Week_1_Actvities

=Week 1=

You will begin this course by sharing thoughts about how school law affects you. You will consider legal issues that might arise when working with colleagues, parents, and the community, and what steps you can take to avoid legal problems.
 * The Long Arm of the Law** **(Whole Group)**

This week’s discussion will help you to think about the legal issues that confront and concern you as an educator. Many of these issues will be addressed in depth throughout the course to give you a deeper understanding of the many and varied issues. Additionally, as an administrator or supervisor, you will be better prepared to recognize and respond to legal issues that might occur in your school or district. >
 * 1) Post a response to the prompt below in the **Week 1: The Long Arm of the Law** whole group discussion forum.
 * //Where are you located? What is your role?//
 * //Is your local Board of Education elected or appointed? How many teachers are employed in your system? How many students are enrolled?//
 * //What legal issues impact you as an educator on a regular basis? Which of these issues concerns you the most?//


 * 1) Actively participate in this discussion throughout the week, and contribute at least **two** additional substantive postings.

ONLINE TEAMING
Refer to the Online Teaming resource for information on how to be an effective team.

As you know by now, with the start of a new course comes a new team. This week with your new team, you will identify a team name and select team roles. You will also develop team operating standards to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

//**Assign Team Roles and Identify Operating Standards**// > //**Develop a Team Name (Optional)**//
 * Directions**
 * The first person to visit the team forum should start a new thread called, **Week 1: Teambuilding.**
 * In your team forum, greet your team members, and share some general information about yourself, both personally and professionally. By now, you may know each other fairly well, but try to share something unique about yourself. Also include in your post, any relevant experience you have relative to dealing with legal issues in education (if applicable).
 * Select one team member to serve as the Facilitator for this week.
 * The team Facilitator should lead the team in a discussion to collaboratively assign the remaining team roles for the week. Keep in mind any special circumstances that would limit a team member’s ability to fulfill the role.
 * The team facilitator should also lead the team in brainstorming 3-4 operating standards that will be used to help your team work effectively. To assist you, consider and discuss the questions below:
 * //Based on your experience in previous courses, what areas do you feel need to be addressed by your team to be most successful?//
 * //Do you any scheduling issues that your teammates should be aware of? How will you work collaboratively to complete the team discussions and activities?//
 * //What organizational structure can you use in your team forum to make discussions manageable and resources easy to locate?// //Do you have a preference for using Google Docs, Skype, Wiki Spaces or other non-ELC applications?//


 * Based on what you have learned about each other, create a team name.

//**Post Your Form**//

Do not begin your research until you have received notification from your instructor that your issue has been approved.
 * This week’s Reporter should use the **Team Roles and Operating Standards Form** template to create a Google Doc and fill in the team roles and operating standards based on the discussion. The Reporter should then publish the completed Google Doc as a public website, and post the URL in the **Week 1: Final Teambuilding** by midnight Monday. When posting the final Google Doc, please rename the subject of the thread to **FINAL** so that your instructor can easily locate it.


 * Superintendent’s Memorandum** **(Individual)**
 * First Legal Summary Due:** Week 3

For this assignment, you will select one school law issue that could impact your school district. You will research and summarize two court cases related to your issue and create a Superintendent’s Memorandum to communicate this issue to your district community. This assignment has several components, each due during different weeks of the course. The schedule will allow time for feedback from both your peers and your ito successfully complete this assignment.

This week, you will first review the assignment, and then identify the issue you would like to research. You will have an opportunity to begin working on summarizing your first case related to the issue.
 * Select Your Topic and Sign Up**


 * 1) Review the document, **Superintendent’s Memorandum Assignment Directions and Scoring.**
 * 2) Review the 17 school law issues categories provided on the[|National School Boards Association] web site. Identify issues that are of interest to you. Also, review the site's Resources, News, and Recent Cases related to your issue. //Note: if you have an alternative method of locating school law issues and court decisions, feel free to use that method and those resources.//
 * 3) In the **Week 1: School Law Issues Sign-Up** discussion forum, create a new thread that includes in the subject line, the issue you would like to research (e.g., Governance). //Note: no more than two people can focus on a particular issue, so be sure to read prior postings of your classmates so that you don’t select an issue that has already been chosen twice.// If relevant, include in your post, any particular focus or case(s) that you may already know about related to your issue.
 * Work on Legal Summaries**
 * 1) In order to learn more about your approved topic, you are expected to read and summarize two related court cases. Choose two cases from the “Recent Cases” category of the school issue on the NSBA website or other Internet resource for your approved topic. //Note, to find// Recent Cases, //from the// //School Law Issues// //page, first click on your selected issue on the NSBA website.//
 * 2) Follow the directions for **How to Write a Legal Summary** for each of the two cases you have selected.
 * Legal Summary #1 is due by the end of Week 3.
 * Legal Summary #2 is due by the end of Week 4.