leadership in high schools

We have interviewed and identified two teachers of special education who will join our ranks in the Southern Region of Erie 2 CC BOCES.  This identification process was spurred by the need to open a new high school classroom grades 9-11 geared primarily for students in need of a self-contained classroom setting.  With the requirements of NCLB and the highly qualified/certified teacher status required of all teacher candidates, this greatly narrowed the pool of candidates. 

Teachers who are elligible for this posting gained K-12 special ed. teacher certification prior to 2006 and have accrued content area credit at university level in each of the four core academic areas.  Other elligible candidates are those who since 2006 have graduated with a grades 7-12 content area specialty within special education.  The K-12 teacher certified candidate must have taught content grades 7-12  since 2006 and ideally will be  highly qualified to teach all four content areas – Math, Science, English and Social Studies. 

This scope of this teacher posting is by design and scope limited in that students within this classroom need to be taught grade level content material in a self-contained setting.  This is because the students identified for this classroom, need to have limited distractions and possibilties of challenging social situations.  The needs of these students preclude them from partaking in a general education lunch setting;  stressful situations and acting out behaviors are caused by rotating classroom schedules, social interactions in hallways and classrooms with peers who are academically higher performing than they are. 

6 copies of the novel Crazy by Peter Earley have been donated to the High School English Department.  These copies have been made available to our program taught by P. Calloren and J. Hedlund respectively as a result of my involvement in N.A.M.I  – National Association for the Mentally ill.  I joined NAMI as an advocate for students both classified and alternative who repeatedly face the court system for indiscretions they create because of their ignorance, intolerance, impatience and misunderstanding of their place in relation to others eg. people, school, organization etc. 

NAMI has been very vocal in Chautauqua County especially in advocating for the rights of the mentally ill in our court system.  Yesterday, the local press Post-Journal, Jamestown was replete with information about the formation and the mental health court system in Jamestown. 

It is my hope that the teachers of the High School will explore this book donation with students and encourage reading and dialogue about this memoir written by a father as he chronicles the journey of his son. 

This year, 2008-2009, two English teachers at the high school level, one Special Education, the other General Education have been elected to teach their English Literature students the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

This reading initiative is an extension of the Read Across America Project.  This is one of the premier novels in American Literature.  While the High School students are discovering this great work, I believe the rest of the faculty might want to get a glimpse into what students might be discovering about life through the novel,  in particular how adults react to stimuli in their lives.  Perhaps connections can be made in other subject areas example Social Studies, Theatre or Journalism.  How about Math and Science.  Science teachers who teach Criminal Science Investigation as an elective might want to read this book simultaneously and draw conclusions and debate the novel in this classroom setting. 

Access the link below to get a synopsis of the novel. 

http://www.slideshare.net/tranceking/to-kill-a-mockingbird-theme-motifs-symbols 

This is a class project I read about  which currently involves three countries Australia, China and Turkey.  The object of this exercise using a power point presentation is to have students select their favorite foods.  I thought of the universal appeal to all students for this kind of input which is both gratifying and immediate.  Food and and the development of epicurean tastes!  In addtion the ability to bridge a global area of interest.  I see the value of this exercise across several subject areas and an experiment that can be introduced to students of all age groups.   On coming across the blog post I was surprised that America is not yet a part of this experiment, so in an effort to join our teaching colleagues in Australia and share our  students passion for food with their global counterparts please check out this slideshare presentation.   

This is a power point presentation contained in the blog http://hawkesdale.globalstudent.org.au. However it is not always accessible.  You may also go to the actual slideshare presentation at http://lunchboxproject.wikispaces.com and add your own uniques features to this classroom project.  Whereas it is listed Kindergarten through 3rd grade you can easily adapt this project to any grade level with your own teacher input and creativity. 

If we could all collaborate on this expeiment I believe we shall expand the horizons of our web 2.0 reach as well as teach our students a variety of skills.