21st Century Learning

One topic that gets me excited is discussing learning experiences in the 21st Century!  I ran across a blog titled "14 things that are obsolete in 21st Century Schools."  (You can find the article here.)  I found that Perry Central is right on track for providing experiences for our students that are necessary for living in the 21st Century economy.  Not only are we heading in the right direction according to the article, but our internship experiences, dual credits, project-based learning, etc. are all important parts of this vision.  I believe all of these things are great, but we cannot stop here!!

As we have found, the 21st Century is calling for a new set of skills that our young people need to posses.  Tony Wagner has written many books around closing the achievement gap and defining those skills such as: collaboration, teamwork, creativity, critical thinking, flexibility, etc.  We are so fortunate to be heading in the right direction (and really, leading our region in these opportunities), but as professionals, we need to continue to find ways to increase innovation that will bring excitement to learning for students and teachers!  Can you imagine being a  place where we can measure empathy, innovation, and teamwork instead of only algebra skills? A place where all students are working on real world problems in a cross-curricular manner?  A place where we tear down walls and break open our master schedule to open up classrooms to cross-curricular experts from all over the world!  A place where learning can be about choice, innovation and hope!

Gosh, isn't that exciting to think about?!  Even though we all get bogged down in the political spin-out of policy and testing, we cannot let it stifle our own dreams of what we want education to look like for our students.  I look forward to continuing to build our dream with all of you!!   What are your ideas?


School Notes:

- ISTEP testing - Session 2 is upon us!  The window opens April 17 and runs until May 5th.  We will do most of our testing during the week of April 24th.  There are several sessions this time, so be patient!  A schedule will be sent later this week!

- End of School Year Calendar - Dr. Clark starts this useful calendar, so we wanted to keep it going.  We will update it as needed. Please let me know if you have other events or field trips to add.  Click here to find calendar.

- Lanesville High School will be visiting April 6th to learn more about our Early College program!

- April 6th will also be our Community Partnership Meeting.  The goal of this meeting is to gather information that will be used in our Lilly Counseling Grant.

- Domain 1&3 are due on April 7th. If you need help, please see Phil or Jody.

- PLC Data - Just a reminder about your PLC Data being due on April 14th.  Please let me know when your teams will be meeting about your 4.5/9 Week Data for 3rd Quarter!  Thank you to the Vocational Group and English Group for already setting a date!!


Important Dates:

Monday, April 3 - School Board Meeting 6:30 p.m./ Varsity Softball @ Home vs. Springs Valley 4:30/ JV Baseball @ home vs. Forest Park 5:00

Tuesday, April 4 - Varsity Golf @ Lucas Oil vs. NE Dubois 4:30/ Varsity Baseball @ Corydon 5:00/ Varsity Track @ home vs. North Harrison 4:30

Wednesday, April 5 - Varsity Softball @ home vs. Corydon 4:30/ Varsity baseball @ North Harrison 4:30

Thursday, April 6 - Lilly Counseling Grant Community Partner Meeting 9:00 a.m./ Varsity Track @ Heritage Hills 5:00/ Varsity Golf @ Boonville 4:30

Friday, April 7 - Domain 1 & 3 Due in SFS system/ Special Education Team Meeting 12:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 8 - Varsity Softball @ Heritage Hills 12:00/ Varsity Baseball Home vs North Posey 11:00

Friday, April 14 - GOOD Friday!!  PLC Data Due (remember to let me know when your team is meeting!!)