UPCOMING: Science Educator Forum and Dinner, May 1 at RCTC

RAMSP will hold a forum for science educators on Tuesday, May 1, from 4:30 to 7:30. Both will be held at RCTC's Heintz Center, RCTC (1926 Collegeview Drive SE, Rochester).

These forums are free for RAMSP school district members—see below for the list of districts. Attendees from outside of RAMSP are asked to pay $10. Each participant is offered a certificate for Continuing Education Units. The deadline to RSVP for the science forum is April 20. To register, simply e-mail the Executive Director of RAMSP, Rich Bogovich, at .

The keynote speaker will be Dr. John Deming from Winona State's science faculty. His presentation about an inquiry-based approach to science instruction at a RAMSP forum during the first half of 2011 was very well received, and this time he will go much deeper into how to employ that method. Dinner will follow from 5:30 to 6:30, and afterwards the final hour will be devoted to separate breakout sessions for elementary, middle and high school educators that will follow up on Dr. Deming's presentation.
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RAMSP hosted its second forum for math educators at RCTC on March 22. It began with a keynote address by math teacher Seth Brown, 2011 Milken Educator Award recipient at Wayzata West Middle School. He described his "chairless classroom," various approaches to closing achievement gaps, and how he has students use technology. After dinner were breakout sessions on "Best Practices – Teaching With Results" and MCA III Strategies. Presentations from this event will soon be available via the "Articles & Resources" button to the left.
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Presentations from the science and math forums held jointly on November 1 are available via the "Articles & Resources" button to the left. More than 170 educators attended. The two groups shared a keynote speaker, Michael Lindstrom from SciMathMN, who presented online resources about the Frameworks for Education Standards. Among the presenters in breakout sessions were Sue Wygant of the MN Dept. of Education, who discussed MCA III math results, and Byron High School math teachers Troy Faulkner and Rob Warneke, described their success with the revolutionary "flipped" or reverse classroom approach.

Partner Districts

Byron	Chatfield	Dover-Eyota	Hayfield
Kasson-Mantorville	Kingsland	Pine Island	Plainview-Elgin-Millville
Rochester Catholic	Rochester Public	Stewartville	Triton
Zumbrota-Mazeppa

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Partners

IBM Mayo Clinic Rochester Community and Technical College University of Minnesota, Rochester Winona State University Workforce Development

2011 RAMSP Outstanding Educator Awards

On December 15, the Rochester Area Math Science Partnership held its annual dinner and presented the 2011 Outstanding Educator Awards to three math and science teachers from school districts in the area. RAMSP Board members, the awardees, and their nominators were joined by many guests, including at tables reserved by the Byron and Rochester Public Schools, Rochester Community and Technical College, the University of Minnesota-Rochester, Winona State University-Rochester, and the Rochester Regional Science Fair steering committee. As a result, attendance was twice as high as in years past.

The 2011 Outstanding Educators who received awards that night are:

• Jennifer Green, high school math teacher, Byron Public Schools

• Roger Larsen, eighth grade earth science teacher, Rochester Public Schools

• Cheryl Moertel, high school life science teacher, Rochester Public Schools

Their profiles were printed in the Olmsted County Journal. See http://olmstedcountyjournal.com/three-area-outstanding-educators-honored

For more information, e-mail or call 507-250-2611.
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RAMSP 2011-2012 CALENDAR

RAMSP BOARD MEETINGS
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Rochester Community & Technical College
Coffman Center/Room 206-208

December 15, 2011 (Thurs.)
--Annual Awards Banquet 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
April 18, 2012 (Wed.)
June 27, 2012 (Wed.)

RAMSP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Workforce Development, Inc.
1302 7th Street NW, Rochester, Minnesota

March 7, 2012 (Wed.)
April 4, 2012 (Wed.)
May 2, 2012 (Wed.)
June 6, 2012 (Wed.)

RAMSP COMMITTEE MEETINGS SCHEDULE

Continuous Improvement Committee Meetings
Northrup Bldg. 201 8th Street NW
3rd Tuesday, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Dates: 2012 - Mar. 20, Apr. 17, May 15

Math Committee Meeting
Webinar/Conference Calls
Workforce Development, Inc.
1302 7th Street NW, Rochester
2nd Monday, 7:30 – 8:30 a.m.
Dates: 2012 - Mar 12, Apr 9, May 14, Jun 11

Science Committee Meeting
Century High School
1st Wednesday, 3 p.m.
Dates: 2012 - Mar. 7, Apr. 4, May 2, Jun. 6

AD HOC COMMITTEES
Development, Grants and Resources
Workforce Development, Inc.
Date: TBD, 1:30 pm

Recruitment Task Force Meeting
UM-R Room 349 - 7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Dates TBD

Second Mobile Science Lab On-Line!

Mobile Science Lab

RAMSP joined other partners in an effort to secure a second Mobile Science Lab for Southern Minnesota. The latest equipment, tools and supplies are now more available than ever for school district science classes. Teachers can participate in a training on how to use the curriculum and supplies to support teaching state standards to their students. Please contact the Southeast Service Cooperative for more information (http://www.ssc.coop/site/default.aspx?PageID=1 or 507-288-1282).