What are we doing? Where are we going?

The month of September came and gone.  Fast and Hard!  This year I get to teach a few classes, be an athletic director, and later I will be coaching.  One thing I find it is hard to find time to read research/blogs/tweets.  One thing I did get to read lately was about Are Schools here to educate or prepare students for the future. In the article it talks about a few survey that average 46% of why students not prepare for college is because of lack of academic prep.

I do believe academic prep is important, but I don't think if someone is 100% book smart mean they will be able to succeed in college.  Some of the classes we are doing at my school this year is, a yearbook class, student government class, game design, newspaper class, and a portfolio class.  Academically these classes will not teach directly math, history, or english.  But, it can have expound results for our students in their core classes.  Plus the students are enjoying these classes, enjoying school, and enjoying life.

We want to put our students in the best position possible.  We want them to be able to succeed where ever they go after they leave us.

As we look into the future, we want to continue to offer our kids classes that they are interest in and prepare them for their future.  The biggest challenge we have, is we are a very small school and our budget is subsidize  greatly from our Church.  Most of our parents come from families that need help financially.

Where are you at in your schools?  Are you more worried about Academics or Preparing your students for their next chapter in life?

Friday Before Teacher Development Days

Monday 9am sharp, Teacher Professional Development Days begin.  We get a week long 9-1's learning and discussing the upcoming year.

As I am putting together the information that will be covered, I am thinking, how will this year be better than last year.  I already know in many ways how it will be better.  At the same time, I will be fighting some of the same fights.

Here are some of my fights (you may agree or disagree):
Connect to Christ and the Word in every class
PUT STUDENTS FIRST!
Integrate Technology into every day classes
Continue Push to make our school as "Green" as possible
Improve our look and feel for school facility and pride
Have the best athletic teams that God can provide for us and have them compete for the Glory of God

Lastly I don't like this fight, but it is a fight that I am fighting
Let the Haters be wiped out by our Excellence in Word and Academics!  Prove to them so they close their mouths.

A personal grievance I will have to deal with is not to tell certain people off when they stick their nose into something that doesn't relate to them at all :)

Back to PD Week,

Curriculum Mapping,
21st Century Skills
Staff Devotion Schedule
School Year Schedule
Curriculum Changes (Who teaches what changes)
HOW CAN YOU DO YOUR JOB BETTER
HOW YOU NEED TO STEP UP
Still working on other topics!

I know most schools are back in session.  I pray your school year goes well if you have already started.  For those who start next week or before September, Good Luck and may God lead you.  For us that start after Labor day, ENJOY the last days of Summer

Principal Conference.... MARRIAGE? WHAT?

If I haven't told you yet, or if you didn't know, I LOVE CONFERENCES!  For many reasons, but I am stumped on my last conference I went to.  It was our Annual Principal Conference.  The topic on paper was about caring for your staff.  Having a staff of all females (I am the only Male), I thought I could learn something that would be useful.

Not that I didn't learn anything or anything that is useful.  Not that I could not apply some of what I learned to my staff, but It is a stretch.  The main speakers talked about Marriage and relationships between a wife and husband.  Now it was all tasteful and biblical, but there were a few laughing moments (ok a little more than a few).  The speaker was funny and good.  It just screamed lawsuit in my head if I went back to my staff with what I learned. 

Now, the biggest amount of information I will pass on to my staff is that they have to take time for themselves and for their families.  As I told my new teacher I am mentoring this year, learn where your limits are.  It will be hard to say no, after 8 years I still have a hard time saying No to stuff.  But, also set a time when you will just stop and think about yourself, family, or something not dealing with school.  It is hard as a Lutheran worker.  Because even when you come to Church to worship, 9 out of 10 times something school related will come up.  A parent asking a question about homework, school board wanting a report or an answer, or just question how is the school is doing. 

I remember Mary Irish devotion while I was in SLED, about taking care of yourself before you can take care of others and she compared it to, when you fly (I believe I wrote about this somewhere at some point in time) the stewardess tells you to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others.

So even though a marriage retreat without your spouse is what I sat through, There were some take home knowledge and I will never read Song of Songs the same again!

A Blog you need to follow

One of the favorite thing I get to do as a Principal, or maybe more as an Ed Tech guy, is to help others see the benefits of 21st Century Skills and even get a teacher to start using tools of the trade.  First Steps is the blog of my Assistant Principal.  Check it out.  It is a Blog of feelings, beliefs, and a Journey of actually being brave enough to put it down for the world to see.