Industrial Technology

Here are some short video clips of our Industrial Technologies class demonstrating their catapult for the Iowa State University Catapult competition. They are the 2 time defending champions of this competition at ISU.

PE

Here is a short video of our 7th and 8th graders in their PE class using bows. Thank you to the Emmet County Conservationists and our instructor Mrs. Kinnander for helping make this event possible.

Technology in Plain English

After attending the Scott McLeod training sessions for administrators I reflected back and looked through my notes. Some of the best explanations of the new technologies out there today were video clips that were done in plain English. I have decided to attach these video clips for anyone to take a look at. They do a great job of explaining what the technology is and why you would use it.

Blogs in Plain English:

RSS Feed in Plain English

Twitter in Plain English

Online Photo Share in Plain English

Wikis in Plain English

Blocking Websites...

Are we as a school district actually preparing our students to effectively perform in the digital age? I had posted a poll in the past asking what websites we currently block and would it be academically beneficial to students and staff members if they were not blocked. I ran into that same question/issue today. I spoke with a staff member who had pulled a video clip off of youtube. They lost the video clip and they were running into the issue of how to quickly gain access to this site for the class to watch the video clip on their own. Should we be blocking these sorts of sights or should we be teaching our students how to filter through the site and be responsible when viewing the content?

Interesting blog:

From the head of Zeus

Most schools currently expect students to somehow (maybe magically?) be responsible, successful digital citizens upon graduation from high school - able to navigate all of the intricacies of a digital, global world - despite having little to no opportunity to learn or meaningfully practice what that means during their 12+ years of schooling.

Continuing my analogy from my previous post, we have to stop pretending that students are like Athena, able to burst forth fully-formed from the head of Zeus (or the cocoon of schools), ready to successfully function in a complex adult world without prior practice or experience.

Dress Code Discussions...

We here at the Armstrong-Ringsted High School have been having discussions in regards to our dress code. These sorts of issues arise every year when the beautiful springtime sun is upon us. From the length of shorts and skirts to muscle shirts and cut offs. I am sure other students and school staff around Iowa are having the some of the same discussions as our school. I had some quality discussions yesterday with some of our students in regards to the dress code. They talked to me about out dress code being outdated and that it should be changed. The message I am trying to get out to the students is, get the student council involved. It is my opinion that this group of elected students are the "change agents" in a school building. I am very open to new ideas and possible changes in the future, if we can come to an agreement.

In my opinion this is a teachable moment in regards to how we get the change we feel we want or need. For instance, if I as a citizen of Iowa want something (law) to be changed I contact my representative to make my opinion known. This is how our society is currently set up to make substantial changes. Who are the student council representatives some may ask?

Traci, Travis H, Taylor G, Katelyn, Dylan L, Whittney, Kyle, Megan, Emily, David L, Drew, Evan, Colton, & Clyve.