Public Relations and Public Schools

PR is used by politicians, celebrities, businesses, and almost everyone in the public eye or needs to be in the public eye. Do public schools need the same type of PR?

Advertisements at the local movie theaters in between shows.

Advertisements on bill boards on the highways.

Advertisements on local cable stations.

Advertisements on radio.

Advertisements at malls.

Advertisements on Face Book and Youtube

And if PR is needed where , when , how much, and who should be responsible for it?

Pay Attention

Teachers often ask students to 'Pay Attention'. Paying attention is an important part of learning. Segway to the world of the consumer ... when a company wants you to buy a product they pay for your attention by buying adds on TV, Facebook, newspapers, and many other sources. It works as indicted by how many adds we see in the world around us. Now take the concept of learning, paying attention, and paying for attention to the world of a secondary student. Studies show that students are engaged by technology. The first payment that can be made for the attention of the student is making a computer available . Computer use at school is limited as to the number of the available and scheduled times of use. To expand on the paying for student attention through technology 1 to 1 programs are the next step. Students can pay attention (be engaged) 24/7. Next to use the curriculum to promote learning by funneling the curriculum through the lap top. Staff will need to have time to learn the technology that needs to be used and then be given the time to adapt and create curriculum. So let's start paying attention to paying attention!!! Special thanks to Justin Tarte for the blog topic idea.

Alternative Schools

I am excited to be part of the creation of an Alternative School for the Prairie Valley Community School District. Why am I excited?

- The alternative school will be shared with three school districts and includes a partnership with a community college.

- The alternative school concept is needed in the school district and fills a hole that had to be outsourced previous to this year.

- I will be involved in the initial building of a learning environment that is different from the environment that has been offered to high school students at this point.

- The staff that are involved are wonderful to work with and engaged in the idea of the importance of the alternative school.

- The students and parents who are enrolled are excited with the opportunity that are being offered.

- I am excited that the Alternative School will make it possible for students that have not found success in the traditional high school setting can be successful, graduate, and achieve what ever they dream .

Any resources, ideas, or comments are welcome !

Professional Development or Pure Drudgery

Another school year is about to begin and as always they begin with teacher professional development days. State required and for the most part teacher pure drudgery. I could elaborate as to why this is so and site endless examples and sources but time to move past the obvious and look into the future.
What would happen if professional development planning could think outside the box...literally the physical box of the school building. Technology is here and it is time to use it with teaching staff in the same way it is being developed and used with students. Here is an example of a professional development using a technology mind set....
Staff arrive (not in the school building or classroom but at a site of choice ie. home, library, business, out of district school, student home,etc.)
Staff get on line and open a google document and begin the district wide learning plan.
Staff interact with other staff , parents, students, businesses, schools via chat lines, blogs, skype, twitter and record input on google docs.
Information is shared, lead team organizes the information into a wiki page which all share holders can access and add to.
Next professional development day roles are rotated, sites are rotated, and previous information is evaluated as to a plan to continue with the district wide learning plan.
Now I know I have probably not used all the correct technology resources available. I also know that making sure that computer access is key to success. I also know that if we want to enable students to learn via technology educators have to use it to teach and train their own. It is just common sense! 1 to 1 technology should be starting with educators so let's start!!!