Upcoming Events

For a more complete list of professional development opportunities, visit www.southdakotapd.com.

• Historical Society to sponsor WWII programs in schools

• Lakota language program to help educators reach students

• Reading/Language Arts:
  Workshop addresses new standards

• Healthcare Workforce Summit planned

• Career and tech ed conference set for mid-summer

• Save the date:
  2007 South Dakota Infinite Campus Interchange

Historical Society to sponsor WWII programs in schools

The South Dakota State Historical Society will sponsor nearly a dozen school assemblies this fall. The free multimedia assemblies will focus on World War II.

Developed by the TRACES Center for History and Culture in St. Paul, Minn., the assemblies are a two-part program titled “Behind Barbed Wire: Midwest POWs in Nazi Germany.” The program includes the stories of 34th Division members (from armories in Aberdeen, Brookings, Deadwood, Edgemont, Hot Springs, Huron, Lead, Madison, Mitchell, Pierre, Rapid City, Sturgis and Watertown) and other men captured by the Germans and kept as prisoners of war until spring 1945.

Part I will consist of school assemblies, the showing of Public Broadcasting Service and/or International Red Cross films and a guest speaker. For Part II of the program, students tour the “BUS-eum,” a mobile exhibit in a retrofitted school bus. The BUS-eum contains 22 panels with photos and documents from the POWs’ stories, artifacts from the war and POW camps as well as several videos. You can view the BUS-eum at http://traces.org/buseumscenes.html.

Immediately after each program, schools would be encouraged to find local veterans to meet with students to share their personal WWII stories.

“Behind Barbed Wire” will tour South Dakota in September 2007. If you are interested in bringing this unique learning opportunity to your school, contact TRACES Program Director Eric Brandt at admin@TRACES.org or (651) 292-8700. The SDSHS-sponsored programs will be awarded to schools on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Lakota language program to help educators reach students

A new Lakota language immersion program aims to provide educators with an understanding of South Dakota’s unique American Indian culture. The program will be held June 24-29 at St. Joseph Indian School in Chamberlain. It is part of Governor Rounds’ 2010 Education Initiative.

A group of skilled Lakota speakers – Francis Whitebird, Ben Black Bear Jr., Sandra Black Bear and Philomene White Lance – will lead the language immersion classes. The program will focus on how to speak Lakota rather than how to write it. Besides learning the language, students will explore the history, song, dance and spirituality of the Lakota. They also will have an opportunity to participate in the sacred “inipi,” or sweat.

Twenty students will be allowed into the program. Students will receive free lodging and meals. Teachers and counselors of American Indian students, as well as students themselves, are invited to apply. Those who wish to take the course for college credit must pay for it.

During the 2007 legislative session, Gov. Rounds introduced a bill that called for establishing a revitalization of the American Indian language. “This pilot program will give us an opportunity to begin the process of language revitalization and give participating educators a better understanding of American Indian culture in South Dakota,” said Keith Moore, director of Indian education for the South Dakota Department of Education.

For more information or to register for the Lakota Language Immersion Program, contact the South Dakota Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education at (605) 773-8194.
 

Reading/Language Arts:
Workshop addresses new standards

A workshop designed to familiarize educators with the state’s new reading/language arts standards will be held June 25 at the Oaks Hotel in Sioux Falls.

Teachers who helped to develop the standards will lead the one-day workshop. Participants will leave the workshops with a clear understanding of the format and content of the standards. They also will have the opportunity to obtain standards-based lessons and activities.

The workshop is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. and run to 4 p.m.

Registration is online at http://www.doe.sd.gov/PDregistration/index.asp.  The workshop is titled Reading/Language Arts Roll-Out.
 

Healthcare Workforce Summit planned
The South Dakota Healthcare Workforce Summit, “Preparing for the Challenge,” will be held July 24 at the Ramkota in Pierre. The summit is sponsored by the South Dakota Departments of Education, Health and Labor together with the South Dakota Board of Regents.

“The challenges facing South Dakota’s healthcare workforce are immense,” said Sandi Durick, assistant administrator of rural health for the South Dakota Department of Health. “At the same time the healthcare workforce in our state is aging and nearing retirement, we’re looking at a shrinking pool of potential replacements.”

As of June 2006, at least 50 percent of registered nurses, LPNs, pharmacists, dentists and physicians in the state were age 46 and over. In addition, the South Dakota State Data Center projects the numbers of South Dakotans of retirement age will increase 58 percent between 2005 and 2025. The result is that South Dakota is projected to need an additional 13,000 healthcare workers between 2004 and 2014.

For more information about the summit, visit the Department of Health’s Web site at http://ruralhealth.sd.gov or call 1-800-738-2301. Online registration for the summit is available.

Career and tech ed conference set for mid-summer
Pathways to Success, a comprehensive conference focusing on career and technical education, will be held July 30-Aug. 3 at the Ramkota in Pierre. The main conference takes place July 31-Aug. 1, with pre- and post-workshops and events.

Keynote speakers include Dr. Elaine Johnson, an expert on brain research and teaching. General sessions address best practices in areas such as senior projects, youth internships, career guidance and teachers as advisors. The South Dakota Association for Career and Technical Education will hold its annual business meeting during the event. Participants also will hear from CTE projects funded by dollars earmarked by the 2006 Legislature.

A pre-conference workshop is designed for High Schools That Work. Two post-conference workshops are slated for Aug. 1-3. They are Writing to Win, and Integrating Mathematics and Career and Technical Education.

The event is a joint effort of the Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education, South Dakota Association for Career and Technical Education, South Dakota Tech Prep, and High Schools That Work/Making Middle Grades Work.

For more information, visit http://doe.sd.gov/octe/training/ and click on “Pathways to Success.”
 

Save the date:
2007 South Dakota Infinite Campus Interchange

Mark your calendars now for the 2007 South Dakota Infinite Campus Interchange, Oct. 2-3, 2007, at Cedar Shore Resort in Chamberlain.

Last year’s event drew an impressive 348 attendees, including technology coordinators, principals, teachers, and school secretaries. More information will be e-mailed this summer, including a link to register online.

This year’s event will feature more hands-on training, new presentations and a unique opportunity for you to network with state officials and colleagues from districts across South Dakota.