Second Annual STEM Camp this summer at Rugby Public Schools

We are excited to announce a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Camp this summer at the Rugby High School for students heading into grades 3-5 next school year.  The STEM camp will take place from 8:00AM – 12:00PM Monday – Friday beginning July 25^th.  Highlights include: Biomes of the World, Buzzing a Hive, Bubble Festival, and Engineering Challenges. This will be a fun filled week to get kids excited about science. Registration forms can be found at Ely Elementary and the Rugby High School.  These forms are due by June 24^th. The cost for a student is $40.00. Spots will be limited so sign up soon.  For questions contact Melissa.goddard@k12.nd.us or Mike McNeff at 776-5201.

Day	Time	Events
Monday, July 25	8:00 AM - Noon	Biomes of the World
Tuesday, July 26	8:00 AM - Noon	Buzzing A Hive
Wednesday, July 27	8:00 AM - Noon	Bubble Festival
Thursday, July 28	8:00 AM - Noon	Engineering Challenge
Friday, July 29	8:00 AM - Noon	Engineering Challenge & Awards

Teacher Appreciation Week

Today is the start of Teacher Appreciation Week at Rugby Schools and across the nation. I think we can all remember that teacher that helped us at a certain time in our lives. In my own life I can remember several from elementary and high school. Teachers spend the majority of the day with our children and play a significant role in developing them into productive human beings. I am thankful for the teachers and support staff within our district. We have arranged small tokens of appreciation over the course of this week in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week at Rugby Public Schools. 

Thank a teacher today! 

Making Time for PLCs in a Time Deprived Day

I will be presenting at the North Dakota PLC Summit this week. As I was preparing my presentation I put together a few suggestions for districts that are exploring embedded PLC time.

We cannot expect this work to occur during their prep, after school, during lunch, before school and etc. I believe we must embed a specific time that is consistent across the district.

Find a consistent time that works for your district. The time should be consistent across the district. This will help administrators support each PLC. This will also help with vertical meetings that will need to occur to address gaps and overlaps with curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Meetings should occur at minimum once per week. If we aren’t meeting once per week we forget about our focus and it's harder to get back on track and use the time efficiently.

We need to ensure that this time is protected and considered sacred. People will try to consume this newly found time with meetings that don’t matter. Administrators need to protect this time. That means no practices, activity meetings, advisor meetings, and etc. The only thing that occurs during this time are activities that are associated with the PLC.

Target Wednesday morning for the day to implement PLCs. I truly believe there isn’t a better time than Wednesday morning. I don’t want our coaches and advisors to miss this time due to practice. There are typically less events and vacation days on Wednesdays.

What will you do with the students? We still allow all students to be dropped off at their regular times. In the elementary school, we have upwards of 100 students that head to the library to read silently, read with a friend, or be read to. This alone has been a positive for kids. For the remainder of our students we have our para educators supervise students.

Most Likely to Succeed documentary coming to Rugby

As an education advocate and school leader I am interested in having dialogue with others regarding the state of our educational system and what its future may look like. There will be an opportunity on April 7th at 7:00PM to view the educational documentary Most Likely to Succeed at the Lyric Movie Theater in Rugby. I encourage all stakeholders to attend this thought provoking documentary. I may not necessarily agree with everything within the film, but I will most certainly be open-minded about the topic. From my perspective we should be concerned about remaining relevant in our changing world. I welcome you to attend the free viewing of this educational documentary. 

The following is a summary of the film: 

The feature-length documentary Most Likely to Succeed examines the history of education in the United States, revealing the growing shortcomings of conventional education methods in today’s innovative world. The film explores compelling new approaches that aim to revolutionize teaching as we know it. After seeing this film, the way you think about “school” will never be the same. Over a century ago, American education underwent a dramatic transformation as the iconic one-room schoolhouse evolved into an effective system that produced an unmatched workforce tailored for the 20th Century. As the world economy shifts and traditional white-collar jobs begin to disappear, that same system remains intact, producing potentially chronic levels of unemployment among graduates in the 21st Century. The film follows students into the classrooms of High Tech High, an innovative new school in San Diego. There, over the course of a school year, two groups of ninth graders take on ambitious, project-based challenges that promote critical skills rather than rote memorization. Most Likely to Succeed points to a transformation in learning that may hold the key to success for millions of our youth – and our nation – as we grapple with the ramifications of rapid advances in technology, automation and growing levels of income inequality.

I hope to see you there.