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!