Category — Inspiring

One of the great things about coming to a new school this year is an opportunity to meet new people and explore innovative teaching. One of the most impressive things I’ve seen so far is the product of last year’s pilot class, “Geometry in Construction.”

Students who were recruited for the GiC class were not traditionally high-performing math students, but through the combination of relevant, hands-on experiences the students in the GiC class outperformed almost every other class in the building on Colorado’s state assessment (CSAP). The only class that outperformed the GiC class was the pre-IB Geometry class. A strong argument that given the right set of circumstances all students have the capacity to learn.

The teachers have put together a great website that describes the program and how it got started. You’ll also enjoy watching the short movie that they put together with the kids from last year’s class.

Once the cabin was completed, it was put up for auction and purchased by a family who plans to move it to some property in the mountains where it will be a vacation home for them. Not as bad way to sustain your program when you can sell the final product!

Blogging’s been slow lately as our teachers reported back on Monday. As the master schedule guru, I’ve had a busy week as we’ve enrolled 100 more students than expected and were already using almost every room every period. (Again - you can teach band in a portable, right?)

During the course of the week, all of us — administrative staff included — did the required “butt-time” during mandatory district inservices. While I’m not sure exactly who was really being “serviced” by all of this, I have compiled the list below in an attempt to move us beyond the cheesy (but well-intentioned), gimmicky quasi-motivational items that we seem to see year after year after year. I hope that folks will take this in the spirit it’s intended (it’s Friday and I need to de-stress a bit!) and feel free to add any that I’ve missed.

Here we go - starting with the one that makes me the most nauseous…

A Lesson from Geese

That Apple Teacher Video from 6 Years Ago

Uploaded with Skitch!

Maurice Cheeks and Natalie Gilbert Singing the National Anthem

That “Shift Happens” Video

Kidding on the last one, of course. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. I actually still like the reaction from people who are seeing it for the first time, but I think I’ve seen it almost as many times as I’ve seen the original Star Wars trilogy…