1st Lucky Duck Raffle Winner!!

We are excited to share that we have the first of our Lucky Duck winners! Hundreds(ish) of our staff members were able to connect with their peers in finding their duck match. Thank you all for submitting your matches. Our two lucky winners for this first draw will be getting their Lucky Duck Dash Deliveries in the coming weeks. Our winners are offered 5 options, with the chance to choose three for Ed Services to deliver once we are given the choices.

1) Door Dash - we will deliver a local meal to your school

2) Book Dash - either a personal or professional book title of your choice will be delivered 

3) Supply Dash - a list of classroom supplies to be delivered to your classroom

4) Personal Care Dash - send Ed Services a list of personal care items (winter scarf, hats, coffee, etc)

5) Holiday Treat Dash - send Ed Services a list of holiday treats you would like delivered 

Our first winners are.......

Linda Norton and Kristin Duffy

Linda and Kristin, please be on the look out for more details through the district mail.

Guest Writer- Rachael W. Learning Forward Reflection

 Takeaways from Learning Forward: 

• Specific ways to infuse equity to support culture and climate through equity walks, student voice, and retaining talent
• The importance of data and goal setting as well as ways to implement data collection to impact teacher instruction and student learning
• Data rules to follow: data should foster hope, should be tied to professional development, should be objective, should be reliable and mutually understood, should be valid, should be frequently gathered, should be gathered by teachers, should be easy to gather and review, and should be validated by research
• Brain Smart Start process of Unite, Connect, Disengage Stress, Commit to help start a lesson, professional development, etc. with students and staff alike to help with engagement and focus 
  
• Ways to support educator resilience and building teacher leaders through this process by learning about topics such as toxic positivity, spheres of influence and control, and the types of resilience

Feedback from Kaneland Learning Forward Presentation

 We were very proud to represent Kaneland at Learning Forward this year and present a 2 hour session on Monday!  The purpose of the session was to share our journey and structures on continuous improvement practices.  We wanted to share the presentation with all of you and a few feedback statements we got after the session.  Truly proud to be a Knight!  

Feedback Shared:

 “This session should be a full day of learning and application.  So many great structures shared” -Iowa Instructional Coach

“This district has it going!  I would love to work there” -Pennsylvania Superintendent

“The Strategic Plan is top notch!  Truly a plan that is embedded in action” -Maryland Principal 

“WOW!  I am leaving with a list of 65 things I could use right away!  Way to create great structures in your schools!” -Alaska Teacher

IgKnight Conference feedback

 Thank you to all who attended the IgKnight Conference this year!  It was a great event.  We so appreciate the feedback from the day and wanted to share the results with all.  Please see this link for the feedback shared.  Please note most of the data is copied and pasted for submissions so there may be name misspellings, please note the intent of the feedback.  Again, thank all staff for dedicating your time to learning and building our educator capacity!  

Learning Forward Happy Teacher, Healthy Classroom Summary of Learning

 This past weekend Kaneland sent 9 staff members to the annual Learning Forward Conference.  Over the next few blogs we will be sharing our learning summary from sessions in the blog.  The following are all research based findings about the 12 principles for Happy Teachers that Create Healthy Learning. 

-Being positive is not pretending everything is good, it is finding the good in everything

-Listening to background music during learning can increase visual imagery and long term memory 

-Your gut is one of the most important organs for health of the brain and learning 

-Lack of relationships increase by 50% the possibility of dying prematurely

-Learning to play an instrument at a young age can protect your brain from dementia 

-Student retain knowledge and application of learning when engaging in movement along with music while learning 

-Natural lights is the best source of light for the brain and body

-30 mins is the max amount of time that should be spent on social media

-Most teenagers need 9 hours of sleep, you process what you learn during the day during sleep and less active evening hours

-Laughter stimulates immune system and release endorphins, what is learned with pleasure and fun is never forgotten 

-Optimistic people stay within their circle of influence

Calming colors for the brain include blue, green and pastels 

-This may be the first generation in which life expectancy is decreasing due to lack of relationships and life and eating habits 

-Find your purpose.  People who have a strong purpose and person who helps with the purpose live longer.  When you lost your purpose you lessen your lifespan.  Your goal as an educator is to support students in finding their purpose to drive them. 

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