The Teaching and Learning Department joined our colleagues across the state on January 11-13, 2022 for our annual winter Educational Service Unit Professional Development Organization meetings (ESUPDO). During the three days, we had a keynote speaker, local ESU presentations and individual affiliate meetings. The meetings provided us new learning and assisted us in building statewide relationships.
On January 11, we attended ESU affiliate meetings to learn about and collaborate on statewide initiatives. The Teaching and Learning Department has representatives that are a part of the Staff Development Affiliate (SDA) and the Teaching and Learning with Technology Affiliate (TLT). Several of our ESU 10 T&L Coordinators serve as leaders and committee chairs within these affiliate groups.
Dr. Friman from Boys Town, facilitated a keynote session on mental health on January 12. After the keynote presentation, each ESU presented information on the mental support services they provide to local school districts. We finished the day in our selected work groups. Work groups include: Educator Effectiveness, MTSS, School Mental Health, Curricula/Materials, Continuous Improvement, Leadership Capacity and Customized Services. ESU 10 has representation in all of the workgroups except Customized Services.
The final day of meetings on January 13 was a cross-affiliate meeting with all ESUPDO members. We received updates from each of the four ESUPDO affiliates. The rest of the morning was spent learning more about SIMPL, Service Implementation Model Process and Log, and brainstorming ideas to improve the tool for all ESUs. The Teaching and Learning Department spent time during our January 21, 2022 department meeting debriefing the ESUPDO meetings and discussing key take-a-ways that we plan to utilize within our department. We look forward to our final ESUPDO meetings of the year on May 3-5, 2022 at ESU 10 in Kearney.