If that picture does not provoke some thought in us as educators and parents we are all in the wrong business!  Our kids can do great things if we encourage them and give them the opportunity to fail.  But, failure has to mean you get another shot to correct it.  I would argue that almost all highly successful people in the world have a deep seated hate of failure, but little or no fear of it.  How can we set up a system for our students that allows failure allong the way, but in the end they all achieve the desired outcome?  We must encourage our students to follow their passion and dreams, no matter what they are at this point in their lives.  As parents and educators there is no other option but to encourage our children to fly!!

Interesting but not earth shattering post by Scott McCloud here.  I guess I am always the first to say apathy is the biggest discipline issue here at ELC.  Looking at the possibilities of why students are apathetic is important, because I am sure all of us play a part (students / parents / teachers / administrators).  I am not sure I agree with all of the article because not everything you do in life / school is going to be fun and meaningful.  But as adults we have a choice.  We can always choose another career path, and find things more meaningful to spend our time on, our students don't always have that option.

Well, a couple weeks into the school year and it appears that teachers and students alike are getting into the groove of things.  Now that many of the managment tasks have been sorted out I hope everyone is taking the time to think about what you are doing and why?

For students that can mean why am I taking the courses I am, and if they are required or not how do they relate ultimately to what I want to accomplish?  If I have been successful in the past what is an area I can challenge myself, or if I have not been successful what are some things I need to change?  Four years can seem like a long time, but like many have already told all our high school students it goes by in the blink of an eye.  Without questioning your goals and what is the next step for them as a student they are never challenged beyond simply giving the teacher the information that teacher has asked from them.  I would hope all of our students are challenged to think every day in every class, and not simply produce information asked of them.

Teachers and administrators must also consistently question themselves in terms of curriculum, content, why do my students need to know this, and are we teaching it in the best way possible?  Are we teaching it because we always have, or is it something connected to the Iowa / Common Core in which all students are expected to know before they leave us for the next step in their lives?  As educators we can't ask our students to become thinkers if we ourselves are not.  We need to surround ourselves with people who challenge to go beyond what we have always done, and look at things in a different light.  The question of why we are teaching something is much more important than what we are teaching.

Here is to a great school year, and most importantly all those who challenge us to think!

Thank-you to all of you who challenge your students to become great thinkers!

I just returned from family vacation at the "happiest place on earth", Disney World.  I must say people look really excited both when they are checking in, and out.  It is very much true what I have heard, that Disney is not a vacation but an experience.

The one thing I continuously reflected on when at Disney was customer service.  It is amazing the expectations they have for all Disney staff in terms of how to relate and treat guests.  Believe me you don't last long on that staff without a smile and dedication to customer service.  The whole time I thought about how customer service relates to us as educators.  There is no doubt children, families, and stakeholders have more choices than ever before in terms of how they will become educated.  We as public schools have become a customer service business.

Make no mistake, I believe public schools (ecspecially ELC) continue to offer the best education and preperation for learners upon completion.  But stakeholders now have more choices from: private schools, open enrollment options, home schools, online courses, online schools, GED's, and other alternative education settings.  High school students also make choices in terms of what classes they choose to take from what teacher.  I am not sure as educators we talk about customer service enough?  Just a thought, but certainly open to your responses in terms of what is the school role in providing excellent customer service to all our stakeholders.

Do we survey and reflect enough?  When do we ask for input from students, as well as evaluation?  Should we be providing end of course surveys for all our courses?  Right now we ask outgoing seniors, other than that where are we getting the evaluation of our customer service we need?  Certainly a topic for reflection and ongoing discussion but stakeholders / students have more options than ever before, what are we doing to ensure they choose us?

I want to thank our staff group for all of the great ideas and discussion yesterday.  It made me think about all of the important work to do, and always keeping the focus on doing what is best for our students.  I think it is human nature to choose the path of least resistance, and I myself am guilty of it.  However, those tough discussions and tough decisions to do what is best not for you, but those you serve are what truly impacts the students and community served by the school district.  I truly believe all educators get into the field because they want to make an impact through their service to others.  I want to thank those who shared their thoughts and ideas and gave up personal time to start the process of making meaningful change for our students.  I welcome both community and student input in terms of how we can make ELC HS the best learning enviornment possible for our students.  Some things we try will work great, others will fail miserably but growth as professionals never happens through stagnation.  Through success and failure we grow both as professionals and as a Learning Community.

I want to give a "shout out" to all our activity coaches and sponsors for their hard work with students outside of the regular school day.  Along with that I want to thank parents for going the extra mile to ensure your child participates in some activity here at ELC High School.  It is a known fact that those who participate are more successful as students, as well as, learn skills that help them latter in life.  Below is a snip from an article showing the relationship between extracurricular activities and student success.

Is participation in extracurricular activities related to students' success in school?

Indicators of successful participation in school include consistent attendance, academic achievement, and aspirations for continuing education beyond high school. Extracurricular participation(1) was positively associated with each of these success indicators among public high school seniors in 1992 (table 1). During the first semester of their senior year, participants reported better attendance than their non-participating classmates--half of them had no unexcused absences from school and half had never skipped a class, compared with one-third and two-fifths of nonparticipants, respectively. Students who participated were three times as likely to perform in the top quartile on a composite math and reading assessment compared with nonparticipants. Participants were also more likely than nonparticipants to aspire to higher education: two-thirds of participants expected to complete at least a bachelor's degree while about half of nonparticipants expected to do so. It cannot be known from these data, however, whether participation leads to success, successful students are more inclined to participate, or both occur.

Table 1. Percentage of public school seniors reporting selected indicators of school success by participation and nonparticipation in extracurricular activities, 1992

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                                                         Non-
Indicators                            Participants    participants
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No unex. absences*                      50.4             36.2
Never skipped classes*                  50.7             42.3
Have a GPA of 3.0 or above              30.6             10.8
Highest quartile on a math and
reading assessment                      29.8             14.2
Expect to earn bachelor's degree
or higher                               68.2             48.2

In my attempt to get familiar with all the features of Google Blogger I have attached (I think) our tentative 14/15 Professional Development calendar.  Please click on this link for a PD Calendar.   I want to thank your High School District Leadership Team for all the time they spent creating a quality template for getting all the important work done.  I say tentative as we are waiting to hear back from AEA technology specialists, and I would like to meet with those DLT representatives once again before finalizing this plan.