St. Paul’s Lutheran School
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Hollywood is helping to bring Clark’s message to the public with The Ron Clark Story, a television movie debuting on TNT August 13, 2006. The film recounts Clark’s experience teaching in Harlem, including the dramatic true story of how the Tar Heel State native found himself teaching in New York City. After about five years of teaching in rural North Carolina, Clark was stirred by a 20/20 special on Harlem schools. He packed his bags and moved to New York, where he was prepared to walk school to school to find a place that needed him.

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In fall 2007, The Ron Clark Academy will open in an economically and socially troubled Atlanta neighborhood. Here, Clark and the school’s co-founder, Kim Stewart Bearden, plan to build a model school. The one-of-a-kind academy will employ Clark’s ideal teaching strategies along with an extraordinary curriculum that integrates experiences around the city and worldwide travel.

Students enter the academy in 5th grade, and by the time they’re in 8th grade, they will have visited every continent. “It’s all about getting these kids up out of their seats, giving them real-life experiences, and connecting these trips with learning. For example when we take these kids to South Africa, they’ll know all about the economics, the history, the culture, the religion, they will know about every facet of that country so that when they go, they will internalize it.”

Scholastic.com News Article

I have emailed the same agenda in Word as well.

St. Paul’s Lutheran School
Faculty Meeting
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
9:00 a.m.
Parish Center

Agenda:

Devotion
Curriculum Mapping Phase IV
Mixed group reports by recorders
Points of immediate revision
Points of long term development
Mapping Institute reflection from participants
Grade level administrative protocol
Staff development plan 06.07
Curriculum Mapper Software training

Break

New Secretary
Minutes

Calendar Items:
Inservice changes
MVL/LES teacher in-service
Care Committee for called workers
SP Ministry Fair
Leadership retreat
FFF event
Other

Reports:
BOCD
Council
Athletic Committee
Library Committee
EMV
Technology Committee
MVL
PreK/Child Care task force
Joint operations task force
Properties
Other

Discussion items:
Registration Day details
Schedule
Map
Home Visits schedule
Other
Home Visits Checklists
School communications
Other

Future:
MVL presentation
Schedules
Classroom data sheets
Curriculum Mapping

Next Meeting date
Tuesday, Aug. 15 9 a.m.

Cyberbully article from BBC. Development of cyberbully school policy is discussed in this article.

Article from New York Times on young children, play, and closing the achievement gap.

The BOCD has reviewed a first draft for wellness policy. This is an article on the nation wide requirement for all schools with hot lunch government funding. This includes St. Paul’s New Ulm.

BOCD met on Tuesday, July 11. The board approved fees for next year. They are posted along with the full COE worksheet on the bulletin board in the workroom. Also approved PreK fees: $78 monthly for 2 day, $112 monthly for 3 day. Band will be $7 per lesson, and a $25 band fee. Lunch prices will remain the same. $3 for an adult or student guest. First draft of wellness policy was read, revisions proposed. Final reading next meeting. Contingency plans for Mr. Dretske’s recovery were discussed as well. Final contingency plans to be made at the next meeting.

The 06-07 Staff Development plan is posted on the workroom bulletin board. The focus of development will be on Improved Assessments. You will notice that on the plan calls for 2 days of subsitutes each month. The idea is to give release time of one and a half hours per teacher per month to diary the previous month.

I will also be looking for a team of four people to attend a Mapping Institute next summer. Please start thinking about this.

Looking for ways to teach about DNA and other topics in genetics and bioscience? Visit the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah’s web site. The site features several animations and activities for learning about DNA, cells, molecules, and other genetics topics. Site visitors can virtually build a DNA molecule, transcribe and translate a gene, and see why a firefly’s tail glows. Other activities include using DNA to solve a mystery, finding out how genetics is being used to save endangered species, and learning about stem cells, addiction, gene therapy, cloning, and genetically modified food. In the “Make a Mad, Mad, Mad, Neuron” activity, students build their own monster neural circuits and must identify the parts of each neuron before completing the activity.

If you register with this site — FREE — you will gain access to “print and go” activities.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/

Beginning next week Monday the upper level floors will be stripped and waxed. We will not be able to get into the office or classrooms next week.

Building updates. Painting on the “core” walls and stairwells is nearly done. Door frames are next. Bathrooms are being pushed to be done yet this summer too. It would be nice.

BOP is working on emergency lighting in crititcal areas. Emergency lighting is being installed in the office area upper level halls, and shelter-in-place locations.

A few notes about the institute that Cindy, Jill, Richmond, and I attend June 29, 30 in St. Cloud. It was a good experience. I look forward to sending another team next year.

• After listening to presenters, it was general concensus that we are on the right track in implementation of this development process.
• Assessment improvement is an expressed goal of the mapping process. Interesting . . . assessment was established by the steering committee as focus for staff development for the upcoming year.
• Focus of the institute was on using maps once they are developed. This would involve commitment of grade level meeting time to the use of maps. Protocol forms for team discussion and reporting after each meeting were included in as part of the workshop.
• Essential questions sectional dealt with the development process of an essential questions. We walked away with a better understanding of development of these questions. A key to the development is thinking in broad, global terms. This was a key learning objective from our Mapping Steering Committee.
• A representative from Curriculum Mapper Software company was on hand to demo the product. Most likely Carl Lemke will be the trainer during our software training session in August.