I Have to Say I Love You in a Blog……

Posted on by Dave Meister

Another year comes to close. Where does the time go? We started in August with freshman orientation and in what seems like just a few minutes later, we are getting ready to say goodbye to our seniors. This is always a bittersweet time of year for me. I am so happy to witness the accomplishments of our students. Like any other school we have our top achieving students who are amazing in every sense of the word. They have received full ride scholarships to prestigious universities and earned the accolades that have been bestowed upon them. So much hope, so much promise. There are so many moments to remember. Every once in a while a student says something that just makes every minute of toil worth spending. A moment to say “ah, this is why I do what I do!” The other day, in a nonchalant way, a student walked up to me and the assistant principal and said “I want to thank you guys for turning me around and setting me straight. Without you two, I would have never made it.” He made my day. No, he made my year! That kind of feedback, just once every so often, is all I need to keep doing this job I have been blessed with. Often I am asked this time of year, “Bet your glad the year is over?” I can honestly say no. I miss the kids almost as soon as they are gone. I miss being able to tease them. To witness their unabashed energy and their ability to see things through a lens (youth) I no longer have. They are not jaded by a view clouded by age and disappointments. They are so capable and talented and when they choose to tap into those qualities they have very few boundaries to what they can do. It is my hope that they choose work hard and realize the only real boundaries they face are between their ears.

As I reflect on this year, I can’t help but acknowledge that I have spent too much time lamenting on the current state of education. Although it is troubling to think that we are evermore tied to test scores and a common core of learning objectives and concepts to be covered, I know deep in my heart that we still get to touch the lives of so many people and make a difference every day we step into our “learning” world. Education reformers can talk about “value added measures” and achievement scores all they want but if they have never been in a school and worked with kids today, they have no idea how to measure the value of the statement “I want to thank you guys for turning me around and setting me straight.” I am truly blessed to get to do what I do! Sometimes it hard to say, or the words just come out wrong, so I have to say I love my job in a blog….. (My apologies to Jim Croce)

Making the Connection (Guest Post from PCHS AP Mark Cox)

Posted on by Dave Meister

Is achievement and learning simply about a standardized test score? Should Educators be held responsible for these scores or use them to help students improve and achieve to the best of their ability? As Educators we struggle with the value of the test versus the value of student connections. We formulate plans to help increase reading levels, we block periods to try and help students understand math problems that have no meaning, we set up programs after school to allow all students access to technology and tutors, but yet students still fail classes, get held back, or even drop out with no vision for their future or guidance to help them reach even minimal goals.

Helping students grow emotionally and mentally goes way beyond any test score that is supposed to represent how well we teach. Helping a student means making the connection, creating those interpersonal relationships that foster respect, pride, and ethics in a student are what matter the most. Test scores, GPA, and class rank are important, and will fall in place when connections are made between a teacher and their students. So how does one make that happen? I am not entirely sure how to reach everyone, but I will share how I managed to form strong connections with two young men that created relationships where we all influenced one another.

We see many students who have been retained, dropped-out, fallen behind in earning credits, returned from juvenile detention center, or even prison. I had the unusual and unexpected circumstance to connect with two struggling young men that fit several of the conditions mentioned above . Many second chances had previously been given to these young men through various sources, but to no avail. Both boys, you might say, had to figure it out the hard way. With little time left to graduate do to age restrictions and many credits to recover, the boys were placed in our alternative education program. A class of two I guess you would say. The schedule did not allow anytime for Physical Education and both needed the credits to graduate, so I decided we would have P.E. after regular school hours and I would run the class that consisted of lifting, running, walking, and stretching. Both boys were in and agreed to give it a try, and soon my own 14 year old was coming after school to work out.

During these work outs something much more important than a credit or great test score occurred.  We all earned respect for each other and for ourselves. I saw my two students begin to take pride in not only their own accomplishments, but in the accomplishments of others including my son and I.  I listened to two young men who began to talk about responsibility for poor decisions and to make positive ones in the future.  I watched as the two students began to engage in a healthy competition not only in the the weight room, but in their academic endeavors as well. Finally, and most surprisingly my two students began to show some leadership. I listened to these two so-called misfits talk about their mistakes and consequences as we worked out week after week. I listened to them lecture my son about how drugs or alcohol had negatively influenced their lives and if they could take back time, things would have been different. These walk and talks that we engaged during classes turned into Father/son like discussions that had great value to me personally. My son got to hear the real affects of poor decisions and how they can completely turn your life upside down. The boys became leaders with a positive message and real life experiences to learn from that no text book would ever teach my son or me for that matter. I developed a respect for these two young men and found myself unwilling to allow them to fail again. I found myself caring about their success as if they were my own children. They reminded me what is was like to feel like when you become so passionate about completing a task, that failure is not a thought or option.

Today they are on the verge of becoming Graduates. I know my son will miss the work out sessions with these young men and life lessons they taught him, as will I. The conversations, lessons, and work ethic learned in this make-shift P.E. class went way beyond any expectation I ever had at the beginning of the year. I believe that the connections made far outweigh any test score either boy had during his high school career and I can see in their eyes and smiles that they truly did learn to appreciate the value of hard work, honesty, responsibility, and more importantly an education. When they finally walk across that stage I will be as proud for them as they are for themselves. That my friends is what education should be all about!

Photo courtesy of Roger Smith’s Flickr Photostream

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So What Has Changed Since I Started Blogging and Tweeting?

Posted on by Dave Meister
  • The first PHSprincipalBlog (changed to Director 4/1/2009) post was on 9/18/2007.       (332 posts overall)
  • I have been on Twitter for 4 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 27 minutes, 23 seconds (Nov. 29, 2007) according to http://howlonghaveyoubeentweeting.com

My activity on my blog as well as on Twitter have diminished as of late. I still find an incredible amount of value/entertainment by engaging in the online discussions, I just find it harder to make time to write and send out 140 character tidbits.  My participation in these discussions has ebbed and flowed over the past four years and I am sure I will get more bursts of blogging energy.  As I contemplate these little facts, I am really surprised that I have been at it so long.  Time is passing at what seems like an ever increasing rate.  I would swear that every year I live gets shorter! One question that has surfaced in my mind of late is how have these “practices” changed me?  Changed our school?  Has there been a real value created for the teachers and students at PCHS?

Changes in my personal practice
  1. I have discovered a wide range of educational bloggers, created an RSS feed for my favorites, and read the ideas and thoughts of my favorites everyday.  I think carving out a part of my day to read about what others are doing in their schools has been one of the most productive changes I have made.  View my Google Reader feed.
  2. I have made presentations to administrators across the state about using social media to connect to one another and to inform their practice.  (an example)
  3. I use Youtube to inform my school community and Board of Education. (example)
  4. Attended ISTE 11 and met many educators who share similar passions about making public education stronger by using modern technology to engage and connect students. (Live From the Blogger Cafe)
  5. Committed myself to lead my staff by being a transparent learner.  I have been become a SMART certified trainer, a proficient user of Google apps, a regular user of Evernote and Diigo to catalogue Internet resources, as well as a Twitter and Facebook in the classroom proponent.
  6. Have been a regular user of an iPad and iPhone to make my daily work more efficient.

“So what?” You may ask.  Well, so what is what I say as well.  Because none of that means a thing to anybody but me.  If all I have done is taught my self how to use these tools then I have failed to lead.  I have failed to make much of a difference in the lives of students and the learning experiences they have a on a daily basis.

So what has changed at PCHS?  

  1. The first blog a PCHS was not mine, nor was the second, (both by our Librarian/Curriculum Specialist-Sarah Hill), but my act of accepting the challenge to blog (again by Ms. Hill) eventually led to a steady group of PCHS teacher bloggers.
  2. Not only have teachers started blogging a PCHS, we also have several groups of students that are blogging (here, and here, for example). By the way, they love to see that people from across the country and world visit their blogs!
  3. A small legion (is there such a thing?) of PCHS teachers have joined Twitter and occasionally they actually tweet something.  I know they lurk more than actively participate, but several are drinking from the fire hose of educational content that flows on Twitter. Our AP Literature class  has had #hashtag chats about the books they are reading and the teacher has used a Twitter back-channel to promote in-class discussion.
  4. Did I mention that some of our teachers are blogging?  Check out this top Art Blog by our own @DestinGirl73
  5. Our freshman English classes have done online-Shakespeare projects where students have created “Facebook-like” pages for the characters and have interacted with students from different sections virtually using different Web 2.0 tools.
  6. I think one of the best by-products of our experimentation with transparent learning has been our willingness to take risks.  This past fall we decided to do an all school thematic-project based learning unit where we turned off the bells, disregarded normal class grouping patterns and let the students and teacher work together to solve engaging problems…check out PumpkinPalooza2011!  We just did a presentation about this project to the Illinois High Schools Connections Conference!
  7. We have begun to see where subject areas and individual classes are beginning to “cross-pollinate”.  Chemistry classes and clothing classes are meeting together. Geometry classes and Consumer Science classes are finding common ground and are meeting together.  Art and English. Welding and Art. English and Science.  We may find that we can build high school co-credit classes where students can earn more that just a credit in one area, they may earn credit for (for example Geometry and Drafting) two classes at the same time.  The possibilities are being explored.  That is the most exciting thing.
  8. Students are meeting with human resources both virtually and in “real life” on a more regular basis.  We have had students visit local businesses and have had visitors to classrooms via the Internet as well conventionally.
We still have a lot of work to do, but I feel more strongly than ever before that we are willing to meet the challenges to make our learning environments relevant and engaging.  We have the unique opportunity to design and build a new school complex that will be both flexible and transparent and able to accommodate learning for today’s world and the challenges of tomorrow.
I AM SO GLAD I STARTED TO BLOG AND TWEET!

 

By all Means, Hold Us Accountable!

Posted on by Dave Meister

But…..you had better take into account the WHOLE PICTURE!

This past week a had an opportunity to travel to the Effingham, IL to take in the All Apollo Conference Band Concert.  What a wonderful evening of splendid music.  Eighty of the best musicians from local high schools brought together for an all-day clinic under the direction of Dr. Melissa Gustafson-Hinds from O’Fallon High School. The event made for awesome learning experience and a very memorable evening of concert sounds.  As students were motioned to stand to be recognized for their solo efforts at the end of every song, the warm applause from the audience of parents and other family members had the students bursting with pride.  It was definitely an experience that allowed me to acknowledge to myself that there are so many things right with what we do in public education.  The value that is provided to our students and communities is so much greater than the achievement that is measured on one day of the school year.  I want our school, all public schools for that matter, to be held accountable for these types of student learning opportunities.  If we truly want to measure the value that public educators bring to the table then let’s find a way to measure:

The glow of pride a student radiates upon receiving a standing ovation from the patrons at an honor band concert

The feeling of accomplishment when a student earns a best of show in a regional art show

The effort of a teacher that, because of the time invested, uses an established relationship to talk a student out of dropping out.

The accomplishment when a student earns a presidential scholarship to a prestigious secondary education institution.

The value of programs that allow students to experience connections that has them see the relationships of learning and hard work beyond test scores and grades.

A student’s ability to create a handcrafted object that represents a challenge met. A challenge that allowed the student to grow and understand the interconnectivity of knowledge disciplines and to go beyond the mere manipulation and recollection of facts.

The ingenuity of teachers who work together to do something new for their students.  Teachers who collaborate to make multidisciplinary experiences for students that make subjects engaging and lifelike.

The lifetime effort of a teacher who dedicated hours to building relationships with students and pushing kids to do things they never thought they could do.  A coach who taught the value of respect, effort, and sportsmanship in victory as well as defeat.

By all means, hold us accountable! Test scores need to scrutinized, attendance rates measured, drop out rates included, but you had better add to the metric the true value of the programs we provide! (add your own example in the comments….please!)

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Lets Make it Social, Transparent, and Integrated

Posted on by Dave Meister

I am a very lucky educator.  I have the opportunity be a part of building a new school for our learning community.  What an awesome task, responsibility, and opportunity.  As part of this undertaking, I have been able to visit modern schools and not only see the physical spaces, but also observe the learning activities that occur in them.  It was so interesting hear to a lead science teacher tell us about students studying cancer cells and looking for ways to disrupt their growth. She told us how one particular student had the opportunity to work with bacteria and try to disrupt their communication patterns.  His research had progressed so far that he was able to meet with several Nobel Prize winning scientists at science exposition that he was invited to attend.  At first I was amazed that high school students were involved is this kind of research, but as it these stories sunk in, I could not help but feel that the students in my school were being robbed of these types of learning opportunities.  Should we simply say we cannot afford to put in a laboratory where this type of research can be done and leave it at that?  I am determined to find a way that our students who wish to study and research such topics can do so in a local lab.  At the very least, we must build spaces that promote active learning where Science is a verb and students can explore and discover.  Active learning must take place in all subject areas and we must seek to integrate them where we can.

The above photos were taken in Niles North High School’s state of the art STEM lab.  It is a large learning space with a corner “think tank”. This is where short, whole group learning activities take place such as a like a mini lecture or a student presentation.  The makeup of the room shows what is important–active learning.  The rest of the space is dominated by large tables, deep sinks, and a multitude of tools to experiment with.  A scientists dream.  We will not be able to replicate this room.  I am not so sure we would want to, but we need to see that learning spaces need to be flexible to accommodate different kinds of learning and learners.

Some of the schools we have visited have been very traditional.  The learning environments were not much different than what we have used in our school for the last 100+ years.  Rooms as boxes, filled with student desks, and a central learning focus that cast the teacher as information giver/subject expert.  Other schools have moved away from the traditional design and have spaces that suggest other models of learning.

The four photos above were take at the the Columbus Signature Academy High Tech High.  The school uses a project based approach to engage its students.  What stood out to me at this school was how the student work and the vision of students collaborating were the architectural features.  Learning studios were transparent with movable glass hallway walls, that when moved created very large learning spaces for large group instruction or presentations.  The hallways were filled with different seating configurations.  Some of them resembled restaurant booths, others were library like configurations with comfortable furniture.  Design shaping function or function shaping design….either way the way students learn in these environments reflects a social, transparent, and integrated approach that allows students to do real, meaningful work in ways they will outside of the “school” when they matriculate to other endeavors.  Exciting times indeed!