Ancora Imparo

Don’t waste your time striving for perfection; instead strive for excellence – doing your best.             ~Sir Lawrence Oliver

Week 21 in Review

This past Saturday, when I was sitting in the ceremony where Coach Musser was inducted into the MHSBCA Hall of Fame, I listened as many other awards were given to outstanding coaches across the state of Missouri for their notable records, prowess in the game, or dedicated and successful service to student athletes.

I began to ponder how and when this extremely popular and highly successful organization established the criteria to award such excellence.  It made me realize that these coaches, although certainly not coaching each day to receive accolades for their work, step up to the plate day after day, inning after inning in hopes of helping each player to hit a homerun in his life.

And as you know me to do, I thought about the academic awards given to students by our school for their dedication and hard work.  It seemed appropriate since this coming week we have our Academic Pep Assembly to celebrate our students.  Wandering in my reverie, it brought me to consider…what awards could we create and give to Benton staff that encapsulates our journey of excellence?

I think if I were creating awards for our staff, I would want them to be for individuals who are going above and beyond what’s provided in-house to grow both pedagogically and/or professionally.  It is that sort of dedication from teachers that will be required by our state in the very near future.  You probably already know that I would want every teacher in our school to get an award, and I began to worry that perhaps I had not proposed or encouraged that sort of excellence from each of you.  Are you working to excel in your pedagogical life outside of our job-embedded professional development or district/school collaboration?  If you are ONLY relying on those models to increase your excellence, then you are holding status quo with many if not most.  For excellence to occur, you need to do more. What professional works are you reading?  What classes are you taking?  What is your next degree goal?  Are you a leader in our building?  What innovations are you leading?  What have you created to grow excellence in our school or in our peers? I want to encourage each of you to reflect, consider and create a plan for your own growth.  You will feel vibrant, and soon you will realize the change you can make in your life and others.

Week 22 – A Look Ahead

CAMP will be busy this week.  Don’t forget to review the ARROW Forms with seniors and juniors.  Remember to be diligent about guiding and encouraging students.  It’s imperative that our students are aware and asking for interventions if they are testing. On Monday, students who signed up to learn about the Upward Bound Math and Science program at Northwest this summer should be passed to the auditorium.  Look for the list on email.  Tuesday we will have CAMP Congress.  Please have your CAMPers prepared to talk about 1) our upcoming course registration process, and 2)  the student handbook. Remind them to bring their computers to the meeting. 

Also this week we are selling our Cardinal Crazies Tshirts in the school store, which we will advertise Monday during announcements.  If students purchase these shirts, they will be given free entrance to at least one game for each of the winter sports.  The first free game is this Tuesday night for Wrestling.  Remind the kids.  This is going to be a great night!

Wednesday, we have a Benton Leadership Team (BLT) meeting at 7:00 a.m. in Room 106.  We have many major decisions to make about Project Connect, registration, and the new SIP.  Also Wednesday is the sophomore visit to Hillyard for our students to see if they are interested to start in the programs at Hillyard as a junior.  This list has been emailed and will be finalized prior to Wednesday.  Thursday is our second session for the ACT Academy as well as our Academic Pep Assembly.  Awards will be given for Principal’s Honor Roll, High Honor Roll, perfect attendance and more.  I know for sure two prizes are a movie style popcorn popper and a television.  This is going to be a fun week! Go Cardinals!

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

Photos available in Creative Commons on Flikr:  Sunlight by rishibando; Coach Musser’s Award by me; first place by EvelynGiggles; Staircase Bookshelf by ooh_food.

The road to excellence is always under construction.                  ~Author Unknown

Week 20 in Review

With exception of the weather, last week felt like Christmas. First of all, our students were able to take home their own laptops.  What a great day for Benton High School. What a great week, actually. Attendance was solid. Student engagement was up.  Disciplinary referrals all but came to a standstill. I went from knocking on wood to wondering when the honeymoon was going to end.  I pray this week is no different. And get this, after eight days of school, we have managed something I don’t think has ever happened at our school, but I know for sure has not happened in this century – we managed to have 94.3% face to face meets with our parents and guardians through the Project Connect presentation and we have the signatures to prove it!  And this week, we only get to build on that.

And speaking of building, this past Wednesday, Benton was given a second gift with the news that our School Board had given the final approval to build our new field house up near Sparks Stadium.  In case you did not know this already, this fell into place with the final collection of required monies that Benton had to match to the district to help build the facility.

I want to send a super high five to Coach Tabor for realizing this dream. Coach Tabor has spent the better part of two years getting to this day. To understand his efforts is to have attended hundreds of meetings, fretted countless hours over plans to make sure everyone’s needs were met, and landed over $375,000 dollars in donations to Benton’s “Soaring on to Glory” Campaign. And many of you helped him get there, which I know he and I appreciate greatly.  This is a amazing achievement for our school. It’s been a long- standing vision that has finally been realized. With hope, we will finalize bids and get contractors in place to break ground before the end of this fiscal year. How great is that news?!?

Finally, this week we also found out that one of our own, Coach Mike Musser, was named to be inducted into the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Friday, February 17^th. Since the beginning of this Hall of Fame, only 52 coaches have been included on this very prestigious roster. Please be sure to congratulate Coach Musser on receiving this accolade. This is definitely a legacy we want to be building upon.

Week 21 – A Look Ahead

Building on the excellent week we had last week won’t be easy nor will it be simple. Without looking a gift horse in the mouth, it’s time to look at our student’s increased engagement in the classroom. I challenge you this week to make sure your students are using their new instructional tool to further the learning of your lesson.  Are they working on projects, activities or research after you finish your mini-lesson that enhances your instructional objective that day?  Are they collaborating in their work?  Are they using their new one to one tools to read more and write more?  They should be, and they need to be.  With the date of the implementation of the Common Core Standards looming, why not take this opportunity to increase that focus?  It will take a new look from you.  You will have to examine your lessons to see where you can fit in different types of activities that further your instructional objectives and build on that. Have students read different articles – perhaps opposing – and then ask them to summarize and argue what they’ve learned from the reading whether they agree with what they read or not.  You would have to model this for them, of course, but what a great opportunity to extend your lesson in a very rigorous fashion. (if you want more information and inspiration, check our Sean Nash’s comments at the end of last week’s post)

This Thursday starts our next in-house ACT Academy. Look for the list to come out tomorrow. I will be talking to those students during CAMP to remind them of the expectations for the academy. I’m not sure how many of you know this, but as of this last test, our ACT average is strong. The February and April tests are always big for seniors, so please support them if they need any help or tutoring for this very important exam. The test is February 11^th if you didn’t remember.  Let’s make sure we keep building on that solid average.

Finally, Friday, January 20, is the next faculty lunch. Below are the assignments for that day:

SpEd, IT & FACS:  Veggies/Fruit
Sci, Bus & Libr:  Appetizers
CA, FA & FL:  Salads/Breads
SS, PE & Counseling:  Desserts
Math, Admin & Secr/support: Entree/Main Course (Taco/Potato Bar – we will bring taco meat and baked potatoes)

It’s going to be a great week to continue to build excellence in our school.  Data teams – remember to keep updating your information on your google.doc. Our data walkthrough with the district office is March 15^th.  We need to have no less than two more cycles totally completed by the walkthrough date.  With only 8 weeks of school left by the time we finish the district’s visit, you may only have one cycle left to complete before school year ends. Focus for the walkthrough will sit with our data teams and will also be centered on the common assessments used by the data teams, analysis of the data from the assessments, and interventions created and used as a result of the data. It’s nothing new, but we will spend most of next month getting that information shored up for the visit. Please begin getting that ready now.

Building on excellence. Remember, excellence is a journey not a destination. The journey was never going to be easy or simple, but we all know it will be worth it.  Go Cardinals!

~Excellence is a journey not a destination.~

Badness you can get easily, in quantity: the road is smooth, and it lies close by. But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it, and rough at first. But when you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard. ~ Hesiod

Week 19 in Review
The Project Connect roll out was excellent!  I could not have asked for a better week, and walked around all day each day telling everyone so then knocking on wood hoping not to jinx it.  Turns out, I didn’t need to knock on wood at all.  What I needed to do was to pound fists with all of you!  As I thought back on each day, I realized how many of you stepped up or came through in moments when it really mattered.  That made all the difference between a successful roll out and a disastrous front page story.  It wasn’t just one big “save” that got us through (although Melissa Corey is certainly qualified there), but it was all the small but significant efforts from each of you that made our roll out work so well.  From helping each other register machines to helping reset the gym after each parent presentation, our staff continues to pull together in a way that chokes me up even now.  I am so proud and so appreciative of who we are and the team we have become.

Last week we hosted the opening night of our school store. A huge thanks goes out to Ronnie Knight and Jenny Moore for bring it from an interesting idea to an amazing actuality. I hope you have had a chance to see it .  It’s crazy cool.  One particular item  for sale is close to my heart – it’s the Benton High School challenge coin (based from the military tradition) that you see represented in the photos on this page.  I want to encourage everyone to purchase a coin for $5 and in the next few months consider giving it a student who is excellent for you.  Send it with a note.  Give it to that child to show you care and you want to reward the excellence.  It’s a great way to challenge others to be excellent too. I hope it is our new tradition.

Week 20 – A Look Ahead

This upcoming week presents several challenges – the largest being how to sustain the greatness we achieved from our roll out week.  This week is the real test when the students get to take the computers home…and bring them back because they need them to learn in your classroom.  We must also monitor which computers can go home and which need to stay in the office.  Look for that email to come out by CAMP Monday. I will be offering parent meetings as soon as Tuesday for our families who were not able to make a meeting last week.  Remember, there is no substitute for a parent meeting, so make sure you work through expectations for your class work with students who may not be able to take a computer home.  Tuesday in CAMP we will have our student ACT meeting.  That list will also be emailed to you.

We will be swapping our JEPD and Dept PD days this month due to early opportunities and needs. Wednesday we are offering instruction on EduBlogs Campus – a newly acquired opportunity from the district.  This is a full day PD, and we will provide the sub for you.  If you are interested in working with Sean Nash on Wednesday, email me immediately.  The spots for this professional development are limited.  This would be highly recommended for any departments focusing on writing in their data teams work. Thursday is job embedded professional development on Limelight – a district purchased tool that helps you facilitate assignments and assessments as well as track the data from both.  Bob Nash will deliver this instruction. Finally, Friday we are going to have to reschedule the Academic Pep Assembly.  Look for the date to be in the next few weeks.  And it’s going to be a great few weeks (and months) and before you know it we will be graduating our 2012 Seniors.  I’m glad we’re doing it together.

~ Excellence is a journey not a destination. ~

ENJOY 2012! - Excellent New Journey Of the Year!

It’s enough for you to do it once for a few men to remember you. But if you do it year after year, then many people remember you and they tell it to their children, and their children and grandchildren remember and, if it concerns books, they can read them. And if it’s good enough, it will last as long as there are human beings.  ~Ernest Hemingway

Week 19 – Let’s Get this Party Started!

In my mind, this is the week of fireworks, balloons, confetti and noisemakers!  We’ve waited a long time for this week to come to Benton High School.  This is the week our staff and students have been talking about for years – we are going ONE to ONE.  One laptop for each student changes learning.  It changes what we learn, how we learn, and why we learn.  We have had to deal with so many changes that I don’t know where to start to remind you of how far we’ve come.

We know preparing to go one to one has changed us…think back to where we were five years ago.  Wireless Internet throughout our building?  And now you are frustrated when you can’t get access wherever and whenever you want it!  Who would have guessed?  Using blogs and twitter to communicate to your students?  Did you ever think you would expect to use social media to reach your classes?   I know you have all been battling for years now as our laptop usage increased.  Giving each student a device will make that so much better. But it will also introduce a myriad of other issues we must not be ready to tackle.

We have a few MAJOR considerations and decisions to make in this first semester.  I realize that one of them has been made for us by default – printers.  Students will no longer print to our printers.  How does this change your teaching?  How does this change what you have turned in to you?  How does this change what and how you grade?  Have you thought through the glory and dark side of Air Drop? How about Google Collections?  If you haven’t thought much about that since our JEPD a few weeks ago, check out Ryan J’s screencast showing benefits and tips to getting that going in your classes (it’s one amazing tool if you didn’t know that already).

Another consideration is going to have to be class accountability.  If a student has a laptop and can do all the work you do at home, why does he need to come to see you in class?  That will be the great debate of the semester.  We must seriously consider the implications of this situation.  Attendance is not only required by our district but also by DESE.  We must make it not only necessary for a grade, but when it come to face to face learning, we must make that experience invaluable – one that can not be “made up” on a worksheet.  The thinking and conversation that comes from being together with other learners must be rich and rewarding.  How will this new challenge change what you do pedagogically?

One final consideration is classroom management.  With every student now having access to a computer all day, every minute – it will change what you do in your class as well as what you AND the student think you can do.  Are you ready for that?  Do you have a plan in mind when you want students to put away their laptops?  How about when you want to pause and have them pay strict attention to what you share?  How about when the kids are just working on a project?  How do you monitor where they are on-line?  Are they safe?  Are YOU safe?  Hopefully, you have already worked through all these issues.  It’s not like we haven’t been working with laptops in classrooms for five years already – we have!  But more than ever, we must be vigilant to what students are accessing.  We must teach them to be safe.  Don’t skip this part in every lesson you give in your classroom.  Remind students of the implications of a digital footprint.  Show them your footprint so they can follow a good role model.  And make it a joyful step into 2012!

~ Excellence is a journey not a destination. ~

Photos available under Creative Commons on Flikr: Parade Balloons Salt Lake City, Utah by Pink Sherbet Photography; Fireworks in Taipei…by Fishtail@Taipei’s photostream; Confetti by smcgee; 1/365 Happy 2009! by foreverdigital.  Project Connect by Melissa Corey for SJSD.

Excellence is a process that should occupy all of our days.                ~Ted Engstrom

Week 17 in Review

Last week was amazing.  From our job-embedded learning together to our pep assembly and finishing with our amazing faculty lunch, I found myself thinking about how very fortunate I am to work at Benton High School.  Every day is new and exciting.  Granted, there were days in the last year that seemed to never end, but not once did it steal my joy for work.  It’s my Christmas wish for you that you have the joy of feeling the same.

Week 18 – A Look Ahead

This is going to be a short and exciting week.  Monday is the last day the library is open so that we can clear it out to stage our laptop roll out.  Tuesday, hoping the snow holds off, we expect the arrival of the devices.  We will also have an exciting Christmas Pep Assembly at 2:10.  Wednesday, we will have 15-16 classrooms worth of furniture delivered (to be assembled) to the cafeteria.  And just to keep things hopping, we have finals on Wednesday and Thursday.  Don’t forget to send your finals for absent students to the office.  Those tests will be administered on January 5-6 through the office.

 And for all of you, we wish you a blessed holiday season.  It’s been a great first half of the school year.  I think more than anything, we have grown closer as a family.  It made my heart soar when the varsity basketball boys shared with me the fact that they say “family” in their team shout right before they play.  The spirit of the season resonates daily for me when I think of you all – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

~ Excellence is a journey not a destination. ~

Photos found in CC on Flikr:  Sugar Plum Snowflake by CaptPiper ;Star of Wonder by c.a.muller; blizzard bird the Christmas card by Steve took it

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. ~ Abraham Lincoln

 Week 16 in Review

As I think about this last week, and the last sixteen weeks, I realized I have so much to be thankful for on our journey of excellence.  In the spirit of the season, here are a few of my favorite things…

On the first day of excellence the Superintendent gave to me, a staff with spirited responsibility.

 On the second day of excellence the Associate Superintendent gave to she, two Assistant Principals who are amazing to every degree.

 On the third day of excellence the HR Director gave to we, three offices with sensational secretaries.

 On the fourth day of excellence we all select one of to receive, four periods of job embedded PD.

 On the fifth day of excellence the district gives to thee – five days a week of job security.

 On the sixth day of excellence all content area gives to many, six periods to plan for lessons collaboratively.

  On the seventh day of excellence the district gives to Z, a day of each week to organize our activities.  (Thank you Z)

 On the eighth day of excellence in a role always supporting, eight groups of staff who are always there for us and make teaching a possibility. (SRO, Nurse, Counseling, Maintenance, Nutrition, Secretaries, ISS, Library)

 On the ninth day of excellence our students will eventually see nine weeks of school (times four times four) that ends in a degree.

 On the tenth day of excellence, I know we’ll all agree, are the number of weeks in summer required to return in August peppy.

 On the eleventh day of excellence, in our staff it’s plain to see, eleven of the finest instructional departments in the SJSD.

 And on the twelfth day of excellence, for time to celebrate and be merry, are days of winter vacation to spend with your family.

Thank you to each one of you for working hard and staying the course on our journey of excellence.  You are making a difference each in your own way.

Week 17 – A Look Ahead

This week is not much different from so many others; it’s packed with events we need to be prepared for.  Make sure you take notice and remember: This is CAMP grade week.  We will have a specific activity on Thursday/Friday, so make sure you review grades with students on Mon-Wed!

Wednesday – Leadership Team meets in room 106 at 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday — JEPD in the library.  It’s SUPER important for everyone to attend on this day.  There are only six school days left before we roll out laptops to our students.

Thursday – PEP Assembly schedule (for winter sports).  Wrestlers leave for Harrisonville Friday and both basketball teams play at the Civic Arena in the City Showcase on Thursday and Friday nights.  Coach Z will send a schedule to the staff early this week.

Friday – FACULTY LUNCH:

SS, PE & Counseling:  Entree/Main Course

SpEd, IT & FACS:  Appetizers,

Sci, Bus & Libr:  Salads/Breads
CA, FA & FL:  Desserts

Math, Admin & Secr/support: Veggies/Fruit

~ Excellence is a journey not a destination ~

Photos are available by Creative Commons in Flickr:  1 by chrisinplymouth; Number 2 by Leo Reynolds; 3 by Leo Reynolds; 4 MPH by Leo Reynolds; 5 by Leo Reynolds; 6 by Leo Reynolds; 7 by Leo Reynolds, 8 by Leo Reynolds, SC Cabin 9 by Auntie P; pool ball – Number 10 by Leo Reynolds; Advent calendar drawing number 11 by Leo Reynolds; 12 by Leo Reynolds; Ornamental View by Joe Gauder.

Men of perverse opinion do not know the excellence of what is in their hand, till someone dash it from them.  ~Sophocles

Week 15 in Review

Last week, we lost a dear friend and iconic servant for the St. Joseph School District.  Brenda Elifrits was a woman who encapsulated excellence in the work place.  She reminded me constantly of what excellence was; through so many difficulties that life has a tendency to throw at us, she lived professionally excellent.   I hope I can live my life similarly.  I hope you will too.  Daily we are offered the opportunity for a wonderful life.  I hope you each embrace it and live it in excellence.

Week 16 – A Look Ahead

This week we must stay strong.  It’s important for everyone to remember that we must provide excellent lessons to our students right up to the finish.  Do not compromise your class time.  Movies, worksheets and free/catch-up days are not teaching.  You should not make concessions to planned lessons and engaged classes.  There are three weeks left this semester.  Finish strong.

This week, we have CAMP Congress on Tuesday and a two-hour early out for district departmental PD on Wednesday.  On Thursday, the library will be closed at 10:30 for Southside Rotary to hold their annual lunch meeting with the choir performing a few special songs for the group.  Thursday is also our last ACT Academy session for our first in-house training.  And you don’t need a reminder that winter break is going to be here all too soon.  Thank you to all of you who provide excellence in education for our students every day.  It is important for us to live our lives professionally excellent every day. And with that, a toast to Brenda…”for a life of professional excellence.”  Hear, hear.

Photos are Creative Commons on Flickr:  “starry starry night” by bookgirl; “Snowflakes.” By Andy.Schultz

“The noblest search is the search for excellence.”                                              ~Lyndon B. Johnson

Week 14.5 in Review

I am thankful to live in the 21^st Century.  As  Kurt and I traveled the highways across four states to reach our boys for the holidays, I can honestly say I was so grateful for the growing ability to navigate technology.  Never again will I have to spend time trying to fold paper maps.  There goes that occupation, eh?  From using digital tools to research the history of a town you pass through to finding the best Mexican food restaurant in Dallas, I am in awe of how different the world is because of the tools we have available to us today to learn. And I am thankful of the quality of life it offers us despite how little we use it to its potential.

Week 15 – A Look Ahead

Looking into our near future, I hope you are all ready to tap into the potential of Benton High School going one to one (one laptop for every student to take home).  In case you didn’t remember, January 3^rd is our D-day (Delivery day).  This week, Tuesday (11/29) for RED and Wednesday (11/30) for WHITE, during our department meetings, we will be talking to each department about your roll-out readiness as well as giving an overview of the roll-out plans. We will be meeting in the library for all meetings, so be there as soon as possible after the bell.  Additionally, we will be migrating your data teams work to be fully accessible on-line. If you haven’t already, make sure all your data is available digitally.  We have a full agenda planned.  Our laptop deployment is almost here. It’s going to be an exciting time for all of us.

And with the powerful event of our laptop rollout upcoming, I am reminded of how special time is when it leads up to such a momentous occasion.  Like every day in December before Christmas when you were a child – the anticipation and excitement of the moment was often as precious as the moment itself.  We have so many significant moments in our near future – the adrenaline-racing opening games/matches of our winter sports season, our new and exciting staff Christmas party, the rapidly approaching semester finale, the much-cherished winter vacation, and the ever-anticipated laptop deployment. It is so much to pack into the next five weeks.  Yet even with all that on your minds do not allow even this month to go by without relishing every moment with staff, students and family.  Make every moment matter.  Choose to be happy.  Choose to be friendly.  Choose to get excited about the simple joys we experience daily.

We work in an excellent school with great people all around us.  Our students are really fun, even in the challenging moments, and provide a reason for us to make a difference in the world every day we go to work.  This is the season of sparkly things.  Take a moment to glitter; in so many ways, you offer so many gifts to our students.  Take the time to enjoy the excellence of the season.

~ Excellence is a journey not a destination. ~

All photos are CC from Flikr:  “Into Every Life, A Little Bokeh Must Fall” by Pink Sherbet Photography;“Sparkly” by ladybugbkt; “Colour Mix” by Mrs eNil; “It’s Christmas by Rebecca Gowen.

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.  Autograph your work with excellence. ~Author Unknown

Week 14 in Review

Last week was an eye-opener for me.  I know the teachers and staff members I work with are really good at what they do, but last week I had a stark reminder of what the journey for excellence has done for us at Benton.  Recently I was able to participate in a school review with a team of qualified educators “lifts the hood” of the school and really looks at the “engine” that makes a school function.

Review team members are not allowed to share details of any school review, but we are allowed to learn from the review to make our own schools better.  I want each of you to know what I learned.  I learned that although our journey for improvement has been difficult, your work has been rigorous, and your time has been taxed – you are the epitome of a highly functional, leading edge, instructional organization.  From one end of the building to the other, you are working hard to harness data teams.  The process is known by 100% of our staff and implemented by 100% of our departments.  That didn’t happen easily nor by accident.

What I learned reviewing schools is that true friendship and authentic relationships come when we endeavor and triumph together.  We need to celebrate our success.  And we need to be thankful that our learning is genuine and substantial.  If you were able to go to another school and compare what you know about teaching and learning using data and collaboration, you would discover that you are the leading edge.

I am so thankful that I work with a school I can compare to any other and know, without a shadow of a doubt, I work with teachers who autograph their work with excellence.

Week 14.5 – A Look Ahead

It’s a short week.  And I am thankful.  We are four weeks away from finally launching our laptop initiative. Thankfully!  We are successfully implementing data teams, and will soon see the fruits of our labor.  Thank You!

In our short week, we still have a few events that need to be shared:  Tuesday is CAMP Congress (we missed last Friday due to the Apple meeting).  Please ask your students to bring information for the parent newsletter we are sending home in December.  Tuesday is also the ACT Academy.  I want to take this moment to remind everyone how immensely important it is to continue to build students’ vocabulary and reading skills.  Our overall ACT average from the October test yielded positive results for our seniors, but one area we lost ground on was in reading.  Please, please, please include non-fiction reading pieces in your lessons with accountability to students’ comprehending and inferring the text.  Do not spoon feed reading.  It doesn’t challenge the students where they need to be challenged, and their growth is limited during a time when it could be stretched.  And finally, Wednesday is a two-hour early out.

In a week when we are all thankful for so many things, I want you to know how thankful I am for you and all you do for the kids who come to us each day wanting and needing so many different things from us.  Thank you for who you are and the sacrifices you make for them.  And with all my heart, I wish you and your family the best this Thanksgiving.

Excellence is a journey not a destination. 

 Photos are CC on Flikr:  “Twin Toms” by eye of einstein; “Turkey Lurkey” by Sugar Daze (f/k/a LittleMissCupcakeParis); “gobble gobble” by patti haskins; “Turkey Legs” by plushoff.

“I have always struggled to achieve excellence.  One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle, it’s not going to be satisfying.”              ~Greg LeMond, Cycling Legend

Week 13 in Review

We tasted victory last week in many ways, and it was definitely sweet.  We tasted monumental success in our data teams meetings, and the flavor lingers like succulent chocolate or fine wine.   It’s amazing how great it feels when all the ingredients for an excellent creation come together, and we bask in its resplendent presentation.  Some teams are still refining the ingredients required to complete the recipe, but it is clear every team is close to a master creation.  Bravo!

Our celebration this week was not limited, however, to our professional development focus.  Monday our very own Student Council organized and operated a blood drive.  It was very successful not only in collection amounts, but in the quality and controlled way it was managed.  I don’t know if you have noticed, but this student group has really stepped up to meet the challenge of leadership and excellence in our building.  I hope you will join me in thanking and celebrating their impressive efforts.  Then on Wednesday night, St. Joseph Sports, Inc. presented Benton’s own Coach Dwayne Kimble, Cross Country and Track coach for 25 years, the award for Coach of the Year!  It is a tremendous honor, and we are very proud of the legacy that Coach Kimble has grown.  Finally, on Friday we were able to share in the proud tradition of Veteran’s Day with our JROTC and Marching Band participating in the local parade.  Additionally, we enjoyed the resplendent opening night to our fall musical, “Phantom of the Opera.”

It is very exciting to linger in the feast of excellence I see growing at Benton day by day.  We offer a buffet of options to taste excellence on so many levels – from seeing our students perform in class or after school to seeing our staff come together professionally as well as at social events– it is important that we all see and recognize excellence for what it is.  You are a part of something big that is happening in our school.   Cheers!

Week 14 – A Look Ahead

I’m excited for our future.  This week we have representatives from Apple coming to Benton to examine our readiness for the one to one laptop rollout.  I think we will begin calling the process BLIP: Benton Laptop Initiative Pilot.  I shared the need for an acronym or title with several students and, after a bit of refining, this is what they thought would work.  In considering what PR opportunities our roll out presents, they pondered all the “blip” noises that would go with pictures of our students and their own computers.  I loved the idea!

Friday brings our next CAMP Congress meeting.  Please send your students with information they want to send home in a Parent Newsletter from the student body.  I am so pleased with the leadership, ideas, and honest conversation coming from this group.  It is VITALLY IMPORTANT that you are allowing conversations to occur in your CAMP in readiness for these meetings.  Student voice is essential to excellence in our school.

We also had galvanizing feedback from our staff survey last Wednesday!  I am thrilled to share that an overwhelming majority of the staff is anxious to gather socially.  In the next few days, staff members have offered to be a part of planning staff activities.  If you are interested in joining these planners, please email me.  Look for upcoming details for parties and events you may want to join if it fits into your schedule.

To continue on our journey of excellence, don’t forget the enormously successful STAFF LUNCH. The next date for dining together is this Friday.  Pertinent information about the highly requested lunch event includes:  Theme: Thanksgiving;  and food assignments –

1.  SpEd, IT & FACS:  Salads/Breads,

2.  Sci, Bus & Libr:  Desserts,

3.  CA, FA & FL:  Entree/Main Course , 

4.  SS, PE & Counseling:  Veggies/Fruit,

5.  Math, Admin & Secr/support: Appetizers.

Department chairs should be getting together to organize cooperative dishes if needed.  I’m looking forward to this sumptuous week and our succulent future.  It reminds me of that avocado commercial on tv – what are you bringing to our “party?”   What do you have to offer when Benton answers the door?