Roosevelt High School: Concert Choir NY Trip

By Roosevelt High School Senior Madeline Robertson.

New York is where dreams come true. Millions of people flock to the city to join in the energy and excitement. This April, Roosevelt Concert Choir was able to represent 62 more dreamers coming to New York. I was one of them.

I had always been in love with New York, but this trip was a whole new experience. The whole trip was possibly going to get canceled on account of the weather, but Mrs. Holcomb, our trusty director, pulled through and got the second flight group straight to the Newark airport on a plane that had no passengers. It was a miracle! We were going to New York.

On the trip, we got to tour areas like Lower Manhattan and the Theater District which, of course, included Times Square. And when you go to Times Square, you have to see a Broadway show! We got to see Disney’s The Newsies! I’m a dancer, so I was obviously pleased to hear that we were seeing The Newsies. I had recognized some of the cast members from So You Think You Can Dance, but the ones I hadn’t recognized were equally talented. After the show, I added a pin to my Broadway show collection that night by purchasing a little pin that looked like a newspaper. Heading out of the lobby, we got to pass by cast members who were collecting money for a charity they were supporting. Once I got on the bus, I overheard that some of the girls got a picture with Corey Cott, the lead of the show. I was super jealous, but I was happy for them. Just seeing the show was amazing.

The most unique experience of the trip was definitely singing in Carnegie Hall. I mean, seriously! How many people get to sing in Carnegie Hall? It was an experience of a lifetime. The choir got to rehearse with Anton Armstrong, the director of St. Olaf’s very prestigious choir, along with 13 other choirs from all over the country. He worked us hard and got a lot of quality out of our sound. When we had the concert, we got to perform one of our own pieces by ourselves. We chose to sing Goodnight Dear Heart, a piece that we had sung previously in the year. With the amazing acoustics, but particularly the hard work we had put in throughout the year, we sounded beautiful. Members of other choirs complimented us and we figured out later that the judges had liked us too. Mrs. Holcomb had told us on the bus that we had received very high scores in the competition that had occurred the day before. Our hard work had paid off.

The members of Roosevelt’s Concert Choir went to New York not really having befriended everyone. Friends were the closest in vocal sections and people hadn’t really ventured out to grow close to others. We came back from New York, however, as more of a family. New York brought us together. I really enjoyed experiencing New York in April, of course, but I think the greatest part of the trip was watching the choir become a more unified group. This not only helped how the choir sounded, but it also helped new relationships grow. And for that I am thankful.

Learn more about the trip and the Roosevelt Concert Choir by visiting their Facebook page.

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Ben, May 13th 2013 | Posted in General, Photos, School Events, Senior Blogs, Staff/Student Achievement

School Board Meeting Wrap-Up 4-22-13

In a previous post, we talked about the proposed changes to the District’s calendar to make up for more-than-usual weather-related cancellations this year. At Monday’s Board meeting, that proposal was ratified and the changes go into effect. The last day of this school year for students will be Friday, May 17, 2013. The District calendars for the next two years are also now available.

 The weather-related cancellations caused some other changes, including pushing back Joe Foss’ graduation ceremony to May 17th (from the 16th). The traditional high school graduation ceremonies will continue as planned on May 19th at the Sioux Falls Arena. More information about graduation, including parking options while the Events Center construction is underway, is available here. Each of the graduation ceremonies will be recorded and rebroadcast on KLRN TV (Midcontinent channels 20 and 595) in the weeks following graduation and are also available for purchase on DVD.

 The Good News Report on Monday was filled to the brim. Lincoln High School’s Athletic Principal Jim Dorman was recently selected the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (SDIAAA) Athletic Director of the Year.  Dorman was also named the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) Distinguished Service Award nominee and also the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Citation Award nominee. Mark Meile, Coordinator of Physical Education and Athletics for the District won the NIAAA State Award of Merit from the Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. Three students received a cash prize from Midcontinent Communications for their work in the C-SPAN Student Cam Project. And finally, New Technology High School students shared the results of a project they’ve been working on regarding the use of Styrofoam trays in their cafeteria.

 Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Legal Services, Sue Simons, presented a report on TeacherFit and JobFit, employee screening tools the District uses as a part of the hiring process. Both programs were praised as accurately predicting employee performance. Since they integrate so closely with online job listings and HR software, the results of administrator feedback on the tools can be used to finer tune questionnaires and more closely match professional development with existing needs.

 The widely reported contract negotiations came to a pleasant close last night as the Board ratified the new five-year working agreements with employee groups. Chief negotiator for teachers, Travis Dahle of Washington High School, Sioux Falls Education Association President Deb Merxbauer and Board members praised the process and the results at the meeting.

 The next regular Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 13th. Board meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the Instructional Planning Center (IPC). They are broadcast live on KLRN, on the Sioux Falls School District’s website here, and are replayed on KLRN throughout the week.

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Ben, April 23rd 2013 | Posted in Classroom Projects, General, Health and Safety, Inclement Weather, School Board Reports, School Events, Staff/Student Achievement

A Long and Exciting Day

Monday, March 25 was a big day for the Sioux Falls School District.

 Before the School Board meeting, a reception was held to recognize the sponsors and winning teachers of the 2012-13 Innovation in Education Grants awarded by the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation. Once again, this organization of volunteers (they just hired their first and only staff member in recent weeks) gathered nearly $35,000 from generous local business donations to support teacher initiatives in the classroom. Three of the winning teachers were featured in a video in which they outlined their projects and explained how said projects would never have been realized without such a grant.

 At the School Board meeting, Director of Assessment, Technology and Information Services, Bob Jensen, outlined a new initiative designed to put a mobile device into the hands of every Sioux Falls School District student, K-12, in the next couple of years. This tremendous undertaking will begin with high school students next fall in an effort to give students the connections they need, to grant the instant access to information they thrive on, to level the technology-skills playing field for all students regardless of socioeconomic status, and to best prepare them for online assessments and a 21st Century workplace of connectivity and collaboration. It’s an exciting time to be an educator and a student in Sioux Falls.

 The day ended with an annual celebration – the 2013 Dr. John W. Harris Teacher of the Year ceremony. 2013 is the 25th year of the award, and it was with pride that we looked back at previous winners, many of whom were in attendance. Five finalists were recognized in a video presentation and with a stipend for their classrooms. Allison Hutchinson, Project Lead the Way Biomedical Sciences Teacher at the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Academy, was named the 2013 Teacher of the Year. Thanks to the generosity of Bruce Eide and Vern Eide Motorcars, Allison was given a $4,000 check to accompany the honor, but not before she took the opportunity to respectfully recognize the talent and dedication in the room.

 It was a fantastic day, and there will be much more to come on each of these topics in the very near future.

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Ben, March 25th 2013 | Posted in Classroom Projects, General, Photos, School Board Reports, Staff/Student Achievement

Brave New World

Learning without limitations. That’s what teachers call it when students have access to the tools to explore a world of knowledge, collaborate with fellow classmates and students around the world, and they are allowed and encouraged to dive deeply into areas of interest.

 We’ve just uploaded two new videos to our YouTube channel – one about iPads being used at Lincoln High School and one about Chromebooks being used at Memorial Middle School – which highlight the power of learning. You’ll see just a couple of the dozens of classrooms using technology provided either through the budget process or as the result of grants. You can hear teachers rave about the possibilities technology has opened up for mastery learning, listen to students express happiness for the access to such devices in school, and experience the student engagement brought to life through innovative uses of these tools.

 What you won’t see in these videos is the behind-the-scenes efforts it takes to make this magic happen. With Technology Innovation Grants, winners must heavily research technology and document how the device will benefit students. Our team of “computer” (it seems like an archaic word anymore) experts catalog technology and install software, maintain the wireless networks to keep these devices working, repair and replace if necessary, and monitor and maintain safe Internet access for 22,000 students by keeping inappropriate sites and searches off-limits. After getting the technology, teachers need to become experts on it themselves, so as to answer student questions, troubleshoot issues, and develop lesson plans. They record vodcasts, set up and maintain classroom blogs, create and monitor Google Drive folders for each student, and the list goes on. They must come up with questions and assignments which are not easily “Googleable”, so that students are able to successfully maneuver the web with skills they will use throughout life to find important, reliable information and filter away all the rest.

 Educating and preparing each student to succeed in a changing world is no easy task when the changes relentlessly accelerate. Choosing technology can be a gamble in a market where the once indomitable Blackberry has been rendered obsolete by Google and Apple. Laptops have a limited life expectancy, screens keep getting more pixels, quad-core processors are the norm in smart phones, and as one technology giant flourishes, another is bought and dismantled.

 By meeting students where they are, we can successfully engage them with the tools they grew up with. Twenty years ago, a high school student might go to school and use a computer more powerful than the one they had at home and enjoy the only Internet access they’d see until college or the workplace. Today, many Sioux Falls families have forgone the PC altogether and skipped right to the iPhone. Students in a computer lab, in a way, are time travelers, entering a day from the past. Mice are being replaced by touchscreens, voice recognition and translation tools are in the palm of your hand, and wearable devices like Google Glass are one of the next possibilities for the near future.

 Today’s students thrive in such an environment. Their natural instincts are to try, to explore and to customize. What we’re seeing across the District in classrooms filled with new technology are teachers driving learning with questions, and then putting into students’ hands the tools to explore a new world – to not only answer the questions, but to find new questions altogether.

 Any adults who have, hours later, found themselves in the midst of a Wikipedia Wormhole understand the power of this kind of curiosity and the satisfaction of finding answers to questions they’ve always wondered about. With technology, students can learn around the clock, giving and taking with other students around the world. It signals a revolution in the way learning works, and we should relish the world these students will usher in when they enter the work force in the coming years.

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Ben, March 8th 2013 | Posted in Classroom Projects, General, School Board Reports, Staff/Student Achievement

New Preschool Options

The short and long-term benefits of preschool programs have been well documented. In Sioux Falls, it seems, parents are well aware of the importance. Each year, in addition to the hundreds of students we serve through federally-funded Early Childhood programs, there are more than 300 students on the waiting list to get in. A United Way funded program, Ready to Start, is helping those students by providing a five-week program prior to the beginning of Kindergarten so students can start their formal school careers with the confidence to succeed.

 Now, the District is expanding its offerings. With United way support, another option will exist for students on the waiting list for Head Start or Early Childhood programming. If United Way funding is approved, the Preschool Opportunity Program will meet the needs of a large number of students who meet at-risk and income qualifications, similar to Head Start.

 Additionally, the Learning Adventures Preschool program will be a fee-based preschool for 4-and-5-year-olds. This program arises as a result of tremendous community requests for a quality pre-K program in Sioux Falls. This program, which will begin in the fall, will serve 68 children, teaching them early literacy, numeracy and social and communications skills.

 While these new programs won’t necessarily serve every child waiting for preschool options, by continuing to work with local agencies and partners, we can keep trying to get as many students in preschool as possible.

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Ben, February 25th 2013 | Posted in General, School Board Reports, Staff/Student Achievement

U.S. Schools Better than Reported

First, we hear the graduation rate is the best it’s been since 1974. More than that, the data suggests that South Dakota has one of the higher graduation rates in the nation. But in the Sioux Falls School District, we already knew that. In fact, as compared to the 81% graduation rate for SD, when we figure in all the students who have graduated, earned their GED, or continue attending high school working toward their diploma after the traditional four year limit on students has expired, the rate in Sioux Falls is 92%.

 Today the news is that schools are not doing as poorly as popular headlines would lead us to believe. In fact, poverty is said to be playing a far greater role in overall achievement of U.S. students than any other factor, and that when students of equal economic levels are compared (the U.S. tends to have far more students living in poverty than the nations we are compared to), U.S. students perform much better than reported.  You can see the entire report right here.

 Unsurprisingly, this is exactly the information Dr. Homan shared at the Augustana Thought Forum in September, and video of that event has been posted online here ever since.

 Certainly, there is plenty of improvement to be made, and we would never suggest otherwise. The School Board and administration of the Sioux Falls School District have always declared that their goal is a 100% graduation rate. But the truth is it takes a village. And when poverty plays such an integral part in the success of students, as the report indicates, schools cannot be held solely to blame for limited student achievement.

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Ben, February 6th 2013 | Posted in General, Staff/Student Achievement

Graduation Rate Highest Since 1974

When Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of Washington D.C. public schools and current CEO of StudentsFirst, announced the results of her “report card” for public education by state earlier this month, she got exactly the headlines she wanted. Sioux Falls media predictably “localized” the story and got reaction from lawmakers, educators and parents on South Dakota’s designated D-.

At the time of this blog’s posting on January 26, no Sioux Falls news organization has localized this story from January 23: The national high school graduation rate is the highest it’s been in three decades.

Across the nation, Governors are banding together to bust apart teachers’ unions, private corporations are attempting to muscle in where public schools have long served, and the rallying cry behind it all is, “schools are failing our kids.”

Dr. Homan dispelled this “common knowledge” as myth during the Augustana Thought Forum in September, as well as revealing that education reform agendas are as old as U.S. public education itself. You can see that presentation here.

This latest report from the Department of Education also helps disprove this erroneous idea. Nationwide in 2009-10, 78.2 % of high school students graduated on time, the largest percentage since 1974. The corresponding number in South Dakota was 81.8%.

In the Sioux Falls School District, we pride ourselves on not stopping there. Admittedly, there is plenty of work to be done in lowering the dropout rates in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the nation as a whole. That’s why – when students take longer than four years to complete their high school credits, even though they time out of many surveys and certain statistical sets deem them failures – we continue to offer services and opportunities for them. It is the understanding that every child learns differently and comes from their own experiences that drives our commitment to multiple pathways for student success.

Another story you haven’t seen local media share or “localize” has to do with further success. The Department of Education has released its list of Presidential Scholar Candidates for 2013. South Dakota has 49 on the list, including the following 11 from Sioux Falls Public Schools.

Adam F. Bierstedt, Lincoln High School

Zachary J. Bierstedt, Lincoln High School

Leah R. Ervin, Washington High School

Jordan C. Larsen, Roosevelt High School

Elizabeth M. Magnuson, Lincoln High School

Alexis M. Medema, Lincoln High School

Rachel A. Nevin, Lincoln High School

Sarah A. Oksol, Lincoln High School

Micah C. Shaffer, Washington High School

Nicholas G. Vermulm, Washington High School

Bryant Yang, Lincoln High School

We’re proud of our students, our graduation rate, and the fact that we don’t give up on students if it takes them longer than four years to graduate. Yes, there is always more work to be done, and we are committed to do it. But to suggest public schools are failing our students is to ignore the facts.

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Ben, January 26th 2013 | Posted in General, Staff/Student Achievement

A Fresh Start With New Tools

It’s been awhile since we visited about the importance of the second semester for some students. Especially at the high school level, the start of the second semester in the middle of the school year can be just as important, or even more important, than the first day of school.

 For many students, a new semester means a clean slate. Just as with a New Year’s resolution, the fresh start and liberation from the past can be powerful motivators for making positive changes. But like the adults who start January out by going to the gym each day, as the day-to-day routine of life takes hold, by the end of the month, it becomes easier and easier to slip into old, bad habits.

 Experts in neuroscience have learned that the portion of the brain responsible for habits can operate completely independently of short and long-term memory. Charles Duhigg explains in his book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, that habitual behavior operates on a loop, where first there is some cue that triggers your brain to go into an automatic mode in which a particular routine or behavior follows. This behavior elicits a reward of some kind, which is the why the habit exists in the first place. Think of your daily routine. Do you brush your teeth every morning without thinking about it? If so, it’s probably because you know it makes your mouth taste, feel and smell better, makes you healthier, and makes your smile look better.

 Obviously, in addition to the good habits we have, like brushing teeth, there are bad habits: hitting the vending machine at work each day at 3 p.m., smoking, chewing fingernails, and the list goes on. Each habit exists because of a situation that regularly arises that causes us to enter a routine we have established to make us feel better or solve a problem in some way. I get nervous, I chew my nails, and I feel more in control.

 While experts are discovering that bad habits cannot necessarily be eliminated, they (and the rest of us) know that new habits can be formed, and it has been proven time and again that habits can be changed. If, instead of chewing my fingernails when I get nervous, I can instead reach into my pocket and squeeze a balloon filled with sand, eventually I will train myself to into a new routine that will establish a reward that is just as satisfying.

 As most people know, this shift is not easy, and it can take time. But for those of us determined to make changes in our lives, the time necessary for changing habits can be a small price to pay for the long-term rewards, and the self-reflection involved can be used throughout life.

 If your student has some poor habits that could return after the fresh start, here are some ideas from the Department of Education for homework strategies and habits that can be substituted or started to help everyone have a great semester. 

  • Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit place to do homework.
    Avoid having your child do homework with the television on or in places with other distractions, such as people coming and going.
  • Make sure the materials your child needs, such as paper, pencils and a dictionary, are available.
    Ask your child if special materials will be needed for some projects and get them in advance.
  • Help your child with time management.
    Establish a set time each day for doing homework. Don’t let your child leave homework until just before bedtime. Think about using a weekend morning or afternoon for working on big projects, especially if the project involves getting together with classmates.
  • Be positive about homework.
    Tell your child how important school is. The attitude you express about homework will be the attitude your child acquires.
  • When your child does homework, you do homework.
    Show your child that the skills they are learning are related to things you do as an adult. If your child is reading, you read too. If your child is doing math, balance your checkbook.
  • When your child asks for help, provide guidance, not answers.
    Giving answers means your child will not learn the material. Too much help teaches your child that when the going gets rough, someone will do the work for him or her.
  • When the teacher asks that you play a role in homework, do it.
    Cooperate with the teacher. It shows your child that the school and home are a team. Follow the directions given by the teacher.
  • If homework is meant to be done by your child alone, stay away.
    Too much parent involvement can prevent homework from having some positive effects. Homework is a great way for kids to develop independent, lifelong learning skills.
  • Stay informed.
    Talk with your child’s teacher. Make sure you know the purpose of homework and what your child’s class rules are.
  • Help your child figure out what is hard homework and what is easy homework.
    Have your child do the hard work first. This will mean he will be most alert when facing the biggest challenges. Easy material will seem to go fast when fatigue begins to set in.
  • Watch your child for signs of failure and frustration.
    Let your child take a short break if she is having trouble keeping her mind on an assignment.
  • Reward progress in homework.
    If your child has been successful in homework completion and is working hard, celebrate that success with a special event (e.g., pizza, a walk, a trip to the park) to reinforce the positive effort.

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Ben, January 2nd 2013 | Posted in General, Health and Safety, Staff/Student Achievement

Deserving of Praise

In the Sioux Falls School District, nearly 3,000 employees work hard every day to educate kids. Certainly, not all of these people are teachers or administrators. Many are the “behind the scenes” workers who make the work of teachers and administrators possible. They keep schools clean and healthy. They file the paperwork necessary for open enrolled students. They coordinate substitute teachers, they administer medication, they keep sprinkler systems and boilers operational.

Most of the time, their work goes unseen until you directly need their services: if you need a screening for an early childhood student, if you call a school to get information about an upcoming event, if you are part of a YMCA basketball game at an elementary school after hours.

Although they never asked for the attention, they certainly deserve it. Now, three videos highlighting some of our employee groups are available on YouTube for you to see.

Click here to see how our dedicated school nurses help students with all kinds of ailments and help keep them in school more often than if we didn’t have nurses at all.

Click here to see the various duties our clerical staff perform daily, keeping the District operating as normal.

And click here to watch our operational services crews hard at work keeping schools functioning every day for staff and students.

We are proud of all of our employees, who tirelessly dedicate themselves to the success of students.

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Ben, December 10th 2012 | Posted in General, Health and Safety, School Board Reports, Staff/Student Achievement

Diversifying and Growing

At the October 8 Board meeting, the Sioux Falls School District reported its end-of-September enrollment numbers and updated its annual demographics report.

 While the District grew by 406 students K-12, and welcomed our 6th consecutive largest kindergarten class ever – 2,056 students this year – there are other, more interesting figures available.

 The District’s diversity continues to grow. Our special education professionals serve 2,988 students, or 13.3% of our student population. If these students were their own school district, they would be the 6th largest district in South Dakota. Ethnic diversity has reached an all-time high of 29.5%. Our 1,995 English Language Learners speak more than 70 different languages or dialects.

 The signs that the recession may be easing for Sioux Falls residents are evident too. Numbers of elementary students qualifying for free or reduced lunch fell from 46.8% in 2010-11 to 43.7% in 2011-12. There are also fewer students classified as being homeless this year, down from 397 last year to 349 this fall.

 Our fall enrollment also makes one more important distinction. While by State standards, the Sioux Falls School District graduation rate last year was 79%, when District graduates, students who earned their GED, and students still enrolled with us working toward graduation are all taken into account, 92% of students have either earned their degree or equivalent or are continuing to work toward it.

 While state standards may have given up on these students, the Sioux Falls School District certainly has not.

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Ben, October 9th 2012 | Posted in General, School Board Reports, Staff/Student Achievement
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