First Track out of 2012-2013

As I am sitting here today on a gorgeous Friday afternoon, I am reflecting on the first quarter of this school year.  The sounds of the halls are silent as we are tracked out, but my brain is abuzz with enough noise to counteract the silence.  The "noise" I am hearing is genuine excitement from the first quarter.  The students and teachers at Lake Myra have started a new curriculum in the eyes and are not only embracing it, but learning at high levels.  The new curriculum is the Common Core Standards.  If you have found your way to this blog, you are tech savvy enough to do a quick Google search to figure out the immense challenges of this new curriculum.  GONE are the days in education of skill and drill and memorization and in comes a wave of 21st Century Skill and critical thinking for student and teachers.  Luckily, Lake Myra has been doing this for the last several years and we are truly seeing the impact of the teaching of Common Core type lessons.  The students here are able to think!!!!  To me that is exciting - even when I see students struggling with basic memorization concepts, I am encouraged by their critical thinking.  It is an exciting time to be an educator and an exciting time to be a parent.  So I tell you all this so that as you work with your child - realize that education is different than when we were in school.  Students need to be empowered to think in every aspect of their life - empowered to engage in conversations and debate (in a respectful way - which needs to be taught and modeled, also) - empowered to problem solve and find multiple solutions - AND empowered to take risks and learn from failures!  Hopefully, this can anyone reading this to reflect about how they interact with elementary students and maybe make a few changes around the house to help Prepare their Learners for Their Future!

On a final note - A HUGE shout out and congratulations to my mentor and dear friend - Dr. Ken Branch - for winning the Wake County Principal of the Year last night! He is so deserving and such a wonderful person.  I will always admire him and thank him for helping light the fire!!!!!