Next week the high school’s career tech department is having an open house to showcase different courses that high school students might take.  What I want to know is what do you want to do when you grow up?  Also, tell me what you think you need to do to reach your goal.

I recently read an article in Time about what students need in the 21st century. Recommendations about the skills and disciplines needed included technology and exposure to world cultures. The term “portable skills” was a new term to me. Portable skills are critical think, making connections, and the ability to continuously learn. The article also discussed the importance of teaching students how to assess the accuracy of information read on websites. Did you know that in a recent study of 6,200 high school seniors and college freshman only 50 percent could accurately judge the quality of content on websites?
I would be very interested in hearing from you what you think you need to be well educated in the 21st century. I would also like to hear how you learn when you are away from school. Do you see similarities or differences between HOW you learn at school and away from school?

Amazing things went on at HTMS today!  The 8^th grade science students were spread out over campus discovering things about velocity and speed.  Some were out on the mall shooting rockets made from soft drink bottles.  Others were in the halls building roller coasters.  Mrs. Hambey’s students dissected squids—man does that smell bring back memories of my days in science class.  Mr. Brown’s class participated in a simulation designed to help students learn the workings of the ancient city-states in Greece.  I loved watching each individual “city state” go from claiming all of the land possible alone to forming alliances with other city- states.  We took pictures of the 8^th grade students voted as this year’s who’s who for the yearbook.  The focus of this year’s who’s who was the character education words we study throughout the year. 

Mr. Jones, Mr. Posey, and I are still hard at work with homework remediation.  We appreciate the teachers’ continued efforts to work with students who are not performing as well as we would like.  Unfortunately, there are still too many students not completing work on time, but we are working to help students make better decisions.  We have moved into the next phase of homework remediation.  Students who have been referred before for not having homework automatically go to detention.   Eventually, students will grow tired of sitting in the cafeteria on the hard round seats for two hours after school.  Remember, the media center is open every morning for students who need extra time or extra help to complete homework.  We are here to help each student be successful!

I have spent a lot of time this weekend looking at blogs, articles, and videos online about how learning is changing.  As a school, we continue to look for ways to integrate technology more fully into the classroom so we can prepare students for their future in the work place.  I have gone into the discussion boards on several teacher sites to see the questions teachers posted and the responses from students.  Wow!  Our students are having great online discussions in the safety of our SharePoint sites on the meaning of art, the role math plays in basketball, andthe books they are currently reading.