Today's Tragedy in Connecticut

Today there was a tragic school shooting in Connecticut.  Words cannot convey the deep sorrow that all parents are feeling as we think about the families of the victims.  I want to make you aware of Penn-Trafford’s actions in our schools as a result of this tragedy. Thanks to Chief Otto from the Penn Township Police Department and Captain Carmen Disso from Trafford Borough Police there was a police officer in or around all of the schools for the last few hours of the day.  I personally visited four schools this afternoon and talked to the principals in every school.  Everything was calm in the schools and dismissal went smoothly.  I want to thank our police force in Penn Township and Trafford Borough for making their presence known in our buildings at the end of the day. 

Finally, tonight is a night where we should take our kids or grand-kids and give them a big ol’ hug.  If your kids are grown up and out of the house find a random elementary student and do the same.  Our children in our society need all of the love they can get.  I hope the narrative surrounding education (and education reform) will shift to reflect the most important resource that we have…our children. While children are in our care, we must help them grow and blossom into wonderful adults.  This can only be accomplished through love, compassion and lots of hard work by all of us in our communities.  Our society cannot forget that children are vulnerable and need adults to be caring and responsible as we guide them on the path to adulthood. Schools cannot do this on our own; parents cannot do this on their own; we must all work together in a spirit of love and compassion toward helping our children.  Today we are reminded how fragile our life and society can be.  Moving forward we must remember that there is nothing more important than the health and welfare of our children.  Let’s all work together to protect and care for our children.

Experiential Learning at the High School

I have discussed the value of giving our students "real life" experiences while they are in school.  As a matter of fact, the last educational "disruption" that we discussed talked specifically about the value of schools creating partnerships with community and business groups to make sure stduents do get authentic experiences.  Last year, a group of teachers met over the course of the year to discuss how to reinvent education in Penn-Trafford.  One of the outcomes of the group was a series of experiential learning experiences that the teachers created for their students.  I want to share with you one of those lessons that has now gone into its second year.  Kim Stefkovich teaches business at the high school and has created an awesome experiential learning experience for her students.  She explains it here:

Beginning the first week of school, my Business Administration and Management students began working on a very lengthy project that has been a part of my curriculum for seven years. The project requires the students to complete many tasks that are performed within a company on a daily basis and once the project is completed, the total profit is donated to the American Cancer Society.  Over several weeks, the students were required to elect CEOs and department heads; develop a company name and logo; design a T-shirt and set its cost; create procedures; maintain inventory levels; create a commercial advertising their shirt; and compete against the opposing class.  From the beginning, both teams wanted to surpass last years’ overall total of $4,200 in donations.  When the sales portion of the project started on November 1^st, I realized that this might be the year that all records would be broken.  Given only the month of November to sell, the students organized strategies that took place outside of the building.  The teams set up selling stations at the local Giant Eagle, R Pub and Center Ice in Delmont.  Because of their efforts, both teams sold 705 shirts and earned $7,220 in profit.  In addition, I would also like to thank all of the students and teachers that are involved with the coffee shop located in the high school library for donating their November proceeds to the American Cancer Society. Words cannot describe the amount of effort that my students put in to this project.  They certainly would not have achieved this level of success without coming together and working as a team.  It was amazing to watch them grow and learn as they made their way down the path of achievement. Since this project was implemented in my classroom, it has allowed Penn-Trafford students to donate over $20,000 to the American Cancer Society. As their teacher, I am honored to have worked with such a motivated group of students, and truly appreciate all of the work they put into this project.

The Final Educational Disruption

The final disruption in the series of five educational disruptions is something called “shareable cities”.  This disruption is aimed more at urban areas, but the underlying assumptions supporting this disruption also speak to all educational and geographical settings.  Basically this assumption states that networks for learning resources and experiences will become more important (and easier to access) for students, parents and educational institutions in the future.  In major urban areas these networks become more dense and easier to access for citizens.  I think this is an important disruption because the “denseness” of the networks also translates to suburban and rural areas.  I would like to think that education will become closer aligned to the beliefs of John Dewey by understanding that experiences in real life situations are an essential (if not the most essential) aspect of education.  By accessing experiences and learning resources embedded in our communities, education will become more “real” for students.  “Sharing” resources and experiences that are not traditionally within the scope of education will help our students prepare to thrive in the 21^st century.