Guide on the side not sage on the stage!

 

 

The comment "guide on the side" prompted me to post. I first mis-read it as "guide on the slide". The difference one letter can make on a word!

When I discussed it with my wife who is also a teacher, we both decided we liked the later better. When I worked in an urban school district in Philadelphia, my administrator used to tell me that it was the job of student to fight me trying to teach them, and it was my job to get that information into their heads against their wills if necessary.

There are two sides to this. For some schools where students elect to choose the school; students can be self motivated no matter what the methodology. For students in a public school setting it is crucial that we use student directed techniques to engage and motivate our students.

From a school principal perspective in an urban environment I think Guide on the slide is a more fitting saying than guide on the side. :)

12th Grade Student Contributions at PA Leadership School

Have you ever received a moodle message, or palcsmail from student government? Have you ever gazed at the list of courses that you are enrolled in and wondered who enrolled you in “PALCS Student Government”?  Students are enrolled in the school’s student government organization when they enroll in high school for an ungraded, government experience that they can choose to interact with passively or actively. In case you have not guessed it by now, I am the adviser of this organization. This is not the only way we interact with leadership opportunities, but it is a great place to start. The leadership center has been working behind the scenes to help students show off their leadership in their families, communities, school and the world. If you are interested in learning more about a leadership or school spirit activity, then stop by and see us virtually on any week day morning from 8 – 9 AM.

Last year we made some changes to student government with the senior class in mind. Now seniors who have taken required courses can receive a certificate in leadership at graduation. Students who take Civic Leadership will also be earning a ½ credit elective to meet graduation requirements. In the Student Leadership course students complete a service learning project in their community. In Civic Leadership students learn to manage a non-profit organization to benefit our school. Three years ago our student government decided to give a scholarship to a deserving senior. When Dr. Hanak found out about this he was very impressed. He decided to fund the scholarship himself. The scholarship is now called our annual Leadership Center CEO award. This year the scholarship is growing and available to any senior who demonstrates significant leadership initiative at our school. You may qualify for as much as $5000 this year.

It has never been a better time to graduate from PA Leadership Charter School. The Leadership Center is working hard to put leadership into the initiatives at our school. The senior class this year is very active. I am getting reports from students in our senior class who are making a difference. Over the past 4 years I want to highlight some of the experiences that I am aware of. Hanna Wilcox comes to mind as a senior working on a documentary to give our school a better public image. Julia Minster is organizing the annual Harrisburg lobbying trip, and letter writing campaign that we do in May. Jeanette Neal is the chair person of our, active fundraising committee this year. Jeanette Julia and Colleen Cartmel are also serving as ambassadors this year on the Panama language immersion and service learning trip. Brittany Kluck organized a dance and fundraiser to help raise awareness against domestic abuse. It is because of student senators like Brittany that we are able to have a western prom. Miya Gossett traveled to Panama when she was a sophomore and fundraised with her youth group. She purchased and helped install a water purification system on a coffee farm in Panama so that 30 families could have safe water. Milan Jennings is also a world traveler. In addition to being a Panama ambassador, Milan has also traveled to India twice to mentor and teach at an orphanage there. Rachelle Dambman has designed and created an adult day care diaper invention. She mobilized her local youth group to produce and distribute them. Tyler Hoff introduced our school to the HOBEY youth leadership program, and facilitated a fitness regimen at our annual leadership retreat. Issac March has served as a perennial ambassador to China for the past three years, and is chronicling his experience in a documentary he is publishing on youtube. Selena Hopewell organized a Haiti relief initiative with her church last year that started a spark that became a fire of support at the university scholars program and our staff in West Chester. Corey Kirchofer did stream clean up in the back waterways of NW, PA, and now Mr. Heme does this with numerous students annually through an environmental leadership trip to the Chesapeake. Rebekah Randler had made a project as a freshman at the Renaissance Fair that has recently blossomed into a school wide event. Several students have demonstrated leadership working with the elderly and last year several of them produced a senior citizen prom as an initiative of our National Honor Society. Our Pittsburgh students shined brightly last year by starting a weekly leadership training class.  Sophia Weber is a past President of our Student Government Organization. Sophia has made her mark on every initiative the organization has done, as well as planning and implementing a service learning project in her own community.  This is a partial list of students who have contributed to their communities and school to make it a better place for the students who follow them. It has been my joy to be a small part of their leadership experience.

-        Submitted by Mr. Parris

Why do students choose Cyber School?

Every year our Student Government Senators work with the 8th grade language arts class to write letters to their representatives in our state government. Their prompt this year was, "to persuade their representative that cyber school is a good form of education".

They then take these letters and meet with representatives at our annual day on the hill in May. This project continues to expand every year. Many of you probably wonder why children choose to be home schooled. This sampling of these150 letters might give you a little insight as to why our students choose "Cyber school".

Mr. Parris

Vote for Lynn Parris ABCTE Teacher of the year http://tgli.de/KfT

       Vote here!   http://tgli.de/KfT        

Lynn Parris was hired by our charter cyber school part time in 2004 as a shipping and receiving clerk. In the spring of 2005 Lynn was brought on as an English teacher after our existing English teacher unexpectedly stepped down from their position. At the time Lynn was running a homeschool support group for over 100 families at her church for several years. She was able to take her educational training and her strong home school teaching experience to fill in the gaps for this need at our school. After she had taught for a year she began to investigate how she could become certified as a teacher at our school. She came across the ABCTE program at one of the first charter school conferences that our school attended. She diligently pursued the opportunity to validate the positive feedback she was already receiving from her fellow teachers and students.

In many ways Lynn is the ideal choice for this award. Her first career was as a homemaker for 25 years. She has worked tirelessly to home school all five of her own children which four have already graduated from college, and two are teachers. She has a passion for education that extends beyond any normal career interest. Her parents both have post graduate degrees from college, and they have instilled in her a high value for education. Mrs. Parris is a hero among her students that she has mentored for the past 6 years. She takes the time to respond to their individual needs as if they were being schooled in her home. She is a true pioneer in a new form of education where her unique experience and talents have been used to harness learning in cyber setting.

Lynn Parris teaches at a cyber charter school in Pennsylvania. The name of the school is Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. She has provided instructional leadership at our school for the past six years in language arts. In the past three years Mrs. Parris’s Language Arts classes have received the highest proficiency scores in our school on the state mandated achievement test. (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, “PSSA”) 
She has also been successful on raising the skill level of the lower level of students in her classes. She has been teaching the 8th grade for six years. She has mentored a new 7th grade teacher this year. The students in this 7th grade Language Arts class have now reached the same level of proficiency on the PSSA test. She loves literature and passes her love for reading onto her students. She is also passionate about teaching students to express themselves through the written word.

Mrs. Parris has also demonstrated much dedication to her profession. She has assisted and helped plan leadership retreats, trips and activities since 2006. She has initiated and facilitated a book club for two years that has captured the interest of many cyber students who are typically apathetic toward group interaction. These activities would be considered extra curricular at our school. They help to promote a positive school culture of participation and engagement that stems a tide of apathy among many cyber schooled students. These types of activities are beyond the normal job description of a teacher. In June, July and August when many teachers are resting she has been pursuing a graduate degree in English and Administration.

In summary, it is my sincere hope that you will consider this nomination for the ABCTE teacher of the year award. It is hard to imagine that the person who conceived of this program to have a better poster person to validate the vision and goals of the American Board for Certification and Teacher Excellence. Mrs. Parris has pioneered the instructional leadership and teacher excellence that is at the heart of the program’s mission. Her students have validated her instruction by achieving proficiency in literacy and writing. Please consider Mrs. Parris’s nomination for The ABCTE teacher of the year Award.

My future endeavor & communication as a school administrator

When I was young my mother would always tell me, “Patric, you are a people person”. You will find a job somewhere, somehow working with people, and you will do fine. I am now 54 years old, and I have discovered that Abraham Lincoln, like me was influenced by his mother more than anyone else.

Lincoln used humor to persuade people to his point of view. He was a word miser and poet. He thought out every word before he spoke publicly. He realized who his audience was and made it his goal to connect with every person. I do not have Lincoln’s incredible gifting. His communication skills represent a life investment of verbally reading and telling stories aloud. In my role as a future administrator I must dedicate myself to study people, and the stories that motivate and persuade them.

He had ingenuity that required initiative. Lincoln started at the bottom as a young lawyer traveling a circuit. In his travels to protect the rights of individuals he became an advocate of the system that protected them. When I am a principal I will manage by walking around. As I talk to people I can tell them directly how their contribution fits into our school system.

Innovation requires risk. Paula Evans, an administrator that we studied in this class, took on risk, but she was not willing to broaden the vision to include all stakeholders. Lincoln did this by going back to the fundamentals of how the country was formed i.e. The Declaration of Independence. I need to research and discover the history of my school and the foundation of its values. I need to be able to ignore elements of our history, like slavery, that must be changed, and persuade people to values that will prepare our students to enter a global market place of uncertainly and change.

Lincoln used technology like the latest types of repeating rifles to introduce change to his generals. I am currently introducing new strategies to formatively assess student’s learning by introducing the concepts through RSS feeds that can be plugged into Moodle courses. (Our learning platform) This is a project that I am collaborating with my principal and several other teachers. This new technology helps teachers to embrace change because they can see the benefit of gaining new tools to make their work more efficient. In the exchange the strategies of formative assessments are also transmitted.

Lincoln used to lock men in a room until they reached consensus. I can tell you a story about a personality conflict that I had with a teacher. We were assigned to travel together to perform PSSA achievement testing 4 ½ hours away from our school. By the end of that trip we would either be friends, or only one of us might return. We became good friends.  Assigning people to work together, in tight quarters, is a great way to unify a team.

Abraham Lincoln and I have something in common. Our father’s died at a young age, and we inherited a great sense of responsibility from our mothers. This responsibility extended beyond his family to his country. Through the skills I have learned in this class and others at Cal. State I have become committed to thinking like a principal. As I continue to learn, I will include my stakeholders in the process of discovering a vision which will prepare us for new endeavors.

Vote: 2010 ABCTE Teacher of the Year Award for Pennsylvania

Please vote for Lynn Parris for ABCTE teacher of the year here. http://tgli.de/KNW You can read her story:-) http://tgli.de/KNV

Please vote for Lynn Parris for ABCTE Teacher of the Year!

 Click on this link and vote for Lynn Parris

Lynn Parris was hired by our charter cyber school part time in 2004 as a shipping and receiving clerk. In the spring of 2005 Lynn was brought on as an English teacher after our existing English teacher unexpectedly stepped down from their position. At the time Lynn was running a homeschool support group for over 100 families at her church for several years. She was able to take her educational training and her strong home school teaching experience to fill in the gaps for this need at our school. After she had taught for a year she began to investigate how she could become certified as a teacher at our school. She came across the ABCTE program at one of the first charter school conferences that our school attended. She diligently pursued the opportunity to validate the positive feedback she was already receiving from her fellow teachers and students.

In many ways Lynn is the ideal choice for this award. Her first career was as a homemaker for 25 years. She has worked tirelessly to home school all five of her own children which four have already graduated from college, and two are teachers. She has a passion for education that extends beyond any normal career interest. Her parents both have post graduate degrees from college, and they have instilled in her a high value for education. Mrs. Parris is a hero among her students that she has mentored for the past 6 years. She takes the time to respond to their individual needs as if they were being schooled in her home. She is a true pioneer in a new form of education where her unique experience and talents have been used to harness learning in cyber setting.

Lynn Parris teaches at a cyber charter school in Pennsylvania. The name of the school is Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. She has provided instructional leadership at our school for the past six years in language arts. In the past three years Mrs. Parris’s Language Arts classes have received the highest proficiency scores in our school on the state mandated achievement test. (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, “PSSA”) 
She has also been successful on raising the skill level of the lower level of students in her classes. She has been teaching the 8th grade for six years. She has mentored a new 7th grade teacher this year. The students in this 7th grade Language Arts class have now reached the same level of proficiency on the PSSA test. She loves literature and passes her love for reading onto her students. She is also passionate about teaching students to express themselves through the written word.

Mrs. Parris has also demonstrated much dedication to her profession. She has assisted and helped plan leadership retreats, trips and activities since 2006. She has initiated and facilitated a book club for two years that has captured the interest of many cyber students who are typically apathetic toward group interaction. These activities would be considered extra curricular at our school. They help to promote a positive school culture of participation and engagement that stems a tide of apathy among many cyber schooled students. These types of activities are beyond the normal job description of a teacher. In June, July and August when many teachers are resting she has been pursuing a graduate degree in English and Administration.

In summary, it is my sincere hope that you will consider this nomination for the ABCTE teacher of the year award. It is hard to imagine that the person who conceived of this program to have a better poster person to validate the vision and goals of the American Board for Certification and Teacher Excellence. Mrs. Parris has pioneered the instructional leadership and teacher excellence that is at the heart of the program’s mission. Her students have validated her instruction by achieving proficiency in literacy and writing. Please consider Mrs. Parris’s nomination for The ABCTE teacher of the year Award.