Often when I see students who end up in the office for misbehavior I bring up the subject of being successful at school. Without any scientific research, I'd say more than 90% of the students in our high school manage to navigate their four years here with very few difficulties. I think most schools would argue they have similar statistics. In my previous position, my colleague and I decided to provide students with four "steps to success". These four things were characteristics we believed were consistent among the ninety percent of students who were not having trouble at school. Those things were: respect others and yourself, attend class and be on time, complete your class work and work toward graduation, and have fun and get involved in school activities. Students who do those four things not only don't end up in the office for misbehavior, they actually do well academically.
At Rockford High School, we have taken this same idea and developed the "Rocket Rules for Success". We took the letters in the word "pride" and used each to identify a characteristic of successful students. Those characteristics are: Perseverance when faced with difficulties, Respect for oneself, others, and property, Involvement in school activities, Determination to do your best, and Engagement in the learning process.
I firmly believe that students can become whatever they wish and school holds the keys to open the doors to those opportunities. All one needs to do is be willing to take those keys and unlock the door.
Please encourage your students to exhibit Rocket "PRIDE".
Monday, January 7, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Learning for the sake of learning
Happy New Year! My resolution is to try to come closer to my goal of weekly blogging than my past performance. Once again I apologize to those of you who have been faithfully coming here looking for new material only to find the same old blogs. Hopefully I can be better in 2008 than I was in 2007.
Today I was inspired to write because of two comments a teacher made in reference to one of his students. The teacher said, "(the student) is missing the point of learning ..." and "... can not force (the student) to learn." To me, this is the key to making improvements in our schools. I don't profess to have the answers, but I do have some thoughts.
The reason I believe this is the key to making improvements in our schools is because we have a segment of our student population that doesn't seem to grasp the reason for school. If those students were to grasp that reason, we would see improved performance, which, in turn, would result in improved test scores that would show improvement in our schools.
In addition, the acceptance of the reality that no one is able to force anyone else to learn something would, rightfully, place more responsibility on the students for their education. Students assuming that responsibility would result in improved performance which, once again, would result in demonstrable improvement in our schools.
Before you go thinking I'm putting all of this at the feet of the students, let me reassure you, there is room for better efforts from each of the three most important entities in a student's education: the student, the parents, and the school.
So, what could each us do that might help students see the relevance of education and assume responsibility for their education? The short answer is we need to work together and support one another to achieve the desired result. Here's how I think that collaboration should look:
The student comes to school with a plan for life after school. That plan acknowledges that, in today's world, life after school requires a high school diploma, and in most cases, education beyond high school. The plan should also acknowledge that, as Thomas Friedman writes in The World is Flat , success in the 21st Century world of work will require most people to be "adaptable, or able to learn how to learn". School, then, prepares one for entrance to post-secondary education, as well as teaches one how to learn so that future learning can be accomplished.
The parents work with the student on the plan. The parents help direct the student toward the career path for which their student is best suited. The parents expose the student to a variety of experiences related to career pathways to better help the student understand the pathway they would like to choose. A personal example would be my exposure to concrete construction as a high school and college student. I began to understand I wasn't interested in working so hard, physically, to earn a living. Also, the parents regularly communicate with their student and the school to monitor the student's academic progress, reinforcing the importance of that progress toward the success of the plan.
The school helps the student learn how to learn and provides relevant instruction to help the student maximize his/her potential. The school communicates with the parent and student to help formulate the plan as well as focus the efforts of the student toward the success of the plan. The school also exposes the student to a variety of courses to help the student better understand potential career pathways as well as produce a well-rounded education.
Too often, I think each of us in this equation fail to assume our responsibility in the success of each student. We all can share this blame. In Rockford, we're trying to address the plan by having students complete learning goals. At the high school, students have been given the opportunity to develop a goal for the 2007-08 school year. Parents will be asked to sign a copy of that goal and return it to school. I would ask parents to talk with their student about that goal. Hopefully this will be the start of a plan and hopefully it results in greater engagement of students in the learning process as well as success for each student.
I'm going to save some my other ideas on student success for future blogs, so stay tuned.
Today I was inspired to write because of two comments a teacher made in reference to one of his students. The teacher said, "(the student) is missing the point of learning ..." and "... can not force (the student) to learn." To me, this is the key to making improvements in our schools. I don't profess to have the answers, but I do have some thoughts.
The reason I believe this is the key to making improvements in our schools is because we have a segment of our student population that doesn't seem to grasp the reason for school. If those students were to grasp that reason, we would see improved performance, which, in turn, would result in improved test scores that would show improvement in our schools.
In addition, the acceptance of the reality that no one is able to force anyone else to learn something would, rightfully, place more responsibility on the students for their education. Students assuming that responsibility would result in improved performance which, once again, would result in demonstrable improvement in our schools.
Before you go thinking I'm putting all of this at the feet of the students, let me reassure you, there is room for better efforts from each of the three most important entities in a student's education: the student, the parents, and the school.
So, what could each us do that might help students see the relevance of education and assume responsibility for their education? The short answer is we need to work together and support one another to achieve the desired result. Here's how I think that collaboration should look:
The student comes to school with a plan for life after school. That plan acknowledges that, in today's world, life after school requires a high school diploma, and in most cases, education beyond high school. The plan should also acknowledge that, as Thomas Friedman writes in The World is Flat , success in the 21st Century world of work will require most people to be "adaptable, or able to learn how to learn". School, then, prepares one for entrance to post-secondary education, as well as teaches one how to learn so that future learning can be accomplished.
The parents work with the student on the plan. The parents help direct the student toward the career path for which their student is best suited. The parents expose the student to a variety of experiences related to career pathways to better help the student understand the pathway they would like to choose. A personal example would be my exposure to concrete construction as a high school and college student. I began to understand I wasn't interested in working so hard, physically, to earn a living. Also, the parents regularly communicate with their student and the school to monitor the student's academic progress, reinforcing the importance of that progress toward the success of the plan.
The school helps the student learn how to learn and provides relevant instruction to help the student maximize his/her potential. The school communicates with the parent and student to help formulate the plan as well as focus the efforts of the student toward the success of the plan. The school also exposes the student to a variety of courses to help the student better understand potential career pathways as well as produce a well-rounded education.
Too often, I think each of us in this equation fail to assume our responsibility in the success of each student. We all can share this blame. In Rockford, we're trying to address the plan by having students complete learning goals. At the high school, students have been given the opportunity to develop a goal for the 2007-08 school year. Parents will be asked to sign a copy of that goal and return it to school. I would ask parents to talk with their student about that goal. Hopefully this will be the start of a plan and hopefully it results in greater engagement of students in the learning process as well as success for each student.
I'm going to save some my other ideas on student success for future blogs, so stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)