Currently, I'm sitting in Iowa Methodist Hospital waiting for my father-in-law to be discharged. He was flown down from Humboldt two days ago with an aortic aneurysm. The good news is that he's going to be just fine and will continue to live a full life back home. More good news, I'm catching up on some reading while he's watching Rachel Ray on the television. I came across this on-line book called "What Matters Now" by Seth Godin. I know that many people in the educational technology world read what Seth has to offer. I would like to share the one page portion called "Vision", written by Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. I think it's well written and speaks to me. Hopefully, it will speak to you as well.
"Vision is the lifeblood of any organization. It is what keeps it moving forward. It provides meaning to the day-to-day challenges and setbacks that make up the rumble and tumble of real life. In a down economy—particularly one that has taken most of us by surprise—things get very tactical. We are just trying to survive. What worked yesterday does not necessarily work today. What works today may not necessarily work tomorrow. Decisions become pragmatic. But after a while this wears on people.They don’t know why their efforts matter. They cannot connect their actions to a larger story. Their work becomes a matter of just going through the motions, living from weekend to weekend, paycheck to paycheck. This is where great leadership makes all the difference. Leadership is more than influence. It is about reminding people of what it is we are trying to build—and why it matters. It is about painting a picture of a better future. It comes down to pointing the way and saying, “C’mon. We can do this!” When times are tough, vision is the first casualty. Before conditions can improve, it is the first thing we must recover."
It is my hope that I never lose the vision of our school, our Board, our staff and mostly the vision we have for our students. New Year's Resolution? Sounds like a good one. Enjoy 2010.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thoughts on a 1:1 Learning Environment
I was lucky enough to attend an event hosted by Scott McLeod, director of the Center of the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), on December 11, 2009 in Ames, Iowa. Scott brought in Will Richardson, “Learner in Chief” at Connective Learning and the author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms now in its 2nd Edition, published by Corwin Press. Will definitely left an impression on the 40 guests composed of superintendents, principals, Department of Education, AEA, and business and industry. Thanks to my good friend Jeff Dicks from Newell-Fonda for this opening paragraph, couldn't say it any better myself!
The Okoboji Schools is close to becoming a 1:1 school, meaning that there is one computer for every student. There are many examples of 1:1 schools that have been tremendously successful. Some of schools within our state that practice this method include Clay Central Everly High School, Newell-Fonda High School, Van Meter High School and South Hamilton High School. This has been a vision of mine for the past five years.
One of the many things I picked up from listening to Will was that a true 1:1 initiative contains more than just the computer in the hands of students. According to Clay Shirky, Internet access should be like oxygen, ubiquitous, everywhere, and silent. While many students from Okoboji have might have some sort of Internet access at home, is that bandwidth strong enough to do everything that a student would need it to do? Does it make a difference which platform the students have (PC or Mac)? Besides the computer, the school must understand that instructional strategies (how the teacher teaches) and the curriculum (what the teacher teaches) must be different than it was prior to the 1:1 deployment.
I would prefer that Okoboji's 1:1 be a comprehensive program, one where the students can take the computers home with them at night, personalize it, take good care of it and learn a great deal from it. Let's just say, I haven't convinced everyone yet that this is the way to go. Look, kids are going to make mistakes but it's up to us as the adults in their lives, to show them the correct way to do things. I believe the kids will be better off if we show them the correct way as opposed to simply saying “No, you can't do that” and try to catch them being bad. Every superintendent I've talked to about the 1:1 says the same thing, that the kids take better care of the computers than they ever thought they would. There is something to be said about “buy-in.”
Our building principals are all on board with the addition of technology into our schools and they also know that instruction and curriculum that enhances the technology must be in place before we can truly transform education in Okoboji. We are on the cutting edge and we must continue to track forward.
The Okoboji Schools is close to becoming a 1:1 school, meaning that there is one computer for every student. There are many examples of 1:1 schools that have been tremendously successful. Some of schools within our state that practice this method include Clay Central Everly High School, Newell-Fonda High School, Van Meter High School and South Hamilton High School. This has been a vision of mine for the past five years.
One of the many things I picked up from listening to Will was that a true 1:1 initiative contains more than just the computer in the hands of students. According to Clay Shirky, Internet access should be like oxygen, ubiquitous, everywhere, and silent. While many students from Okoboji have might have some sort of Internet access at home, is that bandwidth strong enough to do everything that a student would need it to do? Does it make a difference which platform the students have (PC or Mac)? Besides the computer, the school must understand that instructional strategies (how the teacher teaches) and the curriculum (what the teacher teaches) must be different than it was prior to the 1:1 deployment.
I would prefer that Okoboji's 1:1 be a comprehensive program, one where the students can take the computers home with them at night, personalize it, take good care of it and learn a great deal from it. Let's just say, I haven't convinced everyone yet that this is the way to go. Look, kids are going to make mistakes but it's up to us as the adults in their lives, to show them the correct way to do things. I believe the kids will be better off if we show them the correct way as opposed to simply saying “No, you can't do that” and try to catch them being bad. Every superintendent I've talked to about the 1:1 says the same thing, that the kids take better care of the computers than they ever thought they would. There is something to be said about “buy-in.”
Our building principals are all on board with the addition of technology into our schools and they also know that instruction and curriculum that enhances the technology must be in place before we can truly transform education in Okoboji. We are on the cutting edge and we must continue to track forward.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Need for Space
In recent articles I've talked about the increase in enrollment for the Okoboji Community Schools. Here are the final numbers and what they mean. The certified enrollment is the number of students who live in our district's boundaries and go to school here plus the number of kids who live in our district's boundaries but open enroll to other neighboring districts. That number in the fall of 2008 was 880 students and in the fall of 2009, it was 886.2 students for a gain of 6.2 students. Why the decimal? Schools receive partial credit for students who are home schooled but take one or two classes in our schools and also for high school students who take some college courses as we get reimbursed from the state at a percentage of the cost. The number of students served in our district is calculated the following way: the number of kids who live in our district and attend school here plus the kids who live outside of our district and open enroll into the district plus the number of students who attend our school for special education purposes. That number in the fall of 2008 was 902 students and in the fall of 2009, it was 953.8 students for a gain of 51.8 students. The number of 953.8 are the actual students in seats that we are currently educating, and educating quite well, I might add.
It has been well documented the number of students we have in our younger grades, particularly kindergarten and the pre-kindergarten program along with the transitional kindergarten. It forced us to increase the number of sections in kindergarten from three to four for this school year. Last school year, every classroom was being utilized within the building. This year, we've had to utilize small “storage” rooms for reading groups and our TAG program. The small group instruction for additional reading has really helped with the reading program and we need to continue that practice but we're running out of space for the small groups.
The need for space looks like there will be an increased need in the next few years as well. This year's pre-k has 62 students, Head Start, which is housed in our building as well, has 10 four year olds, and the transitional kindergarten has 21 students. If we anticipate about 10-12 in TK for next year, you can see that we'll have around 80 again in kindergarten for next year. While no decisions have been made concerning class size in kindergarten, it appears that another four sections is likely.
For all of the above mentioned reasons, the Okoboji Community Schools is in the process of developing a long range facilities plan, with the help of Bergland + Cram Architects. We are currently in the information gathering mode and should have a finalized plan shortly. We must stay focused on a couple of things – student achievement and long term growth. There must also be flexibility built into this plan. Our short term goal is to develop additional classroom space at the elementary school for the additional sections of our younger students. We also must build into the plan, what might happen down the road if enrollment stagnates or goes back into the decline stage. The facilities plan will help give our Board information so they can make the best decision possible with as many options as possible.
Besides the classroom additions, we are also investigating the possibilities of converting the elementary building to a geothermal heating and cooling system. We are in the process of applying for the Harkin Construction grant through the state of Iowa which will help to reduce the cost of the project. Actually, the cost of the geothermal is higher than the cost of adding additional classroom space. Down the road, decisions will need to be made concerning all of this. We will pay for all of this through the one cent sales tax revenue. In other words, no general fund dollars will be used in our attempt to keep our local property taxes the lowest rate in the state. I'm sure there will be more information coming out in the future as we progress with this project. My goal here was to inform you as to why we need an addition to the elementary school. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and thank you for your continued support of the Okoboji Community Schools.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
My First Blog
This is my first blog and so far, it's pretty easy and could be, down the road, fun. I'm looking forward to continuing this endeavor. Who knows what kind of material will show up on this blog. I currently write newspaper articles for the Dickinson County News and the Spencer Daily Reporter, as well as the Okoboji Outlook, our school's newsletter. Some of these articles are "repeats" as I have trouble finding interesting things to write about, or should I say, things I think are interesting.
The entire administrative team attended a workshop on December 3rd, hosted by our AEA, and featured Scott McLeod from Iowa State University, dealing strictly with the administrative side of technology in the school setting. While I have heard Scott before, we know that adult learning theory states that something must be heard 17 times before it truly "sinks" in. Well, this was number two for me and it certainly was motivating
We like to think that the Okoboji Community Schools are leaders in learning and leaders in technology. Our goal is to make sure all of our students are prepared for their next level of education, be that a four year school, a two year technical degree or some sort of additional training for the workforce. Technology plays a huge part in preparing students for life beyond school. It would be outstanding to boast of a 1 to 1 computer to student ratio and we are getting closer each year. We have been beefing up our bandwidth, our infrastructure, our tech personnel and our hardware and software. I like to think that our teaching staff is getting better and better each day with technology. It certainly is the wave of the future but we can't wait for the future to come to us, we must go out and create the future, integrating technology with a high quality education.
We are very proud of our school district and all that it has to offer. Our teachers are simply the best but we will not rest on our laurels and continue to strive to be better each and every day. Thanks Scott and team for an inspiring and motivating day.
The entire administrative team attended a workshop on December 3rd, hosted by our AEA, and featured Scott McLeod from Iowa State University, dealing strictly with the administrative side of technology in the school setting. While I have heard Scott before, we know that adult learning theory states that something must be heard 17 times before it truly "sinks" in. Well, this was number two for me and it certainly was motivating
We like to think that the Okoboji Community Schools are leaders in learning and leaders in technology. Our goal is to make sure all of our students are prepared for their next level of education, be that a four year school, a two year technical degree or some sort of additional training for the workforce. Technology plays a huge part in preparing students for life beyond school. It would be outstanding to boast of a 1 to 1 computer to student ratio and we are getting closer each year. We have been beefing up our bandwidth, our infrastructure, our tech personnel and our hardware and software. I like to think that our teaching staff is getting better and better each day with technology. It certainly is the wave of the future but we can't wait for the future to come to us, we must go out and create the future, integrating technology with a high quality education.
We are very proud of our school district and all that it has to offer. Our teachers are simply the best but we will not rest on our laurels and continue to strive to be better each and every day. Thanks Scott and team for an inspiring and motivating day.
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