by Graci Gillming, Technology Training Coordintor 

Approximately a dozen ESU 10 schools have taken advantage of the opportunity to provide their teachers, students and community access to online technology tutorials as well as projects and workshops focused on 21st Centruy Skills through Atomic Learning http://atomiclearning.com. Teachers in many schools were introduced to Atomic Learning last spring and several more schools came on board this fall.

So often we ask "How do I do that?" in reference to technology. Atomic Learning's online training resources teach you through a library of thousands of short, easy-to-understand tutorial movies. Atomic Learning makes it easy to learn new technology and encourages technology integration in the classroom. The tutorials cover hundreds of desktop applications, such as Office, Inspiration, iMovie, etc. plus many web applications i.e. Google docs, podcasts, etc.

New this fall are tutorials and workshops about the iPod Touch, iPad, e-instruction (clickers), Google Sketch-up, Write Out Loud, Office 2010, One-Note, Podcasting, and many more. You can see a list of all the new items at http://atomiclearning.com/k12/en/whatsnews.

If your school hasn't subscribed to Atomic Learning through the ESU 10 coop purchase, you still have access to some of their free materials. Visit them at http://atomiclearning.com. If you like what you see, encourage your administration to contact Dr. Wayne Bell or Graci Gillming at ESU 10. The cost is very reasonable: $10 perclassroom teacher. That's it! Just $10 per teacher allows access to thousands of tutorials by ALL teachers plus ALL students, staff, administrators and a generic account for the community to use. ESU 10 will pick up the rest of the cost.

You Could Be Nebraska’s Teacher of the Year for 2011! Application forms for the 2011 Nebraska Teacher of the Year are available through your superintendent or principal or by calling the coordinator listed below. Applications must be completed and postmarked by midnight, August 16, 2010. A selection panel will review the applications, and the four or five teachers receiving the highest scores will be advanced. Finalists will be interviewed during October, and the Teacher of the Year will be selected from those finalists. An awards luncheon will be held in November.

Begun in 1972, the Nebraska Teacher of the Year program recognizes outstanding Nebraska certified teachers who teach in a Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 classroom setting, and who plan to continue in an active teacher status in a state-approved or accredited school. Three letters of support must accompany the application. Questions on the application seek information on educational background and personal development, community involvement, and philosophy of teaching and the teaching profession from the viewpoint of the applicant.

Candidates must be:
• exceptionally dedicated
• knowledgeable/skilled
• respected/admired by parents, students, and peers
• active in the community in which they teach
• poised, articulate, and energetic
• able to inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities
The Nebraska State Education Association, Nebraska Council of School Administrators, Nebraska Association of School Boards, and corporate partners Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nebraska and Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) will present a monetary award to the Nebraska Teacher of the Year. Each of the remaining finalists will be given a monetary award from sponsoring corporate friends and education associations.

The Nebraska State Board of Education will provide a $1,000 grant to the Awards of Excellence winners and the Teacher of the Year to be used for a project of the teacher’s choice in his/her school. Additionally, the Nebraska State Education Association, Nebraska Association of School Boards, Nebraska Council of School Administrators, SMARTer Kids Foundation, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nebraska, Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), the Nebraska PTA, Dillard’s Department Store, Lincoln, and Nebraska Department of Education will present gifts, mementoes, and awards to the persons recognized.

If you have need for additional information, please call (402) 471-5059 or email lora.sypal@nebraska.gov.
Nebraska Teacher of the Year Coordinator, Lora Sypal

Mark your calendar for September 20 and 21, 2010! Dr. John Dudley will help school teams organize their crisis response efforts. 

Level I workshop participants will:

• Define the types of crisis they should respond to in their schools
• Organize a crisis team(s) to effectively respond to crisis situations in their schools
• Develop effective plans for responding to any kind of crisis in their schools
• Learn how to identify high risk students/staff in the aftermath of a school crisis
• Learn how to do effective follow up with students and staff
• Be prepared to effectively respond to any crisis that impacts their school.

Connector
May/Summer
 
Wow!  What a year!  At least it’s May so it shouldn’t snow more than one or two more times before summer.  There’s nothing like a light skim of ice on the approach to the pole vault pit to make the event more exciting. 
 
As usual, life seems to speed up this time of year in schools and ESUs around the state.  Questions need to be answered quicker and problems need to be dealt with yesterday.  Every job becomes fraught with challenges.  I’m finding out that my job, although stressful at times, is not nearly as dangerous as retirement is for the ESU 10 Board of Directors’ President, Lanny Kizer.  During a recent phone call he shared that he had an excuse to come to the house to put ice on his eye since, in his words, “I’m having a bad day because I came around the front of the grapple fork and it caught me right above the eye.”  Now that gives my day perspective.  I’ve had to put up with the sharp wit of the Callaway school superintendent, but have never had to ice my head because of it.
 
It’s always essential to focus on the job, no matter what it is!
 
The focus at ESU 10 right now is on the 2010-2011 Program of Services.  Concerted effort is extended to find the right programs and the associated funding sources so that we might continue to “partner with our customers to meet the changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support.”  This challenge gets more difficult to solve when projected funds are limited and needs are growing.  It becomes our job to administer, fund, and staff quality essential services in an efficient and effective way. 
 
Fortunately for all of you, I’ve always loved working jigsaw puzzles.  Hooking the right pieces together to complete the picture has always given me great satisfaction.  Working at ESU 10 is no different.  One might need to think out of the box on occasion and we might not always stay inside the straight edge, but there is never any need to force a piece when the picture starts to take shape.  The staff at ESU 10 always seems to find the right way to make things work. 
 
We need your help to make this happen.  Hopefully by now all of you will have answered the yearly ESU 10 survey.  The responses on that survey are used to evaluate what we do, to help us initiate new programs, delete unnecessary programs, and strengthen existing programs.  Thank you to all who do actually complete that survey. 
 
It’s time for me to get back to work.  The staff here will meet May 21st to discuss and decide how to implement recommendations made by the state accreditation external team.  I’m preparing for that event by becoming a trainer in the Aligned Thinking process.  Coach Jim Steffen says it can help me do what many believe impossible.  Now that sounds intriguing.  Next year could be quite entertaining.  

 Until then, thank you for what you do with and for children.  You are all important and valuable

Looking for the finest education conference in the midwest?  Go no further than Omaha for NETA (Nebraska Educational Technology Association) Conference!

• When: April 29-30, 2010
• Where: La Vista Embassy Suites & Conference Center, Exit 442, Harrison Street
• How Much: Full Conference Registration (2 days)-$115; One-Day Conference Registration-$80; Half-Day Workshop Registration-$50 

To register for the conference or for more information go to http://netasite.org!