Balance
Public education, like almost everything in life, is about balance. I was reminded of that this past week when I had a conversation with a family concerned about the pace and expectations of our educational system. As we head into the holiday season, it is a good time to remember that life is about balance. Do we need to lower expectations for ourselves or our students – absolutely not….. but we need to consider our desire for an appropriate balance? The philosophy driving American public education during the last several years is that we are “falling behind” and that our economy depends on our ability to score well on everything from the MEAP to the ACT. While we can all agree we (students/staff/families) need to work hard to do our collective best – we also need balance.
This coming week is a short school week as we celebrate Thanksgiving – take the time to remember what you are thankful for and enjoy the time with family and friends.
Remember the quote from the Greek poet Euripides,
The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
Communication & Feedback using PowerSchool
It’s hard to believe, but the first trimester of the school year is quickly coming to an end on November 29th. I am often contacted by parents saying they weren’t aware of how his/her child is doing in school. My response is that there is a great tool that allows parents to see real-time grades and attendance records their child(ren).
The tool is the PowerSchool Portal. The link to the portal is available on the District website, under the Students/Parents tab. This allows you to log-in and get information on your child’s performance. Here are some key points for you to consider:
This fall, we moved to the PowerSchool Parent Portal Single Sign-On feature. Changing to this format allows you access to one account for multiple students as well as mobile access from an iPhone or iPad.
In the PowerSchool Parent Portal, you can see in real-time:
- student attendance data
- grades for current classes as well as assignments that make up those grades
- teacher comments if applicable
You can also control your own password/username and add multiple email addresses for weekly/daily reporting. If you need help accessing the account for your child(ren) contact Mary Burnette (429-8000 ext. 2122) or Tayna Brown (429-8000 ext. 2202).
If you have questions about specific assignments and/or grades, please contact the classroom teacher directly.
Monitoring academic performance is an important part of the educational process. I encourage you to sign up and share what you see with your child. It’s important that our students understand that we are working together to help them be successful. A special note: Don’t just share negative feedback when their performance doesn’t meet your expectations, also share the positive!
Being Confident and Critical
What a weekend to be a Saline Hornet! Friday our Football team defeated AA Pioneer 31-17 to win the District Title and its 10th game of the year – a school record. That same day, our Girls Swim & Dive program laid the groundwork in preliminary events to comeback on Saturday and win their 4th consecutive SEC title. Our Girls and Boys Cross Country teams, fresh off SEC and Regional Championships ran in the State Meet at MIS. The Girls finished 3rd and the Boys took 6th place. Our Volleyball team went 36-15-3 this year before falling to Bedford in the District Finals on Saturday night.
Earlier this fall our Girls Golf team won the SEC title and finished 7th in the State. The Field Hockey team and Boys Water Polo had their most successful seasons ever. The Crew and Equestrian teams along with Boys Soccer and Boys Tennis each had strong seasons. Saline took 5 of 8 possible SEC titles this fall.
How does this level of success happen? I believe from hard work and support from all involved – the student-athletes, coaches, parents, and the community.
I also feel it requires a mindset that embraces two things – being confident and being critical. Our student-athletes need to be confident about facing the competition. There is no doubt, our rivals across the State are working hard and aspire to out perform us. The confidence to face this pressure and perform at a high level is key – and something our student-athletes are doing. The other is being critical of our performances and realizing that we can always improve at what we do and how we prepare for the competitions.
Our school motto, “The Pursuit of Excellence” means we need to continue to strive to improve everything we do. This is a key life lesson we want to teach and to have our students take with them as they move on from Saline Area Schools.
Collaborative space…? The furniture matters.
Earlier this year, New Saline High School Principal, Ms. Julie Helber, expressed a desire to add to the learning environment for her students and staff. As it turned out representatives for Resource Office Interiors had already begun discussion with District Administration about partnering on a project. “We decided to pursue a relationship with Saline Area Schools mainly to promote our specialty of providing collaborative learning areas,” said Greg Gozdor, CEO of Resource Office Interiors. “When Principal Helber expressed the challenge of developing a collaborative learning space at Saline High School, I knew we could help.”
The furniture was delivered and within minutes students were using it as a gathering place. Principal Helber said “The collaborative learning space that ROI graciously donated provides an opportunity for our students to collaborate, gather, study, and socialize in a less formal environment. There are many opportunities for the creation of these spaces around the school building. These types of spaces add to the culture of the school by encouraging student collaboration. Our students and staff have enjoyed the addition of this space at Saline High.”
The type of furniture was an important consideration. With 1,800 students at the High School, availability was a key consideration. “It was very important for us to specify the right product for this application. We didn’t choose Kimball until after we determined the application. We knew Kimball could help us solve this challenge,” said Greg Gozdor.
“This is a wonderful partnership that benefits our entire community” said Superintendent Graden.
It’s the Person, Not the Position
As I have mentioned our central office administrators are reading “First Break All the Rules, What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently” and discussing it at the start of our weekly meeting. From the book this week we talked about career pathways, the benefits of non-linear movement, and of celebrating excellence at all levels of an organization. Here is a video with Vince Forlenza, president and CEO of BD, the medical technology company about his career path:
The book also notes,
“Great managers envision a company where there are multiple routes toward respect and prestige…”
In education, we all have a role in helping our students succeed. The key is making sure we respect all of the roles.
Retirement Reform….turns into reality check.
This past week Michigan Public School Employees had a decision to make regarding their retirement benefits. It was fairly complex with numerous variables based on when they were hired, family needs, service credit, health care options, etc. The Office of Retirement Services (ORS) has done a nice job of trying to make it as clear as possible, but in the end we had to make a choice on the plan we want to have when we retire. The process of deciding was challenging. Frankly, a lot of it comes down to exactly how long you expect to live…. which is not something I typically spend a lot of time contemplating.
The ORS website has a calculator that allows you to plug in years of service, years of purchased service credit, earnings, beneficiary options, and the type of retirement plan you are on…. and it tells you what your benefits would be based on your intended retirement date. It is a very nice tool to help make your decision. With that said, it caused me to think about my career. You see, I still think of myself as being at the start of my career. I have been in education, working for Saline Area Schools for 18 years, but only 5 as the superintendent. I feel like I am just now starting to figure out this job. Now, the calculator tells me I can “retire” in less than 10 years… which doesn’t seem like a long time anymore. (For the record, with 4 children under 15 years old actual retirement is likely much further away.)
I guess this is part of growing older. I just didn’t expect retirement reform to be the prompt that caused me to reflect on my career and the aging process. I suppose I should have known something had changed when the newly hired employees this year looked to me like they could still be in high school.
Homework… Subject or Method?
There was an interesting article in the October issue of Middle Ground called “Tackling the Homework Dilemma”. The author is Lee Jenkins, a former superintendent who asks,
“Is homework a subject or a method? If it is a subject, shouldn’t teachers request that homework grades be included on the report card alongside other subjects? If it is a method, how can teachers justify grading students on instructional methods?”
He offers the solution of giving a short quiz on the assigned homework vs. collecting and grading the work. One, it assesses the learning based on the student’s ability and not on whether they copied it or had a parent doing it with(for?) them. Two, it saves the teacher time grading that can be used to develop creative assignments.
The article was brought to life during a recent presentation by Nick Provenzano. Mr. Provenzano teaches English at Grosse Pointe South High School. He described how he uses blogging to get his students engaged in writing…… and how he does the assigned homework too!
Mr. Provenzano stated,
I decided I was going to do my own homework this year. I promised my students if I assigned it, I would do it. I do not do busy work, so if I think it is important for them to do, I will do the same assignment.
It does make me wonder, if we needed to do the homework too – would it alter what we assign and how long we give for it to be completed?
Rethinking the “No News is Good News” approach…
I have been known to say “no news is good news” when talking to Building Administrators and Department Heads that I have not talked to in a while. My thought has always been, we are all very busy so focusing our energy and attention is important, and besides, if someone needed to share something with me I am accessible to them. I have treated it as a way to manage time.
The past few weeks our Central Office Administrative Team has been reading and discussing “First Break All the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. The authors offer a different view on the ‘no news is good news” approach, which is based on Gallop research of over 1 million employees across numerous professions and industries. They say that great leaders invest time in their most effective staff to learn from them and to stay focused on excellence. They go onto say that the less attention that is paid to productive behaviors, the less of those behaviors the leaders will get.
It might be time for me to reconsider my thinking……
Here comes the Common Core….
Many of you have started to hear about something called the Common Core State Standards which have been adopted by 45 states, including Michigan.
The mission of the Common Core State Standards is to:
…provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
The standards are to be in place by the 2014-2015 school year. In addition, the plan calls for online testing which will require us to have the necessary technology in place for conducting district-wide assessments. The bottom line, a lot is about to change…. again…..
While for the average student or staff member 2014-2015 may seem like something way down the road, we are planning now to make sure we are ready to hit the ground running. We have been meeting with staff, piloting new curriculum, aligning professional development and identifying where our needs are greatest.
Over the next several months you will begin to hear more and more about this transition and what it means for us as a school district and as a community. However, with that said I want to offer this caution – do not see this as the “next thing” in education. The idea of states working together around agreed upon objectives is new. We are looking at this as an opportunity to reflect on what we currently do and to identify the key skills we want our students have when they leave Saline Area Schools.
Take a Vet to School Day
Each year, Heritage 5th grade teacher Mrs. Coughlin coordinates “Take a Veteran to School Day.” She has connected with local veterans who come into her classroom each year to teach her students about the United States, freedom, patriotism and service to our country.
This year the event was held on October 11th and took on special meaning for us as a school district and for Mrs. Coughlin specifically. We welcomed back Saline alum and Mrs. Coughlin’s son Ensign Patrick Coughlin who is currently serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS New Hampshire.
It was an outstanding event that connected our students with veterans and allowed them to share what they have been learning in school about patriotism and military service. We also celebrated a letter writing project where Mrs. Coughlin’s class from last year had written over 150 letters to the serviceman on the USS New Hampshire during their 6 month deployment.
Scot Graden's Blog 