Innovate 2.0 Jan. 12 meeting – Table notes

Click here for more information on the work of the Innovate 2.0 Committee and learn about Broadalbin-Perth’s original strategic plan, “Innovate.”

Jump to the notes from a specific table:

Table 1 Notes

  • Inclusivity (student involvement)
    • Patriot Academy
    • Gender, sexuality, race
  • Art directors
    • Someone to bring interest to them
  • Diversity (Project Adventure)
  • Awareness (mental health, environment, microaggressions)
    • Situational awareness
  • Problem solving (social problems)
  • Respect (towards students, peers, staff)
  • School safety
  • Bathrooms
    • Students need to respect
    • Culture – freedom and integrity
  • Adding classes that students need (business classes, personal finance, internships, hands-on courses)
  • Classes beyond B-P’s walls
  • More language options
  • Fix vaping and bullying (more speakers)
  • Patriot Academy (expansion, students struggle with sitting in classes, students are losing interest and ability to interact)
  • Better instruction in phys ed (diverse activities)
  • Positive peer pressure
  • CHAIN REACTION
  • Get people students know to give speeches
  • Real consequences!
  • Different around different people
  • Don’t think about long-term outcome

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Table 2 Notes

  • Increased focus on mental health and addiction awareness
  • Communication and diversity – a better awareness for cultural understanding
  • More STEM – more women in STEM
    • Problem solving
    • Critical thinking
  • Career prep
  • Career awareness
  • Diversity – bullying, civility, mental health
  • Addressing the learning gap
  • Addressing some of the gaps for social aspects as trauma
  • Diversity and inclusivity – awareness of the background of people – expanding the bubble
  • Education isn’t just academic – building soft skills
  • Lifelong learning
  • Inclusivity for students with disabilities
  • Eliminating stigmas
  • Learning loss for special education students
  • Soft skills and coping skills
  • Resilience
  • Talking to students about what they would encounter
  • Culture on courageous conversations and embedding that throughout the day
  • Education of the community on acceptance and awareness
  • Inclusivity on the socioeconomic differences, societal, ability level
  • Where are we going with the kids – how about the infrastructure?
  • Creating atmosphere through building up
  • Coming to school – hasn’t changed a significant amount
  • Completing the brand
  • Keeping students engaged through senior year
  • Class accessibility
  • Different elective classes
  • Focusing on those core skills (communication)
  • Fear of getting out of your comfort zone for students
  • As an education system – how can we help our students learn from failure?
  • Community involvement on the applicable skills

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Table 3 Notes

  • Internet skills
  • Diversity – equipping all with dealing with diversity to be able to cope outside the B-P bubble
  • Inclusivity – reducing the clique community stigma
  • Life skills – working with other people
  • Mental health – education to get the tools to cope with issues, not just adding providers
  • Critical thinking – collaboration – building teams, communication (public speaking, etiquette)
  • Internet skills – make good digital citizens, coping skills – ability to explore
    technical trades – vocational skills
  • Giving students ability to demonstrate learning in other ways from testing
  • Don’t restrict the students to just the walls of B-P – collaborate with other schools
  • Find ways to connect students in different ways – break them out of their comfort zone

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Table 4 Notes

  • Need for social-emotional support (SEL), especially after last few years
  • Seminar in College – how to be “a human”
    • Who are you?
    • Character Strong is great, but need more
  • More support staff (counselors)
    • Always putting out fires
  • Academics
    • National standards
      • We’re behind considering AP levels/scores
  • RIGOR
    • Grit for kids and parents
      • Understanding of kids and if they’re challenged
  • Overcoming adversity, keep going
  • Support as teaching – “Yeah, you’re wrong…” “That’s OK, now you keep going.”
  • Time – crunch between SEL and academics
  • Some kids don’t want to do some things
    • Work outside
  • Challenge more in classroom to build skills
  • Involvement and being busy provides challenge and limits SEL needs
  • PURPOSE for each kid
    • How do we steer them towards this?
    • “Go-to” person
  • College-style campus
    • Foundation – lecture hall (i.e. “101”)
    • More opportunities for electives to find and explore interests/passions
      • Distance/online learning
      • Or other ways to bring them here
  • Kids can find almost anything they want to learn
    • Independent study
    • This could help attendance strugglers, too
  • Expose younger students to more options/interests
    • Interests = widen horizons
  • “Minimize culture shock”
  • Increase rigor
  • Where do we go from here?
    • Succeed outside these walls
  • More math – need in careers
  • Logic and critical thinking
    • Need knowledge
  • How to pay bills/taxes
    • Avoid problems
    • Adulting
  • Women in STEM and leadership
  • Community partnerships with businesses (i.e. Chamber of Commerce)
  • Certificate of employability
  • PLTW – STEM/computer science/work in community
  • Real-world experience
  • How to communicate/be professional
    • Resume, etiquette, how to leave a job
    • How not to burn bridges
    • How to build your network
  • It’s OK to be wrong, be told no, and then persevere
  • Service – to our community/school
    • We don’t require it currently
    • Colleges look for it and extracurriculars
    • Some kids see it as a hassle
      • Can we build a culture for it?
    • Opens your eyes
    • Kids don’t know where to go/find service
    • Ties to SEL
  • Learn how to ask for things/help
  • Practice job interview skills
  • Acceptance, open to wider world
    • Value others’ opinions
  • Literacy, vocabulary, grammar
    • Impacts on how it affects you
  • Public speaking
  • Verifying/understanding information you find
  • Diversity, equity, inclusion
    • All types: race, disability, gender, orientation
    • Provide opportunities for equity where needed
    • How do you treat people who are different than you?
      • Especially when they’re not reflected in the community
      • Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know
  • Break the school wall
    • Distance learning
    • More languages? Distance learning in another country
      • Brings in culture, which can lead to jobs
      • We do offer Mandarin
  • How do you think outside the box?
    • So used to tech/having answers at their fingertips
    • How can you be independent?
    • How can you be confident?
  • Learn from failure, want it to be “liked”
  • Learn from what you’re doing, across all grades
  • GRIT, value the process
    • Need to learn to stand up for oneself
    • Need to learn to respectfully debate
  • Bring back rigor and expectations
  • How do you create paths?
  • Need for structure
  • Technology allows for repetition
    • Keep trying
    • Can be anonymous
    • Gain knowledge
  • Customize education
  • Kids want to be right the first time
    • There’s insufficient reward for getting it right the second time
    • Ties to self-worth and impacts SEL
  • Set high/rigorous expectations
  • Repetition of structure helps SEL and rigor
  • How do we combat the impact of social/media/technology influence has had on our kids over past two years?
  • Academics and social/emotional needs to be equal
  • Mindset for growth
  • Socialization gap
  • Develop self-confidence
  • Non-conformity is good
    • How to be YOU
  • The arts
    • Our world doesn’t revolve around “core 4”
  • Cross-disciplinary focus and collaboration
    • i.e. Art and anatomy
    • Creates citizens away from us
  • How do you express yourself?
  • How can you be vulnerable?
  • Be a place that builds connections and trust
  • Writing/verbalize
  • Intentional, but innovative, motivated by interests
  • Collaboration creates ways for all kids to “shine” in their own way

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Table 5 Notes

  • Five Year Focus
  • Expansion of current Patriot Academy – personalized instruction for students
    • Expand to upper elementary
    • Different learning modalities
    • More internship opportunities
  • More math
    • Intervention
    • More targeted
    • More electives
  • More reading
  • More job and career readiness exposure
  • Diverse opportunities
    • Sports
    • Clubs
    • Academics
    • Expand classroom beyond the “walls” of B-P
      • Collaborate with classrooms in different states/countries
  • Increased trade opportunities
    • Fluidity of opportunities (joining) – different grades
  • Emotional and physical health and wellness
    • Coping skills
  • Service
  • Stronger literacy programs
    • Stronger foundational skills
      • Increase intervention services
    • Critical thinking
    • Problem solving
  • Authentic/purposeful assessments
    • Apply knowledge
  • Digital citizenship
    • Appropriate online behavior
  • More opportunities for seniors to keep them in school once their required classes are done for the day – maximize their time in the district
  • More research opportunities
  • Safe space to try something new – make the most of the time to discover who you are
  • More technology skills
    • Google Suites
    • Google Sheets
    • Typing
  • Individual Education Plan for all students
  • Understanding the students and why they are struggling
    • Academically
    • Socially and emotionally

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Table 6 Notes

  • Mental Health
    • Accessibility/comfort
    • Letting parents know what resources we have
    • Student coping skills–helping support their peers
    • Sensory rooms in elementary schools
    • Crisis TA
  • Technology
    • Gadgets and know-how
    • Tech literacy – etiquette
    • Keyboarding!
    • Parent tech literacy
    • Negativity
    • Impossible for parents to monitor everything all the time
  • Life Skills
    • Face-to-face communication
    • Appropriateness
    • SEL Skills
    • Accountability
  • Core skills
    • Communication
    • Creativity
    • Collaboration
    • Critical thinking
    • Job skills
  • Risk Taking
    • Academic Standards
    • Student Expectations
  • Character Strong – is it worthwhile?
  • Re-focusing on big-picture ideas and not stress the ¨little” things
  • Clear repackaging/rebranding sequences
    • What to expect as a parent as a student travels from elementary to high school
    • Parent University
  • Greater student involvement
    • Respect between students
    • Nobody dressed up at spirit week!
    • Athletics
    • Extracurriculars
  • School Safety
    • Be vigilant but be reassuring

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Table 7 Notes

  • Labor market; what jobs are out there?
  • Authentic assessments
  • Technology – 150 million
  • Skills-based instruction/curriculum
    • New/innovative ways to engage students
  • SEL – self regulation; leading to professionalism
  • Time management
  • Character education
  • Digital citizenship
  • Connections – community networking
  • Alumni relations – work-based learning outcomes
  • Solid foundational skills
  • Improve infrastructure
  • Teacher retention/recruitment
  • Soft skills
  • Connections to real world (inclusiveness and citizenship)
  • Community service
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Opportunities
  • Culture of responsibility
  • Etiquette
  • Collaboration – key to career success
  • Critical thinking/analytical
  • Internships
  • Communication
  • Cultural understanding
  • First group had some endpoints – how do we get there?
  • Preparing students for future technology
    • Evolution – cassette tapes to streaming
    • Google it! Technology needs refinement
  • Out of the box thinking; fluidity
  • Developing discipline of character
  • More information being presented about classes
  • Communication to parents and students about the description of classes
  • Wellness days to get connected with teachers to find out what other courses are being offered
  • Time management – self discipline and accountability
  • Real world problem based opportunities
  • Clubs, intramurals
  • Creating connections and a stronger affiliation between home and school
  • Emphasis on internships
  • Service, volunteering – ways to network
  • Academics – gap between HS to college
  • Develop wellness days to connect students and staff

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Table 8 Notes

  • School ranking
    • Uunderstand the ranking process (Zillow, the recent test score report)
      • Communicating successes through social media
    • National scoring
    • Objective metrics
    • Subjective
    • What are our internal values?
      • Personalized learning
    • Class ranking and standardized tests
  • Supporting the teachers and staff
    • Policies and procedures (Code Yellow)
    • Additional aides
    • Additional assistance for students with special needs
  • Developing curriculum to support the trades
    • Paired with business/entrepreneurship
    • Work-based learning
    • Internships and shadowing opportunities
  • Coding /STEM initiatives
    • Labor market and jobs
  • Evolution of curriculum toward technology
    • Better/more computers
    • Encourage to take more tech classes
  • Literacy and math skills
    • Critical thinking
    • Communication skills
    • Exposure to careers and internships
    • Mental health
    • More direct phys ed
  • Supporting the concept of overall wellness
    • Lifetime leisure activities (swim, tennis, golf, running 5ks (vs track events))
      • Club option in parallel with sports. Is this intramural? (like an opportunity to train with the track team without the pressure to compete/win)
    • Take care of yourself
    • Prioritizing sleep
    • Create a relaxed atmosphere throughout the school day
    • School store and creating a social area/“third space”
  • Inclusiveness
    • Bringing more attention to arts rather than sports
    • Story: there can be bullying towards students who aren’t in varsity sports
      • Example: Varsity jacket not available to students that do band or theater
      • Suggestion: Give a letter to activities in addition to sports. Being involved is the goal.
      • Example: If drama has reserved a space, the athletic department will require they relocate
    • Coach driven collaboration
      • Require/encourage athletes to be well-rounded and participate in drama, band
      • Make teams attend the concerts and plays.
    • Increase team-building activities sponsored by the school
    • Foster connection
      • Foster the B-P culture – great school – make everyone feel like they’re on the same team
  • Adult/community continuing education classes – like guitar

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