The idea of our district having the freedom to teach innovatively without the rules and regulations that so often limit us as teachers, is so exciting! As a district, we've already taken the "road less traveled" with our Citizenship, College, and Career Readiness. It only makes sense that our district would choose to become a Charter District. I'm personally hoping that we get approval for this endeavor. The opportunities that we could provide our students and future generations is limitless! The C3 Initiative will only be that much more successful with Innovative Schools to correspond.
I feel that most teachers in our district would be excited for this change, and would strive in this type of environment. Not to be negative, but some will not desire this. Will they adjust or move on? Again, not to be negative, (I ask this as a concerned parent) but will our district have more authority/power to remove teachers not willing to comply? I read Brian's blog and he mentions the importance of all schools across the board participating and I agree. Every school will have to be fully committed for this to really work.
Here are some of my questions based on curiosity alone:
Would funding change? If so, in what way?
How would this change affect our vision, mission, goals as a district, if any?
What kind of training would teachers be provided with to adjust to this change?
How would our curriculum change innovatively speaking. More science materials, resources, technology?
How will collaboration change - what will it look like compared to now? I wish we could have a 2-3 hour collaboration time each week, similar to the high school.
Will our school day/year become longer?
Will we be able to provide more innovative programs for our students?
More funding for technology?
School uniforms/dress code?
Opportunities for after school programs/tutoring?
Better school lunches? Just curious. :)
Opportunities for foreign language at the elementary level?
More science opportunities at the elementary level - Wouldn't it be SOOOO awesome if our district had an elementary science teacher that traveled to all schools just teaching science - as one of their specials (this idea came from Shane's friend at MC).
Increase parental involvement?
I am proud to teach for McPherson schools because of their commitment to our students. Our district is willing to do what it takes to help our students succeed, which is evident in the C3 Initiative. Gaining approval to become a Charter District could be the difference between being stuck in an old system that's going nowhere or breaking free to innovation, ingenuity, and a new way to prepare our students for the future.
I'm curious as to why you mentioned school dress code. Are you for it and if so why? The foreign language piece is one item we're trying to get in our after school program, why wouldn't you start them earlier if research shows that it's easier to learn another language early on in life. I found it to be incredibly beneficial when learning new terms especially in science such as sol being sun so when I hear solar I know that it's dealing with the sun.
ReplyDeleteI have many of the same questions that you did. The question of what training will need and how much time to collaborate are big ones for me. I also agree that it would be great to have a science teacher for the district. I enjoy teaching science but I know I don't do justice in that area because I'm so focused on how to help my students learn to read. We have fun and learn a lot when we do our science lessons and I would want to be in the classroom as a team teacher or helper during the science lessons if someone else came in and taught. This would allow for many cross curricular activities to occur. So many great thoughts and ideas.
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