ASKING QUESTIONS, EXPLORING OPTIONS, CHANGING THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Student Life

Not Enough Hours In A Day.

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I recently participated in a professional development opportunity that focused on stress and health management for educators.  Initially, I felt that my stress levels were a little elevated due to the rapidly approaching STAAR tests, but overall felt I had things “under control”.  However, the more I began to reflect upon some of the questions presented, I started to see the different types of stressors in both my personal and professional life. Quickly realizing the need to take a step back and restructure my priorities, I realized the root of the problems: time.

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Student Life

When You Believe.

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In December, Spring Branch ISD, KIPP Houston, and YES Prep made the official announcement of the SKY Partnership between our three organizations.

On the same day as the announcement, I was lucky to be joined by Landrum Middle School Principal, Luis Pratts and Northbrook Middle School Principal, Valerie Johnson in New Orleans while on my residency at KIPP Believe.  We spent the day shadowing my friend and School Leader, Adam Meinig; observing teachers in academics and fine arts; and chatting with students.

 

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Student Life

Middle School Horrors.

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Oh, middle school. For those of us who have not forced ourselves to forget the painful memories of sixth through eighth grade, middle school provides plenty more awkward and uncomfortable memories to reflect fondly upon. My current reflection on my middle school days was inspired by a blog post I read titled Tips for Tackling Tough Transitions That Start in Middle School on ASCD’s community blog. Before reading the post, I had only seen middle school through the eyes of a student, but after reading I am now very interested in the middle school experience for middle school teachers. It seems that teaching middle school requires its own special collection of talents because middle school is a time of difficult transition for adolescents. (more…)

Student Life

Stop Motion.

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Pass a test, graduate, move on. Pass a test, graduate, move on. And the cycle continues.

This past week, I read an article on Yahoo! News about a small town in Kansas that has something pretty remarkable going on. Within a sleepy town in the middle of the Great Plains, a small school district with no more than 385 kids in enrollment is out preforming the competition across the board. Globally.

And not by just a little. This school district, where 65% of the families live below the poverty line, is obliterating the top twenty nations in the world with test scores up to 90% higher in math and reading. This, needless to say, is not normal.

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