Awarding Excellence

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.

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