I'm Back

Just how far behind the rest of the world are US students?  
According to Yong Zhoa, a distinguished professor at Michigan State University and founding director fo the Center for Teching and Tehnology, the American public education system is well-positioned to produce students with the skills needed to compete in an era of increased technology and globlization.  He suggests that the current reform efforts, calls for increased standardization and accountability, misinterpret the strenghts of American public schools and fails to address the needs of students living in an era of globalization.
Zhoa believes that comparing U.S. test scores to those of students in other countries has created a misconception about the quality of U.S. education.  To meet the challenges of the 21st century, American schools must stop focusing on test scores and strive to:
Produce students with creative and enterpreneurial tendencies; give students opportunities to experience and learn form developing technologies; and open the curriculum to subjects other than those tested by the common core standards.
This educator believe that Mr. Zhora is correct in his thinking that American school need to be looking forward, not just at standardized tests that reflect 19th century idoms and stop compareing our students to students from other countries.  Our students need to be the thinkers, and discoverers.  Not the builders and polishers. 
Zhoa also says that to achiefe meaningful school reforms, America needs a political enviromnent that will encourage education leadrs to innovate rather than increase standardization, and that elementary school principals play a critical role in ensuring that reform efforts meet the needs of American students.

March 1,  Bandorama - supper at 5:00, Concert at 7:00/ Begin 3rd Trimester

           4, Middle School students to Young Writers @ William Penn

           5, Elementary students to Young Writers @ William Penn
                Not much else going on this week,  Looks like March is coming in like a Lamb so look out for the Lion at the end of the month.

Not Monday but Here You Go

On a recent visit to Van Meter Schools I had the pleasure to observe classrooms where every student had their own computer.  (one-to-one) They were given these at the beginning of the year and use them in every (most) of their classrooms.  They go home with the students every day and the students work on line when they have assignments.  They are connected with their teachers and other students at all times.  Not just with students in their district, but with students from all over the United States and even the world.  Several classes are working with multiple schools at the same time.  Students are able to gain insight from other students and give their thoughts to those students.  Van Meter is becoming a leader in teaching the 21st Century skills our students are going to need to be a valuable part of society in the future.
I would love to see our students gain the advantage that these students are getting. 
I have always felt that EBCSD was on the cutting edge of education.  Our students (district) have been the leaders.  After my visit, I can see that we are going to be left behind in the cyber dust, if we don't change our delivery system.  Our students deserve to have the same advantage as some of the other schools around the world.
Van Meter is a smaller district than EBCSD.  Around 600 students k-12.  But because of what they are doing, they are able to stritch their district to millions of students.

TW@BAC

You're on your own this week.  I'm headed for Naples: )

Another Snowy Monday

Jan. 25  GBBall @ Centerville; BBBall@ home vs Centerville; Calender committee meeting 3:30 @ AO; Cost Saving Committee 6:00 @ AO
      26   Sped. meeting 2:00 @ High School
      28  GBBall @ home vs Chariton; BBBall @ Chariton; ESC @ AEA; Future Problem Solvers @ Fairfield
      29  Mr. R @ AO in A.M.; W @ BGM

Broken Resolution Already

I know. It's Tuesday, and my blog is late again. 
I'm reading a book called "Curriculum 21 Essential Education for a Changing World" by Heidi Hayes Jacobs and a number of other authors.  With our Iowa Core Curriculum and the 21st Century Skill that we need to be teaching our students I thought it might be a good read. 
In one section written by Stephen Wilmarth, it talks about the confidence we as teachers have placed on the order and scope of the learning process in the past.  That we as educators were seeking the "Walled garden of learning in which we teach and guide and instruct."  That what we thought we knew about teaching and learning was "cathedral-like, elegant, top-down " and may not be a relevant model for todays students.  He suggests that we may have to develop into a world-class system at a far more rapid pace. That the "cathedral, carefully crafted by wizards and experts working in quiet isolation", may need to be changed to a "babbling bazaar that presents a coherent and stable system that meets the challenges of a transformational time in our understanding of learning and teaching."
In other words, our students my need to drag us into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming all the way.   For our students to keep up with the rest of the world, and not be left behind in the agrarian life style of their parents and grandparents, we need to change the way and things we teach.

This week at the Burg

January 18  Board meeting 6:00 @ AO
            19  W @ Colfax; GBBall @ home vs Centerville; BBBall @ Centerville; ETS in the Middle Schol;  Kick off  the Pennies for Patients in Elem.
            21  GBBall @ Osceola; BBBall @ home vs Clarke; W @ Albia; Cost Savings Committe 6:00@ AO
            Map testing will beging next week.