The Cold Hard Truth

I enjoyed our Open House last Thursday. It is always nice to see parents in the building. Thanks to all of the students that attended and led the schedule tour portion of the program. You did a remarkable job keeping your parents on track with the three minute passing periods! Equally impressive was the job the teachers did in giving their seven minute presentations. It is REALLY HARD to give a meaningful seven minute program. It is so much easier to talk for 20 or 30 minutes.

Mr. Smith draws a crowd of interested parents.

From what I could see, teachers used their time wisely to give parents the flavor of what happens in class and to demonstrate the variety of ways for parents to keep up with instruction and to communicate with staff.  It was very exciting to visit room after room where parents were told how to engage with our learning programs at SMS! 

Between the free hot dog dinners (thanks Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Couch!) and the schedule tours, I shared a 25 minute presentation about our SMS learning community. If I had to pick ONE slide that I think was most important for the night, it would be the Acknowledgements slide... it included The Cold Hard Truth about learning at SMS.

THE COLD HARD TRUTH

#1. THIS IS HARD.  We are doing amazing things here at SMS. Teachers and students are developing new skills and becoming new kinds of learners. People from all over the state are admiring our work. But that doesn't mean that this isn't hard. It is.

It is hard to remember passwords. It is hard to learn the steps to find, complete, and upload work. And it is hard to have such huge accountability in your assignments. With Study Island and Accelerated Math Live, there aren't any "throw away" or "let's guess" moments. We need to think through everything. Just like broccoli, we may not like this... but it is good for us. All of this thinking, learning, and remembering is hard. But it is so worth it... so stay with it!

#2. THE INTERNET IS NOT 100%.  We are totally blessed with consistent and fast internet access at SMS. But we know that not every student has internet at home... and sometimes there are internet problems in locations that do have access.  Because of this cold, hard fact, SMS teachers use extended timelines for internet-required activities. For instance, a teacher on Monday will say "do this by Friday." This allows students ample "in building" time to work on-line. We also use annotation programs to download work and provide extra school time during Connect and the final 15 minutes of Silent Reading.

If you responsibly manage time, you should have no trouble with internet access. However, if procrastination gets the best of you, don't forget that you can get wireless access a the Scott County Library, McDonald's, and outside the doors to any SCSD2 school building. Try to plan ahead, however, and avoid these urgent trips to a wireless access point.

There you have it. The Cold Hard Truth. When you do this difficult work, I want you to know that I KNOW that it is not easy. Remember that I'm In Your Corner every step of the way. Have a great week and enjoy your Labor Day off next Monday!