What made CHS innovative in week #5

International Observe the Moon Night makes CHS and CPS INNOVATIVE!  

I hope you had the chance to see our Science department at CPS in action on Saturday night.  It was a group of our educators 'thinking outside the box" to give our K-12 students a chance to experience learning in a fun way.  My favorite stations were the telescope observation of the moon, the "meteors on the moon" experiment using marbles, flour, and hot cocoa powder, and the "phases of the moon" project using Oreo cookies.  Thank you CPS Science department for giving our kids the experience!


The collaboration of our English department sparks INNOVATION!

The CHS English department is awesome at working together.  I always see these ladies talking about what works, what doesn't, and what can we try next.  Their collaboration bleeds over into their classrooms.  Their students are great at collaborating.  Ladies...thanks for modeling teamwork to our kids!  A great example of innovation occurred in an English IV class this last week.  Mrs. Bryson did a "Self Identity" project using music lyrics, but the finishing touch to it fell apart.  Yes I just said that.  The students were to listen to a song, analyze the lyrics, and then give a presentation over it answering a couple of questions.  The end to the project wasn't good, but that's the challenge and the risk to being innovative.  Sometimes it doesn't work out in class like it did when planning for it.  Mrs. Bryson's reflection on the project is dead on though. She felt "like the idea was good", the student discussion wasn't "too bad", and the presentations weren't very good.  After speaking with her about it, I was encouraged because she saw this as an opportunity for her students to get better at public speaking.  Great outlook!  This is a chance for our kids to get better.  I will be interested to see what it looks like further down the road this year.



Another inspiring story this week

I was proud of our 9th grade football team this week vs Anadarko.  Here's my tweet after the game.

Nathan Meget @NMeget  Sep 17

We see you Freshmen football! Pads poppin and playing with SWAG! Gr8 job tonight. Keep playing hard #cpsreds #redtornadopride #smashmouth

• RETWEETS2
• FAVORITES6
• 

7:45 PM - 17 Sep 2015 · Details

I was proud not only because of the 20-8 victory, but also because of the way these young men have improved over their short football careers.  They keep getting better.  They seem to genuinely play for each other.  They are excited and enthusiastic about what they are doing.  It was awesome watching them fly around Thursday night.  What more could we ask of our students?  Get better, have servant's hearts, and bring enthusiasm to what you do.  Keep up the good work Coach J, Coach Blackburn, and the Freshmen Reds!

I'll leave you with this Thomas Edison quote.  Have a great week!

I'm going to change my world (CHS) one good conversation at a time.

Sorry for the link, but it's my reflection and I am gonna share things that make me sit back and say...

1.  AHA! That woulda been helpful_(insert number of years ago here)__

2.  Yup.  That's me right there.  I probably should change that.

3.  What a load of __(insert your favorite cuss word here)__!

4.  That's exactly how _(so and so)  teaches/coaches.  

Read the following article.  I bet you have some of the same thoughts I do.  It's from www.edutopia.org and it is about some of the worst things we can say as teachers/leaders/parents.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/13-common-sayings-to-avoid-richard-curwin 


Now to the great stuff I've seen this week.

CHS Band Rocks!  They've put in the extra time and effort to have a great year.  Mrs. Morgan, Mr. Stegall, and Mrs. Tarkington have these students sounding great.  Their enthusiasm is contagious.  I've had a sneak peek at the playlist for tonight's football game, and it's gonna be awesome!

The Custer County Fair has been a showcase of CHS students!  From FCCLA goods to livestock, the CHS programs, products and animals have stood out.  Make sure and let these teachers and students know how proud you are to have them representing our school.

It's been great to see so many projects going on this week.  Some of the best ones have been student led.  It's awesome to see teachers help facilitate discussion in classes and not just dominate them.  I know I learn best by diving headfirst into something and messing it up.  Our kids are getting those opportunities.  They are also getting the opportunities to teach/lead in many situations.  There is no better way to learn.  Keep it up teachers/leaders!

The best part of my week was seeing a mom's eyes light up when I had the chance to explain how awesome her kid was.  I hope/wish as a staff that we are taking every opportunity to let our parents/guardians know the good things our kids are doing.  That's my challenge to our staff.  What are you sharing that is positive about our kids?!!  What ways are you proud of our town and community.  Don't keep those to yourself.  Make a phone call to a parent/guardian at minimum of once a week and see how your world (CHS) starts to change.  I bet it changes for the better.

Dress code woes!

Great week!  I've was challenged to share great news with one parent/guardian every day, and it has led to fun conversations with parents and their kids.  The other challenge laid down this week was to share pics of awesome things happening in our school with the local paper.  One a day.  We have got to spread the news of how awesome our kids and teachers are.  If we don't do it, who will?

But...my week has also been consumed with something that I need help with.  So if you have any opinions or suggestions to help my dilemma, please share.

I could spend most of my day every day dealing with students who are violating, or on the cusp of violating the dress code.  I don't expect our faculty and staff to deal with it because I think they have plenty on their plate to deal with.  On their totem pole of priorities, I hope this is at the bottom.  Let me and Mr. Stringer be the "bad guys" on this.  Most of the student violations come from females.  I have attached a youtube video. I imagine some of our students share some of the same struggles as the students in the video.  It's 30 minutes long, but offers interesting perspectives.

https://youtu.be/XDgAZO_5U_U

I struggle with enforcing the dress code not because I think it's a bad thing.  My personal belief is that our kids should follow it to a "T".  I struggle with it because I don't know that my enforcement, or teachers enforcement, is always in the best interest of our students.  I want them to be comfortable coming to school.  I want them to feel welcome.  I also want them to make the choice to dress appropriately.  I don't want them to do it "because I said so".

So here is what I have tried doing so far this year.  I casually stop kids, when I notice a dress code violation, and ask them if they have anything they can change into. (I try to make it an inconspicuous conversation)  If not I let them know there are clothes available at school that they can change into.  I also ask them not to wear the outfit again.  90% of the time the kids do as I ask.  The other 10% that don't make my blood boil, but I chose not to make it a big deal.  I chose to find time, that didn't interrupt class because most of this 10% are brilliant and bring great things to discussions in class, to have a conversation with these kids.  So far those conversations have been great. The kids get a chance to share their opinion and thoughts and I get a chance to share mine.  We will see if it has an impact.

Anyways...these are my manic thoughts for the week.  Our teachers and students were great this week.  They were creative, brilliant, and passionate about what they have been doing.  They are the wolves that are changing our environment in a positive manner.  My hope is to help with that, not create an atmosphere that disrupts that.  Therein lies my dilemma with the dress code.  Please help!