To this point, each article has consisted of a need or
deficiency in our school district. If
you have read previous articles, you would notice all of those discussed are
facility concerns in the district.
Despite these deficiencies, there are many positive things happening in
our district that could only be enhanced by sufficient facilities. This article is going to talk about a few of
those positives.
The first is our one-to-one program in the high
school. In the fall, each high school
student was given a MacBook Air laptop for use during the school year. The teachers have been using the learning
management system (LMS) Canvas (article in Plaindealer, Feb 18th) to
deliver content and enhance communication.
This type of “anytime” learning allows students to continue the
experience outside of the walls of the classroom or school. The computers and LMS also give the teachers
opportunities to communicate with students about academic content outside of
their usual class period.
We are one of the first districts to begin using Canvas
for this purpose and we have two staff members that will be presenting this
summer to many other teachers and administrators. Jane Walford and Shara Johnson have been
invited to present in late May at the Tech Institute in Norfolk because many
other districts are anticipating making the conversion.
In our elementary schools, we have made a significant
shift in our reading curriculum. Last
spring, the staff researched several options and chose Reading Street to update
our reading series. As such, there was
time spent in the summer, in-services, and during this school year for the
teachers to be prepared and the students to get the most out of the
series. If you are a parent of a
student, you have noticed a difference in the type of work coming home and the
students have certainly recognized a more rigorous program. We anticipate seeing increased student
achievement in our assessment scores, which will be directly attributed to the
extra work put in by the staff in adopting the new curriculum.
In addition to new curriculum, we have elementary
teachers that are tackling technology projects, as well. As part of a grant received from Nebraska
Educational Technology Association, Amanda Hansen will be presenting at the
spring conference in Omaha on the use of Mimeo in the classroom. The technology is used to improve instruction
and learning opportunities for students.
Finally, our students have the opportunity to participate
in several clubs and organizations that they would not in other similarly sized
schools. When we compared to North Bend
Central, our club offerings were nearly double what they are able to offer,
despite them having a slightly higher student enrollment. These would include i-Help, sponsored by
Juliet Jensen. This is a community
service organization that provides a multitude of volunteer hours both in and
out of the school. This group is
directly responsible for the landscaping project that was completed last spring
on the east side of the building in Tekamah.
It is NOT all “doom and gloom” at Tekamah-Herman, but we
do have facilities in dire need. I will
continue to cover those issues in subsequent articles, but felt it important to
talk about at least a couple of exciting things we have going on. We have student capable of greatness and wonderful
teachers; the next step is to provide the facilities they need to continue to
grow and be successful. Each of these
articles, past and present, can be read online at http://suptcorner.blogspot.com
or by visiting our webpage and clicking on “Superintendent’s Corner” in the top
right corner. Please feel free to
comment or leave feedback on any of the submissions.
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