Beth Still's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-29T05:39:00ZBeth Stillhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/BethStillhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1949940340?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2uyjm9j8rgkjd&xn_auth=noWanted: Science Teachertag:www.classroom20.com,2012-06-18:649749:BlogPost:8459512012-06-18T03:00:00.000ZBeth Stillhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/BethStill
<p>The add on the service unit website reads "ESU #13 is taking applications for a certified science instructor for the VALTS and NEVA programs, which are housed on the campus of WNCC in Scottsbluff." Very simple and basic and does not even come close to describing this incredibly unique position! This position is awesome! If you know me you have probably heard me say that I have one of the most fantastic jobs in education. Since this position is in an alternative school in rural Nebraska I…</p>
<p>The add on the service unit website reads "ESU #13 is taking applications for a certified science instructor for the VALTS and NEVA programs, which are housed on the campus of WNCC in Scottsbluff." Very simple and basic and does not even come close to describing this incredibly unique position! This position is awesome! If you know me you have probably heard me say that I have one of the most fantastic jobs in education. Since this position is in an alternative school in rural Nebraska I think many potential teachers overlook it. Why would anyone want to apply for this position? After seven years teaching for the ESU13 I feel very qualified to answer this.</p>
<p>This position is at VALTS, the <strong><a href="http://valts-f.www.esu13.org/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?&gid=1835417&sessionid=fe4c2affd680c507ce2d146da20c6ddf">Valley Alternative Learning Transitioning School</a></strong>. Our school has a staff of four teachers (one in each core area), a principal, and a secretary. Our 47 students are mostly juniors and seniors and come to our school when they are not successful for a variety of reasons in their home districts. When students complete the program at VALTS they are able to receive their diploma from their home high school. Currently six districts districts participate in the alternative program.</p>
<p>Approximately half of each week is spent teaching students face-to-face at VALTS. All of the classes we teach are based on Nebraska standards in our respective areas. In my opinion, the biggest perk of this position is the freedom we have building our curriculum. We have a tremendous amount of flexibility with what we teach and how we can deliver our instruction. While students cannot take laptops home, each student has their own laptop at school. Both classrooms decked out with an LCD projector, document camera, videoconferencing system, and cameras and mics so we can record lessons if desired.</p>
<p>Approximately half of each day is spent teaching online classes through NEVA which is our online school. Moodle is the LMS we use and the courses are ready to go! For educators who are looking for an exciting adventure this is the perfect balance of both worlds. Teaching online always provides unique challenges and the students in the alternative program are some of the most amazing students you will ever meet. There is nothing routine about this position. Teachers who have only dreamed about having a choice about how and what to teach would be very happy at my school. While we must adhere to the Nebraska standards we are encouraged to think outside the box when planning our lessons. What else could you possibly ask for? Autonomy to create your own classes, access to all of the technology you could ever use, fabulous students, and awesome coworkers could all be yours!</p>
<p>If you are interested in learning more about this position please contact Dr. Jeff West at jeffwest@esu13.org. The physical address is 4215 Avenue I, Scottsbluff, NE 69361.</p>Moving Beyond the Tools:tag:www.classroom20.com,2010-08-12:649749:BlogPost:4971002010-08-12T14:00:00.000ZBeth Stillhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/BethStill
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/08/11/moving-beyond-the-tools-how-do-we-implement-them/">This is also cross-posted on Speed of Creativity</a></p>
<p><br></br></p>
<p>My name is <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bethstill"><strong>Beth Still</strong></a> and my blog is <a href="http://www.bethstill.edublogs.org/"><strong>Nebraska Change Agent</strong></a>. I was honored when Wes invited me to guest blog during his absence. This post is cross-listed on my…</p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/08/11/moving-beyond-the-tools-how-do-we-implement-them/">This is also cross-posted on Speed of Creativity</a></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>My name is <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bethstill"><strong>Beth Still</strong></a> and my blog is <a href="http://www.bethstill.edublogs.org/"><strong>Nebraska Change Agent</strong></a>. I was honored when Wes invited me to guest blog during his absence. This post is cross-listed on my blog, but I wanted to increase the<br/>
audience since this is a project that can help so many of us. I hope you<br/>
will help by adding your ideas to the wiki.</p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>The number one complaint I heard about sessions during ISTE is that there were too many sessions which focused on the tools, but not nearly enough that discussed how to actually implement the tools into the<br/>
classroom. There is a large segment of educators who are familiar with web tools and have even tested them out with their students, but they are ready to move to the next level which is figuring out how to use these tools effectively to improve communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity in their classrooms.</p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>I created a wiki that I have named <a href="http://webtoolsinaction.pbworks.com/"><strong>Web Tools in Action</strong></a>. As a community of educators we need to build it together. If all of us take a few minutes to add something or ask some of our colleagues to<br/>
share their projects, we are going to have one heck of a great crowd-sourced resource at our fingertips. The idea is to add links to projects that exist all over the web and write up a short description of them so others can see what it means when we say things like we use blogs and wikis in our classroom. Many of us have our students do things like take digital picture of create podcasts, but where do teachers begin who want to do this? While this wiki is supposed to be about <em>how</em> to implement web tools we cannot help but talk about individual tools<br/>
and that is OK! But we all know tools come and go so if you discuss a specific tool you might want to add several other similar tools in case one of them goes away. (Most recent example I can think of is<br/>
ScreenToaster and for different reasons, Ning.)</p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>If you know of any examples to share that are not yours please contact the teacher to see if they would mind if you shared them. I am looking to fill this wiki with examples from all grade and subject levels. So what are you waiting for! Let’s fill this thing up. And don’t be shy about being the first to edit a page. There are no specific<br/>
rules or format when editing. <a href="http://webtoolsinaction.pbworks.com/Digital-Storytelling"><strong>Click here to see an example</strong></a> that I included. As you can see it does not take much time!</p>Administrator Position in Western Nebraskatag:www.classroom20.com,2010-03-23:649749:BlogPost:4527142010-03-23T04:01:52.000ZBeth Stillhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/BethStill
<p><strong>Time is running out!!! This position closes on Friday. <a href="http://www.esu13.org/"><br></br></a></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.esu13.org/"><br></br></a></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.esu13.org/">ESU13</a></strong>, a service unit in western Nebraska, is seeking to fill the position of <strong><a href="http://bethstill.edublogs.org/2010/03/06/rising-star/">high school principal</a></strong> for their alternative education program. This is a truly unique…</p>
<p><strong>Time is running out!!! This position closes on Friday. <a href="http://www.esu13.org/"><br/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.esu13.org/"><br/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.esu13.org/">ESU13</a></strong>, a service unit in western Nebraska, is seeking to fill the position of <strong><a href="http://bethstill.edublogs.org/2010/03/06/rising-star/">high school principal</a></strong> for
their alternative education program. This is a truly unique position<br />
that is ideal for a rising star who is looking to make their mark in<br />
education. I hope we end up with the<br />
next <a href="http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/"><strong>Chris Lehmann</strong></a>. We need someone energetic, creative, and brilliant to help maximize the<br />
potential of our three schools. The administrator of this program is<br />
responsible for three different and completely unrelated programs:</p>
<ul>
<li>an alternative high school that serves the needs of up to nearly 50 students</li>
<li>a educational program that is housed in a juvenile detention center</li>
<li>an brand new online school that is slowly gaining momentum</li>
</ul>
<p>Many of you know me as <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bethstill"><strong>bethstill</strong></a> on Twitter. I am using my blog, <a href="http://bethstill.edublogs.org/2010/03/06/rising-star/"><strong>Nebraska Change Agent,</strong></a> as a tool to help promote this position at my school. If you are an
innovative and visionary leader then you owe it to yourself to drop by<br />
my blog and read the full post. There is much more to this position<br />
than meets the eye. If you are full of great ideas, but cannot put them<br />
into practice because of strict filter issues or a reluctant staff,<br />
then this might be the fresh start you are looking for. Our philosophy<br />
is to open the filters up as much as possible and treat mistakes as<br />
learning experiences. ESU13 has a clear vision of the future of<br />
education in Nebraska, but they need the right people on board to make<br />
that happen. Could you be the one? There is only one way to find out.</p>
<p>Requirements to be certified <a href="http://datacenter.education.ne.gov/tcert_flowchart_admin/tcert_flowchart_admin.dll/EXEC"><strong>as an administrator</strong></a> in the state of Nebraska.</p>
<div id="refHTML"></div>Looking for a Rising Star Administratortag:www.classroom20.com,2010-03-07:649749:BlogPost:4450442010-03-07T07:37:55.000ZBeth Stillhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/BethStill
<p>Earlier this evening I wrote an incredibly long post in which I described in detail the administrator position that is expected to be advertised for very soon. I’m going to paraphrase that post those of
you who are willing to help me out by cross-posting on your blog can do<br />
so without taking up too much space. People who want to read more can<br />
track back to the original post.Please feel free to copy and paste this<br />
summary on your blog.…</p>
<p></p>
<p>Earlier this evening I wrote an incredibly long post in which I described in detail the administrator position that is expected to be
advertised for very soon. I’m going to paraphrase that post those of<br />
you who are willing to help me out by cross-posting on your blog can do<br />
so without taking up too much space. People who want to read more can<br />
track back to the original post.Please feel free to copy and paste this<br />
summary on your blog.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.esu13.org/">ESU13</a></strong>, a service unit in western Nebraska, is expected to make an announcement very soon
that they are seeking to fill the position of high school principal for<br />
their alternative education program. This is a truly unique position<br />
that is ideal for a rising star who is looking to make their mark. As<br />
I said in the original post- I hope we end up with the next <a href="http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/"><strong>Chris Lehmann</strong></a>. The administrator of this program is in charge of three different and completely unrelated programs:</p>
<ul>
<li>an alternative high school that serves the needs of up to nearly 50 students</li>
<li>a educational program that is housed in a juvenile detention center</li>
<li>an brand new online school that is slowly gaining momentum</li>
</ul>
<p>Many of you know me as <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bethstill"><strong>bethstill</strong></a> on Twitter. I am using my blog, <a href="http://bethstill.edublogs.org/2010/03/06/rising-star/"><strong>Nebraska Change Agent,</strong></a> as a tool to help promote this position at my school. If you are an
innovative and visionary leader then you owe it to yourself to drop by<br />
my blog and read the full post. There is much more to this position<br />
than meets the eye. If you are full of great ideas, but cannot put them<br />
into practice because of strict filter issues or a reluctant staff,<br />
then this might be the fresh start you are looking for. Our philosophy<br />
is to open the filters up as much as possible and treat mistakes as<br />
learning experiences. ESU13 has a clear vision of the future of<br />
education in Nebraska, but they need the right people on board to make<br />
that happen. Could you be the one? There is only one way to find out.</p>
<div id="refHTML"></div>Need Help!!!! Send a Newbie to NECC Projecttag:www.classroom20.com,2009-04-09:649749:BlogPost:3245012009-04-09T21:30:00.000ZBeth Stillhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/BethStill
I am a firm believer in the power of my personal learning network (PLN). All of the things I have learned this year have come from educators around the globe who are part of my PLN in various Nings, Twitter, or other networking locations. I recently launched a project to test the power of this global community. The focus of this project is social studies teacher and edublogger, Richard Byrne. If you want to read more about this project, please <a href="http://www.bethstill.edublogs.org"><b>see…</b></a>
I am a firm believer in the power of my personal learning network (PLN). All of the things I have learned this year have come from educators around the globe who are part of my PLN in various Nings, Twitter, or other networking locations. I recently launched a project to test the power of this global community. The focus of this project is social studies teacher and edublogger, Richard Byrne. If you want to read more about this project, please <a href="http://www.bethstill.edublogs.org"><b>see my blog</b></a>. You can read more about Richard's thoughts on his blog, <b><a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/04/i-could-be-necc-newbie.html">Free Tech 4 Teachers</a></b>. We need your help to make this project work. Please spread the message any way you can! If you believe in the power of networking then this is a project that you need to take part in.