All I Want for Christmas is......

At this time of the year most people are caught up in the joy and frenzy of the holiday season. It is easy to believe, based on the commercials we see on television, that both we and our families will only be happy if we can buy the perfect gift, cook the perfect dish, decorate the perfect tree/house. I recently asked members of my family if they could name for me their best Christmas gift and, I really shouldn't have been surprised to find out, all of them responded that they couldn't cite any gift. While all of them have favorite foods (sausage balls and hot cheese dip), they didn't really talk about that either. They didn't even mention the wonderful decorations that took days of my time to prepare. To a person, they all said the same time. We remember spending the entire day together, eating good food, playing games with each other, and having time together to really enjoy each other. Obviously, Christmas is more than things. It is a time for church, family, and friends. So, this year I have decided to make a different list of the things I want for Christmas. All I want for Christmas is.....

1. I want 100% of our students to graduate and have plans for education or training beyond a k - 12 education.
2. I want our attendance rate to soar because our students can't wait to get to school every day.
3. I want parents to be excited about their children's education and for parents to partner with teachers to ensure that students learn the knowledge and skills they need to be successful.
4. I want our children to realize the pitfalls of substance abuse and to rigorously rebut efforts of those who want to ensnare them in this trap.
5. I want all students to feel that their teacher(s) care about them as a student and as a person.
6. I want our students' families to find jobs that allow them to provide for their children and feel good about themselves as a parent/provider.
7. I want our schools to be places where teachers are happy and excited about their work and they feel valued for their hard work and expertise.
8. I want our facilities to be organized into creative learning environments with adequate space, technology, equipment, and supplies.
9. I want everyone at our schools to feel safe and secure at all times.
10. Most of all, I want all the students of Middlesboro Independent Schools to become happy, productive, involved citizens who want to live, work, and play in our community.

The Good Old Days Aren't Good Enough Anymore

In our hurried, quick fix world, you often hear people talk about the good old days when life seemed simpler and our teaching in school was focused on young people learning the basics of reading, math, and good citizenship. While these are still important skills for students, in our ever changing world the basics are simply not enough anymore. Our students in Middlesboro don't just compete for jobs in our community; they compete nationally and globally for good paying jobs. The ramifications of these changes are that our teachers must prepare our students to graduate with 21st century workplace readiness skills. These include knowing higher levels of math, being able to read and write more complex information, the ability to adapt to rapid changes in technology, good reasoning skills, increasing creativity, and working together collaborataively in groups. At the same time, our teachers cannot afford to let one student slip through the cracks and miss out on these valueable skills. Our schools are being reorganized so that the needs of all students, not just the larger group who are able to quickly master learning, are met.

So, these days, schools cannot be the same and teachers must teach very differently than in the past. Good teachers spend their time assessing students, revising their lessons to meet specific needs, and collaborating with their fellow teachers so that everyone is following a specific curriculum with predetermined outcomes for students. So, life is not as simple as it was in good old days. No matter what students can do when they enter our doors, we must have a clear picture and expectation of what they can do when they walk across that stage to get their diploma (a validation of their learning). We are exchanging the good old days for a great future in our children's lives.

Learning is More than Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic

All educators understand the importance of "time of task", especially in the core content areas such as math, reading, science, social studies, and language arts. However, for our students to become productive citizens, there is so much more that they need to know and learn than just core classes. Normally, I would be writing about the many other types of activities and fine arts classes that we offer. I would be writing about teaching students manners, appropriate social interactions, and much more. All those skills and extra-curricular activities are important but today, on Veterans' Day, I want to take time to emphasize how important it is for our schools, and all of us, to recognize the sacrifice that others have made so that we can have freedom of choice, schools, and regligion. When I attend special programs offered by the schools, I realize how important it is for our schools to help students who don't have enough life experiences yet to understand the importance of this day and to bridge the gap between history and reality. While they all have access to history via textbooks, classwork, and the internet; the reality of loss suffered by others for them becomes much more real when they hear actual letters written by those who have perished, when they see videos of actual people and war, when they hear music from that era or music that reflects on our country's greatness. Then the sacrifice becomes more real and the impact is much greater. While the students who peform at these progams experience a deeper understanding of the past, the students who attend and watch their peers benefit as well.

Most of the time when you read this blog, you will see that I am very committed and focused on student learning and academic performance. Time on task is critical for our students because it is a limited comodity. But sometimes......like today, it's appropriate to take time from the regular classroom for something this important to our students and all of us. It's important for our students to learn about respect, to develop appreciation for those who have sacrificed for them, and that freedom to choose is not free.

Using Assessment to Make Learning Decisions

In November we will be using a new assessment in the district called Measures of Academic Progress. This is a different type of assessment than we have used before. In the past, teachers received student test results after the students they were teaching had already progressed to a new grade or course of study. So, in effect, teachers were unable to use the assessment to help their students who had been tested during that school year. Our teachers wanted an assessment that would give them information quickly so that they could use the results to provide support to their students when they needed it, not after the fact. The Measures of Academic Progress allows them to do this. They will get information back within 48 hours so they can start helping students with specifc areas of need. This assessment will allow our teachers to pre and post test students so that they can actually continuously measure a student's growth and progress. The assessment is structured so that students are not measured on grade levels but on specific skill levels. It provides very exacting information on what skills students know and what areas of concern teachers should help them with. Please encourage your children to do the best that they can on this assessment. Let them know that it is OK if they don't know all the answers. To measure their skills, the test will ask easy questions and harder questions in response to their answers. Questions continue to get harder until the test determines their skill level. It is not a pass/fail test. It is simply a measurement that tells us what they are ready to learn.

We are so excited about this new assessment. Once we get results, we will be able to individualize for students because we will know what skills we need to cover with them. There is also a parent component to the test that will allow you to access information about your child's results. Please check with this post to see when that information is available.