Piano stairs - TheFunTheory.com - Rolighetsteorin.se

In our desire to manage our schools, our homes and communities, and in our seriousness about student achievement, college and "future", we sometimes forget that it's important to have fun along the way.




The "piano stairs" video is a good example of how adding an element of fun can make something that is otherwise not appealing seem very attractive. Often that is the job of a teacher - creating an environment where students learn without realizing they are learning because what they're doing is fun.




For young children, one of the educational theories is learning through play. Through activities and manipulating objects in hands on ways, kids learn basic laws of physics, geometry, and even social skills. Unfortunately, as we get older there becomes an emphasis on "sit and get" learning - an expectation that students can learn by sitting, taking notes, and then regurgitating the important concepts on an assessment.




Effective learning comes when a student is engrossed in content. What better way to make that happen, than incorporating a little fun into the day. At North we've put an emphasis on project based learning that gets students involved in activities that are rich with learning opportunities. Ask your child's teacher what projects will be completed during the course of the year.

Dollars and Sense...

This year's budget process will see all schools in the state facing unprecedented cuts. With the recent actions of Michigan's legislature and government, the Grosse Pointe school system will be hit particularly hard. Over the past several weeks, members of our district's Budget Council have been meeting to determine how to manage our budget with a reduction of approximately 6.6 million dollars for next year.

Primary in our focus has been trying to be creative to ensure that we can continue to offer the many quality programs that we currently run. The high schools have a unique situation because of our seven period school day that includes tutorial periods. These tutorial periods are very costly to the district with little return because students are not earning credit during these periods, yet staff are assigned to each tutorial. Over the past several years, high school administrators have consistently advocated for a change to the structure of our school day to make better use of all of our resources.

During this budgeting process, it has become apparent that if we stay within our current scheduling framework, we will have to cut seventy or more sections out of our schedule to meet budgetary targets. Similarly, a change to a six period day would result in a cut of more than seventy sections out of our schedule. A cut of this magnitude will likely mean the end of support classes, many elective classes, entire elective programs, and high class sizes. This does not have to happen...

A move to a trimester schedule with three twelve week terms could allow us to actually add 70 sections while saving approximately $700,000 per high school. This schedule was unanimously recommended to our board by a large committee of teachers, administrators and parents two years ago. Farmington, Birmingham and Clarkston school districts all use this schedule to name a few high achieving school districts in our area. All high school administrators, our Superintendent, and our Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, support this change in our school day.

The trimester schedule makes sense. It has many advantages beyond money savings, but in this day and age of cuts, the monetary savings cannot be ignored. It is time to change and move away from our costly seven period day with a schedule that maximizes both our dollars and our educational opportunities. We will discuss this schedule with our board Monday night at a workshop at 7:00 p.m. at North. Come join the discussion if you would like to learn more about this opportunity to turn the negative of budget cuts into a gain of opportunities for our students!