Kelly's Curriculum Corner

  Over the break, I watched, Waiting for “Superman,” a documentary analyzing the failures of the American public education system. The film is a tangle of facts, figures and emotional stories of children and their families. It’s bold, matter of fact, and compelling. Do they have it right? Do the facts have merit? I am urging each and every educator to watch this film and draw their own conclusions because policy-makers and community members certainly are…..

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author and staff writer for the New Yorker, has a magic number for success. In his latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success ,  Gladwell makes a compelling case for explaining success. Turns out factors such as innate ability do not factor into success as much as we might think. Turns out practice.... 10,000 hours of practice to be exact translates into success. From Bill Gates to Mozart to the Beatles and grandmaster chess champions, Gladwell uses the 10,000-Hour Rule again and again to explain their success. It's not that innate ability isn't a factor, it just isn't a determining factor. For a sneak peek at how Gladwell unravels his theory read the excerpt below: A research study comparing amateur and professional pianist "couldn't find any naturals that float to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did. Nor did they find any grinds , people who worked harder than everyone else, but just didn't h...

"To improve student achievement, it makes sense to go straight to the source---- students." This is a quote from an article in the November 2008 issue of Educational Leadership entitled, Amplifying Student Voice. The author, Dana Mitra summarizes the strong research base which strongly suggests that if we want reform to take hold we should involve students. These efforts can improve teachers' classroom practice, student-teacher relationships, students' agency, and sense of membership in the school. The article gives examples of student leadership which range from sharing opinions and thoughts to collaboration with adults to solve problems. In rare cases, students assume leadership roles to promote innovation. If you haven't already check out the Student Advisory Council post as another example of including the positive energy of students in the change process. Benefits of Including Student Voice: Gain new insights into problems Strengthen rela...

Law of Leadership: A successful team with 100 members has 100 leaders. -Lance Secretan Students are the largest stakeholder group a school has , but they are often overlooked source of information, energy and momentum for improvement efforts. I was intrigued when I heard East Stroudsburg Area School District (ESASD) had a Student Advisory Council in each high school that the superintendent and high school principal met with personally 3 - 4 times a year. Dr. Rachael Heath, Superintendent of ESASD, started the Advisory group when she came to the district four years ago. She is expanding the council to both intermediate schools this year and I can see why! Here's a summary of the meeting to give you a flavor of student interests and insights : A diverse mix of 20-25 students assembled in the school library. They opened the meeting with Old Business..... School Safety, Bathrooms, buses and the Cafeteria. The first two items were quick. Students indicated they felt safe and the bathr...