Dear Eagle’s Eye Reader:
The 2012-2013 school year has gotten off to a fabulous start. Folks tell me each day that they cannot remember a better beginning of the year – we have more than 2650 students!
Last school year, we ended with wonderful celebrations around student achievements, It was the first time in Akins High School history that exit level TAKS scores in all four content areas were in the 90’s.
Now that seniors have passed their TAKS, our focus this year is to work closely with our seniors to help them prepare for college admissions through the application process; English teachers have been working with our seniors to complete their essays .
Seniors also need to pay close attention to the upcoming application deadlines and start thinking of FASFA (financial aid) deadlines in the spring.
Our underclassmen have a different challenge with regards to State Assessment. Ninth and Tenth grade students must be sure to prepare for their STAAR/EOC exams at the end of the school year.
Students must pass Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science assessments along with their courses in order to meet high school graduation requirements.
This year at Akins, I have asked teachers to ‘flip’ their classrooms in order to help students be more prepared for the rigorous requirements under STAAR.
The ‘flipped’ idea is simple. Students are asked to watch an educational video or read some material prior to class such as videos on the Khan Academy website at a convenient time (http://www.khanacademy.org/) so that they come to class with some prior knowledge of the topic of the day.
With background knowledge, teachers are then able to have deeper conversations and have students do more in-class practice for immediate feedback.
Please watch this 60 Minutes story around the concept on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxJgPHM5NYI .
Your child should also be doing a lot of reading at home (at least 60 minutes per day) to make sure that his reading level (lexile) is appropriate for his grade level.
The STAAR/EOC is written on grade level, so students reading on the correct grade level will be most successful. Students are aware of their lexile and should be able to tell you.
You can see the following lexile grade conversion chart for your own information ( http://www.cpschools.com/Schools/HMS/SummerReading/LexileConversionChart.pdf ).
One of the best ways to make sure our kids are successful in school is to get them involved. There are many extra curricular opportunities for students for students that include athletics, fine arts, band and academic.
This year, we have started a new Speech and Debate team that is already competing and winning at tournaments. Speech and Debate is a great way to get involved and can open a lot of college scholarship opportunities!
Sincerely,
Daniel Girard.
