Special Education - February 28, 2011

Monday Memo

February 28, 2011 (where does the time go???)

"Always remember that one little act of kindness can tilt the balance of an entire situation. One little act of kindness can ripple out in countless ways that you many never know about." ~Anonymous

"My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength. " ~Michael Jordan

"Be extraordinary in the ordinary things in life." -Unknown

Courageously leading a dynamic revolution in Education!

“The key to change... is to let go of fear.” ~Rosanne Cash

We're slipping... Many written leave requests were missing as we reviewed time sheets and reimbursement forms last week. 

We had been doing so well...

**Observation (Evaluation) Schedules... Here's the schedule so far:

Tuesday, February 8th - Amy Jobe (8:45 @ LC)
Monday, February 14th - Joel Halpine (9:00 @ AHS)
Thursday, February 24th - Ellen Cain (8:45 @ LC)
Monday, February 28th - Gail Palmer (2:15 @ JB)
Wednesday, March 2nd - Diane Jergensen (9:00 @ Cook)
Monday, March 7th - Denise Buethe (8:10 @ JB)
Tuesday, March 8th - Christy Tanner (8:15 @ TR)
Monday, March 14th - Julinne Moore (1:00 @ H)
Monday, March 21st - Kathy Jones
Thursday, March 31st - Aimee Daily (3:30-ish @ JB)

Check to make sure that I have the time and date correct for you. If you do not see your name, that means I've either missed it on my calendar or we haven't finalized a date, time and location yet. Please get in touch with me to finalize! 

Staff Inservice... March 10th @ the ESU 4 Learning Center. This meeting is required for all certified staff. We will begin at 8:30. A tentative agenda will be released later this week...

Time Management 101... In the interest of trying to support some of you who are still working on the resolution to be better organized in 2011, I found this article from the Harvard Business Review booklet by way of the "Marshall Memo" that is sent to ESUs every couple of weeks. CEO Peter Bregman recommends a 4 step-process each day... 
1) Plan for the day (5 minutes)... before you even turn on the computer! Make your list; similar to decide which "frog" you're going to eat. 
2) Calendar the day... take out your calendar and schedule your top priorities into specific time slots, putting the hardest and most important items earlier in the day. (Sound familiar, frog fans?)
3) Refocus for one minute every hour... set your phone, watch, computer to ring every hour. When it rings, stop what you're doing, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask if your last hour was productive. Then, look at your calendar and recommit yourself to how you're going to use the next hour.
4) Review (5 minutes)... At the end of the day, shut off your computer and look back on the day. What worked? Did you get distracted? What can you do better tomorrow?

Try this and see how it works... report back on all your success!!! 

(You can report back by 'commenting' on this blog page below! Try it out! Just once! Just hit 'post a comment'... come on! You know you want to!!)

Go for it
Run toward it
Dive in head first
Live life with no regrets
Put your heart out there
...Don't be scared you might get hurt, but its all worth it in the end... THE BEST IS YET TO COME

Upcoming Staff Development...

 - Writing Measurable Goals... WEBINAR Series, Session #1! It seemed to go over very well. For those of you who asked for the webinar to be taped, I did get most of it recorded. If you wanted the recording, let me know and I'll get the link sent to you. It's ready and available.

 - Writing Measurable Goals... WEBINAR Series, Session #2! The next Webinar session is Monday, March 7th... register on the ESU 4 website! The discussion about measurability continues with the focus on goals/objectives and benchmarks. This discussion came up at a recent ESU 4 file review so it's becoming more crucial...

Self Evaluations/Goals-action plans/Individual Development Plans... I am still missing self-evaluations and goals/development plans from Kathy N. 

LESSON REFLECTIONS were due November 19th!!!... I'm still missing reflections from the following people... Amy Jobe, Kathy Novak, and Joel Halpine. For those of you who do not teach specific lessons, please reflect upon a testing session or a meeting. (Updated 1/12/11 - EJS)

Requests for Professional Development/Workshops...Send in a leave request WITH your original request to attend the training; sometimes we get your registration information but I really need that leave sheet. (This might help us in being more accurate and timely with leave forms as well.)

According to the New York Times, there is no scientific research that proves that life is serious.
So... Lighten up!!! 

HUSKER NATION: 

When is it a great day to be a Husker fan????
The correct answer is... ALWAYS!!!
Never stop playing the game!  Go BIG RED! GO Big RED! GO BIG Red! GO BIG RED  Educational Service Unit #4, Auburn, Nebraska