Maximizing 14%

Good Morning and Happy Friday! 

It’s hard to believe but one-sixth of the school year is complete.  This week provided me the opportunity to meet with the Lion’s Club and the Ministerial Alliance.  I am hopeful a partnership can be formed with the ministerial alliance and local churches that will yield additional volunteers to assist on our campuses.  As this moves forward your principal will be working with the campus teams to identify needs and opportunities for community volunteers. 

Congratulations to our GJHS Cross County athletes.  It was a clean sweep at Throckmorton with 1st place finishes for 7th/8th girls and boys.

Best of luck tonight to our Lady Blues volleyball team as they take on Mineral Wells in their second district contest.

One of the highlights of my week was attending the First Presbyterian churches Education Celebration.  Thanks a ton to Mr. Charlie Bazan for organizing the event to honor the local Stepping Stones program 30 years of service to the community and our local school board members.  It was awesome seeing many of our students perform and interact in a non-school setting.

Another highlight was visiting 6^th grade classes, seeing their “bottle people” exhibit and hearing the students make their presentations.

This past week Pioneer Elementary received some great press in the Graham Leader regarding the implementation of the SMmART Tank.  If you missed the article you can access it at http://bit.ly/1iOsme0.

McTeacher Night: Monday, October 5th 6-8 p.m.

With the 2015 - 2016 school year in full swing, the Graham McDonald's & Pioneer Elementary are gearing up for McTeacher Night! Pioneer Elementary teachers, staff, and administration will be “working” at McDonlad’s to raise money for the school! McTeacher Night allows local school staff a chance to step away from the classroom and step behind McDonald's front counter to serve their students and parents. A portion of proceeds from the event is donated back to the school. 100% of the proceeds are used to enhance the educational experience at Pioneer. McTeacher Night allows our local McDonald's owner/operators to partner with school administrators and directly support our school systems. David Whealy, local owner/operator, enjoy their role within local communities the most and are eager to be able to provide such a fun, family-friendly event inside their restaurants. Families of students and community members are encouraged to visit the Graham McDonald's to support Pioneer. One night only! Monday, October 5th from 6 to 8pm

TODAYS CRUSELINE BLOG POST

Maximizing 14%

This past spring, Mary Ann Whiteker, Superintendent of Hudson ISD, crafted an article with the purpose of dispelling the political rhetoric that our public schools are failing. You can access the full article on the Friends of Texas Public Schools website.  Within the writing, she highlights the limited amount of time we, as educators, have to influence with our students. 

24 hours in one day, 365 days in one year equals 8,760 hours per year

180 school days, 7 instructional hours per day equals 1260 hours per year

1260/8760 = 1.43

14%

At best, we have direct influence over our students for only 14 percent of the the time during the school year.  Conversely, 86 percent of a student’s school year is nfluenced by factors outside of the purview of the school district.  Fortunately, we gain additional weight with those involved in co-curricular and extracurricular activities. 

Our challenge is to maximize, not manage, the 14% we own.  How do we accomplish this task?  Simply put, we keep learning… learning independently… learning from and with our colleagues.  Recently, I reviewed this maximizing instructional time resource.  If you find it useful, please take personal action and share with others.  If you know of better resources, please share with me, your administrators and fellow team members.

Corny Joke of the Day:

What do you call an alligator in a vest? (email me or go to www.thecruseline.com for the answer/ scroll down for the answer)

Answer: AN IN-VEST-IGATOR