"SHESC Messenger": End of January 2022
End of January 2022
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Early Bird Pricing on KAESA CTE Annual Conference Ends January 17 Registration is at www.kaesa.org/cte-conference!
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Applications Open for Schools of Character Recognition
If your school or district is doing great things with social, emotional and character development, please consider applying for one or more of the Kansas State Schools of Character recognitions. The Shifting School Culture Recognition is for schools or districts that have developed and implemented an SECD initiative or program for at least one year and are transforming the school culture as well as growing student SECD skills. The Enhanced Spotlight Recognition is for schools or districts that are implementing new initiatives or are enhancing existing initiatives that will strengthen the SECD skills in their students and school climate. These applications are due March 25, 2022, and can be emailed to Noalee McDonald-Augustine at nmcdonald@smokyhill.org. The application fee for each recognition is $25, payable to Smoky Hill Education Service Center. Click here to go directly to the applications. The Promising Practices Recognition application process must be completed online through the Character.org website at www.character.org, and is for schools or districts that have developed and successfully implemented a unique character practice. The application deadline is March 25, 2022, and has an application fee of $100, payable to Character.org. For more information, contact Noalee McDonald-Augustine at nmcdonald@smokyhill.org or Kent Reed at kreed@ksde.org. |
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SHESC Inspiring Educators Virtual Conference Coming in February The Second Annual Inspiring Educators Virtual Conference will offer valuable hour-long sessions to educators on Monday, February 21! The conference will feature sessions provided by education experts from Kansas and across the nation focusing on:
A fantastic value, the conference sessions will all be recorded and available on-demand through March 31, 2022, for those unable to participate on the day of the conference. This also means you don't have to miss a single session you're interested in! Register by February 1 to receive discount pricing of just $50! College credit will be available to participants across the wide variety of collaboration and learning sessions. Read more about all the available sessions and register at go.smokyhill.org/inspiring-educators! |
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Featured Professional Development: Planning for Transgender Students Fifty percent of individuals who identify as transgender will attempt or commit suicide; an alarming number. It is essential that school staff members know their responsibilities for providing an equitable education for all students, as well as a safe and supportive school culture. But what does this look like, what are schools required to do, and what are best practices? This workshop will address these questions and provide guidance to educators on how to plan for, welcome, and support students who are transgender. At the end of the course, participants will be able to:
This is a new workshop offered by Smoky Hill Education Service Center and is open now for registration at go.smokyhill.org/transgender. Sessions will be February 8 - in Salina and via Zoom - and on February 9 in Hays. |
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High quality face masks work in schools to reduce total rates of pediatric COVID-19 cases, reduce the number of school-related outbreaks, and reduce school closures as a result of COVID-19. (Summaries of three recent studies are available HERE.) While any mask helps prevent virus spread, there's a huge variation in how long masks can extend the time it takes before an infectious dose of COVID-19 is transmitted - from 27 minutes if two individuals are wearing cloth masks, to an hour with surgical masks, to 25 hours with N95 (or KN95 equivalents), even if they aren't fit-tested and tightly sealed.
SHESC also has an opportunity to potentially get a special quote on smaller KN-95 masks that are good for young children through "tweens." These can offer a better-fitting mask to children and youth for whom adult-sized masks do not offer a good fit. However, this would be offered as a one-time ordering opportunity, and the volume purchasing program would need to know whether there is an interest and desired quantities before special pricing could be quoted and determined. One option is child-sized and is a KN-95 mask with a clear panel in the middle, which allows for better visibility of others' faces. The other is a "petite" KN-95 mask, which is slightly smaller than a standard adult size and is a good option for older students. For more information about any of the above mask options or to express interest in either of the "special order" KN-95 mask possibilities, contact Adam Pracht, Volume Purchasing Coordinator, at vp@smokyhill.org or 785-825-9185. (Graphics from CDC and the Wall Street Journal.) |
This makes it a great time to consider securing upgrading your "mask game" with better-quality options, and SHESC Volume Purchasing can help: |
Best Creative Works Entering the Public Domain in 2022 for Classroom Use For lovers of history as well as classic literature, music, and movies, January 1 is not just New Year's Day in the United States, it's also "Public Domain Day." This is when previously copyrighted works enter the public domain, allowing them to be freely and legally copied, distributed, and adapted for the first time. For educators, this also opens new opportunities for using classic works in new ways: Consider having students create new adaptations of the new public domain works, sample old sound recordings in unique new creations, or look for gems of "lost" works that had gone out of print, but that nobody had the legal right to release until now. Here are a few highlights of works that entered public domain in 2022 that you might want to consider using! Books - Many "firsts" including the first published works by A.A. Milne, Hemingway, Faulkner, Langston Hughes and Dorothy Parker
Movies
Music and Music Compositions Yes, there's something here for music teachers now, too! For the first time and thanks to the 2018 "Music Modernization Act" it is estimated that more than 400,000 music and other sound recordings published before 1923 have now entered the public domain. (Previously, only compositions were entering public domain.)
Where to find this treasure trove? Start with this article by Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain; The Public Domain Review; recently added eBooks to Project Gutenberg; and public domain audiobooks at LibriVox. |