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!

Problem Solving or "Mom Where are My Socks?"

How many times a day do your children yell through the house that they can't find something, only for you to walk into the maelstrom of chaos and madness we call the "teenager's bedroom" and find it right where it actually belongs? The last place any child looks is the most obvious, rightful place for an object. Perhaps this has been true throughout time, but I'm convinced the conveniences of the modern world have exacerbated the problem.

A critical function of today's classroom has to be problem solving. The world we live in changes so rapidly that people who can't adjust and adapt will be left dumbfounded as the world passes. The conveniences of the modern world have spoiled us into being incapable of solving even the simplest of problems. When our computers (the power and speed of which we couldn't have even imagined a few years ago) don't respond immediately, we're on the phone with the help desk for an answer. The changing environment in which we live has changed the focus of schools. Rote memorization has far less relevance in schools than teaching students to solve problems. We have moved more and more to skill based assessments in determining whether students have mastered the skills and the ability to apply those skills.

In a typical literature class, students will learn about authors, discuss texts, analyze those texts and have discussions regarding character and themes. Traditionally the exam might have included matching terms with definitions, answering short answer and multiple choice questions about events and literary devices from the piece, and reciting or regurgitating pearls of wisdom from teacher lectures. There is still room for some of that, however the outcome assessment, typically a semester or final exam, is now more likely to be a skill based assessment. On such a test, a student might be given a piece of literature with which he/she is unfamiliar, and asked to apply all the skills mastered during the course to analyze and answer questions based on this new, never before seen, piece. The goal is cultivating the skill to apply lessons learned to new situations.

Ask your child's teachers what kind of critical thinking and/or problem solving activities and assessments are being employed in the classroom. They should be able to point to specific examples in their lessons and assessments. We're determined to have graduates who can find their own socks, and who will never be stranded on an escalator...

The Pennant Race for Schools

Baseball pennant races are among the most exciting events in sports, and with our beloved Detroit Tigers in the midst of a down to wire chase for a playoff spot, there is a real sense of urgency here about the baseball season. Every pitch, every play, every at bat now takes on monumental importance as the team struggles to maintain their lead in the division race and make post season play. This sense of urgency has led to heightened performances for some, and disappointments for others. Mistakes at this point in the season are magnified, and every play dissected ad nausea by analysts. Our schools are in a "pennant race" every day. Never in our country's history has our future depended so much on an educated work force of the future.

There is a tendency in baseball to discount things that happen early in the season. An error in April doesn't count as much as an error in September. This same trap exists for schools. Mistakes that students make as freshmen don't seem as significant as ones they make in the senior year. It's important that we work to overcome that apathy towards early shortcomings, and create a sense of urgency for our students. In baseball and in schools, the error early in the "season" counts as much as the one late, it just may not get the same attention.

Parents, please help us stress the urgency of schoolwork, particularly with our younger students. When we meet with the freshmen on their first day, we emphasize to them that high school is the first time that the grades they receive will actually have a significant impact on their future. These grades will determine, in part, what post high school opportunities are available. Often times this catches both students and parents bu surprise, and there is a tendency to brush off the freshman year in terms of importance. Too often I see seniors who are choosing their schedule based on a desire to improve their g.p.a. because of deficiencies from their underclassman years, rather than choosing courses that will prepare them for what's ahead.

The need to be educated to survive and prosper has never been more urgent. Help us stress this urgency with all of our students, especially our young ones, and....Go Tigers!

Lost Generation

This is a very creative and thoughtful reflection by a young person. Be sure to watch all the way through for the great twist on a theme.

Our young people represent our greatest hope for preserving and improving our great country and the world. This is a great reminder about the power of hope.

Web 2.0 - Social Media Revolution

One of the primary goals Grosse Pointe schools have adopted in our High Schools 2.0 plan is taking instructional advantage of the tools available in Web 2.0. In its simplest terms, Web 2.0 applications represent a new age in internet connectivity - interactive communication.

Web 2.0 applications allow for expanded connectivity, and have made the world effectively a smaller place. Our students live in this digital world, and the concept of social networking has many potential uses in education. This short video piece illustrates the extent to which social networking is revolutionizing communication. Take a look!

What We Don't Know Might Hurt Us...

Despite a cloudy, unseasonably cool, unseasonably gray and dreary Michigan Saturday, my family and I joined friends on boats in the bay in front of Selfridge Air Force base to watch their semi-annual air show. We were wowed by the World War II fighter plane acrobatics, the eerie Stealth Bomber, and a variety of sky writers and sky divers. We were most impressed with the power and precision of the Air Force's elite Thunderbirds show - six F-16s flying in precision formations and performing amazing aerial stunts at high speed.

As we watched, it struck me how interesting and amazing it is that there are these kind of parallel universes of knowledge and experience in existence. My son asked me a number of questions about the planes - air speed, size, weaponry - an entire litany of perfectly appropriate questions - none of which I could answer. In the military, and probably in many different worlds, what we don't know could literally hurt us.

This morning as I returned to work, and we continued preparing for next week's registration, and the subsequent start of school for freshmen on Sept. 8th, it's more apparent than ever to me that we can't possibly adequately prepare our students for the world they will inherit as adults. Many of their future careers don't even yet exist, and others are beyond the conceptual grasp of most of us. What we can do, is prepare them to be creative problem solvers.

I didn't know the answers to most of my son's questions Saturday, but I do now, because I have the capability to find information. We went to websites, asked people who knew the answers, and found out about a world that is largely foreign to me. The most important and valuable skill we can provide our students is to give them the tools to gather information and solve problems. The necessity for project based learning that requires skill application is greater than ever.

We're excited about the start of school, and the opportunity and responsibility we have to prepare our students for whatever comes next. The more they know, the safer and more capable they'll be.

By the way, the F-16 can fly at speeds of Mach 2 - just over 1300 miles per hour - and has a range of over 2400 miles...just in case someone asks you...