questions, reflecting on what they’ve

learned, creating a new neural pathway. The best questioners look at

familiar things in fresh ways (“vuja de”); are always on the lookout for

assumptions that should be questioned; and ask questions that others

might consider naïve.

Reprinted with permission from Marshall Memo 551, September 8, 2014. Article is a summary of: “Five Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners” by Warren Berger in Edutopia, August 18, 2014,

http://bit.ly/ZeNZdU

Washington Post writer, Michelle Singletary, recently posed the question “If you pay good money for an airline ticket, should you be free without guilt to recline your seat?” As a very frequent flyer, it’s a thought-provoking question. Recently, a United Airlines flight was forced to make an unscheduled stop because two travelers had differences of opinion as to the answer to that question. A tiny gadget called a Knee Defender, a pair of plastic wedges that lock a seat in position so that it can’t be reclined, caused a huge ruckus.

Though the Federal Aviation Administration does not ban the offending $21.95 gadget, every major airline prohibits its use. But, just because

something is “legal” doesn’t make it right, does it? Some argue that when you purchase an airline ticket, one of the things you’re buying is the right to use the seat’s reclining function. Such “Prorecliners” go on to say that passengers who don’t enjoy having someone reclining into their personal space should pay more money to upgrade to a better seat. Ms. Singletary states that another way to look at it is that people feel entitled to do what they please because they’ve paid for a service without considering the comfort of others. Common Courtesy – a lost art.

Courtesy is defined as excellence of manners or social conduct; polite behavior in Webster’s dictionary. Courtesy, it seems, is not so common

any more, and not just on airplanes. Sadly, even the simple act of saying “please” and “thank you” aren’t that common. In our hurried world, we merely don’t take the time to be courteous to those around us. Doors aren’t held open, hats aren’t tipped. So, is it any wonder that we feel entitled to recline our seat into someone else’s lap?

Aren’t the tiny spaces of the economy section of the airplane and the line at the grocery store perfect opportunities to practice showing courtesy to those around us? Maybe, just like the “Pay it forward” phenomenon of years past, one courteous moment will give rise to another and another. Perhaps, the few inches that I give up by not reclining my seat, will add

up to more leg room for others. We are in this tight metal box together for a short time. Let’s make the best of it and maybe courtesy will become common once again.

- Reprinted with permission from The Mandt System Blog, November 23, 2014. Full blog post can be found here.