Friday, December 5, 2014
State Assessments
We are wrapping up a week of STAAR EOC Retest assessments on our campus. The testing began on the Monday following a week off for Thanksgiving Break and I heard many comments regarding the timing of the test. Why can't we test next week rather than this week? We tried to prepare our students with review items to cover over break. The teachers even indicated what area to work on for each particular day. Hopefully, the students were motivated enough to want to graduate to have utilized the resources. Is there ever really a good time to test, anyway? As I spent time in the testing room to check on the procedures and offer relief from test administration, my heart went out to the students. They looked so very tortured and many looked as if they could fall asleep with their eyes open. Is this how assessments should be? Shouldn't we find a way to make them fun? What if we offered some type of project based / real world application as a final indicator of success for the class? Many students make themselves sick over the stress of the exams. If only we could find a solution ...
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Preparing Students for Life
As educators, we provide a much more important role in the lives of our students than merely from the educational, academic standpoint. We owe it to our students, and to society in general, to do everything in our power to prepare students to be successful citizens in the social realm. By the time a student reaches high school, the lessons and morals that parents wish to instill in their children are already intact. At this point, there isn't much more a parent can say to a teenager that hasn't been said at least a dozen times before. Students, generally, may think their parents really don't know all that much about life. Teenager make their own mistakes and tend to look for role models outside of the home for inspiration. With all the negative role models that are exposed by media, it is more important than ever that educators stay strong in their beliefs and values.
Appropriate, professional relationships are essential in preparing students for the phase of life beyond high school. We owe it to our students to be consistent on our expectations and to follow through in our attempt to achieve these expectations. We have the advantage that parents do not. The students are required to give us their attention and listen to what we have to say. In addition, we are able to enforce particular values due to consequences the students may receive if the rules are not followed. It is our duty to exaggerate the norms and expectations of the outside world so that even if a student falls short of our social expectations, he/she will still hit the mark of society's expectations. As educators, it is our duty, and often times the students' last chance, for someone to truly make a difference.
Appropriate, professional relationships are essential in preparing students for the phase of life beyond high school. We owe it to our students to be consistent on our expectations and to follow through in our attempt to achieve these expectations. We have the advantage that parents do not. The students are required to give us their attention and listen to what we have to say. In addition, we are able to enforce particular values due to consequences the students may receive if the rules are not followed. It is our duty to exaggerate the norms and expectations of the outside world so that even if a student falls short of our social expectations, he/she will still hit the mark of society's expectations. As educators, it is our duty, and often times the students' last chance, for someone to truly make a difference.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Students as Digital Instructional Leaders
Digital learning is HUGE in the Castleberry Independent School District. Last year, the introduction of required digital infused lessons by all teachers was implemented into the district and the technological advances of all parties involved soared. As a principal, it was with great pride and joy that I had the pleasure of seeing, first hand, the genius of knowledge regarding technology in our students.
As the district goal, this year, is to establish an even higher level of learning from the students with the Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Model as a (continued) guide, I decided what better way for teachers to be knowledgeable with the model, inside and out, than to have the students become the teachers.
Thus, a schedule has been developed for during weekly advisory (between the community service projects and the guest speakers) for students to model what they learned last year from their teachers. Each student will use a different web 2.0 or 3.0 web and develop an infused lesson, directing the class/teacher how to participate. A rubric will be developed so the expectations will be noted from the beginning, and each participate in the class will offer positive/constructive feedback in a written format.
As REACH High School is an at-risk "school of choice" alternative accelerated high school with 45-50 students, initially, each student will only be teaching about 12 individuals. The rubric will indicate, for the brave ones who would like to take it a step further, to truly excel the student may choose to present the lesson in front of the entire school. Those presenting to the entire school may take it even a step further by consenting to be recorded for the district's YouTube channel.
Our students constantly amaze me, and I am very excited to see where our students will take us on our new journey.
As the district goal, this year, is to establish an even higher level of learning from the students with the Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Model as a (continued) guide, I decided what better way for teachers to be knowledgeable with the model, inside and out, than to have the students become the teachers.
Thus, a schedule has been developed for during weekly advisory (between the community service projects and the guest speakers) for students to model what they learned last year from their teachers. Each student will use a different web 2.0 or 3.0 web and develop an infused lesson, directing the class/teacher how to participate. A rubric will be developed so the expectations will be noted from the beginning, and each participate in the class will offer positive/constructive feedback in a written format.
As REACH High School is an at-risk "school of choice" alternative accelerated high school with 45-50 students, initially, each student will only be teaching about 12 individuals. The rubric will indicate, for the brave ones who would like to take it a step further, to truly excel the student may choose to present the lesson in front of the entire school. Those presenting to the entire school may take it even a step further by consenting to be recorded for the district's YouTube channel.
Our students constantly amaze me, and I am very excited to see where our students will take us on our new journey.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Establishing a "Brand" for Digital Leadership
Establishing a "brand" for a school or an educator is very much the same as the sales world attempting to "brand" a product in a positive light. In Eric Sheninger's book Digital Leadership, he has a chapter devoted to the term branding. Branding is how we put our mark on society - how others view us. In the educational leadership role, it is pertinent for the school leader to reveal to the digital community the culture and achievement of the school which will then yield returns via support and possibly funding.
When I first became principal at REACH High School eight years ago, each summer I promoted to the community and beyond the culture and mission of the campus. I asked for support in the form of donations in order to encourage attendance and achievement from the students as well as to reward the staff. Relationships have been developed over the years to where one half day's work during the summer yields enough donations to easily provide for about ten drawings at the end of each week for students with perfect attendance as well as the five students of the week. Larger prizes are used for what would be considered more substantial accomplishments. It has taken many years to evolve to the rate of success the repeat donors offer the school. The process could have substantially been sped up through sharing electronically with a much larger and wider audience being reached,
It is up to us, as educators, to portray to the electronic community what we and our schools stand for. It is up to us to choose our own brand. If we do not choose the way we wish to be portrayed, someone else will easily determine this for us on the receiving end of electronic sharing.
When I first became principal at REACH High School eight years ago, each summer I promoted to the community and beyond the culture and mission of the campus. I asked for support in the form of donations in order to encourage attendance and achievement from the students as well as to reward the staff. Relationships have been developed over the years to where one half day's work during the summer yields enough donations to easily provide for about ten drawings at the end of each week for students with perfect attendance as well as the five students of the week. Larger prizes are used for what would be considered more substantial accomplishments. It has taken many years to evolve to the rate of success the repeat donors offer the school. The process could have substantially been sped up through sharing electronically with a much larger and wider audience being reached,
It is up to us, as educators, to portray to the electronic community what we and our schools stand for. It is up to us to choose our own brand. If we do not choose the way we wish to be portrayed, someone else will easily determine this for us on the receiving end of electronic sharing.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Digital Leadership
In ranking my digital leadership skills based on the ISTE Standards for Administrators, I find that I am slightly below the halfway point of where I would like to be. I understand that in order for technology to be a strong driving force on my campus, I must be a strong driving force behind the technology.
For the upcoming school year, I plan to utilize my professional learning network to full capacity in order to gain all the available knowledge and resources to be a strong digital leader. In being confident in my own digital abilities, I can continue the implementation of a strong learning environment on the REACH High campus.
For the upcoming school year, I plan to utilize my professional learning network to full capacity in order to gain all the available knowledge and resources to be a strong digital leader. In being confident in my own digital abilities, I can continue the implementation of a strong learning environment on the REACH High campus.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Educational Blogging
Educational blogging is genius. In developing a strong, educational network, educators can have the luxury of receiving feedback in regard to both successes and struggles of a "typical" day. No longer is it necessary for an educator or administer to ponder a situation, limiting feedback to the campus or even the district level, but assistance can be gained across the city, state, country, and even the world! "Back in the day" this type of luxury was beyond the stretches of the imagination. "These days" educators may enjoy the luxury of having information delivered on a silver platter.
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