Issue 18 | August 2021
Be sure your email address is up-to-date in the Michigan Online Educator Certification System to receive important notifications regarding YOUR certificate.
Please see the archived newsletters for other important information that affects licensure.
FREE! MTTC Test Prep Webinars Coming Soon
In early September, Evaluation Systems of Pearson will host four Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) preparation webinars that are free and open to anyone (e.g., candidates, faculty, staff). Each session covers the same content, so there’s no need to attend all four dates. The first 30 minutes will cover many informational topics, and the last 30 minutes will be open to Q&A.
Learn more and register for the webinars today!
The Future Proud Michigan Educator professional learning course is open for registration with Michigan Virtual. This course was developed to support educators who are implementing new Future Proud Michigan Educator Explore programs. So far, 75 educators have enrolled in the professional learning course and 25 have completed the “Foundations” unit. Educators who complete the Foundations unit will also have the opportunity to complete six additional units of professional learning, each of which correlates to a unit in the student course.
Registration for the professional learning is free and enrolled educators can earn up to 18 SCECH credits. If you want to learn more about the Future PME partnership with Michigan Virtual, you can visit: https://michiganvirtual.org/future-pme/. A course description and registration link are hosted here.
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Plymouth-Canton School Librarian Elected 2022-23 AASL President
The Office of Educator Excellence congratulates Kathy Lester, school librarian at East Middle School in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, on her recent election to the presidency of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Kathy has served as the president, advocacy chair, and institute chairperson for the Michigan Association for Media in Education (MAME). She is currently a member of the association’s board and a member of its MIself in Books committee, and was recently awarded MAME’s Citation of Excellence and the Margaret Grazier Award for Contribution to the Profession.
Read more about Kathy in this press release from AASL, and join us in saluting Kathy, a #proudMIeducator!
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Nominate an Education Support Staff Professional of the Year
Nominations for Michigan’s 2021 Education Support Staff Professional of the Year are now open. The Support Staff Professional of the Year award recognizes the outstanding work of individuals serving in roles that support our students, such as bus drivers and transportation staff, food service workers, and administrative assistants (and many more!). Individuals can nominate an outstanding support staff person using the online form found on the program webpage. Nominations will be accepted through Monday, September 13, 2021.
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#PMEchats will return this fall, as the 2021-22 Regional Teachers of the Year lead a series of Twitter chats on educational topics. They goal of these chats is to share resources and support that may help new and veteran educators alike. Follow the Office of Educator Excellence on Twitter (@MIeducator) for more information, including dates. |
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Save the Date and Call for Proposals
The Michigan Reading Association’s (MRA) 2022 Annual Conference will take place March 11-14, 2022 in Lansing. The theme is “Literacy Equity, Justice, and Building Beloved Community.” MRA invites all educators to submit proposals for breakout sessions.
Read more about the conference theme and submit a proposal here: https://cutt.ly/WQrnXib. Proposals should align strongly with the conference theme and must be received via our online proposal system no later than September 30, 2021 at midnight. The Program Committee will consider all proposals submitted by the due date. Notification of the committee's decision will be sent no later than November 1, 2022.
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Preparing Teachers for the Digital Transformation of K-12 – Today!
The COVID disruption has illuminated the need for digital curricula which allow for seamless learning – whether the students are face-to-face, remote, or hybrid. Indeed, teachers must be provided with just such digital curricula. And, teachers must be provided with an easy way to differentiate those materials to meet the specific needs of their students. Supporting teachers in this digital transformation is the mission of the Center for Digital Curricula, College of Engineering, University of Michigan.
Since July 2019, the Center has been providing K-5 schools – where there is a dearth of deeply-digital curricula – with standards-aligned curricula for grades K through 5 for the four core subjects. While most digital curricula are “digitized” – the Center’s curricula are deeply-digital, i.e., they exploit the affordances of the digital medium by supporting collaboration, student engagement, self-expression, and critical thinking. And, the OER curricula are free via the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-SA. The Center’s Collabrify Roadmap Platform hosts the curricula, for which there is a small charge. During 2020-21 5,000+ students from Title I schools used the Center’s curricula – and earned top-notch NWEA scores in the process! The Digital Transformation of K-12 is unstoppable. Come and use the Center’s deeply-digital curricula – and support teachers today as they prepare for tomorrow’s transformed classroom.
Children Matter. You Matter. Learn SEL.
Please participate in a quick summer learning opportunity that helps you and your students! In mid-March, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) launched the Children matter. You matter. Learn SEL! campaign. So far over 600 educators have completed the course since the campaign began.
MDE is asking educators to complete an ‘Introduction to SEL’ online module hosted through Michigan Virtual. The hope is that as many educators as possible (a minimum of one school leader and two to four teachers per building across the state) will complete the module before Labor Day. The course is free, offers State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs), and takes about two hours to complete. This program is open to all districts.
Would you please participate in the training and encourage other educators to complete the training? Let’s reach our goal by Labor Day!!
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Accelerate Reading Growth for Primary Students in Three Steps
After the disruption in education caused by the pandemic, many districts and schools hope to accelerate younger students’ growth in reading. Although this task may seem daunting, research on reading suggests three concrete steps educators can take to meet this challenge in this report.
Supporting Children’s Early Reading and Math Instruction at Home
Developed in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Education, this series of easy-to-use guides is designed to help families, afterschool and summer school providers, and other caregivers support children in kindergarten through grade 3 with reading and math instruction.
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REL Midwest Coaching and Training Resources for Educators
Our staff provides training and coaching to educators, administrators, and policymakers to help them understand and use research to improve teaching and learning. Many of the training and coaching resources we have developed are available on our website to explore and download.
Do you want specific details or have a "good of the group" question?
Submit a question and it could appear in an upcoming newsletter!
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