High School Change
On April 25th, a group of educators from Parairie South SD #210 got together to discuss the topic of High School Change. The conversation centered around several articles found in the April 2007 edition of Educational Leadership – The Prepared Graduate. We did a jigsaw type activity and shared the poignant parts of the article we had each read. I could identify the following themes from the dialogue: 1.) Education needs to be engaging and relevant; 2.) Assessment needs to be authentic and varied; 3.) We need to prepare students to be “Global Citizens”; 4.) Emotional and social components are as important as academics; & 5.) Learning opportunities need to be flexible ie. programs need to fit students’ requirements, not vice-versa. Toward the end of the afternoon, we were asked to break into groups and develop 10 guiding principles for High Schools in our division – a High School Manifesto so to speak. We had a great discussion within our groups, however there was little consensus as to what needed to go on the list – not so much due to disagreement, but rather the wide variety of what could go on the list. My question for the blogoshpere is this: If you were charged with the responsibility of developing a High School Manifesto, what would you include? I invite any nuggets of wisdom you can contribute!
