Written by David Uhlhorn
It doesn’t take long for a new teacher in our WELS schools to realize that today’s schools are different from what they remember. Wanting what is best for their children, parents are looking for additional opportunities for their children to excel. To meet this need, schools are offering additional courses and activities, while the amount of time allowed for learning remains the same. Teacher schedules are limiting students’ course selections. Continue reading
Written by Elizabeth Johnson
Parents have more choices in the type of pasta sauce on their child’s spaghetti than they do in where their child receives their education. For decades, the public school system told families where they would attend school. In many places, voucher programs are giving some of that power back to parents. With the choice comes a responsibility to find out who can best serve them, along with a responsibility for administrators to know what parents want. While a school’s location and demographic can vary the order of preference, parents are most actively seeking private schools that offer . . .
1) A high quality of education
2) A safe learning environment
3) An exceptional school culture Continue reading
Written by Benjamin Clemons
Procedures in our classrooms provide the framework for operating our schools. Procedures answer a vital question of “How?” in our buildings. We may be more familiar with the questions of “Why?” (to provide high-quality Christian education) and “What?” (our curriculum) because they are highly visible. Procedures, on the other hand, can fade into the background, especially when they run well. Continue reading
Written by Duane Vance
Administrative release time (ART) and its importance has been a key issue discussed heavily within our circles for the past decade or so. Greg Schmill (2009) identified some alarming statistics about WELS principals that could be leading to burnout and ineffective practices. In response, the Commission on Lutheran Schools created a guideline for appropriate administrative release time. Each school should provide its principal with one hour per week for every 7.5 students enrolled. The synod convention adopted this recommendation in 2013. Dr. John Meyer (2014) has identified five ways that proper release time will help principals improve their schools. They are as follows: Continue reading
Written by Larry Czer
Opening Gambit
If you look at most goals and outcomes for language arts programs, you will see a strong emphasis on reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. The Minnesota language arts standards included both viewing and media literacy outcomes to prepare students for the future job market. These six skills comprise our endgame for teaching in the language arts. These skills should also influence both the way we teach and the way we prepare teachers for today’s language arts classrooms. Continue reading
Written by Amanda M. Lewig
As I walk around the classroom, four separate groups of six 6-year-olds are working at various, rather complex tasks. I overhear a group that has been assigned an engineering task communicating and problem solving as they realize their original design is not holding up. They work together, solve the problem, and at the end of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) class, come to me with a two-and-a-half foot tall self-supporting, paper snowman. This is a typical Friday STEM class in my kindergarten. Continue reading
Written by Miles Wurster
It is no small secret that of all the scholarly pursuits, Luther held music as one of the crown jewels of learning, second only to that of Scripture. “Music is a fair, glorious gift of God; and it lies very near to theology. I would not part with my small faculty of music for vast possessions. We should practice the young continually in this art, for it will make able and polished men of them” (Eby & Luther, 1931, p.71). This short sentence implies much—the importance Luther placed on music in the church and in the education curriculum, the emphasis on training highly qualified music and classroom teachers, and how music has a profound and beneficial impact on those who study and surround themselves with it. Continue reading
Written by Adam Glodowski
I started thinking about boys in school when my first son was entering kindergarten. He was a very active child who preferred running around outside to sitting and coloring. He would rather play with his Hot Wheels® than sit still and write on paper. It seemed he would rather do anything than sit still! Sound like any young boys you know?
The following figures (Gurian & Stevens, 2004) do not tell an encouraging story for the boys in American schools: Continue reading
Written by Nicole Lehman
Do you have a student who struggles to pay attention? Who struggles to sit still? Who struggles to grasp a concept because they just can’t concentrate? Do you have more than one of these students in your classroom?
According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 4.5% of students have a diagnosed learning disability (Fast Facts, 2016). To help them succeed academically, school districts provide 504 Plans or IEPs. What about the students who struggle, yet don’t qualify these plans? What can teachers do to help them succeed without reducing their learning expectations? Continue reading
Written by Dr. Jeff Wiechman
Where are we?
Evaluations are stressful…for the one being evaluated and for the one doing the evaluating! What’s more, we struggle in our circles to do something useful with the data we collect. And yet these don’t have to be a waste of time. Educators and researchers have lots to say on the topic.
The role of the principal as supervisor of instruction can at times be understood in a very narrow sense: an educational leader observing another teacher’s lessons and meeting with the teacher to discuss observations and offer suggestions for improvement. I’d like us to build this definition upon a much broader understanding of supervision of instruction. Continue reading