How to help our children be more successful?

Did you know that a University of Michigan study of children's time found that more meal time at home was the single strongest predictor of better achievement scores and fewer behavioral problems? Meal time was far more powerful than time spent in school, studying, church, playing sports, and art activities.

Doesn't this information make you think...we can help our children become more successful just by eating more meals together!!! Wow, what great news...

What about our children's busy lives with activities or working? What are some suggestions that you have for others about how you make sure you eat more meals together in your household? Please share with others...hit the comments button below and let us know what works for you.

Thanks and have a great day,

Supt Herzberg

A laptop for every high school student...

...for the 2010-2011 school year! Are you serious? Yes, we are seriously considering implementing the 1 to 1 laptop initiative for Sibley-Ocheyedan High School. What do you think the benefits would be to our students and staff?

If you have a comment, please hit the comments button below and share...

Thanks and have a great day,

Supt Herzberg

What are your thoughts about this as it applies to our students?

May Term

What an exciting time at S-O High School...May Term is going strong and our students are making a lot of great connections to their classroom learning. I am curious if you have a favorite May Term class or if you have a positive May Term learning experience that you would like to share (that you experienced or your child(ren) experienced).

Hit the comments button below and share what you like about May Term.

Thanks and have a great week,

Supt Herzberg

2 Million Minutes...

Wow! I am very impressed that about 15 people, including students, parents, and community members, just spent an hour at the Max Theater in Sibley (by the way, thank you Pedleys for making this happen for FREE) watching this important documentary.

There is another showing on Monday, May 3 at 5:30 p.m. so if you couldn't make it today, please come on Monday and check it out...you will be amazed by the information.

I'd love to have anyone who watched 2 Million Minutes make comment here about what you thought. What are your impressions about the education that students receive in the U.S., China and India? Hit the comments button below and weigh in on this important topic.

Sincerely,

Superintendent Herzberg

Digital Natives...Making your technology environment student centered

Wow...another great article from District Administration magazine. Don Knezek, chief executive officer of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), says the "digital divide," the gap between people with and without effective access to digital technology and its impact on their earnings, now also is seen as a "learning divide." That means, he says, that "ids don't have the opportunity to learn, as well as earn," if they don't have digital skills. While students formerly had the classroom teacher as their "sole guide," they now can use those skills, as well as new digital tools, to connect and interact with experts around the world, and "that makes so much difference in helping kids learn and advance and stay engaged," Knezek says.

What do you think about this digital divide? Do you think it is a public school's responsibility to level the playing field for all students to make sure they get a world class education?

What do you think about the need for all of our students to learn at high levels? Should we be concerned about them all or just those who have access to technology?

What do you think about the need of all of our students to learn about technology and how to incorporate it into the jobs of the future?

I look forward to hearing from you...

Supt Herzberg

Who were all those people in our schools today?

Sibley-Ocheyedan schools were host to a group of seven visitors today from the area who were here helping to improve our work with students. Superintendents from Denison, Schleswig, MOC-FV, and Rock Valley as well as three representatives from Northwest AEA were here as part of the Superintendent Network.

As part of my own professional development, I have been part of this group which is working through Richard Elmore's Instructional Rounds for Education model that has been created in the image of the medical model of improvement. A group of educational leaders have been traveling to member school districts each month during the school year to observe classrooms, provide feedback about the observations and then make suggestions on how to improve something that the school district is interested in getting better at.

We asked our visitors to observe our classrooms for two things that we are trying to meld together to meet the needs of our students in the 21st Century:

1) Engagement of our students with technology.
2) Engagement of our students into higher order thinking skills (the upper three levels of Blooms' Taxonomy which are Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating).

It was a fantastic day...a lot of very positive comments about our schools and our staff members and great suggestions for making the next step towards continual improvement. We will make the full report available for staff in the next few weeks and then I will write an article for the newspaper so everyone can see what the visitors thought about the S-O schools.

A big thank you to all the teachers we were able to observe (all 16 of you) and as usual, for the great behavior or our students.

Have a great weekend,

Supt Herzberg