I Just Looked at the Calendar!
Posted by mevingham on September 25, 2009
Holy Cow! It is October next week, and I just can’t believe it. I have been on full speed ahead since July, and September has flown by. So, let’s share the news!
The PEP Grant has been amazing. Although I am the first to admit that I am very frustrated at times, who can complain when we are buying oodles of equipment and games for kids to improve their fitness and lifelong health habits? Who can complain when students are going to learn some very cool things about self-defense, yoga and nutrition? NOT ME! I have learned a ton about bidding, ordering requirements and federal audit laws. AND that is okay. I get a kick out of learning how to abide by the system and keep things moving forward.
Besides the PEP, we are gearing up for our curriculum work. We have a Curriculum Review Cycle that helps us focus on curriculum so that we have targeted our thinking and our expenditures. We have set dates for our technology integrators to review their roles, curriculum expectations and more! I believe this is going to be just the beginning of conversations with these folks. They are integral for our work in not only technology, but with the immersion of 21st Century Learning Skills. English teachers in grades 6-12 and our School Library Media Specialists will be meeting in the spring to review their curriculum and work towards better alignment, integration of 21stCentury Learning Skills and a closer look at the literacies that students need to navigate through web 2.0. Our Physical Education Department is also going to work on their curriculum. They start with the elementary curriculum in just a few weeks! Tie that with the PEP Grant data collection and the PE Department is going to busier than ever.
Other exciting things to come include our Literacy Council and RtI Committee. Embedded into the Curriculum Review Cycle is the review of Reading K-5. We are going to try to run things simultaneously with a K-5 group studying the art, science and research about reading instruction. We also will have an RtI Committee that will be begin to expand the AIS Plan into an umbrella plan called RtI. Good stuff and hard work for everyone involved.
Meanwhile, each department has set department goals. We are writing more grants –one in the Arts (with a community connection) and one with Science that, if granted, would include new equipment and possibly our teacher publishing a lab in a well-known high school lab manual. I am also seeking a small grant to support the purchase of books for our Battle of the Books Club hosted in the Middle School.
Mentors meet in a week to review how the school year is going for them as mentors. We have 6 teachers being mentored, and we have the best mentors one can imagine. Out Tech committee meets next week to craft the schedule for our next Superintendent’s Conference Day. It will be an immersion in personal learning around web 2.0, the computer basics and expansion of one’s craft using technology! More to come!
