21st Century Learning

What does it mean to have a classroom that is equip with the tools that learners need in the 21st Century?  That seems to be the question that all of us are trying to answer as we are embracing this information rich world.  We know that the old days of straight rows and teachers being the "sage on the stage" are obsolete as all of our classrooms are striving to help students be prepared for the needs of our modern society.  When our students leave Perry Central, we need them to be innovators, effective in the workplace, great communicators, team oriented and life long learners.  21st Century learning is not new to Perry Central as we have embraced full-day internship programs, Early College High School, problem and passion based learning along with 1:1 technology all of the way down to kindergarten. 

As we wrap up another school year, I cannot help but continue to look for ways to better prepare our students.  Mary Roberson is always talking about how we can shift from teaching in silos of math, science, English and social studies to a vision of creating integrated curriculum and student directed learning environments.  Sometimes, even though we have a vision for what 21st Century learning should be, it is hard to find a model that can help us bring these dreams to reality.  That is how I have felt, until Tara Bishop shared this article about Apollo School in York, Pennsylvania. 

Apollo School is actually a cohort of students within Central York High School.  These students do not pick up and move on after first period, as they are engaged in a deep learning, self-paced environment where social studies, English and art standards are all embraced at the same time through inquiry-based learning. Central York High School also offers tracks of traditional and on-line learning creating a smorgasbord of opportunities that meets the needs for ALL of their students.    

I have shared this article with a few of you already, but I believe it is a vision that we should all share.  21st Century Learning should be about choice, creativity, and life long learning and that can happen in many different ways under one roof.  I hope you take time to read this article.  I believe with your leadership and commitment to education that Perry Central can too, be a model for change and a true definition of what 21st Century Learning should look like.        

You can find the article here.     

School Notes: 

*Congratulations to our English teachers and students for the outstanding performance they had in the Southern Hill Writing Contest.  There were around 30 student recognized for their writing pieces and all of the winners, except one, were from Perry Central!  Great Job!

* Last Faculty Meeting of the year - Tuesday, May 16th  7:20 a.m. in the high school library.  A light breakfast will be served. 

* Perry Central will have 53 students earn the Governor's Work Ethic Certification this year.  This is a very rigorous certification and we are very proud of our students.  We will have a short ceremony for them on Tuesday, May 16th at the beginning of third period.  Luke Bawel, Vice President of Jasper Engines, will be here to present students with their certifications.  

* On Friday, May 19th, there will be a remembrance ceremony for Tyler Zoglman at 6:30 in the bottom entrance of the high school gym.  All seniors along with faculty and staff are invited to attend this ceremony.  Tyler was a member of the Class of 2017.    

* Scholarship Banquet will be Wednesday, May 17th.  Lou Ann's daughter, Emily will be our guest speaker.

* Senior Activities: Seniors will spend their last two days of school participating in activities.  On Wednesday, May 24, they will have their senior class trip to Holiday World and on Thursday, May 25th, will be graduation practice.  They will start their practice with a hall parade at 9:30 a.m.  They will end that day at the Leopold Park for pizza.  Seniors are responsible for academic content in your courses before they leave.  If they need to take a final test, please make plans to administer it to them before the last two days of school.

* Final Exams: We will keep the same schedule for final exams.  Finals will be held in periods 2,4,5,6 on Wednesday and 1,3,5,7 on Thursday.  Remember we are blocking periods for finals for every period except 5th period.  For example, on Wednesday, students will only report to periods 2,4,5, and 6.  It is important to keep students busy with educational material all of the way up to the end of the school year!   

* You can find a master calendar in the Teacher Resource Folder on your Google Drive.   

Important Dates: 

Monday, May 15: English ECA Testing 9:00 a.m. (students who need to test are aware of the schedule.)/ Varsity Baseball @ Tell City 5:00 p.m/ Varsity Softball @ Orleans 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 16: 7:20 a.m. Faculty Meeting HS Library/ Work Ethic Celebration 9:40 - 10:05 a.m./ 7th Grade Field Trip to Perry County Fairgrounds/ AP Pizza Party during 1st WIN/ Girls Track Sectional @ Perry Central

 

Wednesday, May 17: Varsity Baseball @ Springs Valley 4:00 p.m./ Scholarship Banquet 6:00 p.m./ Junior High Top 10 Pizza Party during WIN/Lunch

Thursday, May 18:  Academic Team Pizza Party during WIN/Lunch/ Boys Track Sectional @ Perry Central/ Varsity Golf @ Springs Valley 4:30/ Varsity Softball @ South Spencer 5:00 p.m.

Friday, May 19:  Commodore Pride Celebration periods 5-7/ Tyler Zoglman Dedication 6:30 p.m. lower gym entrance/ Varsity Baseball @ Forest Park 5:30 p.m./ Varsity Softball @ NE Dubois 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 20: Unified Track Sectional @ Central High School

Wednesday, May 24: Senior Class Trip to Holiday World/ Final Exams periods 2,4,5,6

Thursday, May 25: Graduation Practice starting at 9:30 a.m./ Final Exams periods 1,3,5,7