MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
Oct. 19, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
GWAEA Board of Directors Meeting
Holiday Potluck Lunch – Coralville Office Tuesday, Dec. 13, 11:30 to 1 p.m.
Holiday Potluck Lunch – Sixth Street Office – Tuesday, Dec. 20, 11:30 to 1 p.m.
In this issue:
September 23, 2011
September 16, 2011
September 9, 2011
September 2, 2011
August 26, 2011
August 19, 2011
August 12, 2011
July 29, 2011
July 15, 2011
July 1, 2011
June 17, 2011
June 3, 2011
Archive issues
of The Bulletin Board
2010-2011
2009-2010
2008-2009 |
Five days and counting...
Grant Wood AEA Start Somewhere Walk, Oct. 7 at Noon
(33rd, Sixth and Coralville Facilities) |
The Grant Wood AEA Start Somewhere Walk is planned on Friday, Oct. 7 at noon, at each of the agency's facilities. Take about 12 minutes out of your day to go on a one kilometer walking route (.62 miles) with your co-workers. The one kilometer walking routes will be mapped.
Make sure you register online by visiting this link. For all locations, meet at the front entrances by 11:55 a.m.
Everyone is invited to get Iowa started on the path to becoming the healthiest state in the nation by 2016.
For information about the GWAEA Start Somewhere Walk or if you need special assistance, contact George Held, ext. 6714, Kim Martin, ext. 6710 or Jerry Cochrane, ext. 6741.
What If Site Now Live
The first of the “What If” threads on the agency’s staff web site has now been posted, and we invite you to share your moments of celebration. Perhaps you have had a student achieve a breakthrough with you, perhaps you completed a complex set of charts in Excel or you navigated through an especially difficult IEP or client meeting. Share your successes! |
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In order to access this site, you must be logged in to your GWAEA Google account. If you are not logged in, the page will prompt you to do so. Click on the following link to get to the site: https://sites.google.com/a/gwaea.org/gwaea-what-if/celebrations |
Student Test Data Now Online
The percent of students in AEA10 who scored below proficient, proficient and above proficient for grades 4, 8 and 11 are now available online. To find the graphs, click on “General Education” (under the Educators heading) and then select “Assessment.” Scroll down about three items and you’ll see “Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED).” Links to each grouping by class level and by Reading, Math and Science are shown as hyperlinks in that area. You can also click on the “School Improvement” link and go to “School Improvement Processes” where you will see “ITBS-ITED test results” at the bottom of the section – this also links to the Assessment section mentioned above. If you frequently refer to these test data, you may want to click on the following link for the assessment page and bookmark it: http://www.aea10.k12.ia.us/curr/assessments.html
The graphs are now shown in color instead of the black and white charts that we have seen previously. We will also share this information in next week’s newsletter to school administrators who may want to compare their school(s) with all of the schools in the entire AEA10 service area.
Child Find Support
Want some support writing EER’s? Need a little more information regarding the Child Find Process? All staff are welcome to join in discussions on Child Find and the New EER. The Child Find support team will hold monthly sessions using the following format:
Hour 1: Open Discussion-bring in information/data on a current case. We will be available to help identify if there is a need for other pieces of information, how does all this data/information fit together, and what does it all mean?
Hour 2: Focused In Depth Discussion session related to a specific Child Find Topic (such as Looking at Exclusionary Factors In Depth) led by the Child Find Support Team.
Hour 3: Open Discussion-bring in information/data on a current case. We will be available to help identify if there is a need for other pieces of information, how does all this data/information fit together, and what does it all mean?
Sessions will be held in BOTH the North and the South facilities using the Polycom Service. There will be at least one Child Find Support Team member at each location.
Staff are welcome to join in for the whole session, or any part of the session.
Our first session will be held on October 5 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm at both the 6th Street and Coralville facilities.
Focused Discussion Topics: Oct 5: Disability Suspected Form-When to use it, How to maintain records, and Documenting parent participation in the process.
Drop Box-Access, Use and Sharing.
Upcoming Topics: Exclusionary Factors; Resources for Monitoring Implementation Integrity; Progress Monitoring Tools and Goal Development;
Please feel comfortable bringing in the following materials for review/discussion:
EERs, Screening data, Formative data, Progress Monitoring data, Diagnostic data, Summative data and/or any General Education data being used as part of an evaluation
Iowa Technology Education Connection Conference (ITEC) - Early Bird Deadline through Oct. 3
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The early registration deadline for the ITEC Conference has been extended to Oct. 3.The 2011 conference will be held Oct. 16-18, 2011 at the Polk County Convention Center. ITEC has a great lineup of workshops this year. Two extra special opportunities include presentations by Joe Brennan and Gary Stager, nationally known leaders in educational technology. For conference details, visit http://www.itec-ia.org/. |
PEP News Bulletin, September 2011
Target Provides Donation to AEA 10
Target made a generous donation of educational products to Grant Wood AEA for use in area schools.
Dry-erase boards, informational flashcards and hundreds of books are among the donated items.
The GWAEA literacy consultants are working to distribute the items to students and teachers.
Thank you, Target! |
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AEA Blog Shares Message with School Administrators, Legislators and the Public
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The AEAs statewide continue tocommunicate positive aspects about the AEA system to legislators and school administrators through the monthly "Impacting Lives" blog. As they are posted, we'll include a link in The Bulletin Board. Please feel free to share the blog link with family, friends, clients - whoever you think would benefit from knowing more about what the AEAs do.
This month's topic is "Early ACCESS success: Parents say AEA is a huge part of daughter’s progress."
Gone Google
Google Sites- Page Level Permissions
by Stacy Behmer, Coordinator of Digital Learning Technology
Did you know you can now provide page level permissions on a Google Site? So, if you want to share a site with multiple groups, but one specific page with one school or group of teachers and another page with another group you can do that! Here is a short video tutorial, by our very own Tony Amsler explaining how to use page level permissions. |
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Visit the Grant Wood AEA Gone Google Support Site for resources and links that will help you navigate around our Google domain. |
Nominate History Teacher
Do you know an outstanding K-12 teacher passionate about teaching American history? Full-time educators who teach American history are welcome to apply for the Gilder Lehrman Institute Preserve America History Teacher of the Year award.
The National History Teacher of the Year Award gives $10,000 to the best American history teacher. The national winner is chosen from outstanding teachers in each state, district, and U.S. territory. State winners receive $1,000 and an archive of books and other resources for their school. The award is sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute, Preserve America, and HISTORY (The History Channel). Nominations can be made by a student, parent, colleague, supervisor, or other education professional familiar with the teacher’s work. Candidates must have at least three years’ experience teaching American history and plan to teach for at least one year following the award year.
Elementary teachers (K-6) and middle/high school teachers (7-12) are honored in separate categories in alternate years. Middle and high school teachers will be considered for the 2012 award, and nominations are due by February 1, 2012. (Elementary teachers will be considered for the 2013 award.) All nominations must be submitted on the Gilder Lehrman Web site: www.gilderlehrman.org/nhtoy . For more information contact Cheryl.Mullenbach@iowa.gov
SportAbility Wheelchair Basketball Blowout, Oct. 8
The second SportAbility Wheelchair Basektball Blowout is planned on Saturday, Oct. 8,
4-7 p.m. at Xavier High School, 6300 42nd St. NE, Cedar Rapids. Admission is a donation.
See the event flyer for details.
Flu Shots
Grant Wood AEA wellness program is offering flu shots again. The cost will be $22.00 per person if we have at least 75 people participating. Contact Barb Aanonson if you plan to participate at the Southern Facility and Nancy Lochner if you plan to participate at the Sixth Street Facility. Checks will be collected that day and need to be made payable to
Grant Wood AEA.
6th Street Facility
Thursday, October 6, 2011
7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Contact:
Nancy Lochner, ext. 6737
nlochner@gwaea.org |
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Coralville Facility
Thursday, October 13, 2011
7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Contact:
Barb Aanonson, ext. 6211
baanonson@gwaea.org |
Grant Wood AEA on Facebook  and Twitter
Are you connected with Grant Wood AEA? The agency has a presence on both Facebook and Twitter. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For questions, contact the Communications Office.
Agency Craft Show Planned Nov. 11
The Agency Craft Show is planned on Friday, November 11. If you are interested in participating as a vendor, please call or email Erlene Spicer, ext. 6746, before November 4 to receive more information.
The next TQ Professional Development proposal application date is Nov. 7
The proposal templates and directions are on the GWAEA Staff Portal under the Teacher Quality Committee link.
Teacher Quality Update – Professional Development Dollar, September, 2011
For more information, contact Sherry Sines, Professional Development Coordinator, Ext. 6517.
Visit the link above for a current schedule, registration information, and archives of the
Grant Wood AEA webinars.
Wanted:
Needed ASAP: Large boxes for packing items for the Open Minds, Open Doors conference. Please call Susie Green, ext. 6775, if you have any available.
Altoid tins. Priscilla Polehna is collecting tins for a literacy project. Please send to Priscilla or
Dawn Hrabak.
Pink Yoplait yogurt lids. Stacy Murphy, IMS operator, is collecting pink Yoplait yogurt lids to support the annual "Save Lids to Save Lives" drive for breast cancer research. Collection containers will be available in the break rooms of the Cedar Rapids and Coralville facilities or contact Stacy, Ext. 6888.
Buy, Sell and Trade
Lost and Found:
- Laminating found in the Stone Room during the week of September 12th with random pictures of food, clothes, people, animals etc. on 55 8 1/2 x11 inch sheets of cardstock (about six pictures to a page) each page repeated 5 times.
- Various water bottles, cups, and mugs.
- Problem Solving Process laminated poster
Contact Cathy Nelson at the Switchboard, 399-6544.
Vacancies,  September 30, 2011
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