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Nine exemplary schools receive 2010-11 Minnesota School of Excellence validation.
Greg Lange, principal, East Union Elementary School, Eastern Carver County.
Lynn Bol, principal, Franklin Elementary, Eveleth-Gilbert.
Amy Galatz, principal,  Elementary, Deer River.
Heidi Critchley,
principal, Marshall Primary Level (Park Side Elementary and West Side Elementary), Marshall.
Dr. Gail Swor, principal, Poplar Bridge Elementary, Bloomington.
Allan Albertson, principal, Rippleside Elementary, Aitkin.
Michael Guthrie, principal, Shannon Park Elementary, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan.
Nancy Stucky, principal, Triton Elementary, Triton.
Michael Conway, principal, Wyoming Elementary, Forest Lake.



MESPA
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When Aronson speaks, principals listen.
Legal Issues Seminars
with Roger Aronson.
Yes, he's back on track for another season.
The 2010 schedule has been set for these relevant, practical and fascinating seminars with Roger Aronson, MESPA legislative and legal counsel. Plan now to attend a full-day seminar at one of five regional locations statewide.  If there any topics, large or small, that you'd like to have addressed at the seminar, include them on your registration. Roger will incorporate as many topics as he can.  Next seminar in Proctor: October 4.

   

If you wanted to spend your days tied to a desk, you would have become an accountant instead of a school administrator. The Breakthrough Coach (TBC) Executive Summary Podcast is for those
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in our professional community who want to better understand what you are doing and why. In this four-chapter audio presentation, Malachi Pancoast, President, The Breakthrough Coach, delivers an executive summary of TBC's Management Methodology™.   The podcast is immediately applicable to your front office environment and supports your mastery of ISLLC stds. 2 and 3. Share this with that special supervisor in your life.
 


MESPA New Principals' Seminar: October 14, 2010
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Build the network of peers and resources you need to succeed! Are you a first or second-year principal, assistant principal, or intern? MESPA presents the full day Surviving and Thriving in the Principalship seminar for new elementary and middle level principals with practical
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MESPA New Principal Class of 2009
advice from people who understand the flow of your work. 
Seminar topics are designed to support you in your role as an elementary or middle level principal and MESPA member.



Three Minute Walkthrough Seminar: October 15, 2010.
Principals, learn to use the three-minute walkthrough to guide teachers toward a continuous improvement cycle A walkthrough is a brief, focused classroom visit followed by reflection. The principal assumes the role of coach as opposed to judge, leading teachers to reflective practices and to dialogue focused on curriculum and instruction. Kathy Larson, national professional growth and development consultant, leads principals on the walkthroughs, using a school as a live laboratory, allowing seminar participants
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Participants discuss their walkthrough practice during a recent Three Minute Walkthough seminar.
to observe and use the process in its classrooms.



Data Storytelling Academy
How do you tell your school's data story?  Do you feel comfortable interpreting your data to craft a story that best strengthens your school?  Presented by MESPA in partnership with TIES, this hybrid format academy (onsite sessions, Webinars, online professional learning community, follow-on exercises using your data at your school, one-to-one professional consultation) will guide principals and school data leaders in strategically working with your school data. "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data."



Let's invest in Minnesota together. 


Have public schools really changed, or are they run just
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like they were 50 years ago as charged by some critics?
There is some element of truth in both perspectives. Minnesota schools are constantly changing to meet the needs of today’s learners as they prepare for an unknown future. Kids learn more during their educational careers than they have at any time in the past, from kindergarten through grade 12 and beyond. (To read the entire article, visit INVEST MN in MESPA Resources.)



Exercise Your Right.
"Health is simply a choice. Are you making it?" Patrick Bryan, principal of Jackson Preparatory Magnet, St. Paul, asked his 500 students after they walked from their school to the Capitol to kick off the city-wide Exercise Your Right to Feel Better Minnesota campaign. For information
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on the Exercise Your Right to Feel Better Minnesota campaign, free resources available to all Minnesota schools, and SHIP funding,
visit the MESPA Press Room.



MESPA Colleague to Colleague:   Join our statewide principal blog and check out the newest conversations: Battle of the Books programs; district cell phones for administrators: are they provided or not; and the timing of recess.   You can read and track your colleagues' ideas, or add to the conversations. Click on the link above to join the flow -- quick and on-line.




MN Bullying Prevention Initiative & Bookstore
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Do you have a bullying problem in your school? You may not think you do, but ask your students. Adults tend to overestimate their effectiveness in identifying bullying and intervening.

Obtaining funding for a prevention program is often a key concern for schools. Check the current Olweus funding opportunities, updated weekly


7 tips for making students comfortable at school:
Social and Emotional Learning and the Start of School (from Edutopia)


"Schools shouldn't change principals
just for the sake of change. Turnover in leadership hampers achievement." Read complete Wallace Foundation study by U of MN and U of Toronto in MESPA Press Room.




MESPA 2010-2011 calendar
What are those MESPA Legal Issues seminar dates? What professional development is MESPA offering in 2010-2011 and how can I register? Find all this under MESPA Professional Development — and we’ll keep updating the calendar throughout the year.



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Interested in sharing your expertise at the MESPA Institute, our annual statewide convention? Focus session proposals due September 1, 2010. Click here for full details.


Reading interventions for your school, for life!
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Try Lexia Reading FREE for 60 days!
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Special MESPA offer!
Call Stephanie Williams at
800-435-3942, ext. 260
for full details.


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MESPA Best Practices
New Best Practice articles:
--Six Secrets of Change, by Jennifer Olson 
--Changing Times: Culture and Response to Intervention, by Andy Fields and Eric Anderson


MESPA Newsclips
Current education news: read stories culled daily from media sources across the state.


Education Blogs
Leader Talk:  group blog by school leaders for school leaders: PreK-12 administrators.

Inservice:  ASCD community blog—a place for educators to gather and share ideas.

Principals' Office:  NAESP  blog connecting elementary principals with their colleagues.

Dangerously Irrelevant:  Ruminations on technology, leadership, and the future of our schools.


MESPA Business Partners


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Can't find something on the MESPA Web?
Use Search (left column).
We also have a Search engine on our Members Only Web -- search there for information available only to MESPA members.



Mission: The Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association is dedicated to promoting and improving education for children and youth, strengthening the role as educational leader for elementary and middle level principals, and collaborating with partners in education to assist in achieving these goals.

Leading schools toward excellence through the MESPA vision to be the premiere resource for preparing today's principals for tomorrow and a strong leading voice for public education.

Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association
1667 North Snelling Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108
651.999.7310     MN toll free 800.642.6807    
Fax: 651.999.7311     E-mail: mespa@mespa.net