Week One

We have completed the first week of school at DCHS and I must say it has been one of the smoothest beginings to a school year that I have ever encountered.  Much praise goes to our First Mates and the teachers that worked with the incoming Freshmen to assimilate them into the high school setting.  Kudos also to all the teachers and the students for their effort in making this a great beginning to the school year.  One area that I would like to address is the use of cell phones in the classroom.  As I was quoted in the newspaper, this is going to be an experiment and I realize there will be some pitfalls along the way.  It is my hope that we as professional educators can monitor and adjust as necessary to make the use of smart phones and other types of cell phones a tremendous learning tool in the school setting.  Some ways the cell phones are already being used:  A math teacher has a student that must leave class 8 minutes early due to CIV classes not on the same bell schedule as DCHS.  SO ... a cell phone is used to video the last part of the class and is linked to the teachers website so the student can get on a computer in the new Library Media Center during lunch and receive what was missed.  Another teacher has seniors working in groups of four doing research using their cell phones to browse the internet finding information.  The students then combine the information from their cell phones into a powerpoint presentation.  Coming up September 1 during the lunch break, teachers at DCHS will have the opportunity to receive Professional Development from Frank Ferguson on "Using cell phones as a student response device" during his new program called Laptop Lunches.

Drew Central High School is leading the way in Southeast Arkansas in many areas of education.  Use of cell phones to increase learning, piloting the new Teacher Evaluation model to raise the expectations of our teachers, implementing the new Common Core frameworks, and going through the appeal process with the possibility of DCHS making our Average Yearly Progress (AYP). 

As I tell the students at the end of morning announcements, we expect excellence, not excuses. The professionals at DCHS and the students are stepping up to the plate and doing just that.  I am proud to be the principal of such a wonderful group of people. 

A great education can never be erased.  GO PIRATES!  

Day One

The first blog I have ever done comes on July 29, 2011 as I prepare to begin my second year as principal at Drew Central High School in Monticello, AR. This blog will be open for a better form of communication among all stakeholders involved in increasing student learning among my students.  Feel free to browse around, leave a comment ... keep it nice!  Later ....