Anybody who accepts mediocrity — in school, on the job, in life — is a person who compromises, and when the leader compromises, the whole organization compromises. ~ Charles Knight

Reflecting on Week 33

It’s no secret that at Benton High School our journey to achieve excellence includes growing in leadership.  Our Benton Leadership Team (BLT) is just one example of growing teacher leaders within our building to make decisions and policy to guide and direct our actions daily.  Leadership, however, is certainly not defined by positional power.  Teacher leaders – individuals who are leaders irrespective of a position – are the bread and butter of a good school environment.  Have you ever wondered if you have “leadership capacity?”

In, “What does Leadership Capacity Really Mean?” Linda Lambert states that leaders in education must be skilled in problem solving, working collaboratively, and guiding values, focus and momentum in order to “develop lasting and respectful relationships.” You should click on the link to the article to get the full details, but she states that schools function in either low, moderate, and high leadership capacity status.  After you read the criteria, at what status is Benton?  What is it that earns us that rating?  Is there opportunity for us to improve?  What would that take?

Several years ago, I came across a TED talk by Tony Robbins that has resonated with me in my leadership and in understanding why others around me do what they do.  The title of the talk is, “Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do?”  The video clip calls us to examine what motivates or inspires us in our actions – whether selfless or selfish – and what we can do with the invisible forces that shape our ability to contribute beyond ourselves..

This week your BLT made tough decisions about policies and procedures that impact us all.  They decided as a team what goals and issues to focus on, what actions were needed to achieve that focus and those goals, and how they would grow consensus from their departments to work toward and achieve our goals.  They were amazingly unified in their decisions and will be sharing with you not only their ownership, but also our accountability measures and goals.

Research often claims that the greatest contributing factor to success in leadership is the ability to grow.  No matter what you are involved in, if you are not growing, you will not going to stay excited in achieving nor will you be successful.  Growing in a high leadership capacity school requires one of the six critical factors for success to be teacher leaders accepting and owning responsibility for leadership of the school. Your leadership team made monumental steps of growth on Friday during the retreat.  This IS our journey toward excellence.

Week 34 – A Look Ahead

This week we will have our student leadership elections.  Please look and listen for announcements on information about the candidates.  This Friday is the Lion’s Luncheon for our top 10% of the senior class.  In addition, it’s our Faculty Lunch day.  It’s time to celebrate and break bread together.  It’s going to be a great week.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

All images available CC on Flickr:  “3D Team Leadesrship Arrow Concept” by thegoldguys.blogspot.com/ or www.lumaxart.com/; “Leadership” by  pedrosimoes7; “Leadership” by Dunechaser.

Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind.  For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory.  Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.  ~Homer

Reflecting on Week 32

The victory of last week’s election still sings sweetly as I pause to reflect on the week.  It’s a great opportunity for the St. Joseph School District to know that the tide of our journey has taken us through the gates of polished horn.  It’s also great for Benton to know our part in it.  I thank each of you who voted, walked delivering flyers, posted signs in your yards, and attended our rally to show our support.  It is easy to forget that it is an amalgamation of the little things that seem to make all the difference.  In this event, the difference was a dream come true.

Dreams surely are difficult.  It has been over a year since we began dreaming and talking about the idea of a hybrid high school – a school that incorporates the best of brick & mortar and on-line learning.  It is certainly a 21^st Century educational opportunity that, sadly, was not chosen in the High Schools That Work Grant application a year ago.  But that does not mean we haven’t been taking steps to align ourselves for that dream.  Each innovation and school improvement step gets us closer.  As a staff, we are working on ways to improve student performance and success.  Our PE department was innovative in looking for a way to offer freshman hope and purpose in taking high school classes.  We will soon have all our 9^th graders visit Missouri Western State University who will partner with us to offer opportunity to our students and make sure they know what is available to them right here in St. Joseph.  New innovative approaches to the educational process that help our students succeed are necessary.  We often quote Albert Einstein in his definition of, “Insanity:  doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”  I’d say the idea, if anything, makes a great case for innovation and change.   

Week 33 – A Look Ahead

There are a few important dates on our calendar this week:  EOC training will be held Wednesday in my office five minutes after the start of each period.  If you are giving the EOC test this year, you must attend this training.  There is no JEPD on Wednesday.  Thursday is the fourth and final ACT Academy for the April test.  Please take the time to check with your students who are in the academy to make sure they are supported.  The small things make all the difference.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

SJSD_logo_Icon at sjsd.k12.mo.us; All other images available in CC on Flickr: “Tiny Ducks Fall Asleep on a Dock” by kugel; “where bubbles go” by circulating.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by,  And that has made all the difference. ~Robert Frost

Week 31 in Review

It’s April Fool’s Day.  What an excellent day to talk about rumors.  Actually, one could almost say this is the season for rumors.  Rumors about Prom.  Rumors about people we work with.  Rumors about rules.  Rumors about elections.  After hearing too many rumors and reading several interesting quotes about rumors, I guess I can see that rumors are timeless.  Some actually really are, but what I am referring to here is rumor telling.  I think Benjamin Franklin said it best when he said, “I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.”  Mr. Franklin was a wise man.  We should take heed.  I know that when I hold others up, I feel better.  Imagine what would happen if we joined together to hold each other up during this crazy season?  It’s definitely the road less traveled by.  I’ve heard it can make all the difference. 

And so, rumors and fool’s day aside, I feel this is the “proper occasion” to share with you feedback from the UMKC consultants who were at Benton on Friday to complete a pre-assessment of our school.  It’s always interesting to hear what outsiders see and say about us when they visit our classrooms and with our staff.  Some of what they shared was what I think we already knew  – our data teams work is solid, but we have areas we can focus on to improve for next year.  But what really grabbed them by surprise was how incredibly polite and friendly our school was. From teachers to students, they were amazed at our climate.  And they felt it from the moment they entered the building and were greeted by our student at the tech help desk.  They said everyone was kind and welcoming, no matter where they went.  I guess I acted surprised by their comments, because they said I should tell our staff that very few schools they have worked with were like us. They said our kids were really amazing – going to class, greeting visitors, working on their studies. They said our staff was happy, joked with each other, and spoke so positively about our school.  Talk about spreading the word!  We have worked on improving climate for years.

It’s great to have an outside source voice what we would probably not know in our own trench.  Our relationships are good, but we all know on our journey toward excellence that we can and should be better.  I think Benjamin Franklin may just have the shocking key in his words of wisdom.  It’s a short week this week.  What positive difference will you make?

Week 32 – A Look Ahead
Hold onto your kites, friends.  Short week or not, it’s a powerful time. Monday – Benton staff election rally, 3:00-5:00 p.m. at Hoof & Horn.  Please drop in to rally and snack on hors d’oeuvres provided by your ever-grateful administration and our dear friend Roy, owner of the Hoof.  It’s a great time to take a minute and bond.  This election is for us. Tuesday – Make sure you remember to send kids to CAMP Congress,  support students in ACT Academy and vote (please).Wednesday – Early Out – CAMP lunch (please send in your order)

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

Images available in CC from Flickr:  “Enchanted Wood” by Skinnyde; “Key 3” by ~Brenda-Starr~; “Draken-Kite” by Gertrud K.

 

 

 

 

 

To aim at excellence, our reputation, and friends, and all must be ventured; to aim at the average we run no risk and provide little service. ~Oliver Goldsmith

Week 30 in Review

In our search to better understand what persistent, copious reasons may be leading to student failures and in our attempt to create and provide appropriate interventions for our most at-risk students, we have energized both students and teachers alike to help look into what we can all do to address the situation.  One thought that continues to resonate with me…the idea that failure is an opportunity waiting to be capitalized upon instead of a final grade.  Is that possible?  What would it look like if we just changed the perspective of our thinking?  Imagine my surprise when our good friend, Karl Fisch, addressed that very question in his blog on Wednesday.  Karl is a math teacher in Arapahoe High School in Colorado.  He provides great ideas to consider and links to several through-provoking TED Talks.  You can’t miss this short, but insightful read so click on the screenshot below…

 Week 31 – A Look Ahead

It’s the last week of March.  Are you as stunned by that as I am?  Where has the year gone?  This week holds a few major events, and they are:

SPRING FEVER RELIEVER WEEK:  Student leaders jumped on this to raise money for prom.  Monday is neon day.  Join the kids in this fun celebration! Listen each day for what the next day dress code will be.

Tuesday – Senior Class meeting in the auditorium.  This is the entire class where they vote on class song and learn information about graduation.  Yes, graduation.

Wednesday – Leadership Team Meeting at 7:00 a.m. in Room 106, tornado drill at 1:15 p.m. and NHS Induction at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium.  Junior/Senior class sponsors are invited.  Reception follows in the Modis Gym.

Friday is faculty lunch day.  Yum.

~Excellent is a journey, not a destination.~

“A light bulb but no (good) ideas… (17/365)” available in CC on Flickr by Lifesupercharger; “Head in Hands” by Alex E. Proimos; “Wit and Wisdom of Winston – Oct 2010 – Westerham Pub Wall – Those Two Imposters” by  gareth1953 Friends please read my profile. New Upd.

 

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.  ~Margaret Thatcher

 Week 29 in Review

Here are a few excerpts from our walkthrough letter that I thought I would post…

“After every district data consult (Fall) or building walkthrough (Spring), I always send you an overview of what we discussed during our time spent with our district supervisors.  Together with our instructional coach, your Admin Team met in consultation with Mrs. Patterson and Dr. Dial for over four hours talking about our work at Benton this school year  — both the successes and challenges.  After 6 years of participating in this process, a total of 12 consultations, this is the first year I knew going into the event that, without question, we could show with quantitative and qualitative data that we had travelled our journey toward excellence and come through the year knowing exactly where we are going and exactly where we’ve been…

…The best news is that our next steps were exactly what they challenged us to improve.  In 2012-2013, we need to continue to improve our data teams process.  Specifically working on improving unpacking our power standards and improving our assessments to enable us to understand even more precisely what knowledge our students have and where the breakdown of knowledge is occurring.  We need to get smart about this.  We also agreed to continue our focus on enhancing our digital instructional toolbox and processes used in 21^stCentury Learning.  Our challenge is to tie our learning to SJSD Learner and Project Connect outcomes.  I promised we would continue our focus in this area.  Finally, we said we were continuing our journey toward excellence by continuing to build leaders on our staff and in our student body. “

 Week 30 – A Look Ahead

And this week will fly by like the crazy winds I hear we will be experiencing this coming week.

Monday iZ someone specialZ birthday. (also DS…know who that is?) Please make sure you spread the word!

Wednesday is ACT Academy first session for the April test.  Mrs. Steeby will be talking to the kids on Monday and a finalized list will be sent to you all.  Also Wednesday is our Project Lead the Way Certification visit during the entire morning hours.  Please support your IT team and Mr. Burright as they work through this process.

Thursday is an early out for building PD.  We will meet in the library at 1:00 p.m. to start.  (The motto in JROTC is…”To be on time is to be late, to be early is to be on time.”  Hu-ah!)  Please do not be late.  Also Thursday the owners of School Wires (our web page designers) will be at Benton High School for a two day filming session to create ads for their company.  Benton was one of the district’s TOP USERS and selected to be the only school in this filming.  #cardinalproud  If they are filming you, you already know it.  :))

Friday is our Spring Sports Assembly. Normal pep assembly schedule. Coach Z has the agenda and will release it on Thursday.

Finally, SATURDAY is a momentous day for Benton!  We will be walking a neighborhood leaving flyers about our election from 8:30 (meet at the East Hills Mall library) to get materials, and pass stuff out until you’re done.  It’s that simple.  Then, at noon, join us in our CELEBRATION and ground breaking ceremony for our Field House.  There will be a short ceremony and then a reception following.  It sure would be awesome if our staff could come for the 30 minute event bringing your children and spouses with you.  How amazing would that look on the news!  We will have balloons, cake and conversation.  Short and sweet.  Please don’t miss out on making a difference then on making the news!

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

“A Good Walk” is available CC on Flickr by  Demmer ღ

It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.                      ~Publilius Syrus

Inspiration doesn’t recognize boundaries.  Interestingly, my inspiration for insight into Benton’s progress so far this year along our journey toward excellence came from the sermon in church this morning.  I’m guessing “inspiration” isn’t interested in separation of church and state, so if that is a boundary for you, please know you do not need to read any further.  If you are open to inspiration from every venue of life, you will understand that in the process of reflecting on today’s message from my pastor, Dr. Darrell Jones of Grace Evangelical Church, I realized the message did not apply only to my family – as timely and perfect as it is – but that it also applied to my work family for all the same reasons.

The inspiration in the message came in a nugget where Dr. Jones shared how efficient, hardworking, smart people look at a successful journey as the shortest route from “Point A” to Point B,,” so much so that we often look for a formula for efficiency. I agreed; in education, we live our lives as efficient, hardworking people attempting to wisely map out that successful route day after day.  But where the insightful “Aha!” moment in the message came for me was when Dr. Jones shared how God has a different measure of success for the journey.  His goal is not as much about reaching the destination, but about the JOURNEY taken to get there.  It is along the journey that we learn things – big things – and that we grow in relationship with God.  For me, His model for relationships extends to all relationships grown along my journey.  I learned this today…I need to relish that journey.  I need to make sure I take notice of the incredible lessons learned along the way (some at a great price), and I need to grow, honor and value the relationships that I make along the path toward growing Benton’s excellence.

 

Week 28 in Review

We met with several more data teams, and the final work continues to show signs of success in your efforts.  Thank you yet again for staying with us along this crazy journey.  It’s exciting to see how much everyone has grown.  In this next week, we will begin taking score (see “A Look Ahead” below).  As I shared with our Special Services Directors on Friday, who by the way were blown away with the data teams work and progress made by our Special Services department,  how if they (directors) had talked with our teachers about the data teams process during first quarter, the teachers in that department would have told you what they have now accomplished was not possible  Not only was it possible, the journey offered us all deep learning and great insight into one of the toughest areas to break through with a teacher – examining pedagogy.

Week 29 – A Look Ahead

We are entering the season of measurement.  It’s now time to take score on all our work we have done this year.  It is my hope that our score reflects our wins along our journey of excellence.  Our students take most of the assessments/measurements, but a few significant measures completely belong to us.  We need to really consider what that means. 

First of all, we will begin TSA testing this week and next. Students in FACS and Business who have completed a DESE designated set of courses take this exam.  The test is rigorous, but we feel like we will perform solidly.  Once the testing list is released, please encourage these students, even if the test isn’t in your department.  If we learned anything this year through our data teams study it’s that we each have an impact on student learning.  If you have any of these students, you helped contribute to his or her success.  I am sure that child would love to hear that encouragement from you.

This Thursday is our District Walkthrough.  We, as a staff and administrators, completely own this measure.  After meeting with each data team, I feel we are prepared and know our work is true.  More than anything, I know we can show your work and explain it thoroughly.  You have really worked hard this year.  It is my honor to represent you, your work, and our school to district leadership.   Before we get to Thursday, I want to thank you for your work.  Thank you for trying.  Thank you for taking this journey with us.  No one tells you enough, but we are so grateful each day for your efforts with our students.    Thursday’s review will affirm that work.  Stay posted.  We will let you know.

One last measure we will start giving this Friday and the beginning of next week is the DESE AQ Survey.  This is also one measure that we own completely.  As I was reminded just this morning, it is the journey that is important.  The learning and relationships are a part of that journey.  It didn’t come without hard work, but it has made an incredible difference.  It is my hope for each of you that the results from our survey reflect our school’s journey toward excellence.  You deserve that affirmation.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

“Points A, B” from me; “Hands of God and Adam” available in CC from Wikimedia file; “Comments and faves” available CC in Flikr by cessami; “Priorities” available CC in Flikr by catd_mitchell; Graded by me. 

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.  ~Martin Luther King Jr.

Week 27 in Review

As we progress through our second semester data teams review, it is obvious our professional development has paid off this year.  The resulting work is excellent.  I am grateful for every  “Aha!” moment that each set of teachers arrived at due to the process of studying and implementing data teams. It was just seven short months ago that we felt overwhelmed by this process.  I am so proud of how the teams embraced the learning and held strong through the implementation.

In this season of planting for the next year, I want everyone to know that it is the excellence within our halls that enables Benton to travel this journey of excellence.  If you are part of a data team, your leadership will be essential next year as we work to grow our learning into blossoms for all to see.  Next year, we will continue our work with 1) data teams, 2) technology integration, and 3) finding ways to connect our students with their learning.  What are we missing?  What do we, or more importantly – what do you need to learn in order to operate in your classroom more efficiently and effectively?  The SIP team needs your input.

I talked to CAMP Congress last week about our progress this year.  You all would have been so proud to hear the kids speak about their school.  They believe we have accomplished several of our goals this year.  They feel safer.  They know you care about their learning and their future, they love the new technology, and they are happy that their lunch service is improving with the salad bar.  And they gave us quite a list to consider for next year. Their ideas are great, and they feel empowered by their teachers to make a difference.  Thank you for that! I will summarize  and send out their input for discussion with the BLT to share with you at our leadership meeting this week.

Week 28 — A Look Ahead

Monday night you have an opportunity to meet the new school board candidates at TMC at 6:30p.m.  Feel free to come with us to represent Benton. Other than that, we have a pretty standard week.  Don’t forget to help our students improve their literacy by following through with vocabulary, SSR and Eyes Past Print.

It’s CAMP grade review week.  It is our responsibility to make sure our students know how much their education means to us, and how much their success depends on their dedication to school.  If we don’t tell them, they may not hear it from anyone else.  As you talk to your students about their 3^rd quarter grades this week, feel free to take some time and connect their need for your course to their goals for the future.  If they want and intend to go to college or get a job after high school, what specifically are they doing to make sure they reach that goal? Like the flowers of spring, we must grow this thinking in our students.  What behaviors do they need to water?  What weeds do they need pull?

We need to give our students constant reminders that achieving their goal is not hard, but it does take work.  We are here to make sure they don’t “opt” out of achieving their dream.  This is a great week to share that with them. Make sure you also follow through by your actions.  It’s important that we are the educational role models in their lives.  Having had a son graduate from Benton, I know for a fact that it was teachers at Benton expecting him to succeed that sealed that desire in my own child.  We have 851 students.  At Benton, I know our excellence springs internal.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

All images are CC from Flickr: “The Perfect Shade of Princess Pink” by Pink Sherbet Photography; “Lupenis Texensis” by Jason A. Samfield; “Sprung” by Roberts S. Donovan; “Reach up for the sky” by jenny downing; “369 Flower on Blue” by I Am Not I. 

With regard to excellence, it is not enough to know, but we must try to have and use it.  ~Aristotle

Week 26 in Review

You are not alone.

All you think is how hard it is during this time of year… in our data teams work, with our immense daily workload, with benchmarks, state testing and ACT prep pending, and our district walkthrough ahead of us.    But as crazy as it sounds, these issues are not bigger than you – not to the professional that you are.  Not to us, the trained educational experts.  The difficult tasks and times are not your equal. Take those claims out of your mind and out of your mouth.  You just need to change your point of view.  Put the situations into perspective.  Remind yourself, the work just isn’t bigger than we are.  We should not be looking up at any of it like it is bigger than us – we should be looking down at the issue as one that we can and always do manage — and manage well.   Think about David and Goliath – the giant [problem] may have been bigger than David, but the situation wasn’t.  He had faith. We need to have faith.

And we need to be in this together.  Remember, a stick alone is easily broken.  But many sticks bundled together are impossible to break.  Do not stand alone in your efforts in our journey toward excellence.  Our challenges are not meant to be faced solo.  We need to stand strongly, arm in arm, from the inside to the edges.  And as we change our perspective, remember our challenges do not have to be stumbling blocks; we should see them as stepping stones raising us to a new level in our journey.  We just have to have the courage to make the climb. And understand that as we look for areas to improve, one new realization of an area for us to improve is just that – one realization.  It is not a set back in our journey nor is the improvement insurmountable. Joined together, no matter the uniqueness in our stances, no one can break our excellence.

Week 27 – A Look Ahead

Monday is the STUCO Blood Drive.  Tuesday is the SR Class Officer Meeting during CAMP.  Wednesday we have a SIP meeting at 3:00 in Room 106.  Thursday is JEPD in the library.  Friday we will have our intruder drill practice.  A few items to prepare for:  don’t’ forget to bring your laptops and formative assessments to JEPD on Thursday; we will have CAMP Congress also Thursday in the auditorium.  I will send out a worksheet for your representatives to collect information from your CAMPs for the meeting. As we work on writing our SIP for 2012-2013, we will be collecting information from many sources.  Make sure your voice is heard by sending your information to your department chair or just drop by and let us know ideas you have for our action steps.  It’s always nice to have good directions while you are on a journey.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

All photos are CC from Flikr:  “Bamboo Stick by Juber Al-haddad; Rope on Bamboo by dklimke

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

Week 25 in Review

I was reminded last week that perfection is overrated. I agree, and at Benton we have never been about perfection.  Those who think we are must be walking a very lonely path.  I think we are about teamwork, and that work is hard work.  As we begin our work to plan for next year’s improvement steps, we find ourselves in the midst of completing the cycle of improvement we are currently working toward.  It causes us all angst.  It challenges us.  It causes us to question our progress, workload, and future.

Do not give in to the need for perfection.  We all agreed way back in the dog days of summer that we were on a journey… a journey toward excellence.  We knew our data teams work would be rigorous.  It proved true.  We are not perfect at it, but you have to KNOW that your learning was solid.  That learning will pay off.  Finish strong and do your best to complete the work we have committed to this year.

At this point in your data teams work, you should be solidly embracing the idea of your last few power standards.  What is your data telling you?  Are you able to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses?  Are your identified instructional strategies for the differentiated groups working?  These are the questions, plus many more, that we should be talking about during collaboration.

As we look toward the next year’s plan, do not be intimidated by the fact that we will all engage in the data teams process.  What data will you consider to select your power standards next year?  Did what you used this year give you the information you needed?  Will you adjust your current standards or stay the course?  What professional learning do you want in order to better facilitate our data teams process.  Please do not hesitate to make recommendations for our PD for next year.  And remember…we will do our best.  Perfection was never our intention.

Week 26 – A Look Ahead

So, it’s a good thing we are not working toward perfection.  Tomorrow is Friday and this information is only being shared today.  It’s been a great, short week.  I hope you had a great PD day and were able to learn what strong instructional leaders you are.  I think we can easily identify areas for our improvement – please voice your ideas with your department chairs.  It’s important to work on what we need most.  And that, my friends, is how we improve.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence.  To know how to do something well is to enjoy it. ~Pearl Buck

Week 24 in Review

When thinking about the exciting Court Warming week we enjoyed last week at Benton, I must tell you that I absolutely love our school, our students and our teachers.  I love that we are in love with getting better at what we do each day.  Please forgive me this cliché, but we never said it [our journey to excellence] would be easy, but we did say it would be worth it.  Thank you to everyone who made last week excellent and worth it.  STUCO, counselors, ACT Academy instructors, cheerleaders, nutrition, maintenance, staff (especially for your participation all week), and students – you were all amazing.

Despite the social events we enjoyed all week that make high school in America the experience it is, I was also humbled and pleased to visit classroom after classroom where the teaching and learning was exciting and new.  Every day I am delighted to see our students learning in ways that even in our cart/computer environment I did not see in such a saturated fashion.  Then on Friday, I was guided to a post written by Will Richardson that I think absolutely grounds us in the thinking we must have resonating through our instructional staff.  Will is a dear friend of the St. Joseph School District, and so by default, Benton family. If you do not follow him on Twitter (@willrich45), you should.  I am linking his blog here for everyone to connect with his learning on-line, and finally, I am pasting this post for you all to think about.  I hope more than anything, you fall in love with his excellence. Thanks Will for keeping us all focused on our journey to excellence.

Week 25 – A Look Ahead

Are you thinking snow?  You are in good company.  We are ready if the Monday snow dance does actually work this time. Just a reminder, this week we have department meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday to finalize the preparing for student registration for 2012-2013 and ensure everyone feels very comfortable with the process.  Our counselors will meet with you in small groups (department chairs should contact Karen if you do not know time/location to meet with the counselors) to answer any specific questions and help you with any concerns you may still have at this time.  They have worked hard to prepare us and our students – they are meeting with students by grade level to give them information that will continue to make the process as smooth as possible – and I know this will be one our most successful registrations ever.  Tuesday and Thursday we have our senior nights for boys and girls basketball, respectively. Tuesday we are celebrating with RED OUT dress up, and Thursday is Retro dress up.  Join the fun and let’s live it up with our students! It would be very touching if you could be there for our athletes.

Speaking of touching, this is “Have a Heart” Week.  Symbolically, the color of the week is red.  It’s our color, and our week to revel in the moment.  Take time this week to say something special to a student and faculty friend.  Be a listener.  Share smiles and kind comments.  This is our week.  One group of students you could especially “share the love with” is our wrestlers who will leave Wednesday to head to Columbia for State Wrestling.  We are super proud of how they have represented us all season, and it would be fitting to show them how much you care.

Finally, Friday is faculty lunch.  What a nice way to end this fun week of caring.  Make sure you participate and come socialize with each other.  And thank you all for making it worth it.

~Excellence is a journey, not a destination.~

Photos are CC from Flikr: “Hearts” by jcoterhals.  Screenshots from Will Richardson Blog “The Shift to Networks.”