Yesterday I read an article about the website Wordle.net. This website creates a “word cloud” out of select writings. A person may write an original piece, cut and paste some text, or link it to a blog for analysis. Using the submitted words, the website then creates an image. The most frequently used words appear in the largest font and the least used words are much smaller. The author may then change colors and fonts for greater effect.

I decided to try this for my blog to get a visual representation of what I emphasize when writing. The resulting image appears on my blog, and you can see that by far my top-used word is “students”. The next three are “school, learning, teachers,” followed by “excited, skills, 21st Century, world, different.”

As a school leader, I focus my energies on students and creating an educational environment that challenges them to learn and grow. It was nice to “see” that my professional writing does indeed communicate this focus.

But Wordle has many more possibilities.

I’m challenging my teachers to use this website in their classrooms. Ideas include poetry study, spelling lists, writing that includes a specified word list, and artwork. Wordle will enable them to effortlessly differentiate lesson plans and engage students using multiple intelligences. All this ties back into my goal of creating an innovative educational environment. As teachers and students become comfortable with this new tool, I’ll be curious to “see” how their Wordle creations reflect personal word choice.

The teachers cheered this morning when I completed the hookup of our fifth document camera. Why the cheer, why the sparkle in the teachers’ eyes, and why were the students equally excited? Well, let me tell you….

A document camera is a tool that allows the teacher to project an image on to a screen. The image can be from a worksheet, a book, a science specimen— anything either two- or three-dimensional. Instead of gathering all the students around the teacher to see a demonstration, the teacher can project the demonstration up on the screen so students can see it while sitting in their desks.

The addition of these tools was made possible through generous donations to “purchase something the teachers otherwise would not have” and a special rebate. The donations allowed us to purchase four document cameras, two LCD projectors, and five AV carts to support the new tools. We now have document cameras for teachers to share on each level of the school, except the basement.

The teachers are excited because this tool is very flexible. They no longer need to make a black line master and make a transparency on the copier. They simply slide the paper under the camera and it is projected up onto the screen. The teachers wasted no time in using the new tool. As the youngest students prepared to vote in the school election, their teachers projected the ballot up onto the screen. This allowed the students to easily become familiar with the format and how to indicate their presidential choice.

There are many different uses for this tool and having it available all day, each day, makes it a productive addition to a classroom. Mrs. Schulz utilized a document camera that a vendor lent us for a few weeks. Once it was gone, she realized how often she was using it and the flexibility it allowed. She was able to quickly and easily show something that added to the discussion or lesson. She really misses the daily use and is waiting patiently for her turn because the third-floor camera is currently in Mrs. Scholl’s room.

If you want to see this tool in action, I encourage you to come to the November 13 PHT meeting. Three different teachers will present how the document camera is used in their classroom and how it benefits the students.

The new school year began this week. This start was quiet as everyone fell into the routine that has been established over the last few years. While that sounds wonderful it is a little too uneventful for me. Each of the last three years brought changes and the challenges that went with them. It is this type of challenge that makes coming to school each morning exciting. This quiet start has made me realize that even though nothing big or new is on the horizon, we still have a very important challenge to face this school year.

Our most important goal is to prepare our students for their future. This includes what I call the Core Six; developing strong communication skills, learning to embrace challenges, becoming problem solvers, becoming collaborators, becoming critical thinkers, and embracing diverse ideas and people. To help the students gain these skills we as educators need to look at how our classrooms are structured, how information is presented, how we engage students and how we ask the students to demonstrate their learning.

We know that our school and classrooms should look different than they did in the past. In the 21st Century we have many more tools available for teaching and learning and additionally we need to approach students differently. Our students want to learn through real world experiences, work as collaborators and they see technology as a foundation for life, not a tool like we adults do.

This is no easy task for educators to embrace. However it can be done and the staff at St. Raphael’s Catholic School has embraced these changes over the past three years. To continue on this journey the staff will need ongoing training and support for implementing these tools and methods. School leadership has to support teachers as they try new ideas and embrace challenges. Parents need to desire an educational program that is different than their memories of elementary and middle school.

This is what I see as my challenge for the new school year: Helping the staff and students work together in new and innovative ways that will help the students gain the skills required for success in the 21st Century. I know this is no easy challenge but it does get me excited to come to school each morning.

During the last three years I have learned the value of using a variety of tools to engage students in learning not just content but also the 21st century skills.   Employers are looking for employees who have a different skill set then they did even ten years ago and schools need to prepare their students for this reality.  To help me better understand how to do so I joined the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and attended NECC in Atlanta last summer.  I was very excited to bring what I had learned in Atlanta to St. Raphael last school year and I saw how it benefited our students.

As I have learned the value of embracing the 21st century skills, I realized that many of my principal colleagues are not fully prepared to lead their schools through the changes needed to expand the teaching of the 21st century skills.  During our Springfling and Techtober-fest I heard from various Archdiocesan teachers and principals their lack of training or knowledge on the 21st century skills.  They expressed they felt unprepared to begin the journey their school needed.  These experiences helped me to be elected to the Communications Chair position of the ISTE subgroup -Special Interest Group Administration (SIGAdmin) this past spring.

At NECC in San Antonio the newly elected chair, vice chair and I met for the first time. These two individuals and I are excited to be in the leadership role to help other administrators gain the knowledge and resources needed to make changes in their schools and districts.  On Tuesday July 1, we led the SIGAdmin annual meeting.  The meeting was attended by 23 of our members and we began to select the most important goals for our special interest group to accomplish in the next year.  School administrators have the largest impact on the climate and learning that takes place in schools.  Our special interest group is made up of over 4000 members so we know our leadership will have the opportunity to impact students all over the world.  I find this exciting and look forward to working closely with other administrators who want to share their knowledge with the goal of preparing students around the world for their future.

From June 29 until July 3 I was with more than 17,000 attendees at the NECC in San Antonio. This national conference is an exciting place to learn about teaching and learning in the 21st century.

As I sat through various workshops in addition to the keynote speakers I met people from all over the world who are equally excited about engaging students in the learning process. We all agree the success of students learning is keeping them engaged in the learning process. The tools available now for teachers make it easier for them to engage all students through their various learning styles.

A part of the conference includes students sharing examples of their work. These young participants were from both the United States and Mexico and were as young as nine. They confidently explained their newly acquired knowledge and the skills they used to obtain the knowledge. Many of the projects included collaboration with students in a different community or even another country. These students were proud of what they learned and I am confident they will remember what they learned long into the future because of their level of engagement. They did not learn it just for the test.

On Tuesday morning the keynote speakers were Jim Carleton and Mali Bickley from Canada. These two teachers worked together to have their students connect and collaborate with students in Africa. The Canadian students became so engaged in their learning and along the way they realized the African students had so little as compared to them. These realizations made the students want to reach out and help the African students by raising money to send to Africa to help the school. These students were so excited to help others and you could feel the pride these young Canadian students felt as they spoke about their experience.

Being a part of this conference reinforces to me that our students want to contribute to our world in a positive way at a young age. As educators we need to provide them ways in which to do so. We need to create learning opportunities that connect the content we need them to learn to meaningful ways to reach out to the world. In doing this our students will amaze us in their learning but more importantly to their passion for life.

On Wednesday, June 18, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced publicly that an anonymous donor donated $10 million over the next ten years to 15 Catholic Schools who are members of FOCUS. This is great news for St. Raphael’s Catholic School because we are members of FOCUS.

FOCUS (Friends of Catholic Urban Schools) is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization that has been working for over three years to raise money for fifteen Catholic schools that are located in urban or inner ring suburban settings. St. Raphael’s Catholic School is associated with this organization because of the changing socio-economic demographics in our local community. The goal of this organization is to support schools in their development and fundraising, not replace the schools efforts.

FOCUS has worked to solicit donations from people who believe in Catholic education. These donations go to support tuition assistance and program enhancements. This past year St. Raphael’s Catholic School receive money from FOCUS to help support our standardized testing and provide tuition assistance for some of our families.

On Tuesday, June 17, I attended the FOCUS general meeting. During the meeting details were given as to how the donation is structured; however, many of the details are not finalized.  Ms. Laurie Acker, Director of Urban Education for the Archdiocese will oversee the money and work with the donor to finalize the plan. I have outlined the details that were shared and how this donation will impact St. Raphael’s Catholic School.

• Each year for ten years, 1 million dollars will be given.
• Sixty plus percent will go to scholarships.
  • Most of these scholarships will be need based however some might be designated to high achieving students.
  • The division will most likely follow the percent of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch accounts.
  • During the 2007-08 school year 46% of students enrolled in the FOCUS Catholic Schools qualified for free or reduced lunches.
  • During the 2007-08 school year 15% of St. Raphael’s students qualified.
  • St. Raphael’s students represent 3% of the total FOCUS students who qualify for free and reduced lunches.

The remaining thirty plus percent will be designated to program or curriculum enhancement. Areas of focus will be English, math, science and religion. Money and time will be spent learning how to increase the quality of teaching and learning in these subjects. Small groups of schools will focus on the different subject areas and share their research and findings with other Catholic Schools in the area.

This is great news for St. Raphael’s Catholic School! The monies received through this donation will provide additional financial aid for some students starting in the fall of 2008. Each year as we continue our review of different curricula and make improvements in instruction we will additionally benefit from the donation.

We are fortunate to be one of the recipients of this money but our work to continue stabilizing our enrollment, developing our own fundraisers and reaching out to donors will continue long into the future.

Catholic Spirit Article

The news media continues to bring attention to the lack of interest in the hard sciences in today’s American youth.  The media also brings attention to the high interest levels in hard sciences and engineering amongst the youth in Asia.  Schools throughout the United States are responding to this situation in a variety of ways.

Minnesota has started to address this lack of interest by changing what is happening at the K-12 level.  During the last week of March, Minnesota held its FIRST  (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition sponsored by Medtronic, Boston Scientific and the 3M Foundation.  The competition included 54 high school teams who each designed and built robots that had to perform a variety of tasks.  These companies understand the value of having students leave high school interested in working in science and technological fields.

Another change has been an increase in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes at the K-12 level. STEM programs include course(s) or series of linked learning opportunities that enable students to discover, explore, and/or solve real-life problems through the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics content.  Students in the early elementary grades are experiencing science and technology at increased level to help foster an increased interest in science, math and technology.

St. Raphael’s Catholic School has made changes in the last six years to help our graduates have an interest in math, science and technological careers.  Five years ago a new science program was purchased to provide students with an increase of hands on science investigation.  The addition of technology to help deliver our science curricular objectives has been a great asset to helping the students understand the complex scientific concepts. For years we have had two different math options for students in grades six through eight.  This allows students who excel in math to progress at a faster pace. More recently we have increase our use of technology for both teaching and learning in all subjects.  We have correlated this increase with an increased level of students being engagement in learning. These changes are making a positive impact on our students.  A higher percent of our current seventh and eighth grade students will express their interest in different science disciplines.  Additionally our graduates are now taking the maximum number of science classes in high school and many of them are taking the advanced sciences.

We are proud of our teachers and students.  It is a wonderful thing to celebrate; educating young children in their faith while preparing them for their future.

This past weekend I spent time with people who are from the Greatest Generation and I listened to them complain that nothing is made in the Great United States of America anymore. They went on to say that maybe our country is not so great anymore. This made me reflect on a few things.

• First, is the number of products made in the USA a benchmark for defining great?

• Second, if it is not products what defines great?

These are two very tough questions and I firmly believe there are many answers.

As an educational leader these comments and questions make me reflect on my work. I need to be aware of the world our current students will be working in eight or more years and the skills they will need.

• Should they be prepared to “make products” or to “develop products”?
• What will these “products” look like?
• Will they be concrete items such as cars, appliances, medical equipment or will they be abstract products that will help speed communication, transform medical evaluations, or help meet the basic needs of people throughout the world?

The potential answers to these questions should be influencing what is happening in the schools.

Former Maine Governor Angus King introduced the idea of a 1:1 laptop initiative state wide in Maine. Here is his reason, ” For more than 100 years, Maine has always been in the bottom third of states- in prosperity, income, education, and opportunity for our kids. In my 30 years of working on Maine economic issues, no idea has had as much potential for leapfrogging the other states and putting Maine in a position of national leadership as this one- giving our students portable, Internet-ready computers as a basic tool for learning.”

This governor was analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of his state. The greatest economic strengths of Maine are the forests and waters, yielding wood products, water power, fisheries, and ocean commerce. Currently, the largest industry is paper manufacturing. However, since the 1980s manufacturing employment has dropped. Maine’s greatest current economic weakness is its limited access to the national transportation network that links major production and manufacturing centers with large metropolitan markets. By facing these realities, the governor took a bold stance and made a change in how things are being done in Maine so the future can look differently. This governor knew that by educating the students of Maine in a different way with different tools it would open up new paths for employment. This type of courageous leadership should be applauded.

How would our schools look if all educational leaders had courageous conversation about how to educate the students? I have attended many workshops that have told me to have these conversations:

• Will the current way of doing things maintain the quality education of your school?
• If you continue to do the same thing will your children be prepared for their future or for the current work force?

When I look at what we are doing at St. Raphael’s I know we have started having those courageous conversations and we are changing how we are doing things. The staff is dedicated on helping our students grow in their skills so they will be prepared for the future. To accomplish this we are using technology to help deliver instruction, to help students learn and demonstrate their learning. We are asking the students to work in partnerships, to look for more than one answer, and to reach out to the world beyond their classroom. We are excited that the students are embracing this challenge.

It is through this hard work and making changes that the United States of America will continue to be great. I am excited each day to be a part of an educational environment that is willing to tackle the unknown future and help prepare our students for it.

I recently read an article in the National Middle School Association’s journal titled “Listening to the Voices of Young Adolescents.” This article summarized the comments of 2,700 middle school students who responded to the question “What should middle school teachers know about middle school students?”

A few points resonated with me as I think about our middle school program here at St. Raphael. The first desire of middle school students is to have healthy and rewarding relationships with their teachers and peers. They want these relationships based on compassion, respect, personalization, fellowship and friendship. They desire to have positive relationships with teachers who are helpful, kind, happy, encouraging, patient, respectful and non-judgmental.

One student was quoted in the article. “I feel teachers don’t really get to know the real you. They spend all their time telling you what to expect that they don’t even take time to know your personality. …Most teachers seem as though they don’t care a thing about if you do well in school. They teach you the information you need to know then if you have questions they say look over your notes and you’ll find the answer. Obviously I looked over my notes already and I still don’t know so in that way they are no help.”

The experiences of the students at St. Raphael do not match the quoted student. Our middle school teachers work closely with the students for two or three years and really get to know them. They know the strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of each one. I see the students spend lunchtime and study hall getting help from the teachers. Additionally I know that the teachers check in with each student to make sure he/she understand the content and can successfully complete all tasks. The end result of this hard work and dedication is our graduates are well prepared for their future. Many graduates continue visiting the teachers throughout their high school years to inform them of their successes and seek advice as needed.

Another student was quoted. “It might be nice for them to know that we are living human beings, we have feelings and we are people. Sometimes teachers think of you just as a student not a person, so they push you over your limits … We are not perfect.  We can’t do everything perfectly the first time.  If teachers understand this, it might make us feel more comfortable and we might do better in school.”

One great quality of our close group of teachers and students is they work together to support each other.  If a teacher needs help with a computer he/she does not hesitate to ask a student for assistance.  I have been a part of a group of students and teachers laughing together at a mistake or a misconception.  These positive relationships demonstrate how much we do see each other as humans and not just teachers and students.

Middle school years bring about a change in how young adolescents relate to other people in their lives.  Through out these years they still desire positive experiences and need structure and predictability to navigate through these years.

As we approach registration for the 2008-09 school year, remember all we offer the young adolescent.   There is value in consistency that will help your child be successful in his/her preparation for the future.

The other day I gave a tour to a family that is exploring schools for their son who will start kindergarten in the fall. As I gave the tour, I pointed out the ways St. Raphael’s staff works with students to help them grow and develop their academic abilities. We witnessed both small and large group instruction but it was a different program that these parents recognized as a strength.

The program is our use of technology as a teaching and learning tool. We talked at length about how we use technology to meet the needs of the individual students. As an example, I told them about Mrs. Schulz use of technology in her Charlotte’s Web unit. The students accessed online activities for each section of the book, where they completed exercises that reinforced the objectives of that section. By utilizing these resources the students were able to work at their own pace. Our strength of using technology as a teaching and learning tool, allows us to provide our students with a range of instruction and access to a greater number of resources than most small schools.