Welcome Back!

Our opening day will be one to remember.  To give you a heads up for what will be going on, the schedule for August 26 is as follows:

 7:15  -  7:50    Breakfast 
 7:54  -  8:20    Homeroom
 8:30  -  9:26    School Assembly 
 9:30  - 10:10   Period 1
10:14 - 10:53   Period 2
10:57 - 12:51   Period 3 (including lunch)
12:55  -  2:16    Period 4
 2:20  -  2:45    Tribe Time (senior class meeting)

I know we're all looking forward to another great year.  See you soon!

XPlane Empathy Map

Recently, students in entrepreneurship began utilizing an amazing tool to assist the development of a business model; The Business Model Canvas. 

The Business Model Canvas focuses on visually depicting core elements of a business model in an effort to establish clear and consistent communication between all stakeholders of the business.  The model itself is an extremely effective teaching tool and encompasses many elements of the Learning Focused Schools model.

One foundational concept of the BMC is putting people first.  The model's first building block defines Customer Segments.  In the past, the challenge has been to provide a tangible method of understanding buyer behavior, and customers' pain points.  This is where the BMC, specifically the XPlane Empathy Map enhanced student understanding.

The empathy map forces a student to recognize and understand what truly matters to a potential customer.  I chose to utilize projection technology to emphasize this concept, and to create a concrete example of its use.

The empathy map was projected on the whiteboard and students were prompted to think of a potential customer for Microsoft Office products.  Then, using sticky notes, students responded to the prompts of the empathy map and placed the notes to the whiteboard.

Following this practice, students composed a customer profile using the data created by the class.

In addition, students were permitted to take pictures of our class-created empathy map and can use it as they prepare to develop an empathy map for their own businesses.

Project Based Learning

After dedicating substantial time to learning foundational marketing concepts, particularly market segmentation and evaluating potential target markets and their respective buyer behavior, students in Sports and Entertainment were ready for a challenge...

Create a brand new Major League Baseball franchise.

The entire project required the successful implementation of technology resources.  Initially, students had to establish benchmarks that described the average MLB city and its inhabitants.  Students composed a multiple page report on these findings and evaluated a United States city to determine whether or not it was a natural fit for an expansion franchise.  Students collaborated by storing all meaningful links to a todaysmeet back-channel for everyone to access.

Students studied their chosen community and completed market segmentation to determine if the target market represented a meaningful market and could successfully compete with current MLB markets.  Through this research, students gauged the heritage and culture of the community and creating branding for the franchise by establishing a team name, logo, color scheme, and uniform.  The uniform design was completed using the Riddell.com custom uniform design program.  Once designed students utilized the screenshot feature of MS Word to place the uniform into a presentation software program, Prezi.

The final tech. piece stemmed from Google Maps.  Students identified prime real estate in, or around, the metropolitan area.  Satellite images of this location were captured and placed within their presentation.

The FAFSA

Found this easy-to-follow tutorial to help you and your family with the FAFSA.  Hope it helps.

Prezi

Prezi isn't necessarily a new technology, however, I have noticed that students seem more engaged when viewing content through a Prezi lens. 

I created a Prezi to illustrate a supply and demand schedule and how to develop supply and demand curves from these schedules.  Students were able to access the slides at their convenience as it was posted on their class website.

Ted Talks and a Young Entrepreneur

Published at age 9.  Adora Svitak is her name, empowering youth is her game.

Adora's Ted Talk became the focus of a lesson that asked, "Is entrepreneurship right for me?"  The lesson began with the introduction of eight characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.  To reinforce these eight items, students analyzed Adora's Ted Talk to identify the characteristics this young author displayed during her presentation.

Students were amazed by this young girl's success and left understanding that regardless of age, anyone has the potential to be a successful entrepreneur.

Creating an Essay Rubric in Google Drive

Phenomenal tutorial showing how to create a rubric using Google Drive. Wish the title of the video was a little better, but the content is legit.

Give One Get One - Reading Comprehension

The strategy of Give One, Get One allows teachers to encourage student engagement and collaboration without allocating a tremendous amount of class time.  Students list items relating to the content and will share with classmates.  Each student shares, and then writes down what is shared.  Students circle the room and collect as much information as they can. 

I've used it on several occasions to review important elements of a lesson but I wanted to give it a little twist.  The most recent application of the Give One, Get One strategy required students to actively read an article, summarize the author's key ideas in bullet point format, and then participate in Give One, Get One.  By sharing the key points of the article, students developed a more in depth comprehension of the article's content.

Immediately following the G1G1, students participated in a class discussion and improved comprehension was clearly evident.

Today's Meet

Donegal teachers were introduced to TodaysMeet during during an IU13 training in-service day a few years ago.  The fundamental purpose of TodaysMeet is to serve as a backchannel to connect a speaker/presenter directly to the audience in a secure, non-public environment.  It seems like a pretty legit tool for a classroom teacher - what a great way to extend thinking by allowing students to respond to classmates' statements in a safe environment that's function parallels Twitter's platform. 

A self-debate began, as I wondered if it would be effective in the classroom to enhance instruction by creating opportunity for collaboration between students and teachers, or if it would backfire a allow students to distract from the learning of classmates.  The potential for usage problems exist, but with effective classroom management and well-established classroom expectations, students will use the tool as it is intended. 

This past week, I used TodaysMeet as an accompaniment to other active reading strategies.  Students were directed to post questions, comments, interesting ideas, and highlights to the TodaysMeet Room as they completed a supplementary reading assignment to the room.  They were encouraged to extend thinking by responding to other student's ideas as they finished. 

The final component of the lesson, had students respond to the essential question using the backchannel.  A student could gauge the responses of his/her classmates and formulate a better/more complete answer to the question.

Welcome Back!!!

Today's Schedule

Breakfast & Explore	7:15 – 7:50
Homeroom	7:50 – 8:20
Assembly	8:30 – 9:26
Period 1	9:30 – 10:23
Period 2	10:27 – 11:21
Period 3	11:25 – 1:20
Period 4	1:24 – 2:45

Electronic Device Policy

As the school year approaches, it seems worth sharing the new electronic device policy with you.  Donegal will permit students to utilize electronic devices during the educational day.  The policy is very specific in behaviors that are acceptable and unacceptable. 

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to use these devices as educational tools.  Effective use requires all participants to utilize these devices for educational purposes and follow the details of the policy listed below.

July 28, 2013

Dear Parents and Students,

This letter is to inform you of recent revisions to Donegal School Board policies pertaining to electronic devices. The administration would encourage students and parents to be familiar with Policy #237 Electronic Devices and Policy # 814.2 Acceptable Use of Technology located on the Donegal School District web page under School Board Policies. The school board policies articulate the expectations for acceptable use on school property. With that said, the following administrative expectations will go into effect on September 3, 2013.

Examples of electronic devices include, but shall not be limited to, CD players, iPods, MP3 players, DVD players, handheld game consoles, e-Readers, Personal Digital Assistants, “Smart” cellular phones, Blackberries, iPads and other tablets, laptop computers and any new technology with similar capabilities.  

Expectations of the High School Administration: Policy #237 and Policy #814.2

1.       All students should have an educational environment free from unnecessary disruptions, distractions and threats. Electronic devices must be used appropriately, or the privilege of using the devices will be removed by the classroom teacher or administration.

2.       Students may use personal electronic devices in the classroom during the school day for instructional purposes, only if they have prior permission of the classroom teacher. This is not debatable, and individuals who do not abide by this expectation will have their privilege removed.

3.       Students may use their personal devices during non-instructional times for personal use (examples: before homeroom, during the change of classes in the hallways, during a student’s assigned lunch in the cafeteria and on district transportation).  All activities must stop by the echo of the bell, and devices must be stored in a student’s pocket, locker or book bag.

4.       All devices must be placed on “silent mode” throughout the school day. Students whose devices sound during the school day are subject to disciplinary actions.

5.       Students may not take or send pictures or videos during the school day without the permission of the classroom teacher or administration. Pictures and videos may only be used for educational purposes directed by the classroom teacher.

6.       Students may not use electronic devices in bathrooms, locker rooms or the nurse’s office. These actions will be subject to disciplinary action.

7.       Students may not use personal devices to disrupt school activities, bully or harass any school employee, student, or visitor.

8.       If a student chooses to bring a device to school, the staff and administration will not assume responsibility or search for lost or stolen devices. Students must be responsible for their personal electronic devices.  

Students who cannot abide by these expectations will have their personal electronic device privileges removed and are subject to disciplinary actions consistent with the Student Code of Conduct.

Sincerely,

Mr. John Felix, Principal                                    

Mr. Christopher Miller, Assistant Principal                                      

Mr. John Haldeman, Associate Principal

DHS Future Business Leaders Excel at Regionals

On Wednesday, December 5th, students involved in the DHS Future Business Leaders of America Club attended the Regional Conference where the results of regional competitive events were announced.

We had 44 members compete/test in business-related subject areas.  In all, there were approximately 280 students competing throughout the Lancaster County Region.

Out of our 44 competitors, 33 placed in 1st through 5th place in their events. Seventeen have qualified to compete at the state level in the Spring.  The state qualifiers are listed below.  All of our students represented Donegal with great pride!

State Qualifiers

Michael Banwell, Jason Dietrich & Martin Dietrich - Banking and Financial Systems (Team Event) - 1st Place
Matt Crager - Business Communications - 1st Place
Amanda Pelton - Computer Applications - 1st Place
Molly Grab - Health Care Administration - 1st Place
Austin Johnson - Help Desk - 1st Place
Maddie Bowers - Personal Finance - 1st Place
Karlee Farr - Sports Management - 1st Place
Erin Zern - Spreadsheet Applications - 1st Place
Jon Kopp - Computer Applications - 2nd Place
Laura Hess - Introduction to Business - 2nd Place
Taylor Erb - Sports Management - 2nd Place
Jake Martin - Spreadsheet Applications - 2nd Place
Amanda Robinson - Word Processing I - 2nd Place
Preston Ceravalo - Economics - 3rd Place
Rachel Mummau - Introduction to Business Communications - 3rd Place

TODAY'S MODIFIED SCHEDULE

HR 7:50-8:30 (40 minutes – keystone testing)

1^st period  8:34 -9:44 (70 minutes)

2^nd period 9:48 – 10:58 (70 minutes)

3^rd period 11:02 – 12:51 (79 minutes instructional time)

                A lunch 11:02-11:32

                B lunch 11:41 – 12:11

                C lunch 12:21 – 12:51

4^th period 12:55 – 2:05 (70 minutes) Students dismissed by level/area of the building. 

Pep rally 2:15 – 2:45