Rain, Rain, Go Away
I think most would agree we've had enough rain already. I remember a time when we would talk about rain in tenths of an inch. It's been awhile since we've done that. Now we talk in inches. I've been fortunate as the only damage I've experienced because of the rain has been some washing out of my yard in a few places. The rain does make it challenging for our building project. Fortunately, the site is drained well and empties out fairly quickly. Unfortunately, it leaves behind a muddy mess for the contractors to work in. But they've been trudging on. Wall panels remain scheduled for September 24th and we haven't had any water in the building, so things are looking okay. Hopefully, our football game goes off without a hitch this week and we all go home dry and at a normal time.
District Goals
The board met in a work session on Tuesday night to discuss the progress on the district goals for last year and discuss what should our focus be for this year. Prior to the meeting, the board members viewed the movie Most Likely to Succeed. I shared the trailer in last week's blog. Some interesting statistics that were shared in the movie include: 65% of today's elementary students will have jobs that haven't been invented yet; 11% of employers believe colleges are effective in preparing graduates for work, but 96% of academic provosts believe college do a good job of preparing graduates; 53% of recent college graduates are underemployed or unemployed, and finally about 80% of students are engaged in schooling at the elementary level, but only 40% when they start high school. It was a good discussion that really focused on what we need our students to know and be able to do when they graduate from New Hampton High School. We will continue down the Project Based Learning path with Midmester and J-term at the middle and high school. In addition, the elementary school will be starting some Project Based Learning within the grade levels.
As a district we will work to increase collaboration between teachers both in projects and in time to work on district related issues. We will be fine tuning our job shadow and internship programs to make them more meaningful for our students. We want to help all students figure out what they want to do or not do after they graduate from high school. We will continue to focus on the 4 C's of learning: Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication. This doesn't mean we ignore literacy, math, and science, but it does mean we recognize there are other skills that students need to be successful. We hear it from our businesses and industries and we see it in the world around us.
Below is a video that discusses the movie:
We will be doing a local screening of the movie Most Likely to Succeed
Project (Problem) Based Learning
You've probably heard something about Project Based Learning (some call it Problem Based Learning or PBL). This is a style of learning where students undertake a project that has meaning to them to increase their motivation for the project and they learn what they need to learn to successfully complete the project. We all know when a student is interested in something, they will do what they need to do in order to understand and do it. How many hours of reading/learning take place as students work to figure out their favorite video game, electronic device, etc. They want to know more so they do what they have to in order to figure it out. The same concept is used in PBL. If we find what they're interested in, they will learn whatever math, literacy, technology, they need to know to be successful. If they're not engaged in something that interests them, they will go through the motions and do what they need to in order to do well on the final test and then often forget most of it within a few weeks. PBL tends to cause students to go deeper on a specific subject and because they are engaged in the topic tend to retain it longer.
Many people did "projects" in school and it should be noted that doing "projects" is not the same as project based learning. When doing projects, the teacher generally has to "teach" what the children need to know first, and they all are taught the same things, then the student completes a project to demonstrate to the teacher what they learned about the subject. These are not bad things, but they differ from PBL because the students are learning the same things the teacher wants them to learn. In addition, the projects often all look very similar. In PBL, the students are given choices in their learning and where it goes. There may be some basic knowledge that is required in PBL, but it is the opportunity for the students to go deeper and have more choices in what interests them that makes PBL different. Often PBL projects look different for each student. I don't see us ever getting to a point where we're 100% PBL in our school, but if we can provide additional opportunities
Here's a short video that further explains PBL
If you have any questions on PBL or anything, please feel free to contact me directly. Also, be on the lookout for our community viewing of Most Likely to Succeed.
