Friday Update 11/4/2011

Monday morning our students had an opportunity to sleep in while our teachers and administration were working hard at Assumption.  The focus of our morning meeting was technology.  In order to provide opportunities for exposure to some new and possibly useful tools, we spent some time exploring a few websites including:

Gmail:  www.gmail.com

Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/

TitanPad: http://titanpad.com/

Google Docs: https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=1209600&continue=http://docs.google.com/&followup=http://docs.google.com/&ltmpl=homepage

Google SketchUp: http://sketchup.google.com/

Survey Monkey: www.surveymonkey.com

Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/

Go 2 Web 2.0: http://www.go2web20.net/

Solution Watch: http://www.solutionwatch.com/512/back-to-school-with-the-class-of-web-20-part-1/

After taking some time together to explore each of these sites, teachers had the opportunity to explore other online tools to be used in their classrooms.  The teachers then completed a brief “homework” assignment which was emailed to me.  I compiled and shared their responses using TitanPad.

The faculty also discussed social media and its significance to our roles as educators.  It was a great opportunity to discuss the changing communication between our students, parents and teachers.

In the afternoon we had a presentation from our new 401k provider, Edward Jones.  After their group presentation, the faculty was given an opportunity to schedule a one on one meeting to discuss their investments.

The Policy Committee met Tuesday afternoon.  Thanks go to Nancy Hines, Bill Bush and Larry Rodl for taking time to review the 100 and 200 series policies.  We have some changes that will be brought before the Board at the next meeting.

Congrats to Emily Faulhaber and the many students, faculty and volunteers that sacrificed a night out of their busy schedules to make Information Knight a success! Around 95 students attended this year, and the new setup which incorporated our academic departments in the gym instead of classrooms, was well received.  I received several compliments on the evening.

I had an opportunity to listen to several lobbyists speak at the AEA regarding educational issues that the House and Senate will be concentrating on in upcoming legislative session.  Their main focus was on the Blueprint released by the Governor’s office.  In their opinion it will cost at least $250-300 million for the Blueprint, which is of major concern due to unemployment and lower than expected state revenue.  They believe many of the legislators will be looking for a way to get property tax relief, and not increase revenue through taxation.  They will likely draft legislation for each issue within the Blueprint, and then the most “cost effective” options will be chosen.  Most likely the four tier performance based pay system will be dropped and the focus will be on professional development measures for teachers.   

I know, I know, this isn’t the most exciting stuff for people that don’t deal with education every day, but many of the measures outlined in the Blueprint could have a direct impact for our Catholic Schools in the near future. 

I also had the opportunity to hear an individual speak on the Chinese education system.  The think I took away was the feeling that the Chinese have created this passion amongst their people to “best” the United States in education.  This reinforces my belief that Assumption needs to continue moving forward, always looking for ways to improve.

The K-12 marketing committee met Thursday, and we brainstormed ideas for this year’s marketing plan.  It was a productive meeting, and I think there are some great ideas on the table for the upcoming school year. 

Linda Duffy and I spent some time working on the upcoming Embracing Our Future project.  Our focus this week was on enrollment, and what those numbers tell us about the initial campaign’s effect on our Scott County Catholic schools.  The deeper we get into the numbers, the better things look.  There are some very visible changes that have occurred in our enrollments in the last 6 years.  More on that to come!

I spent around two hours this week out in classrooms watching teachers teach and students learn.  There were some great student presentations in both Spanish and English, I had the opportunity to witness “frosting Friday” in foods, and I truly enjoyed briefly listening to Mrs. Martin’s mitosis presentation.  Being a former biology teacher the science classes are always a joy to observe. 

Finally, I would invite everyone to come see Almost, Maine this weekend (shows are at 7:30 Friday and Saturday, and 2:00 Sunday) and to attend the Spaghetti Supper on Sunday between 4:00 and 7:00.  Is there a better way to spend a weekend than supporting our talented students?  I hope to see you all this weekend!