Success Stories

My school, which for those of you that dont know, is a charter school. That basically means that we are a public school, funded by the state, under state regulations and following state standards, sponsored by the Clark County School District (the 5th biggest in the U.S. ugh) so we follow their basic rules, but, and there is a big but, we have some freedoms. We can do things that a regular public school cant do. For one, we dont have a lot of overhead costs so the school can buy new programs, invest in teacher training, supply computers to all the teachers and some of the students, and other things. But like a public school, we are struggling. There is close to a 40% dropout rate across the U.S. (this fact has been argued, but there is no denying it is a big number). Most of the stuff kids are being taught aren't compatible with the way business is moving in this age. So, with that understanding, and our charter, we are always changing. Always looking for something to make it work better. For that I'm privileged to be at my school, but its still not working. So, I wanted to ask you guys.

What positive experiences do you remember from HS? Did something that a teacher did help you learn, or help you survive, stop you from dropping out? I'd like to hear some success stories to help me going into my 4th year of teaching. If you work in education, you can share those stories as well. You can either post your replies by clicking the 'comments' button at the bottom of this entry, or if you want to share a more private story, email me at cjplough75@gmail.com.

The End of the Year

We are quickly approaching the end of the 06-07 school year with only two days left. It was another great year. Sarah won a teacher of the year award at her school. Her principal nominated her, not only for her classroom work, but for the contributions she makes to the school as a whole. Being the Art teacher at an elementary school, people are pulling her left and right to help with their classroom projects. She also helped designs sets and props for school plays all year. Her major project, and what probably put her in the lead for the award, was a ginormous mural. It was 12 feet tall and 90 feet long on the back of a mine. The back of a mine you might be asking, yeah, well, Sarah's school runs the only active mine on school property in all of Nevada. Sounds like a Nevada thing huh? Anyway, it was the mine's 10 year anniversary and the mural commemorated the date. Sarah organized, planned, and completed the mural like a trooper, although it wasn't her idea. The principal sprang it on her, as principals do, with very little time to complete a project of that magnitude. She had students draw up ideas in her class, picked the best ones, and created the mural from that. Then she organized 725 kids into a group of Picasso's giving them each a chance to add to the mural. When all was said and done, McCaw Elementary was the proud new owners of the newest mural in Henderson.

As for me. This was my best year year yet. I moved from the face-to-face component of my school into the online education component. For those that aren't aware, and maybe those that want a refresher, I teach at the largest charter school in Nevada. Our HS has 750 students, most of which are at-risk and haven't had success in the traditional model. At our school, they only attend class once a week where they meet with a mentor teacher for 2 hours (I have 40 mentees, is that a word, looks like manatees but I dont have any of those) and then go into a Learning Strategies class where they get strategies for tackling online education. I taught the Strategies classes the last 2 years, this year I moved into the Social Studies dept which teaches courses online. I taught Street Law, a basic 'what every one needs to know to not get arrested and what to do if you do' course. Also, Civil Liberties which you know are our basic rights that protect us from the govt messing with us. I taught an American History through Film course which combines two of my favorite topics, but the best part was that I spent the better part of the 2nd semester developing a Travel and Tourism course for next year. The course allows students to travel all over the world and learn about countries from the point of view of a vacationer instead of trying to memorize facts about histories and geographies of that location that a traditional soc stud course my use. I've also become pretty advanced at some tech education components, thus the new website, and have recently applied for a semi-admin position at my school in the tech field, it will be in addition to my teaching position. Cross my fingers.

2 days left, what a great feeling. We are only traveling a little this summer unlike the last 2 summers in which we were home for only 20 days in 3 months. With the baby on the way, and doctors orders, we have to get all of our out-of-southern-nevada trips done by the end of June. So, we are saving June for baby showers and baby birthing classes. Im going to SD in July to an At-Risk conference to help me get some better tools for working with kids who are at high risk of dropping out of school, then I will be home. Plan on doing lots of work this summer, but Sarah doesn't, she plans on laying around, I guess we are finally switching places.