Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
How to Stop Bullying
Here is a link to a PPT video created by our school to help stop bullying. This is similar to the presentation our students will see next week. Please make sure the volume on your computer is cut up when viewing the slide presentation.
http://www.ardmorehigh.org/?PageName=LatestNews&Section=LatestNews&ItemID=312359&ISrc=School&Itype=News
Friday, February 14, 2014
Snow Days
I remember as a boy looking out the window in great
anticipation watching the snow fall and hoping for enough to build a snowman or
make snow cream. I remember thinking that since it always seemed to quit when I
was watching it that somehow it was better just to wake up and find it on the
ground. As I have grown older and started working in the education field, my
love of the snow has somewhat changed to dread. While I still enjoy a good bowl
of snow cream and don’t really mind making a snowman, the chaos that ensues
during the school days affected by the mention of snow seems to outweigh the
excitement.
Forecasting weather in North Alabama is a precarious
proposition so people tend to get excited when the “s” word is mentioned on the
Six O’clock News. Recent events in Birmingham and Atlanta show what can happen in
the south. We know from our own experience that days leading up to a snow event
and days following can impact schools due to our county being relatively large
and the way snow bands move in the south. It is possible for Tanner to get a
couple of inches and Ardmore not get a flake.
We ask for your patience during these crazy days. We will
get everything made up that was canceled at some time and at the end of the
year the education received by the students will be exemplary. You will be
receiving “Tweets”, e-mails and phone calls over the next few weeks to inform
you of the new dates for canceled events. I hope everyone had a great time while
we were out for the snow and is ready to strongly finish the school year.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Bring Your Own Technology
Many school systems across the country and beginning
technology initiatives which put a mobile device in the hands of every student.
Our county is beginning a one-to-one initiative as well, but it will take a few
years to reach the high school grades. Buying all of the necessary devices in
one year is cost prohibitive, but in order to ensure our students have the best
opportunity to learn using modern technology we are beginning a Bring Your Own
Device (BYOD) plan this semester. Our school will be a pilot program for the
county and we are extremely excited.
The concept is to allow students to bring their own
technology device to be used in the classrooms. Many of our students already
have a mobile device and use it every day of their life, only not at school
where it can really benefit them the most. We plan on allowing students to use
tablets, laptops, and yes even smart phones. It only make sense to me to allow
students to use the devices they already own to enhance their education. A
large percentage of students have a device in their pocket with more processing
power than the computers that put a man on the moon, but never get to use them
in class.
While beginning a new initiative such as this poses some
challenges such as new policies, new wireless infrastructure, and new
procedures, the benefits should be
enormous for our students. We hope to have the wireless network up and running
by April or May which will allow us to hit the ground running. If things should
fall into place earlier, we will certainly notify everyone and begin as soon as
possible.
We are very excited and thankful to our central office for
allowing this initiative. Mrs. Karen Tucker has been a huge advocate for this
program along with Mrs. Rhonda Stringham and Dr. Tom Sisk and we certainly
appreciate everything they have done to make this initiative a reality.
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